As a part of the requirement for the online teaching and learning facilitation course, I had the opportunity to facilitate a week of the course. I find the experience to be positive because in reality, the instructor in the online environment has the role to facilitate the course for the entire term and the one-week experience gave me the opportunity to test my ability as a facilitator.
Prior to having the experience, I was very nervous about my ability in the early part of the course, but as each week went by and I prepared for my facilitation, everything seems to fall in place. I also felt that by seeing what the other learners were doing and taking notes of their facilitation experience, I was able to shape my thinking of what to do and I believe that help to prepare me for my week of facilitation. I also had many opportunities to use “Wimba” prior to the online teaching and facilitation course, and that was helpful for me, because not only was I comfortable to some degree with the collaboration tool, I had ample time to prepare myself for the facilitation week, since I was the last student to facilitate in the course.
In preparation for the facilitation week, I also made certain that I attended as much live facilitation sessions as possible to take notes of the different techniques used by the various learners to collaborate on different topics. I attended ten of the 12 sessions live, which includes my synchronous wimba session. I also prepared by activities for the live “Wimba” session weeks in advance and conduct research for the focus of the week, which was problems that the online facilitator may experience, such as (late response, no response, silence, conflict, cheating, and other variations in the course room). I believe that without adequate preparation, the synchronous wimba night could have been disastrous.
The fear in my mind for my facilitation week was that I would not know sufficient to provide appropriate feedback in the asynchronous course room to the discussion topic. However, my fear level was moderate as oppose to high, by the fact that my expectation was that my cohorts would support me and would assist me if there were a need. Having the fear and expectations helped me to prepare myself to do the best job ever to have a successful and positive learning experience.
The Asynchronous Experience:
The asynchronous experience was positive because I knew what to expect from seeing what the other learners did. From a student standpoint, I know that feedback is important, timely response to the post of students is important, and giving positive and constructive feedback is more valued than being critical and non-supporting. I made sure that my post to the post of the learners started with a positive note, and I acknowledged the value of the information shared, and then I provided a personal experience that was positive or negative that made connection with the discussion post. I find that the approach I used was well received by the learners, so I kept that momentum going for the entire week without incidence. I post everyday in response to the posts from learners in the course and I did that for the entire week, which I find, was good because it kept the discussion topic going for the week.
The Synchronous Experience:
The synchronous experience was positive. On my live wimba night, I started the live wimba session with my introduction and purpose and then I went into a brief warm-up session. I was very impress and somewhat surprised that I was the last facilitator for the course and that I had a large audience. I was excited that I felt that I had control and that I was not nervous at all. What I did was put myself in the place of being in the presence of a group of people I know and that we were simply sharing information. Having that frame of mind kept me comfortable throughout my session and I felt that I was in control of presentation.
What was interesting was that repeatedly after each slide in my presentation; I had to ask several times if anyone wanted to provide feedback, comment, or questions. What was also interesting was that I felt on my side a feeling of quietness and I was thinking about things that I could do to get people talking. Although, I had that feeling, I kept going and eventually the feeling went away as I noticed more interaction at the middle and end of the presentation.
What I gained from the live wimba session was that the facilitator needed to have interesting activities to keep the audience alert and interested in the topic. As the facilitator, I felt that I also needed to ask the audience to share personal experiences and that may get them involved as they can demonstrate the connection of their experience to the content presented.
Personal Perspective of Online Facilitation:
Online facilitation is a lot of work and it takes dedication and commitment to be an excellent facilitator. Timely feedback, ongoing communication, and engaging learners, promoting a safe learning environment, addressing problems in the online environment, and completing all administrative course requirements before the start of a course, during the course, and at the end of the course are required roles of the online instructor. Time management, organizational skills, and competencies to facilitate in the online environment are also mandatory requirements. My interest is still high to one day be an online facilitator.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Reflection: End of Part 2-Blog
Taking in…
There was a lot to learn in a short space of time but all that was learn was necessary to grasp the role the responsibility of online teaching and learning and the role of the facilitator in the online course environment. The focus of the five weeks was on pedagogical role, social role in building community, managerial role in setting the stage and after the course starts, technical role of the online facilitator, and learning how to use Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). Several learning outcomes were identified and to follow is a reflection of the learning over the five weeks in the online facilitation course.
