Group items tagged

Table 2. Survey responses – rating-scale item (N = 22) Question Very Easy (1) Easy (2) No Problems (3) Some Issues (4) Very Difficult (5) 6. How difficult was it to create your VoiceThread account? 19 3 0 0

Table 3.Survey responses – open-ended item (N = 18) Question Comments 7. Anything you would like to share about VoiceThread? Positive comments (n = 12) "Very easy and convenient." "I think that once I was able to get into the system it was easy to use. Now I need to understand why the mic[rophone] does not work, maybe my laptop." "It was actually very interesting to learning [sic] how to use VoiceThread. It was something different." "I like the way I can participate by using text. As English is my second language, speaking is really difficult for me. Also, VoiceThread is really easy and simple to use." "It was really easy to navigate and use." "VoiceThread was very easy to use and it could be beneficial in the future." "VoiceThread is easy and pretty interesting!" "I like that it is very easy to use." "It seems like a good tool to utilize for some classes." "Easy to navigate and good review before the exam." "Never done it before but I think it's pretty good tool." "Seems like a great tool we can use." Comments expressing reservations (n = 4) "I think it was very easy to figure out. My hesitation about using in the future for a course to do a presentation or recommending my peers to use it is that I don't really know much about it so that is why I responded no to those questions. I don't know how to add graphics and things of that nature like on PowerPoint." "VoiceThread is easy to register [on]. However, I'm not too sure about making a presentation." "I think it's a good form of technology. It's not my first choice of communication though. Plus if you're typing your answer the font is super small, not sure if I can change this setting." "[There needs to be a] bigger text box" Unfavorable comments (n = 2) "I do not like the interface of the VoiceThread ... [The interface] makes it hard to use on anything besides a computer." One student found it slightly difficult to "figure out how to answer the questions or how to comment on others' answers."

Devise a logical arrangement for the course content.

Prepare a detailed syllabus. Share the conceptual framework, logic, and organization of your course with students by distributing a syllabus. See "The Course Syllabus."

Stark and others (1990) offer additional sequencing patterns, suggesting that topics may be ordered according to the following: How relationships occur in the real world How students will use the information in social, personal, or career settings How major concepts and relationships are organized in the discipline How students learn How knowledge has been created in the field

List all class meetings.

elect appropriate instructional methods for each class meeting. Instead of asking, What am I going to do in each class session? focus on What are students going to do? (Bligh, 1971). Identify which topics lend themselves to which types of classroom activities, and select one or more activities for each class session: lectures; small group discussions; independent work; simulations, debates, case studies, and role playing; demonstrations; experiential learning activities; instructional technologies; collaborative learning work, and so on. (See other tools for descriptions of these methods.) For each topic, decide how you will prepare the class for instruction (through reviews or previews), present the new concepts (through lectures, demonstrations, discussion), have students apply what they have learned (through discussion, in-class writing activities, collaborative work), and assess whether students can put into practice what they have learned (thro

 Synthesizing and formulating a mini-thesis is where learning becomes meaningful for me; this is where mere information becomes MY knowledge

I don’t know yet if my online students will step up to the plate, actively and enthusiastically contribute what they know to the community.

Kind of like a wedding planner who walks through the empty reception hall and can foresee the problems with lighting, photography, food, and traffic pattern…  I am the course designer, it is my job to minimize any possible glitches.  It is my job to provide students with a doable and engaging learning environment.

I see more clear vision of myself as an educator.  During this summer course I was confronted with questions that challenged my teaching practices. I started asking myself why I wouldn’t try to trust my students more, let them develop the social presence in the f2f class?  What was the harm in that I wouldn’t even consider trying it?

For weeks and weeks I was obsessed with making Jing videos, trying new communication tools. 

have 2 weeks left.  I want to make a difference.  I CAN make a difference.  I can use the web 2.0 applications as my allies.  There is enough time for me to plan and implement changes in the f2f courses before school starts.

My reflecting puddle may seem small, because there is so much to learn and I’ve just begun.  But my puddle is deeper and its water runs clearer now.  Taking education courses  is like a spring that feeds into my puddle, bringing fresh new perspectves and ideas.  I needed it.  It’s reshaped my outlook on teaching.

