Week 8 reflection

Reflect on your overall learning experiences:

I can’t believe it is already the last week of the class.  However, I must admit that I am looking forward to just focusing on my job and kids again.  Working full-time teaching 11 classes with over 140 students is a bit stressful and at times doing all of this can be very overwhelming.  My students think I am crazy for doing as much as I do and sometimes I do too! 

This class has opened my eyes to many ways to have my students be present, collaborative and think critically more in an online class.  Even though my online classes are far from perfect right now I have a goal in mind of how I want to change them to make them better.  I have really enjoyed this class and the content that was given to us, but the thing I like most about the courses I have taken is the knowledge I gain from the other students.  How we teach and learn from each other and our experiences. 

Where does your progression into online facilitation (or as an online facilitator) go from here?

I will be taking the online practicum class in the spring and will continue to teach online when possible.  Luckily for the spring semester I will have half of my load online.  I am very excited to transition into more online teaching and I think this teaching certificate has really helped me get to where I need to be. 

Other final thoughts...

I have found the book a wonderful resource as well and have already used it at some meetings at work to quote from it.  I will be sharing it and they are looking to buy additional copies to have around our campus for others to read.  I think it is a great resource for those new to online teaching. 

Week 7 Reflections

This week it was my turn to facilitate for the group.  I was given the task of arranging a synchronous chat session, which was difficult in itself as I didn’t have much time this week to begin with. 
 My biggest frustration was not knowing what side of the fence to sit on.  Normally the facilitators of a class don't participate in the discussion but rather just guide it along.  I was asked to respond to the questions as well and I struggled as to whether I should be continuing to add to the discussion or simply facilitate and let the rest of the group go.
The lag time as also hard to navigate as was stated before.  I did debate having us take turns, but thought it would move slower as we have to wait for each person to type, but maybe that was just what we needed.
The biggest frustrations with the chat:
The lag and typing over each other due to that which often lead to disjointed conversations.  While that seemed to be an issue for us I think most of my students would follow along just fine.
How to improve it:
Only 1 topic and allow everyone to post at least once before you post a second time, set rules for chat (60 sec wait time), & use colors.  I did think about taking turns having people post but felt like it would be so painful waiting for each person to type the response.
Many people questioned the accessibility issues of chat.
The group consensus was to use chat for quick, small group type brainstorming or administrative tasks which require short answers.  Leave the discussion questions that require thoughts and reflection to the discussion board.

Week 6 Reflections

• When you read the Time Management Tips for Online Teaching, what were the two most important tips, for your purposes, on the list? In other words, what made you say, "Aha!" and why?
• Other reflective thoughts...

After reading this article I actually had 3 items that I said Aha to. 

1.    Create a course calendar and only put the due dates there.  I have just started using the course calendar this year as it is fairly “clunky” in Blackboard both for me to use and for the students to find.  It also states to not have the due dates listed any place else.  I would say that I do agree with this and I have had students tell me that my due dates are wrong in the grade book for example but I am not going to go in and keep changing them.  I do list the due date on each module or units folder, this is more work I understand but it really seems to cut down on the questions I get about dates.  I will need to consider this more in the future and look at other solutions.  I am very aware of hard coding dates anywhere in the class as I know it is all things that need to be changed from class to class, but also if you change things during the semester.

2.   Using keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.  I really wasn’t aware that this would in fact help so much.  I do about half and half and strangely do the keyboard short cuts with my left hand and mouse with my right that way I don’t have to go back and forth.  I will not make an effort to use the keyboard more and see if it helps.

3.   The last big Aha! For me was keeping the class announcements.  I haven’t done this in the past thinking that it would only pertain to that semester.  However, I have been adding more videos and unit welcome information the longer I teach online and it would be nice to not create that from scratch each time.  So for the spring semester I will copy my announcements over and see how that works. 

Some great topics came up in our discussions this week especially about cookie cutter classes and the freedom to design a class.  This is a “hot” and “heavily debated” topic at our institution and it was interesting to get others perspectives on this. 

I really liked using the replies only discussion board and we had some great suggestions of ways to do this.  I may just use that is a future class, even one that I may not normally use a discussion board for. 

Week 5 Reflections

Planning, planning and planning.  That pretty much sums up the learning for this week.  The chapter was about the need to plan, COMMUNICATE, and prepare upfront for you online course.  That 70% of the work for an online course needs to be done before the class even starts.  The other 30% is done during the class. 

