Aug
10
High School vs Higher Ed Online Courses
August 10, 2009 | E-Learning | Leave a Comment
Can we create courses for high school students using the same perimeters, assessments and tools as for higher education? Yes and no…. Yes high school students should be edging toward more higher level critical thinking so readings and discussion boards are useful. However, high school students neophytes to the online environment need to be “nudged” into using the online tools. Students may not, do not, really know what is expected with discussion boards so the discussions may be superficial at best. As with any assignment, students must know why they are doing something, how it benefits them and the need feedback and examples to model from which to write their posts. Can we expect students to just transistion from middle school into higher ed? No, that is the ultimate job of the high school teacher….prepare the student for higher ed.
Aug
10
Online Discourse
August 10, 2009 | E-Learning | 2 Comments
Would an online course be successful without discussions between and among students and instructors? Probably not, the goal of any course is to create unique and individualized learning experiences for students; one of the best ways of accomplishing the goal is to encourage discourse among students. I think the key to a successful discussion thread is asking a pertinent and relevant question, include perimeters for student posts and include a rubric detailing what is expected of students. The studies indicate that many students will only post what is necessary as dictated by the facilitator but others will expound upon what is written, keeping the discussion going. I have found the discussion treads in my online graduate courses to be very rewarding by allowing reflection on ideas, giving differing perspectives and often questions from other students that require deeper thought and analysis.
Jul
19
Objectives: the GPS of Lesson Planning
July 19, 2009 | Assessment, E-Learning | 4 Comments
I don’t leave for a trip I have never taken before without my GPS or a least Google map directions. Why then would we as educators set students out on a trip without adequate directions? Creating clear objectives based on Bloom’s taxonomy not only gives direction to the students but to the lesson planner as well. Using the ABCD model of objective writing focuses our attention on our audience, the behavior we want to observe in our students the condition or tools we will require our students to use and how we will measure how well they have reached the desired goal.
When writing any course, F2F, online or blended, or lesson plans, clear well stated objectives are the “frame” from which everything else is created. Without structure, how much is accomplished, do students know what and why they are learning, how does the instructor grade an assignment, how frustrating and disjoint is the process for both students and teachers alike?
Penn State’s Learning Design Community Hub has very useful tutorials about every aspect of course writing, view their tutorial on objective writing.
Jul
13
What are a characteristics of an effective discussion thread?
July 13, 2009 | E-Learning | 1 Comment
What allures people to respond to some discussion prompts and not others? For one, at the begining of class, we were instructed to find those posts that did not have many responses and respond to them. Only fair so people aren’t always drawn to one person’s prompt or attracted to the “popularity” of a certain prompt. I observed that prompts that are short and more personal get more responses than those that are more formal answers to the activity. People who have had an epiphany of some sort to the activity, say a tough time learning the software tool, and expressed their frustration to which they received empathy responses. Others who wrote prompts that were of a different perspective than others in the thread attracted many questions and responses. And lastly, those that asked probing open-ended questions were apt to receive a good number of responses. Prompts that were authoritative, “teacher talk”, were largely ignored or received few comments.
