Final reflecctions

The first half of the final week of the course was a little tough. Final paper submission, review of a classmates’ paper and the rubrics. But, things were relatively calmer after Thursday. I enjoyed doing the self-reflection assignment. It really had some good questions which pushed me into the deeper thinking. The course EDUI 6701 prepared me for the courses I’ll be taking in the next 4 quarters of the MS OTL. It enabled its participants to plan, design, and incorporates strategies to encourage active learning, interaction, participation and collaboration in the online environment. The course also helped me in understanding how to do assessment of the learning goals.

The concept of inclusive and integrated learning is also very well highlighted in the program. The instructors and course designers have to be responsive to special education and cultural differences among students in the online classroom. It is responsibility of the instructor to encourage intercultural interaction and inclusive learning in the class. I got an opportunity to demonstrate awareness of observational data (i.e., tracking data in electronic courses, web logs, email, etc.). I had to use various research and scholarly articles for writing assignments and posting responses on the discussion board.

The course provided syllabus with objectives, concepts, and ideas, and learning outcomes in a clearly written, concise format. The discussion board is an interesting place where I got to know my classmates’ perceptions and ideas. The group project further provided an opportunity to connect with people  and work collaboratively with them.

In short, I had several light bulb moments in last five weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed the each and every assignment and reading material. It was fun to work with classmates. I am thankful to my instructor Ms. Anne Guptill for her constant support, positive feedback and encouragement. I’ll  surely try to remain in contact with her in coming years.

Week 2 Excerpt

One  issue I came across this week was deciding on what to make my online course on. It’s been a while that I did any classroom or online teaching. I haven’t taught in any US school. I don’t know the syllabus and the way it works. I called my friends and found answers to my questions. I wanted to develop something in chemistry or environment. During my graduation years, Chemistry was my major whereas my post-graduation was in Environment. So I thought that I should go with something I really know. I ended up with the course ABCs of chemistry which has comparatively wider audience.

I know, I shall be able to do it pretty well because my classroom experience in schools will help me understanding the learners perspective and learning process.

I have really found good team members. I am looking forward to work with each one of them. I hope my experience in Mini project 2 is going to be exciting.

Week two has been exciting. There were two interesting readings-Institutional Challenges in the Creation and Delivery of an Online Degree Program by Karen Kaminski and William D. Milheim and Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators by Ed Hootstein.

Other than the institutional issues discussed in the discussion forum, I think that there are few other issues those have same weightage as the ones I discussed. These issues include identifying the viability, positioning, and operational best practices of the online course. Also, in increasing environment of competition and marketing, it is  important to stay competitive. In order  stay in competitive market the product needs revision. It needs to get updated and revised after a period of time when any new technology hits the market. If institutes need to maintain a good position they have to adapt to the new technology. This needs qualified staff, equipment and professional help. Again, this will be related to the budgetary issues.

Also, the matter of intellectual property rights is very crucial and needs to be addressed in a legal way. We have  evolved from a society where education and words of wisdom were passed from one generation to other via oral communication in form of discourse and stories. With the advancement of civilization the method got changed and print media and other forms came into existence. The creators of intellectual products like music, art, written material and inventions, deserve to be rewarded by society for their special creations. Furthermore, in order to ensure that this reward reaches in right hands, that is the original creator, it seems to be justifiable to rely on the machinery of copyright and patent protection mechanisms. But, sometimes these mechanisms become intolerably broad and burdensome that they resulted in widespread dissatisfaction and unrest in the population. It also hinders   further development of creative work and stagnates the pool of intellectual products.

I believe that if something is not shared then it is not information. The issue of intellectual property can be solved through mutual understanding, taking care the legal aspect and respecting  creator’s emotions and needs.
 I also realized that role of an instructor  in an online environment is very tough. There are so many things to do. The role of an instructor is to keep the learning community functional in virtual classes by designing the course to allow participation of all the students as community members and help to increase the participation. The sense of community will help remove the sense of isolation among online students and subsequently help them remain in the class and continue the learning process (Farahani, 2003).

