Reflection on Practical Learning Research for the Math Classroom
December 3, 2015
"Join Mathtoons CEO, Kristin Garn, and Mathematics Professor, Dr. Raymond Spiteri, as they outline their research looking at building math skills and greatly improving learning outcomes in the math classroom, discuss the best use of technology in the BYOD (bring your own device) math classroom, and demonstrate the use of Mathtoons Media tools."
This was an amazing webinar tonight. I actually spent several hours this afternoon in my MOOC course, "Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects" and recognized many of the vocabulary and concepts that were mentioned in the webinar from the MOOC course. I believe it will prove invaluable to teach math students how to practice and learn before giving them math to learn. There are so many misconceptions about the best ways to learn, and there are also so many bad feelings toward math concepts in general because they are less concrete and therefore harder to learn than many other concepts taught in school. It is important to assure students that they are "normal" and can learn math just like everyone else can, just by following effective steps of studying and practice. When they begin to see success, they will build confidence, and the self-fulfilling prophecies will change from defeating influences to constructive influences. The latest research on teaching and learning is beneficial, not only to educators, but to students as well. They need to understand what they are learning and why in order to process the concepts better and internalize the math more fully. Techniques and effects like framing, the growth mindset, the testing effect, the retrieval effect, spaced repetition, chunking for memory, deliberate practice, and affirmative testing are needed for the students to build their math skills in the way that political programs are hoping American students will be able to excel in STEM. Standardized tests will show whether the practice techniques taught on Practi.com are able to enhance the learning capabilities of a cohort of students.
December 3, 2015
"Join Mathtoons CEO, Kristin Garn, and Mathematics Professor, Dr. Raymond Spiteri, as they outline their research looking at building math skills and greatly improving learning outcomes in the math classroom, discuss the best use of technology in the BYOD (bring your own device) math classroom, and demonstrate the use of Mathtoons Media tools."
This was an amazing webinar tonight. I actually spent several hours this afternoon in my MOOC course, "Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects" and recognized many of the vocabulary and concepts that were mentioned in the webinar from the MOOC course. I believe it will prove invaluable to teach math students how to practice and learn before giving them math to learn. There are so many misconceptions about the best ways to learn, and there are also so many bad feelings toward math concepts in general because they are less concrete and therefore harder to learn than many other concepts taught in school. It is important to assure students that they are "normal" and can learn math just like everyone else can, just by following effective steps of studying and practice. When they begin to see success, they will build confidence, and the self-fulfilling prophecies will change from defeating influences to constructive influences. The latest research on teaching and learning is beneficial, not only to educators, but to students as well. They need to understand what they are learning and why in order to process the concepts better and internalize the math more fully. Techniques and effects like framing, the growth mindset, the testing effect, the retrieval effect, spaced repetition, chunking for memory, deliberate practice, and affirmative testing are needed for the students to build their math skills in the way that political programs are hoping American students will be able to excel in STEM. Standardized tests will show whether the practice techniques taught on Practi.com are able to enhance the learning capabilities of a cohort of students.
Fall 2015; Teaching and Learning in Online Distance Education
Sept 12, 2015
There are so many thoughts that I have been mulling over during the summer concerning teaching and learning that some are spilling over into the beginning of this course. I have been thinking about parent involvement in teaching and student participation in learning. First of all, finally all of my children are attending school, although the youngest is only for half a day. I am getting involved in the PTA this year for the first time -- in three different schools -- because I finally have some time to volunteer in education. I have been very involved in education from home since my 18-year-old could play a computer educational game at the age of 3, but many of the parents in the neighborhood of our bus stop have to be coaxed and bribed into collaborating with their children's teachers to raise their children's academic success. They "have a life" outside of their family. What I was taught by word and example growing up is that our family is our life and that education is the key to the opportunity for success. This is a completely different thought process that leads to a completely different result in life. Second, I have been contemplating the problem of my 8-year-old fighting against learning. Her 8-year-old half sister resisted learning years ago while demanding that her birth mother cared enough to get involved in her learning. Now that she has finally accepted what is, she is learning by leaps and bounds while my daughter apparently has gone on strike. Somewhere Jannah picked up the idea that learning is not cool. Her personality includes quite a bit of laziness, so wherever her natural intelligence takes her, that is as far as she desires to go, and no further! In the years that I have taught and tutored, I have seen the drastic difference between those with natural ability and those with work ethic and perseverance. Those who participate in their own learning more tend to get much more out of it. So I pray that my children become motivated to take control of their own learning and that I am able to continue to be the supportive parent that I desire to be for them.
There are so many thoughts that I have been mulling over during the summer concerning teaching and learning that some are spilling over into the beginning of this course. I have been thinking about parent involvement in teaching and student participation in learning. First of all, finally all of my children are attending school, although the youngest is only for half a day. I am getting involved in the PTA this year for the first time -- in three different schools -- because I finally have some time to volunteer in education. I have been very involved in education from home since my 18-year-old could play a computer educational game at the age of 3, but many of the parents in the neighborhood of our bus stop have to be coaxed and bribed into collaborating with their children's teachers to raise their children's academic success. They "have a life" outside of their family. What I was taught by word and example growing up is that our family is our life and that education is the key to the opportunity for success. This is a completely different thought process that leads to a completely different result in life. Second, I have been contemplating the problem of my 8-year-old fighting against learning. Her 8-year-old half sister resisted learning years ago while demanding that her birth mother cared enough to get involved in her learning. Now that she has finally accepted what is, she is learning by leaps and bounds while my daughter apparently has gone on strike. Somewhere Jannah picked up the idea that learning is not cool. Her personality includes quite a bit of laziness, so wherever her natural intelligence takes her, that is as far as she desires to go, and no further! In the years that I have taught and tutored, I have seen the drastic difference between those with natural ability and those with work ethic and perseverance. Those who participate in their own learning more tend to get much more out of it. So I pray that my children become motivated to take control of their own learning and that I am able to continue to be the supportive parent that I desire to be for them.
Sept 14, 2015
This week in Teaching and Learning in Online Distance Education, we will be studying historical and theoretical foundations. I am interested in adding to my understanding of the history of distance education that I gained in OMDE 601. Since taking that course last Fall, I have also been reading several books that have contributed to my understanding.
For example, I just read in Carl Ernst's Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World (2003) the concept that Globalization of education should probably be named Westernization of education. The term "globalization" brings to mind an equally collaborative effort that is balanced from around the globe. However, when one looks closely at what culture of education is being put online for others to access, one realizes that it is the educational thought process of the First world countries. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this. After all, the First world countries are the ones with the most Internet access for putting education online and for accessing it there. Notwithstanding, it is important to label things correctly so that others will receive the correct image. Also, Ernst (2003) asserts that it does seem that colonialism is still at work in the contemporary world and is very much part of the thought process of those in the countries comprising the West.
Sept 15, 2015
Most of those teaching in higher education never had the benefit of learning how to teach. I hope that is changing, but my guess is that research and publishing still run the show. For me, it wasn't until I started taking these courses through the MDE program that I finally learned more about adult learners and how distance education leads the charge in constructivist and collaborative learning. This observation concerning higher education professors never learning how to teach was woven through most of my discussions last spring. I was taking OMDE 608 Learner Support in DE and taking two courses concerning technology in secondary classrooms at the same time, noticing the huge difference between the training provided for grade school teachers and higher education teachers. I am considering pursuing this concept in a Doctorate beginning in the spring of 2016 and postponing the rest of the OMDE classes for the year it should take to work on that degree. We will see -- I have until the end of Nov before I have to really ponder my next move in this educational chess game :) I wonder what impact OMDE 606 and 610, my current courses, will have on my thoughts by then.
This week in Teaching and Learning in Online Distance Education, we will be studying historical and theoretical foundations. I am interested in adding to my understanding of the history of distance education that I gained in OMDE 601. Since taking that course last Fall, I have also been reading several books that have contributed to my understanding.
For example, I just read in Carl Ernst's Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World (2003) the concept that Globalization of education should probably be named Westernization of education. The term "globalization" brings to mind an equally collaborative effort that is balanced from around the globe. However, when one looks closely at what culture of education is being put online for others to access, one realizes that it is the educational thought process of the First world countries. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this. After all, the First world countries are the ones with the most Internet access for putting education online and for accessing it there. Notwithstanding, it is important to label things correctly so that others will receive the correct image. Also, Ernst (2003) asserts that it does seem that colonialism is still at work in the contemporary world and is very much part of the thought process of those in the countries comprising the West.
Sept 15, 2015
Most of those teaching in higher education never had the benefit of learning how to teach. I hope that is changing, but my guess is that research and publishing still run the show. For me, it wasn't until I started taking these courses through the MDE program that I finally learned more about adult learners and how distance education leads the charge in constructivist and collaborative learning. This observation concerning higher education professors never learning how to teach was woven through most of my discussions last spring. I was taking OMDE 608 Learner Support in DE and taking two courses concerning technology in secondary classrooms at the same time, noticing the huge difference between the training provided for grade school teachers and higher education teachers. I am considering pursuing this concept in a Doctorate beginning in the spring of 2016 and postponing the rest of the OMDE classes for the year it should take to work on that degree. We will see -- I have until the end of Nov before I have to really ponder my next move in this educational chess game :) I wonder what impact OMDE 606 and 610, my current courses, will have on my thoughts by then.
Sept 17, 2015
Distance education isn't just about making sure classes are available to those that are physically remote, but providing the support to those classes as well. That means getting creative with textbooks, readings, research materials, writing support, advising...everything! One of the most important avenues for this is the online libraries. According to Thomas Huelsmann, instructor of OMDE 606, UNISA (University of South Africa) still runs many library buses to reach rural learners. But UNISA has an excellent online library. The purpose of the library buses which have also computers on board is also to train students to be able to access the digital library more efficiently.