Many pedagogical models was discussed in the fifth week of the course and an there was an opportunity to select a model that would be suitable for teaching based on personal preference, course learning objectives, and the learning environment. Opportunity was present to evaluate teaching strategies that would be compatible with instructional objectives and through the experience, my personal vision for my role as a facilitator was formed.
I believe that I would be more effective as a facilitator if I allow the students dominance in the online environment, because it is their opportunity to learn and grow and through interaction and collaboration with instructional support from the instructor, the opportunity for high level of satisfaction with online learning is attainable. I learned how to use HTML to format text and although it seemed easy, it was not an easy task, but a valued experience. HTML allows the instructor to create course materials with a more appealing presentation and clarity.
Online education requires the combined effort of a group of people, interacting, collaborating, and sharing information in an open environment. The more people see the value of online education, the more people will value the learning approach and the higher the level of satisfaction will be. The benefit people get from the online experience is dependent on how effective the relationship is and how willing people are to share with each other and how effective the facilitator is with encouraging and fostering high level of social interaction.
Getting people engage requires providing learning experiences from the start of the course that get people working together and interested in the course work. One way to start a course and get the group of learners interacting with each other is to provide icebreaker activity such as asking for an introduction, or to have students complete a scavenger hunt activity and report their findings in a discussion folder so that learning and sharing takes place together in a fun and friendly like environment.
As a facilitator, getting people in a course that is separated by geographic boundaries can be difficult but separation does not have to be present if the activities in the course room support interaction, critical thinking, and knowledge sharing. The facilitator can provide an assignment requiring group work, set period for completion, communicate timely reporting of grade, and provide constructive feedback that supports the growth and progression of learning. Having an open line of communication, checking the course folder daily, responding to concerns of learners, having a folder for questions and answers, and keeping current with the discussion folder, ensuring the equal contribution of learners and communicating concerns are effective strategies to promote a successful online learning experience.
Using the announcement folder and a brief overview of the course material each week can enhance the learning environment and create a focus for the week experience. Learning how to use HTML code to insert links and images in a web page was extremely difficult and even after numerous attempts, the activity seems cloudy in my mind. The challenge and learning will come with an actual assignment to develop a web page using HTML code to insert links and images.
Online facilitators have to ensure that online courses are developed and updated before the start of class and that is a complex role for instructors. The facilitator has to look at the entire course to determine what sections need modification and upgrade since information changes so rapidly ensuring that the course and course links are current and the course content and delivery method is current and appropriate is necessary. Specifying body attributes in HTML programs and aligning the text was complex but the challenge was well worth it because HTML helps to make the organization of course materials clear and it allows organization of content with an appealing presentation.
In the online environment, the facilitator has to ensure that communication is clear and appropriate, and definitely ongoing. Learning occurs through sharing and communication is important to learning. Communicating clearly, timely, constructively, respectfully, and positively is important to learning and sharing in the online environment and the facilitator role is to make sure communication barriers are removed to facilitate acceptable communication.
Setting the communication tone, monitoring communication, quickly providing feedback to correct unacceptable behavior in the online environment is an important role of the online facilitator. Using HTML codes to create ordered and unordered list was one of the least complex activities of the week. However, the challenge will come when a need arise to use the HTML codes in a course to create ordered or unordered list for the first time.
Once a class starts, the role of the facilitator is to ensure that communication is effective and efficient, that learners get the feedback they need to succeed and that learners are sharing information regarding assignments in an effective and efficient manner. The facilitator role is to direct or provide suggestions for optimal information sharing, providing active links for learning, and to address communication needs timely. Providing timely feedback, positive feedback, and checking the question and answer folder to communicate timely with learners is necessary.
