Pedagogy First!

C3, S2, Week 4 - The Online Classroom

Ambitious chapter! Ko and Rossen tried to condense in thirty pages what could fit in an entire encyclopedia! I would say that it ended up very informative but also pretty generic. I liked very much the two extras. I honestly did not watch the video, because... I was there. In retrospect, having a little more experience in the online world, I think this week’s video and reading assignments (Mott’s article) are very closely related. In her workshop, Pilar pushes all the limits of a CMS (Blackboard in her case), trying to free her course from the chains of the teacher centered and institutional system. In my opinion, building a community is quite a ‘foreign language’ for a CMS. And even if you can achieve good results with the use of Wimba, discussion boards and forums, they all leave a taste in the mouth of being incarcerated in a vacuum, sterile environment. And they all have quite the same taste. Between a blog and a discussion board the difference is not much more than the layout on a page. And layouts in Blackboard all look alike. This semester I was tempted to use the blog feature in Blackboard 9 for my Italian classes, so I decided to give up my Ning site that I had used the previous two semesters (and I was paying for). Some students voiced their sadness, because a blog run in a Social Network kind of site, where students from all my courses participated, looked much more appealing and more fun than the blog in Blackboard 9, even if the tasks were exactly the same.
I enjoyed reading Mott’s article tremendously. Some weeks ago I said that I was waiting for the next step after the Web 2.0 generation, and this article fed my hunger. It moved the focus on the CMS, and rightfully so. At this point we have an incredible amount of free tools on the internet that allow interconnections; but on the other hand, we have to use a course management system that blocks any attempt of using these connections in the name of security. The middle of the road solution where we have security in the areas we need it, but at the same time we can have flexibility where we can have it, would be a great step forward.

Online Syllabus (Cohort 3, Semester 2, Week 3)

In the past it seems like the guide for any course has been somewhat fragmented.  Books need to be brought around in a backpack or left at home, writing tools need to be carried, papers need to be stored in a binder or folder, and then when it is time to actually get some work done, students needed to carefully sort through all of these items to make the appropriate configuration. 

The "interactive syllabus" seems to change all this.  It can be a guide that will always be the starting point for getting work done.  What an amazing tool to simplify the complexities we have forced upon our students!  After attending the presentation last semester, I implemented an interactive syllabus for Communication 101. 

This process allowed for reflection on what areas students needed on a regular basis and what could be linked.  It also made me question a few things.  First, if students pretty much always need to look at the weekly calendar in my syllabus, why is it in the back?  I think my previous rationale for this was that it would force them to be confronted with my firm policies and assignment descriptions prior to checking on what was due.  The reality of the situation is that they hardly, if ever, do this. 

My Communication syllabus has a few really cool things.  I was able to embed slideshare presentations as well as google street view maps inside the syllabus!  The less we send our students on a scavenger hunt the better.  However, I still did offer a word document version of the syllabus.  I have noticed that some students prefer this (since it is not an online course) since it most likely helps with the consistency of their other courses. 

Overall taking this step allowed for a fresh look at a traditional tool.  In my opinion, my online syllabus is better than my traditional syllabus.  And I think that is wonderful.

C3, S2, week 3 - Online Syllabus

Most of the material in Chapter 5 was straight forward, and basically reiterated the importance of having a very clear and specific instructions, and that this road map is not the same as pasting your f2f syllabus into Bb. I agree with Jim about the importance, no, the absolute necessity of having a clear, concise syllabus. In fact, it is thanks to him that I began to take a close look at my f2f syllabus in his very revealing workshops on creating the Promising Syllabus. Now, as I am prepare my first online class, I will once again need to re-visit and re-construct (perhaps deconstruct, as Andrea mentioned) this syllabus.

The authors brought up a number of good points in this chapter. These are some of the ones that stood out to me:

• how we want students to label emailed assignment
• what file types are acceptable. (At least once a semester I get a document I cannot open.)
• teacher availability (Even though I agree that it is important that we be consistent about being online and doing so regularly, I think the author checking in every single day seems excessive).
• Breaking down the course by weeks instead of chapters or other blocks, since that is how students think.

