Week 5 Reflection

This week was by far the most entertaining. I don’t know why. I liked learning about the process of the course design. I’m still not sure where our team lies in the process, Ali mentioned in her blog we were in the middle of the evaluation part. I think we are evaluating what we ended with in Givercraft and starting over at the design stage for our teacher training. Mia mentions that last semester we didn’t have enough time to create a teacher training and this will help guide teachers. She also mentions how creating a study guide will help teachers during the process and throughout the training. I couldn’t agree more. I think study guides will be great “grab and go” tools to use when needing to solve a problem, can’t get ahold of us (time zone difference)…etc Matthew mentions how it’s important to have a student centered learning experience. In all of my lessons, I ask the question to the students, but have them discuss their solution and answers/problem solving to each other.

            Letting students discuss with each other provides a deeper part of learning. With online courses, it’s important that the instructor doesn’t lecture only and tell the students what to learn. I mentioned this in my response this week, I am truly thankful that during our meeting Dr. Graham gave us ideas or thoughts to think about, but let us design our own training course for teachers. There were no steps or an outline of what we needed to have in the training course. This is our project and I look forward to making it.

            Our team last semester created Givercraft. It’s so neat to think that Givercraft was our design, our thoughts and no one told us the certain requirements that needed to be there. We were able to choose the book, design the scenarios, create the world….. I think with this kind of course design, students will be successful. If they’re only regurgitating the information, they will never remember or learn if they were more involved.

            I read on a peers blog that they were worried to let others complete a certain task for our project. I mentioned in the comment, how I was too uncertain when working in a group. I have never had a good outcome. I always ended up doing most of the work. I can honestly say, with Givercraft everyone who had an assigned task completed it and worked as a wonderful team. I think if we remember the steps to creating an online course and communicate with each other and ask for guidance if needed when designing we will have a product teachers can use for many years down the road.

            There is no I in team. This is so true. Everyone has to be open and communicate with each other. We need to pick tasks that we feel comfortable completing and trust each other. During our needs assessment meeting, I took the initiative and created an agenda for the meeting. This would help us stay on track and think about the outline of our course. While we were creating questions for the needs assessment, I created the survey to send to the teachers. I shared my screen and received positive feedback and suggestions from my peers.

            This kind of collaboration is key to creating a successful product. It was a lot easier creating the survey with everyone being able to view it. If I had to create it on my own, then send to everyone for approval, there would have been some miscommunication and it would have taken extra time to complete.

            I think with the student centered learning we were able to discuss and complete our needs assessment on a timely manner. I hope we can create the rest of the tools for the training with the same process.

            I’m glad we all agreed to video the trainings. It will be difficult to have all of the teachers attend the training due to time zones. We found this to be difficult during our handshake meeting with Givercraft last semester.

            I will use the course design steps in our next meetings and hopefully we will create a product teachers can use for many years.  

Week 5

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: IN WHAT WAY IS THE PROCESS MY GROUP IS USING FACILITATING THE DESIGN OF OUR COURSE? 

            When I started reading this question this week and the required texts, I was wondering what process my group was using. I couldn’t think of a process we were using. It wasn’t until after our meeting on designing the “needs assessment” (instructional design) a process fell into place. The first thing you always want to do when designing a course is figure out what the “learning objective” is.  “Planning the teaching strategies, such as how information will be presented and what activities learners will be expected to do, cannot begin until the objectives and evaluation plan have been prepared” (Moore and Kearsley). We have a good start in designing our course. We know what we expect the teachers to do in the training and will design our course based off of a survey we created to get more information on what specific skill to focus on. It’s important to have a  “common goal and vision of the completed project” (Morrison). It’s also important to to “dedicate constructive and uninterrupted time to plan, design and build” a course (Mesa). I think we will be fine with our course, but it would be nice to have more than two weeks to design a training for teachers to use. This is the most critical part in planning our course. “Careful planning at the course design stage not only makes teaching easier and more enjoyable, it also facilitates student learning” (Eberly).

It’s important when creating a course after outlining the objective to use relevant material. Some material that can be used in a course is, “Video lectures of yourself talking about a topic” (Kirk)  “web pages, films, study guides, books, audio tape, teleconferences and trainings” (Moore and Kearsley).  The best distance education courses I have taken were designed with web conferences, text that could be accessed online, tutorial videos for how to complete an assignment and web pages that were not too cluttered and had enough “white space” to allow me to think of the information and not be “overloaded” (Moore and Kearsley). I also liked how the course was “visually attractive” and easy to follow the requirements.