Distance education isn't just about making sure classes are available to those that are physically remote, but providing the support to those classes as well. That means getting creative with textbooks, readings, research materials, writing support, advising...everything! One of the most important avenues for this is the online libraries. According to Thomas Huelsmann, instructor of OMDE 606, UNISA (University of South Africa) still runs many library buses to reach rural learners. But UNISA has an excellent online library. The purpose of the library buses which have also computers on board is also to train students to be able to access the digital library more efficiently.
Sept 19, 2015
This is the beginning of module 1 for the class, Historical and Theoretical Foundations. I have read the first chapter in the textbook, which gives a background for the learning theories I have learned about in previous courses. I never heard of epistemology, the study of knowledge, and it was a new concept for me to think about. I guess I believe that knowledge comes from different sources. Before last year, I never considered knowledge as something that could be created by people, and it has taken an entire year of being exposed to the concept and practicing it to really submit to the fact that it is true. It reminds me of the course I studied as an undergraduate 20 years ago, Physics 2. Though I was minoring in Physics, there were some parts of Einstein’s “new” physics that I did not understand/believe. Especially the possibility of shrinking and expanding time. He discovered this concept mathematically, not physically. And I believed at that point that time was one of the absolutes of the universe. Since then, I have seen and heard enough explanation and evidence that I have relented and admitted that time can be squeezed and stretched. In the same manner, over the past year I have learned to accept that people create new knowledge that society did not have before the event which created the knowledge. However, I still believe that all knowledge is ultimately created by God, and He allows what He will to be learned by humans. And I believe that there are certain facts that existed in ancient civilizations which remain unchanged today, though our perspective on it may be different. One plus one still equals two, though we now pay attention to the various groups of infinite numbers (where each group has a distinct density) that exist between one and two. Overall, I am not throwing out the old, but including more truth than I had before in my philosophy of learning.
This is the beginning of module 1 for the class, Historical and Theoretical Foundations. I have read the first chapter in the textbook, which gives a background for the learning theories I have learned about in previous courses. I never heard of epistemology, the study of knowledge, and it was a new concept for me to think about. I guess I believe that knowledge comes from different sources. Before last year, I never considered knowledge as something that could be created by people, and it has taken an entire year of being exposed to the concept and practicing it to really submit to the fact that it is true. It reminds me of the course I studied as an undergraduate 20 years ago, Physics 2. Though I was minoring in Physics, there were some parts of Einstein’s “new” physics that I did not understand/believe. Especially the possibility of shrinking and expanding time. He discovered this concept mathematically, not physically. And I believed at that point that time was one of the absolutes of the universe. Since then, I have seen and heard enough explanation and evidence that I have relented and admitted that time can be squeezed and stretched. In the same manner, over the past year I have learned to accept that people create new knowledge that society did not have before the event which created the knowledge. However, I still believe that all knowledge is ultimately created by God, and He allows what He will to be learned by humans. And I believe that there are certain facts that existed in ancient civilizations which remain unchanged today, though our perspective on it may be different. One plus one still equals two, though we now pay attention to the various groups of infinite numbers (where each group has a distinct density) that exist between one and two. Overall, I am not throwing out the old, but including more truth than I had before in my philosophy of learning.
Sept 22, 2015
Saba’s chaos of learning reminds me again of the example I gave concerning accepting Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. I get visions of electrons flying in clouds around atoms in a chaotic manner as I read Saba’s article. Especially on page 4 where I read the term “model builders” to describe learning theorists. There are such complexities to this world (both in the physical world and in the learning world) that each model can only exhibit some of the characteristics that are found to exist. This means that the models are not mutually exclusive but that we need to learn them all and use them in appropriate situations, where the characteristic they model best is needed. It also means that to remain simple, the models only approximate what is happening, rather than replicate each intricate detail. I believe only a Supreme Being can keep track off the smallest details that keep things on track. We can observe and build simple models to help us apply our limited knowledge in the most correct way we know how.
It does make sense to me that learning is motivated in people (a relatively lazy species) by imbalance and even chaos. As I am presented with new information, I automatically sort it into believable and unbelievable. The believable information gets stored in memory associated with the meaning it conveys. The unbelievable information gets thought about, re-studied, talked about, compared, re-evaluated, and judged. It is an imbalance between what I already know and what is being presented as true knowledge that motivates this learning process. In the end, some things are thrown out as still unbelievable, while others are internalized either by assimilation or accommodation. As happened with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, some of the unbelievable stuff stays in my mind for years being processed subconsciously, waiting for more evidence to verify it until one day I find that I believe it!
Saba’s chaos of learning reminds me again of the example I gave concerning accepting Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. I get visions of electrons flying in clouds around atoms in a chaotic manner as I read Saba’s article. Especially on page 4 where I read the term “model builders” to describe learning theorists. There are such complexities to this world (both in the physical world and in the learning world) that each model can only exhibit some of the characteristics that are found to exist. This means that the models are not mutually exclusive but that we need to learn them all and use them in appropriate situations, where the characteristic they model best is needed. It also means that to remain simple, the models only approximate what is happening, rather than replicate each intricate detail. I believe only a Supreme Being can keep track off the smallest details that keep things on track. We can observe and build simple models to help us apply our limited knowledge in the most correct way we know how.
It does make sense to me that learning is motivated in people (a relatively lazy species) by imbalance and even chaos. As I am presented with new information, I automatically sort it into believable and unbelievable. The believable information gets stored in memory associated with the meaning it conveys. The unbelievable information gets thought about, re-studied, talked about, compared, re-evaluated, and judged. It is an imbalance between what I already know and what is being presented as true knowledge that motivates this learning process. In the end, some things are thrown out as still unbelievable, while others are internalized either by assimilation or accommodation. As happened with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, some of the unbelievable stuff stays in my mind for years being processed subconsciously, waiting for more evidence to verify it until one day I find that I believe it!
Sept 24, 2015
I am getting ready to take 3 days off for my holiday, but I wanted to write down some of my thoughts about the "big idea" found in Module One first. I am a testament to the constructivist epistemology and the online collaborative learning theory as I found myself constructing knowledge about epistemologies and learning theories both by independently researching and reading about what others think of the subjects and by participating in online discussions with my classmates reviewing many facets of the material. I was asked some really deep questions in response to my post: which of these epistemologies (objective or constructive) and learning theories (behaviorist, cognitive, constructivist, or collaborative) do I favor, which do I think will best meet the needs of future students, and how can an instructor use one or more of these epistemologies and learning theories effectively. I had to read the questions and take a few days to think about them! I believe this is the best place to record my answers.
1) My tendency is to favor the newest concept that I learn about, as long as it makes sense. I have to work at not dropping the previous theories and practices so easily. So, obviously, I am making mental notes of how this course is an excellent example of both constructivist and online collaborative learning theories. I am enjoying learning in this new way. Last summer when I began my Master's in Secondary Education at a local college, I was startled to discover that teaching strategies had changed so much while I was tutoring and in and out of classroom teaching for 20 years. At the moment I realized the monument of the paradigm shift from teacher-centered to student-centered, I literally despaired of all hope of learning to teach in a completely foreign way. After days of serious reflection, I decided that I could change and learn a basically new profession. That is when I committed to the constructivist and online collaborative learning theories. In the year that followed I have learned how to learn in these ways, but I have also learned in my familiar ways of cognitive practices. I am sure that I could find instances of my learning in behaviorist ways as well. Each theory models a different situation, and each is right in certain circumstances. I must keep all reputable learning theories in mind, though at the moment I am having the most fun with the online collaborative learning one.
2) It is true that knowledge is becoming so abundant that one cannot approach learning it all. And here, by "learning", I mean cognitively learning objective knowledge. I believe that the younger generation is going to learn through constructing knowledge individually and collaboratively, especially online. The digital natives not only are comfortable with online learning in informal situations, but they can become uncomfortable when they are not online. When I was young, we were cautioned to limit our time of passively watching television. Now, I hardly hear anything about that. I assume that research shows that young people are not spending too much time passively watching. I would expect to find that they are interacting with others on electronic devices instead. Another factor is that in the American grade schools, students have been receiving student-centered education for a few years now, depending on the school district. This is supposed to teach them to become critical thinkers and problem solvers rather than knowledge containers. The student-centered practices stem from the constructivist epistemology.
3) Behaviorist learning theory emphasized assessing student learning in terms of measurable objectives. The practice of using objectives is still employed today in distance education. Cognitive learning theory grew in response to the inability of behaviorism to explain and accurately predict social behaviors, focusing more on the thought processes that went into the measurable action. This theory also uses the objectivist view of knowledge, holding that truth exists waiting to be discovered by knowledge-seekers. Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive outcomes and Gagne’s procedures of instruction, similar to a computer program, represent the pedagogies of the cognitive learning theory still in use today (Harasim, 2012). For example, students may learn math facts best by* Reading flashcards,
* Speaking the problem and answer out loud,
* Playing math fact games on the computer,
* Looking at pictures of objects added or subtracted, or
* Manipulating objects to understand what addition or subtraction really is.
No matter which way students learn, the goal is that they have memorized their math facts at the end. If they are allowed to learn in the way in which they learn best, they can do better in school and grow their confidence that they can learn. However, students described how certain knowledge was formed within them in response to their situations and their environment. Thinking about what teachers said or what was written in textbooks was not their only source of knowledge; rather, people learned from reflecting on sensory input in informal learning situations as well.
This gave rise to the constructivist concept of knowledge and learning theory. The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st saw a growth of distance education online as it changed to employing practices catering to the constructivist learning theory, such as project-based activities, increased research assignments, reflection, discussion, and analysis essay assessments (Bates, 2005). More specific constructivist online DE practices include supplementing the teacher’s presentation (usually Power Point uploaded to the Learning Management System (LMS) with teacher-chosen Web resources (ideally multi-media or interactive), holding class discussions online via an LMS, asking students to do Web searches, or using textbook Web sites or accompanying CD-ROMs for multi-media study aids (Bates, 2005). The common thread among constructivist educational practices is that the learning is student-centered rather than teacher-centered. For constructivist learning to operate effectively, distance educators must not overload students with unnecessary information and must provide quick feedback to help ensure learners’ stability (Bates, 2005). Including links to every resource on a topic creates an overwhelming amount of information to access from the course content page, even if some resources are labeled “optional”. An instructor’s role includes sorting information and presenting the best of what s/he determines the students ought to know or access (Lefoe, Gunn, & Hedberg, 2002). Some educators tend to be slow in their feedback. Students lose interest in previous assignments, including feedback, each time they attend class. For the distance learners, this means that every time they access the virtual classroom, they lose a little more interest in that feedback (Lefoe, Gunn, & Hedberg, 2002). Learner stability is based on this feedback, so it is vital for the DE instructor to grade and return assignments immediately.
