Sunday, November 28, 2010

The Online Design Course Experience

The online course design experience was an experience of a lifetime that only a few will experience. I had the opportunity to be in the few and I am so grateful for the wonderful experience. I had to sleep thinking design and wake up thinking design to get through the course. The most challenging part of the course design process was developing the paper and putting together assessments (formative and summative) because it just did not seem to flow and it was difficult to come up the assessment strategies. I also had difficulty identifying student-content, learner-learner, and learner-instructor activities that are engaging for my course design.

According to the best practice guidelines (n. d.), course designs should entail course introduction, course organization and design, and instructional design. In the introduction, the students and the instructor should start with an introduction, followed by what the students need to learn about the course software, and the requirements for the course, along with the expectations for the students. Next in the design is the course organization and design, where the instructor organizes the course materials for easy access and navigation, the provision of active links or urls, provision of attractive web pages, design of folders for questions and answers, capability to down load pages if necessary, and accessibility for all students.

The instructional design section of the course starts with the introduction of the learning units, overview of the topics, development of objectives, assessments, then comes the interactivity for the course, student-student, student-content, student-instructor, lessons development, grading rubrics, and aligning the course materials with the learning and course objectives. The instructor can help in the course room by ensuring that the learning activities and strategies meets the needs of the various learning styles in the learning community, so presentation of the course materials using a variety of medium is necessary, and the use of activities that are stimulating and challenging for learners with varied learning styles is necessary.

Why the paper development was probably tough could be because of my uncertainty of the course material and my fear of doing the wrong thing. However challenging the course was, I did learn the steps in the design process and I was able to engage in the evaluation process and provide feedback to my colleagues, which did support learning the course material. I also went through the entire design process with my colleagues and I was able to prepare three modules of instruction for the nursing process course.

Why the assessment section of the course design was a challenge for me, was because I was not sure if the assessment I put in the formative section was appropriate or if it should have been in the summative section. I did discover from the readings that the formative is ongoing and the summative is the assessment at the end of each unit to measure learning achievement for the section of a specific content mastery. Keeping the assessments in that frame of thought, I was able to come up with the two assessments for the course design.

The activities for each lessons was very complex to develop, because they are similar
to some degree but different in terms of who is interacting. For example, I can use e-mail for student-student and student-instructor interaction. I can use discussion board for student-instructor interaction and for student-student interaction and I can use it for student-content interaction. What is different about all of the discussion board is that the interaction in each differs. Another example is the use of e-mail in the course room for the student-student and student-instructor, because both groups can benefit from the use and that was confusing as to the degree of usage and purpose.

Another thing that was confusing was the use of blogs for student-student, student-content, and student-instructor interaction. In the student-instructor interaction, the instructor can use it to have a discussion and provide feedback. The student can use blogs to discuss course topics, or they can use blogs to work in groups and to collaborate on a paper development. For the student-content interaction, blogs are useful for course content discussion and writing assignments.

I had a difficult time keeping up with the course demands, and had to work quickly to get assignments submitted, which I felt that if I was not rushing, I probably could have done a better job. I think that if I ever get a chance to do another course design, the outcome will be much better than the first time around, because I have some knowledge about course design now that I did not have before.

A big consideration in the design of a course is to avoid copyrights violation. Feedback is important and ongoing feedback is necessary to support learning and knowledge sharing and to promote a nurturing learning environment.

Every course should have clear objectives and expectations, easy navigable websites, a structure that supports collaborative learning, activities and assignments that facilitate team collaboration, group collaboration, timely feedback (peer and instructor), appropriate technology, and a discussion folder for course discussion and a question and answer folder for ongoing and open communication. I had the opportunity to work through the entire design process introducing all of these elements into the course design, taking into consideration the different learning styles, learner issues, design constraints and consideration, content presentation strategies, and course interaction strategies for student-student, student-content, and student-instructor interaction, assessment and evaluation strategies.

