Coming to an End

Class has begun to wind down as the semester is coming to a close. I've experienced many different things and learned about various topics more in this class than I have in any other! The learning journal was by far the most resourceful tool I've had since beginning my graduate studies. It allowed me to further reflect on topics that were discussed in class. And by being able to write freeform my thoughts were able to flow more freely and I started asking questions that I may not have asked before.

I've also discovered that I'm a big supporter of constructivist learning theory. Who would have guessed?! I just find the concept of constructing new knowledge based on each learner's prior experience and understanding of the world fascinating.

I've also come to learn that I'm a rather weird learner. I connect with the material but it isn't always conveyed in my postings. And while I can connect with the material and understand it, I feel a disconnect within the class. That's something for me to explore in more depth.

Even though I've been hit with health problems I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in the class. The learning journal, as well as many of the assignments and readings have set a foundation to discover the type of learner that I am and what I need to know and understand to become an effective online instructor. Here's to more learning and reflection!!!

Out of Place-Brindle et. al

Again this issue of isolation comes up. Apparently it's more common than I thought it was. Or at least more people may at times feel isolated in an online learning environment. But what really struck me was that instructors experience this too. I've never attempted to look at it from the viewpoint of an instructor, mainly because I've only been an online student. Moving into the realm of instructor is still illusive to me. Nonetheless, the assigned readings opened me to new thoughts.

As I've stated in previous posts, I've at times felt isolation in my classes and this is regardless of whether I'm overly active in the discussions or quiet. I'm starting to realize that what may be occurring is that isolation is expected to happen at some point in the course of pursuing education in an online learning environment. I'd be interested to know what causes this? Is it school related? Home responsibilities? Work? Combination of many factors? It certainly warrants a deeper look into the complexities of distance education. I think at times many articles tend to focus on the benefits of distance education, pedagogical approaches, etc. rather than the underlying unhealthy components of distance education. Not that there aren't articles out there discussing how to cope with the complexities of distance education, they're just not as prolific as other articles.

But I did find it rather interesting to know that students (especially me) aren't the only ones who experience isolation in online learning environments.

Everyone is NOT an Expert

Haha! Downes' article was a riot! He presents a blog where he attempts to discuss the principles of effective e-learning. To me, this article just simplified distance education to be nothing more than a search engine where you go to learn bits and pieces of information. His inaccurate description of distance education and failed discussion on the principles of effective e-learning left me wondering if he had ever participated in an actual online course!?

And to think he's made a reputation for himself with posts like this. How?? Why??

The only useful piece I got from the blog article was in reference to discussion threads being a great resource for learning. There have been multiple times where I may not have thoroughly understood the material I ha just read yet going through the posts of other classmates helped me to get a better understanding of the material. Downes attributes this to interactivity and that's about the only part of the article that I agreed with!

Everyone is NOT an expert and in Downes' case, clearly not even knowledgeable, but if you are not you should not try to offer an opinion on matters as important as effective e-learning principles that could hinder one's understanding. Thankfully, I'm a little more aware of effective e-learning principles and what distance education entails so I won't fall victim to such heresy! So frustrating!

The Joys of Feedback

So we had to read an article from Lewis & Abdul-Hamid and I found an excerpt from the article to be quite interesting (I posted about this in the conference as well). What I found interesting was the statement, "whether it be individually, in small groups, privately, or in the public forum, all student regardless of their performance in the course are given individualized feedback and an overall impression of how they are doing at every stage of the course".

Now I understand how important feedback is for a student. For me, I anxiously wait for my instructors to return my assignments or comment on posts that I've made to let me know if I'm on the right track. But what I found most interesting about the excerpt was the part referencing giving feedback at every stage of the course. Wow! At first glance I'm thinking to myself who has time for that?!? Of course if you have a small class maybe this wouldn't seem so far-fetched. But what about instructors with large classes? Certainly providing feedback in the manner such as what these authors suggest would amount to a second job. And while I am sure that a student would feel grateful for the feedback, I know I would because I'm constantly worrying about my performance, but wouldn't this go against the purpose of online learning? At least one of the purposes.

To me, providing feedback in such a manner is more than an instructor guiding a student. Online learning promotes independence in adult learners and while feedback is important, adult learners should not look to it as a sole means of continued participation. What I mean is that I think feedback overkill can handicap a student, making them rely too heavily on feedback. Constructing knowledge and the learning process in online learning environments (even traditional learning environments) has many components and if both the instructor and student focus too much on one (feedback) how are they getting the most out of the course/experience?

How much feedback is too much feedback? Where does an instructor draw the line? Can a student ever feel like they're getting too much feedback? So many questions, yet I'm nowhere close to an answer :-\

Safe and Supporting Conditions in Online Classes

One of our assignments called for us to list three things that were important to us as learners in online courses and safe and supporting conditions stood out most to me. I think all learners (as evidenced by many of my classmates' responses) list this as an important factor in online courses. It's also a component of facilitating learning. Instructors must create a safe environment so that students are encouraged to express themselves freely. I must say that each of my online courses have enabled me to freely express my ideas on topics even if my ideas/comments were not favored by all. Yet it leaves me wondering if creating a safe and supporting environment really aid in participation. Yes, there are many other factors that facilitate learning but as I previously stated, this stood out for me.