I do agree with this yet, still always find it a struggle.  Let me give you this week as an example I was told with one week notice that I would be teaching a class that started this week.  I haven't taught the course in 5 years so needless to say it needs to be developed from scratch with only a week to get ready for it.  Well let's just say I didn't get 70% done ahead of time :(  I am currently teaching 11 other courses and this made it 12.  So throwing another in at the last minute as well as taking this class is taking a toll on me.  I am struggling so much more to take the class week by week. 

The discussion board posts this week have been especially interesting to read.  I love hearing everyone's issues and the things we struggle with in our classes.  I think that is one the of the best things that come from these classes is being able to throw out situations at our peers and see what they think.  

Week 4 Reflections

The class is half-over. Please discuss the "aha!" moments you have had so far, and what these moments have made you more curious about...

I can’t believe the class is half over already.  I guess I would have to say the biggest “aha” moment for me is just the real need for this class.  The book talks about students need to feel connected.  I was reading through the comments my students made on a survey I gave them about online classes and over and over again they kept stating that they miss the connections they get in f2f classes.

I asked a question about what they liked least about online classes.  Here are a few responses:

“Not having the one on one with classmates and getting to know your instructor.”

“Don't have that face to face contact.”

“I don't like feeling like I might be missing something  because I don't have personal contact with the instructor.”

This week we looked at learner interactions and Web 2.0 tools.  The focus was on building community.  I felt bit overwhemld by the number of tools to look into as I always do.  I need to find another resource to help me find and filter all the information as right now the college pretty much looks to me as the on that will stay on top of everything and jump in and try it.  I know that I will continue to try and find ways to make connections with my online students and I am going to survey this class after it is done to see if they feel I have succeeded at all. 

Week 3 Reflections

The most important thing I learned during Module 3 was...

This week we reviewed the many roles that an online instructor plays.  We really focused on online interactions.  The point that hit me most in the chapter was the need for human interaction.  What is really ironic is that this topic appeared in my last post for the week as well.  I hadn’t specifically talked about it all week, yet that was what I had highlighted in the reading that caught my attention.  How the use of video really helps the human connection and makes the names real for people and how that changes our perspective even as an instructor. 

The other big part of the chapter dealt with good facilitation, mainly of discussion boards.  How can you keep the conversation going?  Ask thought-provoking questions, summarize what is there and encourage others to participate, encourage opposing viewpoints, provide group feedback, and ensure no one is being ignored. 

This learning will benefit me as an online facilitator by...

The topic of cultural backgrounds came up in the discussion board which was fascinating to me.  To think about that different culture view and use feedback differently.  Really something we all need to be aware of and think about when we are dealing “globally” with students.  I will certainly be more aware of it.  A big “ah ha” moment for me. 

Other reflective thoughts...

The scenarios were fun to look at.  They were issues we all face every day and it was great to hear other peoples’ suggestions of how they solve the issues.  I used the one about the student not using the email account. 

Week 2 reflections

The most important thing I learned during Module 2 was...

This was a whirlwind of a week.  I thought like things were going well at the beginning of the week and then I missed a few days at the end when I was out of town to run a 1/2 marathon and felt like I was "out of the loop". 
I feel like I have absorbed so much about constructivist theories and grouping of students.  There are so many things to take into consideration yet no one knows the exact answer.   Chapter 3 was a review of Constructivism and the Adult Learning Theory.  We also had to find another article about social constructivism. 
I enjoyed looking at the different personality tests and never knew there were so many of them.  It will be helpful to try some of these with my classes and see if one works better over the others.  Hmm..good research project.
I signed up for Twitter but the week got away from me before I was able to dig into using it much.  My name is Laurie_online.

This learning will benefit me as an online facilitator by...

So much of what we do in an online class at this level is constructivist learning being based on the Adult learning theory and using the Web 2.0 tools to create the class.   Probably the biggest thing that I will bring away from this week is looking at using personality surveys for to use for grouping in all my classes.  It is something that I haven't taken the time to do before but I do see some definite benefits from it.
 
Other reflective thoughts...

I did learn to check the Q & A area for information on the class.  I thought before to go there only if I had a question, but I have learned that important information is posted there about the class.  The pairing I thought was the same as our groups and send out and email to my entire group about ideas only to find out later that I had a partner!