Tapped In Event

This week I attended an event on the Tapped In website called "Learning from Lyrics." I have to say I was disappointed in the event. There were only 2 people attending, other than myself and the instructor. The discussion was very slow and uneventful, and amounted to the instructor sharing 2 links to websites where he had posted lesson plans and his students' resulting projects. The projects themselves were interesting and insightful, and I enjoyed viewing his students' projects. I think the content that was provided was good, and I enjoyed that aspect of the event. However, the discussion itself was not at all dynamic in any way. I could probably have found equally interesting lesson plans by spending the time doing an internet search on my own. The group dynamic of a classroom or other professional development event was missing from this event. I personally have always enjoyed group discussions, and other ways of interacting with and learning from my peers, far more than lectures. Because of this I am so far having a difficult time enjoying online learning environments. I am hoping that the dynamics of our class will continue to improve as the weeks continue, and that our online class meetings will become more dynamic. Part of the problem seems to be the tool itself; there is so much involved with learning to learn in an online environment that it seems there isn't much learning going on. This felt like the case in both our online class and the Tapped In event. However, our class improves in technological skills every week, so I imagine that very soon this will no longer be an issue. I am hoping at that point to see group dynamics and other traditional classroom elements play out in the online environment. Overall, I still am preferring the traditional classroom environment, and consider the internet and technology to be useful as supplements or tools, and not replacements for meeting face-to-face with other people.