Regarding redundancy, I agree with Andrea that posting the same information in multiple places, as the authors suggest, is confusing. I think it is a much better idea to follow Lisa's advice and remove all the superfluous tools, tabs and buttons, and include only those that students must use. I also liked Lisa's tutorial on including links to everything, directly from the syllabus.

I really liked Lisa's video workshop on putting together an Interactive Syllabus, with links directly to quizzes, discussion boards, etc. I had a hard time believing it was really her at first, since I know how much she loves Moodle (or is it that she really dislikes BlackBoard?). 

C3 S2, W3&4 Ko et al

I'm not sure how the weeks blended but here I find myself behind.  I am enjoying the Ko read but find I am past some of it and then I find a wonderful pearl that I tuck away and hope will be able to retrieve and use.  When developing the new (to me) online class I will be teaching this summer I will have Ko next to me.   The online syllabus in chapter 5 truly enforces the need for clarity of expectations.  I am reminded every semester that I need to improve in that area.  As Ko states "In an online environment, redundancy is often better than elegant succinctness."  All these years I have striven to be succinct!  I have set up my class much like the suggested weekly pattern.  I did that intuitively and have found in Ko some elements that will make it better.  Chapter 6, Building an  Online Classroom, currently I have more of a room than a classroom.  I am missing the real time interaction that takes place in a face to face environment.  While I have the voicethread assignments and hear the students opinions and perspectives, which definitely is an improvement over the discussion board in BB, the back and forth conversation, debate, exchange of ideas, brainstorming piece is missing. I can't be positive that they are going back and listening to others, or my summary for that matter. I am thinking of using voicethread more which could be more interactive given the right prompt.  Ko suggests DimDim, has anyone had any experience with that.  I will definitely be checking that tool out.  Richard's idea of Facebook Ed is very intriguing and I am entertaining Ko's suggesting of setting up a Facebook page for my new Health 101 class, I still shy away from it with my nursing students as I know a confidentially violation could/would occur.  I am now going to sit back and watch Pilar's video on building online community.  I know I won't be disappointed because I have appointed her my personal sage in the world of online teaching

C3, S2, W4: Ko & Rosen C6

I just finished watching THE SOCIAL NETWORK this past weekend, and after reading the Jonathan Mott article and Ko/Rosen Chp 6, I've come to this conclusion:  What we need in education is not another CMS, LMS, PLN, or OLN.  What we need is Facebook Ed.  I am being both serious and facetious.  Mott's ideas of transforming the LMS and PLN into an OLN make sense since it bridges the pros of both systems and eliminates some of the cons.  For instance, Mott notes that instructors overly rely on "content distribution and administrative tools in the LMS while using interactive tools only sparingly..."  A content-based course is a good start, but negating the intearctive, social aspect of learning may not be the best move.  While the OLN certainly allows for more flexibility ("We need to embrace both the efficiencies of the LMS and the institutional network and the affordances of the PLE and the web"), I think Facebook Ed would be better.  There's the built in blog (length can certainly be increased if FB wants to), email contact, a bevy of apps that students can select to enhance their learning experience (grade apps can certainly be created by developers if it's not already available), video and image links are easy for everybody to upload, content from instructors can easily be viewed just by clicking on the instructor's face, links to important resources (such as the library) can easily be added, newsfeeds and current events can be incorporated into the learning environment in practically every subject, app creation, group work, and so much more!!!  What's even better is that the kernel of the course can be set up by the instructor, but students have the choice to add whatever apps they want.  Also, the technology meets the students where they are...talking about a student-centric OLN.  Ok, somebody contact Mark Zuckerberg and let him know of the idea.  I'll just take 1% of the undiluted Class A shares when FB goes public.  (PS:  I read somewhere yesterday that FB's valuation is 50 billion.)

