Importance of learning from peers. (course work)

Learning from peers is extremely important and something we do from the beginning of life. We learn how to walk and talk from imitating our patients. We perhaps learn to tie our shoes from watching a sibling do it and then trying ourselves. Half of what we learn in life is because we experienced it ourselves the other half is what someone else has learned and has chosen to share.

I attended the eLearning Guild’s Annual Gathering this year and one presentation really hit home for me. The speaker mentioned that since he had started blogging, a year previous, he had learned more from blogging and reading the blogs of peers than he had in his entire academic career. I though to myself “Ya, right? Who’s going to believe that?” He knew the audience was thinking the same thing and said to just try it and experience it yourself.

So the first thing I did upon my return was start my own and behold he was right. I truly believe I have learned a great deal from this simple process. Blogging is a wonderful way to learn directly from one another. Each day I read many different postings from people I then can summarize, analyze, draw my own conclusion and post my own ideas and thoughts on those same topics. By doing this one simple example of peer-to-peer learning/teaching I am able to learn a many new things each day and expand my existing knowledge on those topics of which I am already aware .

“By sharing (writing about it) it you’re helping others learn. It’s always easier for us to learn from other people’s hard work and mistakes” (Yoskovitz, December 20, 2006).[i]

[i] Ben Yoskovitz, Inspiration Through the Learning of Other. Retrieved June 18, 2007 from: http://www.instigatorblog.com/inspiration-through-the-learning-of-others/2006/12/20/

Strategies for fostering critical thinking. (course work)

A recent submission to my elearning course.

“Critical thinking is a process that challenges an individual to use reflective, reasonable, rational thinking to gather, interpret and evaluate information in order to derive a judgment. The process involves thinking beyond a single solution for a problem and focusing on deciding what the best alternatives are.”[i] There are many discussions regarding strategies for improving critical thinking and best methods of utilization.

Diagrams can help build upon the making connections strategy. They allow participants to visually see and layout discussions. An Argument Map is an example of one of these diagrams and is described by Austhink.com as:

“… (example: http://www.austhink.com/argumentmap/thinking/)
box-and-line diagrams that lay out visually reasoning and evidence for and
against a statement or claim. A good map clarifies and organizes thinking by
showing the logical relationships between thoughts that are expressed simply and
precisely. Argument Maps show only evidential (inferential) relationships
between claims.

In Argument Maps, the lines mean something very specific: that something is a reason to believe or a reason not to believe something else. Argument maps are driven by the question, ‘Why should I believe that?’, Any map driven by that question is an Argument Map.”[ii]
This goes beyond just comparing items to see how they are similar. Making connections allows the learner to go more in depth and see how several various aspects may be interlinked or dependant upon one another. “It pushes participants to higher levels of thinks so that they can examine inferences or explore beliefs or assumptions openly” (Collison, Elbaum, Haavind and Tinker, 2000, p. 153).[iii]

Dr. Tim van Gelder predicts: “Over the coming decades, diagrammatic techniques will increasingly displace pure prose as a medium for articulating and communicating reasoning. This transformation in our cognitive practices will improve both the quality of thinking activities and the effectiveness of critical thinking instruction.”[iv]

[i] Nursing Department: Philosophy & Concepts. Retrieved June 18, 2007 from Piedmont Technical College, Nursing Department website: http://www.ptc.edu/department_nursing/Philosophy.htm (February 2001)
[ii] Austhink: Argument Mapping, Retrieved June 18, 2007 from http://www.austhink.com/argumentmap/ Austhink Software Pty Ltd., Carlton Victoria, Australia
[iii] Collison, G. Elbaum, B. Haavind, S. & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating Online Learning. Effective Strategies for Moderators. Madison, WI: Attwood Publsihing.
[iv] Dr. Tim van Gelder. Critical thinking: Some lessons learned. Retrieved June 18, 2007 from: http://www.ala.asn.au/commentaries/2001/Gelder3005.pdf

Variety adds appeal as a moderator. (course work)

A recent submission to my elearning course.

