I am a digital immigrant; my students are digital natives. This blog explores my attempts to BRIDGE this gap.
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Converting Face-to-Face Learning into a Blended-Learning Opportunity
On-line education is increasingly becoming more acceptable as a viable learning format option. New technologies allow for instruction to be targeted, individualized and therefore more meaningful than ever before. Many face-to-face learning formats are being converted into blended-learning formats in order to broaden the possibilities available to the learners. However, merely making the materials accessible on-line and transferring the assignments will not make the desired changes. The instructional designer creating the change must pre-plan carefully, designing new activities that make the most of the opportunities awarded through a blended-learning format. The role of the trainer will also shift significantly from a face-to-face environment. He/she should be 'trained' in order to understand and make the most of the changes.
Friday, 5 October 2012
Open Courses Increasing Access to Education
Open
Courses have emerged all over the Internet. They reinforce the belief that education should be
accessible to all. Often
provided by the top universities around the world, open courses are an
opportunity to learn for free, and considering the price of a tertiary
education these days, they are worth taking a good look at!
I
have chosen to look at the open courses offered by Yale, known as Open Yale
courses. The courses range from Introduction to the Old Testament to Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics.
. Specifically, I am looking at a
course entitled SOCY 151: Foundations of
Modern Social Theory. The welcome message from the Founding Director and
Principal Investigator, Diana E. E. Kleiner, expresses the goal of the
initiative. “We hope the lectures
and other course materials, which reflect the values of a Yale liberal arts
education, inspire your own critical thinking and creative imagination” (Open
Yale Courses).
Excited
about the potential of the initiative, I quickly got started. The course consists of a course
overview, a topical syllabus with lecture videos, assigned reading lists for
each lecture, transcripts of each lecture and descriptions of the assessments
used in the Yale for credit course.
I
teach the advent of communism in my IB History class so I was particularly
intrigued by the videos on Marxism.
Each video is approximately one hour long and the first one I watched
was incredibly interesting. I
viewed it with a copy of the transcript open and learned quite a bit in the
process, which I plan to share with my students in the near future.
Distance
learning has opened the doors to many learners thirsty for knowledge but
lacking access. The potential for
distance learning to revolutionize education everywhere is already being
realized and much emphasis is being placed on how to improve learning through
distance, online opportunities.
Best
practices in distance learning involve many of the same ideas as in traditional
classroom teaching. Planning is an
essential component. Understanding
your learners and the learning context is the first step in the planning
process. The next step, creating
good objectives and a specific plan or syllabus can then reflect the learners’
environment more accurately.
Designing instruction for specific learners enhances the learning
experience and makes the process more efficient and effective. The Yale Open courses are designed for
those potential learners that have the interest to learn from the most
respected lecturers in their field, with the hope that these lectures will
inspire learners to improve their lives and the lives of others. Although they are open to all with access
to the Internet, they are not designed for someone that requires a specific
skill or content understanding.
Interactivity
is an essential component of quality distance learning programs. Although the Yale Open courses allow
would-be learners to access professors and experts that would otherwise have no
access due to financial restrictions, lack of admission to the university
or/and distance, they allow for no interactivity with either the professors or
the other learners. Moderated
interactivity is time consuming and costly and could not be offered free of
cost.
Assessment
is important to learning in all types of settings. Although the Yale Open courses list the types of assessments
required by the credit earning, tuition paying students, neither the actual assessments
nor the rubrics used to assess are shared. That is a component I would of enjoyed using and missed from
the course. I understand that
feedback would not be available in a free environment however I was ready to
write about the issues, to reflect, to engage with the content. I was left
wanting more. But, as the
goal of the courses is to “inspire…critical thinking and creative imagination”,
my experience with Professor Ivan Szeleyni through the SOCY 151: Foundations of Modern Social Theory Yale
Open course was a success.
Donald
Kirkpatrick offers a straightforward approach to evaluating learning programs
(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2012, p. 349) (Clark, n.d.). The first level deals with the reactions of the learners,
“Did they like it?”. I did enjoy
reviewing the course and the one session I participated in. The second level deals with learning,
“Did they learn it?”. In an
attempt to evaluate the degree to which I “have advanced in skills, knowledge,
or attitude” (Simonson, et al, 2012, p. 349), I realize I did get something
more concrete than mere enjoyment out of the course. I can speak on the subject and elaborate on the ideas
discusses. I am not certain
whether this new knowledge will remain a part of my long-term memory, but at
the moment it has inspired new thinking and the creation of differing
perspectives than those previously held. The third level deals with the transfer of
knowledge, “Will they use it?”. I
have already incorporated one of Dr. Szeleyni’s ideas into my lesson on the
origins of communism. The fourth
level, results, is more difficult to assess in this situation. Obviously the impact of the course
would have been more profound if the course offered interactivity and if the
assessments and rubrics had been shared.