At the start of the course, setting expectations for communication and being consistent with practice will support ongoing and timely communication in the course room. If for any reason, a link is not active or a learner addresses a problem with the course room and course folder, the facilitator should seek clarification and quickly make changes to get the course room on track.
Instructors/facilitators use technology to deliver course materials and understanding technology is necessary in order to use the technology effectively and efficiently to deliver course content, share information, and promote learning. The facilitator must know how to use the technology to instruct learners on how to use the technology. The role of the instructor is to keep up with technology through training and development and ongoing education. Using technical support and encouraging students to use technical support for any technical issues would help to enhance the use of technology in the online course room.
The learning experience over the past five weeks have be challenging and stimulating and taking the information learned in the course and applying it to the real practice environment such as during the facilitation experience is the practical approach to online teaching and learning development.
I am not finish. Stay tune, to my next update...
There was a lot to learn in a short space of time but all that was learn was necessary to grasp the role the responsibility of online teaching and learning and the role of the facilitator in the online course environment. The focus of the five weeks was on pedagogical role, social role in building community, managerial role in setting the stage and after the course starts, technical role of the online facilitator, and learning how to use Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). Several learning outcomes were identified and to follow is a reflection of the learning over the five weeks in the online facilitation course.
Many pedagogical models was discussed in the fifth week of the course and an there was an opportunity to select a model that would be suitable for teaching based on personal preference, course learning objectives, and the learning environment. Opportunity was present to evaluate teaching strategies that would be compatible with instructional objectives and through the experience, my personal vision for my role as a facilitator was formed.
I believe that I would be more effective as a facilitator if I allow the students dominance in the online environment, because it is their opportunity to learn and grow and through interaction and collaboration with instructional support from the instructor, the opportunity for high level of satisfaction with online learning is attainable. I learned how to use HTML to format text and although it seemed easy, it was not an easy task, but a valued experience. HTML allows the instructor to create course materials with a more appealing presentation and clarity.
Online education requires the combined effort of a group of people, interacting, collaborating, and sharing information in an open environment. The more people see the value of online education, the more people will value the learning approach and the higher the level of satisfaction will be. The benefit people get from the online experience is dependent on how effective the relationship is and how willing people are to share with each other and how effective the facilitator is with encouraging and fostering high level of social interaction.
Getting people engage requires providing learning experiences from the start of the course that get people working together and interested in the course work. One way to start a course and get the group of learners interacting with each other is to provide icebreaker activity such as asking for an introduction, or to have students complete a scavenger hunt activity and report their findings in a discussion folder so that learning and sharing takes place together in a fun and friendly like environment.
As a facilitator, getting people in a course that is separated by geographic boundaries can be difficult but separation does not have to be present if the activities in the course room support interaction, critical thinking, and knowledge sharing. The facilitator can provide an assignment requiring group work, set period for completion, communicate timely reporting of grade, and provide constructive feedback that supports the growth and progression of learning. Having an open line of communication, checking the course folder daily, responding to concerns of learners, having a folder for questions and answers, and keeping current with the discussion folder, ensuring the equal contribution of learners and communicating concerns are effective strategies to promote a successful online learning experience.
Using the announcement folder and a brief overview of the course material each week can enhance the learning environment and create a focus for the week experience. Learning how to use HTML code to insert links and images in a web page was extremely difficult and even after numerous attempts, the activity seems cloudy in my mind. The challenge and learning will come with an actual assignment to develop a web page using HTML code to insert links and images.
Online facilitators have to ensure that online courses are developed and updated before the start of class and that is a complex role for instructors. The facilitator has to look at the entire course to determine what sections need modification and upgrade since information changes so rapidly ensuring that the course and course links are current and the course content and delivery method is current and appropriate is necessary. Specifying body attributes in HTML programs and aligning the text was complex but the challenge was well worth it because HTML helps to make the organization of course materials clear and it allows organization of content with an appealing presentation.