Adding variety to your course will create a huge impact on your learners allowing them to be more engaged in the material being presented and having a greater vested interesting in the quality and quantity of education that they are receiving.

Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 has a wonderful slide presentation[i] that is simple, to the point and interactive (albeit limited). Some of the key points that they describe within their slides are:

• Animation and narration more clearly explains concepts, principles, facts and procedures.
• Demonstrations guide learners and simulations provide immediate practice of material.
• Interactive practice activities and labs are engaging, provide hands-on practice and help instil knowledge and discovery into the learner
• Allow for imitation so that the learners may then innovate, direct the learners to create their own goals.
• Assessments can be more fun (such as games) creating experiences for the learners to draw back upon when recalling material outside of the classroom
• Help learners identify, evaluate, and use external sources of knowledge.
• Team activities promote interaction amongst learners, fosters trust and strengthens your online eLearning community
• Make it easy for learners to get answers to their questions by using email, instant messaging, telephone and face-to-face tools if available.
• Send students on virtual tours to museums, art galleries, etc.
• Create a bank of job aids that assist and encourage further learning.

Mixing many of these applications together will create enormously exciting, engaging and interactive learning environments for your participants.

[i] Making eLearning Meaningful. Retrieved June 18, 2007 from Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 website: http://www.slideshare.net/sspengler/making-elearning-fun. (November, 2006.)

eLearning students have more responsibility and less structure. (course work)

A recent submission to my elearning course.

Virtual students need to spend a great deal more time in an online learning environment then in a classroom course for many reasons. One of these is to keep up with the amount of reading and writing to discussion boards regarding class material.

“Online courses are often more time-consuming than their face-to-face counterparts, because you are expected to do so much more writing, and because it's very difficult to succeed in an online courses as a non-participant” (Learn NC for High School, University of North Carolina, 2007).[i]

It is true that online learning environments are becoming more and more less structured as they are becoming more self-lead then instructor-lead and certainly more collaborative amongst students. However, I find this relies solely on the instructor and their teaching/facilitating methods. I have participated in online courses where I was expected to read/post to a certain number of messages each week, have certain articles read, have assignments submitted by certain dates. There was very little flexibility to the course and many students enjoy that and need that, especially when first transitioning from CBT to WBT. Other instructors have giving much more group work than weekly discussions and this has lead to more collaborative learning.

Therefore I would have to disagree with Palolff and Pratt and the concept that online classes are less structured environments. This may be come the case in the near future, but I do not believe we are at that point universally.

[i] Learn NC for High School: Is online learning right for me? Retrieved June 18, 2007 from University of North Carolina website: http://www.learnnc.org/students/9-12/support/isonlineright

Healthy online communites are established with guidelines and expectations. (course work)

A recent submission to my elearning course.
Defining participant guidelines and expectations from the beginning of a course helps to establish several things within an online course community. “Building Communities--Strategies for Collaborative Learning,” By Soren Kaplan (August 2002)[i], states these guides:

• Establish operating norms explaining “…guidelines for online and offline etiquette and obtain agreement on the behaviour that will lead to successful group and individual learning outcomes.”
• Foster trust. “Establishing and aligning learners’ expectations around shared objectives, including how individual contributions tie in to the broader success of the group, helps create an open and sharing environment.” Allowing members of the community to establish these norms, objectives and goals strengthen the buy in of learners and increase trust in one another.
• Create a buddy system. “Keeping learners engaged in an online environment can be challenging.” Groups help create collaborative efforst amongst the members to contribute to not only their learning, but that of the entire group.

“Communities are about people and their interactions with each other. Thus communication is the heart of online communities” (Bowes, 2002, pg. 1).[ii]

Learning is becoming more about learning from one another rather than just and instructor or textbook. The Australian Flexible Learning Framework Quick Guide[iii] series points out that this has been driven by:

• The recognition of the importance of social interaction within the learning process.
• An increasing emphasis on a constructivist model of education, rather than the transmission of knowledge.
• Recognition that in the online world, information is pervasive and readily accessible, but that making sense of it is the real challenge.

