Week 9

Given your roles as educators or instructional designers, how do you see yourself overcome some of the challenges discussed in this week’s materials? (Be specific) give at least 2 concrete examples as to what the challenges are, and how you would go about addressing them.

1. “A major challenge for instructional designers is faculty resistance to new pedagogies and deliveries” (Miller & Stein, 2014). In my position as a special education teacher at an elementary school, this challenge manifests in the form of a conflict between what the general education teacher is comfortable with and what technology is able to offer students with disabilities. An example of this conflict that I have recently experienced occurred when a general education teacher resisted using a research based reading intervention program called Imagine Learning. The student we shared had a disability that impacted his ability to develop early reading skills, which this program specifically addresses. My student was missing out on this intervention because the teacher did not understand how to use it. We worked around this issue by having the student come to my classroom during center time so that he could learn to use the program. This was not ideal, as it separated him unnecessarily from his same age peers, but parents agreed to the service. After the student was proficient in using the program, he remained with his classmates and used the program independently in his general education classroom. The continuing downside of this arrangement is that he is missing out on the supplemental features of the program, such as the printable activities that are designed to target his troublesome areas because his general education teacher is the only one with access to his profile. I am not this teacher’s boss. I am her peer. I can’t force her to incorporate these really cool, helpful features into her classroom routine. When I offer to show her how to use the program, she smiles politely but clearly has no interest. Still, all I can do is offer.  To address conflicts like this in the future, I need time with my general education teachers to show them how the student’s tool works, how to troubleshoot it, and most of all, to assure them that I will be available to support the student whenever it is needed.
2. “Faculty respond to administrative support in a variety of ways. For instance, they tend to resist top-down initiatives, but at the same time they have no respect for initiatives not supported by the top administration” (Miller & Stein, 2014). In my position, this problem manifests in a conflict between the technology recommended by a district specialist in an Individual Education Program, and the technology already in general use on campus. If a particular program or app is recommended, but is being used on a device that is not in general use (i.e. mandated by the district office for every school to use), such as an iPad, some  teachers resist or just ignore the technology. The tool is seen as an “extra” that they are not responsible for understanding or managing. The feeling seems to be that the district specialist recommended it, so the specialist is the one responsible for it–even if the specialist is unlikely to return to our rural school for the rest of the school year and is based at the district office which is a 45 minute drive down the mountain. To address conflicts in this area I can offer my services to troubleshoot the device when needed, and to show the teacher and student how to use it so that the general ed teacher is not responsible for training the student.

Sources:

Miller, S. L. & Stein, G. K. (2016, February 8).  Finding our voice: Instructional designers in higher education. Educause. Retrieved from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/2/finding-our-voice-instructional-designers-in-higher-education

 

Week 8

Prepare a brief summary explaining your understanding of Copyright, Fair Use, Accessibility, Universal Design for Learning and Creative Commons.

Copyright: The creator of a work, or the holder of copyright for that work, has the exclusive right to profit from and reproduce that work. Only the holder of copyright may authorize another person to reproduce or profit from that work.

Fair Use: This allows people such as teachers, news reporters, and researchers to use a copyright protected work in a way that benefits the public. Fair Use may also be applied to people who use part of a copyright protected work to create something new, as copyright law is meant to protect and benefit the creators, not to stifle them–but this application of Fair Use can be controversial in some instances depending on how the new creation impacts the copyright holder of the original work upon which the new work is based.

Accessibility: Accessibility is achieved when a student with a disability is able to access the content.

Universal Design for Learning: This goes beyond making curriculum accessible to students with physical and sensory disabilities by incorporating multiple ways of learning and demonstrating comprehension so that all learners not only access, but also benefit from the material.

Creative Commons: This is a resource for creators and consumers which allows the creators to share their work with very clear copyright permissions that they select (as opposed to the commonly seen “all rights reserved” copyright that would require a consumer to obtain permission directly from the creator.

