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alexandra m. pickett

Exploring Collaborative Online Learning - 3 views

  • . Analysis of students' contributions revealed that there is a substantial evidence of collaboration, but that there are differences between conventional face-to-face instances of collaborative learning and what occurs in an asynchronous, networked environment.
    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      "Groupwork" as we know it, will have to be reinterpreted in the online environment.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      : ) i see you thinking!
  •  
    Analysis of students' contributions revealed that there is a substantial evidence of collaboration, but that there are differences between conventional face-to-face instances of collaborative learning and what occurs in an asynchronous, networked environment. Johnson & Johnson (1996) list the following major types of behaviors in collaborative learning situations: * giving and receiving help and assistance; * exchanging resources and information; * explaining elaborating information; * sharing existing knowledge with others; * giving and receiving feedback; * challenging others' contributions (cognitive conflict and controversy leading to negotiation and resolution); * advocating increased effort and perseverance among peers; * engaging in small group skills; * monitoring each others' efforts and contributions.
  •  
    Analysis of students' contributions revealed that there is a substantial evidence of collaboration, but that there are differences between conventional face-to-face instances of collaborative learning and what occurs in an asynchronous, networked environment. Johnson & Johnson (1996) list the following major types of behaviors in collaborative learning situations: * giving and receiving help and assistance; * exchanging resources and information; * explaining elaborating information; * sharing existing knowledge with others; * giving and receiving feedback; * challenging others' contributions (cognitive conflict and controversy leading to negotiation and resolution); * advocating increased effort and perseverance among peers; * engaging in small group skills; * monitoring each others' efforts and contributions.
J Robin Ward

Preparing Instructors for Quality Online Instruction - 1 views

  • The major concerns are centering on the following questions: What will be the new role for instructors in online education? How will students' learning outcomes be assured and improved in online learning environment? How will effective communication and interaction be established with students in the absence of face-to-face instruction? How will instructors motivate students to learn in the online learning environment?
  • Instructors have many concerns about online education. Their primary concern is how online education changes their roles and responsibilities, and how they can adapt to this change. Online education is widely accepted as student-centered education, and the traditional education is regarded as professor-centered education. Due to a shift to online education, the instructor's role has become more of a facilitator than a traditional lecturer. Therefore, the traditional professor-centered educational environment and student-centered online educational environment will have many differences. Besides their role shifting, the role of the virtual instructor is to select and filter information for student consideration, to provide thought-provoking questions, and to facilitate well-considered discussion (Kettner-Polley, 1999).
  • Clark (2002) pointed out that online learner must be a constructivist learner. This suggests that the learner must be active in the process, cognitively complex and motivated. According to Clark , motivating factors in the learning process include self-reference, personal goals, control and autonomy . Howland & Moore's (2002) study examined 48 students' experiences in online environments. Their results confirmed that the students who were the most positive in their perceptions of online learning were those with attributes consistent with constructivist learners. The most positive students were more independent, proactive and responsible for their learning.
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  • Alley and Jansak (2001) have also identified 10 keys to quality online learning. The authors suggested that online courses will be high quality when they are student-centered and when: Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
  • nstructors may lack sufficient information on how well learners actually perform
  • how to appropriately use technology to serve an instructional purpose tends
  • they have to face the challenge of lack of direct interpersonal contact with students
  • the instructor to motivate students to adjust their roles when becoming an online learner
  • Since face to face instruction is usually eliminated in online classes, i
  • While arguments have been made in opposition to online education, there are proponents who are in support of this mode of instruction. They suggest that the lack of face-to-face interaction can be substituted by online discussions in bulletin board systems, online video conferences or on listservs (Blake, 2000). Online education can also promote students' critical thinking skills, deep learning, collaborative learning, and problem-solving skills (Ascough, 2002; Rosie, 2000). Donlevy (2003) asserted that online education may help schools expand curricula offerings with less cost and can help graduates gain important technology skills to improve their marketability. Proponents also argue that online education can encourage non-discriminatory teaching and learning practices since the teachers and students, as well as students and their classmates typically do not meet face-to-face. Palloff and Pratt (1999) have concluded that because students cannot tell the race, gender, physical characteristics of each other and their teachers, online education presents a bias-free teaching and learning environment for instructors and students.
  • academic dishonesty of online learners (Muirhead, 2000)
    • J Robin Ward
       
      This is one of the topics I expressed interest in -- need to take a look at the source.
  • several factors that may deter faculty from teaching online.
  • lack of professional prestige
    • J Robin Ward
       
      Similar to Rogers 2003.
  • While many critics have suggested that there is no sure way to hold students accountable for academic dishonesty, Heberling (2002) concluded that while maintaining academic integrity in the online instructional setting may be a challenging, many strategies may be employed to detect and prevent plagiarism, such as reversing an Internet search, tracking back to an original source.
  • 10 keys to quality online learning
  • Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
  • Alley and Jansak (2001)
Donna Angley

A Constructivist Approach to Teaching - 1 views

  • Presenting instructional content online requires faculty to consider course objectives and the learning outcomes that are produced. How those outcomes are achieved and by how many students are important concerns of higher education institutions and their faculty members
  • Constructivism, on the other hand, is founded on the notion that “the only important reality is in the learner’s mind, and the goal of learning is to construct in the learner’s mind its own, unique conception of events”
  • learner is not a passive recipient but rather the center of instruction
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  • constructivists believe in independent exploration by students that will lead to a deeper understanding of the content
  • cooperative/collaborative approach
  • socio-cultural model
  • cooperative or collaborative model of learning argues that learning occurs as an individual interacts with other individuals
  • socio-cultural model of learning argues that learning best occurs when the learning event is meaningful, more deeply or elaborately processed, situated in context, and rooted in the learner’s cultural background and personal knowledge
  • one goal is to create a meaningful environment that includes communication and collaboration
  • New technologies allow for construction of knowledge through what is actually deeper reflection by the learner
  • Through groups and other learning interactions with their online peers, students acquire deeper understanding because of the “opportunities for exposure to multiple perspectives and interpretations
  • Learning involves active cognitive processing
  • Learning is adaptive
  •   Learning is subjective, not objective
    • jessica mascle
       
      again, does it need to be balanced?
  • Learning involves both social/cultural and individual processes
  • socializing function by fostering a friendly environment
  • Organizing involves setting the objectives, procedural rules, and timetables
  • intellectual role, guide the students’ journey to understanding. This is accomplished by probing and questioning students about their responses, by summarizing main themes, and by linking these to assignments such as readings, written responses, and independent and group projects.
  • discussion board posts serve as learning artifacts as well as springboards for more learning and the development of community
  • social negotiation and mediation
  • authentic and real-world environments
  • Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators
  • prompting students to develop their own inquiry questions
  • allowing students to express their knowledge through multiple avenues
  • encouraging group projects and collaborative learning
  • If, on the other hand, we believe that learners actively construct knowledge in their attempts to make sense of their world, then learning will likely emphasize the development of meaning and understanding
  • use of discussion boards
  • provide forums that require students to research an area of interest and report back to the class in the forum
  • incorporates collaborative elements
  • instructor should build in as many collaborative opportunities for group work
  •  
    ooooh execllent tags highlighting and comments!!
  •  
    The author contends that using a learning-centered, or constructivist, approach in online courses is critical to student success.
Michael Lucatorto

Social Aspects of Collaborative Learning in Virtual Learning Environments - 0 views

  • Collaborative work and also learning is integrated in the daily working process but collaborative e-learning is a concept of which only few have heard off. However, collaborative work is one of the main strengths of the networked economy. Working with people, one has never met, forming dynamical teams over continents in order to solve problems, are common in many globalised or networked companies as well as in multinational project teams. The challenge for collaborative e-learning platforms is to design solutions for distributed networked learning and working teams by providing on the one hand solutions to share learning content and to interactively work on it. On the other hand the concept of collaborative learning also focuses on social aspects of learning which are less implemented in current systems. Not only theoretical models and research work but also the increasing importance of virtual learning communities show that future applications should and will take into account these collaborative and social aspects and enable especially small groups to learn and work together efficiently via computer networks.
Amy M

Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUC... - 0 views

shared by Amy M on 28 May 09 - Cached
  • 30 million people today qualified to enter a university who have no place to go. During the next decade, this 30 million will grow to 100 million. To meet this staggering demand, a major university needs to be created each week.
  • Open Educational Resources (OER) movement, which has provided free access to a wide range of courses and other educational materials to anyone who wants to use them.
  • Web 2.0,
    • jessica mascle
       
      ?
    • Amy M
       
      Web 1.0 was individuals accessing information.  Web 2.0 is the "social web."  Users focusing on social interaction rather than just getting conent.
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  • from access to information toward access to other people.
  • What do we mean by “social learning”?
  • e that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning.5
  • Students in these groups can ask questions to clarify areas of uncertainty or confusion, can improve their grasp of the material by hearing the answers to questions from fellow students, and perhaps most powerfully, can take on the role of teacher to help other group members benefit from their understanding (one of the best ways to learn something is, after all, to teach it to others).
    • Shoubang Jian
       
      The dichotomy between Cartesian and Social Learning is problematic, and this is one of the reasons why. If Social Learning still comes down to group learning from each other, it remains unclear what would be the "alternative" model of learning/teaching between group users, if not substance/pedagogy.
  • But viewing learning as the process of joining a community of practice reverses this pattern and allows new students to engage in “learning to be” even as they are mastering the content of a field.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Schools of Ed/teacher prep programs are being charged with providing "clinically rich" programs that engage candidates more actively, earlier, and more frequently in their program of study. This is proving to be difficult to actualize in the current wave of APPR uncertainty.
  • apprenticeship
  • open source movement
    • Shoubang Jian
       
      Open Source Project may be a model for building up knowledge base among devoted users who are willing to follow the "path" set by predecessors. It is quite another issue whether it is a model for education.
  • Digital StudyHall (DSH)
    • Shoubang Jian
       
      It's not clear in what sense this DSH method is an example of social learning.
  • We now need a new approach to learning—one characterized by a demand-pull rather than the traditional supply-push mode of building up an inventory of knowledge in students’ heads. Demand-pull learning shifts the focus to enabling participation in flows of action, where the focus is both on “learning to be” through enculturation into a practice as well as on collateral learning.
  • open participatory learning ecosystems
    • b malczyk
       
      Not only is it a matter of "if" such campuses are a possibility, but "should" such campuses be a priority. If online and distance education can yield at least comparable results to traditional academic settings, then their ease of accessibility and lower overhead costs warrant further exploration as a viable possibility.
  • “I think, therefore I am,” and from the assumption that knowledge is something that is transferred to the student via various pedagogical strategies, the social view of learning says, “We participate, therefore we are
  • provided students with opportunities to observe and then to emulate how experts function
    • b malczyk
       
      How does the open source idea fit with fields like medicine or chemistry where knowledge is less "socially constricted"? 
    • Amy M
       
      Open Source/Access research.  One of the problems right now is that the NIH or fed government will pay for research, but the public then had to pay for the results of that research.  We are paying for the same research twice.  Open Access Journals (see Harvard Memo) hopes to change this.
  • seeking the knowledge when it is needed in order to carry out a particular situated task.
    • b malczyk
       
      Knowledge that is obtained when "needed" then answers the famous question many high school students ask their teachers, "When will I ever use this?" 
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      I grew to see high school as a time for exposure to all disciplines in order to find what best suited one in preparation for college or the workplace. Now I am wondering if the multiplicity of disciplines will be "tailored" to fit the personal interests of the learner. Will differentiating for all eradicate the question Ben mentions?
  • all student writing was done on public blogs
    • b malczyk
       
      This form of education was also based on what could be called an industrial style of education. They education system became an extension of industry--students were passed along on the assembly line from one course to the next, year after year and came out a finished produce with similar skills and altitudes as their peers. Now education has and can become more narrow and niche based and less industrial.
  • This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is the model embraced by most teacher ed programs.
    • Amy M
       
      Which has its advantages and disadvantages. 
  • In this open environment, both the content and the process by which it is created are equally visible, thereby enabling a new kind of critical reading—almost a new form of literacy—that invites the reader to join in the consideration of what information is reliable and/or important.
  • And at the third level, any participant in Second Life could review the lectures and other course materials online at no cost. This experiment suggests one way that the social life of Internet-based virtual education can coexist with and extend traditional education.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Will the professions embrace as colleague one who excels in a non-credit course of study or will opportunities continue to be closed to those who don't present the "right" credentials?
  • Through these continuing connections, the University of Michigan students can extend the discussions, debates, bull sessions, and study groups that naturally arise on campus to include their broader networks. Even though these extended connections were not developed to serve educational purposes, they amplify the impact that the university is having while also benefiting students on campus.14 If King is right, it makes sense for colleges and universities to consider how they can leverage these new connections through the variety of social software platforms that are being established for other reasons.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      I am wondering if "leveraging" these networks will become a basis for funding in the case of state colleges and universities.
  • he site’s developers note: “We fundamentally believe that the new electronic environment and its tools enable us to revive the humanistic spirit of communal and collaboratively ‘playful’ learning of which the Decameron itself is the utmost expression.”
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      The notion of 'playful' learning is my ideal; this seems to be at odds with the test drill environment I am currently observing in grades 3 - 6. Currently, it seems as though there are two tracks developing in "Learning 2.0": assessment-driven and learner-driven.
  • As more of learning becomes Internet-based, a similar pattern seems to be occurring. Whereas traditional schools offer a finite number of courses of study, the “catalog” of subjects that can be learned online is almost unlimited. There are already several thousand sets of course materials and modules online, and more are being added regularly. Furthermore, for any topic that a student is passionate about, there is likely to be an online niche community of practice of others who share that passion.
  • that will support active, passion-based learning: Learning 2.0. This new form of learning begins with the knowledge and practices acquired in school but is equally suited for continuous, lifelong learning that extends beyond formal schooling.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Surely the content and skills currently being taught and assessed Pk-12 must give way to a new set of literacies.
  • In addition to supporting lecture-style teaching, Terra Incognita includes the capability for small groups of students who want to work together to easily “break off” from the central classroom before rejoining the entire class. Instructors can “visit” or send messages to any of the breakout groups and can summon them to rejoin the larger group.
  • CyberOne Classroom in Second Life
  •  
    Social View of Learning
Joy Quah Yien-ling

The "V-PORTAL": Video Online Repository for e-Teaching and Learning... - The World Is Open - 3 views

  •  
    List of 27 videos: 1. Planning an Online Course 2. Managing an Online Course: General 3. Managing an Online Course: Discussion Forums 4. Providing Feedback 5. Reducing Plagiarism 6. Building Community 7. Building Instructor and Social Presence 8. Online Relationships: Student-Student, Student-Instructor, Student-Practitioner, Student-Self 9. Fostering Online Collaboration/Teaming 10. Finding Quality Supplemental Materials 11. Blended Learning: General 12. Blended Learning: Implementation 13. Blended Learning: The Future 14. Online Writing and Reflection Activities 15. Online Visual Learning 16. Using Existing Online Video Resources 17. Webinars and Webcasts 18. Podcasting Uses and Applications 19. Wiki Uses and Applications 20. Blog Uses and Applications 21. Collaborative Tool Uses and Applications 22. Hands-On/Experiential Learning 23. Coordinating Online Project, Problem, and Product-Based Learning 24. Global Connections and Collaborations 25. Assessing Student Online Learning 26. Ending, Archiving, Updating, and Reusing an Online Course 27. Trends on the Horizon
Joy Quah Yien-ling

