Response from "A Conceptual Model for Unferstanding Self-Directed Learning in Online Environments"

I think “A Conceptual Model for Understanding Self-Directed Learning in Online Environments” is a very useful and interested article. The authors Song and Hill tell us how is self-directed learning (SDL) important to the people and what is the relationship between SDL and the online learning.

I am taking 5 courses and work almost everyday now. The main reason to choose this course is convenience. I don’t have to come to school everyday and I can do my assignment whenever I have time. However, in this situation, the SDL plays a very important rule. The students must have high level independent ability. Also, they should do all the work, including reading, writing and thinking on their own initiative. Self-directed learning is not a new topic for us. Since the first time we went to school, the teacher has taught us to do the homework by ourselves. When we became older, the teacher told us to read some extracurricular text book in order to get better knowledge. The purpose for doing those is not only to get better grades but to improve our SDL. As a last year graduated student, I believe that the SDL is not only useful for the study. It is also very important for the future work.

Taking online courses is the last step to practice the SDL in our school life and it is helpful for future. After reading this article I am all the more affirm that taking online courses is a right choice.

Here is a very fun link. You can do a self-test to see whether or not the online courses are right for you.
http://www.cvc4.org/student_prepare/quizaccess.htm
Have fun!!!!!!

Self- introduction

Hi, everybody. My name is Ai Zheng. I think from the unusual name you can notice that I am not a Canadian. I am an international student from China. My major is Finance. I have studied in Canada for four years. During the four years I have had many different experiences which improved my various skills, such as communication skill, writing skill and cooperation skill. I lived in Calgary for 3 years and went to Mont Royal College there. Last year, I transferred to University of Lethbridge. The reason to choice Lethbridge is because it is a small city which is better for study. I like to live in this city so far. I have many friends and we spend a lot of time together. They are like my brothers and sisters who do not only teach me how to study abroad but also let me know more a bout Canadian culture. We always go gym, listen to the music and go shopping together. I really enjoy my studying life in Canada.

In my opinion the blog should be very useful for online learning. From my own experience, I have my personal blog for many years. Whenever I meet some problem or I need some advices, I write my questions and my worries in my blog. Many people after read my blog would give me some good ideas which helped me to make decision. It is the same idea for online learning. One of the disadvantages of online learning is lack of communication between people. We don’t know anything about our classmates and teacher. The blog makes the distance closer because we can write our thoughts and ideas in our blog. All the people from our class can share their information and give comments to each other. I think it is a good way to know and understand each other. Also, it is a good way to learn more and study more from each other.

It is my pleasure to join our class. I think I will learn a lot from this class. Nice to meet you guys.