Week 3

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF DISCOURSE, COLLABORATION AND TECHNOLOGY FOR DISTRIBUTED LEARNING IN ONLINE COURSES?

           

         When you think about the people who take online courses, the majority have used computers before and believe in the process. This is the “first generation to grow up in the digital age, and that makes them a force for collaboration” (Haraism). We educated ourselves about online learning or took a risk to receive higher education. I related to Jennifer’s experience the most. Teaching full time is extremely busy. There is no way any teacher would be able to sit in a classroom for 3 hours and listen to a lecture.  Online courses give an opportunity for further learning, but without driving many miles or sitting in an area for periods of time. The “online classroom is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Students have access to their course any time of the day or

night, from anywhere in the world” (Haraism).

         When I first started this degree, I was planning a summer trip to Scotland. My husband was working there. If I had to take the class in a regular classroom setting, I would not be able to. Online courses give us an opportunity to learn from anywhere.

         While being from a generation that had computers growing up, gave me the advantage to complete an online course. This generation of students, they live with their technology tools. iPhones are now alarm clocks, wall calendars are now a digital calendar. I can’t remember the last time I received a hand written paper invitation to a party. All of the ones I receive are digital or a facebook invite. Even a friends wedding, was created as a facebook invite. This generation, students are texting, chatting, twittering, using instagram all the time with each other.  They are already collaborating, having debates and conversations with each other.

         I’m on the yearbook committee for my school and a student asked if they could share a google drive document they had created. I was blown away. I recently learned about online docs and the cloud. This student already knew what it was and how to share with other staff members. I asked, if the student needed my email address. She had the email addresses already added into the drive. Now, while some of you might find this not surprising, I have to look back at my childhood years. I didn’t get a cell phone until I was a teenager. This generation first grade students have cell phones to “play” with, but fifth grades students use it to communicate with each other.

         To have a successful online course, it’s important to have collaboration, discourse and multiple technology tools to use. The role of the “teacher is essential to facilitating the process and providing the learners with the resources and kinds of activities that will help them to build knowledge collaboratively, using

the Internet” (Haraism). I think with an online course, there needs to be conversations, debates and freedom for the students to speak freely. The teacher should only be the mediator to keep the meetings running smoothly. Student based learning is what helps us grow the topic we are studying. It makes us think outside the box, hear other ideas and views as well to research more information on it.

         A MOOC is a “model for delivering learning content online to any person who wants to take a course, with no limit on attendance” (Marques). MOOC’s are just starting to become a new way of learning online. They are free and anyone can join and participate. A MOOC a MOOC “integrates the connectivity of social networking, the facilitation of an acknowledged expert in a field of study, and a collection of freely accessible online resources” (McCauley). With a MOOC there is collaboration, discourse and many ways to connect with classmates. One specific tool that can be used to communicate with others is twitter. People can follow each other, read about the new tools to use in online courses. Stay updated with the recent technology. It’s also a way to stay connected to others. Over “the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn” (Siemens). Times have changed and with online learning, we need to stay updated and present a learning environment where students can have conversations, discourse over topics learned in the course and also have many different tools to use in the course. The reading this week, mentioned wiki’s and blogging. This allows students to explain their point of view and also build off of each other’s research. Online learning can not occur without collaboration, discourse and technology. It’s a student centered environment that allows others to explore and build onto each other. 

Resources

Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.

McAuley A., Stewart B., Siemens, G. & Cormier, D. (2010). The MOOC Model for Digital Practice. Retrieved from:https://oerknowledgecloud.org/sites/oerknowledgecloud.org/files/MOOC_Final_0.pdf on January 29, 2015.

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved fromhttp://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm on January 28, 2015.

Marques, J. (2013, June 7). What is a Massive Open Online Course Anyway? MN R Attempts a Definition. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://moocnewsandreviews.com/what-is-a-massive-open-online-course-anyway-attempting-definition/

Reflection Week 2

            This week we read about three different theories. Behaviorism, Cognitive and Constructivist. It was interesting to read my peers thoughts on these three theories. I found many thoughts I could relate to and actually already do in the classroom. To  have a successful learning experience students need to be rewarded to increase learning. Students need to have the opportunity to share, collaborate their understanding, findings and build from one another. The most important, they need to have immediate feedback.