Share at least two examples highlighting the benefits and two examples highlighting the challenges when it comes to accessibility, Copyright, and Universal Design.

Accessibility:

• Benefits: Allows students with sensory and physical disabilities to access materials/content.  If a student is hard of hearing, then a video needs captioning or a transcript in order for the student to access the video. If a student is visually impaired, then a website needs to be readable by a screen reader app, meaning that it must read the items in a logical order and  the images must have a readable text description in order for the student to access the content on the website. If a student has a physical impairment and uses a switch to access the computer, then the website or software must be navigable by that switch (items on screen must be selectable in the same way that pressing “tab” scrolls through different links on a screen).
• Challenges: Ensuring that a resource is accessible takes additional time and planning. Teachers creating their own digital resources need to understand that they need to make their creations accessible and how to make them accessible.

Copyright:

• Benefits: Copyright law seeks to ensure that creative, innovative people personally benefit from their contributions to the public. It provides incentive to creative people to continue to publish their work for public benefit.
• Challenges: In a world where social media and digital publication formats are the norm, it is very difficult to enforce copyright law and remain reasonable. Crash Course’s example of works of art appearing in the background of a video on YouTube is a great example of this, or the forcible removal of a tattoo of a copyrighted image. Another challenge is interpreting fair use, which is highly subjective.  For example, if a student wanted to use a short clip from a copyright protected movie, they could if it was for educational or critical purposes and was quantitatively insignificant compared to the whole work, and qualitatively showcasing non-essential parts. But how do you determine what is essential to the movie and what is not? How short does a clip have to be to be determined as quantitatively insignificant?

Universal Design:

• Benefits: allows users to access information by multiple modalities and allows them to demonstrate understanding through multiple means. This allows people to play to their strengths and avoid their areas of weakness, which is especially important for a student with a disability, but can actually benefit all learners.
• Challenges: I think that the greatest challenge in UDL is ensuring that it exists at all in the digital resources we use in the classroom.

 

Sources:

About the licenses (n.d.). Retrieved from https://creativecommons.org/licenses/

CrashCourse (2015, May 7). Copyright, exceptions, and fair use: Crash Course intellectual property #3 . Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Q_9O8J9skL0

What is universal design? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/whatisudl

 

What have you learned this week from your peers about Copyright, Fair Use, Accessibility, Universal Design for Learning and Creative Commons?

I learned that many people learned a lot. This seems like a week in which we all discovered a significant amount of information we were not aware of before in at lease one of these areas. As Sarah Petony put it in the title of her discussion board post, this week was all about “Rules! Rules! Rules!” and no one in the class was aware of all of them. We all seemed to focus on specific areas of greatest interest. Some people were more amazed at the revelations about copyright law (myself included), while others were surprised by how much they didn’t know about the ADA and accessibility (something that I am more familiar with as a special education teacher). In short, this week my peers taught me that these important rules, aka legal requirements, are severely neglected by the education/training programs we all participated in prior to this course.

Week 7: Blended Learning

Prepare a brief summary explaining your understanding of blended learning.

Blended learning is a hybrid of online and in person instruction. It is not a traditional class with a supplemental online component, but a course where the online component is fully integrated and essential to achieving the course objectives.

Share at least two examples highlighting the benefits and two examples highlighting the challenges for offering blended learning courses.

Benefits:

• Allows teachers more time to work with small groups at their instructional levels, rather than “teaching to the middle” during whole class instruction.
  • For example, during a grammar lesson students who passed a quick check through an online tool such as QuizStar, can move on to the next activity independently. The students who did not pass the quick check would be flagged so the teacher knows which students need additional help. The teacher can assign those groups a BrainPop video on the grammar concept being taught. After taking the quiz in BrainPop, students who still don’t “get it” could be grouped so that the teacher could reteach the concepts using examples at their independent reading levels. Students who have already mastered the concept do not need to endure an unnecessary review, and students who are struggling don’t get left behind.
• Feedback from assessments can be immediate and sometimes automatic. This allows students to see what they missed and understand that they may need additional help immediately.
  • For example, during a lesson on subtraction with regrouping presented in a program such as ST Math, students would receive immediate corrective feedback if they missed a step. As each step is completed successfully, they are permitted to move to the next step. As soon as a mistake is made, the problem falls apart and the penguin Jiji can’t cross to the other side of the screen. A traditional worksheet would allow a student to complete the entire form incorrectly before getting it returned a day or two later covered in check marks. Students are permitted to practice errors repeatedly. With immediate corrective feedback, not just on the final answer of each problem, but on each step of each problem, students are better able to see what they understand and which parts are confusing. I’ve noticed that this decreases the number of times I hear a frustrated student declare, “I don’t get it” and quit, and increases the number of times I see a raised hand and hear, “I don’t get this part.”

Challenges:

• Students must have, or quickly develop, time management skills (Kenney & Newcombe, 2011).
  • For example, a student creating a book report presentation in Google Slides has access to a template, but there are so many ways to customize the slideshow and make it cool, that it can be very easy for a student to get off task. Without guidance, some students will spend most of their time playing with fonts, backgrounds, transitions, and finding photographs instead of working on the written content. In my experience, students feel that since they are technically working on their report, that their time and effort should be given full credit. They may struggle with the idea that aesthetics are important, but content is key.
• Students and teachers must have the skills to work with the technology (Kenney & Newcombe, 2011).
  • For example, despite growing up with technology, students may not have the ability to effortlessly transfer those skills to school. A student may know how to play their favorite games on a tablet, but might not understand how to add bullet points to a document. It is possible that they have never saved anything in Google Drive, and might not understand how to locate a project. They need to be taught these basic skills, so teachers need not only to feel confident in their ability to do these tasks, but also understand how to teach these skills to others. If teachers do not have these skills, they need to be trained.

Share at least two technologies that you would encourage other teachers/staff to use in blended courses.

1. I would recommend trying Kahoot!, which is a game style response tool for the Chromebook. Teachers can create and share quizzes and surveys that students respond to as they play.
2. Another tool that teachers might want to try is Newsela. This is a website that presents current event news articles at various reading levels. Teachers assign articles to students and select one of 5 reading levels for the article. Teachers may also annotate the articles and prompt for a written summary.

What have you learned this week from your peers about blended learning?

I learned about everyone’s varying concerns regarding blended learning. The challenges faced by different people in different positions was interesting, particularly the peer that noted how challenging it can be to teach teachers to use technology that is new to them. Many people noted the challenges to students, but many also emphasized the challenges to the instructors, especially since the concept of blended learning is unfamiliar to many professionals.

Week 6: Web 2.0

Part I

Develop 1 self-contained small course activity and/or material that can be used in the course you developed in the discussion post.

I designed a small course for helping students and parents to create an interactive presentation on their fourth grade California mission projects based on the project outline their teacher provides.

• Name of the Web 2.0 tool you used: Prezi
• Describe the features of the Web 2.0 tool you chose, and how you incorporated them into the e-learning course you developed: Prezi creates a mindmap type of graphic organizer instead of a linear slide show, allowing the user to connect ideas more explicitly and show the relationships between concepts.  I designed a skeleton Prezi presentation for students to fill in with their own research which is organized to help students see the connections between the different sections of their outlines. For example, when creating a mission report, the sections on daily life, agriculture, and local tribes are not separate concepts. These concepts influence and shape each other. This is illustrated through connecting circles. This activity gives parents and students a starting point to become familiar with Prezi, and build their reports.
• A sample of the course material you developed: Mission Report Template

Part II

While considering the following 4 things below, describe how the sample course/materials you created addressed the following:

