Getting into NOW

This is a note I wrote when Iwas unravelling my account in NOW

I was not able to get into NOW as I did not have a password. I filled in the prescribed form many times but nothing happened. It was so exasperating. For many days I avoided taking time out to straighten out my account in NOW. I wonder why the resistance? I finally decided I had to try something. Reaching out and writing to the support desk helped, following it up everyday also finally got me to the solution- I was not filling in my pin code. It was not a mandatory field in the form but apparently it was needed to access my password finally. This is inconsistent. And all the time I felt stupid at not being able to access my password. It is this feeling of helplessness when I come up with a problem that I think made me resist trying to straighten out my account. It is this feeling of not being in control of the process, of feeling stupid, of not knowing enough, that seems to be a major hurdle to overcome in e-learning.
Learning 1: when I develop e-learning material for others I should be sensitive to this feeling of ‘not being in control.’ Navigation needs to be kept simple. The same feeling hit me when I entered the learning room and could not find My Home to write in My Profile.

Learning 2: In communication or instructions, it is important to indicate the position of a button in the screen. … ‘to reach the My Home button look for it on the top left corner of the screen.’

Being at a distance

This feeling was real till I entered the learning room in NOW. Once I opened the discussions it felt suddenly real, the opportunity to observe people in the module, listen to what they were saying, and then adding my own responses felt REAL and not distant. After work, returning home I fixed up my computer to see if Pete had put in a comment- he had. This felt good. I think to keep the experience real it will be important to keep posting something on the discussion forum, invite interactions from others and wait for them. The fear of not connecting seems almost like it would happen in a normal classroom.