Developing Critical Thinking Final Project

Static vs. Dynamic Technologies

Click on Image to Enlarge:




Based upon my philosophy of distance education, I believe I am moving away from the static end of the static-dynamic continuum, closer towards the middle. I am an active participant in discussion boards and Wikis, and even Blogs! However, up until recently, my participation has not been as dynamic as it should be; in fact, participation has been rather mediocre, barely making par. In order to begin to move toward the dynamic end of the spectrum, I will personally reevaluate my 3 C's participation: Content, Collaboration, and Communication and develop strategies to increase my performance in these three areas. As Fahy (2008) asserts, "what the learner does with the media is more important than what the teacher does" (p. 171). As a learner, I will become more interactive with the media/technology made available to me via Walden University's eCollege and through the Internet.

Blogs Posted to:
Linda Hutchinson
Karen Connell


Blogs that I found to be of great interest were Milton Francis' as well as Karen Connell's. I tried to be selective in my choosing, by not choosing teachers of the same subjects as my former specialization - mathematics - but inevitably, I have gravitated to like minds. Both Karen and Milton in their blogs, pose some interesting and controversial comments. Milton often had great insight and intellectually stimulating feedback. For both of these blogs I am appreciative!

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Click on Image to View Larger:




There are several technological tools that learners are using outside the classroom. In order to effectively reach today’s learners, one must bring into the classroom the tools with which the learners are familiar. One prominent tool is the iPod. Other tools which are frequently utilized by learners outside the classroom are those of the laptop computer and the eReader. Each of these technological tools offer an augmentation to daily lessons and engage the learners in inquiry based learning.

In regards to the iPod, tools such as Podcasts are best for this purpose. Podcasting is a powerful platform that can address multiple learning styles with recorded audio, music, photos, and video. Furthermore, podcasting delivers educational content in a portable format that learners can access and review anytime, anywhere, at their own pace, and as often as they need. Educators who go beyond "course-casting," or simply posting recordings of their class presentations or lectures, will find that podcasting can enhance lessons by engaging students with material for their review before and after classtime. Creating podcasts is also a great way for students to demonstrate their learning and develop their communication skills.

With the laptop computers and eReaders, online searches, document creations, and collaborations are all best for this purpose. First, e-readers can contain many books but weigh a few ounces rather than several pounds. In addition, there may be ecological benefits for using e-readers, but the jury is still out on this one. Costs of producing paper versus the cost of producing the electricity an e-reader requires along with e-waste require additional attention to the technology that potentially make e-readers eco-friendly. Textbooks are often out-of-date as soon as they hit print in some core curriculum areas.

Blogs Posted to:
Linda Hutchinson
Karen Connell

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

• How should participation in a collaborative learning community be assessed?
According to Palloff and Pratt (2005), collaborative activities are best assessed collaboratively. This is not to say that the instructor is void of all responsibilities for assessing collaborative work but that group members themselves are more often than not better able to assess how well individual team members contributed to the collaborative effort and are better able to assess their own contributions through self-assessment and feedback. Clear and concise rubrics should be made available at the beginning of the class so that students know exactly what is expected of them and how their contributions will be measured. Evaluation and assessment should be part of the learning-teaching process, embedded in class activities and in the interaction between learners and between learners and teachers (Palloff and Pratt, 2007). Ongoing assessment of student performance linked to immediate feedback and individualized instruction supports learning (Swan, 2004).
Although student involvement in collaborative assessment further demonstrates the student’s own understanding and comprehension of the course content, instructors need to use good judgment and not let interpersonal difficulties among students sway assessment.

In my research I came across a very informative blog by Karen Mallette, in which Karen goes into great detail to explain why rubrics and feedback are so important in distance education. Mallette (2010) referenced the work of Phil Race who describes use a “ripples on a pond” model for describing the main factors of successful learning, in which Race (2001) claims feedback as the most essential factor.