From this discussion clearly “a Learning Community is a group of individuals engaged intentionally and collectively in the transaction, or transformation of knowledge” (Kowch & Schwier 1007 quoted in Grozdanic & Weatherely 2001)[iv] and that by defining the guidelines and expectations will allow all members to fully contribute and utilize the community to its fullest.

[i] Soren Kaplan, Building Communities—Strategies for Collaborative Learning, Learning Circuits. http://www.learningcircuits.org/2002/aug2002/kaplan.html, August 2002.
[ii] Bowes, J 2002, Building Online Communities for Professional Networks, Global Summit Conference, Adelaide. http://www.educationau.edu.au/globalsummit/papers/jbowes.htm
[iii] Backroad Connections Pty Ltd 2003, What are the conditions for and characteristics of effective online learning communities? (Version 1.00), Australian Flexible Learning Framework Quick Guides series, Australian National Training Authority. July 29, 2003.
[iv] Grozdanic, R & Weatherley, R 2001, Designing for a Viable Online Professional Development Community, NET*Working 2001. http://flexiblelearning.net.au/nw2001/01_attending/program/tuesday.htm

Online courses demand more time management and independent motivation. (course work)

A recent submission to my elearning course.

I have personally found that online courses definitely take much more time to fully participate within and therefore demand greater time management and determination then a classroom base setting.

Classroom based courses tend to have a set amount of reading, homework and in class participation that is fairly standard from one class to another, one year to another. Web based courses on the other hand require a great deal more involvement from the student. There is usually a set amount of reading to accomplish each week of a course. The student often then needs to complete an assignment or participate within a discussion board regarding that week’s topic. Discussions occur one message at a time. A learner may post their message today and then have to check back several times over the next few days to see a response to their thought. In a classroom setting the feedback is instantaneous.

Many times as well, one student will post a link regarding something they have found interesting and relevant to the class discussion. Instead of generalizing it as one would in a face-to-face setting the link is often posted and other learners must follow the link and read about it to see the tie in to the course material. This creates added time to the learning process.

Student must make sure in an online course that they stick to the reading schedule, reading other participants postings, submit comments, and assignments all within allotted time. There is little room for flexibility so it takes great discipline to schedule your time accordingly to cover all aspects of a course.

The University of Illinois sums this up nicely on their “What Makes a Successful Online Student”[i] website saying,

‘The online learning process is normally accelerated and requires commitment on
the student’s part. Staying up with the class and completing all work on time is
vital. Once a student gets behind, it is almost impossible to catch up.
Basically, the student needs to want to be there, and needs to want the
experience.’

[i] Online Education Resources: Pedagogy & Learning, ‘What Makes a Successful Online Student?”, Retrieved June 18, 2007 from University of Illinois website: http://www.ion.illinois.edu/Resources/tutorials/pedagogy/StudentProfile.asp

Facilitating online communication and/or learning (course work)

A recent submission to my elearning course.

Facilitators need a large supply of skills to help keep them on top of their online environments and keep them apprised of the communication and learning that is taking place among their learners.

Audrey Choden wrote in an article[i] for http://www.suite101.com/ “According to Australia’s Natural Training Authority (now the Department of Education, Science and Training) Conceptual Model of Influences on Online Teaching and Learning[ii], the competencies required of online facilitators to ensure an effective online learning environment include:

• Instructional - questioning, supporting, leading and pacing,
  providing explanation and additional resources. Induction programs, the
  establishment and maintenance of learning communities, group tutorials and
  individual feedback.
• Managerial - keeping to the task, agenda, timetable, procedural rules and decision-making norms and tracking student participation.
• Social - creating a friendly social environment in which a climate for learning is promote.
• Technical - participants need to be comfortable with the system and the software in use.