In the online environment, the facilitator has to ensure that communication is clear and appropriate, and definitely ongoing. Learning occurs through sharing and communication is important to learning. Communicating clearly, timely, constructively, respectfully, and positively is important to learning and sharing in the online environment and the facilitator role is to make sure communication barriers are removed to facilitate acceptable communication.
Setting the communication tone, monitoring communication, quickly providing feedback to correct unacceptable behavior in the online environment is an important role of the online facilitator. Using HTML codes to create ordered and unordered list was one of the least complex activities of the week. However, the challenge will come when a need arise to use the HTML codes in a course to create ordered or unordered list for the first time.
Once a class starts, the role of the facilitator is to ensure that communication is effective and efficient, that learners get the feedback they need to succeed and that learners are sharing information regarding assignments in an effective and efficient manner. The facilitator role is to direct or provide suggestions for optimal information sharing, providing active links for learning, and to address communication needs timely. Providing timely feedback, positive feedback, and checking the question and answer folder to communicate timely with learners is necessary.
At the start of the course, setting expectations for communication and being consistent with practice will support ongoing and timely communication in the course room. If for any reason, a link is not active or a learner addresses a problem with the course room and course folder, the facilitator should seek clarification and quickly make changes to get the course room on track.
Instructors/facilitators use technology to deliver course materials and understanding technology is necessary in order to use the technology effectively and efficiently to deliver course content, share information, and promote learning. The facilitator must know how to use the technology to instruct learners on how to use the technology. The role of the instructor is to keep up with technology through training and development and ongoing education. Using technical support and encouraging students to use technical support for any technical issues would help to enhance the use of technology in the online course room.
The learning experience over the past five weeks have be challenging and stimulating and taking the information learned in the course and applying it to the real practice environment such as during the facilitation experience is the practical approach to online teaching and learning development.
I am not finish. Stay tune, to my next update...
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Changing Roles and Pedagogy
Over the last four weeks in the online facilitation course, I learn that there is a difference between teaching online and teaching face-to-face and that a teacher who teaches online has different roles and responsibilities and different expectations for learners. I learned that online instructors must work towards becoming successful teachers in order for students to be successful. Online instructors must use science to explore boundaries in learning and teaching. He or she must feel confident to use science in teaching to help us teach effectively, and use evidence-based learning to develop as instructors. I learn that there are seven principles of effective teaching, encouraging student participation, cooperation, active learning, providing prompt feedback, allow students to work at their own pace, communicate high expectations, respect individual learning styles and acknowledging that students in the course room has diverse talent and ways of learning. The instructor should keep these principles in mind at all times and apply these principles in the course room.
I learned that online instructors have different roles, pedagogical, social, managerial, and technical. There must be personal adjustment made to teach effectively in the online environment. There are certain strategies that online instructors must use to engage students in the asynchronous environment such as allowing students to interact and share their knowledge since personal experiences varies with a diverse group. The instructor should encourage reflection and allow students to reflect on ideas so that new concepts are clear in the minds of students so that they can take the information and process it then share the knowledge and experience in the course room.
The instructor/facilitator should allow interaction in the discussion room to permit critical thinking and improve the critical thinking process of students. This approach is especially good because during the critical thinking process, students make data comparison; they contrast the data, analyze, synthesize, and they evaluate the data using the discussion board as the vehicle and information sharing medium. In the discussion board, the instructor can use case scenarios, brainstorming, role-playing, reaction postings, and sharing of new information by searching the internet for article related to the topic of discussion, and the instructor can extend the discussion if it is producing substantial data that could benefit learning.
The online instructor should stipulate the number of postings required for a discussion and ensure discussion and interaction in the course room. The instructor should determine the acceptable manner of communication in the course room, student led or student controlled and what the role of the instructor will be in the discussion room, and whether there will be a grade for posting and the grade value. The instructor is to develop effective responses to student posts to maintain and deepen student learning on the asynchronous discussion topics.
