Pedagogy First!

C3, S2, Week 13: Wrapping It Up / Program Evaluation

Please reflect on your year-long experience with the POT Certification. In particular, we would like to hear your thoughts in three areas:

1. What did you learn from the experience? That's a big one, we know, but we would like you to think about this for your sake and ours so that we can best understand the impact the year has had upon you and your teaching and learning.
   
   
2. What were some of the most effective elements or aspects of the certificate program? What worked for you and why?
   
   
3. What can we do to make the program better? What suggestions can you make that will help us ensure that future participants benefit from your experience and your suggestions for improving the program.

We would particularly appreciate any feedack you could offer us on our plan for next year, which we have revised to better balance the reading load and to encourage not only reflection but also experimentation and application of what participants are studying. Please check over our planned calendar for next year and offer us any further ideas and suggestions.

Please share your ideas as one last post to the blog.

Thanks!

The POT Leadership Crew

Comments on Strategies for Groups

Over the weekend I viewed Strategies for Groups, led by Claudia Faulk  and also viewed Google Forms, led by Barbara McPherson.  I appreciated the insight that Google Forms could be used to help organize groups and keep them on task.  I noted that the forms should be embeded in a separate document and not be listed in an announcement or main page.  

I like working in groups and I find value in having students work in groups, but there are challenges to effective group work.  Although I don't have an online class, I found many ideas apply such as: keep the group size small (around 3 people),  have assigned roles - but switch it up week to week if possible, have different people report back week to week, have the group divide a project into smaller goals and set mini-deadlines.  Claudia mentioned that working online can help introverted students participate more, as they are given more opportunity to think about what they want to say.  I'm hoping as I add some online aspects to my class, it will invite more participation from introverted students.

Final Thoughts, Looking Forward (Cohort 3, Week 13, Semester 2)

Wow, what did I learn.  I learned how to reflect on my teaching.  The tools were fun, but the thing with tools in this field is that they are changing so fast that, while I enjoy them, I am not too sure if they will be the most important thing I will gain from this experience.  I now have new streams of information coming into my life from Diigo as well as Twitter that constantly inform my pedagogy.  I also deepened my understanding of learning theories and instructional design.  Being able to identify what style I am using on a given day helps me see what else I may be able to add, and I see tremendous value in this.  Overall I gained a more critical eye to my own pedagogy and a much better sense of how I will interact in future online classes.

The tools were the most fun, but the videos on theory were the most influential.  Videos where you know the person are particularly engaging (Jim, Pilar, Lisa).  Overall just talking about new teaching ideas, reflecting, and then implemeting them is a solid model.

The beginning of the second semester was rough.  It took much longer than any of the weeks of the first semester, and for me, made it very difficult to stay on task.  It seemed like the expectation from the first semester was different than the second semester in terms of time commitment, and this made it challenging.  The last four or five weeks seemed more appropriate, but when I saw the work to do I thought I didn't have time, when in actuality I did.  I'm not complaining or anything since this is my fault and I should have made the time to get it done, but I was caught a bit off guard. 

A few suggestions:

1.  Make the videos shorter and include more of them.  This is more appropriate for the online format.  My suggestion is five minutes tops for a consecutive video. 

2.  Have time estimates for the work each week on each prompt if it is going to vary.  I know that this may not be for everyone, but usually you can gauge off of the estimate what your actual time would be after a few assignments. 

3.  Possibly balance tools with chapter readings rather than one semester of each.  Or maybe theory first then tools second.  Both of those options appear to be better on face value.

4.  Require at least 2 comments per person per week on the work of other people.  Forced community should be a requirement for busy people.

Overall I loved the program and it really helped me focus my teaching methods.  I'd do it again in a minute and I would love to help out next year.

 

Connecting to Instruct Construction...

Considering Instructivism, Constructivism and Connectivism, I found myself reflecting on what type of teacher I am in the classroom, online, and also how I want to be in the future. 

In my experience, in classes that are more challenging with students who are more experienced, constructivism is my tool of choice.  I love this idea of connectivism though. 