The online course design was an experience of a lifetime that I will forever remember and cherish…

References:

Best practices in designing online courses. Retrieved November 27, 2010, from http://lpc1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/lpc/blackboard/best_practices/

Learning activities that foster interaction. http://lpc1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/lpc/blackboard/best_practices/learning_activities.pdf

Designing Courses: Instructional design for online learning
http://www.ibritt.com/resources/dc_instructionaldesign.htm

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Going the Distance Together

Sometimes it feels like the journey is long, hard, lonely, and forever, as if there is no end, but in reality the distance is short and the experience is smooth, refreshing, collaborative, and worthwhile. I am talking about going the distance in the Certification in Online Teaching Program, a journey that started several months ago where each course builds on the other to gain the full scope of what it takes to design and teach online courses.

Reflecting back on the first day I considered the online certification program, it was just a coincident that I was exempt from taking two of my doctorate courses, that I searched the course website at Governors State University looking for a course to take and noticed that the university offered a certification in online teaching program. I discovered that the certification consisted of four courses, introduction to online teaching, facilitating online learning, designing online courses, and producing digital content.

I registered for the first course, introduction to online teaching, six months ago and I had a wonderful experience learning and understanding concepts in teaching and learning that supports understanding of what it takes to promote a successful online academic environment. I took the first course successfully. In that course, I learn that students learn differently (Different Learning Styles), teachers teach differently (Different Teaching Styles), and that the experience of everyone in an online environment will be different because of individual preference and uniqueness, but the goal is to ensure optimal learning and to promote flexibility, accommodation, and accessibility to support and foster learning. I learn that there are boundaries and that understanding the boundaries help to set limits, meet deadlines, and achieve learning objectives and the goals of the course. I learn that communication is essential and that collaboration and constructive and timely feedback is necessary to move people along a spectrum of uncertainty to certainty and that knowledge and understanding will lend to the application of concepts in the practice environment.

I learn that in the online environment, sharing must take place. When people share as a group, the benefits are higher than when people work independently. Through collaborative relationship, people achieve connection and a sense of purpose. In the first online course, I experience the connection because of the purposeful activities in the course and the collaborative experiences I had in the course room. After the completion of that course, I deferred the second course until there was another opportunity because of academic conflict with course requirements for the DNP program.

I decided to register for the second course this term (Fall, 2010), but found out that it was not offered, so I “thought” why not take a big leap and register for the third course instead, Designing Online Courses.

I registered for the third course, Designing Online Courses, and the experience in this course is similar to the first course, which exceeds my expectation. I am so excited to tell everyone that comes in my path the wonderful things I have learned in the course. The teaching and learning lessons in the course are, giving and receiving feedback, instructional strategies, course consideration and constraints, authentic assessment (formative and summative), content development, student-content interaction, student-student interaction, and student-instructor interaction.
At the same time that I am learning the different lessons in the course, I am actually experiencing the different lessons as a teacher-learner, and as a student in the course, engaging in student- content activities, student-student activities, and student-instructor activities.

Since the start of the course, I have had the opportunity to design an original course, develop a course overview, write course and learning objectives, develop three lessons with content for the course, develop formative and summative assessments, identify student-content and student-student content interaction for the course. I design the learning objectives using Bloom’s Taxonomy. I also draft a paper, which outlines the design of an online course and will finalize the paper at the end of the course for submission and grading.

The assignments are usually challenging but stimulating, and require critical and creative thinking to get from point A to point B.

The journey in the online certification program seems so lonely at times, but I definitely know that I am not alone, and that I have my colleagues to assist me, and in return, I assist my colleagues. I know that I have the instructor to facilitate the course and that she is available to lead me in the right path. Together, we take one-step at a time forward as we move from one course to the other in the Asychronous academic environment.

Now, I cannot help but to inhale and exhale deeply with excitement because I am nearly at the end of this course.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Designing Online/Hybrid Courses: A New Experience

I could only imagine that designing online or hybrid courses take a lot of investigation, synthesis of information, and organization of educational materials to help learners achieve the goals and objectives of the courses. I have not had any personal experience in designing a course so; my expectation is that at the end of this course, I will have the confidence and competencies necessary to design a course on my own with all the key components that encompasses a complete online course design. From my previous course content learned from the introduction to online teaching (Nursing 650), and my personal experience with online learning as a student over the past six years, I know that designing an online course will entail solid thinking, creativity, and innovation from the instructor stance. The major focus of concentration is on the course content, student expectations, technology, methods of assessment, and a medium for support and communication for learners and the instructor.