• How do the varying levels of skill and knowledge students bring to a course affect the instructor's "fair and equitable assessment" of learning?
It is important to take into account the students’ perception of their own learning (Palloff and Pratt, 2007). Probably more so than in a traditional classroom, just by the nature of online learning, students participating in distance education come from varying backgrounds, have varying skill levels, diverse knowledge sets, cultural differences, come with a myriad of work and life experiences, not to mention age differences. Just as importantly, students bring to the online environment dissimilar personal, family and work responsibilities that can impact their learning. Students’ self-assessment regarding the amount of learning gained and learning objectives achieved is often just as important, or more so, than the instructor’s opinion of their work (Palloff and Pratt, 2007).

• If a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community for an online course, what should the other members of the learning community do?
Initially, members of the learning community should reach out and try to communicate with the student to try to persuade the student to participate or at least do what they can to understand what the issue(s) may be that are preventing the student from participating. With understanding, it may be possible to come to a mutual agreement and practical solution that would work for all members of the community. If that doesn’t work, would be the responsibility of the group members to enlist the assistance of the instructor so as to prevent possible ramifications that would affect the entire group.

• What role should the instructor play?
The instructor should take on the role of mediator for the group by reaching out to the student to offer guidance, assistance and encouragement while at the same time reminding the student of their obligations to themselves and to their learning community and remind them of the consequences of non-participation.

• What impact would this have on his or her assessment plan?
If a student refuses to work collaboratively as part of a learning community then the instructor would be forced to grade accordingly. If the instructor provided the class with clear expectations and rubrics that would be used for assessment at the onset of the course, then the student shouldn’t be surprised at the assessment results received.
Having said that, I would hope that the instructor would take into consideration the difference between refusal to participate versus extenuating circumstances outside of the student’s control that prevented participation.

References:
Mallette, K. (2010, April 23). Evaluation and Assessment in Online Learning [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://kmallette.files.wordpress.com/2010/07 otl-541_finalproject.pdf

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007) Building online learning communities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Race, P. (2001, February 16). Using feedback to help students learn. Retrieved from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id432_using_feedback.pdf

Siemens, G. (2009). The future of distance education. (Vodcast). Principals of Distance Education DVD produced by Laureate Education, Inc. Baltimore.

Simonson, M. (2008). Distance education: The next generation. (Vodcast). Principles of Distance Education DVD produced by Laureate Education, Inc. Baltimore.

Swan, K. (2004). Relationships between interactions and learning in online environments. In Sloan-C (Ed), Effective practices in learning effectiveness (pp. 1-6).

Blogs Posted to:
Linda Hutchinson
Milton Francis

Video Storyboard: Development of Critical Thinking Skills in Distance Education Environments

Click on Image below to view larger:


Blogs Posted to:
Karen Connell
Linda Hutchinson

Module 2 Post

When one first explores the concept of learning, three main descriptors of learning come to mind: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. According to George Siemens, “These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology” and “behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism do not attempt to address the challenges of organizational knowledge and transference”(2004). In describing learning in a digital age, Siemens (2004) notates limitations of these three theories and addresses an evolution of theory: “At some point, however, the underlying conditions have altered so significantly, that further modification is no longer sensible. An entirely new approach is needed.”

The new approach Siemens proposed is the theory of Connectivism. Connectivism takes into account the new processes that learners must take on when learning in a digital, technology-based environment. As the name implies, connectivism is based upon connections, networks, digital and mental, which allow learners to access, retrieve, and utilize information to gain knowledge, thereby changing behaviors, which is indicative of learning. In his book Knowing Knowledge (2006), Siemens discusses this shift in knowledge flow:

“The most substantial changes will be felt in how we organize ourselves. The
spaces and structures of society – corporations, churches and religious
bodies, schools and government – will experience a different relationship with
knowledge. Instead of relationships of control/monitor and cause/effect,
these organizations require a shift in view to foster, nurture, and connect.
Customers, students, and clients no longer tolerate pre-packaging (music,
news, media). Knowledge set free enables dynamic, adaptive, and personalized
experiences.”