I really feel how much work would be there to for Anne to do…So many Journals, reading every part of discussion, reading responses, responding to queries and so on. As an instructor  you need to make changes in your instructional skills, your skills in engaging with your learners and your management skills! Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators  by Ed Hootstein claims that facilitators guide learners to play a part in determining course direction by discovering content on their own, carrying out assignments and projects, and creating learning opportunities to meet their own needs. Thus, it is going to be  somewhat difficult to be an instructor but I am ready for it!

Welcome letter for an online course

ABC’s of Chemistry: Chemistry on Fingertips

Welcome to the online course ‘ABC’s of Chemistry’. This online course will familiarize you with the basic principles of chemistry. This course is geared towards students majoring in most sciences, pharmacy, and chemical, biological and environmental engineering. This eight-week online course would help you to learn a new skill or enhance your existing ones. You'll spend roughly six to seven hours each week completing two course lessons in an enjoyable and interactive learning environment. If you are new to online learning environment don’t worry. My aim is to provide an optimal and user-friendly format for students with differing computer skills. In this course you can be certain of quality instruction, personalized assessment, and tracked progress. I’m excited to have you on board!
Before you begin, test and configure your system for use with this course. The first step is to view ‘How to take online course’ video which is designed to familiarize you with the virtual classroom set up. Before starting course lessons, I advise that you spend some time to learn how to navigate the course website. Navigation tools located at the top of every page are extremely user-friendly and consistent throughout the website. They provide access to every corner of your classroom environment, such as communicating with the instructor, getting assistance from the ‘help desk’, submitting assignments, discussion board, accessing net links, and viewing your grades.
The second step is to download syllabus under the heading syllabus and course material. This link will take you to a page that has a description of the course, course requirements, course goals, recommended books, and grading policy. Read the syllabus thoroughly and direct any course questions or concern to me. My contact information is located on navigation bar under "your instructor".
For coming eight weeks, one lesson will be released every Tuesday and Friday. Your lessons will include text-based reading material, illustrations, audio  or video files if required. Each lesson has an assignment and a brief multiple-choice quiz. You will receive an instant analysis of your multiple-choice quiz. This classroom has 17 interactive discussion forums where you can interact with your classmates; ask questions, share ideas and concerns. You are required to respond to two classmates each week. I strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within ten days of its release because the assignments and discussion forums, accompanying each lesson, will not be accessible after that. Your first assignment is to introduce yourself through first Discussion forum.

The course concludes with a final exam, which can be completed within two weeks of the release of Lesson 16. If you do not understand any aspect of your coursework, contact me for clarification or post your question in discussion board so that others can get the answer if they have the same query.

What can you expect from this course: You can expect support in all aspects of the learning environment including but not limited to communication with me, timely grading on assignments, updates on your progress and e-mails help from technical support and administrative personnel on any issue or concerns you might have.

-Savneet Singh

 
Letter Construction Analysis

The course EDUI 6701 has helped understand what  online learning is all about and enabled me to write this welcome letter using whatever knowledge I have gained till date. In the first paragraph of my welcome letter, I mentioned that my aim is to provide an optimal and user-friendly format for students with differing computer skills. In Mini lecture 1 , Dr. Chico indicates, ”Actually, there’s no such thing as “best” practices – ones which fit all learners in all situations. But there are a lot of good practices in teaching and learning, online or elsewhere.”(Chico, N. (2012). Mini-Lecture EDUI 6701-1). Thus, I wanted to create, perhaps, the ‘best’ online format so that the students having both basic and  advanced computer skills can take the course with same ease.  The target audiences of the course are students majoring in most sciences, pharmacy, and chemical, biological and environmental engineering. I clearly mentioned this in first few lines. Know your audience is the key-Anne Guptill (Guptill, A. Discussion board, EDUI 6701).

