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alexandra m. pickett

My Reflections in ETAP 640 - 0 views

  • it would be interesting to see the numbers for 2012,
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      I wish i had access to that data. When we decentralized in our move to ANGEL we lost access to system-wide data like this.
  • this study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • this study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • ...64 more annotations...
  • study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were presen
  • study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were presen
  • this study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • this study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      I would have liked more detail and critical analysis of these reports.
  • this study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • this study and this study support that the most gains in online classroom learning from F2F learning were in areas where these technologies were present,
  • I miss the ability and opportunity to chat casually with students in an online course the same way I would before or after a F2F course, even if it doesn’t directly relate to my learning. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      are you not comfortable initiating that in the bulletin board created for that purpose?
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      your blog looks great Amy! check the blog roll. you are missing my blog from the list and george is no longer in the course. someone else is missing too.
  • I am following the directions.
  • Are there things that Moodle (or even Angel, per the courses for observation) can do that don’t replicate this structure? 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      part of the problem is that the LMS imposes a pedagogy. They have embedded into their DNA a teacher-centric cultrure-specific pedagogy. just look at how they label things... you can't get any more teacher-centered that referring to things as "lessons!" Fortunately in ANGEL at least you can change that... not so in BB. i chaffe under that imposition. This imposed pedagogy is largely due, in my opinion, to the fact that it is application developers, not instructional designers, that developed the LMS. We are stuck having to use tools that are inadequate for the purposes to which we must apply them. They are NOT flexible, they do NOT allow for creativity and innovation. It is a constant fight/struggle to work around their limitations and constraints to get them to DO what you want need them to do. I hate all LMSs equally.
  • Reiss doesn’t believe that all children are or should be curious and that curiosity doesn’t always motivate student learning. 
  • Should every class be for every student?
  • developing the course isn’t enough, classroom management is required throughout the course, especially for students who drop in and out. 
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • earned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • learned that a lot of what I teach will be limited by the functionality of the LMS.  I learned that there is so much more.
  • I care.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      the fact that you care about "her" and the fact that you understand that you are still learning mean it is highly unlikely that you will fail her  : ) 
Michael Lucatorto

Unshielded Colliders: Poverty and Education - 0 views

  • For example, Mel Riddile points out that when one conditions on various measures of poverty, instead of trailing other nations, the U.S. actually comes out on top! He concludes that "when it comes to school improvement, it's poverty not stupid." Poverty causes educational deficiency.
  • or example, Mel Riddile points out that when one conditions on various measures of poverty, instead of trailing other nations, the U.S. actually comes out on top! He concludes that "when it comes to school improvement, it's poverty not stupid." Poverty causes educational deficienc
  •  
    For example, Mel Riddile points out that when one conditions on various measures of poverty, instead of trailing other nations, the U.S. actually comes out on top! He concludes that "when it comes to school improvement, it's poverty not stupid." Poverty causes educational deficiency. Now, I like to actually have data to play around with, in part because people have been known to lie about politically charged issues and in part because I like to have nice graphs (which are not provided by Riddile). Anyway, it turns out that international poverty data is pretty hard to come by and fraught with interpretational difficulties. On the other hand, the National Assessment of Educational Progress provides test data for most of the states in the U.S., and the U.S. Census Bureau provides data on the percentage of people in poverty by state. I took the NAEP data for 8th grade science achievement and regressed on the percentage of people below the poverty line for the measured states. The two are negatively associated: as poverty increases, science achievement scores decrease according to the relationship in the plot below. (Alaska, Kansas, Nebraska, and Vermont did not meet NAEP reporting guidelines and are not included in the plot above.) The association is highly significant (p=9.98*10-6). I also took pilot NAEP data for 8th grade mathematics achievement and regressed on the percentage of people below the poverty line for the measured states. (Evidently, the NAEP has only just started testing for mathematics achievement, and only eleven states were included in their pilot.) Again, the two are negatively associated. The slope of the relation turns out to be almost exactly the same as for science achievement. The association is not as significant, but it is still significant (p=0.0186). (My guess is the association is less significant in this case because fewer states were measured.) Clearly there is an association between poverty and achievement in science and mathem
Erin Fontaine

Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory - 0 views

  • We must recognize the importance of challenging our students — in a supportive way — to recognize both that they are thinkers and that their thinking often goes awry. We must lead class discussions about thinking. We must explicitly model thinking (e.g., thinking aloud through a problem). We must design classroom activities that explicitly require students to think about their thinking. We must have students examine both poor and sound thinking, talking about the differences. We must introduce students to the parts of thinking and the intellectual standards necessary to assess thinking. We must introduce the idea of intellectual humility to students; that is, the idea of becoming aware of our own ignorance. Perhaps children can best understand the importance of this idea through their concept of the "know-it-all," which comes closest to their recognition of the need to be intellectually humble.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is a great foundation for an icebreaker module.
  • recognize that they have basic problems in their thinking and make initial attempts to better understand how they can take charge of and improve it.
  • begin to modify some of their thinking, but have limited insight into deeper levels of the trouble inherent in their thinking. Most importantly, they lack a systematic plan for improving their thinking, hence their efforts are hit and miss.
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  • appreciate a critique of their powers of thought.
  • we must teach in such a way as to help them to see that we all need to regularly practice good thinking to become good thinkers.
  • We must emphasize the importance of beginning to take charge of the parts of thinking and applying intellectual standards to thinking. We must teach students to begin to recognize their native egocentrism when it is operating in their thinking.
  • since practicing thinkers are only beginning to approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way, they still have limited insight into deeper levels of thought, and thus into deeper levels of the problems embedded in thinking.
  • need for systematic practice in thinking.
  • Practicing thinkers recognize the need for systematicity of critical thinking and deep internalization into habits. They clearly recognize the natural tendency of the human mind to engage in egocentric thinking and self-deception.
  • regularly monitor
  • articulate the strengths and weaknesses
  • often recognize their own egocentric thinking as well as egocentric thinking on the part of others. Furthermore practicing thinkers actively monitor their thinking to eliminate egocentric thinking, although they are often unsuccessful.
  • intellectual perseverance
  • have the intellectual humility required to realize that thinking in all the domains of their lives must be subject to scrutiny, as they begin to approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way.
  • We must teach in such a way that students come to understand the power in knowing that whenever humans reason, they have no choice but to use certain predictable structures of thought: that thinking is inevitably driven by the questions, that we seek answers to questions for some purpose, that to answer questions, we need information, that to use information we must interpret it (i.e., by making inferences), and that our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions, and have implications, all of which involves ideas or concepts within some point of view. We must teach in such a way as to require students to regularly deal explicitly with these structures (more on these structure presently).
  • Recognizing the "moves" one makes in thinking well is an essential part of becoming a practicing thinker.
  • Students should be encouraged to routinely catch themselves thinking both egocentrically and sociocentrically.
  • advanced thinkers not only actively analyze their thinking in all the significant domains of their lives, but also have significant insight into problems at deeper levels of thought. While advanced thinkers are able to think well across the important dimensions of their lives, they are not yet able to think at a consistently high level across all of these dimensions. Advanced thinkers have good general command over their egocentric nature. They continually strive to be fair-minded. Of course, they sometimes lapse into egocentrism and reason in a one-sided way.
  • develop depth of understanding
  • nsight into deep levels of problems in thought: consistent recognition, for example, of egocentric and sociocentric thought in one’s thinking, ability to identify areas of significant ignorance and prejudice, and ability to actually develop new fundamental habits of thought based on deep values to which one has committed oneself.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      What do YOU believe in? How and why do you believe it?
  • successfully engaged in systematically monitoring the role in their thinking of concepts, assumptions, inferences, implications, points of view, etc., and hence have excellent knowledge of that enterprise. Advanced thinkers are also knowledgeable of what it takes to regularly assess their thinking for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, logicalness, etc.
  • critique their own plan for systematic practice, and improve it thereby.
  • articulate the strengths and weaknesses in their thinking.
  • reduce the power of their egocentric thoughts.
  • a) the intellectual insight and perseverance to actually develop new fundamental habits of thought based on deep values to which one has committed oneself, b) the intellectual integrity to recognize areas of inconsistency and contradiction in one’s life, c) the intellectual empathy necessary to put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them, d) the intellectual courage to face and fairly address ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints toward which one has strong negative emotions, e) the fair-mindedness necessary to approach all viewpoints without prejudice, without reference to one’s own feelings or vested interests. In the advanced thinker these traits are emerging, but may not be manifested at the highest level or in the deepest dimensions of thought.
  • our students will not become advanced thinkers — if at all — until college or beyond. Nevertheless, it is important that they learn what it would be to become an advanced thinker. It is important that they see it as an important goal. We can help students move in this direction by fostering their awareness of egocentrism and sociocentrism in their thinking, by leading discussions on intellectual perseverance, intellectual integrity, intellectual empathy, intellectual courage, and fair-mindedness. If we can graduate students who are practicing thinkers, we will have achieved a major break-through in schooling. However intelligent our graduates may be, most of them are largely unreflective as thinkers, and are unaware of the disciplined habits of thought they need to develop to grow intellectually as a thinker.
  • have systematically taken charge of their thinking, but are also continually monitoring, revising, and re-thinking strategies for continual improvement of their thinking. They have deeply internalized the basic skills of thought, so that critical thinking is, for them, both conscious and highly intuitive.
  • As Piaget would put it, they regularly raise their thinking to the level of conscious realization.
  • Accomplished thinkers are deeply committed to fair-minded thinking, and have a high level of, but not perfect, control over their egocentric nature.
  • To make the highest levels of critical thinking intuitive in every domain of one’s life. To internalize highly effective critical thinking in an interdisciplinary and practical way.
  • Accomplished thinkers are not only actively and successfully engaged in systematically monitoring the role in their thinking of concepts, assumptions, inferences, implications, points of view, etc., but are also regularly improving that practice. Accomplished thinkers have not only a high degree of knowledge of thinking, but a high degree of practical insight as well. Accomplished thinkers intuitively assess their thinking for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, logicalness, etc. Accomplished thinkers have deep insights into the systematic internalization of critical thinking into their habits. Accomplished thinkers deeply understand the role that egocentric and sociocentric thinking plays in the lives of human beings, as well as the complex relationship between thoughts, emotions, drives and behavior.
  • Naturally inherent in master thinkers are all the essential intellectual characteristics, deeply integrated. Accomplished thinkers have a high degree of intellectual humility, intellectual integrity, intellectual perseverance, intellectual courage, intellectual empathy, intellectual autonomy, intellectual responsibility and fair-mindedness. Egocentric and sociocentric thought is quite uncommon in the accomplished thinker, especially with respect to matters of importance. There is a high degree of integration of basic values, beliefs, desires, emotions, and action.
  • For the foreseeable future the vast majority of our students will never become accomplished thinkers 
  • important that they learn what it would be to become an accomplished thinker. It is important that they see it as a real possibility, if practicing skills of thinking becomes a characteristic of how they use their minds day to day.
  • Thus it is vital that an intellectual vocabulary for talking about the mind be established for teachers; and that teachers lead discussions in class designed to teach students, from the point of view of intellectual quality, how their minds work, including how they can improve as thinkers.
  • in elementary school an essential objective would be that students become "beginning" thinkers, that is, that they will be taught so that they discover that they are thinkers and that their thinking, like a house, can be well or poorly constructed. This "discovery" stage--the coming to awareness that all of us are thinkers--needs to be given the highest priority. Middle school and High School, on this model, would aim at helping all students become, at least, "practicing" thinkers. Of course, students discover thinking only by discovering that thinking has "parts." Like learning what "Legos" are, we learn as we come to discover that there are various parts to thinking and those parts can be put together in various ways. Unlike Legos, of course, thinking well requires that we learn to check how the parts of thinking are working together to make sure they are working properly: For example, have we checked the accuracy of information? Have we clarified the question?
  • We are not advocating here that teachers withdraw from academic content. Rather we are suggesting that critical thinking provides a way of deeply embracing content intellectually. Within this view students come to take intellectual command of how they think, act, and react while they are learning...history, biology, geography, literature, etc., how they think, act, and react as a reader, writer, speaker, and listener, how they think, act, and react as a student, brother, friend, child, shopper, consumer of the media, etc.
  • to effectively learn any subject in an intellectually meaningful way presupposes a certain level of command over one’s thinking, which in turn presupposes understanding of the mind’s processes.
  • Thinking is inevitably driven by the questions we seek to answer, and those questions we seek to answer for some purpose. To answer questions, we need information which is in fact meaningful to us only if we interpret it (i.e., by making inferences). Our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions and require that we use ideas or concepts to organize the information in some way from some point of view. Last but not least, our thinking not only begins somewhere intellectually (in certain assumptions), it also goes somewhere---that is, has implications and consequences.
  • Thus whenever we reason through any problem, issue, or content we are well advised to take command of these intellectual structures: purpose, question, information, inferences, assumptions, concepts, point of view, and implications. By explicitly teaching students how to take command of the elements of reasoning we not only help them take command of their thinking in a general way; we also provide a vehicle which effectively enables them to critically think through the content of their classes, seeing connections between all of what they are learning.
  • if I am to develop my critical thinking ability I must both "discover" my thinking and must intellectually take charge of it. To do this I must make a deep commitment to this end.
  • the human mind, left to its own, pursues that which is immediately easy, that which is comfortable, and that which serves its selfish interests. At the same time, it naturally resists that which is difficult to understand, that which involves complexity, that which requires entering the thinking and predicaments of others.
  • When we learn together as developing thinkers, when we all of us seek to raise our thinking to the next level, and then to the next after that, everyone benefits, and schooling then becomes what it was meant to be, a place to discover the power of lifelong learning. This should be a central goal for all our students--irrespective of their favored mode of intelligence or learning style. It is in all of our interest to accept the challenge: to begin, to practice, to advance as thinkers.
alexandra m. pickett

Reflections Blog - Just another Edublogs.org site - 1 views

    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Hey Bill: i completely get the "technologically connected" fatigue. i am very plugged in... but, i remind myself that i am in control. I have boundaries. Also fyi - i don't have a cell phone. I know i know... hard to believe, right?! I just don't want to be that connected. me : )
    • William Meredith
       
      I envy you for not having a cell phone!  I took mine to France but told people not to call me.  One of the best parts of being away!
  • it helps remove the filter.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      interesting. really? say more about that. : )
  • Alex mentioned her desire not to allow students to unsubscribe from the posts.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Bill: i am actually really torn about this. I myself don't use the email subscription AT ALL. I find it confusing and disconnecting from the context and flow of the discussion. I have mine set to subjects only as a daily digest and i mostly just delete them... before even opeining them. I use the cousre interface to interact and view the interactions. I wish i could give students the option. But i can't. I have tried it both ways and talked about it with students from past courses. I even tried it once where i initially forced but then gave students the option to opt out... And i have come to the very reluctant decision that i have to force. I force the subscription, becuase frankly students don't login to the cousre. They disappear for days, and then claim they didn't know or couldn't find...and then claim they are overwhelmed. You also just can't "catch up" once a discussion has ended. The flow has moved on. There are also students that for some reason just prefer to get the posts via email. I've had several students tell me that they liked to view posts from their cell phones... So, i force subscription to all/only the essential forums in the course. The reality is that I can't force students to login to the course and click on the discussion and other areas of the cousre to see all that is happening. And i need a way to make sure that they are aware of the level of activity in the course and what is happening. me
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  • 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.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i don't remember this being a problem in past semesters and i wonder if a default was changed at the system level. I thought everyone got a daily digest of subject lines and that highlighted new forum post tracking was automatically enabled by default... based you your feedback here, i have added "forewarning" : ) to 2 of the course information documents (contact and evaluation). : ) me
  • my presence could be demonstrated in other ways than just logging in daily or talking to students.
  • I came to realize that
  • in this course I feel as though everything I learn is huge.
  • it feels as though I am letting the students go without my assistance.
  • 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.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      this is a brilliant observation bill!
  • 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.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      what would you say? i would like to read that rebuttal.  : ) 
  • 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)
alexandra m. pickett

Authentic On-line Learning - 3 views

  • I suppose one of the assumptions that I have about my own on-line course is that if a certain percentage of my students are of the Generation Y population, they may very well know more about the technology than I do.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      question your assumptions!!!!
  • 20 to 22
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      it's 20-24 yrs old- that is 38% Fifty-one percent are over 25 yrs old.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      the larger percentage are OVER 25 years old!
  • so I guess that will most likely be my audience.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      check your assumptions!
    • Donna Angley
       
      You're right; I don't really know who my audience will be. I also assume that the Generation Y population have the technology down pat; that's not necessary true.
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  • While I think the technology has to be embedded in instruction whenever possible, it can’t be left to teachers alone to solve this problem.
    • Donna Angley
       
      I feel teachers need much more support from administrators as well as the Education Department. I know that SED is currently addressing the problem of making technology accessible in our classrooms, but even as they are planning it, the technology is increasing exponentially. It's going to take major educational reform -- Our new commissioner has been personally involved with the Technology task force.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      This is a wonderful analogy, which I plan on using in my instructions for discussions!
    • Diane Gusa
       
      This is my struggle too. I am spending this weekend stopping in. I do like the post titles, it helps me to priortize what I want to read.
    • Donna Angley
       