My personal experience with online learning and having seen so many online courses as a student, I know with great certainty that there are certain components important to an online course that must be present. An online course must entail information such as:

1. The type of class whether it is hybrid or online

2. The meeting times and dates

3. The learning objectives and learning outcomes through displaying it in a syllabus and in the course modules

4.Design modules to breakdown course content

5. Presentation of the course materials in an organized, orderly, and logical manner for clarity

6. Ensure that the course material is available to all students, keeping in mind accessibility and students with disabilities

7. The utilization of technology to deliver course content internally and externally

8. The utilization of technology to enhance the course content and stimulate learning

9. The use of blackboard, chalkboard, webCT, video, and other forms of auditory and visual stimulation to meet the needs of a diverse learning community

10. Designing the course content to have the same level
of demands that is comparable to face to face course designs

11. Design course evaluations at midpoint and end of term to gain feedback from learners to promote change, improve teaching strategies, and enhance the learning environment


I find that the instructor includes in the course material information about the expectations for the learners such as participation, methods of grading, methods of feedback and timeframe to offer feedback. The instructor includes assignments such as group projects to build group cooperation and cohesiveness, and enhance learning, presents the course materials in a variety of formats to meet the learning styles of a diverse learning community, and use multiple technologies to stimulate interest and inquiry.
I also noticed that there is alignment of the course assignments with the course objectives, which provide opportunities for learners to utilize concepts learned in the course. The instructor provides the learner with specific websites, clearly communicates the assignments with requirements, and provides access or direction to the resources needed to complete the assignments. I find that in every course taken online the instructor provides the various methods of communication in the course, identify where resources for the course are located, provide resource links, and communicate contact information in an accessible place in the course materials such as the syllabus.


From personal experience as an online student, the expectation is that the learners will use some form of technology to participate in the learning environment, therefore, the use of technology for completion of individual and group project is necessary and important. If an assignment requires the use of technology or a specific technology or software such as “Wimba” or “Wetpaint”, information and instruction, or even demonstration of how the technology works help to support learning and usage.


Designing a course for online instruction is different from face- to-face course instruction because in the online environment, the instructor is not physically present and therefore, ensuring that all the information learners will need is available and at hand is important. Making sure that the online environment has the same opportunity to access the instructor and complete the same course content equivalent to face-to-face learning is highly important in an online learning environment. The instructor utilizes technology as the main vehicle to deliver the course content and therefore clear, organized, and orderly information in an online course room is a mandatory requirement. The instructor also has to pay attention to the form of communication medium for ongoing dialogue for instructor-learner and learner-learner interaction.


I expect the design process for an online course to be different from face to face and more complex because the designer will need to use a variety of technology to deliver course content and the designer must pay attention to the need and demands of a diverse learning group. The experience will be more of a technology challenge because sometimes there will be a need to use certain technology that the designer is not familiar with and hence require learning the use of the technology in order to launch it out to the learners. However, I believe that an instructor can construct an online course by utilizing a face-to-face course design and then converting it to online but seriously paying attention to ensure complete inclusion of course materials and special attention to the individualized learning style of the learning community. There will also be a challenge to ensure an optimal learning environment with ongoing communication online.


Upon completion of this course (Designing Online/Hybrid Courses), I am hoping to achieve all the objectives of the course listed in the course materials. I will use past knowledge of online learning, observation of how online courses are presented by the instructor, utilize learning theorist, consider the diverse learning styles and teaching styles to assist in the experience of designing online course.


The course learning objectives are as follows: The learner will…

1. Identify curriculum design consideration d constraints unique to the online environment

2. Address learning styles and other student variables when designing an online course

3. Design community-building strategies to improve student retention and enhance learning outcomes

4. Select strategies for content deliver to support learning objectives

5. Design student-content interaction that will engage students more deeply with course content

6. Incorporate student-faculty interaction into online course design

7. Design student-student interactions and collaborative experiences for online courses

8. Select appropriate strategies for assessing student learning in online courses

9. Use reflective learning strategies to integrate learning into personal knowledge bases

10. Apply best practice standards to the design and evaluation of online courses


I am hoping to demonstrate achievement of the ten objectives in this course through formative and summative assessment that takes the form of individual and group projects, assignments, and discussions focusing on designing online courses.

