Reflecting

Well, we made it through our first semester with thousands of students, several new instructors, chairs and staff and a new learning management system. While there were a few bumps, I think our semester went smoothly, especially the technical aspects of things. Thanks to all who made it so.

Blogging has been an interesting experience for me. I like to write but have not done so for an online audience. I have felt much like Julie in the movie Julie and Julia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_&_Julia. Julie Powell, an unpublished writer and cook, starts a blog about her attempt to recreate every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook masterpiece Mastering the Art of French Cooking. At first, the only people who read her blog are her mother and husband. But you never know who will catch a glimpse of your blog. In the movie, it all turns out happily ever after, with a book deal.

I'm not looking for another book deal, but I hope I've given someone out there a few things to think about over these weeks. We are in an exciting field which is rapidly changing with new tech, a mix of unprepared and overly-prepared students, institutional and budget limitations. One the basic premises of Adult Learning is that it is a continuing process. As instructors of adults, we should be living this by taking opportunities to learn new technologies and techniques and use them in our teaching. I hope I inspired you to be all you can be as an online instructor and, in turn, inspire your students to do the same.

Several decades ago when I was a student on campus at Michigan State University, my roommates and I ended finals by blasting some favorite songs out through our dorm windows. One of my blasting favorites was from Three Dog Night Celebrate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXI6CdTVJ-0. Virtually blasting it out my windows this week!

Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music!

Signing off for this semester and heading to the beach!

Taking It Up a Notch

I don’t know if I’m ready for this! From articles I’ve read recently, it seems that e-instructors are set to move to a new phase again…from facilitation to partnerships. In my abbreviated history of education, we have moved from the teacher as the source of knowledge (the talking head at the center of the learning experience) to the facilitator where we guide our students through the maze of our content. This is where I think e-instructors should be currently. Through the use of new technologies which include Web 2.0 tools, the instructor’s role will change from facilitator to partner in the learning process. “Learning must be less structured and more informal, self-enabled, interactive, and collaborative. The early success of new tools, like social networks, video, wikis, podcasts, IM, and more, show a demand for learner-driven education.” (Unified Learning and Collaboration, 2010)

“The role, then, of instructors becomes more engaged throughout but as partners in the process and not only as facilitators. While facilitation skills will still be important, the overall goal becomes one of collaborative work and mutual support so that ideas are not only generated but built upon and produced in a meaningful context of use. Additionally, while instructors will still have content knowledge and the advanced formation of thinking, their focus will be to offer those as part of the overall process and expect full participation from students who also have some content knowledge and are in the process of forming their thinking. The long-term outcome, then, is advancement of ideas and the improvement of every participant's knowledge base and application expertise--including the instructor.” (Reynard, 2010)

What does this mean for us? This is a difficult question because technology is moving so quickly but it could mean “making education more active, effective, and personalized by addressing individual learning styles and special needs”. It could mean “facilitating formal and informal learning and meeting the needs of mobile learners” or “delivering personalized content based on an individual’s needs and learning style”. I find the “personalized content” idea intriguing but can’t quite vision how this would work. (Unified Learning and Collaboration, 2010)

Whatever the form or method, I think it is a wake-up call to us that higher education will change and we need to be ready for that change. We won’t be teaching in the same old way we were taught or even how we’re teaching today. However, will our learners, who come from all different learning spectrums, be ready? Nate W. commented on this in a recent blog post. (See Nate's blog.) I’ve also commented on this in previous posts about K-12 education incorporating new technologies faster than we are at the upper levels of education.

As we close out another semester, what will you do to move forward in technology, collaboration, creativity or inspiration next semester, even just a little bit. For more food for thought see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8. Get inspired!