      I think a lot of my difficulty is that my only comparison for online learning are the 2 courses I've taken prior to this. One was okay, the other not so good. So, I'm only realizing now that the online environment and experience can be a lot more robust that I had thought.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I work to 2AM every morning to keep up...as I teach an online course and take care of a 18 month old. However, I am enjoying the late night flow as I work! I have enjoyed your posts, and I can see your hard work.
    • Donna Angley
       
      Thanks Diane, a lot of this is new to me as well, but I'm working through it.
  • I had to question what the objectives were first, and then create an assessment that tied into the objectives. 
    • Donna Angley
       
      This is probably one area that still scares me. I think I'm going to have to come up with a rubric for the forum in my course, and I don't have any experience creating a rubric. I've Googled it and there are many rubrics out there, but I don't know if I can just "borrow" a rubric and tweak it or is this plagarism?
  • what I need to do is think of these posts as mini research papers.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      exactly!!! i actually say "Every post you make in this course is an exam. " in the interaction course info document for the course!! : )
    • Donna Angley
       
      Now that I realize this, I'm finding the workload a little easier. I had to adjust my schedule. I'm used to doing most of my online work on weekends, but that's not enough for this course, so I made changes. Now I come home from work and put aside about 2 hours each night specificallly for addressing posts.
  • I don’t feel like I can get to it all.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      you can't. just really digg into stuff that interests/engages you.
    • Donna Angley
       
      Whew! Thanks Alex. I'm feeling a little more comfortable this week as far as what I should be doing to stay on top of things.
  • I’m doing my best.
    • Donna Angley
       
      I am making it work, and I don't feel as overwhelmed as I did just 2 weeks ago. Feeling more confident in the whole process of posting and working in the course shell.
  • I decided to give it a try.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      excellent!! give your students the gift of having high expectations : )
  • 1) Will it help you present content in a more effective or engaging manner, 2) will it facilitate collaboration or interaction between students in an more effective manner, and 3) will it help provide feedback or help assess students more effectively.  I feel the blog will get students interacting in a more casual setting regarding the stories, and the Wiki will definitely facilitate collaboration.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      brilliant!!
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Your assessment of the first 4 weeks is so correct, (in my opinion). I am into the end of the 4th week in an online course I am teaching now and my students are finally soaring, It is soooooo exciting for me to see the growth. The only problem is that my class is only 6 weeks summer....The course I am planning is a 4 week winter term course, so now how to I get my students to soar within one week? My dilemma.
    • Donna Angley
       
      Wow, 4 weeks is not very long. What kind of class will you be teaching in the winter session? I'm not sure you can push the timeframe of when they begin to soar...that happens when it happens. I guess if you can somehow get them interacting with each other right away, that might help promote discussions that lead to those 'aha' moments.a little quicker.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I decided not to do winter term...I will no less than 8 week courses...which as an adjunct is a $$$ decision that will hurt. However, I do not believe that 16 courses squeezed into 4 weeks is ethical.
  • My Avatar
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      WOW!!! cool
  • I really hope I get the opportunity to teach this course
  • I really hope I get the opportunity to teach this course
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • off.  Luckily, the course unfolded slowly and in a very specific order, and I had time to reflect, prepare, and digest the information coming at me.  I’ve learned that I can take on a rather monumental assignment and with a lot of hard work and perseverance, I can complete
  • flect, prepare, and digest the information coming at me.  I’ve learned that I can take on a rather monumental assignment and with a lot of hard work and perseverance, I can complete it.  This was a BIG deal for me and it’s given me a sense of empowerment.   It’s also come at a good time, because I’ll be taking my last course in September in order to finish up my degr
  • flect, prepare, and digest the information coming at me.  I’ve learned that I can take on a rather monumental assignment and with a lot of hard work and perseverance, I can complete it.  This was a BIG deal for me and it’s given me a sense of empowerment.   It’s also come at a good time, because I’ll be taking my last course in September in order to finish up my degr
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • the course unfolded slowly
  • ’s also come at a g
  • prepare, and digest the information coming at me.  I’ve learned that I can take on a rather monumental assignment and with a lot of hard work and perseverance, I can complete it.  This was a BIG deal for me and it’s given me a sense of empowerment.   It’s also come at a g
  • Never in a million years did I ever think that I would go on to graduate school, but here I am on the cusp of that achievement.  I am the first out of 6 siblings to earn a master’s degree. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Congratulations Donna!!!
  • I didn’t realize that I was in charge of my own learning. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      any kind of learning... online or f2f is ONLY student-centered if that is how it is designed and if that is how the instructor facilitates it... now that you know that you are in charge of your own learning, i need your help : ) You can help me change the world by sharing that insight with anyone you have the opportunity to teach in the future. I have very high expectations of you Donna!!! : )
  • I came to realize that I didn’t have to give them all my knowledge — that in fact, I had to let them learn some of these things on their own.
  • I think it’s a situation where I don’t know what I need until somebody tells me that I need it.  I’m certainly open to suggestions, but at this point I feel like I’ve done what I was supposed to do; however, I realize that this is VERY new to me and that I have probably made some mistakes that will be pointed out to me.  That’s fine, and as I said, I welcome comments and suggestions. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      good point
alexandra m. pickett

ETAP640 Summer 2011 Blog - 2 views

  • So far I am enjoying the experience
  • What are the most effective instructional technology tools available to me to help me meet my instructional objectives?
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      brilliant!
  • challenge!
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      self assess!
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      check!
  • ...37 more annotations...
  • I have been much more aware of the idea that today’s younger generations (those who are 30 and younger) are much more technologically savvy. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      I want to challange you, just like i challanged Ian (who is currently smitten with Prensky : ) to challenge the notion of natives vs. immigrants. Read this (http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/05/natives-are-revolting.html), find other articles (and there are many) that unpack the problems with this notion, and come back and tell us all about it.
  • I have been spending quite a bit of time and energy learning the Moodle system,
    • Donna Angley
       
      I think I spent the entire weekend last week playing around in Moodle, learning how things worked, and trying to set up my basic module outline. Once I got the hang of it, I kinda like it. I find with technology that it just takes time and patience (not my forte) to really grasp it. I don't think computer skills of any kind can be learned from a book alone; it needs to be hands on learning.
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      I completely agree! I am a very hands on and visual person, I need to INTERACT with the material in real life or else it's just text on a page.
  • It is ENGAGING
    • Donna Angley
       
      Very. I found myself not wanting to step away from the computer, even to eat. Eventually, I got hungry enough and forced a break.
    • Kimberly Barss
       
      Yes! The faculty on the SLN website even said that online teaching is an addiction!
  • Blackboard
    • Donna Angley
       
      The two other online courses that I took were both on Blackboard. I've never actually taken a course in Moodle. I have no idea what my course will look like when I'm done, but I'm very curious.
  • I’m really starting to get the hang of the expectations for posts
    • Donna Angley
       
      Took me a while as well, but now I feel more comfortable with my posts. I wasn't doing enough research. Once I started doing that, I felt like I was contributing something to the whole class.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I had the same thought. I only hope that the computer lab is open during my class time.
    • Donna Angley
       
      Your sticky notes are usually "floating" so I never know what you're commenting on. Can you make them stationery?
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I wonder the same thing...this applies to several blogs ago. I guess we need to add a date or title.
  • This course has been the most difficult course that I have ever taken
  • I was teetering between dropping the class
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i am really glad you did NOT drop the course!!! : ) me
  • punishment
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      : ) seriously teacher-centric...
  • I am still under the impression that the interactions required of us in the discussion space are too numerous. 
  • I LOVE LOVE LOVED that Bill Pelz commented on our posts!  I felt like a celebrity walked into the room and his comments could be equated to getting an autograph. 
  • I have learned a lot this module, especially: NEVER give up (this has been especially resonant with me) Passion for teaching and learning go hand in hand, and are a must-have for online educators The best training tool for an online teacher is to be an online learner BE ORGANIZED MANAGE YOUR TIME Support your students and your faculty (whatever your role is) And last, but not least (yes, this was intentional) don’t procrastinate.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      LOVE the new theme Kim! looks great!
  • half of the requirement for this class.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      please read the rubric. it is NOT required that you do 12 posts. this is your own self imposed choice if you do. The minimum is 6 - maximum 12. it is entirely up to you.
  • I was given this gift: show your students the importance of reflection. 
  • There was absolutely nothing about my course learning activities that was learner-centered, or, one could argue, learning-centered!  I was being extremely teacher-centered in my approach! 
  •   Because of that, I need to embrace these tools, explore new ideas, and for goodness sake- think about the STUDENT.
  • It took me almost two and a half hours just to set up a voicethread that didn’t crunch all of my text and pictures together!  Or get the right size and color font.  I realize that these are all things that cannot be explained to anyone, or if you did try and tell them, they wouldn’t understand how much work it is until they tried it themselves.
    • Donna Angley
       