Common practices in Online Collaborative Learning include virtual simulations, student-led online seminars, online educational games and immersive learning environments, and online global training programs (Harasim, 2012). OCL also includes the Communities of Inquiry framework which “seeks a more integrative understanding and practice of DE through recognizing the importance … of richer, reflective communications amongst teachers and students focused upon the shared pursuit of knowledge” (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010, p. 6). The advent of 2-way communication in DE, replacing teacher to student, allows collaboration both between the learner and teacher and among learners. Synchronous web-conferencing is making its way into DE practice, though it must balance with the DE flexibility."
I will use some of this reflection to answer those who asked me the questions. It is important to me, in this world of collaborative learning, to share these reflections for others to use in their own learning.
I am getting ready to take 3 days off for my holiday, but I wanted to write down some of my thoughts about the "big idea" found in Module One first. I am a testament to the constructivist epistemology and the online collaborative learning theory as I found myself constructing knowledge about epistemologies and learning theories both by independently researching and reading about what others think of the subjects and by participating in online discussions with my classmates reviewing many facets of the material. I was asked some really deep questions in response to my post: which of these epistemologies (objective or constructive) and learning theories (behaviorist, cognitive, constructivist, or collaborative) do I favor, which do I think will best meet the needs of future students, and how can an instructor use one or more of these epistemologies and learning theories effectively. I had to read the questions and take a few days to think about them! I believe this is the best place to record my answers.
1) My tendency is to favor the newest concept that I learn about, as long as it makes sense. I have to work at not dropping the previous theories and practices so easily. So, obviously, I am making mental notes of how this course is an excellent example of both constructivist and online collaborative learning theories. I am enjoying learning in this new way. Last summer when I began my Master's in Secondary Education at a local college, I was startled to discover that teaching strategies had changed so much while I was tutoring and in and out of classroom teaching for 20 years. At the moment I realized the monument of the paradigm shift from teacher-centered to student-centered, I literally despaired of all hope of learning to teach in a completely foreign way. After days of serious reflection, I decided that I could change and learn a basically new profession. That is when I committed to the constructivist and online collaborative learning theories. In the year that followed I have learned how to learn in these ways, but I have also learned in my familiar ways of cognitive practices. I am sure that I could find instances of my learning in behaviorist ways as well. Each theory models a different situation, and each is right in certain circumstances. I must keep all reputable learning theories in mind, though at the moment I am having the most fun with the online collaborative learning one.
2) It is true that knowledge is becoming so abundant that one cannot approach learning it all. And here, by "learning", I mean cognitively learning objective knowledge. I believe that the younger generation is going to learn through constructing knowledge individually and collaboratively, especially online. The digital natives not only are comfortable with online learning in informal situations, but they can become uncomfortable when they are not online. When I was young, we were cautioned to limit our time of passively watching television. Now, I hardly hear anything about that. I assume that research shows that young people are not spending too much time passively watching. I would expect to find that they are interacting with others on electronic devices instead. Another factor is that in the American grade schools, students have been receiving student-centered education for a few years now, depending on the school district. This is supposed to teach them to become critical thinkers and problem solvers rather than knowledge containers. The student-centered practices stem from the constructivist epistemology.
3) Behaviorist learning theory emphasized assessing student learning in terms of measurable objectives. The practice of using objectives is still employed today in distance education. Cognitive learning theory grew in response to the inability of behaviorism to explain and accurately predict social behaviors, focusing more on the thought processes that went into the measurable action. This theory also uses the objectivist view of knowledge, holding that truth exists waiting to be discovered by knowledge-seekers. Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive outcomes and Gagne’s procedures of instruction, similar to a computer program, represent the pedagogies of the cognitive learning theory still in use today (Harasim, 2012). For example, students may learn math facts best by* Reading flashcards,
* Speaking the problem and answer out loud,
* Playing math fact games on the computer,
* Looking at pictures of objects added or subtracted, or
* Manipulating objects to understand what addition or subtraction really is.
No matter which way students learn, the goal is that they have memorized their math facts at the end. If they are allowed to learn in the way in which they learn best, they can do better in school and grow their confidence that they can learn. However, students described how certain knowledge was formed within them in response to their situations and their environment. Thinking about what teachers said or what was written in textbooks was not their only source of knowledge; rather, people learned from reflecting on sensory input in informal learning situations as well.
This gave rise to the constructivist concept of knowledge and learning theory. The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st saw a growth of distance education online as it changed to employing practices catering to the constructivist learning theory, such as project-based activities, increased research assignments, reflection, discussion, and analysis essay assessments (Bates, 2005). More specific constructivist online DE practices include supplementing the teacher’s presentation (usually Power Point uploaded to the Learning Management System (LMS) with teacher-chosen Web resources (ideally multi-media or interactive), holding class discussions online via an LMS, asking students to do Web searches, or using textbook Web sites or accompanying CD-ROMs for multi-media study aids (Bates, 2005). The common thread among constructivist educational practices is that the learning is student-centered rather than teacher-centered. For constructivist learning to operate effectively, distance educators must not overload students with unnecessary information and must provide quick feedback to help ensure learners’ stability (Bates, 2005). Including links to every resource on a topic creates an overwhelming amount of information to access from the course content page, even if some resources are labeled “optional”. An instructor’s role includes sorting information and presenting the best of what s/he determines the students ought to know or access (Lefoe, Gunn, & Hedberg, 2002). Some educators tend to be slow in their feedback. Students lose interest in previous assignments, including feedback, each time they attend class. For the distance learners, this means that every time they access the virtual classroom, they lose a little more interest in that feedback (Lefoe, Gunn, & Hedberg, 2002). Learner stability is based on this feedback, so it is vital for the DE instructor to grade and return assignments immediately.
Common practices in Online Collaborative Learning include virtual simulations, student-led online seminars, online educational games and immersive learning environments, and online global training programs (Harasim, 2012). OCL also includes the Communities of Inquiry framework which “seeks a more integrative understanding and practice of DE through recognizing the importance … of richer, reflective communications amongst teachers and students focused upon the shared pursuit of knowledge” (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010, p. 6). The advent of 2-way communication in DE, replacing teacher to student, allows collaboration both between the learner and teacher and among learners. Synchronous web-conferencing is making its way into DE practice, though it must balance with the DE flexibility."
I will use some of this reflection to answer those who asked me the questions. It is important to me, in this world of collaborative learning, to share these reflections for others to use in their own learning.
Sept 29, 2015
I wanted to make a comment about how helpful I find Prof. Steve's videos. First, I feel more secure in our collaborative discussions when I know that the instructor will point out the highlights of what he considers important for us to pay attention to since there are so many diverse viewpoints that have been articulated, in addition to a few tangents. Second, I feel a community building as he uses our names and reflects on the discussions as if we were all synchronously present with him. Third, I find that the video and audio media are a welcome break from the reading and writing we have been engaged in.
I know Prof. Steve has said several times that he and Prof. Betsy don't always get it right, but I would like to confirm that the videos are definitely "right" for me. I will include this comment in the questions and comments sections of the discussion board with my thanks, so all of my classmates can read it and reflect on whether it applies to them as well.
I wanted to make a comment about how helpful I find Prof. Steve's videos. First, I feel more secure in our collaborative discussions when I know that the instructor will point out the highlights of what he considers important for us to pay attention to since there are so many diverse viewpoints that have been articulated, in addition to a few tangents. Second, I feel a community building as he uses our names and reflects on the discussions as if we were all synchronously present with him. Third, I find that the video and audio media are a welcome break from the reading and writing we have been engaged in.
I know Prof. Steve has said several times that he and Prof. Betsy don't always get it right, but I would like to confirm that the videos are definitely "right" for me. I will include this comment in the questions and comments sections of the discussion board with my thanks, so all of my classmates can read it and reflect on whether it applies to them as well.
Sept 30, 2015
Learning styles are a big issue for me. As described earlier, I initially rejected the idea of removing learning styles from how I differentiate lessons. I had first studied learning styles in a psychology class in undergraduate studies around 20 years ago. Since then, I have heard them mentioned quite often because I have been immersed in the educational field in various roles. When my son started college in 2012, his Intro to Psychology course had him take many surveys, one of which was the VARK Learning Styles survey. He shared it with his father and myself, and it looked so interesting that we took the survey as well. I agreed with the results for all three of us since the explanations really matched what I had observed over the past 20 years. My son decided to major in psychology and has taken many psych courses since then. Last spring, my son told me that his current psychology professor doesn’t believe in learning styles. I had asked, “What does he mean, doesn’t believe in learning styles? I mean, everyone knows learning styles exist. What part does he not believe in?” Now, I have read the article and watched the TedTalkX provided by Prof Steve, and I understand what exactly is being said. I do agree that people learn from input from all of their senses. It is true that the learning styles do focus on which sense is being used to input information from the environment. Also, I agree that the best teaching practice is to provide every student with multi-sensory activities so they can receive as much information as possible. Likewise, memories are made from meanings attached to information rather than just sensory input itself. There is too much input every moment for us to be able to keep track of it all AND accomplish any type of thinking as well. However, there is a reason that everyone believes in learning styles. Each person can learn in many different ways, but for some people, it is very obvious that they pay attention to sensory input from one particular sense more than the others. I think it would be best if we agree that there are styles people prefer for their learning, but that everyone can learn from any sensory input that they are able to process (eg., blind students cannot learn through seeing, deaf students cannot learn through hearing). We should strive for multi-sensory learning activities to increase learning.