I
admit that as an adult learner with a profound interest in modern social
theory, I am not the typical learner.
The for credit version of SOCY 151:
Foundations of Modern Social Theory is designed for exceptionally talented,
young adults, recent high school graduates not for a teacher with 22 years of
experience. Therefore, Dr. Szeleyni
is not looking at learners like me as he speaks yet I felt connected in the
experience. Perhaps, this is
because as Malcolm Knowles describes in his Andragogy theory, “[adults] should
acquire the habit of looking at every experience as an opportunity to learn and
should become skillful in learning from it” (Smith, 2002). I think the Yale Open courses, and
specifically the one I participated in, SOCY 151: Foundations of Modern Social Theory , is worthwhile for adults
interested in the subject.
References
Clark, D. (n.d.). Kirkpatrick's four level evaluation model. Retrieved
October 5, 2012,
from
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/isd/kirkpatrick.html
Open Yale courses. (2012). Retrieved October 5, 2012, from http://oyc.yale.edu/
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning
at a distance Foundations of distance
education (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Smith, M. K.
(2002) 'Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and
SOCY 151: Foundations of Modern Social Theory. (2012). Retrieved from
http://oyc.yale.edu/sociology/ socy-151#overview
Monday, 24 September 2012
Interactive Tours for the 9-12 classroom
“Technology
has the shelf life of a banana.” Scott McNealy
As the speed of
technological innovation continues to hasten, so does the potential for
enriched distance learning. Instructional designers are creating new,
exciting opportunities for learners everywhere. The immense choices of
technologies available provide an exciting range of possibilities.
Case
in point
A high school history
teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to
her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums.
The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be
able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the artwork on display.
Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each
exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual
work of art. (Walden University)
Role
of the Instructional Designer
There are numerous
ways that the instructional designer can help the teacher develop this learning
module. But, the most important first step is to determine the
lowest common technologies (LCT). This can be done through a
student survey where the students are prompted to list the technologies
available to them (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2012, p. 116).
Survey Monkey is a user friendly and efficient tool to use to
create and administer surveys. There is no point in developing a module
that requires technologies not available to the learners.
Facebook
High school students
are likely to be familiar with social networking sites such as Facebook.
“According to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life
project, 55% of precollege Americans ages 12 to 17 were active on social
networking sites in 2006” (Simonson, et al, p. 131). Using Facebook,
students can easily take a picture of the two pieces of artwork they choose to
critique and begin discussion threads. Similarly, the museum curator can log in
to the Facebook page and interact with the students asynchronously. He
/she can engage in a Q&A with the students regardless of time zone or
location.
The “tour” of the
museum exhibition(s) can take place through video created by the museum and
placed on to the Facebook page. Further, most museums already have
virtual tours of their regular collection, albeit they reserve their special
exhibits for those that come in for the face-to-face visit.
Developing a rubric
in order to determine if the learning outcomes have been reached is important
to the design of this module. Discussion threads are an easy way to
evaluate the students’ ability to question and analyze content.
Kristen Nicole
Cardon, a student in a British Literary course, describes how her teacher
facilitated discussions in her class using a Facebook page. She describes
various benefits of the use of Facebook in her class including, “We were
able to benefit from insights from peers who generally don’t participate in
class discussion” and “Through contributions from our classmates, we understood
how each distinct text related to the others and to the class focus, and so on”
(Walsh, 2010). Facebook is a great
tool to use for lively discussion threads particularly because of the
familiarity of the platform and the ease of use.
Facebook is also used
in the classroom for other purposes.
Not only do the discussion threads provide a platform for developing
your ideas but also Facebook gives students a voice they may not of otherwise
had. In a recent article from the
popular educational website, Edutopia,
I learned how teachers have been using Facebook to give students a voice and to
promote advocacy (Walpert-Gawron, 2010). The Buffelgrass Shall Perish fan page
provided Mr. Brian Kievit’s middle school students the opportunity to send
their message to a broader community using Facebook (2010).
Facebook is a useful tool,
with which the teacher can effectively apply distributed learning,
allowing “instructor, students, and
content to be located in different, non-centralized locations so that
instruction and learning occur independent of place and time” (Simonson, et al,
2012, p. 124).
