I attended the web conference that Dr. Mason hosted this morning. Dr. Mason always does an excellent job of managing the proceedings and fielding questions. It isn’t always easy with the numbers of students attending.
I also felt that the students did a good job of following appropriate etiquette when web conferencing. We all tried to stay on topic and not deviate too much from the conversation strand. Again, this is difficult because we are distance learners. We do not have many opportunities to be in contact with each other, and so we sometimes see a little bit too much socializing during the conferences! This did not happen much at this session, which is helpful when trying to gain insight on the assignments and program requirements.
I may have missed an email, but I would like to see conferences set up only for internship questions. I try to ask these questions at the end of the course conferences, so I don’t distract or take up the time of those students just starting out who really aren’t ready to think about the internship. Even so, I would have found it very helpful to have more regular sessions for just the internship. If I remember, we had some going on last summer, but they stopped soon after. I’m feeling super stressed and very frustrated with myself because I feel I am behind and not ready to begin internship next course.
The conferences are very valuable to our understanding, and usually alleviate the stress of not having a professor right there to question. While our IA’s are always there, and try to talk us down, it isn’t the same as a face to face with them or the professors. The conference allows for this; please continue this opportunity.