2 weeks ago I wrote my tagline on this blog as my “reflecting puddle”.  I still think it’s a puddle; it is still small(but so much deeper!).  I can recount the discoveries on this etap687 journey when I stare into the puddle.  I see the following things:

’t believe we are coming to the end of this course.  It wasn’t that long ago I was installing diigo toolbar, signing up for voice thread, and setting up this blog site.

Now the excitement of trying new tools has settled a bit.  I start to think how technology tools will impact my teaching. 

My self efficacy is low.  Does it matter in the end?  I only have two  options:  If I cant’ seem to do the work, I should leave the course.  Or, I try with my darnedest effort, and see where I land. Time to take a chance!  I think I will have a lot to gain!

So this is what I’m gonna do:  I will blog here periodically and document my journey in the Ed Psych course.  Let’s see if I can be honest with myself.  Learn because life in general is interesting and worth exploring, and I can’t capture all on my own.  So I go to the experts and learn knowledge from them.

For weeks and weeks I was obsessed with making Jing videos, trying new communication tools.  I thought WOW, these are the coolest things I’ve learned this summer!  Now the excitement of trying new tools has settled a bit.  I start to think how technology tools will impact my teaching.  What other tasks should be let go in order to make room for the new things in my practice?  What educational principles do I base on to justify the changes?  What kind of measured learning outcomes and students’ perceived learning do I anticipate after the changes are implemented?

On top of it is that it allows the Professor to reach to individual student in a personal tone. I am so used to read assignment and feedback in written format that I don’t remember when was the last time a professor went through my assignment in front of me. Almost always the case that the feedbacks were scribed down on the tiny margins of the papers, with often less then eligible handwritings. I did the same thing to my students when grading their papers and exams. So, using Podcast to give feedback is marvelous. It can easily create a strong sense of connection and trust between the instructor and the student. It helps out the most for those students who may be on the brink of feeling isolated from the learning community or fall behind in the middle of a long and demanding semester.

, I also assign a discussion forum dedicated to the topic: how does the online learning work? How to succeed

guess I am not the only one in the class who feels weird not be able to share thoughts and reflections as we’ve been doing for weeks. I miss it very much.

Larry was right

detach themselves

Peirce suggests that, since students come to class with loads of opinions about the topics (even more so moral issues, I’d say) whether they are well-informed or not, a way to generate interest in assigned readings is to take a survey of their opinions, or to pre-test their knowledge of the information. (p. 310) I find this suggestion interesting and it leads me back to my earlier reflections on quizzes. Quizzes may not be needed in taking attendance, nor reliable in assessing whether students come to class well-prepared or not, but quizzes may still be useful in inspiring curiosity among students.

Provoking discomfort (point 5) is very useful.

Creating cognitive dissonance is also a very useful triggering event that may eventually lead to the completion of the cognitive inquiry.

I’ve been trying to reflect on my learning process in a very personal way, and I will continue to do this even after the semester finished.

Given the opportunity, the learners are more likely to express their true selves on consistent basis.

course, we strongly encourage instru

course, we strongly encourage instru

luding funny quotes, jokes, and cartoons, and in this section, we identify resources for locating pedagogical humor. When deciding which material to use for the online course, we strongly encourage instructors to c

we strongly encourage instructors to consider the guidelines for pedagogical humor mentioned in the previous section. First, does the humor promote an educational objective? Second, will the students understand and appreciate the humor? Third, is the target of the humor appropriate for the course? The Internet is the best resource for pedagogical humor, and although any search using a discipline and “humor” as descriptors will yield numerous web sites, we recommend more narrowly focused searches (i.e., “humor” and a specific discipline topic). Additional resources for pedagogical humor include supplemental instructional materials provided by book publishers and journals devoted to humorous research (e.g., Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, Annals of Improbable Research). When using humor from other sources, instructors need to adhere to copyright considerations. Visual humor is especially effective in online courses, and cartoons, illustrations, and photographs, can easily be integrated throughout the course. Although visual humor is usually self-contained (i.e., a caption or the illustration delivers the punch line), there are several ways that instructors can enhance visual humor for the online environment. Visuals, such as photographs or illustrations, can be used as a punch line for a joke. For example, when discussing the difficulty of course examinations, the setup would be “And this is how students often feel after an exam…” with a photograph or cartoon of frighten individuals delivering the punch line. For this type of humor to be effective,

