Module 6 Responses

I responded to Kathi Middleton at

http://klmiddleton.blogspot.com/2011/05/module-6-post.html

and Aisha Chadwick at

http://chadwickeds.blogspot.com/

Aisha

I completely agree with your statement that learning should take place in the classroom and in the real world as well. I think that technology allows us to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real world experiences. Simulations, skype sessions, and live streaming video make some experiences that learners would probably never be able to have possible.

May 29, 2011 7:12 PM

Philosophies...how many of us have them?

 
       Distance education has moved from paper and pencil based asynchronous courses, to computer based courses that have the capability of being completed synchronously or asynchronously.  Until recently I had no real opinions about online education or distance education, I knew that it was a more convenient way for some people to obtain degrees, but I had never given any real thought to the design or implementation of online education.  Understanding my philosophy of distance education is an important part of understanding why I think and act the way I do about e-learning and technology.  With the lack of face to face interaction in distance education courses it is vital that the instructor develop a sense of community among learners.  I believe that the instructor has a responsibility to students to foster a community where communication is open, honest, and direct.  I believe in accessibility, whether through office hours, telephone conversations, e-mail correspondence, or instant messaging.  I think that instructors should provide multiple means for students to correspond with them, and encourage students to correspond with their peers outside of the requirements of the course.  Wikis, blogs, and instant messaging applications such as Skype are great ways to do this.  Both students and instructors are responsible for learning.  Instructors meet their responsibilities by providing clear and concise learning outcomes, course syllabi, course requirements, instructor expectations, and rubrics that will be used to assess student work and learning.  Students are responsible for learning, by keeping up with course assignments, communicating with their peers and instructor, and becoming an active member of the learning community.  I believe that any student in the online learning environment has to have a fair amount of intrinsic motivation in order to be successful. 

        My philosophy of distance education is not based on just one theory of education; instead it is based on my prior experiences, background knowledge, and a mix of what I believe to be best practices in education.  There will never be a one size fits all philosophy of education or design of education.  Instead each instructor must design their instruction based on what they believe in as well as what is going to best suit the needs of their students.  

Module 5 blog responses

I responded to Gary Allens blog at

http://mraedcu8845.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/module-5-gary-allen/#comments

and

 Kathi Middleton at

http://klmiddleton.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-technologies.html?showComment=1305504834350#c4492922291778754410

The only thing to fear, is fear itself

Fear of the unknown can be one of the biggest detriments to technology in education.  Many veteran teachers are apprehensive when it comes to utilizing new technology.  Recently I presented during one of our professional learning days about the Senteo Smart Response software.  Most of the teachers in the session were veteran teachers who are used to giving typical paper and pencil assessments with the most technology used in those assessments being a Scantron assessment.  I had to convince these teachers that using the Senteo is simple and much more efficient than those typical paper pencil tests, as well as a way to help our environment.  None of the teachers were interested in doing it this way, they all complained that it would be much more work for them to convert their old assessments to Senteo assessments, for every good reason I had for them to use the Senteo they have five reasons why it would be too hard.  They had entered the room with preconceived notions and were prepared to argue their stance for their old way of doing things.  If I had known about the ARCS model, this professional development session could have gone a lot better.  I would have first gained their attention by randomly selecting one of their assessments to quickly input into the Senteo assessment.  I would have also gotten the members of the session actively engaged by asking them to bring their laptops so that they could practice using the software (Driscoll, 2005).  I would also get the teachers to see how useful this will be for them in the future, I would create a folder on our common shared drive for teachers to input their Senteo assessments  so that they can be modified in the future and used by other teachers as well.  I would build confidence by modeling the simplicity of using Senteo and creating a step by step tutorial for teachers to access after the session was over so that they could be sure that they understand how to use the software.  To create a sense of satisfaction I will have each teacher create a Senteo assessment that they can immediately use in their classroom. 

If I only knew back in January what I know now, I am certain that this professional development session would have gone a lot better, and the teachers would have left with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction and hopefully most will have gone back to their classrooms and begun using Senteo. 

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc