The morning started with discussions on the final project tomorrow. I will be looking at my Sociology course. My goal is to take a unit and analyze it and then investigate a new models or scaffolds that will incorporate AL's and dynamic active student centered activities.
We moved on to look at evaluation which is a "systematic investigation of the worth or merit of an object" (NSF). Types of evaluation include:
1)Materials Evaluation (expert review, user interaction, usability) basis of formative evaluation
2)Process evaluation (ID process, reflection)
3)Learner Reactions
4)Learner Achievement (sometimes called assessment)
5)Instructional Consequences
We then discussed Assessment listing the different types
1)Objective measures (multiple choice, true-false, matching)vs subjective measures (authentic assessment, performed based)
2)Formative vs summative
3)Criterion-referenced (outcomes-based) vs. norm referenced
Strategies include online quizzes, synchronous and asynchronous communication, portfolio, papers and essays, presentations,journals,concept mapping and simulations/games. The textbook covers assessment in chapter 10 especially page 279.
Assessment strategies must promote as many of the following as possible: immediate feedback,encourage reflection,facilitate scoring, high-stakes scoring, encourage synthesis, enhance motivation, encourage collaborations and facilitate self-assessment.
We then saw a great resource for assessment with different forms and other materials . Please refer to Interactive Learning Systems by Thomas Reeves (http://it.coe.uga.edu/~treeves/)
Another good resource for assessment recommended by Minchie is Teaching with the Technology Studio (http://www.ltts.org/)
The core of evaluation is to focus in on WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO EVALUATE. Sounds like common sense yet, how many time do we get lost in the process of evaluating?
Another common sense question to answer or concentrate on is - "What is the problem and how will you go about fixing it?"
A very basic discussion occur with Richard, Linda and Amelia about the difference between assessment and evaluation. WOW there seems to be no textbook definition to illustrate the difference. We found an article describing the differences at http://mathstar.nmsu.edu/educ621/frank2001-3.html
In summary - We can evaluate a class but would not want to look at the student and evaluate the person. We would assess the student and their progress. (Thanks Linda Richard and Amelia!)
Next there was the discussion on constructivist vs positivists philosophy of education. The positivist is more the sage on stage where we the instructor provides all the material for the students. The constructivist are more the mentors on the side providing knowledge and help when needed by the students. (Thanks for the discussion Linda and Richard) There was a great web site about Ed Philosophies but I lost it thanks to the MAC. One resource I did not lose was http://www.eduquery.com/construct.htm
It is the end of a long day and I can say that working on the class project really brought the various issues together for me.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Wednesdy's Reflections
The day started with a review of the e-learning adoption cycles (chapter 9 in the book p.248). Once again, I feel that I am not using the technology as best as I could. Based on the morning conversation about the overall instructional design foundations of courses, I found the discussion on design principles to be so insightful. An old term came up for discussion that I had forgotten---Zone of proximal development. I will now be looking to see how this concept plays an important role in the argument for face-to-face courses and online courses.
Extraneous cognitive load is also another important concept to understand and to remember when designing online courses. I will admit that I often forget about this theory and we all know that it is so true. Boy do I feel bad for the students because I have seen some of the "stuff" they have to put up with in online courses.
Our group then discussed Bonk and Dennen's online learning pedagogical activities and online reading and writing techniques. Linda and Amelia pointed out the challenges of making face-to-face techniques work in an online classroom. Blogging is becoming a viable resource for us to use. We also tried to apply some of activities outlined n the chapter and realized how much of a challenge the incorporation process can be.
Rubrics are necessary and Minchi offered an example of one that provides an overview of grading for the entire online environment. The rubric will be put in the documents on Bb.
(I have to remember to look for the two books that was referenced, See PowerPoint slides from day3)
Community Building Design-pointed out the core of successful online learning. The online course must have:
Spirit---I belong
Trust---I trust the community
Interaction--closeness
Learning--gain knowledge
Wow how simple this seems but how complex it is to achieve. I am pleased that I often design courses that encourage these qualities.
We saw another demo of Moodle and I am still somewhat bothered by the layout. I am sure most of my concern is based on my familiarity with Blackboard. Yet, there is something about the layout that I am not able to express at this time.
Got to see a concept mapping tool (bubbl-us) which was great and I hope to use it in my courses.
For my final project I have decided to take a crack at my sociology course and implement some of the stuff I have be exposed to this week. Definitely will include blogs. Will also include some of the collaborative activities outlined earlier today that should provide for authentic learning task.