The Ko & Rosen chapter is a good start for those wanting to teach online for the first time, especially in a more controlled CMS like BB9.  The ideas such as using units or weeks, showing content a little at a time or all at the beginning, creating a downloadable syllabus, etc... are thoughts we've discussed before in the first semester of Pedagogy First.  I think it all boils down to instructor preference and how that pedagogy enhances the course.  For instance, in a class that requires sequential learning (math for instance), making all the content available may not serve the best purpose.  However, showing the content on a weekly basis coupled with content from the next week may be beneficial; it's like "sequential chunking."

C3, S2, week 3 - Online Syllabus

For some reason I believe that the creation of the syllabus is one aspect that will have huge developments in the future. Hyperlinks allow us to connect and create a net in a webpage in a way that can be very beneficial for an interactive syllabus, but what I see observing some online classes is that instructors are going toward a concept of having the syllabus as an embedded structure of the course. The online webpages we use to deliver the course to our students already provides a frame and if we create this structure thinking about the syllabus, we can bring the syllabus to “online life”. Lately, I find myself deconstructing my syllabus and representing it online in a different way. In the past, for example, I had the calendar of the course as a part of the syllabus. Now students can find it in a page in Blackboard. A welcome page can very well have a box with all the ‘institutional’ parts of the syllabus (class title, number, etc.). A contact page can provide access to Office Hours in Elluminate, and so on. So at the end the video tutorial on how to navigate the website will be the glue keeping together all pieces.
In order to do this, it is important to be very clear and to have a simple structure that students can understand even without the video tutorial. I start units with a title that has the duration of the chapter (2 weeks, with starting date and due date for the activities), and the goals for the chapter. Then I progress with the activities with a ping-pong between textbook and Blackboard. But I am constantly thinking how to express in a better way the connection between goals and activities; how to do it in a more interactive way. Next time (and I am already planning on changing the textbook for the future), if I can get away from a textbook related approach, the structure of my course will focus more on the outcomes as a ‘guiding force’ (credits to Jim)
I have to say that I am not sure about supplying information several times in different places is always a good way to go. I think it is the first time I don’t quite agree with Ko and Rossen, but I believe that if the instructor can organize the course in a very simple way, using the left menu (I am using Blackboard) in a very clear way, to post the same info in more places can create more confusion than help. Students can start thinking there are two different assignments or tasks, for example. Also, if you need to change part of the info, you have to be sure to do it in both (or more than 2), locations, otherwise students would be right to be confused.
I have to say that one thing I will definitely implement is expressing due dates by time zone. It looks like I am still not used to it. I could not even imagine Italians dealing with a country sliced in time-zones, we manage to create enough chaos with one!

C3, S2, week 2 - Course Design and Development

The first thought I had after reading this Chapter is that I have to start thanking all the support I had and I am having at MiraCosta in developing my online course. First of all, my colleague Pilar was able to teach me, quickly and thoroughly at the same time, all the most important issues that I now I found analyzed in this Chapter. And second I would like to mention the great all-day workshop on “Getting started online” that POT presented in January and I hope will be re-presented because they actually brought to life this very important topic.
I will try to give a contribution on this matter, albeit based on my four weeks of experience  in online teaching. For me a point of departure, along with the learning objectives, has been my textbook, because some aspects of it worried me. I chose this textbook three years ago, when the idea of teaching online was non-existent. It is a textbook that I think works well in class but it requires constant feedback from the instructor. More specifically, it provides many open ended group activities that on ground are very engaging and fun, but that are quite difficult to recreate in an online environment. So I was worried that the textbook would not provide a strong structure to students’ learning process and that students would feel lost.
I gave priority to this issue, relying on the textbook units as a general scheme for my learning objectives. The way I tried to solve it is creating a clear visual structure in Blackboard so that students could immediately relate to the textbook. Almost a mirror/reinforcement of the textbook. And it looks like it is working. I have no complaints about being lost and it seems the students immediately got familiar with this structure.
I found the reading “Implementing the seven principles” very helpful too. I believe anything that helps us keep this monster called technology that is trying to hijack our pedagogy  under control is worth of reading. Pedagogy first!