we strongly encourage instructors to consider the guidelines for pedagogical humor mentioned in the previous section. First, does the humor promote an educational objective? Second, will the students understand and appreciate the humor? Third, is the target of the humor appropriate for the course? The Internet is the best resource for pedagogical humor, and although any search using a discipline and “humor” as descriptors will yield numerous web sites, we recommend more narrowly focused searches (i.e., “humor” and a specific discipline topic). Additional resources for pedagogical humor include supplemental instructional materials provided by book publishers and journals devoted to humorous research (e.g., Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, Annals of Improbable Research). When using humor from other sources, instructors need to adhere to copyright considerations. Visual humor is especially effective in online courses, and cartoons, illustrations, and photographs, can easily be integrated throughout the course. Although visual humor is usually self-contained (i.e., a caption or the illustration delivers the punch line), there are several ways that instructors can enhance visual humor for the online environment. Visuals, such as photographs or illustrations, can be used as a punch line for a joke. For example, when discussing the difficulty of course examinations, the setup would be “And this is how students often feel after an exam…” with a photograph or cartoon of frighten individuals delivering the punch line. For this type of humor to be effective,

we strongly encourage instructors to consider the guidelines for pedagogical humor mentioned in the previous section. First, does the humor promote an educational objective? Second, will the students understand and appreciate the humor? Third, is the target of the humor appropriate for the course? The Internet is the best resource for pedagogical humor, and although any search using a discipline and “humor” as descriptors will yield numerous web sites, we recommend more narrowly focused searches (i.e., “humor” and a specific discipline topic). Additional resources for pedagogical humor include supplemental instructional materials provided by book publishers and journals devoted to humorous research (e.g., Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, Annals of Improbable Research). When using humor from other sources, instructors need to adhere to copyright considerations. Visual humor is especially effective in online courses, and cartoons, illustrations, and photographs, can easily be integrated throughout the course. Although visual humor is usually self-contained (i.e., a caption or the illustration delivers the punch line), there are several ways that instructors can enhance visual humor for the online environment. Visuals, such as photographs or illustrations, can be used as a punch line for a joke. For example, when discussing the difficulty of course examinations, the setup would be “And this is how students often feel after an exam…” with a photograph or cartoon of frighten individuals delivering the punch line. For this type of humor to be effective,

ll the students unders

A wide range of hum

The ability to solve problems builds on declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge.

eas, such as math versus writing

problem solving involves a sequence of steps, beginning with establishing a representation of the problem, then selecting a strategy that seems appropriate for resolving the problem, followed by evaluating the results of employing that strategy

Declarative knowledge involves information one can state verbally. Therefore, tasks will require students to state, explain, discuss, or declare in some other way what they know

He described declarative knowledge as a network of propositions, whereas procedural knowledge represented productions. While declarative knowledge involves knowing that something is the case, procedural knowledge involves knowing how to do something

To assess problem solving, students are presented a problem to solve or a situation from which they must infer the problem that needs to be solved. Typically, any number of strategies might be used to successfully solve the problem. When scoring student performance where the focus of the assessment is on problem solving, proficiency with particular strategies or other types of procedural (or declarative) knowledge generally is not scored. What is scored are qualities such as the establishment of a clear and appropriate problem representation and sense of goal, the selection of a strategy that is reasonable given the goal to be achieved, and the adequacy with which outcomes from using the selected strategy are evaluated.

I really don’t know why I do things the way I do. Is it from years of routine as to this is how it needs to be done? Is it from no one stopping and helping me break these habits?

At first my fear was that I was a “dead-thinker”

I was predispositioned to not question, to memorize and regurgitate information. I was scared that I was passing this trait on to my students.