1. Who is the Audience? Fourth graders and their parents. Prezi is simple and intuitive to use with lots of click and drag features.
2. What are the learning objectives? To use Prezi to create an interactive presentation and  to support students in seeing the connections between the different topics covered in their mission outlines.
3. What assignments will you include? The assignment is to fill in the information from their report outline while adding images and maps as appropriate. Students may extend the presentation by adding circles and arrows to additional information if they choose. Students and parents may follow along with an available screencast explaining and demonstrating how to use Prezi’s features.
4. How will you evaluate? If presentation is complete, and navigates in a logical order, the students pass. If they add circles and videos, additional points would be given. If presentation is incomplete or in an illogical order, follow up guidance would be made available in class.

Week 5

1). Share your experiences: when have you been highly motivated in your classes? These can be experiences from any delivery format face to face, hybrid, or online. What motivated you to be involved and learn? Be specific.

I have noticed that I am most motivated to learn when the task I am asked to do relates, not just directly, but immediately to my job. For example, when I am prompted to design an action research project around a topic of my choice, I am able to select a topic that I am struggling with at work. This makes the time consuming process of the literature review feel worthwhile, not just something that I am doing on the side for school and that is taking away time from my students. I think that this is the reason I was less motivated during group projects. In this program, I was usually the only special education teacher in the class. My classmates often had topics that were not relevant to my job, so I found myself simply fulfilling the requirements, rather than digging as deep as I could for solid information and real solutions that I could think about at length during my commute to and from work.

2). Explain specifically what kinds of activities you can develop for an online course. Incorporate effective strategies for motivation and share this with your classmates (suggest at least two different activities).

• Course Title: Learning to Tell Time
• Content/Topics: Learning to read an analog clock for the purpose of following along with a daily schedule.
• Target Audience:  elementary special education students
• Delivery Format:  hybrid with apps on student tablets and in-class practice opportunities.
• Technology Tools: Tablets with cameras.
  • Activity1: Students will document their school routine visually by photographing the activities they do at school (or home) and taking a picture of an analog clock to show what time this activity happens.
    • Attention: First introduce the concept of reading a clock by playing the video “Parts of a Clock“. This video gains attention through the use of variability (a video presenting information instead of a teacher) and humor (BrainPop almost always make kids in this age group giggle without being too distracting).
    • Relevance: Introduce the activity of taking photographs of their daily routine along with what the clock looks like at that time. Because students are using their lives as the material and will be creating a tool that they can use everyday in school, the activity will be highly relevant to them.
    • Confidence: Prep students for meaningful success by training them in how to take photographs and informing students that they will be using these photos to create a personalized visual schedule. To complete this task, students do not have to know how to read a clock yet.
    • Satisfaction: Learning to tell time and track their day is a useful skill that they can be proud of.
  • Activity2: Students will learn to read the hour hand of a clock on an app so that they may begin to read the classroom schedule.
    • Attention: Open the lesson with a challenge. Students must match the digital times with their photos of actual activities (PE, lunch, recess) and the corresponding time on an analog clock. This gains attention through inquiry arousal.
    • Relevance: Establish relevance of lesson content by using photographs and times from the students’ actual school routine.
    • Confidence: After the challenge, begin with introducing the most basic skill: learning to tell the hour only. After initial instruction, prompt students to practice on the tablet app, “Interactive Telling Time Lite.” This will support a sense that success is likely. The app provides positive feedback in the form of winning fish for their personal virtual aquarium, immediate corrective feedback, and privacy to make mistakes without embarrassment.
    • Satisfaction: Positive feedback will make the experience more satisfying (students love collecting virtual fish and feeding them), as will having regular opportunities to practice reading the clock as they monitor and check off activities from their personal copy of the classroom schedule in real life.

3). What did you learn in the discussion this week that will be useful to you or that changes the way you view something?

The most useful piece I got out of this week was a review of ARCS. I really appreciate the simplicity of that model, and I’ve found it to be highly relevant to my job.