When a friend sends me a link to an article that he thinks I will like, I see this as connectivism.  But I also see connectivism as helping students find articles that are appropriate to the course, but allowing them to understand the research skills to do so effectively.  Becoming a critical consumer of information seems to play a large part in effectively using connectivism as a teaching tool. 

I also like the discussion of shifts of motivation in these perspectives.  With instructivism, I see motivation as coming from the teacher.  If you like the teacher, you are motivated.  If you don't it is tough to engage the material.  With constructivism you are motivated by your peers.  If your peers are engaged and provide interesting content, you will do well, if not, it can be a challenge.  In connectivism you need to rely on your own skills to create motivation to build a constantly changing learning network to fully materialize the possibilities of the subject.  In addition to differences in motivation, each of these creates more and more self-reliance and less and less dependence on others.

I don't think that connectivism allows us to learn less, or that the internet leads to less learning.  We may not be able to recite the words verbatum, but once we have experienced the material and can access it quickly, it ends up being learned, especially if it was initiated by the learner rather than from an external source. 

Right now I don't use too many connectivism approaches in my classes, but the perspective is intriguing and it makes me wonder about what I could potentially incorporate in future courses.

Teaching My Son To Share (Week 11/Semester 2/Cohort 3)

As I reflect on the material for this week, I can't help but think about kids and sharing.  As mentioned in the reading, in education sometimes our "inner 2 year old" may show up and want to keep everything to ourselves.  My son is 16 months old as I am writing this, and he is just learning some of the sharing rules when playing with toys with other kids.  Here are a few things I've noticed that mirror the reading:

1.  If you don't want it to disappear, label your toys.

My son loves his shovel.  We play in the sand at the park and he can't get enough of it.  On Saturday, a little boy sat down and they were playing with the shovel together.  Innocently, the little boy walked off with shovel and went back to his mother.  His mother wasn't sure where the shovel came from, but she asked us-"Are you guys the Robertsons?"  I said yes, and the reason that she knew was because we labelled it.  Labelling online can take many forms, from either saying your name in a video to watermarks.  But if it isn't labelled, even though the intentions may not be harmful, your favorite shovel may go home with and be attributed to someone else. 

2.  Go to the playground where other kids share.

My son and I have been to many parks, some better than others.  Usually the quality of the park is drastically improved when my son makes friends.  They swap toys, run around, and have a good time.  Being around those who share is an enriching experience, which is why I love twitter.  I've found people on Twitter that regularly share cool stuff, and in return, I share back.  If I didn't share, they would still be there, but the relationship and the experience wouldn't be nearly as great.  Twitter truly is my personal learning network, and I have read exponentially more interesting content since I signed up a few years ago than I ever would have on my own.

3.  It feels good to share, doesn't it?

After the park, we talk on the way home.  My son doesn't do to many full sentences, but I ask him lots of questions.  I believe he enjoys his experiences more if he reflects on why he liked what was happening.  For teachers, reflection on our methods and experiences are also extremely valuable.  In the video, much of the blogging and vloging provided introspection on the teaching practices of those sharing the content.  This is not only good for all of us who are able to see the material, but it also improves the teaching and understanding of the person posting the information.

Giving something of value away is often a unique experience in our culture.  As educators we have the  opportunity to not only get paid for our job, but to capture our content and give it away.  This creates growth in society, improves teaching, and increases learning in both students we know and students we may never meet.

Educational Tech and Instructional Design (Week 10, Semester 2, Cohort 3)

Let's start with the video.  This was the first time that I was struck by the difference between live and recorded video in terms of effectiveness of instruction.  As wikipedia stated, those involved in instructional design are interested in the efficiency and appeal of design, and I noticed that the first quarter of the video was neither efficient or appealing to me.  It seems that one of the main reasons behind this is because it is live and I can't participate.  As I wait for the other people to answer the questions, I can't help wanting to do something else, whether it is check email, play on my phone, or do laundry.  I see myself as a product of the fast paced experiences while being online and I now have little tolerance for things that move this slow. 