I just received a flyer from my Kindergarten daughter’s Gifted and Talented teacher that mentions learning styles in much the same way I would have a few days ago, even encouraging parents to take the learning styles quiz online. I emailed her my thoughts from this week on the subject, as well as the link to the TedTalkX and the Debunkers’ Club article. She had a similar reaction as I did and now is thinking about that whole concept.
Learning styles are a big issue for me. As described earlier, I initially rejected the idea of removing learning styles from how I differentiate lessons. I had first studied learning styles in a psychology class in undergraduate studies around 20 years ago. Since then, I have heard them mentioned quite often because I have been immersed in the educational field in various roles. When my son started college in 2012, his Intro to Psychology course had him take many surveys, one of which was the VARK Learning Styles survey. He shared it with his father and myself, and it looked so interesting that we took the survey as well. I agreed with the results for all three of us since the explanations really matched what I had observed over the past 20 years. My son decided to major in psychology and has taken many psych courses since then. Last spring, my son told me that his current psychology professor doesn’t believe in learning styles. I had asked, “What does he mean, doesn’t believe in learning styles? I mean, everyone knows learning styles exist. What part does he not believe in?” Now, I have read the article and watched the TedTalkX provided by Prof Steve, and I understand what exactly is being said. I do agree that people learn from input from all of their senses. It is true that the learning styles do focus on which sense is being used to input information from the environment. Also, I agree that the best teaching practice is to provide every student with multi-sensory activities so they can receive as much information as possible. Likewise, memories are made from meanings attached to information rather than just sensory input itself. There is too much input every moment for us to be able to keep track of it all AND accomplish any type of thinking as well. However, there is a reason that everyone believes in learning styles. Each person can learn in many different ways, but for some people, it is very obvious that they pay attention to sensory input from one particular sense more than the others. I think it would be best if we agree that there are styles people prefer for their learning, but that everyone can learn from any sensory input that they are able to process (eg., blind students cannot learn through seeing, deaf students cannot learn through hearing). We should strive for multi-sensory learning activities to increase learning.
I just received a flyer from my Kindergarten daughter’s Gifted and Talented teacher that mentions learning styles in much the same way I would have a few days ago, even encouraging parents to take the learning styles quiz online. I emailed her my thoughts from this week on the subject, as well as the link to the TedTalkX and the Debunkers’ Club article. She had a similar reaction as I did and now is thinking about that whole concept.
Oct 3, 2015
There is a fantastic discussion going on in this course concerning rubrics this week. It brought me back to a very emotional memory I have of getting a bad grade for a project that I spent a lot of time and creativity on in Art class. We did not use rubrics when I was in middle school in the 1980’s. In this instance, a rubric may not have helped the situation. A rubric would have helped ONLY IF the teacher was specific about not leaving any white space. If the verbiage was "student used different patterns to completely fill in the picture", I still might not have understood that "empty" was not to be used as a pattern. It was the teacher's expectations for the assignment that stifled my creativity and gave a bad grade to a project I liked and had devoted a lot of emotion and energy to.
Maybe we are focusing on the wrong thing when we say that rubrics can stifle creativity. Maybe it is the teacher's expectations, as explained in the rubric, which is holding students back from creating freely. On the other hand, Prof Betsy expressed her experience in supplying sample work in the assignment instructions. She has found that samples can stifle creativity as well. I heard that Norway has a completely different educational system than America has. They believe that the American system in general stifles creativity through too many assessments. Their view is that American students are more focused on getting good grades than on learning the material and performing the activities well. Their system has removed assessments as we know them (which would delight almost every teacher who has to teach to and administer standardized tests) and allows students to perform with creativity. It would be good for America to take a look at this as we are changing our entire educational system to thrive in the 21st century technological environment.
There is a fantastic discussion going on in this course concerning rubrics this week. It brought me back to a very emotional memory I have of getting a bad grade for a project that I spent a lot of time and creativity on in Art class. We did not use rubrics when I was in middle school in the 1980’s. In this instance, a rubric may not have helped the situation. A rubric would have helped ONLY IF the teacher was specific about not leaving any white space. If the verbiage was "student used different patterns to completely fill in the picture", I still might not have understood that "empty" was not to be used as a pattern. It was the teacher's expectations for the assignment that stifled my creativity and gave a bad grade to a project I liked and had devoted a lot of emotion and energy to.
Maybe we are focusing on the wrong thing when we say that rubrics can stifle creativity. Maybe it is the teacher's expectations, as explained in the rubric, which is holding students back from creating freely. On the other hand, Prof Betsy expressed her experience in supplying sample work in the assignment instructions. She has found that samples can stifle creativity as well. I heard that Norway has a completely different educational system than America has. They believe that the American system in general stifles creativity through too many assessments. Their view is that American students are more focused on getting good grades than on learning the material and performing the activities well. Their system has removed assessments as we know them (which would delight almost every teacher who has to teach to and administer standardized tests) and allows students to perform with creativity. It would be good for America to take a look at this as we are changing our entire educational system to thrive in the 21st century technological environment.
Oct 6, 2015
Well, the biggest thing I am learning in this module is that I was taught under the cognitivist learning theory. This sounds like a simple fact, but the implications have influenced every area of my life. Over the years, I have seen more and more often that I was taught one way of looking at the world. My parents, my teachers, the society I lived in propagated their mind-set without even offering the information that there are other ways of looking at things. When I entered college and lived away from home, I began to learn of some options about life that I had never considered before, but then we all expected this eye-awakening as I moved away from the sheltering of my comfortable environment. Looking back on college 20 years later, I can say that my college experience was still very similar to my familiar mind-set. I first got into major trouble when my new husband insisted that proper table setting meant that the fork and spoon belong on the right side of the plate and the knife goes on the left. The napkin belonged on top of the plate. He would actively change the settings at every meal, because he would find the fork on the left and the knife and spoon on the right on top of the napkin at every meal. I had been trained (in a behaviorist fashion) at home and at Girl Scout camp where I spent every summer exactly where the utensils belong. This seems so minute of an issue, but we both had been trained (behaviorally) in the “right” way. It wasn’t that I cognitively insisted on doing it my way or that I wasn’t willing to concede that his French background had an equal right to the place setting as my American background. It was just that I forgot about the disagreement as I automatically set the table, until he walked in and automatically “fixed the table” at every meal. So I learned the power of behavioral learning and the major effort it takes to untrain it, even when one is truly motivated to.
But most of my learning was under the cognitive system. I was taught how to read by the use of phonics rather than memorizing all the words (a behaviorist experiment that failed epically and left a generation of Americans unable to spell and less able to read than average). I do have to admit that my math facts were learned by rote early on, but they were reinforced for years by using them in word problems and in higher level math where I was being taught something new and just expected to be able to retrieve the facts at a moments’ notice. Even fractions, which most people seem weak in, were taught to me cognitively so I am still comfortable with them to this day. To go back to my first thought, I have noticed a problem with cognitive learning theory, and that is its ease of leading people into the trap of learning just one way that works and not letting them realize that there are other ways that work as well. This was addressed in the constructivist learning theory, and I realize now how much I missed out on by not having constructivist teaching as a child. But I am happy to be receiving that type of training now, and I am constructing knowledge all over the place! More on that in the learning journal for that Mod.
Well, the biggest thing I am learning in this module is that I was taught under the cognitivist learning theory. This sounds like a simple fact, but the implications have influenced every area of my life. Over the years, I have seen more and more often that I was taught one way of looking at the world. My parents, my teachers, the society I lived in propagated their mind-set without even offering the information that there are other ways of looking at things. When I entered college and lived away from home, I began to learn of some options about life that I had never considered before, but then we all expected this eye-awakening as I moved away from the sheltering of my comfortable environment. Looking back on college 20 years later, I can say that my college experience was still very similar to my familiar mind-set. I first got into major trouble when my new husband insisted that proper table setting meant that the fork and spoon belong on the right side of the plate and the knife goes on the left. The napkin belonged on top of the plate. He would actively change the settings at every meal, because he would find the fork on the left and the knife and spoon on the right on top of the napkin at every meal. I had been trained (in a behaviorist fashion) at home and at Girl Scout camp where I spent every summer exactly where the utensils belong. This seems so minute of an issue, but we both had been trained (behaviorally) in the “right” way. It wasn’t that I cognitively insisted on doing it my way or that I wasn’t willing to concede that his French background had an equal right to the place setting as my American background. It was just that I forgot about the disagreement as I automatically set the table, until he walked in and automatically “fixed the table” at every meal. So I learned the power of behavioral learning and the major effort it takes to untrain it, even when one is truly motivated to.
But most of my learning was under the cognitive system. I was taught how to read by the use of phonics rather than memorizing all the words (a behaviorist experiment that failed epically and left a generation of Americans unable to spell and less able to read than average). I do have to admit that my math facts were learned by rote early on, but they were reinforced for years by using them in word problems and in higher level math where I was being taught something new and just expected to be able to retrieve the facts at a moments’ notice. Even fractions, which most people seem weak in, were taught to me cognitively so I am still comfortable with them to this day. To go back to my first thought, I have noticed a problem with cognitive learning theory, and that is its ease of leading people into the trap of learning just one way that works and not letting them realize that there are other ways that work as well. This was addressed in the constructivist learning theory, and I realize now how much I missed out on by not having constructivist teaching as a child. But I am happy to be receiving that type of training now, and I am constructing knowledge all over the place! More on that in the learning journal for that Mod.
