Over the past several years I have mainly been an asynchronous being when it came to my online interactions. For classes I used email and discussion boards, for work I used email and "semi-synchronous" chats, and at home I was on Facebook and email. This past semester my eyes were really opened as part of the ID course I was taking required two synchronous class sessions and at least two synchronous group meetings during the course of our ID project.
I was pretty turned off at first, the idea of having to schedule out times in my busy days to meet with people I didn't know seemed like it may be a bit much for this introverted family guy. It didn't take long for that impression to change. We had our first class session on Illuminate and the professor was talking to us from a conference she was attending in Australia. She went over varying course requirements, allowed us to ask any questions we might have about the fairly intense course and to just introduce ourselves in person (so to speak). The second synchronous class session was much later, around week 6, and each group had to present work that they had collaborated on to the rest of the class. It was really interesting and added a new dynamic to my typical online course experience.
Throughout the course my group met several times on Skype and while the planned meetings were usually scheduled for an hour we would find ourselves mixing in personal conversations with our work an developing connections that I had not made in any other of my online courses. We mixed many of our Skype sessions with simultaneous Google Docs sessions as we collaborated on our project and as one of the new technologies we were experimenting with was edmodo we spent some time collaborating asynchronously on there as well.
Now that my ID course is over I do not find myself on Skype much any more, but I have still found many uses for newly discovered asynchronous technologies like Google Docs. Right now I am collaborating with my wife's cousin as we work through the ceremony for her wedding in late July.
I really found that while I was reluctant to use the synchronous communications technologies I truly came to enjoy and appreciate them. Skype and Illuminate allowed me to feel a connection to my instructor and to my classmates that I have never had before in an online course. In addition to the relationship building they also facilitated our group project in a far more expeditious manner than any experience I have previously had using discussion boards or email. While I don't have a lot of people to talk to using synchronous technologies I can assure you that when the need arises I will be the first to suggest their use.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Web-based resources
Amazingly enough I never really give much thought to the site I visit on a regular basis, they just sort of integrate into my life. For educational purposes I am a big fan of http://www.editlib.org , this is a site I typically enter through the Liberty research portal and they have a nice selection of up to date articles on all things Ed Tech. I am also an advocate of http://www.khanacademy.org/ , this is a great site for "learning just about anything". Finally I do use http://www.luonline.com/ more than any other website out there as this is my place of business and most of the information I need can be found there.
For my own personal use I visit my local newspaper at http://www2.newsadvance.com/ daily in order to find out what's going on around me locally. http://www.urbanfonts.com/free-fonts.htm is a great little site to visit for Photoshop fonts for all my amateur Photoshop projects. Of course I visit my FB page a few times a day.
For overall living my wife and I couldn't get by without http://allrecipes.com/ and http://www.weather.com/. I can't think of a day that we don't use those two.
For my own personal use I visit my local newspaper at http://www2.newsadvance.com/ daily in order to find out what's going on around me locally. http://www.urbanfonts.com/free-fonts.htm is a great little site to visit for Photoshop fonts for all my amateur Photoshop projects. Of course I visit my FB page a few times a day.
For overall living my wife and I couldn't get by without http://allrecipes.com/ and http://www.weather.com/. I can't think of a day that we don't use those two.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
presentations, what works for me
This week I was asked to think about my own learning style and what types of presentation work for me as a learner. Most assuredly I am a kinesthetic learner. I was always the kid that just dumped the toy onto the floor looked at the diagrams and had my thing together on Christmas morning while all my friends waited a week for their dads to assemble theirs. In the Marines I was a radio communications specialist and I learned far more form glancing at the basics then playing with new equipment than I ever got from a lecture or manual. In fact, when I am able to physically interact with the material I am also able to exercise the imagination effect as described by Sweller (2008). This only increases my understanding of the material as more information is internalized and stored in long term memory.
Sweller, J. (2008). Human Cognitive Architecture. In Driscoll, M. P., Merrill, M. D., Merrienboer, J. V., & Spector, J. M. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology [Kindle Version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Educational-Communications-Technology-ebook/dp/B000SJZO90/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1
Though Kinesthetic is my most prominent learning style I have always been able to learn through other means, which comes in handy in a world of lecture and rote memorization. A good presentation for me would allow a lot of interaction and opportunity for me to practice the concepts being taught. The biggest issue I see with most current presentation models is that they are simply professor-less lectures. While all the capability exists to construct multiple paths through the knowledge and to the learning objective these paths are rarely constructed or even acknowledged.