I will put forth all the effort necessary to master all of the learning objectives in this course and will unselfishly utilize the knowledge and competencies gained to improve the quality of education for learners in the online learning community.

I am nervous but excited. I am nervous because everything in this course is new and an entire new learning experience and excited because I will learn something new that I will cherish the rest of my life.

Bernadette

Thursday, April 15, 2010

A Reflection: My Journey Through the First Online Certification Course

The first online teaching course in the online certification program at Governors State University (Introduction to Online Teaching) is like going to a place that is so far away but beautiful. Going through the course is like going a long distance, there is a route to take, and there are four courses to take. Taking one course at a time, the distance may seem far, but each course reduces the distance, and when that final course comes and I am finish, then it will be so beautiful and refreshing, and that is the place I want to be.





My first impression going through the second half of the online teaching course at Governors State University was that things was going to get better in the class. The assignments were going to be easier and the worst has passed. I realized quickly that I was not correct; I was face with more and more challenges that made me think for a while, and ask myself, do I really want to do this. I answered myself by saying, not everything in life is easy, and in my lifetime experiences, I have had to do worse than this, so why not keep on and finish what I have started.


I have been thinking each day while in this class, and I have come to realize that this class is more complex than I have anticipated. After going on for the many weeks in the course, I find that everything in the course is meaningful to teaching and learning and everything, every assignment is relevant and applicable to teaching and learning.

The last weeks of the course was a lot more challenging than the first few weeks and that was because the concepts in the course are very new and due to the lack of familiarity with the concepts the assignments and projects were more challenging. In the last weeks, the focus of studies was on instructional strategies, learning theory, the seven principles, thoughts on synchronous activities in the course room using wimba, digital portfolios, a group project using wiki, and locating and evaluating exemplary resources and multimedia that would be good resources for online teaching and learning.

According to the seven principles, in order to promote an optimal learning environment, the seven principles must be present and consideration in the designing of a course must focus on the seven principles. The most effective strategies occur when the instructor applies the seven principles of teaching by encouraging contact, providing information to ensure contact, establishing cooperation and engaging in an exchange relationship, encouragement of active learning, providing prompt feedback, setting time frame for the completion of task, communicate expectations, and respect diversity in the way people learn. Without including the seven teaching principles, teaching in a course room will not flow appropriately resulting in the potential for ongoing conflict and disruption.

The wimba experience was a delight, because not only that it was a first time experience, it was a challenging experience yet a delight to know that I was learning how to use a collaborative tool that can enhance teaching and learning. I also felt that the course gave me the opportunity for the exposure to the tool and an opportunity to work with the tool and evaluate the benefits and applicability for teaching and learning. I would like to admit, that the tool is an excellent source for giving presentations and to provide feedback to learners, but the limitation of the tool is that it cannot support a large group of people, unless the instructor will use the tool just for presentation with opportunity for questions and answers at a later time or limited question and answer session.


It is evident that this tool alone is not sufficient to teach in an online environment and that supplemental support such as a discussion thread, question and answer thread, and even a chat room may help to support the use of the tool and increase the opportunity for ongoing collaboration outside of wimba.

I learned that there are several learning theories that guide teaching and learning and the best learning theory to use is the one that coincides with the learning objectives. The learning theories are behaviorism, constructivism, cognitivism, design-based, and humanism theory. The behaviorism theory states that people will react to a stimulus in a positive or negative way depending on the experience. The constructivism theory states that if people have the information, processing will occur, and interpretation, leading to an outcome that is real to the person.


The cognitivism theory states that people take in information and process it to form meaning and that is their subjective reality of a situation. The design-based theory focuses on the totality of a model, program, process, or practice, blending theory and practice to determine relevance and applicability, with rationale that is evidence-based. The humanism theory states that people do and act in ways to learn and that the instructor is the facilitator to ensure and support learning. Therefore, matching the learning objectives with the learning theory is the most acceptable and appropriate thing to do to achieve learning outcomes.