Oct 11, 2015
I have been thinking about the differences between behaviorist activities and cognitivist activities. Behaviorist learning theory concentrates on the input and the output, caring little for what goes on in the black box in between (Harasim, 2012). Many of the best uses for behaviorist activities are in learning procedures that must be followed exactly. This might include how to operate a machine or computer software, military operations, or long division. Straight memorization of meaningless facts is difficult for most people, so there is reason to attach meaning to the information, even in a behaviorist activity. There is also room for some choice and easily-seen real-life application, in order to grab and keep the interest of the students. But, in the end, all students are taught to do things exactly the same way, responding automatically with a certain action to a given stimulus. If shown a flashcard that says “5+6”, everyone should instantly think “11”. Cognitivist activities, on the other hand, are much more interested in what happens inside that black box. I think that it is interesting that cognitivism evolved at the same time as computers. I understand that cognitivism made many parallels between human thinking and computer programming, but I wonder to how much extent each development influenced and advanced the other? Would educational theorists have been brave enough to break away from behavioral learning theory just because it failed to explain social behaviors (Harasim, 2012) without the support lent from the computer programming analogy?
Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Oct 14, 2015
I was first introduced to Constructivism one year ago. It took me a great deal of thought and time to be able to agree with the initial premise of Constructivism, which is that knowledge is not a pre-determined set of facts waiting around the universe to be discovered but rather something to be uniquely constructed by each individual using his/her own environment and circumstances. I balked at the simplistic statement “Knowledge is created by people and groups of people.” According to my cognitive upbringing (see Learning Journal post for Oct 6), I was only aware of one way to see things, one set of facts that constituted all of knowledge. I was taught that our Creator is the source and creator of all knowledge and that human don’t really create anything. Actually, I still believe that statement, but I see it from a different point of view now. There is so much more complexity to our Creator than I ever began to wonder about, and there are ways that we humans are allowed to manipulate things so that we have created something new with the building blocks that were created for us. I have studied and experienced knowledge-creation, both individually and in groups, and now I have whole-heartedly embraced the concept of Constructivism. The time has come for me to move on to learn how to practice Online Collaborative Learning. I am REALLY enjoying how online collaboration happens in this course and in my OMDE courses thus far. I know that my classmates' comments make more sense to me than the formal readings. Others have written this same thing in their discussion posts, so I know that we are truly collaborating and reaching a common understanding on the topics in discussion boards. Discussions are my favorite part of these courses.
Oct 17, 2015
I was shocked by the 77% I received on my Behaviorist e-Learning Activity. I thought that a math lesson using a computer spreadsheet would be a perfect behaviorist e-learning activity since all of the students must learn to do things exactly the same way in response to given stimuli. I had created these given stimuli on a student handout in the form of information that must be entered into the spreadsheet in the proper fashion. Any deviances from the trained behavior would result in incorrect answers in the spreadsheet totals. I had allowed certain choices to be made by the students in order to get them actively involved in the activity and to prevent copying and pasting their classmates’ spreadsheets onto their own, but these choices did not affect the stimulus and expected behavioral outcome.
A large number of points were taken off for the activity not fitting the definition of “e-learning” as well. The entire project was completed by the students individually on the Internet except for one class discussion. The student handout and project rubric were Word documents that could be shared over the computer network in a myriad of ways, the research was to be done via the Internet, the deliverable was created on Excel Online for the express purpose of allowing the students to access it from any computer in their lives (school, home, library, etc.), and the teaching was designed to be done in a blended mode which has been included in our studies of distance learning up until this point. Harasim (2012) states that “by the early 1980s, new online educational applications emerged, expanding adjunct mode into “mixed mode” or “blended mode,” in which a significant portion of the traditional face-to-face classroom or distance education course was conducted online (Harasim, 2006a). Typically about 50% of course activities and of the overall grade is based on online activities in blended mode” (p. 29). I molded my activity and my grading rubric to fit this definition. It is certainly easy enough to take the one classroom discussion and move it online as well, even the sharing of the instructor spreadsheet with the class, but I did not think that was required, based on my understanding of the definition of the term e-learning. I will need to talk to the professors about this.
Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
postscript added Nov 5, 2015
In reading articles by Seimens for OMDE 606, I came across this reference back to our OMDE 601 textbook concerning the meaning of the term "e-learning". This is what I referred to in my private email to Prof Betsy concerning her feedback on this assignment. She returned the points due to the behaviorist/cognitivist issue already, but she is holding her ground (in her words) on the e-learning/ computer assisted learning issue.
“The introduction of digital technology has also brought a plethora of different terms and abbreviations, such as online learning, web-based learning, blended learning, e-learning, learning management systems (LMS), computer-aided instruction (CAI), computer-supported instruction (CSI), technology-enhanced learning (TEL), Internet-based training (IBT), and virtual learning environments (VLE ), which to a large extent all fall under a broad definition of distance education (Moore & Kearsley, 2004).” (Gasevic, Kovanovic, Joksimovic, & Siemens, 2014, p. 13).
Gasevic, Kovanovic, V., Joksimovic, S., & Siemens, G. (2014). Where is research on massive open online courses headed? A data
analysis of the MOOC Research Initiative Dragan. IRRODL. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/ADMIN/Downloads/1954-15545-1-PB.pdf
second postscript added Nov 9, 2015
I just read another sentence from the OMDE courses explicitly confirming my understanding of the term "e-learning" in the OMDE context. This comes from the OMDE 606 Module 5 Unit 1 content. The title of the unit is "Different types of e-learning" and the sentence is: "E-learning in general includes the use of ICT for on-campus teaching or other sorts of contiguous training." This is difficult to reference with a URL since the course is password protected. If the difference of definition of "e-learning" and the resultant grade on my assignment lowers my grade in this course to a "B", I am going to have to fight it.
I have been thinking about the differences between behaviorist activities and cognitivist activities. Behaviorist learning theory concentrates on the input and the output, caring little for what goes on in the black box in between (Harasim, 2012). Many of the best uses for behaviorist activities are in learning procedures that must be followed exactly. This might include how to operate a machine or computer software, military operations, or long division. Straight memorization of meaningless facts is difficult for most people, so there is reason to attach meaning to the information, even in a behaviorist activity. There is also room for some choice and easily-seen real-life application, in order to grab and keep the interest of the students. But, in the end, all students are taught to do things exactly the same way, responding automatically with a certain action to a given stimulus. If shown a flashcard that says “5+6”, everyone should instantly think “11”. Cognitivist activities, on the other hand, are much more interested in what happens inside that black box. I think that it is interesting that cognitivism evolved at the same time as computers. I understand that cognitivism made many parallels between human thinking and computer programming, but I wonder to how much extent each development influenced and advanced the other? Would educational theorists have been brave enough to break away from behavioral learning theory just because it failed to explain social behaviors (Harasim, 2012) without the support lent from the computer programming analogy?
Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Oct 14, 2015
I was first introduced to Constructivism one year ago. It took me a great deal of thought and time to be able to agree with the initial premise of Constructivism, which is that knowledge is not a pre-determined set of facts waiting around the universe to be discovered but rather something to be uniquely constructed by each individual using his/her own environment and circumstances. I balked at the simplistic statement “Knowledge is created by people and groups of people.” According to my cognitive upbringing (see Learning Journal post for Oct 6), I was only aware of one way to see things, one set of facts that constituted all of knowledge. I was taught that our Creator is the source and creator of all knowledge and that human don’t really create anything. Actually, I still believe that statement, but I see it from a different point of view now. There is so much more complexity to our Creator than I ever began to wonder about, and there are ways that we humans are allowed to manipulate things so that we have created something new with the building blocks that were created for us. I have studied and experienced knowledge-creation, both individually and in groups, and now I have whole-heartedly embraced the concept of Constructivism. The time has come for me to move on to learn how to practice Online Collaborative Learning. I am REALLY enjoying how online collaboration happens in this course and in my OMDE courses thus far. I know that my classmates' comments make more sense to me than the formal readings. Others have written this same thing in their discussion posts, so I know that we are truly collaborating and reaching a common understanding on the topics in discussion boards. Discussions are my favorite part of these courses.
Oct 17, 2015
I was shocked by the 77% I received on my Behaviorist e-Learning Activity. I thought that a math lesson using a computer spreadsheet would be a perfect behaviorist e-learning activity since all of the students must learn to do things exactly the same way in response to given stimuli. I had created these given stimuli on a student handout in the form of information that must be entered into the spreadsheet in the proper fashion. Any deviances from the trained behavior would result in incorrect answers in the spreadsheet totals. I had allowed certain choices to be made by the students in order to get them actively involved in the activity and to prevent copying and pasting their classmates’ spreadsheets onto their own, but these choices did not affect the stimulus and expected behavioral outcome.
A large number of points were taken off for the activity not fitting the definition of “e-learning” as well. The entire project was completed by the students individually on the Internet except for one class discussion. The student handout and project rubric were Word documents that could be shared over the computer network in a myriad of ways, the research was to be done via the Internet, the deliverable was created on Excel Online for the express purpose of allowing the students to access it from any computer in their lives (school, home, library, etc.), and the teaching was designed to be done in a blended mode which has been included in our studies of distance learning up until this point. Harasim (2012) states that “by the early 1980s, new online educational applications emerged, expanding adjunct mode into “mixed mode” or “blended mode,” in which a significant portion of the traditional face-to-face classroom or distance education course was conducted online (Harasim, 2006a). Typically about 50% of course activities and of the overall grade is based on online activities in blended mode” (p. 29). I molded my activity and my grading rubric to fit this definition. It is certainly easy enough to take the one classroom discussion and move it online as well, even the sharing of the instructor spreadsheet with the class, but I did not think that was required, based on my understanding of the definition of the term e-learning. I will need to talk to the professors about this.
Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
postscript added Nov 5, 2015
In reading articles by Seimens for OMDE 606, I came across this reference back to our OMDE 601 textbook concerning the meaning of the term "e-learning". This is what I referred to in my private email to Prof Betsy concerning her feedback on this assignment. She returned the points due to the behaviorist/cognitivist issue already, but she is holding her ground (in her words) on the e-learning/ computer assisted learning issue.