It’s important to let students collaborate when learning online. Wiki pages, Social Network sites let students share ideas, learn from one another and build from each other. It also gives the instructor time to provide feedback to each student and observe the learning from others.

            I have never taken a course that had a study guide accessible. I think when creating a course a study guide is an important concept to think about creating for students. It’s accessible to anyone and “provides a map of the course and the framework for the other materials to rest on” (Moore and Kearsley).

         I think another important aspect to an online course is to create a unit with short segments for students to complete. In a regular face-to-face classroom, you wouldn’t have students sit in their seats for more than 5 – 10 minutes, depending on the age group.  The reading this week, explained how it’s important to “break each

unit into 15 –20-minute segments of study” (Moore and Kearsley). This will help students concentrate, keep them engaged in the topic, make the information easier to remember and use in their own practice.

            The most important part when designing a course is to think about the participants. Are there any time zones? Will everyone have access to internet or the course documents? I think when creating our course for the teachers, it will be important to have tutorial videos for them to watch on their own time. When we did the handshake meeting for Givercraft, we ended up having three live training sessions. Where this was time consuming and almost impossible to achieve, I think if we had created a training video for the teachers to watch at their convenience it would have been a lot easier. I think after the teachers watch the videos, they can send us a google group and ask questions or tell us some concerns they might have.

         It’s impossible to collaborate with students when dealing with timezones. Video tutorials give access to the material at any time. “Links can be placed in the documents to allow movement throughout the documents or to access external documents” (Moore and Kearsley). I enjoy being able to click on the link from our course site and have access to all the course material in seconds. I think when designing a course, it’s critical the required text and material for the class be easily accessible to the students.

            When designing a course it’s usually done in a group setting with more than “20 people” or by individuals such as the “author-editor model” (Moore and Kearsley), but as I have witnessed with Givercraft, great things come in small groups. We had a group of six who created Givercraft. We have a group of 5 or 6 that will create the teacher-training course. I think it depends on the people involved in the group. If you set your mind to it, anything can be achieved.

Resources

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

Morrison, D. (2013, June 5). Online Learning Insights. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/tag/team-based-instructional-design/

Instructional Design Roles and Responsibilities. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://instructionaldesign.gordoncomputer.com/IDRoles.html

Primary Menu. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://ctl.mesacc.edu/teaching/designing-an-online-course/

Kirk, K. (2013, December 13). Tips for Designing Online Courses. Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/online/design.htm

Design Your Course - Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/

Week 4 Reflection

            This week we talked about the lessons we have learned through OCL. After reading my peers blogs, the lesson that is presented through each blog is organization and training. It’s important to have a successful online course, the class needs to be well organized. Matthew said in his blog, “teachers can’t wing it, I mean they could, but it wouldn’t be a good course.” This is true. With an online course you have to prepare the course materials way in advance, have everything planned out and basically have the whole course outlined before students start completing it. If the class is not organized, it’s difficult for the students to understand the expectations, requirements and learn anything from the course. I despise taking a professional development course for work or a class and at the end, say why did I take this course. Even a presentation from a guest speaker or an all weekend event. I have left so many times saying, well that was a waste of my time. Recently a lot of our professional development trainings at my school, have given me that same thought. With online courses, we need to keep the information relevant.

            Mia said in her blog, online courses should stay relevant and change periodically. Receiving this degree has shown me some classes that were required at the beginning are no longer with the program. Other classes have been added and change has occurred. It’s important to stay relevant with the learning content The director from AKLN, said we need current and relevant courses. It was a little disappointing to hear that only high school credentialed teachers could teach a course. Some of us in the program are only k-8^th certified, so to get a high school credential would mean more classes to take, exams to pass to receive a new certification.

            Ali mentioned how to have a successful online course, teachers need to be trained and know how to teach an online course. Teaching an online course is different than in a classroom based setting. Classes need to be organized and student collaboration needs to occur. Google hangouts allow students to build a relationship with one another and provide student self learning. Twitter sessions, give students the opportunity to collaborate, share ideas and learn new things from one another. Without collaboration, an organized course and a teacher that knows how to teach online, students will not have a successful experience with an online class. When I think of designing my online class, I will have class meetings through google hangout, let students collaborate with each other and have a very organized website where students can access materials and understand the learning objectives and requirements for the class.

Week 4

            

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: WHAT LESSONS MIGHT WE TAKE FROM SUCCESSFUL (AND UNSUCCESSFUL) OCL INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS AND FROM THE CONCEPT OF THE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE (COP)?

