Monday, November 21, 2011
Final Presentation Blogs I commented on ...
Cathy Marziali
Laura Lee
Val Mitchell-Stevens
Rachel Salley
Cora Blades
Tawana Stiff
Kaija Spencer (unable to access)
Lewis Chappelear
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Moving Toward Dynamic Technologies (Blog Post 5) ...
Concept Map
Leslie Moller’s analogy of static versus dynamic technologies using the difference between following a recipe to prepare a meal versus comparing several recipes and tweaking the recipe to make it your own was insightful. She said “If you cook a meal, perhaps reading several recipes as a starting point, but through experimentation you create your own creative recipe by blending and blending and adding ideas you borrowed from previous cooking attempts, you are able to create a new dish” (Laureate, 2008). Reading that analogy guided my reflection on where I am on the static-dynamic continuum as it concerns technology. In my personal, professional, and academic life, I like to try things out for myself. I am a kinestic and visual learner – so what I see and do, I learn and retain. I have created my own way of doing most things using technology, and encourage my adult education computer students to do the same. Even if one makes a mistake, it can be corrected and leads to better learning with the ingenuity it sometimes takes to correct a mistake. I tell my students, “As long as you don’t pour water on the CPU, you can’t break the computers.” This encourages them to try, practice, and develop their own style as beginning students of technology. I do read instructions, but only after I have tried ad nauseum to figure something out on my own. I get a sense of accomplishment when I learn how to use the latest technology with no or minimal help from instructions or others. I consider myself to be on the dynamic side of the continuum scale, and it is exciting to see myself reflected in Moller’s writing.
Leslie Moller’s analogy of static versus dynamic technologies using the difference between following a recipe to prepare a meal versus comparing several recipes and tweaking the recipe to make it your own was insightful. She said “If you cook a meal, perhaps reading several recipes as a starting point, but through experimentation you create your own creative recipe by blending and blending and adding ideas you borrowed from previous cooking attempts, you are able to create a new dish” (Laureate, 2008). Reading that analogy guided my reflection on where I am on the static-dynamic continuum as it concerns technology. In my personal, professional, and academic life, I like to try things out for myself. I am a kinestic and visual learner – so what I see and do, I learn and retain. I have created my own way of doing most things using technology, and encourage my adult education computer students to do the same. Even if one makes a mistake, it can be corrected and leads to better learning with the ingenuity it sometimes takes to correct a mistake. I tell my students, “As long as you don’t pour water on the CPU, you can’t break the computers.” This encourages them to try, practice, and develop their own style as beginning students of technology. I do read instructions, but only after I have tried ad nauseum to figure something out on my own. I get a sense of accomplishment when I learn how to use the latest technology with no or minimal help from instructions or others. I consider myself to be on the dynamic side of the continuum scale, and it is exciting to see myself reflected in Moller’s writing.
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Static and dynamic technologies: by Leslie Moller Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/14936/CRS-WUEDUC8812-3730064/8842_M5_Paper.pdf.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools (Blog Post 4)
Click the link below to access my graphic organizer:
Graphic Organizer
The responsibility of engaging learners falls on the shoulders of the instructor with teacher cognitive, social and teaching presence necessary to facilitate learning. Anderson (2008) said cognitive presence facilitates “serious learning”; social presence “relates to establishing a supportive environment”; and teaching presence “is critical” (p. 344). Engaging learners presents a unique challenge in the online learning environment that requires strategies and tools specialized for that learning modality.
Graphic Organizer
The responsibility of engaging learners falls on the shoulders of the instructor with teacher cognitive, social and teaching presence necessary to facilitate learning. Anderson (2008) said cognitive presence facilitates “serious learning”; social presence “relates to establishing a supportive environment”; and teaching presence “is critical” (p. 344). Engaging learners presents a unique challenge in the online learning environment that requires strategies and tools specialized for that learning modality.
With online instruction, the teacher’s role has shifted to
more of a passive role with the student taking the active role in the learning
process. Siemens said the instructor is
the “network administrator” (Learn Online, 2007) and students use a variety of
technological resources to network (research) to complete assignments.
My graphic organizer shows the instructor as central to the
learning process, providing impetus to engage and involve students in their learning. The instructor establishes
and moderates learning communities, and from learning communities students collaborate
with each other via blogs, wikis, interactive chat programs, discussion boards
and so forth. Learning communities also
provide peer review and interaction that can assist the learner with clarity,
understanding, and personal/professional improvement in writing, critical
thinking, and the like.
The instructor also points the student to online resources
such as libraries, links, bookstores, tutorial and writing centers, as well as
audio, video, whiteboard technology and other electronic resources that can aid
in the learning process. All of these
resources and tools engage and involve the student in his/her own learning and provide
strategies for a productive online learning experience.
References
Anderson,
T. (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB:
Athabasca University Press.
