ONTL 1st half Reflection

Reflection

Now that we are at the half point of the Introduction to Online Teaching I’m going to take a look back over the first 6 weeks and reflect on what I’ve learned thus far and how it I plan to incorporated into real life situations.

Lesson 1

My Reflection

The purpose of lesson was for the student to get to know each other by using online tools to communicate. The professor has given us all the tools that we need to be successful and lesson 1 gave us activities to explore blackboard. I found that the discussion posts were very informative and it allowed us to be ourselves as long as we adhered to the ‘netiquette’ standards. I’ve stated this so many times that I’m not a fan of online learning and that I prefer face to face instruction. With that being said I really didn’t have a clear explanation as to why I preferred that style of teaching. I wanted to learn more about creating online instruction and how to make it more interactive. Just sitting at a computer screen reading a lot of links and pretty much teaching myself was a new concept for me. The world we live in is so technology based, causing face to face interaction is being replaced with webcams and you-tube. I have to be able to change with the times in order to stay current and marketable. Also we had to create a blog and I was so nerves to do this assignment. It’s one thing to turn an assignment and post it for your teacher or classmates, but making it for cyber space is different because its available for everyone to see. After writing my first blog, I was very proud of myself. I conquered some fears I had with my writing skills and I found out that I have a lot share about life and my experiences that may encourage others. I am actually looking forward to keeping my blog updated and current even after this course is complete.

Lesson 2

My Reflection

In lesson 2 I revealed that I struggle with so some learning delays even as an adult and that I’m the mother of 2 special needs children. As a Masters student in Human Performance and Training the technology and online skills are very important component to this degree. I am very tech savvy and a loner so you would think that a High Tech, High Touch learning environment would work well for me. The jury is still out on that one. Lol Even though I’m skilled in varies online applications, retaining the content in the written language is where I struggle. After being introduced the theory of constructivism and little light bulb went off. The way this course has been set-up plays off our real life experiences and it’s incorporated into the lesson. As earlier stated in my post about constructive allows a student to read the information and pose discussion questions about the lesson is the great way to enforce that the content in the readings. This method does truly take the ownership of learning out of the teacher’s hands and directly in the hands of the student. If the student fully understood the readings and assignments putting what they’ve read into their own words is ingenious. During the first live discussion with the Professor, we learned how to use the headset as a method to communicate. I found this to be a great tool for learners who may struggle with instant text writing.

 Lesson 3

My Reflection

During this week we learned the difference between web-enhanced, hybrid, blended and fully-online courses and we discussed which style we preferred. Majority of my classes has been face to face, with hard copies of assignments and text books. Even though my classes are traditional in teaching style several professor are adding web-enhancements to their course structure. With the use of smart phones and tablets making the syllabus, documents and assignments available online increase the students to use more technology within the classroom setting. Week 3’s assignment asked use to take a class and explain if it’s a good candidate for being taught online. Based on my skills in instructional design I think any class can be converted into some form of online teaching platform. With a clear set of objectives and the use of multiple communication tools conversion of face to face, into the virtual world can be achieved.

Lesson 4

My Reflections

Lesson 4 for me was the most enlightening section so far, because I had to identify with a learning style and be honest with myself in my findings. I had an idea of what my learning style was prior to taking the VARK survey and as I stated before I’m a visual learner. Which in a nut shell means I need information presented more visually stimulating, with use of color, pictures, charts and graphs. A successful method for a visual learner is to have the written content broken down into timelines or in order as it happens. Even though having a clear understanding about my own learning style is important but being able to indentify my students learning styles will make me a better online instructor. Every student learns and takes in information differently, I believe it’s the instructor responsibility to create a learning environment for all styles and make adjustments as needed to accommodate everyone.

Lesson 4 was divided into 2 weeks; week 1 we were introduced to learning styles and in week 2 we focused on a group project to demonstrate what we learned. In the past, I haven’t had many positive experiences with working in groups for class projects and I tend to stay away from those projects. My group did work well together but my biggest fear did take place, a lack of initial organization and a clear plan wasn’t ready during our first meeting. Our first meeting was longer then it needed to because we were creating the planning stage as the meeting was taking place. The major challenge our group faced was, every member in our group read and interpreted the instructions a different way, which lead to confussion. However, by the end of the paper we were able to come together a create a great paper, but we respected the other members point of view and didn’t want to dismissive of someone’s creativity to their interpretation of the assignment. The strategies that we used to communicate were helpful because we were able to stay in contact with each other whenever we needed to either by email, IM chat or text. In the end the paper came out great, I will post it soon.

Lesson 5 & 6

My Reflections

What I found to be the most insightful was the teaching style survey and even though I’m not a teacher the results were in line with my learning style. I have an outgoing personal and I believe in inclusion when it comes to student's being involved in their learning. When my results came back weighted heavily in the personal model, facilitator and delegator I was amazed on how accurate it was, even though the questions were written for a teacher. With having 12 years of operations experience its second nature for me to create task and delegate those responsibilities out to others. Which is why I find instructional design as a great career move for me, it provides the structure that I need by creating training from beginning to end and in sequential order. My online classroom environment would be interactive by using online tools that encourage face time like Skype, IM webcams and etc. I would incorporate a constructive theory to the discussion will add to the classroom participation and allow the students to put what they’ve learned into their own words. As lesson 6 comes to an end, we’re in stage of one designing and selecting strategies in order to create our own e-portfolio. The challenged I faces was trying to select a website platform that was visually appealing, user friendly when it comes to the design features of the site and selecting the specific content for the site based on project guidelines.

Final Thoughts

I really didn’t know what to think about online learning except for my personal negative feeling toward online learning as a whole. I just didn’t see how I could learn everything needed about a subject or course without stepping into some sort face to face learning environment. My eyes are now wide open to the endless possibilities and advantages there are to online learning. I look forward to becoming a stronger instructional designer with the gained knowledge I’ve receive so far. Great 1^st half!!!!