Courage in an Online Course: Developing the Creativity You Need To Succeed
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
If you’re taking an online course for the first time, you’re probably nervous about it, and are not quite sure how to proceed. Don’t worry. You’re not alone. Everyone who has taken a course has felt uncertain and out of their comfort zone. Sometimes it is due to the unfamiliar technology, and sometimes it is due to uncertainty about the human interactions in the course – with the instructor and with other students.
Remember that you’re creating a new world for yourself, and your new world has new possibilities and potential. As you move forward, you will gain momentum and strength from the creative force, all of which means you will be well equipped to handle changes and opportunities in the future. But, it’s not easy.
In many ways, taking an online course is a reflection of what is going on in our world, as we continue to be in flux with technology, the workplace, the global economy, and our sense of who we are in the world.
These are scary times. However, one can argue that all times are scary. You’re under a lot of pressure to be successful.
Being successful is not easy – you’re required to have a number of skills, and it’s often hard to find a mentor or a friend who can walk you through the basics. You need a guide who can give you confidence and can steer you away from pitfalls such as poor
time management, poor sequencing of courses, and inadequate preparation (textbook, technology, connectivity, prerequisite courses).
But, where is such a guide? You’ll find guides in all shapes and forms as you move forward in the world, and in your online course. Sometimes your guide will be your advisor. Sometimes your guide will be a fellow student.
More times than not, you will be your own guide.
To be your own guide requires courage; specifically, the courage to create.
In his landmark book, The Courage to Create (1975), author Rollo May discusses four types of courage, which he considers essential for creativity and for living in the world. It’s amazing that a book published so long ago, roughly contemporaneous with then-popular, but ultimately ephemeral works such as
Future Shock, I’m OK, You’re OK, The Peter Principle, and others. Rollo May’s work is timeless because he connects with and responds to dominant approaches to psychology and a kind of existentialism that resonates with a world in constant flux.
May looks at what it takes to maintain a condition of positive creativity in the first chapter of The Courage to Create. They break down into four types of courage: physical, moral, social, and creative. In many ways, the four types of courage apply to online courses (as well as to the
Web-based world in general).
Physical Courage: This does not relate to violence or combat, but it has to do with the physical body. It also involves skills that require dexterity and coordination. In earning an
online degree, you are required to have physical courage as you use your computer, and perhaps other technologies – cell phones, digital cameras, mp3 players, GPS devices, and more.
Moral Courage: For this, you are required to take a stand against violence, and take a stand for what is good for the community. It often requires one to get involved. In an online course, you may need to take a position as you write essays or a research paper. You will be asked to look at a topic from many points of view, and it is important for you to be able to determine your own values, ethical stance, and personal behaviors when confronted by real-world situations.
If you’re in a
nursing program, you may be asked to look at your values with respect to terminally ill patients who request euthanasia. If you’re in a
business course, you may be asked to discuss sustainable business, and how to make sure your choices are environmentally sustainable.
Social Courage: Risk yourself, and be willing to develop supportive social relationships within the course. You will find that one of the best ways to learn in an online course is in conjunction with others. This requires, however, that you confront some of your deepest fears – those of vulnerability and abandonment. Do not abandon yourself. As you turn in your work, share your thoughts and work publicly, and process the thoughts and comments of others, it is very important to develop self-confidence and self-reflection.
Courage means slowing down and telling yourself you will not rush to judgment – either of others or of yourself. Give yourself second, third, fourth chances – as many as you need. Be patient with yourself. Develop positive self-talk, and recognize how your words affect your mood. Focus on developing an “I can do it!” attitude, and, similarly, find ways to foster a “You can do it!” mood in collaborate online activities, including discussion boards, Twitter, wikis, blogs, podcasts, and more.
Creative Courage: According to May, creative courage involves discovering and appreciating new forms, patterns, and symbols. For May, the reason this is a type of courage is because it asks us to question and shake the pillars of our own mental structures.
Do you assume something to be the case? Ask again. What causal relations do you assume to be true (without even questioning)? Where are there familiar patterns or configurations of knowledge that you accept (while rejecting the unfamiliar). Rollo May would ask you to take a second look.
Question your assumptions. Propose new or different patterns. Suggest a different causal relationship. As you do so, you will become aware that the limits of your world have shifted out – your world, and your possibilities – have just expanded.
Courage in online learning gives you a chance to forge a new reality. As you do so, you change the parameters of your own conditions of living. You will also be adept at change, and at identifying opportunities as they present themselves to you. Rollo May’s insights into courage and the elements needed for creative minds and acts resonate now more than ever.
Bibliography
May, Rollo. 1975. The Courage to Create. New York: W. W. Norton. Pedigo, Susie. 2009. Book Summary of The Courage To Create.
http://www.intuitive-connections.net/2004/book-couragecreate.htm.
Accessed May 15, 2009.