Managing difficult behavior in the online environment is also an important role of the online instructor. Students can have a variety of characteristics in the course room that is not healthy for learning, distractor, questioner, apologizer, intellectualizer, and monopolizer. The instructor is to curtail disruptive behaviors and ensure a conducive environment for learning. Sometimes hot moments can occur in the course room and it is left to the instructor to see the opportunity as positive and to find teaching opportunities to enhance learning. The instructor can handle conflict in the course room appropriately by doing a variety of things, not reacting instantly, read the post later, discuss the situation with another person, and choose to respond or not. The instructor can view the conflict in a good way by considering that people do not normally have bad intent, use clarification, and use emotion to express his or her tone, step in the shoe of the person, and choose the best words to express thoughts and feelings in working through the conflict.
In the online environment, the instructor is to demonstrate effective teaching, keep the discussion in the course room on track, contribute to the discussion and introducing personal insights, and maintain and sustain a healthy online environment. The instructor must have knowledge about teaching and command of the topic, create a friendly discussion and interaction environment, set the rules for the discussion in the course room, and support the technology for the course room to communicate and interact with students. The instructor should have clear objectives, allow flexibility, encourage participation, avoid an authority figure in the course room, and be objective. In addition, the instructor should not expect too much during a discussion and settle for two or three good post on a topic, try not to use offline materials, communicate privately when necessary or in the discussion forum when necessary, and use a combination of threads to stimulate the discussion on a topic. The instructor should set simple assignments, provide relevant materials; do not use lectures, and request responses. By keeping all these factors in mind, the instructor can promote a high performing online environment and be successful in promoting successful student outcomes.
The instructor and students has roles in the online environment and this course, facilitating online learning provides the opportunity for both experiences. As a student/learner, there are roles in the online course room, freedom of information, active learning, authentic activities, and generic skills. As a facilitator, there are roles coaching, designer, teaching for outcomes and assessment. Hence, roles interchanges and responsibilities differs form one role to the other but roles blend and complement each other to create a successful learning environment. In the online environment, students have the opportunity to take the information provided and create meanings that are real to them and then share the experiences in the course room to enhance learning. As active learners, students share, collaborate, and interact together to learn, grow, and develop. Authentic activities are possible in the online environment where students have assignments that allow them to apply the theoretical knowledge to practice through case-based learning and work-place learning experiences. The generic skills that students in the online environment gain are the ability to take the knowledge gain in the course room and applying it to their personal and professional lives and make life long changes.
The changing role of the instructor as a coach is that he or she guides the learning process and allow the students to engage and interact. As the learning designer, the instructor plans the learning activities for students and creates opportunities for authentic engagement of students. The instructor role as teaching for outcomes is where the instructor provides the learning opportunities and then students leave the learning environment and use the knowledge and experiences to promote change in their personal and professional encounters.
I learn that instructors can provide feedback to students in the asynchronous discussion board by providing feedback directly through the discussion board, using the question and answer thread, via e-mail, or by using the communication tool in the course room. The instructor can communicate with students in the synchronous live Wimba classroom to communicate in real time.
I learned that instructors have administrative, personal, technological, instructional design, pedagogical, assessment, and social competencies that is necessary to be successful and effective as an online instructor. These complementing competencies are what set an excellent instructor apart from an average instructor. It is the instructor responsibility to harness these competencies to ensure effectiveness in the online environment. For example, a competent instructor knows that interaction and collaboration is necessary and required in the online environment to support learning. A competent online instructor knows that communicating in the online environment with high integrity and honesty is important to promote and build the instructor-student relationship that is important to learning. A competent online instructor knows that keeping current in knowledge and practice is necessary and mandatory to supporting an effective online environment. A competent instructor knows that understanding technology and keeping up with current technology that could advance education and promote efficiency in the online environment is important to success as an instructor and a students. In this facilitating online course, the introduction to HTML is a focus which is hyper Text Markup language. It is important for the instructor to understand the use of HTML because it will be the tool that the instructor will use to help develop a course or course materials. At this point, learning HTML is at the begenning phase, but as the course progress, the facilitator will learn how to use the tool completely in order to develop a course in the online certification program. The instructor must take the initiative to master technology because it is the most effective way for delivering course materials and interact online. The instructor can complete tutorials on using new technology or access resources for support that is available through the academic environment for technology users.