MODELS FOR ACTIVITIES AND COLLABORATION IN WIKI ENVIRONMENTS IN ACADEMIC COURSES - 1 views

  • Cooperation (1): the simplest collaborative model (Dillenbourg, 1999; Schneider et. al, 2003) and the basis for all the other models.   In this model, most of the work is performed individually. Every student creates a Wiki page, writing and editing only his/her page and share his/her product with his peers.
  • Collaboration and Cooperation (2): in this model, the degree of collaboration is higher than in the previous model, because all students are required to work together on the same content, in groups or as one group, and to edit and improve it together (Dillenbourg, 1999; Schneider et. al, 2003).
  • Cooperation, Collaboration and  Peer-Assessment (3): in the final model,  the most complex of all, collaboration is implemented with respect to all dimensions: product, process and assessment. Students work in groups or alone, upload information to Wiki, edit each other’s products and provide peer feedback about the parts that they did not write (Dominick, Reilly & McGourty, 1997; Morgan & O’reilly, 1999).
  •  
    The article proposes three models for cooperation in Wiki environments. But this is also salient for online collaboration.
Joy Quah Yien-ling

Teacher as Facilitator - 1 views

  • Develop student learning opportunities. This takes into account the course documents, the teacher's personal theories of teaching and learning, the student’s interest, their preferred learning styles and their understanding and skills. It is in this area that the teacher as facilitator is able to provide opportunities for student learning that will take hold of the students' interests and thus motivate them to engage in the learning opportunity. Harrison (1998a & b) has presented the S.P.A.C.E. model for creating optimal learning conditions. The conditions for optimal learning include the following: Self-affimation – the learner’s view themselves as effective learners and the teachers provide them with feedback to that effect; Personal meaning – the learners are able to find personal meaning in the learning. That is, the learning is relevant to them; Active learning - the learners are active in the learning, whether that activity is physically doing something (as for concrete learners) or intellectually doing something (as for abstract reflective learners). Collaborative – the learners are able to collaborate with others in the learning process and not to view learning as an isolating experience; Empowering – the learners are able to shape the learning process, to have control over what is learnt and the direction of the learning.
  • The role of the teacher is diverse and has several orientations. One important aspect is that of facilitator of student learning. The facilitator attempts to provide circumstances that will enable students to engage with the learning opportunities and construct for themselves their understandings and skills. This role will interact with those of teacher as learner, colleague and community partner.
  • A student’s beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning will interact with a teacher’s beliefs. The teacher therefore needs to understand what students expect and are willing to do as well as what they themselves expect of the students.
    • Shoubang Jian
       
      I like this statement. I've never thought of the importance of a dialogue between student's and teacher's idea of teaching and learning.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      so, shoubang... how can an instructor understand what students expect? How will you understand what your students expect? What do you expect of your students and more importantly how will they know what you expect? What mechanisms have i used in this course to achieve both of these ends?
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    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      Anticipating and providing students with space to make mistakes is important. Skills and knowledge take some time to assimilate. Packing a course too tightly may deprive students of the chance to experiment and explore and to reposition, when necessary.
  •  
    Learning and collaboration
  •  
    One mechanism you use, I think, to achieve this is to have all discussion and activity forums be completely open to all in the class. Thus the optimal learning conditions are created by creating open pathways for each person to see ways to deepen their thinking and get more from the course material.
  •  
    It is explicit in the expectations and get the most documents of the course what you expect from your students, and how they can succeed, that is important. But how the teacher know what the students expect I think it is more difficult, maybe asking them explicitly, and provide spaces for them to talk between them, to make comments and suggestions.
Diane Gusa

Relational Context of Teaching - 3 views

  • He continues that we can face the future with confidence if we know how to teach ourselves, read between the subjective lines of media, process the vast amount of information that will be available, work collaboratively, and reaching for resources that will expand our capacities – for example a resource like this course!!
  • I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      You can do this!!! You are doing this diane!!! Thank you for being brave and persisting. you just made my day!! : )
  • However, to be part of the social network and be actively involve citizens, each must become life-long learners. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      ... and like it or not life is now technology mediated. No matter who you end up being "when you grow up" if you are not comfortable with technology, can't assess/evaluate information, can't find information when you need it, you will be at a disadvantage.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I agree. I am concern for the students who are not exposed to this technology. In our district, the computer teacher was laid off, yet we kept all the coaches/sports. Adults, who are not on board with the technological needs of their students, are the ones making these decisions.
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  • Eleanor Roosevelt
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      don't forget to self-assess!
  • I am going to give this blog a 3.
  • Teacher presence
  • June 21st,
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      diane: the blogging assignment for module 2 was due on june 19th.
  • What I would like is to have the option of posting and assessing it as NG (no grade)
    • Donna Angley
       
      I too feel that the blog area should be a little more relaxed. I like your idea of a NG post. I'm wondering if you could create a separate "page" just for social commentary. Just a thought.
  • Finally, I carefully considers there are no place where Alex might say “can you tell me more”
    • Donna Angley
       
      It's okay if Alex asks you to elaborate a little more, that's the role of the instructor if the students aren't providing enough feedback.
  • Since our blogs are shared work-spaces, we are suppose to engage in collaborative reflective discourses,  creating a shared understanding, leading to collaborative knowledge
    • Donna Angley
       
      Yes, it has taken me a while to figure all this out as well. I never take the straight path from point A to point B. I always take the detour, but I do get there eventually :-)
  • Dewey states: “I assume that amid all uncertainties there is one permanent frame of reference: namely the organic connection between education and personal experience. (Dewey 1939:25).
    • Donna Angley
       
      Dewey was a great believer in the connection between the educational system and the social community. "It was forgotten that to become integral parts of the child's conduct and chracter they must be assimilated; not as mere items of information, but as organic parts of his present needs and aims -- which in turn are social" (Dewey). In his book, The School and Society, he talks about the deep connection between home and school, between home and work, and the importance of the school as the connector.
  • pay attention
    • Donna Angley
       
      I had a doctor describe ADD very aptly to me. He said think about your child's surroundings as radio waves. Your child is picking up every radio wave that is out there and he does not have the ability to ignore any of it. When my son was 11 he described his inability to understand things in school like this: it's like I'm looking through a window that is foggy. I can see, but it's not clear enough to make sense.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      This was a good explanation of ADD. Do you know that there is a college that is set up for ADD students? It is called Landmark College and it is a remarkable place!
  • then I go on an adventure and troll through the internet and my books to satisfy my desire to learn. I continue, immerse in my hyper-focus state of mind, until I feel that I have a deep understanding of whatever I am exploring.
    • Donna Angley
       
      This is a good thing; it's what online learning is all about. I realize it's probably frustrating to you because you focus so intensely on what you're doing, but I definitely see your presence in this course, so I wouldn't worry that you're not interacting enough. Just for the record, 12 posts is difficult for me as well when you consider how much research goes into each one.
  • I will investigate and use group Wikis
    • Donna Angley
       
      I've decided to have my students use Wiki as well for a group project. I think it will be a good learning activity and will give them the opportunity to collaborate outside of the forum. They will be writing their own short stories in small groups.
  • detailed rubric
    • Donna Angley
       
      I need to create a rubric for my "Book Club" forum. Any suggestions for where to start? Do I reinvent the wheel, or are there sites that have pre-fabricated rubrics that can be tweaked to fit my needs?
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Hi Donna, Whenever youi can do not reinvent the wheel. I am going to post either today or tomorrow a post on building a rubric. First I need to see what Alex wants us to do
  • plan on using Alex’s rubric for my instructional design,
    • Donna Angley
       
      Can we do this, just borrow a rubric from somebody else? That would be awesome, but I don't want to plagarize anything.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I prefer to think I synthesize....I always search the internet for "ideas" for my rubrics and course syllabi.
    • ian august
       
      Hey diane, sometimes I never know when I am ready to write. I thought I had the pattern down. Read the material, take notes, reflect and research on what interests or inspres me, but this module I was not ready to blog and i started writing something, and some crazy stuff just came out. It might have been the two best blog posts of the semester. 
    • ian august
       
      Give this women a thousand points for quoting me :)!!
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Yes Ian I have learned much from you all. I also could use the 1,000 points! :)
    • ian august
       
