EDU 6701: Journal for Week 4

Online Learning (for those of us who wouldn’t dream of doing a degree program again f2f)

Some of my ‘teacher friends’ think it a bit esoteric (if not a bit strange) that I still extol the virtues of online learning. It’s interesting, but I really don’t miss that ‘contact’ time that I think is at times overrated for f2f classes. A case in point was a grad-level course on research on reading, plodding through a 1200 page tome. I now think how it could have been so much better had it incorporated the ideas of construtivism, collaborative, student-centered learning. Just same old teach up front, lecturing with a good amount of discussion, but not very enlightening.

But, Good Lord! There are so many variables that must be taken into account for a successful and informative online class to succeed. Guess that’s an important part of the challenge.

And the Project goes on (and on, and on . . )

My concerns regarding the amount of expected points to cover in the project have not abated. Talk about writing as being engaged, recursive, and more of the same! But, that’s the wily part of the assignment.

I keep hovering between 1050 to 1150 words, constantly weeding out wordiness (what tends to be a problem for me). I went back and realized that it’s o.k. to ‘fantasize’ a bit about what the blended class at California Community College (alias for Sacramento City College) would really look like. The information that I wrote in is factual (I worked there as adjunct for 4 years), so the information as to what can transpire in the creation of a blended class as basically factual.

Rubrics

I’ve written a lot of rubrics for writing courses and wrote a basic one for one of my TESOL classes, so I’m a little familiar with them. I’m still not sure as to how many categories to add for the Project. I’ve seen that didn’t have enough and others that went way beyond what was necessary. I’m currently thinking of 4, 5 major categories and subtopics. We’ll see how it shapes up.

The Tech Thing

Still concerned about this. I was accepted to Indiana University’s MS program in Information Systems Technology but opt for CSEU first (and maybe do, at the least, the certificate program after these classes). I feel so inadequate (as I know others do) when it comes to ‘tech stuff’. I wish I were ahead of the pack as Vivian is with this stuff . . in time.

Group Projects and the Assessment

I still feel strong for a group assessment that assigns points to both individual contributions to the good of the whole. However, I wish I could remember how an instructor – years ago – had such a rubric for one of my f2f classes. It really worked well and the group wasn’t punished for what the slacker(s) did not do.

Not that it was a problem with Mini #2; it wasn’t and, in the end, everyone worked well and collaboratively. I was pleased (but for synchronous discussion, but let’s not go there again).

EDU 6701: Journal for Week 2

Social Darwinism in the Age of Electronic Learning?

"Computers will not replace teachers, but teachers who use computers will—inevitably—replace teachers who do not."

I think this a bit too hyperbolic, if not exhibiting a kind of self-serving smugness. There’s an inevitability about it that makes me a bit uneasy. I prefer to think that there’ll be a place for all kinds of teachers in the world; after all, don’t people learn differently and aren’t they deserving of having mentors who teach to their particular niche of learning?

A trained and gifted teacher using the Socratic method is practicing a rich learning approach that focuses on the high-level thinking techniques of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Bloom would approve and certainly would have been comfortable in the gymnasium. Sounds pretty student-centered and collaborative to me.

Now, I certainly am a believer in the power of transformative education that computers and their various programs and applications can have – are having – on education. After all, I wouldn’t be spending time and effort to learn more about the promise of this media (and hope to become an instructor in said media). Perhaps I lack prescience in realizing the inevitability of replacing of one group of instructors by another group.

No, I’m the true believer in every sense for online learning and training. But, there is plenty of room for all, instructors and students. We see ourselves as facilitators in the education of our students; we are guides and collaborators. That’s exactly what Socrates was doing more than 2400 years ago.

Have you had an "AHa!" moment?

More 'Ditto' than 'AHaa!' for the course so far. Case in point is Khanh's posting yesterday at '2:2 E-Learning': "In some ways E-learning is like returning to the older Socratic methods of education, just with new technology." I thought that my thoughts on Socrates possibly a bit too esoteric, but . . there was Khanh's posting. I like to think I'm not being too weird.

Maybe I've had more pint-sized 'AHaa moments than gallon-sized ones. Realizing that I can do things with Firefox that I can't with Safari; realizing that I'm on track with others' thinking more than I had thought; realizing that wow! . . this can be hard if I don't keep my nose the the grindstone! But, it's definitely been a learning curve.

Are you excited about a new idea for your online course?

Problem may be is that I have too many ideas for my online course. I believe I'm sufficiently prioritizing what the course will entail - perhaps 'Ahaa' moments - but I need to develop a course fully to see what needs to be added, deleted, modified, etc. As it now stands I have a linear approach with first having poetry, then essays, short stories, drama / a play, a novella, novel. I'm considering intercalating drama, novella, and novel with poetry, essays, and short stories and introducing literary terms such as plot, character development, theme, etc. at appropriate times. I am worried that I may be overdoing it with WeqQuests, but I think that - if kept to basic research - it would be a good way for team-building and collaborative research.

How is the course going for you?

A bit overwhelmed. At the least I've laid out a plan for my final project. I have the information - lots of it from TESOL.org - so research-wise I'm fine. Just need to be sure and stay disciplined on this.

I am a bit concerned about being the lead person for my group Mini #2. Not being the leader, that doesn't bother me: Been there, done that. Just hope all keep their noses to grindstone.