 

References

Keller, J. (2000, June). How to integrate learner motivation planning into lesson planning: The ARCS model approach. Paper presented at the VII Semanario, Santiago, Cuba. Retrieved from https://csusb.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1157851-dt-content-rid-3716898_1/courses/162ETEC50170/Keller_m5_Required%20Reading.pdf

Week 4

1. Course Title: How to Tell Other People How You are Feeling.
2. Content/Topics: students will review how to appropriately communicate their feelings (ex: frustration, anxiety, anger, sadness) so that a care provider can coach the student through healthy coping techniques, instead of screaming, hitting, hiding, or destroying things.
3. Target Audience: elementary students with mild/moderate autism and verbal communication skills.
4. Delivery Format: blended. Students would go online to webpage with a variety of activities categorized by emotion. Some activities would be completed online, while others would require support from a parent or teacher.
5. Technology Tools:
   1. YouTube Videos: presenting the symptoms of each emotion, and step by step guidance on how to cope with an emotion, and how to communicate the emotion to another person. These resources would be carefully selected by the teacher to be applicable to the target audience (teaching presence).
   2. Tablet with video capability: students would record themselves using the strategies and review their own videos. This supports cognitive presence in that it helps students to connect personally with the material. While at school, students could play their videos for each other during small group sessions. This supports social presence.  After presenting a student work, a discussion or some amount of feedback from peers would be be prompted by the teacher (teaching presence). Videos cannot be published or shared electronically due to confidentiality concerns.
   3. Slide presentation software such as Prezi or Google Slides: students create presentations about the steps to cope with each emotion and how to communicate the emotion to another person. That supports cognitive presence as students must connect the strategies to their own personal context. These can also be shared with other students in the group, which supports social presence and since these groups sessions are facilitated by a teacher, it also supports teacher presence.
   4. Digital journal: students respond to prompts and write or draw the story of their emotions, and to write or draw how they envision reacting to those emotions next time they happen. This supports cognitive presence. Students may choose to share the typed entries with teacher or parent via Google Drive, which supports teacher presence. Students may use Storyboard That to present their stories visually. Students may share their creations with the group in person, which again supports social presences and teaching presence as it is the teacher that would facilitate these presentations and discussions within the group.
   5. Lesson plans: Printable guidance on how to practice with their children at home (teacher presence).

Week 3

Assume you are an e-learning instructor. Create an e-learning instruction/activity (fully online or hybrid), applying your theory in a ‘real’ online education setting. In the description of the activity, include the following information:

• Course Title: Which Way?
• URL: https://youtu.be/uCAxwywhE0I
• Content/Topics: Developing visual discrimination between  b and d. Recalling how to form b and d in writing.
• Target Audience: Elementary students with disabilities who are confusing b with d.
• Delivery Format: Hybrid. Video guides students through the steps in the activity at a center within my classroom with a very high degree of consistency. Instructor must provide, monitor and support the transitions between using different materials.
• Activity: Students will review visual, auditory, and tactile strategies for differentiating between b and d. Activities are designed in Vygotsky’s constructivist pattern that gradually releases responsibility to the student: first I do it, then we do it together, then you do it by yourself. Students are encouraged to help each other. Students select their own words to practice. Students self-assess and self-correct. Instructor provides novel writing materials to maintain interest and motivation, and supports student transitions between activities while also providing positive feedback on students’ efforts (a bit of behaviorism). The primary benefit of using this format for delivery is that students with disabilities often require highly structured, consistent, repetitive practice to master some new skills. As their instructor, I struggle with maintaining this repetitive routine. The video takes that burden off me and provides the consistency and repetition they require, while I provide the new and novel writing materials (for example, writing with a wiggle pen, color-change marker, salt, etc.) to maintain motivation and interest.