Virtual
Worlds
Perhaps a bit
ambitious, but another exciting possibility is the use of virtual worlds such
as Second Life. Virtual worlds “appear to have exciting potential for placing
students in real-life applications of course content” (Simonson, et al,
2012, p. 132). The instructional designer can recreate the desired
exhibition and the students’ avatars can interact with the art within the
virtual world.
This is an exciting
concept but the limitations may be too difficult to overcome. The
necessity of a large bandwidth for users and the extensive amount of time
required to recreate the scenarios (Simonson, et al, p. 132) may make this
technology impossible for the teacher and instructional designer alike.
However, once developed it would be the next best thing to purchasing a round
trip ticket to New York City and being there in person.
Many educators are
already experimenting with tools like Second Life. As part of a Global Kids Inc. initiative, Second Life was
used to enhance content in urban classrooms. They warn not to underestimate the power of Second Life as
an instructional tool especially when teamed with other Web 2.0 tools (Joseph,
Santo, Tsai, 2007, p. 18). Global Kids offers some ideas for implementing
Second Life in classrooms such as creating interactive workshops and photo
shows (Joseph, et al, 2007, p. 19).
Both of these would be useful in our scenario.
Wikis,
Blogs and Video Conferencing (Skype)
Depending on the
availability of technology and the experience of the instructional designer and
the teacher, the right choice may be different from the two outlined
above. Wikis provide an easy to use platform for collaboration.
Videos can be loaded as widgets and discussion threads can be used to critique
artwork or/and interact with the museum curators. Other possibilities
include the use of blogs for ease of communication and or video conferencing
tools such as Skype to interact with the museum curators in real time.
References
Joseph, B., Santo, R., & Tsai, T. (2007, July). Best practices in using virtual worlds for education
[PDF].
Scott McNealy's top five. (2006, April 25). Retrieved from Tech
Republic website:
Simonson,
M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a
distance Foundations of distance
education (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Walsh, K. (2010, August). Facebook as an instructional technology tool [Newsgroup post]. Retrieved
from EmergingEd Tech website: http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/08/
facebook-as-an-instructional-technology-tool/
Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2010, May). Social media in education: The power of Facebook [Newsgroup post].
Retrieved from Edutopia website: http://www.edutopia.org/
social-media-education-examples-facebook
Sunday, 9 September 2012
What the Future Holds: The Evolution of Distance Education
When I graduated from high school in 1985, there were many
factors that affected future educational choices. Had distance education offered the range of opportunities it
does today, my choices would possibly have been different. Although distance education has been
around for over 160 years, in 1985 it was not even a consideration for most of us. I had no idea that distance learning
degrees were offered although the limited scope of these would of have hampered
my interest in them even if I had known. Upon starting my teaching career in 1990, I became
aware of correspondence courses offered to many high school students,
particularly those that needed remediation or wanted to take courses not
offered at the school.
A few years later, when I moved to the American School in
Kingston, Jamaica, I found myself coordinating the correspondence course
program offering high school degrees from the University of Nebraska. These
courses were comprehensive, required self-motivation and initiative from the
students, and provided very limited interaction between the teacher/facilitator
and student. I think it was this early experience with distance education that
made me so skeptical about participating in an online degree program. Prior to my experience seeking a degree
in Instructional Design and Technology, distance learning was something that
you engage in if you have absolutely no other alternative. I viewed distance education as a
reading list and a set of questions, only there to demonstrate what we already
knew or could learn on our own.
Today, distance learning is not only defined by what is
available now but also by what is possible in the near future. Distance
education connects the learner and the teacher using the ever increasing
advances in technology communications. Garrison and Steele offer the following criteria for
distance education:
1. Distance education implies that the majority of
educational communication
between (among) teacher and student(s)
occurs noncontiguously.
2. Distance education must involve
two-way communication between (among)
teacher and student(s) for the purpose
of facilitating and supporting the
educational process.
3. Distance education uses technology
to mediate the necessary two-way
communication. (Simonson, Smaldino,
Albright, Zvackek, 2012, p. 35)
Distance
education today is much more than a mere reading list and set of
questions. It requires interaction
between teacher, student and content.