Learn Online. (September 20, 2007). 10 minute lecture – George Siemens –
curatorial teaching. Retrieved
from http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/10-minute-lecture-george-siemens-curatorial-teaching/
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Assessing Collaborative Efforts (Blog Post 3)
Siemens talked about three methods of assessing
collaborative learning as being peer assessment, assessment of online
interaction, and instructor evaluation. Assessment, Siemens said, is a “teaching-based
activity” (Laureate Education, 2008) and when we as teachers assess the
effectiveness of any online learning activity we are in fact “also assessing
ourselves as teachers.” Using all these
assessment strategies an instructor can assess participation in a collaborative
learning community by those three methods – devising some assessment tool
whereby peers can evaluate their peers within the community. In one of the many learning groups I
participated in as an online undergraduate student, we were given an evaluation
form at the end of the assignment where we assessed the involvement and
participation of the other members of the group (and they assessed us). Our completed forms were confidential from
each other but were given to our instructor who used them in conjunction with
his other methods of grading students individually on the group project. A fair and equitable assessment of learning
is subjective but can be balanced by assessing “based on metrics from learning
management systems” (Laureate Education, 2008).
These metrics could include how many times the student logged in, how
much time they spent online in group activities, number of posts student
submitted and so forth.
“The role of the
instructor in an online class is to facilitate discussions, interactions with
course content and between classmates, and guide the learners toward constructing
knowledge together” (Marziali, 2011).
Consequently, the success of learning communities depends on the
participation of each member of the community and the active involvement of the
instructor in the community from its inception.
Palloff and Pratt (2005) said instructors should give conflict
management information at the outset, and either the team leader or members of
the team should first attempt to manage any conflict within the group
themselves. If that fails, then they
should ask the instructor to intervene. Instructors
should “slow down” overachievers according to Palloff and Pratt (2005) and, “underachievers
encouraged to get into the game” (p. 34).
Every member of the team should be assessed, by whatever methods
employed, as to their contribution to the overall team functioning whether or
not they want to network or collaborate within their learning community. It is an assignment and should be graded on its
completeness like any other assignment is graded during the course.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008a). Assessment of
collaborative learning. [Video program]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5701364&Survey=1&47=9479398&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008b). Learning communities. [Video
program]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5701364&Survey=1&47=9479398&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Marziali, C.
(2011). Cathy Marziali’s ed tech corner. Module 3: Assessment in an online learning environment.
Retrieved from http://cathymarzialiedtech.blogspot.com/
Palloff, R. M.
& Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating
online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Storyboard of Video Presentation ...
The link below is to my storyboard. This is a first draft so all comments/feedback are appreciated!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Elements of Distance Education Diffusion (Blog post 2)
Collaborative
interaction has been greatly aided in its evolution by technology including the
World Wide Web and the Internet. Because
of these technologies, students are able to form online learning communities
and work together on assignments from remote locations around the world. Recently I attended my first webinars here at
Walden University. The facilitators and
presenters were in their offices and up to one hundred students and prospective
students shared in the information provided from individual homes, offices, or
wherever we had Internet access.
Companies can now meet with their counterparts in other parts of the
world using Internet technology. None of
this could have been done prior to the globalization of the World Wide Web and
Internet in the late 1990s.
The availability of software
such as Skype and Windows Live Meeting, as well as wikis, blogs, message
boards, and a variety of online learning platforms facilitate collaborative
interaction between learning communities, students and instructors, and presenters
and participating audiences. The quality
of these interactions is greatly enhanced by the ability to collaborate on a
global scale using the technology available today.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The next generation of distance education (Blog post 1)
Distance education, as with any educational platform, needs to adapt to the changing needs of the students it seeks to effect. Simonson’s equivalency theory asserts that every tool available should be used to accommodate the learning styles of diverse online student populations. I suggest that even the strategies need to be adapted for an online learning environment versus the traditional on-ground classroom. I can compare two different speech classes I took. One class was in a traditional classroom setting where we met once a week and presented our speeches. The second speech class I took was in an asynchronous online class. The method of delivering speeches had to be adjusted to accommodate the online modality; however, the class was still effective and I did learn about public speaking from it.
In the same way that one cannot expect every student in an on-ground class to learn the same way, neither should be expected of online students. Diversity in the learning modality needs to be considered to ensure equivalent learning of subject matter, as well as differentiated instruction to accommodate varying learning styles.
While distance education in higher education is my primary focus, I recognize that K-12 schools are entering the virtual world of education also. Educators need to exploit the possibilities made possible by the Internet and online learning to implement instructional design that will meet the changing needs of this learning genre. If student needs are not met by one institution or learning platform, they will go to another. This should be the bottom line motivation for educational institutions to research and develop instructional design models that will meet the needs of the diverse online student population K-12 and postsecondary.
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