For my philosophy, this is the most important to me. It’s a pet peeve and just hits my buttons wrong, when I complete an assignment and don’t hear back from my instructor(s) until days/weeks later about my assignment. As an educator, we get tied down with politics, excess paperwork to fill out, other assessments, but I constantly try to always assess my students assignments the same day. Now the assessment I’m talking about, is the assignments turned in. Everyday I am constantly assessing my students learning, by observations and informal assessments. If educators don’t assess their students, they will not know what their students learn or how they learn. We will create an unsuccessful learning environment. I liked the suggestion for feedback as audio. I think having text and audio is a great way to give feedback to students.

The other part I would have in my philosophy is learning objectives. To be a successful learner, you need to know what you’re learning about. If students don’t know what they’re learning or why they are learning this. They will not be engaged, remember the content or think it is relevant to them. This week helped guide me in thinking of my own philosophy. Current practices I already do and some that I would want to consider.

Learning Theories

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: HOW DO LEARNING THEORIES MANIFEST THEMSELVES IN ONLINE COURSES?

What theorie(s) fits best with online teaching and learning?  They are Behaviorism, Cognitive and Constructivist Theory. To have a successful online course there needs to be communication, active learning, collaboration and the learner “needs to be actively involved with the teacher and peers in creating knowledge” (Harasim, pg.60) which is known as the Constructivist Theory. The course should provide a “Zone Proximal Development”, which gives students the opportunity to learn, get assistance from the teacher and move towards “retaining and building prior knowledge to complete the work independently” (Harasim, 68). Courses should have certain types of rewards set up for students. This is very minimum to the requirements following a theory, but students respond well to positive feedback, a reward for completing their work, whether it’s a grade, acknowledgement or a badge. With this, teachers can see an improvement in students behaviors and drive for attending the course and completing the work.

During the Behaviorism Theory, Skinner, talked about the “teaching machine” and how it provided immediate feedback for the students. With my own philosophy, I will always give immediate feedback to my students. I think it’s important for students to see their progress, understand how they are learning, set goals and change the process of how I teach depending on my students success. As teachers, we do this all the time in the classroom. We walk around, observe, give informal and formal assessments, we listen to our students and give as much assistance as possible. With an online course, feedback is extremely important. Students need much more “support and feedback in the online environment than in a traditional course. This is because the potential threat that students feel alienated is quite high in the Virtual Classroom” (ion).  These are some strategies to integrate in an online course (Kelly);

1.     Be timely with your feedback – “if you don’t start off at the beginning giving them feedback that has meaning for them, the quality of their work slips.”

2.     Start with a positive message – This is the same as writing comments on a report card. State a positive message first then move into the areas that need improvement when giving feedback.

3.     Help students relate the course to every day life

4.     Use rubrics

Consider various formats for feedback – Most of the feedback is done through a text format. My favorite feedback suggestion is the audio feedback Students can look at their work and listen to the feedback from the instructor. Also, it’s noted to be faster when giving feedback, “Voice feedback reduces the amount of time that it takes to respond to the students [because] most teachers, can talk faster than they can type.”

When I take an online course, I am able to understand the course much better after reading all of the learning objectives and the standards. In my classroom, I always have the learning objectives for each lesson written on the board. The students understand what they are going to learn and know the expectations for the class. With online courses and learning, students should be informed with the objective. The students should be able to recall “prior knowledge” (Harasim, pg.51) and build onto the current information. The instructor should provide an example that students can follow, to understand all of the expectations for the assignment. Students should have an opportunity to collaborate with their peers and demonstrate their learning. The teacher should be available to provide support and feedback if needed. The instructor should complete assessments throughout the course, repeat with a different process, or change the procedure to make sure all students are understanding the content and are successful.

References

Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.

Communication in Online Courses: Strategies for Providing Feedback. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/communication/feedback.asp

Kelly, R. (2014). Feedback Strategies for Online Courses. Faculty Focus. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/feedback-strategies-online-courses/

Reflection Week 1

This week has been very insightful for me. As I returned back to my classroom this week, I started to have thoughts about online courses run through my brain, thoughts of moving away from the classroom setting and starting to teach in a virtual learning space. It was interesting and frightening thoughts at the same time. I love seeing my students faces, talking to them in person, learning from them through their experiences and building rapport with them and their families. I was surprised by one of the studies from the readings this week, that explained how virtual vs. classroom has been the same effectiveness towards students being successful. In my blog, I wrote about my experience with my first distance learning course. It was interesting to read and listen to my peers blogs. Ali created a blog that was auditory. This was incredible. Instead of reading the blog, we listened to her presentation and read the "important facts" she highlighted through her presentation. This was a great example of distance learning. This week, I found that my peers and I had some sort of same first distance learning experience. We also agreed that distance learning has changed, but has made it more convenient to complete a degree while teaching full time. None of us have time to sit in a class and listen to a lecture. We are all self guided learners and like the ability to explore more resources, but also have assurance that if we needed there are others to communicate with or get support from. Distance learning is all about communication and to have conversations with open dialogue. Our twitter meetings, help use explore new ideas, share similar experiences or give resources to try. This can be done in a classroom based setting, but it's more teacher guided than student guided. Distance learning lets us explore and learn from people all around the world. With one click, we can connect to multiple people all over. In a classroom you only connect to the people who live in the same town.