      While i agree with you I think I would not push myself sometimes if I wasnt forced. I might have chosen to slack instead of worked when I was tired or busy with life.  Do you think you can use different models of teaching with different students in the same class?
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      I agree with Ian...it reminds me of doing sports in high school. If my coach didn't push us harder and harder we wouldn't ever have been successful! Alex is our coach and we can either choose to step up to the plate and work our butts off or we can sit on the bench and let the game, or in this case the learning, pass us by!
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      On a side note, I loved kung fu panda!!
  • I am saddened and concern for the positivist, behaviorist methods she employs and models. I
    • Donna Angley
       
      I don't understand this comment.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      This was base on reading only half of the rubric...
  • poor grade.
    • Donna Angley
       
      This is the second time you've brought up this issue. The way I see, Alex is the instructor, and she has designed a course with rubrics. I really don't see that the rubrics are that difficult to understand. I understand you wanting to get an "A" but if you want the "A" you have to work hard for it. If your life circumstances prevent you from doing what she considers the fair amount of work, that's not her problem. I don't feel an instructor should change the syllabus or rubrics for every student that complains about the work load, unless the instructor has received numerous complaints. I think that perhaps you have a lot on your plate right now, atleast that's the feeling I get from reading some of your posts. I can understand that, I've been through a lot myself this semester. However, it's unfair to expect Alex to change the point system just for you. May I suggest something: Clearly you are a hard working student, but circumstances are obviously preventing you from putting in the amount of work needed to earn an "A." Just accept that and work toward a "B" which is a perfectly acceptable grade. Take the pressure off of yourself. It's just a grade. A year or two from now it won't matter. All that will matter is that you learned about online teaching and came away with a robust course that you can teach. I think that's a good deal.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Donna My comment is a pedagogical one and not an attack on Alex. The point I may not be making clearly, why the number 12? I am not the only student who has stated that a post takes several hours. Does Alex require this? No. Why I take this time is because of the quality I expect to bring to the discussion forum. I was not posting prior knowlege, but new understandings. Learning takes time and the #12 does not seem to recognize this time. I again do not see "choice" in this rubric. I agree the knowlege is the goal, and I have no problem with what I have learned and will continue to learn. However, with the exception of the last grading I have not gotten a "B" but failed every discussion forum except the last. Yes I was teaching a summer online course. I also have home responisblilites. These were stresses, but not obstacles. According to the expectations we were expected to do ~ 45 hours in class work and 100+ hours building our course. I don't know about you but the class work I have done over 150 hours just in class work. Finally, why do I bring this argument up for a second time. It is not for Alex to change; but for you all in this class to not simply copy and use Alex's rubric in your own courses. That is why I speak out.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Again if I had scrolled down I would have seen that 12 posts were not required.
  • In the future I will build my course off line,
    • Donna Angley
       
      Good idea!
  • when a student finally understands that their discussions need to encompass teaching, cognitive engagement, and social presence, then the discussion forum truly becomes a awesome learning tool!!!!!!  
    • Donna Angley
       
      I guess that's what it's all about in the end. I'm not sure all online students understand this concept when they first delve into it. I've actually added a resource that explains the generalities of social learning theory and the students part in it.
  • Alex, my  Shifu, has diligently pushed me down the road of online pedagogy. There were many times when I landed hard and bounced a few times. However, just like the panda, I too will become capable in my bumbling ways. I too realize there is no secret ingredients in 21st century teaching….it still is best practices in education with technology embedded in it.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i TOTALLY LOVE this image : ) thank you! : )
  • I have changed in many ways as a result of this class. I am now and will continue to be a blogger, and use blogs  as one way to facilitate learning for my students. I understand the Community of inquiry approach, and have now created a rubric for my discussion forums that reflect the elements of teacher, cognitive, and social presence. I was fortunate to be teaching online as I took this class, and I observed my discussion forums going from conversations to dialogue that exhibit depth of learning. I have observed the pedagogy of my professor and will incorporate similar ways of interacting with my students, using the tools that web 2.0 affords me. I have moved from having little enthusiasm for online learning to embracing it as an essential medium for learning.  
  • I will do this because I care about their learning.
  • I knew I needed this course to become the better online teacher, what I didn’t know was the transformative change  that I would experience this summer.
  • ulnerability, especially with the knowledge that their efforts will be evaluated by their instructor.
Lauren D

Benefits of Peer-Based Learning.pdf (application/pdf Object) - 0 views

  •  
    Forums, online communities, and professional networks are these new learning environments, where people find and share information, collaborate and learn on demand. A significant challenge is to motivate people to participate in the knowledge-sharing and learning process. Especially in peer-based learning environments, where learning depends on the effort of all participants, it is essential to provide enough incentives to participate and share information with others." Implementing systems fostering trust through reputation can enhance the learning effectiveness, and provide alternatives for the traditional pedagogical approaches still in place in current e-learning courses. Formal education could profit from such new learning environments adopting these pedagogical approaches and related technical systems."
Irene Watts-Politza

ScienceDirect.com - Computers & Education - Learning presence: Towards a theory of self... - 1 views

  • This line of research indicated that the multivariate measure of learning represented by the cognitive presence factor could be predicted by the quality of teaching presence and social presence reported by learners in online courses. The relationship between these constructs is illustrated in Fig. 1 below.
  • Given the electronic, social, and “self-directed” nature of online learning, it seems imperative that we examine learner self- and co-regulation in online environments especially as they relate to desired outcomes such as higher levels of cognitive presence as described in the CoI framework.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Is this an aspect of assessment that is adequately addressed?
  • We suggest that this constellation of behaviors and traits may be seen as elements of a larger construct “learning presence” (Shea, 2010).
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • self-efficacy can be viewed as a subjective judgment of one’s level of competence in executing certain behaviors or achieving certain outcomes in the future. Self-efficacy has been identified as the best predictor of college GPA and among the best predictors of college persistence through meta-analytic research (Robbins et al., 2004). Further, commenting on the state of the art in self-regulated learning research Winne suggested that self-regulation is contingent on positive self-efficacy beliefs, arguing that “learners must subscribe to a system of epistemological and motivational beliefs that classifies failure as an occasion to be informed, a condition that is controllable, and a stimulus to spend effort to achieve better” (Winne, 2005). This contrast of failure attribution as trait (e.g., “I’m just not good at math”) versus failure as occasion to be informed (“I can control, adapt, and learn from this”) is a classic view of maladaptive and adaptive self-efficacy beliefs.
  • In the current study we therefore examine the relationship between CoI constructs and elements of self efficacy in order to begin to investigate the larger theme of collaborative online learner regulation and learning presence.
  • Thus, self-efficacy is “concerned not with what one has but with belief in what one can do with whatever resources one can muster” (Bandura, 2007, p. 6).
  • Bandura has noted that slightly elevated efficacy can have a bigger impact on subsequent performance. Overestimating one’s capabilities to produce a behavior and outcome may boost performance and give rise to motivation to persist in face of obstacles and seatback, while the opposite is true for underestimating one’s capabilities, which may suppress productive goals, persistence and effort (Bandura, 2007). Thus there is an important connection between self-efficacy, effort, and subsequent performance.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This has implications for course attrition rates.
  • Positive psychological and emotional states in the aftermath of successful execution of certain academic behaviors naturally lead to sense of competence and subsequently results in enhanced sense of efficacy.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is the "feeling of satsfaction" Lisa Martin referred to in her Module 3 posts on social presence.
  • We suggest here that elements within the CoI framework may serve as mechanisms for supporting self-efficacy. Specifically we conjecture that effective teaching presence and positive social presence should serve as sources of social persuasion and positive affect supportive of self-efficacy.
  • (Bandura, 1997). These and other studies have suggested that self-efficacy has a substantial role in predicting student engagement, motivation and performance ( [Bong, 2004], [Caraway et al., 2003], [Chemers et al., 2001], [Choi, 2005], [Smith et al., 2001] and [Vrugt et al., 2002]).
  • The participants in the study were a random sample of 3165 students from 42 two- and four-year institutions in New York State.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      SLN? See how many things you can learn with one really great data set?
  • Gaining knowledge about the reasons for learning and achievement of online students has attracted a great deal of attention among both researchers and practitioners. Understanding the factors that have an influence on the success of online education has significant implications for designing productive online communities.
  • Reviewing studies that investigated elements of online learner self-regulation
  • This ongoing project to document all instances of teaching, social, and cognitive presence in complete online courses also resulted in identification of learner discourse that did not fit within the model, i.e. could not be reliably coded as indicators of teaching, social, or cognitive presence ( [Shea, 2010] and [Shea et al., 2010]).
  • Additional work on the CoI model (Shea, Vickers, & Hayes, 2010) suggested that past research methods may have resulted in a systematic under representation of the instructional effort involved in online education.
  • These exceptions represent interesting data for refining and enhancing the model as they suggest that learners are attempting to accomplish goals that are not accounted for within the CoI framework.
  • In this paper we examine the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) suggesting that the model may be enhanced through a fuller articulation of the roles of online learners. We present the results of a study of 3165 students in online and hybrid courses from 42 two- and four-year institutions in which we examine the relationship between learner self-efficacy measures and their ratings of the quality of their learning in virtual environments. We conclude that a positive relationship exists between elements of the CoI framework and between elements of a nascent theoretical construct that we label “learning presence”. We suggest that learning presence represents elements such as self-efficacy as well as other cognitive, behavioral, and motivational constructs supportive of online learner self-regulation.
  • the CoI framework attempts to articulate the social, technological, and pedagogical processes that engender collaborative knowledge construction. It therefore represents an effort to resolve the greatest challenge to the quality of online education
  • Learner discussions also included efforts to divide up tasks, manage time, and set goals in order to successfully complete group projects. As such they appeared to be indicators of online learner self and co-regulation, which can be viewed as the degree to which students in collaborative online educational environments are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in the learning process (Winters & Azevedo, 2005).
  • the authors concluded that all the studies converged on advantageous outcomes for providing support for “metacognitive” learning strategies including self-reflection, self-explanation, and self-monitoring.
  • successfully orchestrating a dialogue demands fairly sophisticated skills. Conversational contributions need to be simultaneously parsed according to their disciplinary value, their location within the chain of collective argumentation, their relevance to the instructional goals, and their role as indicators of the student’s ongoing understanding. The outcome of this complex appraisal is a sense of the amount and quality of the guidance that specific contributions and the conversation as a whole require to support learning.” (Larreamendy-Joerns & Leinhardt, p. 591)
  • Zhao et al. also concluded that studies in which instructor interaction with students was medium to high resulted in better learning outcomes for online students relative to classroom learners.
  •  
    This article also addresses the relationships between each of the presences and proposes an additional presence- Learner Presence.
alexandra m. pickett