Knowledge is power and knowing the roles and responsibilities of the online instructor and online learner and gaining the online instructor competencies necessary to be a successful online instructor can translate to a powerful online learning environment and lead to successfu outcomes for the instructor and learners.
Bernadette
I learned that online instructors have different roles, pedagogical, social, managerial, and technical. There must be personal adjustment made to teach effectively in the online environment. There are certain strategies that online instructors must use to engage students in the asynchronous environment such as allowing students to interact and share their knowledge since personal experiences varies with a diverse group. The instructor should encourage reflection and allow students to reflect on ideas so that new concepts are clear in the minds of students so that they can take the information and process it then share the knowledge and experience in the course room.
The instructor/facilitator should allow interaction in the discussion room to permit critical thinking and improve the critical thinking process of students. This approach is especially good because during the critical thinking process, students make data comparison; they contrast the data, analyze, synthesize, and they evaluate the data using the discussion board as the vehicle and information sharing medium. In the discussion board, the instructor can use case scenarios, brainstorming, role-playing, reaction postings, and sharing of new information by searching the internet for article related to the topic of discussion, and the instructor can extend the discussion if it is producing substantial data that could benefit learning.
The online instructor should stipulate the number of postings required for a discussion and ensure discussion and interaction in the course room. The instructor should determine the acceptable manner of communication in the course room, student led or student controlled and what the role of the instructor will be in the discussion room, and whether there will be a grade for posting and the grade value. The instructor is to develop effective responses to student posts to maintain and deepen student learning on the asynchronous discussion topics.
Managing difficult behavior in the online environment is also an important role of the online instructor. Students can have a variety of characteristics in the course room that is not healthy for learning, distractor, questioner, apologizer, intellectualizer, and monopolizer. The instructor is to curtail disruptive behaviors and ensure a conducive environment for learning. Sometimes hot moments can occur in the course room and it is left to the instructor to see the opportunity as positive and to find teaching opportunities to enhance learning. The instructor can handle conflict in the course room appropriately by doing a variety of things, not reacting instantly, read the post later, discuss the situation with another person, and choose to respond or not. The instructor can view the conflict in a good way by considering that people do not normally have bad intent, use clarification, and use emotion to express his or her tone, step in the shoe of the person, and choose the best words to express thoughts and feelings in working through the conflict.
In the online environment, the instructor is to demonstrate effective teaching, keep the discussion in the course room on track, contribute to the discussion and introducing personal insights, and maintain and sustain a healthy online environment. The instructor must have knowledge about teaching and command of the topic, create a friendly discussion and interaction environment, set the rules for the discussion in the course room, and support the technology for the course room to communicate and interact with students. The instructor should have clear objectives, allow flexibility, encourage participation, avoid an authority figure in the course room, and be objective. In addition, the instructor should not expect too much during a discussion and settle for two or three good post on a topic, try not to use offline materials, communicate privately when necessary or in the discussion forum when necessary, and use a combination of threads to stimulate the discussion on a topic. The instructor should set simple assignments, provide relevant materials; do not use lectures, and request responses. By keeping all these factors in mind, the instructor can promote a high performing online environment and be successful in promoting successful student outcomes.
The instructor and students has roles in the online environment and this course, facilitating online learning provides the opportunity for both experiences. As a student/learner, there are roles in the online course room, freedom of information, active learning, authentic activities, and generic skills. As a facilitator, there are roles coaching, designer, teaching for outcomes and assessment. Hence, roles interchanges and responsibilities differs form one role to the other but roles blend and complement each other to create a successful learning environment. In the online environment, students have the opportunity to take the information provided and create meanings that are real to them and then share the experiences in the course room to enhance learning. As active learners, students share, collaborate, and interact together to learn, grow, and develop. Authentic activities are possible in the online environment where students have assignments that allow them to apply the theoretical knowledge to practice through case-based learning and work-place learning experiences. The generic skills that students in the online environment gain are the ability to take the knowledge gain in the course room and applying it to their personal and professional lives and make life long changes.
