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Online Learner Profiles: Daniel M.

Profiles of Real Online Learners

Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Daniel M., Master's in Information Systems

Distance learning has gone global—and Daniel Maestro is just one success story.

Daniel is a graduate of Brazil's Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus de Bauru, where she received her undergraduate degree in Information Systems.

Now, she's continuing this education at the school and pursuing a graduate degree—levering distance education to get it done.

For Daniel, distance learning fits into her busy schedule, too, as she is already working in the information technology industry.

But she couldn't have done it without the University of Georgia's partnership with Utah State University. They've created the U.S.-Brazil Consortium on Technology Integration.

The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and the Brazilian Ministry of Education's Fundacao Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES).

The program includes Instructional Technology professors from University of Georgia and Utah State University teaching courses to Brazilian students at Universidade Federal do Ceará and Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil. To implement the program, professors use multiple technologies such as Live Classroom from Wimba.

We asked Daniel about how this innovative program has helped her attain her career goals.

What is the hardest part of distance learning?

For me, the hardest part is organizing the time I need for my studies. With traditional classes, the teacher controls the relationship between the time needed for the class meeting and the additional time of study required of the student. [The teacher determines when the students meet for class.]

In distance learning, each student is responsible for maintaining all activities in a day. This flexibility, it is a "two-edged sword". While it provides students with autonomy and independence to organize themselves, a less mature student ends up losing [out by being disorganized and potentially not being able to keep up with the required course work].

There are two things I see as crucial factors for a student who attends a course online. If the student does not have access to certain technologies that were used for the conduct of an activity, how he can accomplish them? [i.e. If a student does not have the right software or computer equipment, how can he or she complete a project or course successfully?]

All the participants need to be careful of what and how they will talk to each other. Generally, communication is more textual, reducing our conversation to the textual interpretation by each participant who reads your text. [Without intonation and body language, communication in an online course can be difficult.]

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