The welcome letter introduces learners to the kind of online environment, they will be exposed to, during the course. It is very important that students feel comfortable in the virtual classroom and know every corner of it. So, I provided the details of look and feel of their virtual classroom. According to Ed Hootstein’s model, I tried to fit in Program manager’s role here, whose work is to  “”Develop study guides for courses to help ease learners' anxiety and address both content and technical concerns. (Ed Hootstein, E-Learning 1.0.). The letter clearly mentions that learners are required to participate in the Discussion Board. Ed Hootstein placed great emphasis on the importance of encouraging and ensuring a high degree of interactivity and participation as one of the most important facilitation skills in online learning environment and, this is, Social director’s role to  create such a collaborative environment.
According to Nancy Levenburg, ‘The curriculum for online courses must be based in clear learning objectives. Achievement of objectives may be facilitated through the use of cohort lectures and provocative and informative readings/articles geared to conveying the basic concepts and facts’. Keeping this fact in mind, I plan to include text- based reading material, illustrations, audio  or video in course lessons. Using a single mode of instruction, such as lecture, PowerPoint, discussion can be boring. Blending audio, video, images, charts, graphs and other visual can increase student interest and motivation.
This course will include assignments and a brief multiple-choice quiz those have to be submitted by deadlines.  Jones & Martinez found that if the instructor of the course aggressively engage students in course activities and require students to submit segments of the project by deadlines, the students completed the course with a very satisfactory project that needed minimal revisions. (Jones & Martinez, 2001; Martinez, M., 2001)
In last paragraph I mentioned what learners can expect from me as an instructor or the support staff. Judith Hughes claims that, ‘Learners need to know both what is expected of them, and what services they can expect to receive from the institution’. (Huges Judith A., Supporting the Online Learner). When students understand what is expected of them, they have a clear focus of what they must do in order to achieve success.

Thread Management

I read the course material for week 2 on threads and followed the steps given. While doing copy and paste, it took a little longer. A message also popped up saying that, ‘This operation will require copying many styles. Do you want to use normal style instead?’(see screenshot). When I clicked on the normal style, the whole matter was displayed in a minute and the second time when I said no, i.e. copy the style as well, it took more than a minute. But this time, the pictures were displayed and the style of the forum and whole web page was restored to a great extent. In the first case, when the content was pasted without the style of the webpage, there wasn’t any picture. There were 95 pages. In the second case there were 111 pages and the content of the messages was displayed in form of columns. The items in the left side menu were displayed in the left side in first three pages. The fourth page displayed the first message on the right side of the page and so on.

As a student, the profile looks like a lively place to know so many like-minded people. I always loved to get connected with people. It is very intriguing to find what do my classmates do and what are their interests and ambitions. The threads were griping while I read others responding. No one attempted to “bump”(to knock the new position) the thread, which people generally do to keep their post on the top.

I really wish if I could have pagination, i.e. a few items displayed on first   page and rest on next page, so that we don’t have to scroll down till the last post. If I do sorting (clicking on the ‘Thread’) of the messages by alphabetical order, my name would be one among the last and I have to scroll down the page. In case we have 10-12 items per page, then I would simply go on editing page option and go to page 2, to see my thread. Thus, a little more freedom for learners to customize the forum to their own personal choices would make it perfect.

Although, I really liked  sorting the threads by date option. In such case, the newer posts can be located easily. The unread post column also gives an idea of   what are the things new and unread. Search option gives the freedom to search a particular term we are looking for, with an addition of date range, which makes the searching narrow , more effective and quick. I used it many times to see posts created by me or anyone else, I wished to locate.

I have a question regarding the use of option display. When we select the option hidden only or the drafts only from the drop down menu, do the drafts or the hidden posts from other users will be  displayed. I know that, if I make a draft or have a hidden post; it will be displayed to me, but how about other. Will they be able to see my drafts?

As an instructor, it looks like a lot of work! Reading so many posts and then replying to all of them! And you really have to look at a few things like- the participants adhere to the policies and rules, there are no “attacks” on anyone  and everything is in order. As an instructor, you have to keep an eye on the discussion going on and that participants remain on the track. I really liked my instructor’s(Ms. Anne Guptil) reading and commenting on everyone’s profile. She replied one of the threads, I created in Forum: 1:3b The Brain, Technology, and Education. It invoked me to think even deeper on the topic.

