Insurance agents must take a set number of Continuing Education courses, generally over a multi-year period. Mostly this is in-person, but web-based learning has really taken off the past few years. I've so far resisted, because I enjoy the interaction and personal touch. My hands down favorite instructor (and this includes myself, as well) is Becky E, who runs a local remediation company. This may sound counter-intuitive, since I'm a life/health guy, but I really enjoy learning about other sides of the business, and Becky is such a natural-born and enthusiastic teacher.
I had been signed up for a couple of her classes this Spring, but the Wuhan Flu caused her to re-imagine them as Zoom meetings. As a rule, I don't Zoom, but this sounded like an interesting experience, so I signed up for her ID Theft course, which I took last week.
The content, as usual, was terrific (I always learn something new in her classes), and she did a great job of teaching it (of course). But just as with my recent teledoc appointment, I was underwhelmed with the whole experience. For one thing, even with the chat feature (which allowed for at least some interaction), there was just something missing. Also, and this may well be long-established, the state has made this form of education delivery unnecessarily burdensome:
For example, in-person classes require only that one show up and stay for the class; there is no requirement that one actually pay attention (now, it would be rude not to, but there's no rule requiring that). Also, one signs in and out of the class only at the beginning and end; there is no requirement to sign in and out at each 10 minute break.
How does this differ under the TeleCE model?
Well, each hour one is required to respond to 3 polling questions (and these have nothing to do with the course, only to prove that you're still there). And one must sign out at each break, and then back in when class resumes. Yes, these are little things, but one gets the sense that the state, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to be as petty as possible in permitting us proles to use this advanced, almost magical technology.
Anyway, Becky and Co did their usual terrific job, especially impressive given the circumstances. As for moi, pretty sure I've now participated in both my first, and my last, TeleEd course.
I had been signed up for a couple of her classes this Spring, but the Wuhan Flu caused her to re-imagine them as Zoom meetings. As a rule, I don't Zoom, but this sounded like an interesting experience, so I signed up for her ID Theft course, which I took last week.
The content, as usual, was terrific (I always learn something new in her classes), and she did a great job of teaching it (of course). But just as with my recent teledoc appointment, I was underwhelmed with the whole experience. For one thing, even with the chat feature (which allowed for at least some interaction), there was just something missing. Also, and this may well be long-established, the state has made this form of education delivery unnecessarily burdensome:
For example, in-person classes require only that one show up and stay for the class; there is no requirement that one actually pay attention (now, it would be rude not to, but there's no rule requiring that). Also, one signs in and out of the class only at the beginning and end; there is no requirement to sign in and out at each 10 minute break.
How does this differ under the TeleCE model?
Well, each hour one is required to respond to 3 polling questions (and these have nothing to do with the course, only to prove that you're still there). And one must sign out at each break, and then back in when class resumes. Yes, these are little things, but one gets the sense that the state, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to be as petty as possible in permitting us proles to use this advanced, almost magical technology.
Anyway, Becky and Co did their usual terrific job, especially impressive given the circumstances. As for moi, pretty sure I've now participated in both my first, and my last, TeleEd course.
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