      I, like the others in this course, understand. It's a lot of work, but the finished product will be worth it, I'm sure.
  • I think that embedding a youtube video or loading a podcast are in my future and I can’t wait! 
    • Donna Angley
       
      Two thumbs up!
  •   I made all of my assignments turned in to me, privately,
    • Donna Angley
       
      I too had made this mistake with some short writing assignments that I was going to have my students write. It was Alex's suggestion to have them blog it that really made sense. This way they could read each others blog entries and leave comments as well.
  • This week, as we are supposed to have the course “done done” I am doubting myself.  Every time I log in to my course I change something, add wording, create new links to rubrics where there weren’t any, etc.  It just seems like I’m never satisfied.
    • Donna Angley
       
      So glad I'm not alone. I keep logging in as well, looking to change something. Over the past 3-4 days I've definitely made changes, but I'm getting to the point now that I'm wondering if I should just leave it alone. I'm the same way about large writing project...always looking to edit. Thinking it might be time for me to step back from the computer.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I thought done, done, done is at the end...aren't we going to have peer feedback next module?
  • I’ll have my master’s in December and I couldn’t be more proud. 
    • Donna Angley
       
      CONGRATULATIONS! I'll finish in December as well. It's been a long journey, and as much as I've enjoyed it, I'm ready to have my weekends back :-)
    • Diane Gusa
       
      :)
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      congratulations kim!!!!
  • I feel like a late bloomer (I’ll be 26 in November
  • #1- I’m scared of the idea of  real live students actually taking my course #2- I’m really disappointed that real live students will never take my course
    • Donna Angley
       
      I'm glad you said this, because I've been thinking it for several weeks now. I really want a chance to teach it, but I'm afraid of getting a chance to teach it. I'm not a teacher by profession, so I think I have more fear than most that I won't be able to facilitate my course properly. For instance, how do I open modules, are grades recorded automatically or do I manually put them in, how do I get them to show for each individual student, etc. I've put so much time and effort into building this course, I want a chance to teach it, but having never taught at the college level, I don't know that I'll get the opportunity. I will still give it my best shot as soon as I graduate in December. If SUNY isn't interested, I'll try other avenues.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      "live students" when you do teach live students you will discover kinks you never saw...this semester I had a great activity that 18 of 19 students loved! The discussions were full of every presence. The I discovered that my student from China was so lost and overwhelmed. Now I am rethinking cultural sensitivity in my activities...how do I balance a activity that engages 99% of my students 110%, but looses one student because of a cultural difference...still thinking on this.
  • feedback
    • Donna Angley
       
      I don't know if I should have done this, but I actually have 2 evaluation/feedback areas. One is the generic resource right in Moodle. I tried to write my own questions, but when I "viewed" the forum, my questions were replaced with the generic questions. So, I created a document with my own questions and I am having students download the document into a word processor, add their answers and then post to a forum.
  • o there will likely never be online courses at Mildred Elley.
    • Donna Angley
       
      Can you teach it elsewhere? As we have learned in this class, online learning is up and coming. It might be worth looking into.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      Failures maybe because the facilitators did not "know" and "do" what "you" know...convince him to try your course as an experiment...because this is the future of education...This summer I taught one online course and had a student from China, several from the west coast, and only two within driving distance in a class of 20!
  • ETAP 680 (research seminar). 
    • Donna Angley
       
      I'll be taking the course in September...how was it? I had hoped that it was just a very long research paper...any such luck? It's my last course for my degree.
  • quality with the traditional classroom in the public eye? 
    • Donna Angley
       
      I think you're probably right, but I think it's turning a corner. At a time when institutions are scrambling for money, online learning costs them very little. They pay an instructor and that's about it. We don't need a classroom or any campus resources other than student access to the library for research if they need it.
  • prettying up
    • Donna Angley
       
      Do you mean the background or theme of the course, because I'd love to know how to change that.
    • Diane Gusa
       
      I am almost three times that....almost :)
    • Diane Gusa
       
      My dissertation chair gave me wonderful advice...Enough is enough! If we recognize that we are always evolving, growing, expanding, deepening our understanding...then we understand that a "project" is just a snap shot of one time in our progress.
  • the more effort you put into it, the more successful you’ll be.
  • One thought I had, as I look forward to getting a PhD, is that theories come from practice which means that theories about online learning come from individuals creating courses, teaching courses, and collecting feedback from courses over and over and then after all of that work is finished, turning right around and working at analyzing the data, and attempting to answer research questions.  In order to have credible research, the questions must be relevant, the measures must be valid and thorough, and the analyses of results must be comprehensive. 
  • Reflective Writing: I have to admit, at the beginning of the course I thought the blogging activities were just busy work.  I viewed the assignments as busy work, and treated my entries as such.  As time ticked on, I started getting into the blogs and realizing that it was my personal space in which I could reflect on my work on my course and my learning throughout the week/module.  So much of life and learning in school is sort of thrown at you, and if you don’t take the time to intentionally deconstruct the events and make sense of them, then you’ll never grow and improve.  I’d rather grow.
  • If I don’t place intentional emphasis on something (like making it worth a portion of their grade) then I am sending a message that it’s not important. 
  • Nothing should be an accident or “just because” in the online teaching environment. 
  • Students don’t want their time wasted.
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.
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • 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.
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.
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

Social Studies Another Way - 0 views

  • don’t use it as a source in research
    • Joan Erickson
       
      Look at what we do in etap, we pull research sources off of the web left and right. Does it make it OK for us to do?
  • . I’m thinking that by creating a mission video that emphasizes their own creativity as the goal that they will see that this is self-directed and endless in its possibilitie
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      fantastic idea!!
  • I notice that I don’t read everything on each direction page, so I’m sure my students won’t either.
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  • Having to support my ideas is cumbersome, and it requires work
    • Joan Erickson
       
      Shoubang left a message on my blog saying the same thing: it is WORK. But we learn a lot from one another!
  • I was always annoyed in grad classes when people would just shoot off their mouths about random things, totally wasting class time on their own rants (usually at 9pm). This definitely alleviates that situation!
  • I don’t accept laziness or haphazard work, but I usually reject it with a smile and a joke
    • Joan Erickson
       
      Melissa, I want my son to have a teacher like you! I want to have a teacher who knows how to gracefully reject silly work !
  • At this point, I need stick notes to track down sticky notes
    • Joan Erickson
       
      melissa you are too funny!
  • I resisted activities where the students “taught” each other for fear that they would leave something out
    • Joan Erickson
       
      of course you would have that fear. I think every teacher has that concern when they use peer-learning activities. state exams put so much pressure on the teachers and the kids.
    • Melissa Pietricola
       
      They do, it is truly counterproductive!
  • I will be extremely busy
  • I am eliminating much of the homework requirements so students can work on the online course
  • It will be an enormous challenge for me to let students take the lead and not dominate the airspace. If I want my students to make it to that “performance” or “resolution” stage I see this stepping back as being essential. I want them to “Perform” in the sense that they build their learning into webpages. If I dominate their peer critiques, for example, they might as well become my webpages. The intent is for them to run wild with their creativity, and to step away from me as the direct instructor. He also discusses the steps groups take to make decisions, “forming, norming, storming, and performing.” Garrison emphasizes that groups not only need time, but also clearly stated goals to function productively. I am very familiar with his claim that, “groups do not naturally coalesce and move to integration and resolution phases.” I loathe group work for this very reason! I have avoided it much of my teaching career, afraid of losing control of the classroom and the content, and often seeing little progression in student learning when I do venture to use it. He goes on to argue that, “direction and facilitation is required to establish cohesion and ensure messages are developed.” I guess I assumed this, that you need to give clear directions, state your goals for the activity, and facilitate its progression. I’m concerned with how this will go online.
  • This reminds  me of Kelly as a “thread killer.”
  • time consuming
    • Joan Erickson
       
      me too. you mentioned about this in your earlier blog. Compposing a post felt like writing a mini-essay for me, I just couldn't produce a coherent, educated, and educational post in a matter of minutes. It is time-consuming to produce intelligent work.
    • Melissa Pietricola
       