“The introduction of digital technology has also brought a plethora of different terms and abbreviations, such as online learning, web-based learning, blended learning, e-learning, learning management systems (LMS), computer-aided instruction (CAI), computer-supported instruction (CSI), technology-enhanced learning (TEL), Internet-based training (IBT), and virtual learning environments (VLE ), which to a large extent all fall under a broad definition of distance education (Moore & Kearsley, 2004).” (Gasevic, Kovanovic, Joksimovic, & Siemens, 2014, p. 13).
Gasevic, Kovanovic, V., Joksimovic, S., & Siemens, G. (2014). Where is research on massive open online courses headed? A data
analysis of the MOOC Research Initiative Dragan. IRRODL. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/ADMIN/Downloads/1954-15545-1-PB.pdf
second postscript added Nov 9, 2015
I just read another sentence from the OMDE courses explicitly confirming my understanding of the term "e-learning" in the OMDE context. This comes from the OMDE 606 Module 5 Unit 1 content. The title of the unit is "Different types of e-learning" and the sentence is: "E-learning in general includes the use of ICT for on-campus teaching or other sorts of contiguous training." This is difficult to reference with a URL since the course is password protected. If the difference of definition of "e-learning" and the resultant grade on my assignment lowers my grade in this course to a "B", I am going to have to fight it.
Oct 20, 2015
Creative Commons is a new concept in copyrighting. I knew copyrighting wasn't a simple topic, but after reading a few articles concerning copyrighting, I feel that I definitely need to do more studying up on what is legal, what's not legal, what the different instances are that you can use something, but the other instances in which you can't. Copyright laws are definitely important, and as a teacher I feel that I definitely need a better understanding of copyright law than I have now. I like that you can go to Creative Commons to find information and share information in legal ways where you don't have to worry as much about what you can and cannot use. It simplifies a lot of the confusing copyright laws, and it made me feel more comfortable making decisions on what is okay and not okay to use in certain situations.
Creative Commons is a product of the Web 2.0 mindset and can easily be used as a Web 2.0 tool itself, as one of my classmates pointed out. When I came across it last spring, being required to apply Creative Commons licenses to all of my project assignments, I was floored by the idea itself and how organized it already was. Of course, it might have been getting itself organized for years while I still had not heard of it, but it seemed new to me, so I guess I expected it to still be getting put together. Although it is so easy to copy and paste what we find on the Internet, that is not always legal. Creative Commons allows others to use your information, in hopes of promoting what you have created. Instead of Google-ing an image, it is better to search for an image through the Creative Commons Site. It seems that Creative Commons is just becoming popular recently. Even the White House uses Creative Commons. Those who use Creative Commons are not looking to make a lot of money but instead stopping big businesses from making money off of an image, project or slogan they may have created. Creative Commons allows the originator to receive credit for their ideas.
I found another website that differentiates between free (as in liberty, not as in price) software and copylefted software. The first link below has a chart of the categories of permissions on it, and the second link is of the Free Software Directory that we can use as a resource.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#Non-CopyleftedFreeSoftware#Non-CopyleftedFreeSoftware
http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Paget
Creative Commons is a new concept in copyrighting. I knew copyrighting wasn't a simple topic, but after reading a few articles concerning copyrighting, I feel that I definitely need to do more studying up on what is legal, what's not legal, what the different instances are that you can use something, but the other instances in which you can't. Copyright laws are definitely important, and as a teacher I feel that I definitely need a better understanding of copyright law than I have now. I like that you can go to Creative Commons to find information and share information in legal ways where you don't have to worry as much about what you can and cannot use. It simplifies a lot of the confusing copyright laws, and it made me feel more comfortable making decisions on what is okay and not okay to use in certain situations.
Creative Commons is a product of the Web 2.0 mindset and can easily be used as a Web 2.0 tool itself, as one of my classmates pointed out. When I came across it last spring, being required to apply Creative Commons licenses to all of my project assignments, I was floored by the idea itself and how organized it already was. Of course, it might have been getting itself organized for years while I still had not heard of it, but it seemed new to me, so I guess I expected it to still be getting put together. Although it is so easy to copy and paste what we find on the Internet, that is not always legal. Creative Commons allows others to use your information, in hopes of promoting what you have created. Instead of Google-ing an image, it is better to search for an image through the Creative Commons Site. It seems that Creative Commons is just becoming popular recently. Even the White House uses Creative Commons. Those who use Creative Commons are not looking to make a lot of money but instead stopping big businesses from making money off of an image, project or slogan they may have created. Creative Commons allows the originator to receive credit for their ideas.
I found another website that differentiates between free (as in liberty, not as in price) software and copylefted software. The first link below has a chart of the categories of permissions on it, and the second link is of the Free Software Directory that we can use as a resource.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#Non-CopyleftedFreeSoftware#Non-CopyleftedFreeSoftware
http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Paget
Oct 24, 2015
I learned all sorts of interesting facts concerning Internet usage during this module. For instance, Internet is a name and as a proper noun always needs to be capitalized. Also, the company named Google has agreed to allow its name to become a verb in the English language, as long as it is always capitalized to remind people of the company. On a different note, most social websites have a minimum age requirement to sign up for an account, presumably to help cut back on cyber bullying. I also learned that Web 2.0 is not the official name of anything. Instead, it is the commonly used description of the most recent generation of websites and apps which are focused on collaboration.
In addition to that I have been immersed in the Community of Inquiry thought process. Over and over again in many places we have brought up the social presence, cognitive presence, and teacher presence that CoI says is necessary for good learning to occur. In comparing these presences as found in classrooms to the presences as found online, I have realized that the support I've received as a DE student has been far greater than that as a f2f student. I've only taken one blended course, but even there the amount of feedback and support was incredible. Of course, the subject was how to teach in grade schools using differentiation and technology, so we all expected that professor to actively engage us in the learning. But even she said that f2f courses could benefit from DE pedagogy. I think a great deal of the difference has to do with distance education being on the cutting edge of the major educational paradigm shift that is happening right now while f2f education is still comfortably settled in the traditional. Until something forces the traditional to change (which might be old professors retiring if nothing else), DE will continue to have much better and new-generation-oriented teaching methods. As one of my classmates posted, these methods include students being required to employ best practices in their own learning as much as the instructors are expected to bring best teaching practices to the environment.
I learned all sorts of interesting facts concerning Internet usage during this module. For instance, Internet is a name and as a proper noun always needs to be capitalized. Also, the company named Google has agreed to allow its name to become a verb in the English language, as long as it is always capitalized to remind people of the company. On a different note, most social websites have a minimum age requirement to sign up for an account, presumably to help cut back on cyber bullying. I also learned that Web 2.0 is not the official name of anything. Instead, it is the commonly used description of the most recent generation of websites and apps which are focused on collaboration.
In addition to that I have been immersed in the Community of Inquiry thought process. Over and over again in many places we have brought up the social presence, cognitive presence, and teacher presence that CoI says is necessary for good learning to occur. In comparing these presences as found in classrooms to the presences as found online, I have realized that the support I've received as a DE student has been far greater than that as a f2f student. I've only taken one blended course, but even there the amount of feedback and support was incredible. Of course, the subject was how to teach in grade schools using differentiation and technology, so we all expected that professor to actively engage us in the learning. But even she said that f2f courses could benefit from DE pedagogy. I think a great deal of the difference has to do with distance education being on the cutting edge of the major educational paradigm shift that is happening right now while f2f education is still comfortably settled in the traditional. Until something forces the traditional to change (which might be old professors retiring if nothing else), DE will continue to have much better and new-generation-oriented teaching methods. As one of my classmates posted, these methods include students being required to employ best practices in their own learning as much as the instructors are expected to bring best teaching practices to the environment.
Oct 27, 2015
Community is a hard word to define, and yet it is used extensively these days to describe a phenomenon that is connecting people through the Internet. The concept of community is changing because there are more ways to be in one. Being able to communicate with the use of technology has changed how often people interact and what they share. In our course material, it was said, “Research indicates that the feeling of belonging to a ‘community’ contributes a great deal to online learners’ engagement and persistence in online courses (Lave & Wenger, 1991).” But there are so many concepts that one could mean when one uses the word “community”. I think of subdivisions where people consider all those who live in the neighborhood as a community, whether they have ever met each other or not. I think of community centers in the midst of apartments where “community” kids get together to do activities and get to know each other. The “community” uses the centers for community events. There are groups of civic organizations who get together and consider themselves a member of that community. Divisions of the military consider themselves a community, with many things in common with one another. There are farm communities, religious communities, local communities, and now online communities. I found an article mentioning some of the changes that have led to online communities:
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Decade-Ago-The-Chronicle/233874?cid=rc_right
This week will be highly instructional as my classmates and I discuss the meaning of the word “community”, the feeling of belonging to a community, whether certain peer-review websites constitute communities, and how the concept of community is changing in today’s connected world.
Community is a hard word to define, and yet it is used extensively these days to describe a phenomenon that is connecting people through the Internet. The concept of community is changing because there are more ways to be in one. Being able to communicate with the use of technology has changed how often people interact and what they share. In our course material, it was said, “Research indicates that the feeling of belonging to a ‘community’ contributes a great deal to online learners’ engagement and persistence in online courses (Lave & Wenger, 1991).” But there are so many concepts that one could mean when one uses the word “community”. I think of subdivisions where people consider all those who live in the neighborhood as a community, whether they have ever met each other or not. I think of community centers in the midst of apartments where “community” kids get together to do activities and get to know each other. The “community” uses the centers for community events. There are groups of civic organizations who get together and consider themselves a member of that community. Divisions of the military consider themselves a community, with many things in common with one another. There are farm communities, religious communities, local communities, and now online communities. I found an article mentioning some of the changes that have led to online communities:
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Decade-Ago-The-Chronicle/233874?cid=rc_right
This week will be highly instructional as my classmates and I discuss the meaning of the word “community”, the feeling of belonging to a community, whether certain peer-review websites constitute communities, and how the concept of community is changing in today’s connected world.
