3.9: Conclusion
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“It is my hope that as they leave the course and the semester, each student can confidently declare to her or his family and friends: ‘Guess what, I entered the virtual classroom and came out at the pinnacle of the future classroom without walls with a better understanding of the wired world and the global village’.” – Charles Quist-Adade (2008)
At the time of writing this chapter, the course has just cruised through mid-stream. Six weeks more remain before the course wraps up. It is still uncertain if Dr. Darkwah and her students can connect with us via Elluminate. The maiden launch of this method of course delivery did pose several problems in regards to technological barriers and students’ handle on Elluminate and Moodle. My colleague and I did experience varying levels of frustrations and disappointment. The course assistant at the UGL site, Patrick Kuti certainly had more than his fair share of disappointments and frustrations.
I am more than convinced that if I had had luck with funding, the course would have more successful than it was. For example, if we had extra dollars, it would have been possible for Dr. Darkwah to conduct her lecture from Busynet, a private Internet provider when the University of Ghana network was facing connectivity problems. Nonetheless, many students were excited to be a part of this experience. To many, the sheer thrill of connecting and sharing a classroom, albeit virtual, with a fellow student as far away as Ghana and India is itself a veritable learning and life changing experience.
While I suffered a couple paroxysms of frustration and angst during the planning stages and techno-shocks during the first half of the course, I must state emphatically that I have enjoyed every moment of the journey so far. It was a huge learning curve for everyone but even more so for the students. As they learned to embrace this course, it became increasingly apparent from their essays, Internet discussions, and voluntary comments to me and my course assistant, Kaelan that, they are likely to take away from the course more than they anticipated. It is my hope that as they leave the course and the semester, each student can confidently declare to her or his family and friends: “Guess what, I entered the virtual classroom and came out at the pinnacle of the future classroom without walls with a better understanding of the wired world and the global village.”