Monday, March 22, 2010
Last But Not Least.....
I love blogging but am a little disappointed at myself for the lack of participation in this blog. The best part about blogging is interacting with others; sharing ideas and experiences and providing feedback. I enjoy this class and am learning a lot in regards to distance education and its different dynamics. I would have never known how instrumental distance education is and how intricate the details are in designing and delivery to ensure the learning process is effective. In any case, I enjoyed reading Oksana’s posts and providing my comments.
Virtual Worlds
One day I was watching Judge Mathis and the plaintiff was suing the defendant for some money that was either stolen or taken during a virtual world interaction. As the judge asked questions regarding the virtual world it was amazing to see how serious the plaintiff was about her virtual world, her avatar, occupation, etc. As I mentioned in Oksana’s post it would be very time consuming to put a course like this together but I believe this would probably be the best experience of a student’s life, if designed and delivered properly.
One of the concerns with Second Life is that there is a lot of non academic activity going on which makes the learning process difficult at times(Young, 2010). Virtual worlds would serve best as an internship/capstone course where a student would have to apply the information they have learned through all the courses to complete their virtual world. I believe that if this is the case, courses for both virtual world and online learning should be available which would allow students to have a choice of the type of course they would like to participate.
Although some colleges are not happy with virtual life, it is still a growing technology that, in the future, will be very beneficial to the education field.
Interesting article:
Young, J. (2010, Feb 14) After Frustrations in Second Life, Colleges Look to New Virtual Worlds. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/After-Frustrations-in-Second/64137/
One of the concerns with Second Life is that there is a lot of non academic activity going on which makes the learning process difficult at times(Young, 2010). Virtual worlds would serve best as an internship/capstone course where a student would have to apply the information they have learned through all the courses to complete their virtual world. I believe that if this is the case, courses for both virtual world and online learning should be available which would allow students to have a choice of the type of course they would like to participate.
Although some colleges are not happy with virtual life, it is still a growing technology that, in the future, will be very beneficial to the education field.
Interesting article:
Young, J. (2010, Feb 14) After Frustrations in Second Life, Colleges Look to New Virtual Worlds. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/After-Frustrations-in-Second/64137/
Role of Instructor K-12
As I reflect on the posts regarding the role of instructors it seems like the role that I identified in my discussion post would be mainly focused on adult learners. Since such states such as Florida and Georgia have virtual schools for K-12, I believe that the instructor would play more of a instructional role in terms of interacting and teaching. In Florida Virtual schools student are “required to submit a specific amount of work each week”. This is specified by the teacher with student input. Also, all courses have a Pace Chart that helps the student keep track of their weekly assignments. Teachers can choose to modify the chart. So unlike adult distance education, the schedule of course can be modified in order to address the student’s needs. I would think that the instructor would probably set up pre-recorded instruction (lectures) for the students to review and include motivating activities for these younger students to complete. In the case of this type of online learning it would be the responsibility of the institution to design a curriculum based on age and ability. The institution would also ensure that the instructors teaching the courses are able to effectively deliver the materials and guide the student through the information. Eventually as the student becomes familiar with the structure and what is expected, the instructor will eventually(hopefully) be able to participate as strictly a guide in helping the student reaching higher levels of autonomy.
Works Cited:
http://www.flvs.net/Pages/default.aspx
Works Cited:
http://www.flvs.net/Pages/default.aspx
Web 2.0 Technologies(Facebook)
My students just completed a History Day project about Facebook. The History Day theme this year was Innovation: Impact and Change. A few reasons why they selected Facebook as being an innovative resource tool are:
• Ecommerce – the ability to buy and sell products/services.
• Jobs – job seekers can look for employment and employers can post available positions.
• Collaboration – students, employees/employers can set up project teams and communicate through FB. Common interest groups can be set up and shared with everyone.
• Friends/Family – can be united with old friends and distance family members.
I believe that social networks to “create creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. In regards to Moore’s statement about Web 2.0 technologies being less effective if not part of the distance education reform process, I do not agree. The design of the course has nothing to do with Web 2.0, but rather contributes to the quality of the course along with other technologies. Another important aspect of course design is ensuring that the instructor knows how to effectively use Facebook. Applications are less effective in the teaching and learning process if the instructor does not have any knowledge about how to use the software.
I myself spend a great deal of time on Facebook; updating my status and chatting with old friends or family members. I would love an opportunity to collaborate with my group of classmates on FB. A downside to this is that I may be distracted by outside interactions not related to my group session. This is different than a WebTycho chat where all of the online activity is related to the topic and there are little to no outside distractions. So while FB adds creativity and gives instructors and students another alternative to the teaching and learning process, it may make it difficult for students to focus on a study or group project. Although from the research on Facebook versus WebCT, The Chemistry of Facebook: Using Social Networking to Create an Online Community for the Organic Chemistry, that there was more collaboration in the Facebook application rather than the WebCT, I do not believe that Facebook has all of the necessary tools to be an application strictly for distance education. It would have to be used in conjunction with a technology such as WebCt in order to be effective. Facebook is just another resource that the instructor can use to motivate the students to participate in class discussions and collaboration.
Works Cited:
Schroeder, J., and T. Greenbowe. 2009.The Chemistry of Facebook: Using social networking to create an online community for the organic chemistry laboratory. Innovate 5(4).
• Ecommerce – the ability to buy and sell products/services.
• Jobs – job seekers can look for employment and employers can post available positions.
• Collaboration – students, employees/employers can set up project teams and communicate through FB. Common interest groups can be set up and shared with everyone.
• Friends/Family – can be united with old friends and distance family members.
I believe that social networks to “create creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. In regards to Moore’s statement about Web 2.0 technologies being less effective if not part of the distance education reform process, I do not agree. The design of the course has nothing to do with Web 2.0, but rather contributes to the quality of the course along with other technologies. Another important aspect of course design is ensuring that the instructor knows how to effectively use Facebook. Applications are less effective in the teaching and learning process if the instructor does not have any knowledge about how to use the software.
I myself spend a great deal of time on Facebook; updating my status and chatting with old friends or family members. I would love an opportunity to collaborate with my group of classmates on FB. A downside to this is that I may be distracted by outside interactions not related to my group session. This is different than a WebTycho chat where all of the online activity is related to the topic and there are little to no outside distractions. So while FB adds creativity and gives instructors and students another alternative to the teaching and learning process, it may make it difficult for students to focus on a study or group project. Although from the research on Facebook versus WebCT, The Chemistry of Facebook: Using Social Networking to Create an Online Community for the Organic Chemistry, that there was more collaboration in the Facebook application rather than the WebCT, I do not believe that Facebook has all of the necessary tools to be an application strictly for distance education. It would have to be used in conjunction with a technology such as WebCt in order to be effective. Facebook is just another resource that the instructor can use to motivate the students to participate in class discussions and collaboration.
Works Cited:
Schroeder, J., and T. Greenbowe. 2009.The Chemistry of Facebook: Using social networking to create an online community for the organic chemistry laboratory. Innovate 5(4).
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