However, the video does provide some talking points worth discussing.  I especially like the list of how people describe technology as being lustful, greedy, slothful, etc.  I rarely hear my students describe it this way, but I hear echos of this in generations who have not grown up with the technology.  This attitude also seems to be heard in the counter article that discusses how technology may be enfeebling the mind.  I was watching a talk at Google the other day that was given by the author of the book "Program or be Programmed," and one of the things that he says that mirrors this article is that if we are using only the items that are built by someone else, we become enslaved by their prisms and can't escape these boxes.  Whether it be Blackboard or city planning, the designs others create for us do alter the way we interact while we are within them. 

I don't see this as the downfall of thinking and education.  It is a little bit scary though.  In Jurassic Park, Malcolm talks about how the scientists who are creating dinosaurs are standing on the shoulders of giants, and just considered if we could, rather than if we should.  I don't see the answer as not doing research to further progress exsisting disciplines.  I see the answer as collaborating with others who have studied the roots for perspective.

It seems that the job of those involved in Instructional Design is to maintain the same principles online that are in the face to face classroom that will keep Educational Technology from becoming what some people fear.  Promoting building a space ship, starting from a blank page, and mash ups all have the ability to generate fresh, creative thinking. 

Directions: Open, enhance, and blend (Cohort 3, Week 9, Semester 2)

I wasn't aware that I was teaching "blended" classes.  Great name, not hybrid, but instead a face to face class with an online component.  The reading for this week got me thinking about how I sometimes hesitate with the amount of content I put online, possibly in fear that the students might stop showing up.  It all comes down to this question: 

If the content is online, then why go to class? 

This discussion is intriguing and when it is fully digested, it eventually makes the case for strong professors.  I have had many students who have taken online classes and decided that "it wasn't for them," because they need the interaction with other students and the professor.  To me, this seems to be a reaction from online classes that have too little participation between instructor and student.  I believe that it is the same realization when students watch the lectures only, then don't retain the material in the same way as if they here to attend class.  My wife is a health coach, and they have tried many different “automated” programs to cut costs and decrease the need for personal interaction with the clients.  What they found was that the clients lost motivation and had a much lower success rate when the coach wasn’t directly interacting in the pursuit of goals of the client. 

This makes intuitive sense to me.  If all it took were the information, we wouldn’t need schools, all we would need are libraries.  The Internet would have quickly destroyed teaching if this is all they needed.  But I do think it takes the experience to realize the importance of the professor.

Posting online materials has other benefits as well if using an open system.  The reading discussed an experiment where students were able to take the class without receiving credit in a system that did not require them to be registered with the university.  As someone who believes that sharing is good for both professors and students, I love this idea.  I recently read an article discussing how Blackboard is losing traction and the company itself is forecasting a decrease in usage.  Blackboard doesn't allow for this type of communication with the outside world, and along with the cost, is one of the worst parts of closed systems.  If we believe that our education provides value to students, then we should allow that value to reach as many as possible.

Managing the Class (Cohort 3 Semester 2 Week 8)

So many tips!  A few things that stood out were record keeping, timing, and identity. 

Record keeping-  Most of my assignments even in my on ground classes today include an electronic component of turning work in.  This has saved many trees, but at first it was very challenging to keep organized.  Our text advises student consistency in the ways they write their names both in email and attachments.  I think this is a great idea, and even further I have been using dropbox.com to keep everything in the cloud.  This has allowed these files to be synchronized between multiple computers and has allowed for access to them when I am not in the office without having to duplicate or re-email them to myself.

I've taught a few online courses, and one of the things that the text talks about that I completely agree with is timing.  Students begin to develop expectations of when the instructor will interact with students as well as the depth of interaction.  Louisa makes a great point of how students can't expect a one on one tutoring session online, and understanding this helps instructors manage time. 