Extraneous cognitive load is also another important concept to understand and to remember when designing online courses. I will admit that I often forget about this theory and we all know that it is so true. Boy do I feel bad for the students because I have seen some of the "stuff" they have to put up with in online courses.
Our group then discussed Bonk and Dennen's online learning pedagogical activities and online reading and writing techniques. Linda and Amelia pointed out the challenges of making face-to-face techniques work in an online classroom. Blogging is becoming a viable resource for us to use. We also tried to apply some of activities outlined n the chapter and realized how much of a challenge the incorporation process can be.
Rubrics are necessary and Minchi offered an example of one that provides an overview of grading for the entire online environment. The rubric will be put in the documents on Bb.
(I have to remember to look for the two books that was referenced, See PowerPoint slides from day3)
Community Building Design-pointed out the core of successful online learning. The online course must have:
Spirit---I belong
Trust---I trust the community
Interaction--closeness
Learning--gain knowledge
Wow how simple this seems but how complex it is to achieve. I am pleased that I often design courses that encourage these qualities.
We saw another demo of Moodle and I am still somewhat bothered by the layout. I am sure most of my concern is based on my familiarity with Blackboard. Yet, there is something about the layout that I am not able to express at this time.
Got to see a concept mapping tool (bubbl-us) which was great and I hope to use it in my courses.
For my final project I have decided to take a crack at my sociology course and implement some of the stuff I have be exposed to this week. Definitely will include blogs. Will also include some of the collaborative activities outlined earlier today that should provide for authentic learning task.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tuesday's Reflections
Most interesting was the visit to the LoTi Connection website (http://www.loticonnection.com/index.html)!
At this site they have 6 different levels of technology implementation. I was surprised to see that my level of technology use in instruction was no where near a 6. It fell into 4a! At this level I do integrate technology yet, it addresses the mechanical challenges brought on by myself and the students.
There was an ongoing discussion about faculty help and the need to have staff that knows the technology but understands the educational paradigm. The challenge is maintaining the balance between the two. Then the biggest challenge is having the staff member communicate and instruct the faculty member.
There was a discussion about Moodle and its use in the University down in Puerto Rico. Based on the demo I may have to take a closer look at Moodle. The platform seems better inter grated with different software programs.
Throughout the day I also came across other online programs that will be helpful resources for collaborative teaching and learning. There was rubistar for the creation of rubrics, bubble which allows for collaborative outlining and wikis' which I am still trying to master.
We then discussed Authentic Task Design based on the Herrington and Reeves article. I readily noticed the challenge of my courses and the lack of authentic design. I am starting to think about the authentic concept for my courses. I think it can be easily incorporated into my sociology courses. When thinking about the application there are some possibilities to have students experience cultural situations in a real-life scenarios. I could design a study for the students that would take them out to the community and have them "live out" the situation. This would be a lesson that would be for small groups (2-4 students). The topics most suitable would be american consumerism, political landscape or religion and politics.
When doing faculty development the one area where I think there is some authentic task design (without even knowing it before this class) is the online seminar we offer faculty who are going to teach online. By taking the online seminar the faculty as participants experience what will happen to them as instructors teaching online. In addition they also get to experience what it is like be a student in an online environment.
I guess with the conclusion of the dy I walk away realizing that there is more and mor collaborative tools
At this site they have 6 different levels of technology implementation. I was surprised to see that my level of technology use in instruction was no where near a 6. It fell into 4a! At this level I do integrate technology yet, it addresses the mechanical challenges brought on by myself and the students.
There was an ongoing discussion about faculty help and the need to have staff that knows the technology but understands the educational paradigm. The challenge is maintaining the balance between the two. Then the biggest challenge is having the staff member communicate and instruct the faculty member.
There was a discussion about Moodle and its use in the University down in Puerto Rico. Based on the demo I may have to take a closer look at Moodle. The platform seems better inter grated with different software programs.
Throughout the day I also came across other online programs that will be helpful resources for collaborative teaching and learning. There was rubistar for the creation of rubrics, bubble which allows for collaborative outlining and wikis' which I am still trying to master.
We then discussed Authentic Task Design based on the Herrington and Reeves article. I readily noticed the challenge of my courses and the lack of authentic design. I am starting to think about the authentic concept for my courses. I think it can be easily incorporated into my sociology courses. When thinking about the application there are some possibilities to have students experience cultural situations in a real-life scenarios. I could design a study for the students that would take them out to the community and have them "live out" the situation. This would be a lesson that would be for small groups (2-4 students). The topics most suitable would be american consumerism, political landscape or religion and politics.