The changing role of the instructor as a coach is that he or she guides the learning process and allow the students to engage and interact. As the learning designer, the instructor plans the learning activities for students and creates opportunities for authentic engagement of students. The instructor role as teaching for outcomes is where the instructor provides the learning opportunities and then students leave the learning environment and use the knowledge and experiences to promote change in their personal and professional encounters.
I learn that instructors can provide feedback to students in the asynchronous discussion board by providing feedback directly through the discussion board, using the question and answer thread, via e-mail, or by using the communication tool in the course room. The instructor can communicate with students in the synchronous live Wimba classroom to communicate in real time.
I learned that instructors have administrative, personal, technological, instructional design, pedagogical, assessment, and social competencies that is necessary to be successful and effective as an online instructor. These complementing competencies are what set an excellent instructor apart from an average instructor. It is the instructor responsibility to harness these competencies to ensure effectiveness in the online environment. For example, a competent instructor knows that interaction and collaboration is necessary and required in the online environment to support learning. A competent online instructor knows that communicating in the online environment with high integrity and honesty is important to promote and build the instructor-student relationship that is important to learning. A competent online instructor knows that keeping current in knowledge and practice is necessary and mandatory to supporting an effective online environment. A competent instructor knows that understanding technology and keeping up with current technology that could advance education and promote efficiency in the online environment is important to success as an instructor and a students. In this facilitating online course, the introduction to HTML is a focus which is hyper Text Markup language. It is important for the instructor to understand the use of HTML because it will be the tool that the instructor will use to help develop a course or course materials. At this point, learning HTML is at the begenning phase, but as the course progress, the facilitator will learn how to use the tool completely in order to develop a course in the online certification program. The instructor must take the initiative to master technology because it is the most effective way for delivering course materials and interact online. The instructor can complete tutorials on using new technology or access resources for support that is available through the academic environment for technology users.
Knowledge is power and knowing the roles and responsibilities of the online instructor and online learner and gaining the online instructor competencies necessary to be a successful online instructor can translate to a powerful online learning environment and lead to successfu outcomes for the instructor and learners.
Bernadette
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Reflection: Acting as a Facilitator in an Online Environment
My expectations in the facilitating online course is that I will have the opportunity to apply the seven principles of teaching online and be able to use the tips for effective online facilitation to facilitate my upcoming lesson twelve (12) session, common problems in facilitating in the online environment. My concern is that I have never facilitated an online course, so I hope that my cohorts doing the evaluation would be considerate of that, and provide me with honest and constructive feedback that I can use to improve my role as an online facilitator.
I am excited about the facilitator role because it is my only opportunity to put theory into practice before actually applying for an online teaching course. I am scared about the new role because I will have to be my best to gain the points required to pass the experience. I am also scared that I will not know enough about the topic as the students may expect more from me as a facilitator. In addition, I am scared that I will not meet the goals and expectations of my cohorts resulting in disappointment from the group and a poor performance evaluation from the group.
I am comfortable using Wimba to deliver the course content in the upcoming facilitation opportunity. So far, I have only upload power point presentations for synchronous discussion and have had the opportunity to use the different features in the Wimba tool such as the hand raise and the talk features to present the information in about three classes at GSU. In addition, my experience with Wimba is only from a student role and I am having slight anxiety about how it would work for me as the instructor and whether I will be able to coordinate the effective utilization of the tool and run a seamless presentation of the lesson to the group and facilitate dicussion on the problems encountered in facilitating a course.
My technical concerns is that the day of the facilitation, I am hoping that everything works in terms of connection to Wimba, voice transmission and audio/visual capability, because without the two of those features, Wimba will be useless that day and I will feel horrible about the experience. I hope that I do not experience any glitch in the system and that everything goes well that day.
