Week 3: Proof of Learning

This week we read articles and discussed exactly what we were doing, online discussions. Online discussions play a huge part in online classes, even in a classroom setting I still think they are important. For this class especially, I don't know how it could be done any other way. Without meeting anyone, I was able to connect with my peers and discuss our opinions about the topics of the articles we were reading.

The article, Predicting Learning from Asynchronous Online Discussions, was a good way to explain about the differences of online classes and face to face classes. Asynchronous, which means not occuring at the same time, is what our class was doing. We all have our own schedule and that's why I think an online course really works in the summer time. People were on at different times of the day posting, so we all weren't on at the same time talking. Synchronous means to occurs at the same time. This would be a face to face class. Another example of  synchronous would be a course my uncle teaches. He is currently teaching an online/offline class similar to this one at a community college. I was talking to him about it and it was interesting to hear how other teachers use the internet for their own classes. He has a actual class two days a week and then students are also suppose to post on a discussion board a couple times a day. He said he’s kind of getting sick of reading all the posts but it’s a good way to make sure they are doing what they need to. Sometimes instead of having a live class, they do a type of live conference on the computer. I am not sure how it works but it uses web cams and he teaches the class that way. I thought that was so cool. If our class was like that it would have be more time set, so we wouldn’t have the freedom to come on when we want. 

This week I have been researching to find a solid direction to go with my research project. Earlier this week I created a annotated bibliography to start me off.  The focus of my project is on how the medical field is using technology to cure cancer. Technology and medicine have come a long way over the years and it only makes sense that we put them together and do some good. Cancer affects almost 12 million people in the United States. The most common type of treatment for cancer is surgery, chemo, and radiation therapy. The Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada have introduced a $6 million tumor-fighting machine. This machine is a CyberKnife radio surgery machine. The machine is able to treat hard to reach tumors. The purpose of this study is examined how the medical field is using technology to treat cancer and if it will be successful in the future. I plan to use the documentary research approach and listen to the stories of people I know cancer, or research people experiences and stories with their type of treatment. I plan to present my research in a research report. I felt that I feel more comfortable with writing a typical print report, because that would be the best way to express what I discover. I hope to include interviews in the report, too. I want to be creative as I can with my report by adding charts or pictures to add something to it.