Oct 31, 2015
Joining a MOOC? This is listed as one of the Things to Do for Module 4: “Find a MOOC: and sign up”. I have never been involved in a MOOC, and I am interested in the experience. My classmate said that in her MOOC, there were 10,000 people in a synchronous chat having 1000's of different conversations all at the same time. It was chaos and was not a format that she associated with effective learning. Once this course is over, I will have time to commit to studying in a MOOC course until the next semester of UMUC courses begins near the end of January. As a preliminary, I looked at a Coursera catalog for courses somewhat similar to OMDE to try to find one that interests all of us taking an OMDE course. The first few I found are: “Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense”, “Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects”, and “Think Again: How to Reason and Argue”. The one that caught my personal attention is “Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence”. I have recently found out that I don't know so much about emotions, but it is what makes people act. This would be a good choice of a MOOC for me. But I was thinking, why don't we form groups and enroll together in a MOOC? That would be a new experiment. We can support each other as a group which trusts each other and write a paper about a new untried way of using MOOCs. This is an interesting way to go about learning in a MOOC with a group of trusted individuals. The biggest challenge will be committing to the time for this experiment. We are a diverse group of varying professions, and most of us either work or attend two courses at a time.
Stanford recently developed a new video conferencing tool called Talkabout. Talkabout appears to improve students' grades and therefore increases their abilities to make it through the MOOC course successfully. They compared the class performance of enrollees who took part in Talkabout-based discussion groups with their peers across the globe to those who did not. Scores on exams and assignments went up for enrollees who participated in the most diverse Talkabout discussion groups, showing that these small social additions to MOOCs can help participants learn course material (Urton, 2015, para. 4). This new tool proves that there is continuous research being executed to help make MOOC classes more manageable and accessible to anyone. It appears that students from all over the world take the Coursera course and these may not all be graduate students or professors. At the least, it will be interesting to see the increasing technological advancements which will come in the next years.
Bates (2015) had some really important explanations concerning MOOCs, especially concerning their funding. I have gathered from most of the readings that MOOCs are mainly geared toward students that are highly motivated and educated. I think this is a bit unfortunate, but we will see if MOOCs will benefit students with low levels of academic proficiency. Cottom (2015) says that education will only be able to benefit the disadvantaged groups when support is purposefully built into the course design to relate to their unique cultural perspective and social needs. I see trends in this direction, but I am not sure how long it will take those who focus on social justice to make a change in the design of education. Also, if one is learning for personal satisfaction then MOOCs seem to have everything to offer but if one is attempting to get employer credit there seem to be great limitations.
Bates, T. (2015). Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning. Chap 5: MOOCs. Retrieved from
http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Cottom, T. M. (Oct 2015). Keynote speech at International Conference of Distance Education, UNISA. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQV29czVN-w
Urton, J. (2015). Stanford researchers use diverse, global discussion groups to boost online learning experience for participants. Stanford
News. Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/may/moocs-discussion-groups-050615.html
Joining a MOOC? This is listed as one of the Things to Do for Module 4: “Find a MOOC: and sign up”. I have never been involved in a MOOC, and I am interested in the experience. My classmate said that in her MOOC, there were 10,000 people in a synchronous chat having 1000's of different conversations all at the same time. It was chaos and was not a format that she associated with effective learning. Once this course is over, I will have time to commit to studying in a MOOC course until the next semester of UMUC courses begins near the end of January. As a preliminary, I looked at a Coursera catalog for courses somewhat similar to OMDE to try to find one that interests all of us taking an OMDE course. The first few I found are: “Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense”, “Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects”, and “Think Again: How to Reason and Argue”. The one that caught my personal attention is “Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence”. I have recently found out that I don't know so much about emotions, but it is what makes people act. This would be a good choice of a MOOC for me. But I was thinking, why don't we form groups and enroll together in a MOOC? That would be a new experiment. We can support each other as a group which trusts each other and write a paper about a new untried way of using MOOCs. This is an interesting way to go about learning in a MOOC with a group of trusted individuals. The biggest challenge will be committing to the time for this experiment. We are a diverse group of varying professions, and most of us either work or attend two courses at a time.
Stanford recently developed a new video conferencing tool called Talkabout. Talkabout appears to improve students' grades and therefore increases their abilities to make it through the MOOC course successfully. They compared the class performance of enrollees who took part in Talkabout-based discussion groups with their peers across the globe to those who did not. Scores on exams and assignments went up for enrollees who participated in the most diverse Talkabout discussion groups, showing that these small social additions to MOOCs can help participants learn course material (Urton, 2015, para. 4). This new tool proves that there is continuous research being executed to help make MOOC classes more manageable and accessible to anyone. It appears that students from all over the world take the Coursera course and these may not all be graduate students or professors. At the least, it will be interesting to see the increasing technological advancements which will come in the next years.
Bates (2015) had some really important explanations concerning MOOCs, especially concerning their funding. I have gathered from most of the readings that MOOCs are mainly geared toward students that are highly motivated and educated. I think this is a bit unfortunate, but we will see if MOOCs will benefit students with low levels of academic proficiency. Cottom (2015) says that education will only be able to benefit the disadvantaged groups when support is purposefully built into the course design to relate to their unique cultural perspective and social needs. I see trends in this direction, but I am not sure how long it will take those who focus on social justice to make a change in the design of education. Also, if one is learning for personal satisfaction then MOOCs seem to have everything to offer but if one is attempting to get employer credit there seem to be great limitations.
Bates, T. (2015). Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning. Chap 5: MOOCs. Retrieved from
http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Cottom, T. M. (Oct 2015). Keynote speech at International Conference of Distance Education, UNISA. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQV29czVN-w
Urton, J. (2015). Stanford researchers use diverse, global discussion groups to boost online learning experience for participants. Stanford
News. Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/may/moocs-discussion-groups-050615.html
Nov 7
I have been thinking a lot about MOOCs and peerology this past week. Much of what I read about connectivisim I can connect with my observations of the world, but I understand that “connectivism” is an umbrella term that covers various people’s perspectives and that some of those perspectives will be different from mine. I listened to what some of the leaders in DE are saying about MOOCs and automating instruction in order to increase access at the ICDE World Conference (2015). As I study more on this topic, I really don’t like Siemens’ (2004) direction as he says “Learning may reside in non-human appliances” (para. 6). He is moving a step beyond replacing the teacher with peers and content, a pedagogy/andragogy that I strongly disagree with, and replacing human sources of interaction with non-human ones. Dehumanizing the teacher will have disastrous effects on all parts of society. When I have time, I would like to return to this statement to write about “all parts of society,” but that is too big for my time today.
In the same way that the advent of the “scientific method” and “empirical evidence” in the 20th century led a large part of the younger generation away from religion and a belief in a Supreme Being or a Creator, I see that creating an Artificially Intelligent Teacher will give them a presumably infallible center for their trust and belief and will cause them to build their lives around this system of AI teachers. Looking at history, this is exactly the same cycle that humans go through over and over concerning finding something to place their trust in. Those who are children now will be prone to treat the machine as a god as they collectively seek for help from the machine to better their lives. It has been shown that every person has an innate need to respect something higher than themselves. I believe this is what led to what we call “religion” today. And I believe that it will prove disastrous if people respect machines more than humans who created the machine.
Teachers have historically been seen as an unequivocal authority figure, representing the authority of the Supreme Being as He passes knowledge to people through the vessel of the Teacher. Sometimes there are those who challenge the teachings, but rarely the position, of the Teacher. This role has been needed in society to educate the people in the ideologies of the culture, where the actual teachings vary between cultures. Even today when one might argue that the same material should be taught in a scientific way to everyone across the world, the OUUK found that bringing their European courses across the ocean to America did not satisfy either the students or the businesses here. So teachers are necessary to pass on each individual culture. I would say that the main advantage a human teacher brings to the student is the very human characteristic of caring about the student. Teachers have been honored for centuries for encouraging their students to go further, to keep struggling, to transform into a better person. A machine cannot achieve this level of motivation in a student, simply based on our human need for social interaction and attention. It is this human interaction between generations that will keep our civilization advancing, as students are encouraged by those who have gone before to reach higher and dig deeper than ever before.
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Panel discussion 1. (2015). ICDE World Conference. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arSCgsYh5cM
I have been thinking a lot about MOOCs and peerology this past week. Much of what I read about connectivisim I can connect with my observations of the world, but I understand that “connectivism” is an umbrella term that covers various people’s perspectives and that some of those perspectives will be different from mine. I listened to what some of the leaders in DE are saying about MOOCs and automating instruction in order to increase access at the ICDE World Conference (2015). As I study more on this topic, I really don’t like Siemens’ (2004) direction as he says “Learning may reside in non-human appliances” (para. 6). He is moving a step beyond replacing the teacher with peers and content, a pedagogy/andragogy that I strongly disagree with, and replacing human sources of interaction with non-human ones. Dehumanizing the teacher will have disastrous effects on all parts of society. When I have time, I would like to return to this statement to write about “all parts of society,” but that is too big for my time today.
In the same way that the advent of the “scientific method” and “empirical evidence” in the 20th century led a large part of the younger generation away from religion and a belief in a Supreme Being or a Creator, I see that creating an Artificially Intelligent Teacher will give them a presumably infallible center for their trust and belief and will cause them to build their lives around this system of AI teachers. Looking at history, this is exactly the same cycle that humans go through over and over concerning finding something to place their trust in. Those who are children now will be prone to treat the machine as a god as they collectively seek for help from the machine to better their lives. It has been shown that every person has an innate need to respect something higher than themselves. I believe this is what led to what we call “religion” today. And I believe that it will prove disastrous if people respect machines more than humans who created the machine.