I’m losing that with all the hours it takes to create these.

I really began to question whether I am a teacher or a web designer.

After Alex asked me to think about how this may hold true in my daily life and routine I realized I really don’t speak up any where let alone in class.

I think this is not only my biggest challenge in this class but in my life as well

I think I’m just scared. 

Ya know Alex, I love you and all and this class has been amazing but I honestly think you are killing my laptop!!

Well no more soul searching I have a course to design. Best of wishes to all my fellow classmates as we begin to wrap up this amazing journey!

Lisa, I can’t believe how amazing your course is! I want to take it!!

Less than 24 hours later this article appeared in my inbox. At first I was really aggravated by this article because it seemed like it was ripping to shreds everything I have been working at this summer and I felt like he was sitting at home with an “I told you so” smirk. This quote just floored me “In terms of learning on the college level, the Department of Education looked at thousands of research studies from 1996 to 2008 and found that in higher education, students rarely learned as much from online courses as they did in traditional classes.” Really, what study? Everything that we have read seems to be in the complete opposite direction of this statement! I agree that for some there will be a financial obstacles and internet issues like we’ve all had but that’s where as a teacher we come into play and offer solutions and options. Upon reading it for a second time I feel that this article and any other article discrediting online teaching should be looked at as a challenge! I am strong and passionate about this endeavor of mine and no article or fuddy duddy teacher is going to come in the way of that. Well I hope you all have an amazing weekend. I will be attempting to cool my boiling blood as I sit by the calming cool waters of the Kinzua Dam with a delicious glass of Riesling.

As this class come to an end and I look back at where I was in May, I can only say I wish I knew then what I know now. This class has given me so much academically, personally and technologicially, lol. In only a short time I feel like I have grown so much as person and as a teacher.

My experience as a student was that I was focused on my routines from the other class and interpreting feedback to what I was thinking Alex meant and it wasn’t the same.  Then, we I began to trust Alex’s words and it became clear to me that she wanted to use to think deeper about the questions.

My question is how do we get our students motivated to think critically when, students just want to get the right answer?

In this process I learned a lot about myself as a learner and teacher.  I really need to promote more critical thinking activities and discussion.  It is very hard especially, with the children who I teach because they just want to get the right answer and have no motivation to further discuss any math concepts.

 I also need to think more critically as a person and a teacher.  In my school we put a lot of the blame on the parents because the parents don’t help students at home.  Meanwhile, many of these families can’t do it because they don’t know how the do the homework assignment, can’t read English, or are working.

 I know I have learned this because now I have a deeper appreciation in using technology as a learning tool.

What hindered my learning was time.  This course was a big adjustment in how much time I needed to set aside for this course.  I feel as though my school activities got in the way.  I really put too much on my plate this year as far as being involved in school activities.  This coming school year I am not going to do as much so I can focus more on taking the online courses.

I feel as though students must be subscribed to forums, but be forewarned that they need to develop a system for themselves to allow for tracking of the dialogue and how they want to participate in that dialogue.

my presence could be demonstrated in other ways than just logging in daily or talking to students.

I came to realize that

This is were the “earth-shattering” part comes in.  I am learning that I am not letting the students go.  I am going to be there.

I can fully see the difference between f2f and online teaching and WHY those differences exist.

In the beginning of this course my intention was to translate my f2f assignments and activities to an online format.  This made me feel comfortable as I knew that these activities worked for me and for most of my students.  Yet, as I began to learn about presence and community it became apparent that these f2f activities did not embody presence or community building.  They represented ease for me, and that cannot be the focus in online learning.

Yet, I know I will always want to be tweaking my activities!

My two issues with online education before the start of this class dealt with the actual education being offered as well as the connections being formed.

But the theory in this course has allowed me to see that in practice, online education can allow for a sound education and a classroom community that can match that of most f2f classrooms.

Online learning allows an instructor the opportunity to put everything into place before the course starts so that students come in being able to see all that they need to be successful.  This may not always be the case with f2f courses.  Additionally, to make sure that such theories as presence and community are present in online courses online instructors often have to do more to ensure success in their classes.  For these reasons I am starting to believe that online education, when combined with effective theories can eventually surpass f2f learning.

