My Learning Experience in EDUC251

When I signed up for this course I was quite nervous because I had no appreciable technology skills and I was registered simultaneously for EDUC250, the introductory course to eLearning.  It was almost like performing medical surgery before I had even learned the names of the surgical instruments or anything about the body system I would perform surgery upon!  However. . . here I am, 12 weeks down the road at the end of the quarter and I have become a real "surgeon"!

Essentials of eLearning has become a highlight in my educational career because everything I learned was 100% new!  Not only were the technology tools new, but the instruction delivery method was new.  It felt strange at first to interact with my classmates through the frame of my computer monitor instead of looking into their eyes, but as time went on and we began conversing and sharing opinions, thoughts, and ideas in DIIGO, that changed.  Classmates began establishing their "presence" through their individualized writing styles in blogs and comment boxes in DIIGO as well as through the questions they posed or addressed.  Associating a picture and bits of personal information with each student also helped to establish my classmates' presence.  It was like having a number of very interesting "pen-pals" with whom I would exchange information but rarely, if ever, would this exchange be face to face.

This course would not have been as academically thrilling to me without the expertise of Jennifer, our instructor.  She honed a very strong online learning community by setting excellent guidelines and expectations from the beginning as well as establishing herself as a fellow-learner.  When a teacher can say, "I don't know, but let's find out together", he/she has my utmost admiration.  Encouragement to step out and discover for oneself is a very "constructivist" approach--one that Jennifer surely embodies!  She knew just when to loosen, then remove the "training wheels" so that we could each speed down the road toward our own destination!  For that, I truly admire HER!

There are three distinct pieces of our Essentials of eLearning class that are superior stand-outs for me.  They are all of equal importance in my toolkit:  1) the technology tools we learned about and used 2) the expert modeling of what an online instructor should be 3) the development of our strong online community.

As a final note, there is only one thing I would make more liberal use of if I were designing this course: pictures!  They say "a picture is worth a thousand words"--in some ways this is true.  I would have loved to see personal videos or picture galleries of each of my classmates and instructor from the get-go because these would have personalized the course for me much sooner.  However, not all people need to "see" those they go to class with so perhaps this is a frivolous suggestion.

EDUC251 Module 7 Portfolio Activity: WELCOME TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!

This posting is to satisfy Activity 7.4 of Module 7 in EDUC251, that is, the design of a learning activity for our Course Framework complete with introduction, instructions, grading, and resources.  Please note that this Course is being created for Middle School students 13-14 years of age.  Currently, it is for students in a full time online science "classroom" or a hybrid classroom setting, but with a few tweaks this course could be  geared up for older students (high school and beginning college level).

Introduction:  Welcome, "Scientists", to the Galapagos Islands!  You will spend time here with your colleagues learning about the Islands: their flora/fauna, geology, marine, and human environments, as well as the major issues surrounding biodiversity and sustainability practices here.  You are probably asking yourselves, "What is biodiversity and what are sustainability practices?"  That mystery will be solved quickly as you begin your research.

Learning Outcomes:  At the end of this Module you will be able to:

     1. Define the terms, biodiversity and sustainability practices and apply your definitions to the Galapagos Islands.

     2. Begin development of a Field Notes Journal that will catalog all of your research findings, musings, and questions gathered during your stay in the Galapagos Islands.

     3.  Use your current skill with these online tools (Diigo, VoiceThread,Google Docs, Discussion Boards/Spreadsheets) to share your initial research results with the other research teams.

Activity 1:

     1. Locate your research team of four students in the spreadsheet on our class Discussion Board.
     2.  Begin your initial team research by "touring" the Islands through the eyes of your Galapagos Guide (instructor). Your team may click on this link to connect to the "tour".
http://animoto.com/play/Synz0X99HacnZyAjc753rA?utm_content=challenger
     3.  "Open" your individual Field Notes Journal (Google Blog) and record your impressions of the "tour", also noting any questions you have about your experience.
    4.  In your team, discuss each scientist's field notes then create a Voice Thread document summarizing your teams' "tour" impressions and questions.  Post a link to your Voice Thread on our class Diigo account so that other teams may listen, view, and respond with a comment on at least one other Voice Thread summary.

Assessment:  Scientists will receive full credit for completing each portion of Activity 1. Your Galapagos Guide will read all Field Notes Journals, posting her comments or questions in each journal and will follow the Voice Thread links you have posted in Diigo, adding her evaluative comment to each Voice Thread.