The Jennifer Hoffman captures in her article for ASTD’s January 2000 issue of Learning Circuits[iii], several key points that all facilitators themselves should know before creating synchronous learning environments.

• Participate before you facilitate. – try a session yourself
• Be an advocate. – if this is a new initiative at work be supportive
• Practice, practice, practice. – rehearse first
• Learn the technology. – know the tools you are using
• Keep tuned in to the participants. – know how to read your participants’ moods
• Prompt some form of interaction every 3 to 5 minutes.
• Record questions that are asked in the session's chat function.
• Use a teaching assistant. – an assistant can help during live chats with questions/technology
• Collaborate.
• Encourage coaching.

[i] Audery Choden, How to Succeed as an Online Facilitator http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/training_and_development/45384/2, August 8, 2000.
[ii] Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), http://www.tafe.sa.edu.au/lsrsc/one/natproj/tal/conmodel/facilitation.htm (Note: I can no long find a current web reference for this model, however I do like these points captured by other authors)
[iii] Jennifer Hofmann, Making Synchronous Training a Success, http://www.learningcircuits.org/2000/jan2000/Hofmann.htm, Learning Circuits, January 2000.

Limiting the use of audio or video if you use it at all. (course work)

A recent submission to my elearning course.

ELearning designers are more and more frequently using a minimalist approach to their courses. From a technological viewpoint:

"…limited bandwidth has a direct impact on the sophistication of technology that
courses can use. Niceties such as audio, video, animation, simulations, and
games eat up more bandwidth, may require plug-ins or Java applets on the
desktop, and can run afoul of firewalls.”[i]

Minimalist designers see the complexity of elaborate technology design as more of a hindrance to learning rather then an enabler.

“Complexity adds costs, distracts employee learners and creates technological
problems that eat up valuable time to solve.”[ii]

With all the exciting options that are available to designers, we often can get quite carried away with our own intrigue into utilizing all the latest and greatest applications. However, Molly Hazschlag makes a wonderful point that our lesson designs should go way beyond just graphics.

"I'm convinced that the best designs use only graphics that are absolutely
necessary. If you limit your use of graphics, the ones you do use will grab much
more attention, especially if they're well planned and well placed."[iii]

[i] Lisa Terry, Tech Barriers to E-learning http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/story?id=38e163780, July 18, 2001.
[ii] Digital University, Inc. staff. Minimalists May Be Winning E-learning Design Arguments http://www.cuesu.org/enews/0108minimal.html August, 2001
[iii] Molly E. Holzschlag Clean Up, Flatten Out http://molly.com/articles/webthoughts/2001-08-cleanup.php , August 2001.

Just started a new online course

I just started another online course. This one in entitled "Facilitating Online Learning". I'm a little surprised to tell you the truth regarding the layout of this entire course. It is being completely presented in a manner I have never seen before through 10 other courses on various platforms. I'm most surprised or taken back by the fact that a course that is about facilitating online courses begins by having the students look through a 103 page study guide.

I'm open to trying to figure this all out, but from my recent studies and information I have collected at a recent conference this almost seems backwards from what is normally expected of online courses. By this I mean that information is normally broken out into several components so that you can quickly get to the info at any given time instead of having to flip through a large document. I am curious to ask why you choose the format that you have instead of individual accessible sections.

Please understand this is not a critique (not on day one) but more so trying to gain knowledge as to the methodology. As I stated this is the first time a course has been presented this way to me and it seems more of a paper based course instead of online info. I have a feeling I'm "reading" too much into all this as the ideas on online collaboration and discussion does represent the new trend in elearning.
I'm curious if anyone else in the class is surprised by the format/layout/documents or if I am the only one that feels a little out of place? It seems completely oxymoronic to teach a course about online facilitating by teaching it with a book.

We'll see what the teacher and students think. I may have put a target on my forehead day one. May be a little harder to get that A+ in this class.