In this way as an instructor, the  work is to foster right spirit of sharing & co-operation among the participants of a group of 22-25 people. I have found Anne making efforts so that the forums  gain momentum by posting thought invoking questions and giving positive feedbacks. Additionally, instructors   need to be very vigilant when running a forum because there may be attacks from spammers and hackers.

Week 1 Excerpt

Today, I completed my work for the week one. This was an interesting and busy week. I was little concerned about a few things. The first one was being finishing work in time. I kept the deadline/last day of submission of everything on Saturday so that I still have a reserved day in case I lag behind. But thankfully, I could finish in time. I might have finished a  earlier but, then, you always have to wait for people to post their responses or comment. After reading that, one has to think and synthesis and write about it. The other thing was formation of teams. But, I found a great team to work with. I believe that I’ll learn to manage and organize my work in a better way as I move on. With a small kid, whole household work, grocery, bills and  long list of other work keeps me running like a chicken whole day. I have to be more organized and that’s the solution-I know! But, I enjoyed a lot and sure will in future in this program.

I really liked the idea of playing idea of ‘devil’s advocate’. It helps in thinking critically and beyond the ideas presented in the write ups. That’s a good brainstorming. It’s been a few years that I did any formal training or program, although, I did a couple of online certificates. But this program is really different. It pushes you to think.

The reading material - Writing Advice for Today's Online University Students, is very informative. I really liked the idea ‘Students should strive for precision and impact in their papers.’ That’s what, I shall keep in mind while I move on in this program.

The reading-Theory and Practice of Online Learning (TPOL): Ch. 15 -- Supporting the Online Learner, helped me understanding the online learning environment essentials. While I was reading, I compared  that I didn’t get what I was supposed to in my previous online courses. There wasn’t a strong academic and tutorial support. I don’t to mention the name of the course and institute.

I like writing journal. I can write on any topic I wish to or something I really feel about. Moreover, as mentioned in ‘Writing Advice for Today's Online University Students’, it enhances the critical thinking and gives a new perspective to things.

Journal entry:Mindset list 2015

After reading ‘The mindset list 2015’ , I found that it is not very appropriate for student who come from culturally different background. For example, I have spent a significant part of my life in India, so I couldn’t make much sense of many points mentioned in the list. I don’t know much about John Wayne Bobbitt, Arnold Palmer and some others.

Although, I enjoyed reading the list. This also brings the memories back of an elder teacher in my primary school, who was in her late fifties. She always talked about the things that she experienced when she was in her school. Sometimes, she used to give examples of the things those were obsolete for us and I have to ask their meaning either from my parents or grand-parents! We never enjoyed her class. 

 

Many of the mindset list points are not relevant for the people outside USA. I think Beloit people go by political, cultural and social history. As you wrote in one of the responses that- In instructional design, Know your audience, is key. The list looks incomplete. The list is also "narrow", in the sense, that it doesn't apply to most freshmen in the world except for some global facts such as:

· There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway

· “ Yadda, yadda, yadda” has always come in handy to make long stories short.

· Video games have always had ratings.

· Chicken soup has always been soul food.

· Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!

· Women have always been kissing women on television

· Unlike their older siblings, they spent bedtime on their backs until they learned to roll over.

· Music has always been available via free downloads.

· Grown-ups have always been arguing about health care policy.

Moderate amounts of red wine and baby aspirin have always been thought good for the heart.

There are some more similar global facts those hold true for people of many countries in the world but I’m afraid not all. The world is not just USA, UK, China or India. There are still countries in Africa, Asia and Australia and the Pacific, where people might not have seen a computer yet!

But, this is an undisputed fact that the global facts mentioned in the Mindset list are a kind of touchstones, and the world is changing at a fast pace, so should be the education and the educators themselves.