During my facilitation role, I will challenge my classmates by first reflecting on the discussion topic and content, focusing on the questions that surface and then provide the opportunity to foster and support critical thinking by carefully constructing my response in writing or verbal to facilitate meaningful discussion surrounding the topic of concern. I will provide insightful information on the topic after carefully researching the topic and having a good command of the subject matter prior to the facilitation day. If I cannot respond to the questions of the students, I will refer them to use the internet because there is a host of information on problems an instructor may encounter facilitating a course online that is available through a click to an Internet link.
I am expecting the facilitation experience to be difficult because it will be my first time with the experience but hope that with constructive feedback and good support, the experience will be meaningful and contribute to my professional development as an online instructor. The fear of the unknown is the bother at this time, but I hope to overcome the fear by preparing myself and by practicing so that on that day I will be ready to do a good job. I believe that if I have a good command of the topic then the technology usage will come and that will reduce my anxiety and allow me to perform at my best.
I have been waiting for this day a very long time, for the opportunity to gain the experience of facilitating an online course and I am very grateful for the opportunity in this course. I will take note from this experience and I think that the experience will allow be to make important adjustment to my online teaching practice. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to be on the other side of the fence, the instructor side.
This will be an experience of a lifetime and an authentic one…Courtesy of GSU and the online teaching certification program.
Bernadette
I am excited about the facilitator role because it is my only opportunity to put theory into practice before actually applying for an online teaching course. I am scared about the new role because I will have to be my best to gain the points required to pass the experience. I am also scared that I will not know enough about the topic as the students may expect more from me as a facilitator. In addition, I am scared that I will not meet the goals and expectations of my cohorts resulting in disappointment from the group and a poor performance evaluation from the group.
I am comfortable using Wimba to deliver the course content in the upcoming facilitation opportunity. So far, I have only upload power point presentations for synchronous discussion and have had the opportunity to use the different features in the Wimba tool such as the hand raise and the talk features to present the information in about three classes at GSU. In addition, my experience with Wimba is only from a student role and I am having slight anxiety about how it would work for me as the instructor and whether I will be able to coordinate the effective utilization of the tool and run a seamless presentation of the lesson to the group and facilitate dicussion on the problems encountered in facilitating a course.
My technical concerns is that the day of the facilitation, I am hoping that everything works in terms of connection to Wimba, voice transmission and audio/visual capability, because without the two of those features, Wimba will be useless that day and I will feel horrible about the experience. I hope that I do not experience any glitch in the system and that everything goes well that day.
During my facilitation role, I will challenge my classmates by first reflecting on the discussion topic and content, focusing on the questions that surface and then provide the opportunity to foster and support critical thinking by carefully constructing my response in writing or verbal to facilitate meaningful discussion surrounding the topic of concern. I will provide insightful information on the topic after carefully researching the topic and having a good command of the subject matter prior to the facilitation day. If I cannot respond to the questions of the students, I will refer them to use the internet because there is a host of information on problems an instructor may encounter facilitating a course online that is available through a click to an Internet link.
I am expecting the facilitation experience to be difficult because it will be my first time with the experience but hope that with constructive feedback and good support, the experience will be meaningful and contribute to my professional development as an online instructor. The fear of the unknown is the bother at this time, but I hope to overcome the fear by preparing myself and by practicing so that on that day I will be ready to do a good job. I believe that if I have a good command of the topic then the technology usage will come and that will reduce my anxiety and allow me to perform at my best.
I have been waiting for this day a very long time, for the opportunity to gain the experience of facilitating an online course and I am very grateful for the opportunity in this course. I will take note from this experience and I think that the experience will allow be to make important adjustment to my online teaching practice. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to be on the other side of the fence, the instructor side.
This will be an experience of a lifetime and an authentic one…Courtesy of GSU and the online teaching certification program.
Bernadette
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
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.
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
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
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