An interesting debate has emerged possibly sparked by the work of Otto
Peters. Peters used
industrialization to explain his rationale for distance education. Focusing on
the changes in distance education over the years, educators have used Henry
Ford’s industrialization model to explain its evolution. Post-Fordist thought focuses on “product
innovation, process variability, and labor responsibility” (p. 54). It stresses the needs of the student
and the responsibility of the teachers to meet these needs and provide
feedback. It is more flexible and individually customized as it focuses more on
the consumer, the students, than the product. While educators continue to research and debate over how
learning takes place, what conditions are best and which strategies are most
effective, post-Fordists promote a constructionist view of learning. Distance
learning today adheres to many of the post-Fordist ideas encouraging students
to learn through experiences (p. 58).
The idea of mass produced learning programs (Fordist) would not meet
the needs or the expectations of this technology savvy generation.
The
future of distance education will be driven by technological advances and
research on learning theory. The
ability to target instruction so that optimum learning takes place using all of
the technology resources available, I believe, is the goal of distance
education. Not only will
distance education offer learners more choice and flexibility, but quality of
education will also become a benefit.
Much more research needs to be collected on the use of eLearning for
K-12 (Huett, Moller, Foshay, Coleman, 2008) but more and more we will see
blended approaches in traditional settings. The future will bring exponential
growth of distance education (Laureate Education, n.d.). As e-schools emerge and the use of
technology is prevalent in K-12 settings across the world, it is easy to
conclude that web-based learning will be used across grade levels and through
higher education, although it is unlikely to ever replace traditional
face-to-face instruction particularly in the K-12 environment (Laureate
Education, n.d.).
See "The Future of Distance Education: The Sky's the Limit"
References
See "The Future of Distance Education: The Sky's the Limit"
References
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008).
The evolution of distance education:
Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12).
TechTrends, 52(5), 63–6 7.
Laureate Education Inc., (Producer). (n.d.). Distance education: The next generation
[Video]. Baltimore, MD : Simonson, M.
Simonson,
M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education
(5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Distance Learning
Distance learning is changing how we view education. Education is becoming more accessible and personalized as a result. As a student in an on-line learning situation, I am a major benefactor of the advent of distance learning. I look forward to posting much more on this in the coming weeks.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Tutorial Designers and Learning
Integration of technology into existing K-12 curricula effectively is more than just teaching basic computer skills and software programs in a separate computer lab. Technology is everywhere; it is an integral part of our everyday lives. Yet, because this transformation has happened, and continuous to happen, at such a fast pace, schools have struggled with making the shifts effectively. Heidi Hayes-Jacobs in Curriculum 21 addresses this issue directly and encourages beginning the transformation through the lens of the curriculum, assessment in particular (Hayes-Jacobs, 2010).
Learning Theory
Constructivist theory tells us that education is not about what the teacher can provide in a classroom, but what the learner can process through experiences with their environment (Ormrod, 2009). The role of the teacher as ‘sage on a stage’ shifts to that of a mentor and facilitator of learning. Assessments therefore also shift from solely knowledge-based assessments to more performance-based assessments.
Social learning theory considers what people learn from each other. Some of our learning occurs through observations of others and the outcomes of the observed behaviors. Albert Bandura, the foremost proponent of social learning theory, describes the four conditions necessary for learning through modeling: attention, retention (ie. using rehearsal), motor reproduction (ability to replicate) and motivation (the desire to demonstrate what they have learned) (Ormrod, 1999).
One Example
Sal Khan and his Khan Academy have become a YouTube phenomena. Sal Khan appeared on 60 minutes recently to discuss the future of education. His concept of providing quality education to everyone, everywhere has taken off . At the top of the website, he prompts the prospective learner with a message, "Watch. Practice. Learn almost anything for free" (Khan Academy, 2012). Inspired by the success of Sal Khan, many teachers have implemented a variety of the principles of constructivism to enable students to design their own tutorials.
Using Camstasia, teachers can record their lessons and students can teach each other. They can pause, replay and essentially learn at their own pace from each other. Eric Marcos, a Math Teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, California has created, along with many of his students, numerous tutorials using Camstasia (Curriculum 21, 2010). They can be viewed at Mathtrain.com, a website he created to showcase the tutorials.
This activity reflects the tenants of constructivism and social learning theory, focusing on performance-based assessments that enable students to learn through interactions and modeling while using technology.
As the educational sector struggles with the conflicting opinions on educational reform, it is clear that technology is not a passing fad. Digital immigrants get ready.
References
Camstasia:mac. Retrieved from http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html
Hayes-Jacobs, H. (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Khan Academy (2012). Retrieved from http://www.khanacademy.org/.
Ormrod, J.E. (1999). Human learning (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.
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