      It is! I felt like I would wander through the Internet in a thousand directions, getting irritated with myself for being so scatterbrained. It took me forever!
    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      I agree! Takes forever - days and days to write. Blogging is agonizing!! But ultimately satisfying :-) We survived.
    • Joan Erickson
       
      wheeew! Now I feel better. For the longest time I thought it was due to my inadequacy that it took me days to pull research together and write up a coherent reply. If you two felt this way, who am I to complain?! Thanks!
  • By that I mean it keeps me thinking. I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder on it, it makes me uncomfortable, and it appears on my to-do list in the strangest way. One thing I think of is the idea of student-centered learning. Its not that this is new to me entirely, but it has been a bit of a shocker to learn how to do it effectively and how to readjust my thinking and teaching to make the student at the middle. The idea that my activities should be engaging has always been moderately important, but I’ve thought about it in the past as “entertaining.” I always came back to the thought that I wasn’t here to entertain my students, they get entertainment everywhere else.
  • But, as a student, I completely understand and empathize with the idea that they should be engaged and want to be a part of what they are learning. This is a new thought to me. That I should make the activities engaging (by using technology, by encouraging connections, and by making purposeful learning) not simply so students have fun, but so that they learn more!
  • whether I’d catch the next episode of the “Backyardigans.”
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i love backyardigans!! : )
  • It stimulated a different part of my brain and gave me an adult purpose to my day. Very important for my sanity and helpful for me as a mother, as well. I truly agree that being an educated woman makes us better caretakers for our children (especially our girls!)
  • The truth is, though, that it did help me to learn and it was a challenge I could meet.
Irene Watts-Politza

Teachers' Invisible Presence in Net-based Distance Education | Hult | The International... - 0 views

  • The stance taken in this paper, then, is constructivist – that conversation is learning in the making.
  • Any conversation, that is, draws on heteroglossia (Bakhtin’s neologism) – pools of different ideas whose elements, when exchanged, foster learning. According to Bakhtin, every utterance has a double significance. It is an expression of a 'unitary [common] language' used to conduct the conversation and, at the same time, it builds on the 'social and historical' differences embedded in the heteroglossia (1981, p. 272).
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is what happens in a discussion thread.
  • Yuri Lotman,
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • described conversations as multi-authored texts rather than as multi-voiced heteroglossia (see Bakhtin, 1994,
  • texts “fulfill at least two basic functions:
  • fulfilled best when the codes of the speaker and the listener most completely coincide and, consequently, when the text has the maximum degree of univocality” (1988, p. 34). The generation of new meanings occurs when there are differences between the speaker and the listener. Texts used in educational exchanges cease:
  • online adult education is not the delivery of texts but, rather, the creation and insertion of ‘thinking devices’ into conversation.
  • For this article we have concentrated on teacher and student views of teachers’ role orientations in online courses.
  • our intention has been to identify and clarify teaching ‘saliences’ that have emerged in online adult education in Sweden. In a wider sense, however, our analysis is also a response to the question: ‘Whatever happened to teaching in the learning society?’
  • the posting data support the claim that the teachers adopted an initiating role.
  • Greater activity:
  • Greater influence on topic:
  • Faster response times:
  • When asked about their views, all students felt that teachers played a central role in supporting Net-based learning. Indeed, some of them suggested that moderation in online settings of adult education is more important than in face-to-face settings.
  • Orientations to Teaching
  • Activity Orientation
  • In this perspective, teachers gave students tasks that activated them and, thereby, fostered their understanding of subject matter.
  • offered students tips about articles, books and Internet sites
  • Some students spoke about being activated by stimulating tasks that led them to engage with the Web and libraries, with one of them adding ‘seeking by your self is a pre-condition for learning.’ Active searching also meant that students came into contact with information which extended their learning beyond the task itself.
  • None of the teachers, however, was entirely satisfied with their dialogic or conference practice. Levels of engagement, dialogue, and initiative-taking were not as high as they had hoped. In response, they tried to promote conversation by encouraging students to react to each other’s postings, by organising tasks where cooperation and interaction was needed, or by introducing new aspects and questions when discussion faltered.
  • Further, teachers reported that they also tried to act as models of good behaviour by giving swift replies to student postings and by making their own postings appropriate yet concise.
  • In contrast to the teachers most of the student group were satisfied with the course conversations.
  • A few
  • felt that sharing different aspects of the subject matter with the teacher and fellow students raised fresh questions. It made them reach beyond the book, evoking learning and thinking along new pathways. Even if they thought that well-chosen tasks were the most effective way of fostering dialogue, they also expected the course leader to participate fully, developing new themes if student postings declined, and remaining alert to student proposals that might enhance the interchange of ideas and knowledge.
  • Many students emphasised the importance of teaching that corroborated or validated their learning.
  • None of the teachers, however, spontaneously offered this view as their primary role or orientation. Nevertheless, when asked whether they had any correspondence with students through private mailboxes rather than ‘conferences’ and ‘cafes,’ some of them said that they occasionally responded privately to correct misinterpretations.
  • This task raises many questions about teaching, highlighting the difference, for example, between instructionist and constructionist paradigms for learning (Wilensky, 1991). Would a too well-planned course be instructionist, thus constraining student influence and the pursuit of democracy? In their postings, teachers in this study felt that there was no necessary contradiction – that well-planned courses could, indeed, strengthen student influence. Nevertheless, busy distance education students, according to the teachers, often appreciate instructionist courses with clearly stated activities and tasks, even if the students are left with limited opportunities to ‘construct their own relationships with the objects of knowledge’ (Wilensky, 1991, p. 202).
  • Teacher’s invisible presence is exemplified in taking a stand-by role and/ or being reluctant to intervene. ‘The [teachers’] silence should be deafening,’ one teacher recommended. Although most of the teachers agreed that well-planned courses do not inhibit course dialogue, the fact that in their own online course deliberations they set aside time to discuss this issue may reflect ambivalence in their stance. The question of when and how teachers should intervene remains impossible to resolve, except in practice.
  • three different aspects of teaching,
  • a second conclusion – that the promotion of learning in an open environment requires an animating or steering presence. Such teaching, however, is not a process of instruction. And for this reason the word teacher may no longer be appropriate. In English, the word tutor is commonly used in adult education, because it has connotations of ‘supervision’ and ‘guardianship’ as well as ‘instruction’ (see Oxford English Dictionary). More recently, Salmon has suggested ‘e-moderating,’ but even moderation carries instructionist connotations – to exercise a controlling influence over; to regulate, restrain, control, rule (OED) – that may not be appropriate to all forms of liberal education. In the context of mainland Europe, the word pedagogue may be appropriate since, etymologically, pedagogue denotes someone engaged in 'drawing out.'
  • Intellectual development, however, can be an intra- as well as an inter-personal phenomenon. That is, learning may not come directly from teachers but rather from their absent or invisible presence. Online pedagogues, therefore, can be present in different ways. They may be present in person, participating in learning conversations. They may constitute an absent presence that, nonetheless, is embodied in the learning resources directed towards students (e.g., the selected readings or activities). Or pedagogues may exist merely as inner voices, inherited from the language of others, that (invisibly) steer the desires, self-regulation, and self-direction of learners. Indeed, this last pedagogic position ‘auto-didacticism,’ has always been central to the post-Enlightenment ideals of liberal adult education.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Here's the money.
  •  
    Swedish study of university student and professor attitudes toward satisfaction with and definition of teacher presence in online adult learning. Implications for course design with respect to knowing one's audience.
sherrilattimer

2001 Beder - 0 views

  • Their most commonly expressed intention was to meet learners' needs.
    • sherrilattimer
       
      Meeting learner's needs rather than challenging them to rise to find out more.
  • In contrast, the data from our 40 observations portrayed a type of instruction that was the near antithesis of learner-centered instruction. In each and every case the organizing unit of instruction was a teacher-prepared and teacher-delivered lesson. There was virtually no evidence of substantive learner input into decisions about instruction. Communication was overwhelmingly teacher-to-learner, learner-to-teacher. Learner-to-learner communication rarely occurred unless the teacher directed it to occur through such things as peer coaching exercises.
  • They enabled the teacher to determine if learners had "learned" the lesson and they supplemented the content of the lesson by reinforcing learners' correct responses and demonstrating the correct answer to learners whose responses were incorrect.
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • Although adult literacy teachers intend to be learner-centered they, teach in teacher-directed ways. Why? Although it could be that teachers were induced to teach in teacher-directed ways by supervisors or other forces, we found no evidence of this. Rather, we conclude that there two reasons. The first pertains to the socialization process that all teachers and learners are products of. The roles of teacher and student are two of the most intensely socialized roles in our society. The great majority of the teachers we observed were certified in K-12 education. For them, socialization into the teacher role began in grade school and continued through their teacher training. For learners, socialization into the student role also began in grade school and continued until they dropped out of school.
    • sherrilattimer
       
      This is so true! If you ask a random person to teach a lesson, they think it's about standing in front of the room and talking to the group. They will ask questions, and ask for "students" to raise their hand to answer.
  • We infer that teachers taught in teacher-directed ways because that that way of teaching was a deeply ingrained product of their socialization.
  • teachers believed that their learners were primarily motivated toward obtaining their GEDs, and the perceived benefits of doing so, in the shortest possible time
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education. Thus teachers wanted to maximize efficiency and believed that teacher-directed, basic skills-oriented instruction was the best way of doing so.
  • Most teachers maintained a helping posture in class. Thus, there appears to be a duality to the meaning teachers of adult literacy education ascribe to their teaching. While their instruction is teacher directed, their learner-centered values and beliefs are manifest in their affective relations with learners. In this sense, for adult literacy teachers being learner-centered is not a teaching technology or methodology. Rather, it is a set of values that guide teacher-learner interactions.
    • sherrilattimer
       
