Assignment 2

Well this assignment was really confusing to say the least. I found it quite difficult to get into as I felt that the readings were quite out of date. I tried to look for more recent stuff but was unsuccessful. It is very lonely in this course as the discussion forums really aren't very active. I am so glad that this is not my first experience online as I would be very confused. I finally got a go on when I decided to compare online learning with that of current my classroom. I couldn't see why I should compare it to the 20th Century classroom as that is no longer an issue. I couldn't see the point of doing that as I have never taught in such as rigid way especially now as I am an IB teacher. In fact the last time that I was in a 20th Century set up was when I was at school! Too long ago to remember it!

Changes in Roles of Instructors and Students -> The educator as a tutor -> Re: The educator as a tutor

Hi Janet,

I liked reading your post. I agree that a learner centered environment requires more from the learner. I teach in an IB school and the inquiry approach promotes just that. I also struggle with collaboration as it can be stressful to be relying on others yet essential to learn how to do that as our world requires us to develop collaborative skills. My students complain when having to work together and it can be hard to place difficult students as they can be ostracized by their own group.
I have a quote that I got from a recent film that I watched at the K12 Online Conference site. http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=150 check it out! It is worth watching Clarence Fisher's video about Classroom Web 2.0. This quote from Tom Carroll was mentioned in the video to illustrate how Fisher sees his classroom "Every classroom is a collective effort, not an individual accomplishment."
I am working on assignment 2. I struggled through the concept part as I found it quite a challenge to put those principles into my own words without repeating what others have said. I kept going around in circles - but it made me think so I am learning to make sense of it. I haven't come across much that only happens online. Most is the same as in offline learning.

I just wish that I had more time to work on this as it is little crazy at the moment at school with preparations for Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences with digital portfolios that are the 18 and 19th September. It makes me so tired which really only leaves the weekends to study.

Jane

PS I'll leave you with another quote from Alan November, "Every classroom should be a global communication centre." I believe that online learning is not just for older students who have developed independence in their learning but for all classrooms and for younger students such as mine - a blended approach is needed to bridge the gap. I am currently modeling online learning in class using Ning which I intend to later shift to at home for homework tasks.

Apple Teachers Camp

Hi All,

I attended Apple Teachers Camp today and watched this film as a part of the activities. I though that I'd share it with you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Jane

PS The camp was great! It was all hands on stuff about creating units of work infused with technology. I have one other share - I learned to use Sequence which is a great software that allows you to draw and record an assessment on top of a video. This way you can talk about a students video and then point out the area with drawing. It then saves as a movie file with a small inset screen of the teacher talking through the assessment points and the drawing animated over the video itself. Very nice!

The contribution of the Gunawardena and Zittle article -> Sensory Impact

Hi Everyone,
I have read the article and tried to break it down.

Gunawardena and Zittle identify five themes:
● Learner-centered instruction; (both synchronous and asynchronous) Gunawardena changed her teacher role from that of a teacher in front of the classroom to that of a facilitator as guide and learning support. Isn’t that just following current F2F teaching trends? I think that the question is “Do learner-centered learning environments promote transfer of learning? I myself follow constructivist-learning approaches in my classroom, which is mostly F2F. I have found that this promotes faster learning, as there is less formal instruction, which suits my Digital Native learners.

● Interaction; (both synchronous and asynchronous) 3 types have been highlighted; learner content interaction, learner instruction interaction and learner-learner interaction. The learner-instructor was stated as being the most essential and highly desired. I agree with this as an online learner I am looking for confirmation and I feel that this can only really come from the instructor. I believe that this is because the instructor is one who determines the assessment. This has been the case too when using online learning with my Primary aged students all of whom tell me that it is my comment on their posts that is most awaited.

● social presence; is the ability to communicate well by using the technology. I feel that this area is often neglected in online learning and many courses just encourage text responses and some form of concept mapping. I personally would like to see a deeper exploration of using technology well to get the message across more succinctly. I encourage my students to teach the class what they know through using the technology. This is an area that I am most interested in developing further in my own practice.
Personally I feel that I can cultivate a better social presence in asynchronous than synchronous communications as I need time to think over my responses. I can’t think clearly under pressure and in a synchronous online communication I am often ‘silent’ preferring text responses rather than using a webcam. I would rather have the luxury of thinking and rereading at leisure rather than the panic of instant relay. I guess that it is the thought that I am being recorded (or could be recorded) that puts me off.

● cognitive strategies: this is an internal process by which learners select and modify their ways of attending, learning, remembering and thinking. How can the information become personally meaningful and easy to remember? For me it is similar to F2F in that I highlight text using different colours and organize my notes into folders. I try to connect to my own experience as much as possible and find ways to integrate what I am learning into my teaching practice.

● collaborative learning.
Learning in a group. Online impacts differently as difficulties to work together are impacted by technology. For example in Indonesia, the speed of the Internet isn’t reliable and this impacts when trying to attend virtual classes. Time differences also impact. I have found that online learning is enabled yet hindered by the technology itself. I can’t see this changing, as there will always be a gap in that some people will have better Internet access than others.

Sensory Impact
I can’t think of any more beyond what Gunawardena and Zittle have defined. Except this one … that online to me often feels disconnected (even with great webcams) and for me that can feel very lonely. In a F2F we can benefit from body language and being able to watch the reactions of others in the classroom. We can see by the way a student is sitting or their body language that they are using when communicating which gives the instructor clues about how the learning is progressing. We can reach out and touch one another. I also miss smells and other factors such as the light in a person’s eye that shows that they understand. I can’t pick these up online.

What do you think about this?

Learning from watching others learn. -> Learning from Watching Others Learn -> Re: Learning from Watching Others Learn

Thank you Judith.
I struggled through the article but when I thought about the key phrase of this discussion forum, "Learning from Watching Others Learn", I decided to do just that and read through what everyone else had written. You highlighted a point from Mayer that made me realize that Mayer is coming from an Inquirers' perspective. Being that I am in an IBO school, this is something that I can relate to.

To go a little further I googled the term 'Vicarious Learning Online' and found the following:

As many of you know, when surfing the Internet it can lead you to the most interesting corners. One click led to another and I found myself at this blog http://eduspaces.net/csessums/weblog/138352.html
where my attention was held by this picture capture which is at the bottom of this post.

What caught my eye was the two students with raised hands and it made me reflect that in this course the discussion forums that get the most response are those with questions.

Oh oh, am I getting off the track here? What do you think about students asking further questions as a way of engaging response and provoking 'Learning from watching others learn'?


Jane

BTW Here is the Jim Waters link if you want to check it out:

Waters, J (2008) The iSchool at Drexel http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~jw65/jimwaters.htm Accessed on 1/9/08