Reference
Sweller, J. (2008). Human Cognitive Architecture. In Driscoll, M. P., Merrill, M. D., Merrienboer, J. V., & Spector, J. M. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology [Kindle Version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Educational-Communications-Technology-ebook/dp/B000SJZO90/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
My Personal Participation in Online Communities
I am not heavily involved in many online communities. I am a member of a few, and active in probably one, but I am more on the receptive end of things than anything. I Tried My Space back when, but it was little too much for the kids in my opinion. From there I got connected in Facebook, which really serves as my primary online community.
I keep a minimal amount of friends and it is typically restricted to people I know in real life. I do also maintain a Facebook page for professional purposes, and I have made that page much easier to find. One serves for my personal connections with friends and family and allows me to post pictures privately with them. The other is where I friend my coworkers, Bosses, and professional associates. I don't really post much there, but it satisfies the need. I am on Twitter, but my use of that is in its infancy, and I am mostly a consumer at this point. As I have said many times, I am also on edmodo.com, which is a FB like site designed for educational use. So far I am only really connected to four people, they were all on my ISD team in EDUC 633, but who knows where that will go as I research it further.
I am also a member of some professional groups online, but much like Twitter these memberships are mostly new and mostly as a consumer of information. I would like for my role in these to change at some point, but I honestly find it difficult to devote the time to be overly active in these communities with all the things I have going on in my analog life.
My family is a mixed bag when it comes to communities. My wife has no interest. I made her a FB page and it sat dormant for a year before I finally took it down. My youngest is, well, too young to really be communicating with others on the Internet, but we have allowed some monitored usage of restrictive social games where characters can interact, but only in the context of a game. Such sites do not have chat or ways for others to identify her or communicate with her, and I emphasize that she is always monitored if she is using such things. My oldest uses message boards to talk with others kids about games she is playing, but doesn't have a web presence so to speak.
Overall I am really the online person in the house, but I assume this will change once my daughters get a little older.
I keep a minimal amount of friends and it is typically restricted to people I know in real life. I do also maintain a Facebook page for professional purposes, and I have made that page much easier to find. One serves for my personal connections with friends and family and allows me to post pictures privately with them. The other is where I friend my coworkers, Bosses, and professional associates. I don't really post much there, but it satisfies the need. I am on Twitter, but my use of that is in its infancy, and I am mostly a consumer at this point. As I have said many times, I am also on edmodo.com, which is a FB like site designed for educational use. So far I am only really connected to four people, they were all on my ISD team in EDUC 633, but who knows where that will go as I research it further.
I am also a member of some professional groups online, but much like Twitter these memberships are mostly new and mostly as a consumer of information. I would like for my role in these to change at some point, but I honestly find it difficult to devote the time to be overly active in these communities with all the things I have going on in my analog life.
My family is a mixed bag when it comes to communities. My wife has no interest. I made her a FB page and it sat dormant for a year before I finally took it down. My youngest is, well, too young to really be communicating with others on the Internet, but we have allowed some monitored usage of restrictive social games where characters can interact, but only in the context of a game. Such sites do not have chat or ways for others to identify her or communicate with her, and I emphasize that she is always monitored if she is using such things. My oldest uses message boards to talk with others kids about games she is playing, but doesn't have a web presence so to speak.
Overall I am really the online person in the house, but I assume this will change once my daughters get a little older.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
My thoughts on the adoption of technology in schools
This week I was asked to reflect upon the nature of technology adoption in schools. The initial ideas that came to mind were thoughts about being able to authentically integrate technology so that it was part of the curriculum and not just an addition to it, or the level of faculty support and training that is provided, or the level of buy-in from the school leadership, but that isn’t where I ended up. Don’t get me wrong, those are all great points, but they leave one stark reality in the dust. In a world where school budgets are determined at the last possible second and monies are reduced by millions every year the big issue is the ability to plan for the long term.
Our schools as a whole are a great example. We know that the majority of schools systems in existence are physically and pedagogically designed around an industrialized teacher centered model. While some educators have tried to implement alternate models, the old inefficient model still remains. The integration of technology on a large scale will suffer much the same fate if long term commitments are not made up front.
These commitments need to allocate long term money to technology programs within the school systems that will not face cuts or compromises. Leadership must buy into the programs; teachers must be educated on the technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum without creating an extraneous load on the students. Students need to be supplied with new and relevant information that does not come from antiquated text books containing facts that are already out of date, and parents need to be brought into the loop as well.