I learned that instructors could use a variety of instructional strategies to teach and promote learning. The instructional strategies that are available to instructors are mentorship, learning contracts, lecture, self-directed learning, small group work, project, collaborative learning, case study, and forum.


All of these strategies have advantages for promoting and enhancing learning, but deciding on the best teaching strategies has to do with the type of learning objectives. What teaching strategy may work in one situation may not be applicable to all learning situation.

I learned that teachers can use a variety of teaching models to engage students in learning, top-down approach, teacher delivered, and direct instruction approach; direct to social approach; social and student-teacher negotiated model; social and radical; and the bottom-up model, student-centered, radical approach model.


All these approaches are teaching models available to instructors, but the preferred model used to teach is dependent on the teacher, the learning objectives, and the learning styles of the diverse learning community. In the top down approach the teaching is instructor driven, the social, student-teacher negotiated is a shared approach teaching strategy where the teacher and the learners share the responsibility for teaching and learning, and the bottom down teaching strategy is student centered teaching approach, where the student is engage in active learning.

I learned that active learning is more effective than passive learning, because active learning involves the learner as an active participant in teaching and learning. Active learning is the most effective teaching approach because there is evidence in literature that points to the fact that learners remember up to 50% of the lessons learned in the class versus passive learning where there is only a 10% retention rate of learning materials.

I learned that the best way to show people all that you know and all that you do in your personal and professional life is to show case it in an electronic portfolio. An electronic portfolio is a place online at a specific website called “wet paint” that people can visit using the sites URL to view the work completed and work in progress of people, specifically to this course, learners.


The electronic portfolio for this course contains information from the first course in the online teaching certification program, introduction to online teaching, individual work, group work, curriculum vitae, and pages to the second, third, and fourth course in the certification program. To visit my wet paint site to view my portfolio just go to

http://onlineteachinglearning.wetpaint.com/

Lastly, a major project in the course was to complete a group project using the wiki. A wiki is a collaborative tool and in order to complete the project, designing a wiki to meet the assignment requirements was necessary. The project assignment was to complete an annotated bibliography and to design a rubric to evaluate exemplary websites and multimedia resources for teaching and learning.


The task was big due to the lack of knowledge initially, but once the wiki was setup, getting into the different folders to input information was not difficult. The project itself was not easy, but working together as a group allows team members to collaborate and since wiki permits ongoing editing changes with ease, it was much easier to use that tool for collaboration and to complete the assignment.
Although I did not have a lot of experience using all the technology tools in the course, the knowing that these tools exist to enhance learning was more than sufficient to learn in one course.


My entire experience in the course has been positive and I hope to go forward with taking the second course to understand and experience how to facilitate online teaching. I know that way ahead I can foresee some major challenges because usually the further one goes the more complex the situations, but without the personal experience, I will not gain the education, knowledge, skills, and competencies I need to be a successful online instructor.

My last impression is that this journey through the online teaching certification program is only a practice test. The practice test is a test of my stamina, endurance, tenacity,spirit, and will power to successfully progress from one course to the other.


The real test will come when I apply myself in a real life situation as an instructor in an online setting where I will recall all the knowledge gain in this course and other courses to make a positive impact in the lives of students and the learning community.

Collaborative tools for Online Teaching and Learning





Technologies, what are we going to do without them, and how much technology do we need to appreciate the value.


In the online teaching course, the most interesting topic that heightened my curiosity and interest was the technology component for online teaching and learning because there is so much out there that can support teaching and learning, and each has a unique function. All of the technological tools I have come across in the online environment are relevant and can contribute to improve the quality of the online teaching and the learning environment.

Over the course of 12 weeks, I came to know about the relevance of technology in the course room and learned about a variety of technologies that can enhance the quality of information, information sharing, and collaboration, specifically the wimba and wiki. I was able to understand and partake in the use of the two collaborative tools, the wimba in a training session, and the wiki while working on a group project. I was so intrigued about the capability of the wiki to facilitate group interaction and project development and completion.

