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.
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3 comments:
Hi! Nice thoughts and interesting!
I keep wondering about that some synchronous activity you talk about, because in my fully on-line course I don't use it. Why do you believe it is important/good/feasible/etc?
Antonio,
The synchronous aspects break down the distance barrier and both you (the instructor) and the student feel connected. It is also a great way to get to know the student in the real world if you know what I mean
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