Ian August etap 640 SuMmEr 2011 - 1 views

  • Student centered learning
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      question your assumptions! why do you assume that "student-centered" means "teacher-less"?
  • why do I need to pay for this if I am on my own. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      well... if this were true, you could walk into a library and "BAM" - you would know it all! digg into your assumptions here... it is about role and expectations and where the focus is. Is it on the student or on the teacher? see my blog post "if i do all the work, who does all the learning?" : )
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      I wish I could walk into a library and know it all! I sometimes (jokingly) tell my students to put their textbooks under their pillow at night in hopes that learning-by-diffusion may come true!
  • leaders. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      self-assessment?!
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      missing from every post! check the rubric!
    • ian august
       
      i did not even realize, :O
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • could not locate a link for diigo but I contacted Mimi for more info
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      excellent! : )
  • But the last article I read after the, yawn, diffusion one, yawn, was about digital natives. WOW .
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      I am glad that Prensky "engaged" you, but in the long run the other article would help you to better understand and serve the fauclty you work with. Theories help us frame and understand probelms systematically. I need you to think about this and to think about what "engages" you and why. So here is something to engage you. Prensky is WRONG!!! I was hoping you would find find this on your own: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/05/natives-are-revolting.html - Steve is a friend of mine and a well-known and respected blogger. Digg into this controversy! And then come back and tell me what you think!
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I so agree. I use the polling option in my online course and was told I was the first to ever try. I believe that part of the problem is that online learning is coming from the top down, with little support.
    • ian august
       
      how do you use the polling option diane, for what type of assignments? Prof. Pickett has been telling me to let the student decide on many things, like Bill Pelz course, where the students approve each others final essays. when you say top down do you mean the teacher ruling the classing room? Because that seems to be the norm, how f2f classes run as well.
  • They use the basics like read this article and write this paper or take this quiz.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I am a visual person and find that I don't still have a mental map of this class. I wander around quite a bit. I have developed a few shortcuts, but it is definitely a work in progress.
    • ian august
       
      The map of the class has definitley gotten better since the start, I dont know if you used angel, but we use it at our college, I dont think I can send pics through here but I will send them to you another way.
  • t took me a minute to figure out the moodle system.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Do you like moodle better than Angel? I am disappointed in Angel's blog, so I will need to send my students to edublogs.
  • These ideas are the modern theories in action,  of the students new role in the classroom, whether online or f2f. Professor's have said in the past "this is our class", but these ideas I have mentioned are really creating an "our class" type of atmosphere where the teacher and students are more equal participants in the learning process than the traditional model of the teacher being the boss, and the student being the subordinate.
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      I agree. This is certainly a benefit of online learning. You don't have to worry, as an instructor, about who's paying attention or talking in the back or being the "disciplinarian" you can all just focus on coming together and learning as a community.
  • Randy Pausch
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      love him. saw his last lecture a few years ago on youtube.
  • wikis's
    • Donna Angley
       
      I'm going to include a student project that also has them create and work within a Wiki. It looks to be the perfect environment for collaboration on a single document (a short story).
  • This also shows the teacher asking the student to be an active participant in their own learning,
    • Donna Angley
       
      Yes, that's what the online environment is all about...student centered social learning.
  • Every one of the teachers in Exempler courses for observation talked about they way analzye their course, sometimes when its over sometimes during, to see what worked and what did not work
    • Donna Angley
       
      We are already learning this through our use of "self assessment." I would imagine it takes a few runs through the course to work out all the kinks, and if it's a subject like science or technology where the information changes constantly, it's ever-evolving.
  • That was the role of student.
    • Donna Angley
       
      In the wake of new technology, the role of the student is changing very quickly to one of self-directed learning.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Ah this is a philosophical stand. Many times we teach by the way we learn; however, this may not be the best for our students.
  • The Angel LMS that I am familiar with even gives he teacher the option to shut off news posts in a discussion forum so the student has only one option and that is to reply to a previous post.
    • Donna Angley
       
      That's an interesting idea, especially when there are too many discussions going on.
  • build a wiki together
    • Donna Angley
       
      I was going to have my students do the same, however, I just noticed that the course shell has an option for a Wiki...did anybody else see that? Anybody know how it works? I have since decided to give my students a choice other than to "write" a short story in small groups within a Wikispace. I'm going to allow them to recreate or interpret a short story in a multi-media fashion. Howard Gardner influenced. :-)
  • don’t show them how you do it, let them find out how it is done on their own
  • leave it up to the student to choose,
    • Donna Angley
       
      I think they will surprise you!
  • I guess I can guide, so when the students get off course I can say hey you should check this guy out, or this writer out.
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      I had an instructor last semester (Jason Vickers, if you get a chance to take a class with him, he's great! Also, he's a PhD student) who would do this exactly. He would scarcely add to our discussions as he said that oftentimes that can shut them down, but when he did it usually was to suggest that we check certain authors/theories/articles out that might help put us back on the right track.
    • Donna Angley
       
      I remember Alex suggesting something to me during the first week or two when I was a little lost. She pointed me in the right direction and that was good because I was able to focus my energies.
  • Case Study
    • Donna Angley
       
      Very good idea, because you're right...it seems like a very large amount of information that you're trying to cover. Case studies might work better.
  • Hopefully they will read the author I provide them with and than on their own they will read more articles by that author because they like him.
    • Donna Angley
       
      Perhaps you can assign one particular article, and then actually provide them with the links to 1-3 other article they might find of interest.
  • Another issue I am having is questioning if I have too much for the student to do. I really wanted them to do a group project but it seems like too much work.
    • Donna Angley
       