An interesting point that our text makes is how it is challenging to know if students are who they say they are.  I had a discussion about this idea with one of my colleagues here on campus, and he made the comment that we really don't know if students in our on ground classes are who they say they are.  I don't collect or require ID in class, so what if they are actually someone else?  While I agree that the online format could potentially allow for more abuse with this idea, the fact remains that there must be some sort of trust in all settings.

Wrapping up...and ready to go

I can’t believe we are at the end! I will miss it! I have only good things to say about Pedagogy First. I think it helped me tremendously. Not only to explore many tools, but also to access many resources regarding all the main topics of the online education world. I think the textbook was a great tool and I will keep it on my desk, ready to access it every time I consider an issue but also to look for new resources. My Diigo library is growing with some great articles and, more importantly, I know many qualified professionals and many places where to find the information I need.
Suggestions...I don’t know. Honestly I did not expect this second semester to be so time consuming, and this was the reason for being late on some weekly assignment. The material was super interesting, in fact I was happy when I had time to do it, but I was a little frustrated when I had to rush through it too much. But maybe it is my fault, I am not a fast reader. With that said, I also have to say that all readings were necessary and useful for a better understanding. So I don’t really know where to cut. Maybe to spread it out more?
In the end I feel this is a great start. I have my backpack full of great tools and I am on my way in this never-ending work in progress.

“Caminante, son tus huellas                “Walker, your footsteps
el camino, y nada más;                         are the road, and nothing more.
caminante, no hay camino,                   Walker, there is no road,
se hace camino al andar.”                     the road is made by walking.”

Antonio Machado

C3, S2, Week 13: Wrapping It Up / Program Evaluation

1.What did you learn from the experience? SO MUCH!  I am still processing the bits and bytes of knowledge and experience I gained over this past year.  Above all, I learned how to look for answers, who to go for guidance, where to find tricks and tools to enhance my class.

2.What were some of the most effective elements or aspects of the certificate program? What worked for you and why?  The support of the POT team and my fellow members of cohort 3 were  were the cogs in the wheel.  I learned through reading the blogs and by reaching out and asking my POT mentors.  The weekly assignments and activities, although overwhelming at times (I now have a greater empathy for my students) required me to try the tools that I learned to love or leave.  While I dreaded the idea of a text for this class Ko and Rossen is a keeper.  Amazon has already sent me a request to buy back the book, I will decline.
Finally, being a part of this program gave me the confidence to accept an invitation to present a Poster Board Presentation "Creating Meaningful Discussion in an Asynchronous Environment " at the Spring 2011 Asilomar Conference for California Nurse Educators: "Teaching Innovations."  The Wimba voiceboard is being highlighted in this poster.  I imagine there will be many questions from my fellow nurse educators.

3. What can we do to make the program better? What suggestions can you make that will help us ensure that future participants benefit from your experience and your suggestions for improving the program.  I looked at the plan for cohort 4, it looks great, I don't have anything to add.  I imagine I will be an auditor from time to time. 

 

C3 S2 Wk 13 Reflection/Evaluation

When I read about POT last summer I knew I wanted to be part of Cohort 3.  I was not teaching online, but I wanted to explore online teaching and hoped to learn new ways to  encourage students in my on site class.  Everything was new to me, so it's hard to say what element of the program helped the most.  It all helped me!  Since I  can not technically have a hybrid class (according to an e-mail I received last month) I hope to keep exploring ways of using online tools to enhance classroom learning.  

I feel like I've been introduced to a whole new world.  I've thought about aspects of online learning I would never have considered had it not been for POT.  I have options.  And as I consider my options, I have some insight about the pros and cons of those options. 

I still am technologically challenged compared to many instructors, but I am more confident that I can learn how to use new tools, and am looking forward to exploring in the months to come.

Years ago I began taking martial arts classes with my son.  I kept thinking when I tested for my black belt I would be done.  For years I practiced and trained.  When the day came for my black belt test, my sensei said having a black belt simply meant I was ready to learn.  I hadn't "arrived".  I had a foundation and was ready to begin.  