            The lessons I took away from the OCL Institutional Innovations and the concept of the community of practice is to have a “a process and product of the highest standards” (Haraism). With the Wikipedia example, anyone can be the editor on the website. Some information found on the website “may contain false or debatable information” (Haraism). It’s important to have a team to keep information correct. Wikipedia has over “75,000” editors that upload consistently to the page. (Wikipedia) It has policies and guidelines to follow when uploading.

            I found that the most important part is collaboration. The Online Communities remind me of MOOC’s. Whether it’s a cMOOC or a xMooc, it’s important to allow others to collaborate and build off from each other’s knowledge. With the Community of Practice, there needs to be a community. Members need to be “engaged and share activities, help each other and share information” (Wenger).

            With collaboration there also needs to be a form of blended learning environment. It’s interesting talking to my colleagues who are taking other courses online. Most of them have discussion boards to write on during the week and respond to other classmates by a certain time. There is no class meetings (google hangout, webex), only reading and then responding to their blog. I am relieved that all my courses have included virtual hangouts, class recordings and discussions with classmates through twitter and weekly blog postings. It used to be where distance learning only included lessons being emailed or by post mail. There was no collaboration or interaction with others who were taking the class.

The online program is based on “collaborative learning,

It uses group discussions and group projects. The pedagogy also encourages students who are educators to reflect on their own educational practice and to work together to generate new insights into teaching and learning that they might apply in their own work” (Salmon and Lawless). Communities are not a new idea. These were the “first knowledge – based social structures” (Haraism). Many people participate in online communities such as social networks. Almost anyone you talk to has or had a facebook account or knows about a social network sight. When we look at a social network, we view it as a real and authentic place. This generation you can find news articles on the site. Whether it’s current research or made up, is up to the community member to decide. We need to understand there are multiple resources and falsified information on the web. It’s important to do our own research.

         This is the same for online communities.  Members can read reviews and be informed if the site provides insightful information. A good check is to ask “ is it alive and is it well”? (Haraism). Are members adding information, current research, discussing ideas and collaborating with each other?  It’s easy to start an online community, but the hard part is sustaining it. With an online community, we also need to create it where anyone in the world can access it and not be on a time constraint.

Resources

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

Wenger, E. (n.d.). Communities of Practice. Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.learning-theories.com/communities-of-practice-lave-and-wenger.html

Wikipedia:About. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About

Online Communities for Educators. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://connectededucators.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/0143_OCoP-Design-Guidelines-March-2011.pdf

Salmon, G. & Lawless, N. (2006). Management education for the twenty- first century. In C. J. Bonk & C. R. Graham (Eds.), The handbook of blended learning (pp. 387–399). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Week 3 Reflection

This week we talked about the roles of discourse, collaboration and technology tools in distance learning. It was an interesting discussion. After reading my peers blogs and comments, there was a large debate about if MOOC’s were actually worth while and increased learning. I do agree MOOC’s give others a chance to learn from one another in a free learning environment. Who say’s nothing is free?

We all came to an agreement that it’s important to have discourse and collaboration. Students are already growing up with the tools we are teaching. They are collaborating, debating, communicating and sharing resources with each other all the time. Students do this in school and when they’re outside of the school environment. Mia, had a spot on response to my blog this week, she said, “by the time your students you have this year enter the workforce, the technologies we use today won't be as efficient any longer! What we can do is not teach to the tech tools but teach the creative problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaborative learning skills they will need no matter what the tools are in 2032!!!” This was so eye opening to me.

            My school recently received mobile laptops for students to use in the classroom. Yes, this is huge to have in a school, but is it relevant? Shouldn’t we be using Ipads, tablets or even a way for students to use their iPhones in class? It doesn’t matter what the tool is, the education system will always be behind. We will always have the tools later to use with our students after they have mastered them. If we explain how to problem solve and think critically with any tool they get access too, we will set our students up to be successful.

            With online courses to be successful, the teacher needs to be the mediator. It’s important for students to share resources, converse and build their knowledge off from one another. When we listen to lectures, students tend to tune out their instructor. I know from experience, in a 3 hour “sitting” class, I barely comprehended the topic from the class. In a 3 hour, intellectual conversation, hands on online course, I can almost comprehend every single moment from the class. This is my way of learning, some others are more auditory and the lecture halls work better for them. This generation of students, is more designed for collaborating, discourse and using technology tools to learn.

            In my future online course, I will have a student be the mediator, run the meeting and provide collaboration, discourse and multiple technology tools to use and learn throughout the course.