      This is the key to all of it for me, personally. I think all of this is true for my co-workers and me.
  • Teachers liberally praised learners for correct answers and rarely sanctioned learners negatively for such things as being tardy or tuning out.
    • sherrilattimer
       
      I JUST finished writing this exact thing about myself!!! Who would have thought that I fit into the research-based mold of an adult literacy instructor.
  • If teacher-directed instruction is indeed a product of intense and protracted socialization and commonly held beliefs about learners' motivations, then changing teacher-directed behavior will be a very difficult task, perhaps requiring re-socialization. Such an effort may be beyond the means of the current professional development system in adult literacy education.
    • sherrilattimer
       
      I think it is beyond the means of the current professional development system in adult literacy education because there is a high rate of turnover. I think once someone has a certain degree of skill or education, they are seeking out another position. I think this report should have been followed up/accompanied by a survey of the teachers.
  • Equipped for the Future (Stein 1999) advocates a form of adult literacy based on what learners need to do in their roles of worker, parent and citizen.
  • Gillespie (1989) advocates an instructional model for adult literacy that emphasizes critical thinking.
  • the amount of time available for instruction was relatively short in comparison to elementary, secondary or higher education
Joy Quah Yien-ling

My experience in NY - 0 views

    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      francisca: don't forget to self evaluate your etap687 reflections. see the blog grading rubric : ) also, i woul like you to bring your thoughts on the course readings and the videos into the online disucssion in the course. : ) me
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      brilliant!!! ask them, make them choose!!! i hope you will take this risk!!! have high expectations and give them the opportunity to teach you something!!! trust them! let go! : )
  • they own their pages,
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  • they want to share
  • hey want
  • the teacher only has to think creatively and give the students good instructions, he hasn’t have to give them lists of words and definitions that is the most boring part of constructing a course, and a lot of work.
  • I love to think that the process of re-conceptualizing a curse to go online can change the way teachers teach this way, and as I learned too, this change is not only for online classes, in face to face too, because it opens their minds, it makes them think and evaluate their old classes, their old evaluations, and most teachers change the way they teach face to face too, because they realize that traditional teaching doesn’t work face to face either. And they don’t change because they have to change, they have an excuse for changing, so online teaching is a catalyst for transforming teachers.
  • A lot of students never felt engaged and I have never understood that until now. The kind of activity I used to do was active and contextualized to the world, but not everybody has the same word or interests, so I think the only way to engage everybody is to ask them what they want to learn, or make them choose. Something I have never done is to empower my students to lead their own learning process. I have had problems trusting in them I have never give them freedom to be creative, lead a group, do research, look for something new, let them teach me something. I haven’t tried to get out the outlines, be more risky. I don’t know how it would be not to have the control of their learning process, but I would like to try. I learned a very interesting thing: they can find their own material, they can learn the things they like and are related with their own interests, they can lead a discussion about a topic they like and engage others in the discussion. They are able to do a lot of things and we have to take advantage of that as teachers because, if we do all the work, who is learning?
  • So, as I learned form Alex, the question is not “what can I teach online?”, the question is “how can I teach online the thing that I want to teach?”,
  • I don’t know if the question is “which students can be good online learners”, the question is “how can I engage most of them and help them to learn” however they are, because we can’t control that.
  • That is why I think it is so important to have questions in order to construct our knowledge, so I really understand that to make people think you have to guide them to have questions , not answers. And how to do that? The best way to do that, according to what I read in The role of questioning teaching, thinking and learning, is making the students do things, if they are passive they are not going to have questions, and also, make them good questions that are provocative and makes them think about what they are interested in solve or understand or do, and other kinds of question that lead students to critical thinking.
  • I think that in order to achieve a sense of community between your students you have to give them diverse and frequent opportunities for interaction between them and with you, it is not about knowing each other and working in groups in some activity, you have to interact a lot with all your classmates to build a community and feel that you belong to the class. So you have to design diverse activities and spaces for interaction, sharing and communication between students and with you. Also, you have to teach and guide the students in how to interact, how to contribute, how to add knowledge to the conversation, how to give their classmates feedback, how to reinforce their opinions, how to support them, how to answer their questions, how to evaluate them, how to question them, how to agree or refute them, how to make a comfortable climate for learning and a lot of other things related to create a sense of teaching presence and a sense of belonging to the group.
  • By teaching to their classmates students can understand more deeply the content, develop other skills like being creative, they have to think deeper in how to explain a concept and create good examples, and learn from their classmates, from their questions and from the interaction between them.
  • I like the idea of having a community blog
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i didn't realize this would be a community blog. I LOVE this idea!!! have you thought of using ning for this? that way the space can persist as your faculty commmuity beyond the end of the development cycle.
  • I needed a Blog
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      yes, it should be a blog... not a wiki... you should look at ning for this... it provides the blog functionality wrapped with additional community ans social networking features...
  • sometimes we think the only way of engaging students is entertaining them. That is not true,
    • Joan Erickson
       
      I agree!
  • And even better, how Shoubang sounds so familiar and close to the students in the welcome document without anything fancy technology, only text, but it seems so easy to find him in there and so friendly.
    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      We project who we are. People don't just leave their offline personalities behind when they go online. If a person is outgoing in real life, he will also be outgoing online (I think). But apparently, the online environment is good for shy people...
  • I think that this work is very creative, and as I remember in one of the first reading of this course (”10 ways online…”),
    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      This is the creative aspect of teaching which I love as well. How can we ever be bored being a teacher? We are being creative all the time.
  • I don’t know why but I love it! I can review it forever, and I always have new ideas, and I love that.
  • some faculty’s opinions is that they feel younger because they feel the same feeling that they felt when they were teaching for the first time, and I think that they feel rewarded by their creation,  their new product.
Catherine Strattner

Applying Bloom's Taxonomy to teach thinking skills in e-learning « Jen e-blogger - 0 views

  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
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  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • 4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.
  • guide students to arrive at a certain concept, rule, principle or method and use the concept, rule, principle or method in a workplace or simulated workplace environment.
  • require students to construct a new product from the components given or apply different aspects of their prior learning to put together a product.
  • require students to critic or review materials or ideas.
  •  
    This blog post outlinse different learning activities that address the different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.
lkryder

Minding the Knowledge Gap - 0 views

  • In the meantime, I've written a book, from which this article is drawn, about all that I've learned from my research. In my book, I focus on what I identify as seven myths, or widely held beliefs, that dominate our educational practice. I start with the myth that teaching facts prevents understanding, because this (along with my second myth, that teacher-led instruction is passive) is the foundation of all the other myths I discuss. These myths have a long pedigree and provide the theoretical justification for so much of what goes on in schools. Taken together, all seven myths actually damage the education of our pupils. But here, let's focus on facts and the role knowledge has in our understanding.
  • Why Is It a Myth? My aim here is not to criticize true conceptual understanding, genuine appreciation of significance, or higher-order skill development. All of these things are indeed the true aim of education. My argument is that facts and subject content are not opposed to such aims; instead, they are part of it. Rousseau, Dewey, and Freire were wrong to see facts as the enemy of understanding. All the scientific research of the last half-century proves them wrong. The modern bureaucrats and education experts who base policy and practice on their thinking are wrong too, and with less excuse, as they have been alive when evidence that refutes these ideas has been discovered. Rousseau was writing in the 18th century; Dewey at the turn of the 20th; Freire in the 1970s. Research from the second half of the 20th century tells us that their analyses of factual learning are based on fundamentally faulty premises.
  • If we want pupils to develop the skills of analysis and evaluation, they need to know things. Willingham puts it this way:23 Data from the last thirty years lead to a conclusion that is not scientifically challengeable: thinking well requires knowing facts, and that's true not just because you need something to think about. The very processes that teachers care about most—critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving—are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory (not just found in the environment).
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  • The main reason they do not work is because of a misguided, outdated, and pseudoscientific stigma against the teaching of knowledge. The evidence for the importance of knowledge is clear. We have a strong theoretical model that explains why knowledge is at the heart of cognition. We have strong empirical evidence about the success of curricula that teach knowledge. And we have strong empirical evidence about the success of pedagogy that promotes the effective transmission of knowledge. If we fail to teach knowledge, pupils fail to learn.
  • By neglecting to focus on knowledge accumulation, therefore, and assuming that you can just focus on developing conceptual understanding, today's common yet misguided educational practice ensures not only that pupils' knowledge will remain limited, but also that their conceptual understanding, notwithstanding all the apparent focus on it, will not develop either. By assuming that pupils can develop chronological awareness, write creatively, or think like a scientist without learning any facts, we are guaranteeing that they will not develop any of those skills. As Willingham and others have pointed out, knowledge builds to allow sophisticated higher-order responses. When the knowledge base is not in place, pupils struggle to develop understanding of a topic.
  • In a lot of the training material I read, these knowledge gaps were given very little attention. Generally, the word "knowledge" was used in a very pejorative way. The idea was that you were supposed to focus on skills like analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and so forth. Knowledge was the poor relation of these skills. Of course, I wanted my pupils to be able to analyze and evaluate, but it seemed to me that a pupil needed to know something to be able to analyze it. If a pupil doesn't know that the House of Lords isn't elected, how can you get him to have a debate or write an essay analyzing proposals for its reform? Likewise, if a pupil doesn't know what the three branches of government are in the United States, how can she understand debates in the papers about the Supreme Court striking down one of Congress's laws?
  •  
    From American Educator, AFT - A Union of Professionals Teaching facts is critical to developing higher order thinking skills. An excellent case is made and the origins of our disdain for teaching facts in the works of Rousseau, Dewey, Freire and others is examined.
  •  
    I think this article compliments some earlier discussions I saw on Bloom's Taxonomy in our class and also some of the discussions I saw on Common Core. I would be interested in what the K-12 folks think about this article.
alexandra m. pickett

