Final reflection

      Well this is one of my first online courses. I actually used a lot of online tools in the traditional setting. I came to find out that I had a hybred of sorts. I lacked the experience of those who are fully online. With the information I have about adult learners and their developmental differences, I can now incorporate materials that appeal to parents/college age learners better. I was scared to death of getting up to speed with some of the tools. It worked out wonderfully. In completing the lessons I had technical issues that made me very frustrated and I overcame my challenges with proficiencies in many new skills. I remember the first time I had issues uploading content because my computers date and time were incorrect. I worked around it as well as I could. When I figured it out I was embarassed but empowered.

I plan to use my new skills to help my traditional classroom advance beyond the teacher centered presentational minimal application style. I really hope to use it to free up class time to help individuals who are struggling better and complete more projects. If i am successful, much of my current classtime will be spent enjoying extended learning, while student homework is the true work of learning.

Creating my Moodle lesson was a crazy task. I setup initially pretty well, but I couldn't decide on how to teach the topic I thought I would teach. So I eventually decided to change topics. I went with the online tools topic because it felt like one of my areas of stronger learning. The practical side of knowing tools and how I can use them was very beneficial. I feel like that is something I can actually take with me. The overall moodle lesson was nice, in 521 I was able to develop a synchronous and asynchronous lesson. These were completely independent of an LMS like moodle. I really enjoyed making considerations for appearance and organization. This was huge to me. The creative control came into full perspective with the LMS support behind it to secure and archive my work and students work. It was great, I really value the ed tech classes I have taken - this is not a fluff suck up comment.

Wow I got a list of hot tips in the last little while.
Ok: give grading feedback in audio as well as writing.
Use captivate simulation to assess students ability to use a tool.
Don't read slides on presentations.
Freeware and trialware are fully loaded with the right tools.

I think the next big step will be archiving and reviewing assessment data in a LMS.

I have never done an online course before, the learning curve is strong but i get the concept! By the end of this summer I will have so much experience with new tools and designs that i could conduct an entirely different classroom(maybe even my own online class)   check out last post to see some of the stuff i have ben trying.

Source:	Activity, questions, quotes, task	Thoughts, learning, questions
WEEK 3 Chapter 6 Chapter 7	1.       Reflect on the week’s readings 2.       online learning tool assignment.	Implementation is trial and error. You learn new things and some things won’t work well. A lot of free tools are available. Resource: www.edutools.info/course Join user groups for software specific training. First unit pace and structure. Second, Housing of media considers size of media, correlation to unit, and location of resources. Third, timing of access. Fourth, assignment pace (specifically you could time yourself on an assignment so you know student experience). Presentation areas are where you deliver basic course content. Design and sequence of learning are critical components. Web pages/ web 2.0, and CMS are best options. Announcement areas are presentation areas seen by students when they enter classroom. Plan to make full use of this event area for your students Syllabus and Schedule areas – a document storage location (make printable and downloadable). Can have links or serve as the main home page. ***Names need to accurately indicate documents/locations. Discussion Forums –consider division(by week/topic/unit/social) User options – will students be able to start threads? Edit? Delete? Give ratings? Voicethread –sync audio/art Viewing/sorting – one at a time/linear set? Other communication – email/internal asynchronous SMS – twitter mass blogger/updater. Limited content Chat/whiteboard/collaborative –careful scheduling and hopefully archive-ready. Adobe connect/ wimba class. Dimdim.com Group activity areas – come with user options specific to those in the group. Wiki allows history of group. Searching capabilities – all course and/or specific section. Quiz or test makers - ***rely on more than one form of grading. Timed access is a must. Audio/video/graphic insertable options. Zohochallenge.com proprofs.com/quizschool classmarker.com easytestmaker.com Student progress reports and tracking – grades and indication of actual use. Rss feeds Virtual worlds – second life Relationships to other things you have learned, your personal judgment of the material and/or assignment, or things you would like to remember. Icebreakers – mandatory. Grouping – size and duration. Roles. Supervise/assess Rubric – group participation. Problem based learning/roleplaying tasks. Debates Simulations and animations Field experience/lab Discussions – coverage objective spur of the moment Case study Peer review Guest speakers Cross cultural Evaluating web sites Collections porals Rubrics Yet another daunting task, only because I like to try new tools. I really hope I explained it well. I had a feeling that there may have been others in the class who knew a great deal more than I did.