What assumptions about learning form the basis for:

• Behavioral learning theory
• Cognitivist learning theory
• Constructivist learning theory
• Any other eLearning theory that interests you

Behavioral learning theory assumes that learning happens when a person changes their behavior. A person responds to an external situation, or stimuli, and experiences a consequence. If the consequence is positive, then the person is more likely to respond in a similar way to that same stimuli next time it occurs. If the consequence was negative, then the person is more likely to try a different response next time the situation or stimuli occurs.

Cognitivist learning theory is less concerned with student response to stimuli and more concerned with the mental processes they use to decide how to respond. Cognitivism emphasizes learning strategies to process information. When a person can apply what they have learned to a different situation than the original context, successful learning has occurred. This theory, like behaviorism, assumes that people learn about the external world.

Constructivist learning theory assumes that people learn by constructing connections from what they already to know to the new knowledge. Knowledge and understanding are constructed through interpretation, which is influenced by a person’s individual past experiences and preconceived understandings. When an experience challenges a preconceived understanding, the person must reconstruct their understanding to accommodate the new experience. This theory assumes that all knowledge is subjective, as we construct our understanding of the world.

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2). 43-71.

Humanistic learning theory assumes that people want to fulfill their potential, and that the purpose of learning is to do so. People will engage in learning that seems relevant to them. Because of this, motivation is a key factor in humanistic learning theory. People will learn what they want to learn, and the most significant learning happens when it is self-directed, as opposed to behaviorism which asserts that people will learn in response to external stimuli.

Humanism (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.learning-theories.com/humanism.html

Do a web search to find two examples of ANY of the learning theories mentioned in the readings for Module 3, or, provide examples of theories you have investigated outside of the course content resources.

Behaviorism example: “Behaviorist theory approaches are frequently used in weight loss, smoking cessation, assertiveness training, and anxiety-reduction programs. The importance of regularly and consistently rewarding desired behavior immediately and not rewarding undesirable behavior is crucial to the success of a behaviorist approach to learning. Learning is broken down into small steps so that the person can be successful. The nurse provides reinforcement at each step of the process. For example, when a patient is learning how to inject insulin, the nurse looks for a positive behavior and then gives the patient immediate reinforcement by saying, ‘I liked the way you pulled back the syringe,’ or ‘You did an excellent job of withdrawing the insulin.'” (Behavioral, n.d.)

Cognitivism example: “In the first, or cognitive phase of learning, the patient learns the overall picture of what the task is and the sequences involved. In the second, or fixation learning phase, the learner begins to gain skill in performing the task. Whether a physical task is learned as a whole or part by part depends on its complexity. For example, learning how to take a blood pressure is a complex task. The patient must learn how to physically manipulate the blood pressure manometer, learn how to hear blood pressure sounds, and understand the meaning of the sounds. Each of these tasks can be practiced as a separate activity, then combined. In the last phase of learning, the automatic phase, the patient gains increasing confidence and competence in performing the task.” (Behavioral, n.d.)

Behavioral, cognitive, humanist approaches (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.euromedinfo.eu/behavioral-cognitive-humanist-approaches.html/

The Community of Inquiry framework is grounded on social constructivist learning theory (Garrison, 2011). What important and/or helpful statements did the reading provide on the following concepts/topics related to the Community of Inquiry framework that you could use to justify the design of an e-learning course or program? (Be sure to note the source of the information you record for citations in future assignments for this lesson.)