The wiki permits interaction and communication in a virtual learning environment. The wiki optimizes collaboration and interaction between the instructor and learners, learner and learner, and learner and the learning environment. The wiki has the capability to permit learner to learner collaboration, learner to instructor collaboration, and instructor to instructor collaboration. The wiki allows the instructor to access, assess, and evaluate the performance of learners and promote ongoing communication and feedback between the instructor and learners.

Since I had the opportunity to use the wimba tool and wiki to collaborate, I was able to decipher the differences between the two and the similarities, which allow me to determine which of the two tools best suit for effective collaboration. Thus far, both tools have tremendous advantages for online teaching and learning since collaboration and interactions is the hallmark of an online environment. The wimba tool is best for instructions and student feedback and engagement without the opportunity for ongoing discussion. The wimba tool permits voice recognition through the audio-video feature capability of the tool making the interaction more personal and appealing to f2f contact. The interaction seems real because the interaction is occurring in real time through button prompts and communication. The limitation of the tool is that it cannot support a large group of people in a learning environment, discussion is limited, and the tool may only support lectures or presentation using power-point. To support ongoing discussion about a topic, a discussion thread option as a supplement is necessary and using the discussion thread in the course room was the alternative medium for ongoing discussion using wimba.

The wiki is best for group project. It is a collaborative tool because it permits direct and active input through the edit/ease feature of the tool and a discussion thread that permits ongoing discussion without interruption. The wiki tool permits multiple people to access the wiki simultaneously, and permit viewing of the information by all people who has access and permission to use the information and the wiki. The wiki is truly a collaborative tool because it is open to multiple users and it permits people to establish a sharing atmosphere that support learning and growth, input, and feedback. The wiki is good for group collaboration and therefore using it for a group project is ideal. The wiki permits the use of video and photos, making the environment more appealing to a diverse group of learners.

Teaching is not easy, much less learning, and the instructor has the responsibility to enhance the learning environment, which may require the instructor to search and use the right technology to deliver course materials to support a high efficient and effective learning environment. Searching for the right technology is not an easy task and it requires that the instructor use some format of measuring quality and the applicability of the technology to achieve desired results.

In order to choose the right type of technology for a course, the instructor must first decide on the learning objectives and the many different learning styles in a course room to make the most appropriate selection. An online learning environment may need special features of technology, audio-video, multimedia, and high quality text and images to teach constructively to achieve learning objectives. The instructor is in the driving seat and must know when to use technology, how to use technology, know the best technology, and whether the technology will assist in meeting the learning needs of a diverse learning community.

The wimba and the wiki are excellent collaborative tools but determining when to use the tool and which of the two tools to use is driven by the learning objectives of the course. The instructor has the ultimate responsibility to evaluate the various tools use in the course room to enhance learning and determine the best and most applicable technology tools to achieve the learning objectives of the course. The wimba is good for presentation and lecture and the wiki is good for group project and ongoing sharing and collaboration.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Week 6: What is my Teaching and Learning Style Preference?

Conducting a teaching and learning inventory is a unique way that an instructor and learner can identify his or her teaching/learning style. Knowing the preferred teaching/learning style is helpful because the instructor can design course objectives to meet the needs of a diverse learning group. It is important that an instructor knows his or her learning style to be sensitive to the teaching and learning needs of the learning community.

VARK and the DVC survey are two forms of learning style inventory that instructors can use to derived meaningful baseline data on learning styles of each learner in order to design and deliver course content in an appealing manner to promote interest, student involvement, and optimal learning opportunities for every learner. A learner can be a visual/verbal, visual/non-verbal, auditory/verbal, or tactile/kinesthetic learner, and a learner can use a combination of learning styles in a learning environment. Instructors can use teaching style inventories to derive useful information about their teaching style and use the knowledge in the designing and delivery of course content to learners with various learning styles.

The VARK questionnaire helps to identify learning preference, but careful instructions to participants for filling out the questionnaire is encouraged to prevent error in the report and wrong conclusion drawing. In answering the questions, the person can choose more than one option if the question is not clear and the results is only an explanation of learning style preference. The DVC survey also provides insightful information about preferred learning style, and usually, the instructor can use the results from the survey to design courses for a diversified group of learners, capturing their unique learning style and enhancing the learning environment.