Instruction by Design - 5 views

  • I was a bit surprised
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      why surprised? It is no longer a question of whether is is as good as f2f instruction. There is a now a significant body of evidence that online instruction done well surpasses f2f instruction: http://slneducation.edublogs.org/2010/07/27/more-than-no-significant-difference/
  • I have been pushed to find out and learn about topics relevant to me!
  • I believe that using questions that allow my students to explore areas that are relevant to their unique situations will help them to be successful.
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  • After reading that statement, I felt as though many things clicked for me. The course design and teaching practices are closely linked. The social, cognitive, and teaching presence are related and depend on each other. What does this mean for my course? For me it translates to making sure my course design contains a careful balance to establish the community of inquiry, and that my teaching practices are supported by my course design.
  • First that instructors must give control over the learning to the students, and second that instructors must be skilled at guiding discussions in order to help students learn what is necessary through interactions with others. I especially liked an analogy that Luke used in one of his discussion posts, “Yoda (the teacher) guided Luke (the student) in the ways of the Force, he pointed him where he needed to go but had Luke do the work.” I think this is very relatable for those of us who are star wars fans. Yoda is this incredibly wise mentor, who says very little. The statements he makes are brief but have a lot of meaning. I do see how this relates to effective teaching online. I had to help facilitate a discussion in a past online class, and always felt hesitant to jump in. My sense was that you only want to add something when the thinking stops. You only want to ask enough questions, or statements to get the thinking going again.
  • When I think about my own learning in this course, I realize that even though I may not have direct contact with my classmates or the instructor, I am following those interaction patterns in this course.  I am working with the concepts and ideas introduced in each module, researching, relating, and making connections.  Then I bring my work back to the community to share.  My classmates or the instructor will absorb my contributions and perhaps push it further with suggesting alternate views, or things I have not considered.
  • Now we are discussing how we are using text based environments to create intimacy in learning environments.  Perhaps, it is not all that different
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      BRILLIANT!!!
  • I now believe that a teacher is someone who can create an environment where students are able to gain knowledge through interaction and experience.  This may be through reviewing materials or engaging in activities, but that seems less important to me now.  The crucial part is now designing the interactions. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Eureaka!! it is NOT about content : ) brilliant!
  • my workshop is really about the journey rather than the destination
  • I realized that although you may think you are engaging students in your course, it may be trickier than you expect
  • I really appreciated that the course was able to allow me to reach these conclusions in my own way, rather than just telling me “the line between direct instruction and facilitation of discourse can be blurred”. 
  • I have been able to make the big connections, and form ideas in a way that previously has been difficult for me. 
  • I feel as though the reflection assignments have provided the context for my brain to think in a different way.  This not only gives me confidence for the future, but it also helps me to discover the connections I have made unconsciously!  It seems kind of strange to say that, but it is true!  I am hoping to continue to use blogging as a tool to document my insights and learning after the course ends.
  • I definitely was struggling with motivation when I felt the connection to my classmates and the instructor fading.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      interesting...
  • Through ETAP640, I have really learned how important reflection is for deep learning. It is through my blog posts that I have been able to tie all the ideas together in my head and makes sense out of the information. The course manual suggests that you ask your students why they are taking the course within the ice breaker.
  • Now I understand that asking the students to articulate what they want to get out of the course is an important start to getting them to reflect on their learning and progress throughout the course.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      brilliant!!
  • Maree (4)
alexandra m. pickett

Small Town Girl in the Big Cyber City - 1 views

  •  My original goal was to get an A in the class, and every other class until I reached my objective of  my Master’s w/ a 4.0. Now my goal is to become a teacher that is there for my students, who isn’t assuming any good or bad about them, who’s only goal is to help them grow and learn, (and hopefully to get at least a B in this class.)
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      B R I L L I A N T ! ! !
  • Again, I find myself writing for a college professor rather than a middle school student. Even this past September, I handed out my “course syllabus” to each of my classes. Looking back now I wonder if they knew it was one of my course information documents or is they were trying to figure out how to clap out the syllables.
  • Why did I need to call it a syllabus? That wasn’t for them, it was for me. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i LOVE this observation!
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  • I want them to know that I understand that some activities will suck and be difficult and that they’ll want to rip their hair out but that I also know which activities are the most fun and how rewarding and accomplished they will feel when it’s all said and done.
  • 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. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      This is a brilliant self-reflection. Now what are you going to do about it? There is NOTHING wrong with being shy, or an introvert ( http://www.diigo.com/user/alexandrapickett/introvert ) WATCH this NOW! http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html You need to get MAD and use that anger to get over the fear that is preventing you from doing/being/experiencing. Anger is a powerful force that can help you stop focusing on yourself -when you flip it to use it to advocate for those less powerful than you - your students!
    • Erin Fontaine
       
      Oh, I'd love to get angry and actually stand up for myself and others. Unfortunately that only seems to happen with a few glasses of wine in me. Not too feasible in the classroom, lol. That should be my next goal, find strength without liquid courage!
  • 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!!
    • Lisa Martin
       
      Thank you, thank you, thank you...I'm finally now starting to spend a good amount of time looking through other people's courses. Looking forward to seeing yours!
  • 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.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      That article prompted response from the online learning community. Here is a particularly excellent articulate and respectful response: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/open-letter-professor-edmundson
    • alexandra m. pickett
  • 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.
dkiesel

The Technology Source Archives - Ten Ways Online Education Matches, or Surpasses, Face-... - 6 views

  • Students are empowered to learn on their own and even to teach one another.
    • Erin Fontaine
       
      Students are made accountable for their own education and are able to reflect on what they are learning.
    • Heather Kurto
       
      Students work together with professors to create a learning style that meets their needs. The students guide information that is important to them making the experience meaningful.
  • Students served as instructors to their classmates, and together they worked toward learning goals more effectively than if they had been provided with the answer by the instructor.
    • Erin Fontaine
       
      I have seen my own students achieve better comprehension when they are able to see the information through the eyes of their peers rather than my perspective.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This also supports Shift 4 in ELA Common Core which calls for students to have "rich" conversations centering on a text.
  • When an instructor posts a question on the asynchronous discussion board, every student in the class is expected to respond, respond intelligently, and respond several times.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This expectation is supported by the online instructor's facilitation of discourse and intellectual leadership, identified by Jones et al. as two aspects of teaching presence.
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  • On a more formal note, online tests and quizzes can be constructed with an automatic grading capability that provides immediate feedback and references to text and class notes that explain the correct answers. Assignments, including grades and editorial comments, can be returned to students more promptly and usually with more detail than in the F2F environment.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is something to consider with respect to formative assessment, RtI evidence/data, and computer-based grade books. Wondering how it would work in an open source learning platform for collecting data on teacher effectiveness at the university level?
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      I have used online homework systems with my middle school students, and it works wonderfully. Many students use the immediate feedback to their advantage, reviewing the questions they got wrong. I know they use it well because whenever I happen to make an error in marking the correct answer, I will receive a flood of emails from students quoting resources stating why they believe their answer to be correct.
  • They say that it is common for participants in online courses to develop a strong sense of community that enhances the learning process.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Bodes well for gobalization of education, especially when supported by language conversion apps.
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      Reminds me of a community of inquiry model. See Garrison, Anderson, and Archer, 2000.
  • thrilled
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is indeed the perfect verb for this experience!
  • The thinking, planning, research, learning, and effort that goes into constructing and teaching an online course has rejuvenated many faculty members who were frankly going through the motions after numerous years of teaching the same courses, semester after semester, in the same classroom environment.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      As online learning increases at the secondary level, is it possible that responsibility for curriculum development will become an APPR bargaining issue under the Regents Reform Agenda?
  • the best way to teach students how to write more effectively is to have them write more often.
    • Erin Fontaine
       