“E-learning is an open system that blends access to information and purposeful communication into a dynamic and intellectually challenging learning community” (Garrison, 2011). Garrison listed out the benefits of text-based communication within a supportive community of inquiry, namely that there is a permanent record of ideas, which allows people to give more attention to others’ views and more time to reflect on those views. When articulating ideas, community members must be explicit and their responses must be well organized, but that’s fine because there is more time to reflect on the topic before creating a response. For these reasons, a course designed to develop and support a community of inquiry is more intellectually demanding and is capable of creating a “deep and meaningful learning experience” (2011). Without the community of inquiry, e-learning may not fulfill its potential, or as Garrison puts it, “this does not just happen by adopting e-learning technologies” (2011). It is the instructor’s responsibility to facilitate the creation of the community of inquiry, which Garrison defines as “a group of individuals who collaboratively engage in purposeful critical discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and confirm mutual understanding” (2011). I could justify the design of an e-learning course that is built with intention of creating a community of inquiry by citing Garrison when he writes,”The demands of an evolving knowledge society create expectations for individuals to be independent thinkers and, at the same time, interdependent, collaborative learners” (2011). Another helpful citation would be, “The idealized view of education as a critical community of learners is no longer just an ideal, but has become a practical necessity in a society increasingly based on creativity and knowledge construction” (2011). In short, a course designed within the community of inquiry framework is designed for the demands of our modern society.

Week 2

Choose one sector that most interests you – K-12, Higher Education, Business/Industry, etc.  and  discuss key trends in e-learning in the sector of your choice. You may explain the kinds of e-learning courses offered and the technology tools most commonly used for course delivery in this sector.

E-learning at the elementary school level seems to be more narrow in scope that in other sectors and in secondary schools. There is a trend in homeschooling elementary students through online schools, such as the programs on k12.com, time4learning.com, and homeschoolacademy.com, just to name a few of the many available resources. The FAQ page on k12.com explains that when participating in these online or blended schools, parents act as learning coaches instead of as traditional teachers. Their job is to ensure that the student makes it through the daily lessons.

Other than for homeschooling, the most common kinds of e-learning courses offered at the elementary school level that I have encountered are web based reading and math intervention programs such as Imagine Learning, Compass Learning Odyssey, and ST Math. The programs sometimes connect to district testing to establish the course content (as in Compass Learning Odyssey), but sometimes they contain their own diagnostic test (as in Imagine Learning). Students may access these programs through apps on their Chromebooks in the classroom, or from their tablets and computers at home. These programs are considered supplemental to the curriculum or as remediation tools.

There are many terms that are interchangeably used with e-learning such as online learning, blended learning, and distance learning. Define each of these terms based on the readings and a library search.

Online learning: learning that takes place over the internet

Blended learning: a hybrid experience of online and in-person lessons

Distance learning: any learning that takes place at a physical distance from the instructor

While reading assigned materials, search for additional relevant and reasonably sourced information from the internet. Organize and provide a history of distance education chronologically (key events) –be creative.

Click here to access my Prezi timeline presentation. 

What did you learn in the discussion this week that will be useful to you or that changes the way you view something?

I learned that Google apps have swept our local school districts and that my school district has some catching up to do. I learned about my peers’ views and experiences with these tools, which will be useful knowledge when my school begins to integrate more Google apps into the curriculum.

Introduction

Create a self-introduction posting that includes your job title, career goals, reasons for taking the e-Learning certificate/course, e-Learning course design experience, and what experiences you can share with your classmates in this course.

My name is Sarah Wales and I am an elementary school special education teacher. I am currently working on my MA in Education: Instructional Technology. I enrolled in ETEC 501 with the intent to design an online resource for my students with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and autism. Students with these types of disabilities frequently require additional repetition of instruction, and the instructional strategies used must be consistent to increase the likelihood of retention. It is my hope that by providing a customized online resource for reviewing lessons from class, my students will be more successful working from home when doing homework and also during the school breaks when regression is a risk.

My past experience with online course design is only as a student, not as an instructor or course designer. I have been in online classes with several educational institutions since 2003, so I have experienced some of the evolution of the technology, and have strong opinions about what I love and what I hate about various tools and formats for learning online. Hopefully those experiences will allow me to provide valuable feedback to my classmates in this course.

Write reflective comments on what is like being an e-learning or a distance learning student based on your experience of taking any sort of distance education. 