What was a striking discovery was the fact that the two forms of inventory for teachers and learners was necessary to teach effectively in an academic environment. Once I used the two surveys to discover my teaching and learning style, I was fully able to understand what the results mean and how the result shape how courses are design and delivered, as the multiple delivery methods is evident in the current online course, ONTL 650.

Based on my learning style inventory result, I am a visual/verbal learner, meaning that I value to see educational information and written information for a subject matter so that I can create my own notes and read the information to get an understanding in my learning experience. The teaching style inventory showed my favor for teaching as a facilitator, expert, and delegator, therefore, fostering independence, collaboration, and engaging learners with direct project or group project involvement is a few approaches I can use to promote learning.

According to the inventory results, the three teaching styles of preference is compatible with teaching in the online environment, however, preferred teaching style does not guarantee effectiveness in assisting learners to achieve desirable outcomes. If I am to be effective as an online instructor besides having the preferred teaching style, knowing the learning style of each learner and catering to the educational needs of each learner is important.

Now that I know the significance and relevance of doing a teaching and learning inventory prior to designing and teaching an online course, it is a guarantee that faithfully I will utilize the teaching and learning inventory to gather baseline information on the various learning styles of each learner to design course materials that is compatible with the various learning styles. I will also make certain that I used the inventory results to enhance the course room and provide stimulating learning activities that support the highest possible learning outcomes.

I am not actively practicing teaching in an academic environment, but understanding that there are tools to evaluate teaching and learning styles surely put me at ease and produce a high level of interest and comfort for me as a prospective online instructor. As a Novice online instructor, I will be sure to use the teaching and learning survey, and use the survey results to improve the online environment, increase student satisfaction, and enhance the student-learner interaction and relationship to achieve the desired course outcomes and successful learner outcomes.

In summary, conducting a teaching/learning inventory can provide useful information that could benefit both the instructor and learners. Understanding that each learner learn in a unique way and adapting a flexible teaching style is essential to meet the learning needs of a diverse learning community with different learning needs and different learning styles.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Week 6- Teaching to Succeed in the Online Environment

When I first taught of becoming an online instructor, my view of the role was solely from a learner perspective. As a learner, I was able to look at the setup of the course room, the type of content assignment, the group projects, the questions in the discussion thread, review the course syllabus and course objectives, and provide an introductory of myself to the learning community. As a learner, I was able to work alone or with other group members in the course on various assignments and had first hand experience of what elements are present in an online environment for teaching and learning.

I find that in the online learning environment sometimes the assignments were easy and other times they were complex. Some of the assignments required researching, seeking clarification, requesting example, and asking for assistance from the instructor and cohorts. Nevertheless, I did not understand or know for sure the complexity of putting an online course together and meeting the needs of a diverse learning group.

Since joining this online teaching/learning course, I discovered the complexity of online teaching. I learn over the period of five weeks that every person has a different learning style. I learn that in order for the instructor to meet the learning needs of a diverse group, creating online courses with the mindset that learners learn using different learning approaches, and delivering course materials in a variety of ways to capture the curiosity and creativity of learners is essential to promote learning and educational growth.

I learned that there are four different learning styles (Visual/Non-Verbal, Visual/Verbal, Tactile/Kinesthetic, and Auditory) and when an online instructor is designing a course, providing the teaching materials in a stimulating way that holds the interest and focus of each learner is important. I learn that what teaching method may work for one learner may not work for the other and that creating the online course with equal accessibility to all students and presenting the course content to meet the learning needs of all students is a priority for instructor and learner satisfaction and to achieve desirable learning outcomes. A learner may need to be an active participant to learn, another learner may simply need to listen to learn, another learner may need to write to learn, and another learner may need to talk loudly or quietly to grasp course content.