Unified Learning and Collaboration. (2010, April). Retrieved May 2, 2010, from www.elluminate.com:

Reynard, R. (2010, April 7). The Changing Role of Instructors Moving from Facilitation to Constructive Partnerships. Retrieved May 2, 2010, from T.H.E. Journal: http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/04/07/The-Changing-Role-of-Instructors-Moving-from-Facilitation-to-Constructive-Partnerships.aspx?Page=1

Thoughts

Schedules and Deadlines

Summer is a ten week session and while we think of those lazy days hanging out at the beach or in the backyard hammock sipping cold ones, the time disappears a lot faster than we tend to think. Students also are under the misconception that ten week sessions are “easier” and less work. I remind my students that ten weeks means five weeks less calendar time not work and some are surprised at this revelation.


To be a little more flexible, I change up my summer schedule so that my “due dates” are based on months rather than weeks. For example, Units 1 and 2 are due by the end of June. Students can submit work anytime during the month of June but the deadline is June 30. No late work and the benefit for getting things in early is that students can revise and resubmit assignments for a better grade. Units 3, 4, 5 are due the end of July and Unit 6 is due the last day of the semester in Aug. This lets students work ahead, take a long weekend without worrying about deadlines or even take a weeklong family vacation. My class discussions are on a bi-weekly deadline rather than monthly.

Trying

In my program area, Education and especially Early Childhood Education, we’ve had discussions about giving points to students for “trying”. If a student submits an assignment that is poorly written, clearly not on topic or demonstrates lack of knowledge, should faculty give points for “trying”?


One of my instructors made a comment that has turned into my light bulb moment…would you want to have a surgeon operate on you who got through school by “trying” or would you expect that professional to have mastered and understood the content and practice? I’ve had a couple of students complaining that they are receiving zeros for assignments and that they “tried really hard” but the instructor “doesn’t like me”. After reviewing the files submitted, I can see why the grade was zero but the students seemed to expect credit for trying. I know this is something that is perpetuated throughout K-12, but when is it time to take responsibility for your own learning? Are we doing students any favors by giving points just for attempting the work?

Spring Cleaning

It’s hard to believe that we are about two weeks away from the end of this semester. Or are you counting the days?

Smooth

• With the huge numbers of students, my courses and my program’s courses went pretty smoothly.
• With the change in LMS and the uncertainty on the part of the instructors about D2L, this semester went pretty smoothly. None of my instructors have been tearing their hair out or want to return to our previous LMS.
• Technical issues have been minimal.
• The end of the semester is moving toward ending on a peaceful note.

Spring Cleaning

We were very concerned at the beginning of this semester about the “big picture” and getting all courses moved into D2L, that we might have overlooked some of the smaller details.

Now that you have taught your course, it is time to think about the small stuff.

• fix any typos or misspellings that you noticed (if you haven’t already done so)
• fix any stylesheet issues so that all your pages have the same nice clean look (if you need help ask your D2L mentor)
• take care of filing away your email messages in proper folders so that your email is empty for the next semester
• gather any email, files or other communications about any potential student issues into a folder in D2L
• make sure your assignment dropboxes show all assignments graded
• verify that your gradebook is working and that students see the grades and total points
• make notes for next semester on what you would do differently, new assignments and/or discussions (don’t make any changes in your spring course as this is a permanent record but wait for your summer course shell)
• review your News archive and make notes on which items to delete and which to recycle.

A little bit of spring cleaning now will give you time between semesters to enjoy the break.

Great teachers

I attended an early childhood education conference over the weekend and the opening speaker was Steve Spangler, the Science Guy (http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/ ). His mission in life is to get kids and teachers interested in basic science. He does this through a mix of comedy, fun “experiments” such as creating fountains of Diet Coke (http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000109) and actual scientific facts. Underneath his crazy experiments, he has solid early education credentials. In his presentation, he talked about great teachers (yes, geared toward elementary grades but can be applied across the board). He said that great teachers don’t just guide students in the “how to do it” realm, but also inform students why they should do it and why it is important. Great teachers create experiences which could change lives.

Bringing this forward to our area of education, how can we create experiences which affect our students in a positive way or that could possibly change their lives? Are assignments in our courses related to real life experiences? Do you show why your assignments and assessment are important or connect to the real world?