Based on my experience, being a student in an online course can be boring. The degree of independence required is extreme when compared to a traditional course, and the sense of distance from peers and the instructor can diminish engagement and motivation. As a student who loves to engage in lively discussion, this isolation can make coursework seem very dry. In my opinion the discussion boards do little to ameliorate this situation because the academic tone and length of response required intensifies the impersonal nature of online communication, making it less conversational. In our text, Garrison references Burbules work on the four types of dialogue: conversation, inquiry, debate, and instruction. In my experience, the message boards feel like instruction, and very rarely, a brief debate may emerge. Message boards can be very social and engaging, even addictive, but in my experience, they never achieve that in an academic setting. I have read deep debates layered with expert opinions and instructions, and peppered with astute questions from participants on message boards about organic hair care. I have never witnessed or experienced that level of community in any class on Blackboard.   That said, the convenience of online courses is a benefit that far outweighs all of the drawbacks, so I continue to choose online courses instead of driving to campus. I agree with those that see e-Learning as a significant force in the future of education, but I also believe that the community of inquiry Garrison describes is not yet commonplace in online education.

Critical Thinking

What is the definition of critical thinking? Use a citation.

Garrison draws on Dewey’s idea of reflective thought when defining critical thinking. Dewey defines critical thinking, or reflective thinking, as “active, persistent, careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds which support it and the further conclusion to which it tends” (1909).  Essentially, it is questioning and challenging an idea and all of the ramifications of that idea, leading to a deeper understanding of the concepts involved and possibly creating new ideas in the process.

Dewey, J. (1909). Moral principles in education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Moral_Principles_in_Education.html?id=8V0WAAAAIAAJ

Why do you think critical thinking is important for a successful learning?

I think that critical thinking is important for successful learning because it supports a deeper level of understanding and facilitates applying new knowledge to my own unique professional context while critical discourse facilitates understanding how it applies differently to other people. Different perspectives help to break apart assumptions, which can help people see the weaknesses in ideas, or the exceptions to what people assume to be universal. From there, innovation is possible.

Describe each of the five elements of critical thinking. And how would you apply these to your learning in this course?

The five elements of critical thinking are identification of the concept to be considered, clarification of arguments, establishment of facts, evaluation of logic, and the final evaluation (Herr, n.d). I would apply each of these elements to my learning in this course each week by first, reading the assigned text. Second, I would clarify my understanding of the arguments involved by searching for alternative sources of information, including the comments and blog posts of my classmates. Third, to establish facts I would consider whether or not those sources of information agreed with each other, and if any source had more or less information than the others. Fourth, to evaluate the logic of the argument or idea, I would consider my classmates’ analysis, the other sources of information, and my own personal experience to ascertain whether or not the idea in question is logical and perhaps true. Finally, I would evaluate all of the information and decide if there is enough evidence that contradicts the argument or idea to call it into question.

Herr, N. (n.d.) Elements of critical thinking. Retrieved from https://www.csun.edu/science/ref/reasoning/critical_thinking/elements.html

Survey

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Quote from my posts:

“I signed up for this course because I hope to learn about ways to support my students online instead of just during school hours. Many of my students need specialized support on homework and continued support throughout school breaks to ensure that the skills and concepts “stick” and I hope to create a resource for them to utilize from home.”

Reason: Most of my posts this week were simply social. This post had some substantive content in that I articulated my course goal.

6. Quotes from classmates’ posts:

From Earl Wilson: “…the distinction between a Networking person and an IT person is akin to the difference between a Dentist and an Ophthalmologist, they both know something about the body but they have their own area of expertise.”

Reason: I’ve never heard it put quite that way. I think many people fail to distinguish between the various areas of expertise, and this was a simple way to explain it.

From Billy Osuna: “I would love to also host programs in the pizza shop where at risk youth could learn how to cook and help them on to a good path in life.”

Reason: What a cool idea. I hope he gets to make it a reality!

7. What I learned from the discussion this week: I learned that I will working with some familiar people this quarter. I also discovered that we are a diverse group, which should lend some interesting perspectives when discussing topics.