Jen Boisvert’s Blog

The article “Do Online Students Dream of Electric Teachers” by Jason Scorza, made me think about the participating in the discussion board as a student and as an instructor. An online classroom environment doesn’t allow you to see an instructor or classmate’s non-verbal cues (Scorza, 2005). I have always wondered what their initial response (see their facial expressions) is when someone reads one of my post(s). In one of the discussion posts within this module, one of my classmates asks this same question. How can I tell if students are grasping this information or what their initial reaction to an assignment is? I have asked myself this question many times. Can I determine if they understand or are struggling with an assignment by the tone of their submission? Or, by how much time they are spending in the course? Would adding emotions to a post be helpful (like you can in Facebook or Instant Messenger) or conducting a survey (1-2 questions) at the end of each module be effective? All of these may send a signal, but how can I really determine if a student is connecting to the information?

The article by Alex, “A Series of Unfortunate Events and How to Avoid Them,” really put course design into perspective for me. There are a ton of factors that you need to keep in mind when designing a course. This holds true for traditional and non-traditional courses. You really have to “Assume Nothing” when you design a course (Pickett, 2008). Two areas that I want to focus on in great detail is making sure that the discussion questions are meaningful and creating a warm classroom environment. I have been in online classrooms where I felt like the only reason why we are participating in the discussion boards is to get a grade. The discussion questions did not allow for critical thinking and they didn’t have much to do with what we were learning. I barely took anything away from them and I think my classmates didn’t take anything away from them as well. When I design my discussion questions, my focus is to make students want to participate. Instead of just posting a question and having students respond, I am going to incorporate different activities such as case studies and having them look things up. The more a student can become engaged, the more they will participate in the discussion board. Lastly, I hope to create a learning environment that is warm and inviting. Once again, I have been in a classroom setting where I felt like I was out there all by myself. I did not like the way this felt and I don’t want my students to feel this way either. Seeing that I have been in their shoes, I know what they are going through. A positive, caring personality sets the tone for the course (I have to say Alex has done this in this course). I want my students to know that I am there. At work and in the classroom, I always try to think from a student perspective.

I have to say, I love the discussion questions that Alex came up with for this Module. The questions on the discussion board are questions that I have always thought about but never knew who to ask or how to go about getting an answer for them. Teaching doesn’t come with a manual or an answer key. I brainstorm a lot with my colleagues, but sometimes we have the same questions and no one to turn to for answers. In all of the graduate courses that I have taken, this is the first course that has actually allowed me to address some of the questions. In addition, these are questions that are practical and that I am faced with on a daily basis. It is nice to see that my classmates have some of the same questions that I have had. It is nice to be able to work with each other and explore different options.

Last week I ordered the textbook that I want to use in my course, “Interviewing: Principles and Practice” by Charles Stewart and William Cash. I decided to use an older edition as it would be cheaper for students. Textbooks can be expensive. I used this textbook, well an older edition, when I took a traditional class similar to what I want to design. This textbook has come in handy several times when I was going through the interviewing process.

So far in my course, I have created links to my Course Information. I decided to put it in Module 1 so students can easily find it. There are only a few links that I am still working on finishing up such as policies, syllabi, and the rubric under grading. As time progresses and I begin to develop my course more, I can then complete these documents.

I look forward to the next module and working on developing my course in more detail.

Pickett, A. (2006). A series of unfortunate online events and how to avoid them. Suny Learning Network. p. 1-12.

Scorza, J.A. (2005). Do online students dream of electric teachers? JALN. 9(2). p. 45-52.

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I can’t believe the first two weeks of the course are already over. The first two weeks were a little overwhelming with learning a new learning management system and getting acclimated to the other programs. I finally feel comfortable with VoiceThread, Twitter, and Blogging. Here are some of the learning activities that I covered over the past two weeks:

The Course Manual has been extremely helpful in helping me design my course. It is nice to have a guide to help me brainstorm and generate ideas for my course. Since I have not designed a course before or taught, this manual has been helpful and I look forward to using it in other future modules.