      Have you gone through the learning activities for each module and guesstimated how long it would take them to do? That might give you a better idea of whether it's too much. Just a suggestion.
  • letting the student do the heavy lifitng. Professor Pickett told me that it is a hard concept to implement as a teacher and I am seeing that.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      letting go of control of someone else's learning is a constant struggle. just keep telling yourself that it is NOT about you and what you know. It is about your students and catalyzing the passion for the topic of your course in them... they are the only ones that can do that... remember... if you do all the work, who does the learning? you have to let go and trust them to learn. That does NOT mean you are not there or that you have chaos.... you have to design it and facilitate it so that it works that way. It is a LOT of work : )
  • I am so glad I took this class. I learned so much, I feel so much more confident in my job as an instructional designer, and I feel more confident to take my skills to a new job envirnment. ANYONE HIRING OUT THERE?
  • I learned about some really important concepts for teaching online, like; -supply the students with a lot of information, module overviews, due dates, contact info, detailed explanation of how to complete assignments, rubric describing what type of work constitutes a Grade of A, B, C etc, -show your teacher presence in the course, by answering questions fairly quickly, posting in the discussion to guide, engage, provoke the student to do more research, asking for student input and using it, -Let the students do as much as possible instead of giving them everything ona silver platter. -Let students play the role of teacher in some of their assignments
  • After the first two weeks of this course, the first module, I learned so much, and grew so much more confident in my ability to work with faculty developing online courses.
Diane Gusa

Learning-Centered Syllabi - 0 views

  • Learning-Centered Syllabi Workshop
  • Creating and using a learner-centered syllabus is integral to the process of creating learning communities.
  • students and their ability to learn are at the center of what we do
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • we focus on the process of learning rather than the content, that the content and the teacher adapt to the students rather than expecting the students to adapt to the content, that responsibility is placed on students to learn rather than on professors to teach.
  • facilitate student learning rather than to act as "gatekeepers" of knowledge
  • A necessary first step in creating a learning-centered syllabus, according to most sources, is to spend some time thinking about the "big questions" related to why, what, who and how we teach.
  • thoughtful discussions with ourselves and our colleagues about our teaching philosophy and what it means to be an educated person in our discipline
  • We also need to think about how we encourage responsibility for learning in our students.
  • students should progress from a primarily instructor-led approach to a primarily student-initiated approach to learning.
  • participate in planning the course content and activities; clarify their own goals and objectives for the course; monitor and assess their own progress; and establish criteria for judging their own performance within the goals that they have set for themselves, certification or licensing requirements, time constraints, etc.
  • Your first objective is to facilitate learning, not cover a certain block of materia
  • According to Johnson, "course objectives should consist of explicit statements about the ways in which students are expected to change as a result of your teaching and the course activities. These should include changes in thinking skills, feelings, and actions" (p. 3)
  • Don't use words that are open to many interpretations and which are difficult to measure. Make sure that all students understand the same interpretation.
  • here are three primary domains of development for students in a course
  • The Cognitive Domain is associated with knowledge and intellectual skills. The Affective Domain is associated with changes in interests, attitudes, values, applications, and adjustments. And the Psychomotor Domain is associated with manipulative and motor skills
  • An effective learning-centered syllabus should accomplish certain basic goals (Diamond, p. ix): define students' responsibilities; define instructor's role and responsibility to students; provide a clear statement of intended goals and student outcomes; establish standards and procedures for evaluation; acquaint students with course logistics; establish a pattern of communication between instructor and students; and include difficult-to-obtain materials such as readings, complex charts, and graphs.
  • Students need to know why topics are arranged in a given order and the logic of the themes and concepts as they relate to the course structure
  • Clarify the conceptual structure used to organize the course.
  • Does the course involve mostly inductive or deductive reasoning? Is it oriented to problem-solving or theory building? Is it mostly analytical or applied? In answering these questions, acknowledge that they reflect predominant modes in most cases rather than either/or dichotomies.
  • Identify additional equipment or materials needed and sources.
  • "Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact the Disability Resources Office at 515-294-6624 or TTY 515-294-6635 in Room 1076 of the Student Services Building to submit your documentation and coordinate necessary and reasonable accommodation."
  • Use a variety of methods.
  • "A learning-centered syllabus requires that you shift from what you, the instructor, are going to cover in your course to a concern for what information and tools you can provide for your students to promote learning and intellectual development" (Diamond, p. xi).
  • Critical Thinking
  • Critical thinking is a learned skill. The instructor, fellow students, and possibly others are resources. Problems, questions, issues, values, beliefs are the point of entry to a subject and source of motivation for sustained inquiry. Successful courses balance the challenge of critical thinking with the supportive foundation of core principles, theories, etc., tailored to students' developmental needs. Courses are focused on assignments using processes that apply content rather than on lectures and simply acquiring content. Students are required to express ideas in a non-judgmental environment which encourages synthesis and creative applications. Students collaborate to learn and stretch their thinking. Problem-solving exercises nurture students' metacognitive abilities. The development needs of students are acknowledged and used in designing courses. Standards are made explicit and students are helped to learn how to achieve them.
Diane Gusa

AJET 16(1) McLoughlin and Oliver (2000) - cultural inclusivity - indigenous online lear... - 0 views

  • Sites that are 'local' in the sense that they are made in one context and culture, but visited by other cultures Category 2 Sites that are 'international' or designed specifically for cross cultural participation. (See Figure 1.)
  • strive to reach a cross cultural population, and serve the needs of an international audience.
  • the inclusive or perspectives approach which imports the social, cultural and historical perspectives of minority groups, but does not challenge the dominant culture and is therefore cosmetic;
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • technologies are being described as 'cognitive tools', w
  • Situated cognition can be summarised as follows:
  • Learning is situated and contextualised in action and everyday situations;
  • Knowledge is acquired through active participation;
  • Learning is a process of social action and engagement involving ways of thinking, doing and communicating;
  • Learning can be assisted by experts or supportive others and through apprenticeship
  • Learning is a form of participation in social environments.
  • Is cultural pluralism possible in instructional design?
  • cultural variations in interpreting and communicating information are influenced by pedagogical and instructional design decisions, and the cultural dimensions of learning must be constantly problematised and not marginalised (Wild & Henderson, 1997).
  • the inverted curriculum approach which attempts to design an instructional component from the minority perspective but fails to provide the learners with educationally valid experiences as it does not admit them into the mainstream culture;
  • the culturally unidimensional approach which excludes or denies cultural diversity and assumes that educational experiences are the same for minority students as they are for others.
  • Establish flexible and responsive student roles and responsibilities.
  • instructional design model,
  • endorses multiple cultural realities or zones of development (
  • Ten design principles for culturally inclusive instructional design
  • Adopt an epistemology that is consistent with, and supportive of constructivist learning and multiple perspectives.
  • Design authentic learning activities.
  • Create flexible tasks and tools for knowledge sharing.
  • Ensure different forms of support, within and outside the community.
  • multiple cultural model of instructional design. T
  • Provide communication tools and social interaction for learners to co-construct knowledge.
  • Create tasks for self direction, ownership and collaboration.
  • Ensure flexible tutoring and mentoring roles that are responsive to learner needs.
  • Create access to varied resources to ensure multiple perspectives. This can be achieved by moving away from instructivist approaches where all texts are prescribed by the teacher to constructive approaches where learners actively add to the resources by posting new URL's, suggesting additional resources of interest and discussing alternatives through the bulletin boards. For indigenous learners the creation and inclusion of the indigenous perspectives is an important dimension and a means of recognising and integrating cultural knowledge.
  • Provide flexibility in learning goals, outcomes and modes of assessment.
  • Culturally inclusive Web based environments should provide learning activities, supportive contexts, and learning processes that allow for inclusivity and flexibility, while offering learners a scaffolded, structured learning environment. To achieve this balance, instructional designers need to move beyond the narrowly prescriptive boundaries of current instructional design models. It is proposed that a multiple cultural model of design that caters for diversity, flexibility and cultural inclusivity in the design process affirms the social and cultural dimensions of constructed meaning.
  •  
    "Designing learning environments for cultural inclusivity: A case study of indigenous online learning at tertiary level"
efleonhardt

