As a third Career Student I came back to College NMC and the Great Lakes Maritime Academy to fulfill a "dream". As a retired Naval Officer, I was placed in the Supply Corps due to first my background degrees in business and secondly because my vision was subpar for being in the line organization of the Navy and thirdly because it was a viable career path for women due to its "billeting" (job assignments) being assigned to positions that were of a Non-combatant type. At the time I entered the Navy women were legally barred from assignment to position on any vessel or aircraft classed as combatant. At the time of my entry into the Navy until near the end of career in the Navy this legality existed. I have always desired to serve for the good of others; thus my military career and then my teaching in a correctional setting for Ashland University and the State of Ohio. Now it is time to fulfill my desire to serve others but to take on the challenge of learning to "drive the ship." I then enrolled in the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in 2018. I completed my training and have served as a Third Mate onboard the Schools Training ship over the last three years. I hold a MBA in Business with an emphasis in Accountancy and an Interdisciplinary Doctoral PhD in Math, Business, and Education with an emphasis in Math Education.
Prior to my return to NMC/GLMA I had only personally taken classes that were of an independent/Socratic style or hybrid style course but have been involved in teaching and learning as an instructor in all types of learning settings as technology has developed over the years. Personally, I find it somewhat challenging to learn in an online setting due to the nature of its isolation from spontaneous classroom and group learning that goes on "automatically" in the live class setting. Other students think of questions to ask that either I didn't even know to ask or didn't know how to ask. Or as the discussion goes on in the classroom, I find there is something I thought I knew but didn't have the full understanding of and now I get it more thoroughly. Online learning does allow the student to accelerate and learn at their own pace. Sometimes faster and sometimes slower. That is a very good thing. It is slower in that you have to think about and provide your spontaneous thoughts through many times a different venue; either the written word or through a video or video chat; both of which may take some time to get "into production-on the paper or on the screen." For me the face-to-face seems to be the fastest way to gets things done. That's because it's what "I'm used to." I'm sure some students feel this way as well. So, my challenge and your challenge as a student is to embrace the "best of both worlds; the best we can. We ALL learn differently and at different speeds at different times. Think of this type of learning in the positive. I envision online learning as a chance to get what I couldn't get in the face-to-face classroom (I can watch it over again or read it over again) all due to the professor going over something too fast. I also look at it as a way to jump ahead because the professor in a face-to-face setting is going too slow as well. So just think of the online version of a face-to-face class as the "electronic cut-and-paste version of the in-class course. If you as a student are struggling don't wait till it's so bad that "the avalanche" is rolling over, you. Reach out to your classmates, form your own smaller study groups either in person or via text, or via group chat, etc. to get the "stuff" done. Also, please reach out to me as needed for clarification and help as well. Quite simply the course overview is all driven by our Course Syllabus. Refer to it frequently and often. Now please let's read through it and let's go over it together "electronically/individually and together" to gain its in-depth objectives for you as a student as well as me as your facilitator.