Momenta Learning

A blog on topics related to Elearning, online education, and instructional design.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Suggested Reflections (week 3)

  1. In your blog share some of your reflections of what you have learned this week.
    One of the things I have learned this week relates to team building in online settings. It is a tricky situation when you have to put together teams of students who have not met before in a on-site course. But to do it in an online class, it is even more difficult. My take on this is that, even though many instructors practice this, the students have to figure out themselves how to pair up, the instructor only needs to create the right environment. Maybe the instructor leaves breadcrumbs that students could follow. One way I envision doing this is by first start the course with a simple discussion introduction or a simple poll that could give details about what the students are interested about in the course. Then I would set up forums for them to come and start discussing topics that interest them. The first post would come from me and then I will let them know I am paying attention to their conversation so that they know I am present and interested in what they have to say. I will post encouraging comments to them so that they can keep discussing possible projects together.
  2. In particular, reflect on your experiences of two different facilitation styles or strategies for promoting critical thinking. What are the implications for the facilitation of online courses?
    In my experience in the classroom and the online environment the use of case studies and questions with not a definite answer can be effective as promoters of meaningful thinking. The case studies I have designed included images and in some cases, video. Then I would ask questions about how they use the data provided to come up with a solution that they can justify and defend. For the open-ended questions I would clarify that there is no right or wrong answer but their thinking process will be evaluated. In all these cases, I would establish in the guidelines that the best way to approach their response is by providing external resources they used for their research (I think there needs to be a clarification that I don’t expect them to complete the activities in one sit). These activities can be implemented in the classroom in a faster manner because the students and the instructor are in one place and the communication includes body language, voice tones, verbal cues, etc. In the online environment this is not possible, so the guidelines have to be designed carefully so that no loose ends will create confusion and discouragement on the students. The instructor has to make sure that the students feel that he/she is present in the forums, from time to time by making comments or by asking questions to the students. The students need to know that the instructor cares about their work and values their ideas express in the discussions.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Activity Reflection (week 3)

Please post a reflection that addresses what you did this week, why you did what you did, and what you would do differently in the future. Your reflection will be framed by three broad questions: What? So what? What now?
  1. What?
    1. Briefly describe what you did.
      This week’s subject on making learners connect to each other has made me consider the application of audio and web 2.0 technologies like Voicethread, to discussion forums. If we establish rules for making posts of this type, I believe it can work. There is little research on this area yet, but I think the evidence is building up on the usefulness of these technologies in online teaching.
  2. So what?
    1. Describe why you did what you did. What are your feelings about what you did?
      I got curious after Dr. Farmakis presentation when I asked if she had used audio for discussion forums, then came a series of posts in the chat from some other attendees that leaned on the drawbacks of using the technology in the discussion setting. It got me curious because I thought that maybe this is just some kind of resistance to the use of new technology or maybe there is indeed no foundation on the usefulness of this system in online learning. So, I think I have found a problem I liked to explore possible solutions to, that has really excited me.
    2. How will this help you?
      The use of web 2.0 technologies for online learning is developing fast and I want to be a part of this inquiry. This new task is going to help hone my research skills in education research, which requires different methods than the ones I have used in engineering.
    3. What did you learn from the experience?
      That I should not be afraid of using new technologies for creating engaging and interactive activities in the discussion sections of my course. I also learned that there is still little research on the use of these technologies in online learning, maybe this research is being conducted now, but there a few papers out there already published. This is a fertile area for research, which I am hoping to conduct at some point later in my career.
  3. What now?
    1. What changes did you make?
      I will start making some activities that include the use of presentation tools such as Voicethread. One way we can implement this is by letting the students use a different identity if they choose to. They can also choose the using of the audio system only, we will have to create netiquette rules so that the postings do not get confusing to other students.
    2. What will you do differently in the future?
      I think I will start considering using web 2.0 tools, even though there is not enough research to support the effectiveness of many of these tools. Since I am interested in doing research later on, I think I might be able to find a topic here. I guess the big questions is whether discussion forums gain anything from implementing audio threads, here at UF there is no guidelines on how students use the tool, I think this time I will spend some effort on creating these guides to help students create a truly engaging community through voice and text.
    3. What do you still have to learn?
      I think I need to work on the guidelines and instructions for conducting audio postings for discussion forums. This is basically uncharted territory for me but I am excited about this possibility. In addition, there are other web 2.0 tools that I think can be used for online learning. I am especially interested in finding a good use of that app called Vine, maybe it could work for creative activities related to the arts and social sciences. The roadblock here is that this App is not integrating on any LMS so far, but I think this is going to change soon.

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