How to Design Effective Online Group Work Activities Faculty Focus | Faculty Focus - 0 views

  • Online collaboration tools While Skype and other real-time collaboration tools make it easier for dispersed students to “get together,” Mandernach cautions against overusing synchronous tools. Instead, she says, you should encourage your students to take advantage of the many asynchronous collaborative tools inside your course management system or some of the new Web 2.0 tools. Some of her favorite Web 2.0 tools include: Tokbox, VoiceThread, Creately, Google Docs, and Teambox. These tools are relatively easy to use and help build a sense of community in the online classroom. They’re also another way to get students to buy into group work activities and using them makes the students more marketable upon graduation. “If you can use the collaborative environment to really bring them into your classroom and get connected to you and connected to their peers you’re going to see a lot of benefits besides increased test scores,” Mandernach says. “Many employers and graduate schools really view online learning as learning in isolation, and I think it’s important for students to show that they are capable of collaborative work — that they can work independently and with others.”
  • In the recent online seminar Online Group Work: Making It Meaningful and Manageable, Mandernach provided tips for adapting proven face-to-face group work strategies to the online environment. The key is to design tasks that are truly collaborative, meaning the students will benefit more from doing the activity as a group than doing it alone. Effective online group activities often fall into one of three categories: There’s no right answer, such as debates, or research on controversial issues. There are multiple perspectives, such as analyzing current events, cultural comparisons, or case studies. There are too many resources for one person to evaluate, so a jigsaw puzzle approach is needed with each student responsible for one part.
alexandra m. pickett

My Reflections (Gary) - 0 views

  • This becomes a problem in education if you have a policy, as my school, of no electronic devices on during school hours. I think this subject can be a huge debate among educators, but encourage for an online course.  
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i would love to have you bring some of that debate into your blog or into the class discussions.
  • it just can’t be reading and discussions, so there needs to be virtual activities and videos to help them visualize the concept that we are learning about.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      YES!!!! but who says it can only be limited to virtual activities, videos, an online stuff? Think outside the "box" :
  • I kept falling off the second floor of the  building and running into walls,
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      here is a little video i made of my first year in SL. http://etap640.edublogs.org/secondlife-if-my-avatar-could-talk/ : ) me
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • I believe my list of assumptions can get very long, knowing how unpredictable this age group can be.  Now that I am not assuming anything, I can move on to the next step at planning this awesome astronomy course.
  • design.
  • module 1
  •   In this class, i had to wrap my head that I have to design a course that the student is responsible for their learning with me as a facilitator. 
  •  I have so many ideas that I have learned from this course that I want to implement them all into my class.  But, I really need to stand back and reflect.  The most I got from this class is all the information that everybody shared on diigo.com and in their discussions.  I am very proud of everybody’s  contribution to my education and their own.  I loved how everybody had a share in the teaching presence and how Alex facilitated the learning.  This was an an excellent example of an effective student-centered learning environment.
  • . Apply strategies for identifying and solving routine hardware and software problems that occur during everyday use. 2. Demonstrate knowledge of current changes in information technologies and the effect those changes have on the workplace and society. 3. Exhibit legal and ethical behaviors when using information and technology, and discuss consequences of misuses. 4. Use content-specific tools, software, and simulations to support learning and research. 5. Apply productivity/multimedia tools and peripherals to support personal productivity, group collaboration, and learning throughout the curriculum. 6. Design, develop, publish, and present products using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts to audiences inside and outside of the classroom. 7. Collaborate with peers, experts, and others using telecommunications and collaborative tools to investigate curriculum-related problems, issues, and information, and to develop solutions or products for audiences inside and outside of the classroom. 8. Select and use appropriate tools and technology resources to accomplish a variety of task and solve problems. 9. Demonstrate an understanding of concepts underlying hardware, software, and connectivity, and of practical applications to learning and problem solving. 10. Research and evaluate the accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, comprehensiveness, and bias of electronic information sources concerning real-world problems. I do believe that these standards should assist the students in either online or face-to-face class to succeed with learning.  I am actually going to observe and take notes of my 8th graders to see how many standards that they can achieve. I had a great summer learning and being challenged to do my best at learning.
Irene Watts-Politza

Disconnect: Common Core, Content, and Context | 21st Century Collaborative - 0 views

  • Maybe it is because standardization in some ways is demeaning to educators. They should be the designers of learning and orchestrators of creative curriculum implementation and student ownership of learning.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      When faculty develop their own courses it promotes autonomy and independence. The disconnect between SLOs and course development has already been discovered b at least one coursemate (Joan).
  • Testing data should be used by students themselves to improve learning choices and reflect upon the learning experience.
  • In my mind the problem with State and National tests is they support a belief that we can create a standardization of the learning process. Standardization of learning is what I am against. The belief that somehow it is possible to standardize thinking, knowledge construction, aha moments, innovation, learning, creativity, and even teachers themselves.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Many of these educational aspects fall within the development domain of online teching and learning.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Teachers become part of the learning process. They bring the expertise in the art of learning, metacognition, research, and pedagogy. Their role should be to model best practice, to coach, facilitate, organize, ask good questions, negotiate learning contracts and to provide a safe, intriguing environment for learning.
  • If projects were crowdsourced out to student/teacher networks, other classes could join in and build and learn together.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Wow! Is this what is known as scalability?
  • The teacher could operate in the role of curator and bring in important content and resources he/she felt added to the understanding and expertise of the student designers. Technology would have an important role to play, but quietly in the background supporting the learning.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      It seems there is growing consensus that technology is learner-selected in order to support content learning. Use of technology for the sake of use of technology is not valuable.
Irene Watts-Politza

Online Teaching Effectiveness: A Tale of Two Instructors | Gorsky | The International R... - 0 views