Source:	Activity, questions, quotes, task	Thoughts, learning, questions
Week 2 Ch.2 ko & rossen Ch. 3 Ternus, palmer, & faulk (resource) Lane (resource)	Institution resources Systemic focus Course design and development BLENDED COURSES Good to have available in blended course Compare & Evaluate Two Online Courses:	What is already in place? Online courses, which ones? Who teaches them? What software tools do they use? Who developed the course?  How long to develop? Policy for those who want to teach? Restrictions for percentage of online time? Synchronous versus asynchronous policy? Trainings? Who trains? Student orientation/technical support? Software/hardware –access, management, and support. Network supports. File selection- All materials should be in LMS so that once accessed student doesn’t need material or software search.  Will students be internet ready? Teacher must consider availability when traveling. Tech support? When is it available? Free sites and open source software development. Reminder: no one knows everything-learn. Blended courses use the web to complement what they already do. Full online involves recasting shape of class in the online environment. Course management software, emails, resources, face to face feedback. Online collab for face to face projects. Case studies in the forum. I could do sentence analysis for my Spanish class.required response to peers.  Based on Face to face notes.alot of visuals examples to start well. Be available.rubrics for clarity. Some choice in assessment. Text message communication. Syllabus/goalsobjective/assignments/required readings/quizzes/papers/projects/policies/notes/lecture slides/audio or video materials/resource sites/graphics What you have students do with these is more important than their digital existence. Blooms taxonomy for objectives –but remember it all comes back to what they learn and how they show they learned it. Text – read not listened to. Readability.headings italics and colors. Narrated slides/audiovideo/screencast- no long pause on slide.voice color.Graphic enhancements. Transcripts or summaries. Simulations –copies/dvd. Interactions-  synchronous or asynchronous. Timing for student and learning goals.  This was a great activity. I have alot more focus on what will be beneficial for my purposes. I also have some evaluation materials for my online courses.

Source:	Quotes, readings, tasks, activites	Learning. Questions. Thoughts.
WEEK 1 Tools for successful online teaching. p.4 p.5 p.6 P.11 p.15 Malcolm Knowles.	QUESTION 1: Define online teaching and learning. Question 2: What is involved in designing an effective online course? Consider various models used in online teaching and learning (blended/hybrid), fully online, web-based, LMS, etc). Describe the instructional technique(s) utilized by a former faculty that were effective. What made the technique(s) effective? How did your faculty incorporate adult learning principles in their teachings? What is andragogy and how does andragogy relate to online teaching and learning?  What are the primary criticisms of andragogy and where do you stand on the issue(s)?	Asynchronous self-paced and traditional testing account for many courses. They have potential problems of learner isolation and high drop out rates.  There are individuals who do well, but they are not the norm. Learning is a social interaction with multiple people constructing knowledge. It develops higher order thinking, responsibility for knowledge, and autonomy through empowerment. An effective online course promotes self learning, open curriculum, understanding of learning styles, and giving up control.  Traditional students usually experience anxiety, uncertainty, and a need to be directed. There is a developmental curve operating on the assumptions of engagement and empowerment as requirements. The learning management system (LMS) needs to be modular so that it can be developed as needed. For the administrator it needs content authoring, content management, assessment tools, tracking tools, and of course communication tools.  It has content storage, artifact storage, aggregate collection of communication(rss), access/ management/interaction for the learner, and interaction between learners. As the trend of online teaching grows there will likely be a ton of blended elements in traditional classrooms – that’s my opinion. This activity reminded me of what I want to accomplish as a teacher. I want to help students learn the content as well as possible, while they develop in their own lives. Independence/experience prior/application problem-centered not subject centered/ need to know why/ internal priority takes precedent over external motivator.