The three pieces of information from the syllabus that caught my interest was:

  1. An asynchronous course
  2. Using OER/ZTC materials
  3. The Writing Portfolio

I have had this kind of asynchronous courses before, but they have little different. In my mechanical course, professor will upload his teaching videos every day, you have to watch the video which count as participation. And during the exam time, the professor will be online so that if you have any question you can ask. But in my history course, you never see the professor, you just have to finish what the professor assigned to you. I think the benefit of the asynchronous courses is it makes your time more freely, so you can manage your study time better and make plans ahead. However, I have concerns about the online classes, such as internet, equipment and feedback. Firstly, when I was finishing my final exam last semester, the internet did not work suddenly right before I submit my exam. I was terrified at the time. Fortunately, I have a friend can login to my CUNY account to submit for me. Secondly, there are a lot of students do not have perfect equipment the teacher required. For example, my teacher asked me to present in class, but I do not have a microphone at the time. Lastly, comparing to the traditional teaching, asynchronous courses will not get the feedback from the professor immediately. So I’m worry about the learning efficiency reduced. Although the online learning is going to be hard, the safety and health of us is the most important thing.