Teachers have historically been seen as an unequivocal authority figure, representing the authority of the Supreme Being as He passes knowledge to people through the vessel of the Teacher. Sometimes there are those who challenge the teachings, but rarely the position, of the Teacher. This role has been needed in society to educate the people in the ideologies of the culture, where the actual teachings vary between cultures. Even today when one might argue that the same material should be taught in a scientific way to everyone across the world, the OUUK found that bringing their European courses across the ocean to America did not satisfy either the students or the businesses here. So teachers are necessary to pass on each individual culture. I would say that the main advantage a human teacher brings to the student is the very human characteristic of caring about the student. Teachers have been honored for centuries for encouraging their students to go further, to keep struggling, to transform into a better person. A machine cannot achieve this level of motivation in a student, simply based on our human need for social interaction and attention. It is this human interaction between generations that will keep our civilization advancing, as students are encouraged by those who have gone before to reach higher and dig deeper than ever before.
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Panel discussion 1. (2015). ICDE World Conference. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arSCgsYh5cM
Nov 10
This module is about the range of best practices for the instructors and learners of online education to use in order to maximize the success of the learner. It seems easier to come up with a list of worst practices since that is what remains in our memory of emotional situations. Best practices would hardly be noticed by the recipient since the person would be immersed in the learning instead of evaluating the practices being used. But there are for sure differences in best practices depending on which learning theory or theories an individual or an institution subscribes to. For example, behaviorist best practices would be contradictory to collaborative best practices. There are also differences between best practices according to roles. Instructors are expected to provide the best support possible to the learner, but the learner is expected to actively engage in adequate preparation for the learning. Administrators have yet another set of best practices they should adhere to in order to fulfill their role in the educational process. Another variation in the sets of best practice occurs in the modes of learning. Elementary vs. secondary vs. tertiary; online vs. mass media vs. print vs. on-campus; academic vs. vocational. All of these factors produce slightly altered sets of best practice, but I believe that the majority of the practices will be found to be in common across most categories.
Nov 13
Policy in distance education organizations should be based on the researched and accepted learning theories. These organizations should have as their goal to guide students to becoming more independent and wanting to learn more than is what is offered within the actual course. Students learn through a mixture of their own experiences and available resources, and when they are guided to make real-world connections, they can better understand the material. Sometimes, however, the policies made by the administration of the organization unintentionally hamper student learning. For example, selecting the best media to deliver course material often requires a designer and instructor to take the time to analyze that media to ensure that it effectively transmits the information. Those “in the trenches day in and day out” with the students (namely the instructors or teachers) best know how practices and techniques will work in the learning of the students. The trick is to connect the policies with the techniques through communication between administration and instructors. Without this communication on the intended direction to run with the implementation of the policies, the policies will look like there are completely off-base when the instructors come up with practices that follow the policies but are not efficient or effective at allowing student learning. It is all about communication.
Nov 18
Learning theory informs distance education organizations’ policy in order to better assess student progress and to better design course content and design. Moisey and Hughes (2008) talk about non-academic learner support services and approaches that need to be provided to ensure academic success for online students. The range of supports available to students depends on the type of DE institution (e.g., mega-university, institution serving students distributed over large geographic area, dual-mode institution) and the nature and size of the populations being served. The specific learner support services chosen by an institution will reflect the learning theory or theories that they currently subscribe to. Theory can make it possible to view practice from a broader perspective that helps provide deeper understanding of actions and knowledge to be gained from the transferring of experiences (Moisey & Hughes, 2008).
Moisey, S. & Hughes, J. (2008). "Supporting the Online Learner" from The Theory and Practice of Online Learning [online book]. pp. 419- 439. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ ebook/99Z_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_ Learning.pdf
Nov 22
For much of this course, we have concentrated on the student and the instructor. But there is another major component to teaching and learning online -- administration. In the discussion board, we began discussing how even administrators have best practices that they should follow in order to best ensure the success of the learner. Otte and Benke (2006) write about the leadership needed in distance education institutions. The leaders must have a path to follow or they will lead the entire school into confusion. This path should be a policy with a clear foundation of accepted theoretical pedagogies that are organized into a seamless learning experience. The administration is responsible for setting the tone. Getting top level support to adopt and adapt to online learning is vital for success. Otte & Benke (2006) make valid points when they highlight the difference in roles: that high-level executives are critical to advances in student support by permitting a strategic approach to online instruction, middle management mobilizes faculty to implement the support, faculty do hands-on online instruction according to certain learning theories, and department chairs either agree to or block their involvement in the process of designing the course to best fit the needs of the students. Otte & Benke (2006) mention that innovations would have once happened in isolated pockets within an organization, but thanks to the growth of technology they have attracted attention from an organization’s leadership, which has led to policy change and leadership providing direction. They make the case that policies concerning the organization's distance education must be evaluated in a "formal, continuous, improvement cycle" (pg. 28).
Otte & Benke (2006) state that there might be conflict between the technologists (IT department), who control the websites, and the academic team, who are concerned with teaching the students. This is because the IT department are usually part of the administrative side of the university rather than the teaching side. This is referred to as ‘two sides of the house’ (p 25). Until the two sides communicate better with each other and actually partner up to accomplish their shared goal of maximizing the learning of the students, this conflict will continue, to the detriment of the very students they profess to serve.
Otte, G. & Banke M. (2006). Online learning: New models for leadership and organization in higher education. Retrieved from https://umuc.equella.ecollege.com/file/572cca6a-81e0-44c6-a0e3-e847a3b7ced5/1/OMDE610.zip/Module%2005/assets/ v10n2_2otte.pdf
This module is about the range of best practices for the instructors and learners of online education to use in order to maximize the success of the learner. It seems easier to come up with a list of worst practices since that is what remains in our memory of emotional situations. Best practices would hardly be noticed by the recipient since the person would be immersed in the learning instead of evaluating the practices being used. But there are for sure differences in best practices depending on which learning theory or theories an individual or an institution subscribes to. For example, behaviorist best practices would be contradictory to collaborative best practices. There are also differences between best practices according to roles. Instructors are expected to provide the best support possible to the learner, but the learner is expected to actively engage in adequate preparation for the learning. Administrators have yet another set of best practices they should adhere to in order to fulfill their role in the educational process. Another variation in the sets of best practice occurs in the modes of learning. Elementary vs. secondary vs. tertiary; online vs. mass media vs. print vs. on-campus; academic vs. vocational. All of these factors produce slightly altered sets of best practice, but I believe that the majority of the practices will be found to be in common across most categories.
Nov 13
Policy in distance education organizations should be based on the researched and accepted learning theories. These organizations should have as their goal to guide students to becoming more independent and wanting to learn more than is what is offered within the actual course. Students learn through a mixture of their own experiences and available resources, and when they are guided to make real-world connections, they can better understand the material. Sometimes, however, the policies made by the administration of the organization unintentionally hamper student learning. For example, selecting the best media to deliver course material often requires a designer and instructor to take the time to analyze that media to ensure that it effectively transmits the information. Those “in the trenches day in and day out” with the students (namely the instructors or teachers) best know how practices and techniques will work in the learning of the students. The trick is to connect the policies with the techniques through communication between administration and instructors. Without this communication on the intended direction to run with the implementation of the policies, the policies will look like there are completely off-base when the instructors come up with practices that follow the policies but are not efficient or effective at allowing student learning. It is all about communication.
Nov 18
Learning theory informs distance education organizations’ policy in order to better assess student progress and to better design course content and design. Moisey and Hughes (2008) talk about non-academic learner support services and approaches that need to be provided to ensure academic success for online students. The range of supports available to students depends on the type of DE institution (e.g., mega-university, institution serving students distributed over large geographic area, dual-mode institution) and the nature and size of the populations being served. The specific learner support services chosen by an institution will reflect the learning theory or theories that they currently subscribe to. Theory can make it possible to view practice from a broader perspective that helps provide deeper understanding of actions and knowledge to be gained from the transferring of experiences (Moisey & Hughes, 2008).
Moisey, S. & Hughes, J. (2008). "Supporting the Online Learner" from The Theory and Practice of Online Learning [online book]. pp. 419- 439. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ ebook/99Z_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_ Learning.pdf
Nov 22
For much of this course, we have concentrated on the student and the instructor. But there is another major component to teaching and learning online -- administration. In the discussion board, we began discussing how even administrators have best practices that they should follow in order to best ensure the success of the learner. Otte and Benke (2006) write about the leadership needed in distance education institutions. The leaders must have a path to follow or they will lead the entire school into confusion. This path should be a policy with a clear foundation of accepted theoretical pedagogies that are organized into a seamless learning experience. The administration is responsible for setting the tone. Getting top level support to adopt and adapt to online learning is vital for success. Otte & Benke (2006) make valid points when they highlight the difference in roles: that high-level executives are critical to advances in student support by permitting a strategic approach to online instruction, middle management mobilizes faculty to implement the support, faculty do hands-on online instruction according to certain learning theories, and department chairs either agree to or block their involvement in the process of designing the course to best fit the needs of the students. Otte & Benke (2006) mention that innovations would have once happened in isolated pockets within an organization, but thanks to the growth of technology they have attracted attention from an organization’s leadership, which has led to policy change and leadership providing direction. They make the case that policies concerning the organization's distance education must be evaluated in a "formal, continuous, improvement cycle" (pg. 28).
Otte & Benke (2006) state that there might be conflict between the technologists (IT department), who control the websites, and the academic team, who are concerned with teaching the students. This is because the IT department are usually part of the administrative side of the university rather than the teaching side. This is referred to as ‘two sides of the house’ (p 25). Until the two sides communicate better with each other and actually partner up to accomplish their shared goal of maximizing the learning of the students, this conflict will continue, to the detriment of the very students they profess to serve.
Otte, G. & Banke M. (2006). Online learning: New models for leadership and organization in higher education. Retrieved from https://umuc.equella.ecollege.com/file/572cca6a-81e0-44c6-a0e3-e847a3b7ced5/1/OMDE610.zip/Module%2005/assets/ v10n2_2otte.pdf
Nov 27
Final Thoughts about teaching and learning online in the 21st century
Wow! What a semester's full of knowledge.
Final Thoughts about teaching and learning online in the 21st century
Wow! What a semester's full of knowledge.