The “Did you Know” video by Howie DiBlasi was very fascinating. The statistics where very interesting. It is amazing how technology has changed over the past few years. Globalization has played a huge role in technology. One fact that sticks out in my mind is that “Half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study” (DiBlasi, 2007). This statistic is pretty scary when you think about it, but it so true. It is amazing how technology changes every day. This video made me realize the impact on technology and how we constantly rely on it.

“Minds on Fire: Open education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0” by John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler made me really think about how the Internet has changed over the past 10 years. The Internet started to spread into homes when I was a junior in high school. Back then the Internet was primary used for composing e-mail and looking up information. Information on the web was limited and not everyone was connected. A person connected through the Internet via a dial-up service like America OnLine (AOL). It would take a while to connect to the Internet and as I said earlier, not too much information could be found on the Internet. In the past 10 years this has changed dramatically. Now days, everything is conducted through the Internet in seconds. Businesses are ran, education is offered via online, and personal finances can also be conducted via the Internet. As Brown and Adler stated “The world is evolving at an increasing pace (Brown & Adler, 2008, p. 30). The Internet has changed education and as time progresses, it will change even more.

Reading “Ten Ways Online Education Matches, or Surpasses, Face-to-Face Learning” allowed me to think about my own personal online educational experience. I could relate to all 10 points. I also connected my career to this article as well. An online education has provided me with many opportunities not only as a student but also as an individual and employee. The online classes that I have participated in have allowed me to interact more with my classmates and instructor and has provided me with lifelong learning (Kassop, 2003).

I am excited about Module 2 and developing my course, Interviewing. Module 1 has provided me with a great foundation for brainstorming and creating the foundation for my course.

Brown, J. S. & Adler, R.P. (2008). Minds on fire: Open education, the long tail, and learning 2.0

EDUCAUSE Review. p. 17-32. http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume43/MindsonFireOpenEducationtheLon/162420

Kassop, M. (2003). Ten ways online education matches, or surpasses, face-to-face learning. The

Technology Source. http://technologysource.org/article/ten_ways_online_education_matches_or_surpasses_facetoface_learning/

Wow, the first week of class flew by. Where did the time go? Well, I finally understand Twitter and VoiceThread. Lately, I have been hearing a lot about Twitter, but never really understood its purpose. In a way, it reminds me of Instant Messenger (IM)/an away message. I have only posted a handful of messages (or tweets as I have been hearing people say), but I look forward to adding more throughout the semester. I have been enjoying reading everyone’s Twitter messages. Congratulations to Jessica!

I think VoiceThread was my biggest dilemma last week. Even though I have a degree in Instructional Technology and work with technology on a daily basis, I could not figure out how to respond to Alex’s questions. I spent a good amount of time trying to figure it out on my own. I figured out how to download a profile picture, but I couldn’t figure out how to post a comment or record my voice. I went as far as even recording my voice on Audacity and trying to upload it, but no such luck. I then searched on Goggle and read through the Help Guide, but this didn’t really help either. I was missing a key component, but couldn’t figure it out. On Friday night, I finally posted a message on the bulletin board begging for help. Alex quickly came to the rescue. She was very kind and provided me with YouTube videos on using VoiceThread. I viewed a few of them, but still could not figure it out. When I was watching the videos, I noticed that the presenters had an option to comment and record. Unfortunately, I did not have these options. I was a part of the group, but for some reason didn’t have this access. So, keeping this in the back of my mind, I decided to go back to my e-mail account and look at Alex’s e-mail invitation to VoiceThread. I clicked on the image and this time it finally worked. I now had the option to record and comment. It was a very exciting moment. I knew that this program couldn’t be too had to figure out, but not having these options made it a bit difficult to understand.

Every day, I am feeling more and more confident with Moodle. This is my first time using this Learning Management System (LMS). I love it as it provides more options than Blackboard. I have been discussing my course, Preparing for an Interview (I may change the title of the course), with my colleagues as I have never taught before. I am looking forward to creating activities and content for my course.

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