When doing faculty development the one area where I think there is some authentic task design (without even knowing it before this class) is the online seminar we offer faculty who are going to teach online. By taking the online seminar the faculty as participants experience what will happen to them as instructors teaching online. In addition they also get to experience what it is like be a student in an online environment.
I guess with the conclusion of the dy I walk away realizing that there is more and mor collaborative tools
Monday's Assignment
Share with the group a online degree program-
For this assignment I decided wear my administrative hat and not that of a faculty member. The online degree program I wanted to share was the University of Phoenix (http://www.phoenixdegrees.com).
I decided on this university since it has changed the landscape of higher education. Also, I have known a couple of people who attended the University and both were impressed with the support they received. The individuals also indicated that the faculty were well prepared and the courses well presented.
Anoter online program or faculty resource is the MERLOT web site of instructional material. THe material presented at MERLOT is peer reviewed and academically sound. Also, the materials are free.
For this assignment I decided wear my administrative hat and not that of a faculty member. The online degree program I wanted to share was the University of Phoenix (http://www.phoenixdegrees.com).
I decided on this university since it has changed the landscape of higher education. Also, I have known a couple of people who attended the University and both were impressed with the support they received. The individuals also indicated that the faculty were well prepared and the courses well presented.
Anoter online program or faculty resource is the MERLOT web site of instructional material. THe material presented at MERLOT is peer reviewed and academically sound. Also, the materials are free.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Monday Reflections
Today was a great class since it caused me to look at my work at Pace in a different light. It is always important to be a student a view course material as "scarred" 1st day student.
What I reflected on today was how student's learn and how do we make the connections as the instructor. The discussion made me aware that we sometime loos sight of the learning process.
On to the assigned questions...
1) What is Instructional Technology ---as a person who started out working in audio visual I have a long history with instructional technology. Because of my history I maintain a broad concept of IT and would include even the basic old fashion blackboard and chalk. It is soon hard to belive that we have come from overhead projectors to the web in less than 20 years. So, IT is any technology that enhance your messgae as an instructor and aimes to deliver the message to the students successfully.
2) I currently head up the Center for Teaching Learning and Technology. THis cemter assists faculty with learning how to teach online and what are the challenges they will face. I also chair the Distance Education committee at the University where we address programtic decision and offerings at the University. I have taught a number of course online and find it rewarding.
3)The learner in an online course has a number of challenges to face and at least half of them are from the faculty member. The instructor must realize that the online learning enviornment is a lonly place where students can easily get lost. It is vital for the faculty member to post all information about the course at the beginning of the class and make sure students understand all that is required from them. I am also an advocate of the ongoing process of assessment or what is called formative assessment. The basic premise of formative assessment is checking in with the students througout the semester and offering many different benchmaks along the way. I also encourage synchronous (sp) communication at least twice in a semester. The best way to do this is a simple phone call. The call breaks down the distance between the faculty memeber and the student.
What I reflected on today was how student's learn and how do we make the connections as the instructor. The discussion made me aware that we sometime loos sight of the learning process.
On to the assigned questions...
1) What is Instructional Technology ---as a person who started out working in audio visual I have a long history with instructional technology. Because of my history I maintain a broad concept of IT and would include even the basic old fashion blackboard and chalk. It is soon hard to belive that we have come from overhead projectors to the web in less than 20 years. So, IT is any technology that enhance your messgae as an instructor and aimes to deliver the message to the students successfully.
2) I currently head up the Center for Teaching Learning and Technology. THis cemter assists faculty with learning how to teach online and what are the challenges they will face. I also chair the Distance Education committee at the University where we address programtic decision and offerings at the University. I have taught a number of course online and find it rewarding.
3)The learner in an online course has a number of challenges to face and at least half of them are from the faculty member. The instructor must realize that the online learning enviornment is a lonly place where students can easily get lost. It is vital for the faculty member to post all information about the course at the beginning of the class and make sure students understand all that is required from them. I am also an advocate of the ongoing process of assessment or what is called formative assessment. The basic premise of formative assessment is checking in with the students througout the semester and offering many different benchmaks along the way. I also encourage synchronous (sp) communication at least twice in a semester. The best way to do this is a simple phone call. The call breaks down the distance between the faculty memeber and the student.
my first posting
Well, it has been some time that I wanted to learn about blogs. Thanks to this FRN Summer Seminar and the instructor Minchi Kim have started a blog. Wish me luck...!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