To achieve learning objectives with the best possibly learning outcomes, creating a hybrid-learning environment is the best approach where the instructor and learners can combine the traditional learning environment with Web enhanced components to enhance learning. When instructors use the hybrid teaching/learning method, learners achieve more and are more satisfied with the learning environment because there is a combination of the presence of the instructor and ongoing communication and interaction with students inside and outside of the course room thereby forming a stronger learner-instructor and learner-learner relationship that support educational goal accomplishment. When an instructor use web enhancement to deliver course content, it can strengthen learning because learners can either further a discussion online, access other learners and share information online, or even form study groups and use technology such as discussion threads, e-mail, or chat room to further explore course content to enhance learning.

Hand in hand with meeting the learning needs of students is using the right teaching style and there four teaching styles that can support the four learning styles in an online environment, formal authority, demonstrator or personal model, facilitator, and delegator. Instructors can use any of the teaching styles so long as it is compatible and suitable for the various learning styles and that the instructor utilizes the most effective teaching style appropriately to achieve the best possible learning outcomes. The instructor must know which teaching style is appropriate for the diverse group of learners, decide, and select one or a combination of teaching approaches to achieve desirable objectives. A learner may need a control environment to learn, another learner may need autonomy and independence, learner collaboration may be the best technique to learn for some learners, other learners may learn best by being creative, others may learn best by acting and doing things independently, and some learners may learn best by joining groups. Therefore, teaching styles must be compatible with learning style to achieve desirable results.

Teaching to succeed in an online learning environment calls for the instructor to know his or her own personal teaching and learning style, and understand all the teaching styles there is in order to adapt the best teaching style that is suitable for a diverse learning community. It also entails having knowledge about the learning style of every learner and knowing all the learning styles there is to create a learning environment that is conducive for achieving desirable learning outcomes with the highest level of instructor-learner satisfaction. In addition, conducting a personal teaching and learning inventory and incorporating a learning style inventory for learners in the course objectives to gather baseline information on the learning style of the learning community, and using constructive feedback from learners is the most effective approach to succeed in the online environment as an instructor and a learner.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Current Perceptions of Online Learning and Teaching and what I hope to learn in ONTL 650


Current Perception of Online Learning/Teaching

Over the past seven years I have had the opportunity to enter into the online learning environment as a student and have had a variety of exposure and experience with online learning and teaching that shape the way I think and feel about the concept of online teaching and learning. Online learning is more complex than face to face learning because the student must have the motivation, focus, organizational skills, and must have prioritization skills to meet the challenges in the online environment. In order to meet deadlines for individual and group projects, and completing assignments and participate in discussions on a regular basis the student must have good planning skills and a passion for online learning. To achieve and meet the goals and objectives of the course and to be successful as an online student active engagement and ongoing communication in and outside of the classroom is important.

From the teaching angle of the online environment, I find that the instructor must have online experience to be able to understand and meet the needs of students. The instructor on the other hand, must provide an environment where every student feels comfortable and the environment is non-threatening to permit open communication and interaction. The instructor is responsible to support an environment where students feel welcome and use whatever means there is that is ethical in the teaching arena to enhance learning and promote success in the online environment in order to teach effectively and promote learning with a high standards and highest possible quality with the best learner outcome.

What I hope to learn in OTNL 650: Introduction to Online Teaching

As a student in the online environment, I am hoping to walk away with an ease of mind knowing what it takes to teach and learn online first hand from the expert, the instructor. I will use the knowledge to build and continue building skills and knowledge from successive courses to gain full insight into teaching online and what it takes to be effective in teaching and promoting learning in a diverse community of learners. I am hoping that at the end of the course I will be able to meet the course objectives and able to:

• Identify the importance and types of technology for promoting online learning and teaching

• Identify what is good and not so good about online teaching and, reflect back on the learning experience and determine if online teaching is my niche

• Will be able to identify the types of technology that would enhance learning and teaching

• Identify and use the best technology to enhance teaching and learning

• Select a teaching style that embraces online teaching with the best possible outcome of success in learners

• Identify and select teaching strategies that are compatible with online learning to increase the benefits to learners

• Use the knowledge and skills learned in the course to design and structure online courses that support quality and acceptable standards of education

• Evaluate my accomplishment and satisfaction in the course to determine my full commitment and interest to teaching online