      One of my main concerns about creating and online class for a junior high (7th/8th) grade is about how technology is affecting their writing abilities. I was afraid of how all the short hand phrases we all use are affecting students and their abiliity to write. Yes, online courses are writing intensive and a great means of keeping students writing but as the teacher I feel like I have to make sure that the work I recieve is of quality. As I continue to research this fear I am seeing both sides of the argument. Text talk may be both positive and negative. Still looking into this... Here is just one of many articles I have found on this topic: http://www.nst.com.my/nation/extras/zero-to-12-is-technology-deteriorating-language-skills-1.89256
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      Thanks for the link. I know with my students, I emphasize the need for using conventional English in typed school work no matter what device they are using. Most of my middle school students are adept at transitioning from the language they would use while texting to the language I expect in their lab report, even if they are typing the lab on their phone.
  • Students with family or work responsibilities are often unable to commit to a traditional course because they cannot be in the same place at the same time for 15 consecutive weeks.
    • Amy M
       
      This is a huge factor is accessibility for adult-learners.
  • Although some instructors may discover more than they wanted to know about their students, my online teaching experience disproves the notion that online courses are impersonal and do not foster relationships, either between students and instructors or among students themselves.
    • Amy M
       
      I wonder what the limit on class size is for an online course to feel "intimate."
  • In the traditional F2F classroom, the instructor asks a question, and the same four or five extroverted students inevitably raise their hands. They offer spontaneous, often unresearched responses in the limited time allotted for discussion. In the online environment, discussions enter a new dimension.
    • Heather Kurto
       
      This is huge for online learning. Students are able to thoughtfully respond which deepens discussions.
  • . Online education is neither right for all students nor right for all faculty, but it frequently meets the needs of both for an exciting, high-quality educational experience.
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      How do we make the jump and empower students to actually take on the role as a teacher?
  • explain, share, comment upon, critique
  • explain, share, comment upon, critique
  • unresearched responses in the limited time
  • unresearched responses
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      I personally have seen a big difference in my thought and contributions when given time to think, research, and craft a response to an argument.
    • sherrilattimer
       
      There is also something to be said abou the "delete" button. Once you say something, you cannot undo it.
  • can refer to their course materials and think through their answers
    • efleonhardt
       
      I think this is a very important piece of online learning I hadn't thought about t before. When students are online they are able to actually process the information and not be afraid if they're processing skills are slower than other students.
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      The goal is for the student to continue learning throughout life, not just for the course. This links back to the Minds on Fire reading: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/minds-fire-open-education-long-tail-and-learning-20
  • However, I have heard from very few faculty members who are not energized by the creative process of achieving the same instructional goals in an entirely new format.
  • On average, online courses are far more writing-intensive than traditional classes have ever been.
  • he first response that comes to mind rather than the best possible response
    • George Dale
       
      and you don't have the, "Doh! I should have said ..." as you're walking out of the classroom.
  • Many online students have indicated that this is the first time they have ever "spoken up" in class and that they enjoy the opportunity
  • Geared to lifelong learning
    • George Dale
       
      While I'm not a LMS hater, I do see this as a problem in the way LMSs keep a death grip on the content and learning. I'd like to develop a plugin for Balckboard that allows a student to easily "pack up" and take their work with them as they complete a course.
  • as a result of the relative anonymity
    • George Dale
       
      It's almost ironic that the initial anonimity can lead to deeper connections relative to F2F interactions.
  • online education can be done well,
    • George Dale
       
      It seems that some examples that are used to demonstrate a poor online course are often as good as a "normal" (i.e. F2F) class. Being as good as a traditional lecture class is a low bar to set.
    • Arnaldo Robles
       
      I can see this serving as a useful tool for writing activities!
  • In their everyday lives, individuals do not have a teacher at their side to direct them in their acquisition of new information. One of the roles that we need to perform as educators, then, is to teach students to find and learn information on their own or in concert with their colleagues. The online environment fosters self-motivated education. Students direct their own use of Internet links, search engines, discussion boards, chat, e-mail, and other media. While such resources cannot guarantee student initiative, they establish a framework that gives precedence to the autonomy of the learner.
    • Arnaldo Robles
       
      I like this!
  • develop course materials among themselves in a manner rarely seen in the F2F classroom.
    • dkiesel
       
      In f2f classes at masters public health program, we do extensive group projects. I think that k--12 classes may not have had many project-based classes of which hopefully will be more as we are seeing the influence of online teaching and how for practical learning the online environment can greatly compliment a practical session.  But I don't agree that all the practical project based work I have done for my profession with other students and teachers is not as well integrated compared to all the practical group work I have done in my profession with students and teachers. Also the quality of spoken live discussion in group work is very challenging when it is live. Maybe online is helping by giving us more time to think before we say something. 
  •  
    Sorry I didn't want these to go public. These were just my notes to myself so that I could further do some research. Is there a way to remove these or make these private again. Guess I'm still testing the water.
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.
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • 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
alexandra m. pickett

one small step for blogging…one giant leap for me - 4 views

  • Someone please explain to me the whole “hashtag” thing. PLEASE!  I feel so out of the loop!
  • I guess I just assumed that she was the exception,
  • I realize now that I was taking this, as well as all of my other skills, for granted.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • Twitter
  • not getting feedback on my course profile or course information documents. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      I am still trying to figure out how to not be overwhelmed with the volume of interaction in this course. : )
    • Lisa Martin
       
      I realized since I wrote that how much more you have to do than usual...I can't imagine!
  • I also realized that my ideas come from a desire to incorporate social networking more into online courses. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      take a look at this http://www.masternewmedia.org/ning-alternatives-guide-to-the-best-social-networking-platforms-and-online-group-services/ - i think you are thinking about a social networking site. In the future you may want to consider this as a companion to your course.
    • Lisa Martin
       
      Thanks Alex!
  • ~I continue to be astonished every week with how much I am growing and learning in this course.  Not only am I learning how to be an effective online instructor and everything that it entails, but I am also learning a lot about myself.~
  • I lose track of time and hours have gone by without me even realizing it. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      that is the definition of "engagment"
  • “What young children perceive that their teachers do plays a more significant role in their socio-emotional outcomes than what teachers report they do” (p. 30).  We have an EVEN bigger impact than we thought!
  • “Am I providing a bridge for my students from their prior knowledge to where I want them to be and where THEY want to be?” “What am I doing to facilitate their growth not only in building a positive self-image, but also as learners in general?” “Am I REALLY taking into consideration their interests, passions and motivations?” And finally, “What Would Alex Do?”
  • “I really like how you tell them you are there for them.  A lot of my teachers give us confusing assignments and I never feel like I can ask them questions.” 
  • When she was done going through everything she said, “Are you actually going to teach this class? Can I take it when you do?” 
  •   I was spending so much time figuring out the tools that I felt like I wasn’t spending time on content.  I realize now that I needed to spend that time and those tools were part of the content of this course. 
  • I LOVE learning in general!  I liked learning before…well I never disliked it anyway…well unless it was math…or science…I had no idea what it was like to truly LOVE learning.  Its sad to me that it took me 30 years to experience this.  Did I work A LOT in this course?  Did I give up much of my social life?  Did I stay up too late?  YES, YES and YES.  Was it worth it? Absolutely!  Did I mind? NOT ONE BIT…Reflecting on the fact that I worked so hard and so much on something and not only wasn’t bothered by it, but enjoyed every moment was a HUGE wake up call to me. 
  • You just have to have passion and a belief in yourself.
  • This was the only course I have EVER taken in which I will walk away having truly internalized knowledge.  I know that I internalized what I have learned because when I was reviewing my classmate’s courses I didn’t have to refer to a book or a checklist, it was all in my head.  When I look back at my undergrad education, I have always said that I didn’t feel like I actually “learned” anything until I student taught and learned by DOING.  That’s exactly what happened in this course, I learned by doing.  This is only course that has ever provided me with this type of experience and it has shown me what quality education should be, not only online but in a face-to-face situation as well.
  • We(myself, my classmates AND Alex) worked together in this course to contribute to the construction of our knowledge. 
  • It wasn’t until this summer when I turned 31 that I finally experienced being a student in a student-centered, constructivist environment that actually got me to THINK.  Not just think, but think critically…It took 31 years for me to experience a true community of learners!  I don’t want other students to have to wait 31 years to experience what its like to REALLY LEARN!
  • I want to CHANGE someone the way that Alex, ETAP 640 and all of you have CHANGED me.
  •  
    I'm posting the link to my blog so that I can practice adding bookmarks to diingo
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