The mindset list in my eyes

The Mindset List for the Class of 2015 is a great piece of writing, imagination, creativity and actuality. It recognizes the need to change the curriculum, teaching styles and instructional technology with the time. In a way, this article implicitly conveys that teaching whether inside the four walls of the classroom of a primary school or a complex management course, offered online, has to take care of the needs of the learners’ social, cultural and economic background. The teaching methods and the teacher have to be dynamic, ready to accept and adapt to the changes occurring ‘out there in the world’. This is strongly required because the teaching content has to go parallel with the learner’s life. We can’t simply forward whatever we learnt in our classrooms as students.

Today’ s primary school children might not have seen a typewriter ever! They are living in the era of touch screen where they don’t even have to move their fingers a lot for coloring a picture. (I’m talking about the Leapfrog’s leapPad). A typewriter can only be a part of a history project.

Similarly, a landline phone and TVs with the rotary dial can only be seen in pictures. I remember, we had a red land line phone with dial and a heavy receiver in 1980’s when I was a primary school student and by the time I graduated high school in 1999, I had my first cell phone Nokia 3210. Within, ten years the communication industry took a wide turn, from landlines to mobile phone. With the further advancement of the technology, the smartphones are not only used for making a call to friend, but they do multitasking loaded with thousands of features and apps. So, the statement made in ‘The Mindset List’- Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!- is just appropriate.

Thus, if we understand the mindset of our students/learners, we can cater to their needs and develop the best course for them. The cultural differences also matter a lot. For example, if I want to develop an alphabet recognition game/activity for pre-schoolers and label ‘B’ is for burger and ‘P’ is for pizza, this game/activity won’t work well in a country where these food items are not eaten (many African and Asian countries). Kids won’t be able to relate to these examples. They would understand bamboo for ‘B’ and paper for ‘P’, which is very much around them.

My comments on Justin, my classmate's mindlist review:

This is a very detailed and impressive reflection. You have really taken up things those are or were important part of our lives. The list tries to remind teachers that they should closely watch on the references and the examples used while teaching. Yes, the mindset list makes us feel “old”but also prompts that the time accelerates. There is only thing in this world that never changes and it is the ‘change itself’.

Amazon can only be an online store where you can find anything and everything for the class 2015. Some of them might not even know that it is one of the largest rivers of the world. I, somehow have a different opinion on this. Consider a student’s response to the question what is Amazon, as“ an online retailer”, then, as educators, this is our flaw and not the student’s. If we get such an answer, this means our geography lessons and projects weren’t effective enough to teach them the facts.

I hope you somehow agree to this!

The course for me

The whole MS program, for me, is going to be a big stepping stone. Unlike my other classmates, those are already engaged in some kind of educational profession; I am a stay at home mom from last 3 years. I have to take care of my two and a half years old who needs my constant attention and spends whole day with me. So, I plan to finish of the course and then look out for some job opportunities in e-learning.

I was most  surprised by the kind of strict schedule posted in weekly course schedule. Frankly speaking I wasn’t expecting this kind of timetable. I have done a few online certificates and the deadlines were extended, so I could easily finish my work. But, then I realized the instructor’s welcome note itself says that-“ This is a fast-paced course. We have designed 10 weeks of learning into a 5 week course”. It cleared the fact that there is a strong need of such a weekly plan.

I liked the welcome note and the description of using blackboard itself. The steps were pretty clear and they are repeated at appropriate places so that students don’t have to go back, read instruction, come back and apply. This helped in moving smoothly and quickly.

I am little concerned about making team. I won’t say that I don’t  ‘like’ it but, it’s just that , M not sure how will I go about it. For example, finding team members, selecting representative and all..

As a future course designer, I would like to simplify the discussion board layout so that it is easy to understand and not many threads are located on the same page. The pages for the threads should be separate according to the subject they deal in. For example, there can be a page for tech help which has thread related  only on the same topic. Another one can focus only personal profiles. I think, it would help in an easy navigation.