I am not a "black belt" in online education by any means, but I do feel I've gained a foundation.  Looking over the program for Cohort 4, I think people will gain a solid foundation in online education.  I like the changes and think additions like Jing presentations will help people practically apply tools they are exploring.  I like the overall organization and visual presentation of the weekly assignments.  The only idea I could think of to add would be a discussion of online pedagogy with examples of how different pedagogy could be used to reach the same learning outcome.  It might be helpful to have people in the next cohort apply some of the weekly assignments to a lesson plan from a class they are currently teaching. I like Richard's  idea of building a portfolio.

Many, many thanks to all who make POT possible.  Sigh.  I wish there was a POT: Part 2 or POT: The Sequel.  Being part of a cohort kept me accountable, and I learned from reading other posts.  

Thank You!!!!!

Linda

My experience teaching hybrid courses

Lisa asked me to share my experiences with Hybrids, or rather my experiences trying to teach Hybrids. Let me preface this by saying that when I set out to teach my first blended course, I felt I had done my due diligence. I had been to numerous conferences and had just come off a sabbatical on the feasibility of online language instruction. [Please note that languages have been taught online for years. Unfortunately, many of those courses simply sacrificed the essential F2F component which most of us consider sacrosanct.] I had concluded in that sabbatical that teaching languages online responsibly could indeed be accomplished thanks to newer and improved online communication tools such as Skype, Elluminate and Wimba. It was my opinion that too many of our students still did not have access to fast enough computers and Internet connections, nor did we have on campus the facilities to accommodate online teacher and student needs. I went on to state that until we were able to replicate the F2F experience with technology, that the blended model would work better. That is the stage upon which I entered to teach my first Hybrid class.

Since all of our language classes were two days per week I decided to eliminate one day and increase the F2F day from 2.5 to 3 hours. My main mistake was not clearly defining the school week. Most of the assignments were individual study, practice and research and did not require interaction with classmates (since those activities were to be reserved for the F2F day). Even after a number of admonishments, some students still felt that they could get-by simply by attending F2F class sessions (just as some of our students in regular classes think they just coming to class is enough). I tried to inculcate in them the necessity and importance of the Virtual Day, and that by failing to complete the online activities and assignments they were not only losing those points and a large component of the course, but that they were also unable to participate in the in-class activities on which those assignments were based.  

Fully online or on-ground classes do not have such a difficult time in this regard since students are either in class or they are not. In a hybrid class, if they only come to the F2F sessions and do not complete the online portion, they are missing half of the course.

Even after my negative experience, I do still believe in the Hybrid format, and really like the University of Utah model. They have transformed their normal F2F course which normally meet four days per week into two F2F days and two virtual days. (I would use the abbreviation VD, but maybe that wouldn’t be appropriate. But who knows, it may be catchy… Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

Since our language classes here at MiraCosta meet two days per week, I would probably make one virtual day and one F2F day. The key is to have those virtual days (and F2F days as well) completely planned out ahead of time, perhaps as early as at the beginning of the semester. I would prepare lots of hands-on activities appropriate for the classroom, which would be followed up (and introduced) on the virtual day by other activities that are more conducive to the online format. Another key point is to try to avoid doing in the classroom what student are able to do online, and visa versa.

So that is my experience with Hybrids. Maybe I will take another look at teaching and designing a hybrid course in the future, but for now I am content with my F2F sections and the final planning stages of my first fully online course which I will be teaching this summer.

C3, S2, Week 13: Wrapping It Up / Program Evaluation

This last year has been one hell of a learning experience. I have taken two for-credit courses on teaching online, neither of which came close to the vigor of this program. Hopefully some day it will be recognized by the powers that be as just that, a credit-worthy program.

I really enjoyed the first semester, full of hands on learning. I played with lots of programs that I never would have used or maybe even heard about otherwise. The second semester was mostly reading, contemplating and writing. To be completely honest, it was a bit overwhelming at times. For instructors like myself that are teaching full-time, I often found myself having to decide between spending time to stay current with the blog and reading list or dedicating time to my classes. As you saw, sometimes I was forced to fall behind with the blogging.