Distance Learning

This made me laugh. The next picture, is an amazing image for distance learning!

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: WHAT THEORIES OR RESEARCH CAN INFORM YOUR CURRENT PRACTICE OF DISTANCE LEARNING?

I have always had classroom based learning. It wasn’t until I took a Geography class while getting my undergraduate, as a distance learning course. This course turned out to be nothing like distance learning today. Distance learning today, is when students must learn to work “well independently and without the constant guidance and monitoring of an instructor, making distance learning a challenge for those who are not easily self-motivated” (Haertela). When I was given my distance course, I had to read the Geography text, complete a few assignments that were sent to me through email and then drive down to the distance education building and take a test for half of my grade.

What I realized while taking this course, is this turned out to be the easiest level, but the most stressful course I had ever taken in my life. The reason, I didn’t have an environment to attend to for the course. I had all of my other classes, which were classroom based and all of their requirements and course work to complete. It was very easy to forget about the distance learning course I had. To pass this course, I made sure to put sticky notes all over my desk to complete the assignments and take the test. I told myself I would never do an online course ever again. Well that didn’t last very long. A year later, I started my masters in Educational Technology and realized all of my classes were going to be distance learning. I have loved everything about technology since I was a child, except the distance learning course I had in college. So, I decided to pursue my dream and take my next distance learning course. I was nervous at first, but when I started my first class, my image of distance learning completely changed.

The first thing I realized is, with distance learning there needs to be a conversation, a “guided didactic conversation” (Holmberg). This makes the students feel a “personal relationship between the teacher and the learning parties” (Moore). I have never met my classmates or professors personally face to face. With the distance learning I have been apart of, I feel as if I’ve known them for years. The webcam meetings, Google Hangouts, Webex and twitter has helped me create a relationship I probably would have never had in a classroom setting. I am able to see my peers and instructor, have a conversation with them and feel confident in asking questions. Sometimes a classroom setting, students are conscious about their comments and stay silent the whole time. Furthermore, “participation may be less intimidating and the quality and quantity of interaction may be increased in online classes” (Ya Ni).  With distance learning, I always feel that if I have a question I can reach out to someone in an instant for support.

I have noticed from the distance learning courses vs. the one I had in college, I’m more motivated to complete it. I want to view my peers thoughts and converse more about the content we are learning or games and lessons we are designing. Distance learning gives access to “instructional videos, CD-ROM programs, or interactive "real time" lectures and office hours online via webcam” (Hassenburg). It helps “enhance the overall writing performance when students write on blogs and promotes participants autonomous monitoring of their own writing” (Moore).

I remember my very first time, I read the requirements for my first class with my masters degree, I was shocked to watch an online module of the course. This was nothing I had ever seen or thought was possible. If you ask if it’s shocking now, I will show you my own online module I have created for my students. It’s amazing to me how well distance learning is compared to a classroom setting.  Moore and Kearsley, explain through all the research studies, that classroom setting vs. distance learning is about the same with students success rates. If you asked me if I believed this theory, years ago, when I took my first distance learning course, I probably would have laughed and asked for the data. Now, I absolutely believe the results are true and look forward to watching how distance learning evolves in years to come.

Resources

Haertela, G. D., Walberg, H. J., & Haertela, E. H. (1981). Socio‐psychological environments and learning: A quantitative synthesis. British Educational Research Journal, 7(1), 27–36.

Hassenburg, A. (2009). Distance Education Versus The Traditional Classroom. Berkeley Scientific Journal, 13(1), 13(1), 10-10. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3859m52h

Ya Ni, A. (n.d.). Comparing the Effectiveness of Classroom and Online Learning: Teaching Research Methods. San Bernardino: California State University. Retrieved from www.naspaa.org on January 13, 2015

Moore, M.G., and Kearsley, G. (2011).  Distance Education:  A Systems View of Online Learning, 3^rd Edition.  Belmont: Cengage Learning.