C3, S2, W3, The Online Syllabus

The importance of effective communication kept coming to mind as I contemplated the online syllabus.   Currently, I am experimenting with Blackboard as a supplement to my onsite class.  I give students a syllabus in class, but have noticed that everyone saves the portion that lists the topics for each week.  The other portion of the syllabus seems to be forgotten after the first week.  

The portion of my syllabus that "stands out" to students is similar to the center page of Lisa Lane's Moodle page for her class.  So, when I set up the format for an online class, I will favor something akin to Lisa's model.

I appreciated the points about making the online syllabus interactive and engaging for students. I had not considered having links in the syllabus, until I watched  The Interactive Syllabus,  I am beginning to see how online can differ from onsite in an exciting way.   The syllabus I give my onsite class would be dry and boring for an online student to download and read.

Chapter 5, Creating An Effective Online Syllabus, encouraged me to consider details needed in an online syllabus. Communicating expectations is crucial to both the onsite and online syllabus, but I can see more details would be needed in the online syllabus.  I hadn't considered the issue of time zone or mapping out class procedures.  Time zone isn't a factor in my onsite class. Class procedures discussed in my onsite class would need to be written in detail or perhaps discussed/shown in video for an online class.  I like the idea of having procedures separated from content (another lesson from Lisa), so an online student could quickly see how to navigate the online class.

Chapter 6 - Initial Thoughts

Hello, everyone!  I wanted to write a quick post to introduce myself.  I will be reading and making comments on your posts this week and next.  I read chapter 6 while waiting for my car to get fixed on Friday.  I found the focus on experimentation this week to be a nice way to start the chapter.

“As you experiment with sample units to create a prototype for your course, you will soon learn how to get the most out of whatever course management system or other software structure you are working in” (Ko & Rossen, 2008, p. 143).

Last semester many of you did a lot of experimentation with online tools.  I finished the Program for Online Teaching a couple of semesters ago, as a member of cohort 1, and feel that I am still constantly experimenting.  Some of this is due to my drive to make things work if I believe I can make them work the way I want them to work.  Some experimentation is forced because things change in online teaching (e.g., CMS changes, new tools…).  However, some experimentation is because all of you in this program give me new ideas to explore and try.  I cannot wait to hear what you all think this week about chapter 6.  I bet I will get some new ideas and I hope that I can send a few your way, too.

I have one final thought.  As I was reading the section on Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed readers on page 169, I remembered a great presentation I was able to attend last year.  Lisa M. Lane and Jim Sullivan presented a synchronous workshop in Elluminate called “Using Online Resources for Professional Development” back on May 7, 2010 that is recorded at the link below.  They focused on how to use RSS feeds to organize professional resources and keep up with the latest information in your field.  I enjoyed this presentation, which is why I am sharing it.  However, using RSS feeds for your own work might be a fun way to experiment with RSS feeds and see if you could make use of them in your classes, too.  I hope you enjoy the session if you get a chance to watch it: Using Online Resources for Professional Development with Lisa M. Lane and Jim Sullivan

-Laura Paciorek

Cohort 3 / Semester 2 / Week 4: The Online Classroom

 

If you find the Ko and Rossen reading for this week a bit dry (I found it a useful reminder of the tools I need to be thinking about--and it looks like I need to add a downloadable version of my course syllabus!) then despair not, for Pilar's presentation on creating classroom community and the Mott piece we are reading for this week will get your synsapses flashing, connecting, sparking--whatever it is that they are supposed to do!

 

 

 

Here is our mission:

Week 4: The Online Classroom

• Read: Ko and Rossen, Chapter 6: Buidling an Online Classroom 

Points: adapting favorite teaching strategies to the online environment, units or weeks, determine how much to show, pacing and class size, course areas, make a downloadable syllabus, set up communications, quizmakers and gradbeooks, student tracking, student lounge.

• View Video: Building Community in Your Online Class (Pilar Hernández, Fall 2009 POT workshop)

• Read Jonathan Mott, Envisioning the post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network (2010)