We may never know how we affect our students. Occasionally we hear back from a former student who might say, “because of your class, I decided to pursue a career in …….” Or because you cared enough to guide me through the rough areas of the class, I was able to get my degree.” Or “I use what you taught me in my job.”

I know there are teachers who have affected us over our academic career and maybe some of those people actually inspired us to go into the field of education. Wouldn’t you want to be one of those inspirations? As we rapidly approach the end of our semester, students are getting frantic and even somewhat nasty. Maybe if we show kindness and support, we will be one of those great teachers.

Putting Adult Learning Principles into Action

Let’s take one of the adult learning principles and look at it through the lens of the online evironment and our own classes.

Adults are self-directed and want to be free to direct themselves in their learning experiences.

This general statement could mean a variety of things for the teaching/learning environment:

• The students should NOT be dependent on the instructor for the knowledge and learning involved. The instructor facilitates the learning by providing authentic tasks and content.

Facilitates: Synonyms include make easy, ease, make possible, smooth the progress of, help, aid and assist.

• To facilitate learning or make it easier (notice it’s the process of learning and not the content) instructors could provide small chunks of content in various formats (text, audio, video and websites).


• Provide a series of purposeful scaffolding activities to move students from beginning concepts/tasks through intermediate ones to hard concepts/tasks building on prior knowledge.


• Provide study guides, online study sessions or groups, online office hours for students prior to tests.


• Provide students the opportunity to take a test when they are ready for the assessment by opening the test for the entire length of the unit rather than having it opened for just a few days.


• Provide “practice tests” or self-assessments prior to the test so students can identify areas of further study.


• Instructors should provide activities and assessments that are relevant to the content and real life and identify how the assignment connects to work or life experiences.


• Instructors could provide assignment choices for students to choose the task that is most relevant to them.

Teaching Learning Technologies at Virginia Tech. (2009) Learner Focused Education. Retrieved 4/11/10 from http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/ocs/introp2.html

What are you doing to facilitate learning for your adult students?

What about our adult learners?

Since we teach in the higher education world, our assumption should be we are teaching adults. Lately however, it seems like some of our students have reverted back to the two-year-old stage (or teen years) where tantrums are common and the “it’s not fair” mentality is rampant. (“You don’t like me and that’s why I’m flunking. It’s not fair!”)

Going back to the assumption that we have adult learners in our classes, we should be using good practices relating to adult learning theory. Malcolm Knowles, widely known as “grandfather of adult learning theory”, figured out a long time ago that we can’t teach adults the way we teach kids. Here are his basic adult learning theory principles:

• Adults tend to be more independent learners motivated by their internal goals. They need to understand the value and applicability of the learning experience in their job/life.
  Adults are self-directed and want to be free to direct themselves in their learning experiences. They want to be involved in the planning and evaluation of the instruction.
• Adults are problem-centered rather than content-centered, wanting to know how the information will help them solve a particular problem.
• Adults have life experience and knowledge from which to connect their learning and expect to be treated with respect for their experience and knowledge.

Lieb, Stephen. (1991). Principles of Adult Learning. Retrieved 4/11/10, from http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm.

And as I am typing this I’m thinking……yea right………this doesn’t desribe my students. My students seem to…

• Be incapable of thinking beyond the assignment.
• Want to be told exactly what to do, how to do it and how it will be graded.
• Have difficulty or just plain won’t read the text, the course pages, the assignment requirements or even the discussion questions.
• Have trouble writing coherently and don't take advantage of the writing resources available.
• Be demanding to have tests, assignments and the learning management system “their way” or they raise a fuss.
• Bring up their life experiences but don’t connect any learning or new information to those experiences.
• Unwilling to take responsibility for their own learning.

I would think that part of our job as educators would be to teach our adult population how to be adult learners as well as the content we are teaching. We should work toward making our learners responsible for their learning, more independent thinkers who can see connections between their life/job/career and our course content.

How can we do this? Stay tuned for another blog post as I don’t want to write a book in this blog entry.