Thursday, April 26, 2012

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

Developing an Online Course in Blackboard The Experience of a Lifetime! The experience I had in building an online course using the Blackboard 9.0 system as the learning management system was one of fear, challenges, uncertainty, at times frustration, but at the end, joyful and rewarding. The course building using technology is the last course in a series of four for a certificate in online teaching at Governors state University. In the previous course, nursing 652, I developed a course titled, the nursing process. In the nursing 653 course, my role was to be the course developer using the blackboard learning management system. The first assignment in the course was to introduce myself to the class, sign a learning agreement, and submit my course and the instructional design worksheets for the course. The requirement in building the course was that there must be all the elements necessary for a course: 1.A course syllabus 2.Orientation 3.Course modules 4.Course Lessons 5.Grading metrics 6.Discussion topics 7.Course Files 8.Assignments 9.Instructor information 10.Formal method of course room communication 11.Instant Messaging for group communication and individual communication to others in the course 12.Wimba live Session development 13.Survey 14.Course Announcement 15.Methods of group interaction Once these elements were developed, the requirements in nursing 653 were to put the course online. There were course expectations from the instructor, timeframe to complete assignments, grading rubric for each week work submission, with feedback mostly through online format, a communication folder for each lesson in the course. The Scary Moments I had several scary moments because it was my first time working with blackboard and it was my first course-using blackboard. I first had to learn the new learning management system and then work a many hours each day to complete the required assignments each week. I was persistent about getting a good grade with each course assignment, which required me to work and focus hard on using the right tool in blackboard to complete the assignments. I sometimes did the assignment three or more times until it was to my acceptance before submitting the final product. I did not work or complete my course work with complete confidence, but each time I received my grade, it motivated me to go on and continue to do a good job. I at times did not know which tool to use to create the specific assignment for the week, but with trial and error and the use of the blackboard instructor manual, I was able to get the assignment done correctly. The Uplifting Moments I enjoy learning, and I know that with learning come challenges and obstacles. In this course, I encountered challenges and obstacles quite often, but as I continue to progress in the course, and spend plenty of time looking at my online course that I build from ground up, it looked beautiful, and that is uplifting. Sure the level of complexity to do the project and the project outcome, just lift my spirit and made me proud to be a part of the group who dared to be successful and travel the long hard journey to achieve the online teaching certification. Conclusion The journey of the online teaching certification course was tough, but stimulating and rewarding. Since taking the certification course, I had the opportunity to teach a hybrid course at the college level, and now that I am finish with the certification course, I will pursue using my talent, knowledge, and education to improve the online teaching environment so that other students can benefit from the rich environment. I accomplished all the course objectives and very satisfied with the effort I put forth and the outcomes I achieved. I setup a course structure in blackboard management system. I created a course menu that supported the course structure and instructional design. I created standard learning module template for use in the there course lessons designed for the nursing process course. I created digital content using a variety of tools from blackboard management system. I established student-student interactions with the discussion board, instant messaging, wimba live session through blackboard. I created assignments and quiz to assess student learning. I established mechanism to encourage student-instructor interaction by providing instructor information for contact, live wimba session, discussion thread for ongoing communication, instant messaging, and phone and email access through blackboard. I created an interactive syllabus using the learning module tool, and I created an interactive orientation using the learning module tool. Bernadette