EDLD+5368+Final+Assignment

__ What benefits do you see in educators knowing how to design and implement online learning? __

I see a number of benefits to online learning. When I was looking for a masters of ed program I needed one that fit into my life. I have a career, a family, and an active social life. I needed a format that allowed me to learn at my own schedule. I didn't want a course where I had to be at a certain web conference of discussion at a specified time. I wanted something that was asynchronous and opposed to synchronous. So scheduling is a major benefit. Of course there are other models that are a blend of online and face to face. Another benefit is that technology is adaptable. You can have different levels of the lesson. In other words you can build in assignments that are “scaffolded”. If a student needs more time or examples on a particular standard, there can be other assignments for them to access. Conversely, if someone is advanced they may be able to skip or “test out” of certain lessons and complete activities that are more complex. I also think this is where education is headed if for no other reason than economic. It is cheaper to have students access a website or server than to physically have them in a classroom. It has to be cheaper to have documents stored electronically rather than to purchase textbooks. As the world becomes more and more wired in general, education and learning will continue to follow that trend.

__How will you professionally use your course that you designed?__

I had originally hoped to use my course as an optional training for some of the teachers at my school site. That was one of the reasons I was glad my principal signed up for it. However, I had nothing but problems managing users. Activation emails were never received even after repeated attempts, links in the email were broken, passwords in the email didn’t work. The long and short of it is that no one from my school site was ever able to enroll in my course! (To whomever is reading this, I apologize if you’ve heard all this before in my emails and blog!) I am actually quite pleased with parts of it. There are some assignments I want to work on some more. But I think it could really complement some of the training at my school in the new data system. But in order to make it usable I would probably look for another website/program to house it. Schoology has been a headache for me. __Will you integrate online learning in your role as a teacher/staff developer?__

In the future, I could definitely envision doing more of this. I actually tried to “take up a notch” some of the assignments in the course from what I had originally planned. I did this because I think this is something that I will be doing more of in the future. This course was done as a staff development, but as a teacher I could see developing more online learning for my students. I was just thinking that I could even do some sort of a “summer school” type of course. I will most likely be back in the classroom (elementary) next year. What is a challenge for me is the total lack of computers and other technology at my current school site. In my Learning Lab, I have 4 computers. 3 are original iMacs over 10 years old and the other is an ancient PC running Windows 98. I have all these great ideas from this program but don’t really have the tech to implement it at my school site. But I have some ideas on how to get some iBook laptops from a grant program. I am going to talk to someone at the District to see what I have to do tomorrow. Stay tuned…. __What questions do you still have about online learning?__

I still feel like a noob in this area. My only real experience has been this master’s program and a few courses from my school district. The ones at my district were basically try to stay awake through, I mean watch, a video and then take a multiple choice test at the end. As I wrote in the first prompt I know there are lots of different models for online learning. I suppose like any teacher I want to know how will I know that the students “understand’ the material. Like the methodology we have been studying, what is the product of artifact that the students will produce for me to assess? In an online environment, any test is an open-book test. So to me traditional tests are of limited value. I think the use of discussions, reflections, and projects make the most sense. But I am not sure how to design them or what I would have to do so they could upload them etc. I had problems uploading video files, powerpoints, etc. Finally, I suppose I want to know how do you connect to the students in an online environment. I see the usefulness of webinars, chat, and web conferences but I wonder if there are other ways. __What will you do with this new learning?__ Right now, probably not a lot for the reasons mentioned previously. I really think this is something I will do more of in the future, but probably not right away. I will try and implement more online components in my teaching. I will also be more aware of the design and components of online courses. I already appreciate the Go Course interface much more. I also appreciate the lessons, assignments, links, documents, videos, etc in this program. Nothing like actually creating something to appreciate it more. Now if I think about the “backwards design” part of the course I will use that immediately. (I always think about an old record album from college by The Tubes, called “The Completion Backward Principle”.) I have always tried to design units and lessons with the end in mind. But the big take-away for me was to think about the product of what the students will produce to show understanding. I always came up with assessments and projects after I had designed the unit. The idea of starting with that in mind, was very powerful. If allows everything to be more focused and integrated.