Evidence of Understanding for my proposed course on Biodiversity, Sustainability, and the Galapagos Islands

Guiding a course about such a huge topic requires multiple assessment tools along the route, but a key tool in my kit is the Self-reflection Essay, making use of meta cognition.  This reflective essay would require students to describe the process they went through as individuals and as "scientist teams" to learn about the Galapagos Islands: it's history, flora and fauna, what governmental/national practices are currently in place for sustaining the biodiversity that exists in the Galapagos--critiquing those practices for evidence of viability, then describing the new plan they, as "scientists", developed for sustaining biodiversity in the Galapagos.  Writing and publishing this paper is much like what real-world scientists do when they publish their findings and present them in a scientific journal or at a conference of colleagues.  In order to create such a document, student scientists need to keep "field notes" (much like a diary) along the way.  These notes would also be a form of assessment, as I as instructor, would ask to see the progress of their learning through a scheduled submission of these notes for my comments, questions, and encouragement.

By no means would this essay be the sole assessment piece asked for, however, it would serve as a cornerstone of understanding as we neared the end of our class.  Early on, students would be asked to formulate and publish definitions (in their own words) for biodiversity and sustainability.  Research into these topics with the published definitions would then become a launching pad for delving into the rest of the course as they are key to understanding everything else.

Module 5, EDUC251

After looking at the collaborative document of suggested portfolio activities our class is creating, I decided to add a photo gallery to my Course Framework (Biodiversity, Sustainability and the Galapagos Islands).  The uploaded photos are illustrative of the diverse flora and fauna I photographed on a trip to that marvelous outpost of biodiversity.  In so doing, I think they add to the interest and understanding of the outcomes I wish students to glean.

Using a still photo gallery or video gallery with an accompanying Voice Thread, would be an ideal way to showcase student learning in any online course.  It could be a collaborative gallery showing examples of student work or students themselves engaging in the learning tasks of the course.  Perhaps each would be asked to "teach" a concept to others in the online course and using video, stills, and/or voice threads, draw the learning community together through the power of these online tools.

According to Boettcher's Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online, BP 4, 5, and 9 (pg. 37) would be met simply by adding an activity with pictures as suggested above.  While in the Early Middle of a course, learning tips 8, and 10 (pg. 117) would also be satisfied using this strategy.  I'm excited to think ahead about structuring a course using these BP's and tips.  Hopefully, the CMS  I might be using would be a platform which easily supports the use of video and audio in the learning modules.

Biodiversity, Sustainability, and the Galapagos Islands

In thinking about a topic and framework for an online course, I feel compelled to create something that speaks to my primary learning love: Science.  My own trip to the Galapagos Islands will provide the setting for what I hope will be a set of lessons allowing students to problem solve as real-world scientists would.  Prior to engaging in any research or collaborative activities, students will need to explore some questions giving a focus to their thinking.  These are: 1) Is biodiversity key to sustainable conservation practices on Earth?  2) Do we as inhabitants of Planet Earth have a responsibility to ensure that biodiversity continues to flourish around the planet?  If so, how can sustainable living practices contribute to this responsibility?  3) What are the elements of biodiversity and sustainability?

When the lessons are complete, students should emerge with two enduring understandings or key ideas.  These are:

• Sustainability practices directly affect a culture, its economy, and its natural habitat.
• The extent of biodiversity in a given region directly affects the health of that region relative to its economy and natural habitat.

Cognitive Presence

Past learning experiences and face-to-face interaction with colleagues and other peers had a "consciousness" about it--I/they was/were aware of my intellectual capabilities as well as what new ideas I was putting forth for the task at hand, yet I never considered this to be a "cognitive presence", it was simply MY presence and all that encompassed.  Now, I understand that this same type of "presence" exists in my virtual life online, although in a more concrete fashion, i.e, words and ideas on a page.  This is a brand new way of thinking for me as previously I only used a computer for email, research, and writing docs to be printed!

With the advent of my eLearning classes this Winter Quarter, I'm gaining skills that will assist me in attaining my twin goals of becoming an online instructor and writing curriculum for possible use by other instructors.  Definitely I need much more practice to develop these skills and the easy confidence I believe is necessary for actualizing these goals, yet I'm slowly inching forward.

Connecting with peers is easier for me in person but I am enjoying "meeting" my classmates on line through their words.  I hope/plan to increase my interaction with them as the Quarter progresses.  I'm not overly concerned about any of the academic or social expectations of the course, but thinking about my structuring my Google Profile did give me a bit of hesitation as I toyed with the idea of being so "available and visible" to people out there beyond the privacy settings I establish.