In this 21st century learning environment, George Siemens discussed the growing acceptance of distance education in today’s corporate and educational spheres, including three possible elements of distance education that are creating more effective learning experiences and giving distance education an identity of its own distinct from F2F courses: (a) global diversity, (b) communication, and (c) collaborative interaction.

I fully agree with Siemens in this regards, especially in the case of collaborative interaction. This evolution of collaborative interaction has been augmented greatly by this virtual learning environment and several online tools are available today to facilitate these interactions among learners. Collaborative interactions are no longer limited to strictly face to face interactions; teachers and learners alike can now collaborate via online discussion boards, collaborative WikiSpaces, Blogs, and Google Documents and applications which allow all users to see the same document at the same time, simultaneously working towards a common goal. Time and space are no longer limitations when it comes to collaborative interaction. In their blog (http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/collaborative-learning), CommLab India discusses just this thought: “Learning in a collaborative environment can take place at any time. It can happen when individuals are in discussion in a group or over the Internet” (2010). Additionally, as Blogger David Hopkins points out, collaborative learning online “creates an environment of active, involved, exploratory learning” (2010, http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/eresources/benefits-of-collaborative-learning-elearning/). The teachers and learners have via the aforementioned tools and the Internet, more time, space, and opportunity to create true to life applications of the exploratory information they are gaining, in a self-guided, inquiry based environment via the Internet.

References:

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age.
Retrieved April 22,2010, from http://elearnspace.org/Articles/Connectivism.htm.

Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing Knowledge. Retrieved April 21, 2010, from
http://www.LuLu.com.

Blogs Posted to:
Linda Hutchinson
Karen Connell

Module 1 Post

Module 1 Blog Post – Educ 8842

In this week’s readings, defining arguments were posed by two different sets of authors. These authors have varying and overlapping reasons as to why they believe there is a need to evolve distance education to the next generation. Professor Mike Simonson believes that distance education is nearing the point of critical mass. In this regard, Simonson believes there is a need to evolve distance education be we “can expect exponential growth” (Simonson, 2010) of distance education. Because the point of critical mass is approaching, Simonson emphasizes an evolutionary need to “nurture, support, and inculcate” (2010) distance learning into what we do daily as teachers and learners. Simonson sees distance learning’s evolution from a functionality point of view, whereas the second group of authors’ perspective is functionality combined with effectiveness, whereby effectiveness is linked to quality of instruction.

Moller, Foshay, and Huett, in their 3-part series of articles on the evolution of distance education, also share reasons for the need to evolve distance education. In part one of the series, Moller, Foshay, and Huett discuss the major ramifications of training and development in the context of e-learning’s instructional design, part two focuses upon higher education, and part three on K-12 education. In each of the three articles, one aspect of a need for evolution rings true: sound instructional design methodology.

Despite the fact that I fully understand Simonson’s perspective, I concur completely with Moller, Foshay, and Huett. Once a sound and solid culture of distance learning is established, universally agreed upon, and accepted, the pedagogy, structures, and procedures will follow suit. This is iterative of the “sound ID methodology” (2008, Moller et. al, p. 68) and “sound ID principles” (2008, Moller et. al, p.71) emphasized as important to the evolution of distance learning by the authors. This is quite the contrast to Simonson’s emphasis upon nurturing distance education. There is less of a need to nurture what is overwhelmingly becoming a standard in society as there is to set and codify a distance learning culture with structures and procedures in place.

References:

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the
potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52,(5), 63–67.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. The evolution of distance
education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web
(Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. The evolution of distance
education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web
(Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends,52(4), 66–70.

Simonson, M. (2010). Distance Education: The Next Generation. [Video]. Laureate Education, Inc.

Blogs Posted To:
Karen Connell
Milton Francis