As far as the most effective elements, I really liked the hands on boot camp, even though that was not necessarily part of the program. Maybe it should be. Anyone thinking about teaching online for the first time knows that there is not only a big learning curve, but also a huge time investment in the simple preparation and setting up of the course. If a person could come out of the program with not only ideas and knowledge of Web 2.0 tools, but almost an entire course, that would really be something. 

Some of the readings were fabulous while others were a bit too theoretical for my liking. The same is true for the videos. I really liked two of the videos, Sharing: The Moral Imperative, by Dean Shareski, and One laptop per child, by Negroponte, though I didn’t care at all for Schwier’s History of Educational Technology.  I like the idea of including a history of educational technology but it seems to me that it would make more sense to present it towards the first semester instead of saving it for the end.

I looked at your plan for next year and think it is excellent, and definitely more do-able. You have done an amazing job of putting this program together and are to be applauded [standing ovation please with clapping and loud applause]. I wish there were a way to compensate you moderators, organizers and presenters for your time. You are definitely living the message presented by Shareski in his video on sharing, except y’all took it one step farther.

A great experience over all. Thanks again to you moderators for your brilliant insights and for your patience, and thanks to my cohorts who have blogged alongside me during the journey. I applaud your dedication as well, and have enjoyed reading your insightful comments. Here’s to building virtual space ships!

C3, S2, Week 12: Introduction to Online Education Theory

First of all, is my bald spot really that noticeable?

As Jim very clearly pointed out in the video, pedagogy must drive the technology and tools. Richard summarized the main points succinctly: instruct, construct, connect.

I agree with Andrea, I thought Larry Sanger's article was great. He discussed three commonly held beliefs regarding education and the Internet. First he attacked the premise that we no longer need to learn (read: memorize) facts because information can now be accessed easily and instantly via any computer. Second, he disproved the theory that collaborative learning can or should replace individual learning. Lastly he made a case against the idea that co-constructed knowledge was somehow superior to textbooks.

Obviously the web has a lot to offer educators and students but some people take that to an extreme. Let's not forget what they said about the last great technologies. Most of us are too young to remember the last major innovations that "revolutionized" education, and specifically language teaching. First it was Edison’s phonograph (linguaphone) at the end of the 19th Century allowed students to hear native speakers talking for the first time. Then, in the 1930s it was radio, especially the BBC that could "bring the world into the classroom. And then, get ready, in the 1950s, the tape recorder hit the scene. "Hear your own voice" becomes the slogan of new methods, and we see language labs beginning to be installed in schools throughout the country. This incredible technological advance was followed by the granddaddy of them all ... “the new miracle in education”, the invention that was to revolutionize education... the television. Language courses could now be broadcast over the airways, and numerous distance education progams and correspondance courses were born. This brings us up to modern times, and the advent of computers and the Internet, which promotors promised would transform language learning into a totally "individualized interactive experience, with only marginal need for teachers or classrooms."

We have come a long way since the days before computers, before television and radio, but we need to remember that education is a dialogue that requires interaction. It is not something that can be downloaded or googled. If education were as simple as accessing information, students could simply buy the book.

C3 S2 Wk12 Into to Online Ed Theory

Jim and Lisa's video helped me synthesize a lot of information I've stored over the year. The comment that instructive, constructive, and connective pedagogy are all ways of achieving learning objectives nudged me to exclaim, "Ahhh hahhh!"  Different instructors have different gifts, and their pedagogy reflects that. It's ok to be instructive if you are charismatic and engaging in person, and its ok to structure online learning to allow learners to make connections and explore.  I've been struggling with the idea of identifying my pedagogy and bringing it online, in part because I think online teaching creates opportunities for new pedagogy.   I feel like I am returning to the beginning.  I'm thinking  how I am a constructivist on ground and how that could translate online.  I'm thinking how at times I am an instructivist, and I am thinking how I can explore new ways of reaching learning outcomes.  As we finish, I feel as though I am ready to begin.

C3, S2, Week 10 - Educational Technology and Instructional Design