I am not decisive as I would like to be.

While it probably should not be surprising that I feel prepared to teach online at the end of a course in online teaching, for me, I feel as though it is quite a surprising development and one I hope to pursue.

The article  written by Mark Edmundson, a professor at UVA, questions the validity of online learning. 

I have discovered that my thoughts are completely different on online education as a result of this class.  While this is probably not a huge development it has been interesting to watch my opinions change so much.  So, for the moment that is where I am.

I discovered that just inserting technology does not suddenly make things better. 

I leave this course knowing that presence is more than just responding to students. 

Being truly present requires that the students feel your presence as they are completing assignments and learning – knowing what is expected of them and what they expect of the instructor.

if a student knows what to do and how to do it (presence) he/she might feel more comfortable branching out in discussions and discussing points with a majority of students instead of just discussing with the same people at the same time.  But community depends heavily on presence and the two really work in tandem.

Yet, the blame lies solely with me for just assuming that my students know how to do something.

Instead, instructors, both f2f and online, need to assume that their students do not know how to do something.  Taking the time to explain something may seem tedious but it will provide for greater clarification, greater learning, and more meaningful assessments.  Taking the time to just let students know what to do and how to do it has the potential of increasing the enjoyment of learning for all involved!

  I truly struggled with this course and I walk away feeling fantastic about it.

Coming into this course I figured we would read a few articles about online education and create a course shell for an online course.  Additionally, I came into this course assuming online education failed to meet the standards of f2f education. Now, my thoughts are completely changed. 

Leaving this course I feel as though I could write an effective rebuttal of that argument and I believe that illustrates a great amount of growth for a person who entered this class questioning the merits of online education.

Yet, I feel as this is one of the first courses that will let me leave with having a profound change in thinking. 

Online education is the way of the future and more important, it needs to be done correctly.

o in my new “educated” role, I would like to try and be an advocate for online education.  I will try to discuss the field more often and when I hear someone mention online education I will ask them what they know about it and what they think about it.  Striking up conversations allow for the spread of ideas and maybe eventually online education will gain the same prominence that many f2f courses currently possess. (4)

In integrating these major theories of knowledge, we moved through three steps. First, we attempted to describe, for each of Gardner's intelligences, a set of four learning processes or abilities, one for each of the four learning styles. For linguistic intelligence, for example, the Mastery style represents the ability to use language to describe events and sequence activities; the Interpersonal style, the ability to use language to build trust and rapport; the Understanding style, the ability to develop logical arguments and use rhetoric; and the Self-expressive style, the ability to use metaphoric and expressive language.

In MI theory, I begin with a human organism that responds (or fails to respond) to different kinds of contents in the world. . . . Those who speak of learning styles are searching for approaches that ought to characterize all contents (p. 45).

Learning styles are not fixed throughout life, but develop as a person learns and grows.

The following are some strengths of learning-style models

They tend to focus on how different individuals process information across many content areas.

They recognize the role of cognitive and affective processes in learning and, therefore, can significantly deepen our insights into issues related to motivation.

They tend to emphasize thought as a vital component of learning, thereby avoiding reliance on basic and lower-level learning activities.

Learning-styles models have a couple of limitations. First, they may fail to recognize how styles vary in different content areas and disciplines.

Second, these models are sometimes less sensitive than they should be to the effects of context on learning.

Emerging from a tradition that viewed style as relatively permanent, many learning-style advocates advised altering learning environments to match or challenge a learner's style. Either way, learning-style models have largely left unanswered the question of how context and purpose affect learning.

But learning styles emphasize the different ways people think and feel as they solve problems, create products, and interact.

The theory of multiple intelligences is an effort to understand how cultures and disciplines shape human potential

Though both theories claim that dominant ideologies of intelligence inhibit our understanding of human differences, learning styles are concerned with differences in the process of learning, whereas multiple intelligences center on the content and products of learning. Until now, neither theory has had much to do with the other