  • We propose, as have others (i.e., Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2003), that the community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) reflects the principles of good practice in undergraduate education and can accurately quantify them.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Go, Dr. Pickett!
  • issues of pedagogy, dialogue, and interaction
  • guide the coding of transcripts.
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • Social presence is the perceived presence of others in mediated communication (Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 1999), which Garrison et al. (2000) contend supports both cognitive and teaching presence through its ability to instigate, to sustain, and to support interaction. It had its genesis in the work of John Dewey and is consistent with all theoretical approaches to learning in higher education.
  • Teaching presence is defined as “the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing [students’] personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile outcomes” (Anderson et al., 2001, p.5). Vygotsky’s (1978) scaffolding analogies illustrate an assistive role for teachers in providing instructional support to students from their position of greater content knowledge. Although many authors recommend a “guide on the side” approach to moderating student discussions, a key feature of this social cognition model is the adult, the expert, or the more skilled peer who scaffolds a novice’s learning
  • Shea, Pickett, & Pelz , 2004
  • Each category of a tutor’s presence is vital to learning and to the establishment of the learning community; tutors' behavior must be such that they are seen to be “posting regularly, responding in a timely manner and modeling good online communication and interaction” (Palloff & Pratt, 2003, p.118). Without an instructor’s explicit guidance and “teaching presence,” students were found to engage primarily in “serial monologues” (Pawan et al., 2003). Baker (2004) discovered that “instructor immediacy, i.e., teaching presence (Rourke et al., 1999), was a more reliable predictor of effective cognitive learning than whether students felt close to each other. Studies have demonstrated that instructor participation in threaded discussion is critical to the development of social presence (Shea, Li, Swan, & Pickett, 2005; Swan & Shih, 2005) and sometimes not fully appreciated by online faculty (Liu, Bonk, Magjuka, Lee, & Su, 2005). Shea, Li, and Pickett (2006) proposed that teaching presence – viewed as the core role of the online instructor – is a promising mechanism for developing learning community in online environments.
  • students ranked instructor modeling as the most important element in building online community, while instructors ranked it fourth.
  • Shea (2006), who completed an extensive study of teaching presence and online learning, concluded that two categories (“design” and “directed facilitation”) sufficed to define the construct.
  • Kalman, Ravid, Raban, and Rafaeli (2006) argued that interactivity is an essential characteristic of effective online communication and plays an important role in keeping message threads and their authors together. Interactive communication (online as well as in traditional settings) is engaging, and loss of interactivity results in a breakdown of the communicative process.
  • Research indicates the existence of a relationship between learners’ perceptions of social presence and their motivation for participation in online discussions (Weaver & Albion, 2005).
  • Northrup (2002) found that online learners felt it was important for instructors to promote collaboration and conversation. When interactive activities are carefully planned, they lead not only to greater learning but also to enhanced motivation (Berge 1999; Northrup, 2002).
  • Researchers have suggested that timing of messages can serve as a proxy for a sense of social presence (Blanchard, 2004), as an indication of attentiveness (Walther & Bunz, 2005) or respect (Bargh & McKenna, 2004), and as a clue to the sociability of a community (Maloney-Krichmar & Preece, 2005). As such, the frequency of messages may serve as a signal for how engaged participants are with the community.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Agreed.
  • Eom found that the most significant factors for increasing student satisfaction with online classes are paying attention to students and responding to their concerns.
  • The highly esteemed instructor was especially active from semester midpoint to semester end; she more than doubled her active participation in both teaching presence (especially discourse and instruction) and social presence (all three categories).
  • the lack of specific, progressively structured inquiry tasks and/or the lack of facilitation skills (teaching presence/facilitating discourse) may have contributed to the relatively limited occurrences of cognitive presence.
  • something else accounted for the extreme satisfaction and dissatisfaction experienced by students in the two forums. The something else may be the two exceptional events that occurred during the third month: The instructor held in low esteem became nearly dysfunctional, while the highly esteemed instructor exhibited very high teacher presence and social presence (see Table 3 and 4).
  • Shea, Pickett, and Pelt (2003) found that students’ perceived teacher presence also correlates with perceived learning as well as with students’ satisfaction with the forum. This correlation points to the tentative conclusion that teaching presence affords learning by setting a convenient climate.
  • we suggest that students’ perceived learning in course forums has a significant impact on their participation
  • the table is suggestive of the eventual possibility of having an “objective” tool for evaluating the quality of a given forum.
  • (Anderson et al., 2001).
  • Teaching effectiveness may be defined as how an instructor can best direct, facilitate, and support students toward certain academic ends, such as achievement and satisfaction. Teaching effectiveness has been investigated extensively in traditional classrooms for more than seven decades (for a meta-analysis of empirical studies from 1995-2004, see Seidel & Shavelson, 2007). Over the past five years, research has become directed toward teaching effectiveness in online or virtual classes. As a preface to our study, we discuss findings and conclusions concerning teaching effectiveness in traditional classrooms.
  • Journal Help ISSN: 1492-3831 Journal Content Search All Authors Title Abstract Index terms Full Text Browse By Issue By Author By Title User Username Password Remember me Article Tools Abstract Print this article Indexing metadata How to cite item Review policy Email this article (Login required) Email the author (Login required) Post a Comment (Login required) Font Size Make font size smaller Make font size default Make font size larger SUBSCRIBE TO MAILING LIST 5,591  subscribers Select Language​▼ function googleTranslateElementInit() { new google.translate.TranslateElement({ pageLanguage: 'en', autoDisplay: false, layout: google.translate.TranslateElement.InlineLayout.SIMPLE }, 'google_translate_element'); } Home About Register Archives Announcements Resources Submissions http://www.irrodl.org/
  • One of the most widely cited sources for teacher effectiveness in traditional classrooms is Chickering and Gamson (1987), who suggested seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education.
  • encourages student-faculty contact, encourages cooperation among students, encourages active learning, gives prompt feedback, emphasizes time on task, communicates high expectations, respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
alexandra m. pickett

VIRTUAL TRANSFORMATION: WEB-BASED TECHNOLOGY AND PEDAGOGICAL CHANGE - 2 views

  • One online instructor (Alley 1996) has described this changing pedagogical consciousness as an �instructional epiphany�.� Alley tells of a personal transformation, stimulated by online instruction, marked by two "milestones". First, he had to totally redesign his course to fit and leverage the new learning environment. Second, he had to rethink what he calls his �basic approach�: �As long as I held on to the traditional �sage-on-stage� style of teaching, I would keep reinventing ways for students to be a passive audience� (1996:51).� Similar changes in pedagogical belief and practice have been reported by other faculty who have taught web-based courses (Brown 1998; Jaffee 1997; Cremer 1998) as well as researchers who have interviewed online instructors (Frank 2000).�� There are clearly some �structural constraints� built into the virtual classroom ecology that make it difficult to implement traditional modes of delivery and, in this sense, almost force instructors to entertain active learning strategies. As Frank (2000) discovered in her study of online instructors, "All of the participants saw online learning as empowering for students. The most valuable benefits were the facilitation of active learning, critical thinking, collaboration, confidence, and lifelong learning habits. A common theme was the way in which the teacher is forced to give up the control that one has in a face-to-face environment and re-examine the traditional role of content deliverer".� Just as the physical classroom architecture imposes constraints on, and opportunities for, particular pedagogical practices, so too does the virtual classroom. John Seely Brown (2000) has described the environment of the world-wide-web as a �learning ecology� that is a self-organized evolving collection of cross-pollinating overlapping communities of interest.� Asynchronous web-based courses that include a discussion forum possess many of the same ecological features. All members of the class can receive and broadcast information at any time. This critical communication feature distinguishes the virtual classroom from prior forms of instructional technology.�� While instructors can mediate and guide, they cannot entirely control the flow of communication. Thus, instructor and student roles and relations are less hierarchical and more overlapping and interactive. These greater opportunities for participation can contribute to a greater diversity of opinion and perspective. It is hard work to establish these social dynamics in a physical classroom constrained by a fixed space, a designated time block, and trained inhibitions. The virtual classroom, in contrast, has the potential to establish new patterns of instructor and student interaction and, accordingly, different teaching and learning roles and practices (Girod and Cavanaugh 2001; Becker and Ravitz 1999). ��������� In making comparisons between the physical and virtual classroom, it is important to emphasize a cautionary caveat. The pedagogical ecology, be it a physical classroom or a virtual interface, cannot entirely determine a particular pedagogical practice or learning outcome. The pedagogical ecology offers opportunities and constraints that will shape and influence classroom dynamics and learning outcomes, but much will also depend on the principles informing, and the actual design of, the teaching and learning process (see Chamberlin 2001). The various practices that are employed in both a physical and a virtual classroom indicate the range of possibilities. However, if we believe that, for the purpose of student learning, active student engagement and interaction is preferable to the passive reception of information, we should consider the degree to which this principle is advanced or facilitated by the expanding virtual learning ecology.�
  • Sociological theories and concepts have an important role to play in analyzing and interpreting these developments. A central sociological proposition is that structural environments influence the social perceptions, roles, and relations of human actors.� As increasing numbers of students and faculty find themselves operating in virtual learning environments, we might also expect to find some changing instructional dynamics. More specifically, there are a number of questions worth exploring. What are the relationships between the technical, the social, and the pedagogical infrastructures?� How has the introduction of new instructional technologies influenced established pedagogical practices? How does the shift from a physical classroom to a virtual learning environment shape and reconfigure the social roles and relations among faculty and students? What consequences will these technologies have for developing pedagogical practices?
  • have less to do with the proven effectiveness of the particular practice than the desire to appear legitimate or conform to normative expectations.�
  •  
    "eaching Sociology"
efleonhardt

Why we need group work in Online Learning | online learning insights - 1 views

  • collaboration is about open, learning, relationships, sharing and innovation.
  • Learning from and through peers is a dimension of learning both in the class and online that is often negated. In previous posts, I’ve also discussed the need for social presence as one of three dimensions of the community of inquiry model, which is foundational to successful group work. Students’ ability to express themselves confidently online is necessary for effective team learning.
  • For e-learning and online educators, incorporating group work into courses is a non-negotiable, given the demands and needs for collaboration and [online] communication skills.
  •  
    The necessity for group work in online courses
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