FINAL BLOG
First and foremost, we spoke on learning theories and the impact that
the selection of theory has on the design of online courses. Knowing ones learning style can make a huge
difference in a student’s outcome in the course. For example, if you have a
kinesthetic learner and your class only consists of lectures and note taking
the student will not excel in the course. Therefore, knowing the student’s
learning style can make a huge difference.
Furthermore, in unit 7 we learned more about the models of instruction
in terms of their potential effectiveness in the online environment. One model of instruction we focused on was
student-centered instruction. Student
centered instruction can be effective because it puts the student in control of
their learning. That is why others see
this type of instruction as the student doing more than the lecturer. The
student is fully responsible for his or her success in the course because the
teacher becomes more of a facilitator and resource person than a teacher. Also, in unit 7 we discussed the factors
involved in achieving the Seven Principles of Effective [Undergraduate]
education in the online environment.
Those seven factors are and strategies to achieve them are:
- Good practice encourages student/faculty contact (Hold convenient office hours).
- Good practice encourages cooperation among students (have plenty of group assignments/role playing)
- Good practice encourages active learning (ask students who broke up into groups to discuss what they learned with the class).
- Good practice gives prompt feedback (students will receive immediate feedback on their work).
- Good practice emphasizes time on task (due dates will be established for all assignments).
- Good practice communicates high expectations (make expectations clear on the first day of class).
- Good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning (assign readings that relates to the unit being discussed).
Furthermore, some technology based strategies that
would be effective for implementing the seven principles in an online course
would be Skype, Blackboard IM, the Wiki tool on Blackboard, etc. Also, one of the main instructional
strategies that is effective in distant education is for the instructor to
apply to students in a timely manner.
Since students do not have that face-to-face interaction it is extremely
important to make yourself available to the students. Some of the major technologies used in
web-based instruction today are video and audio streaming, push technologies
and data channels, audio and voice chat, instant messaging, handheld and
wireless technologies, peer to peer file sharing, etc.
Although I do not teach any courses, if I were to
utilize a technology strategy it would be the web whiteboarding. This
is the first time I have been introduced to this teaching strategy, and I feel
as if it would be extremely useful in an algebra or statistics course. If I was
teaching an algebra course I can use this strategy for lessons and examples of
algebra problems. Web whiteboarding would support student-content and student-student
interaction because these products are now incorporating small video images as
well as "Web safaris," in which the teacher leads the class to visit
various sites, and application sharing that allows any of the distributed uses
to control a single application.
Additionally, we identified a variety of
resources on the Internet for locating existing content to incorporate into
online courses. One of those resources
was Boolean Logic. Boolean logic will help you to find media and interactive
sites. To find them, one of the best
search strategies is to use your primary topic in quotes (a literal search)
followed by a + sign and then keywords denoting multimedia. Moreover, I am now aware of the content used
to supplement textbooks. One way online
instructors develop the content for online courses is by linking to existing
resources on the Web. According to unit
9, this can be an excellent strategy in situations where you have rapidly
changing content and/or where there is a great deal of good information
available. In one of the discussions we
explored different technology sites used for learning, and found a lot of
useful content for our discipline.
To conclude, the semester is finally over, and I have learned so many
new things in this course that I am sure that I will incorporate in my life.
It has been a rough couple of weeks, but I am glad that I stuck with it.