The problem that exists is that we live in a world that revolves around immediate results. If we can’t test it with a bubble sheet then we probably won’t spend our money on it when it comes to education. The educational needs of our children have evolved and society, though quick to adapt technology on a personal or business level, is unwilling or unable to revolutionize the educational system in much the same way. Until we as a society are ready to recognize the need for change and drastically alter our philosophical perspective of knowledge and education, and make a long term commitment to funding and supporting the integration of technology as the medium, I fear that all of our efforts in the field will only serve as window dressing.
Our schools as a whole are a great example. We know that the majority of schools systems in existence are physically and pedagogically designed around an industrialized teacher centered model. While some educators have tried to implement alternate models, the old inefficient model still remains. The integration of technology on a large scale will suffer much the same fate if long term commitments are not made up front.
These commitments need to allocate long term money to technology programs within the school systems that will not face cuts or compromises. Leadership must buy into the programs; teachers must be educated on the technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum without creating an extraneous load on the students. Students need to be supplied with new and relevant information that does not come from antiquated text books containing facts that are already out of date, and parents need to be brought into the loop as well.
The problem that exists is that we live in a world that revolves around immediate results. If we can’t test it with a bubble sheet then we probably won’t spend our money on it when it comes to education. The educational needs of our children have evolved and society, though quick to adapt technology on a personal or business level, is unwilling or unable to revolutionize the educational system in much the same way. Until we as a society are ready to recognize the need for change and drastically alter our philosophical perspective of knowledge and education, and make a long term commitment to funding and supporting the integration of technology as the medium, I fear that all of our efforts in the field will only serve as window dressing.
Transition time
Just an administrative note to mark the end of my postings for EDUC 633 and the beginning point for my postings for EDUC 630.
I have some final work to hand in for EDUC 633, but it has been a phenominal experience. I truly feel like I have gained some insights on instructional design that I did not previously have. I am not a classroom teacher so EDUC 630 is actually a bit more intimidating to me. The idea of integrating technology into the classroom is a good one, I simply do not have a venue in which to incorporate the ideas yet. I am sure it will all work out. I hope you enjoy this next 8 weeks of postings for EDUC 630.
I have some final work to hand in for EDUC 633, but it has been a phenominal experience. I truly feel like I have gained some insights on instructional design that I did not previously have. I am not a classroom teacher so EDUC 630 is actually a bit more intimidating to me. The idea of integrating technology into the classroom is a good one, I simply do not have a venue in which to incorporate the ideas yet. I am sure it will all work out. I hope you enjoy this next 8 weeks of postings for EDUC 630.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Best practices for Online Faculty
While the world of distance education is booming and coming into its own there is no lack of research being done in the major areas regarding learners and courses, but there seems to be a significantly smaller amount of research being conducted regarding the faculty who deliver online courses. Specifically I wanted to read a variety of articles that related to different aspects of online faculty, but one concept in particular caught my attention.
Zappala (2007) discussed the transformation of distance education and how it has evolved from a very behaviorist teacher centered concept to a more social constructivist learner centered model. This evolution is good and has done much to advance the educational experience of adult learners in distance education programs. How have these changes affected the faculty who facilitate these courses?
In the article Zappala (2007) applies the same concepts of andragogy being applied to distance learners and turns it around on distance faculty. Why would the faculty, who learn the same way adult learners do, not need to apply the same principles of social constructivism and transformative learning? He argues that distance faculty are often isolated from their peers and their students while in need of the same levels of interaction and authentic experience. There does not appear to be enough research to declare a best practice in dealing with the circumstances, but most researchers believe that faculty must be afforded a collaborative experience with their peers and a transformative interaction with their students if they are going to be satisfied and successful as online faculty members.
As I read through the article I was struck by the lack of any solid answers to the issue and the lack of research being done in the area. It would seem that all the best practices in the world will not mean anything for the rest of distance education if the faculty who are called to teach are not in a position to do so. Too often the mistake is made of over emphasizing one particular component of a problem and I am afraid that this is the case in modern day distance education. While many of the issues for learners and course delivery are being solved, the faculty are being left in the dust.
References
Land, T. (2004). Distant Learning Leaders: What You Don't Know Could Hurt You!. In J. Nall & R. Robson (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2004 (pp. 107-112). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from
http://www.editlib.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/p/11325.
Miller, G., Stokes, D. & Williamson, L. (2009). Reconstructing Distance Education Training in the State of Utah: Connecting the Literature on Best Methods to the Development. In I. Gibson et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2009 (pp. 466-474). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/p/30639.
Zappala, A. (2007). Social Constructivism and Transformative Learning Theories in the development of Online Instructors: Best Andragogical Practices. In C. Montgomerie & J. Seale (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007 (pp.2487-2493). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/p/25721.
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