In a sense this ties back to my post about virtual communities. In each of my classes there has been a sense of community as well as safe and supporting conditions yet neither of these are what compels me to participate. Maybe, unconsciously. It's like I know there is a sense of community and that it's safe yet something still holds me back. What I have learned is that it is not an effect of distance education as I hinted towards a few posts back as I've experienced this same thing in face-to-face classes. Which of course leads back to it being something within me. I get so afraid of rejection that I hold back. And it's so frustrating because I KNOW I have so much potential. If my classes provide a safe and supporting community, why am I holding myself back. What am I afraid of???

Constructivism

We've read many articles on different pedagogical approaches and I must say that I am rather enthralled with constructivism. Using one's prior knowledge, experience, and understanding of the world to construct new knowledge is fascinating. It's fascinating because I've never thought of learning in this manner. In my opinion, regardless of what pedagogical approach an instructor utilizes, all students tend to bring with them their own perceptions of the world and those perceptions shape any new information presented.

Of course, as with any theory, there are criticisms of constructivism. Some of the readings have presented compelling arguments against the effectiveness of constructivism but I think the good far outweigh the bad. In this day and age, the average adult learner who actively seeks knowledge (i.e. furthering their education) needs to have control over their learning and constructivism allows this. Not only constructivism but distance education classes as well since they tend to promote independence (but that's an entirely different topic). Adult learners are no longer in the phase of learning what the teacher wants them to learn by rote memorization. Instead, adult learners make an active choice to seek knowledge and therefore should be more in control of what they learn.

As an adult learner I'm quickly beginning to understand that, huge thanks in part to me being an MDE student. With any pedagogical approach I think the underlying process involves tyring to understand how students learn and how they learn best. Of course constructivism may not apply to all students (i.e. those coming from a limited background possessing little knowledge and experiences) but I'm a fan of constructivism.

And it's funny because when I first began reading about constructivism I honestly could not stand it! Now look at me.

Virtual Communities/Isolation

It's interesting that I keep coming across this concept of virtual communities. It's embedded in our reading assignments and just like my last post, it's something that I had not heard considering I've been an online student for quite some time. I'm starting to realize the distinct differences between the MBA and MDE programs, which I guess should be pretty obvious. Nonetheless, this concept of virtual communities caught my attention finally. Enough to want to write a journal entry!

Just what is a virtual community? In my own words I think a virtual community is a group of people in different geographic locations having somewhat of the same interests/classes/etc. that come together in an online environment. Hmm, if it were that simple then I guess my class is considered a virtual community?? And maybe it is, but shouldn't a community make you feel as though you are connected by more than simply having the same interests or classes? If so, I have to admit that I've never felt such a thing. And for some odd reason I do not think it is the fault of the online learning community. Maybe it is. Or maybe it's both the community and myself.

I also know that there are advantages of virtual communities such as enabling learners to interact with a diverse group of people (per the readings) and I can say that I have been able to do that but something is still missing.

Many researchers say that students tend to feel a sense of isolation when taking online courses (and I think that's why virtual communities are important). Maybe because I've been an online student for such a long time and have lost that feeling you get when you interact with other students in a f2f class setting. Even when I try to become more engaged, I still feel a disconnect. Could it be the content? I don't know but it perturbs me greatly. I don't like the feeling of isolation yet it seems as if I can't do anything about it.

Is Enough Time Being Allotted to Lessons?

After the reading the article on novice instructors I was left pondering why it seemed to me that instructors focused more on delivering the content of a particular subject rather than on whether the student actually grasped what was being presented. As I stated in the discussion on this topic, in my experience with online classes I have often found that my instructors would present the content, not engage in discussion, and then move on to the next topic/objective. I initially stated that I could possibly understand why instructors would choose to do this but upon further reflection I do not agree with that anymore.

It is not beneficial to the student nor the instructor to simply rush through topics just to ensure that everything is "covered". Engaging thoroughly with the material, both the student and the professor, is how learning takes place. For example, class discussions are a huge part of an online learning environment and it is in my opinion that this is a critical component for both the student and teacher. For the student, it is to express his or her understanding of the material being presented at that time and for the teacher it is to guide that student into a deeper/richer understanding or therefore making their contribution to the discussion just as important as the student's.

One of the reasons I chose to attend UMUC was because the structure of their online learning environment did not strike me as being rushed (i.e. earn your degree in as little as a year type thing). But I have found that even in a 10-15 week course subject matter is gone over rather quickly. Maybe this is the nature of online learning. A survey on how instructors determine how much time should be spent on material would probably yield very interesting results. Interesting...

Just How Important is Technology?

There was a lot of discussion on technology in week 4. The discussion was based on technology being a driving force behind distance education. Some discussions led me to believe that the overuse of technology has hindered distance education while on the other hand technological advancements have enhanced distance education. In my opinion, technology used to deliver educational content is just as important as the content itself. I agreed with a student in stating that I agree that poor use of technology in any case can be a setback yet research shows that proper use of technology has and will continue to enable students access to unlimited knowledge and information.

In a distance education environment institutions must have in place current technology. I can understand the arguments relating to not placing so much importance on technology but at the same time it shouldn't be counted as ineffective. I also found it interesting that the type of technology used in distance education courses should be the last aspect determined in a distance education course. Why is it that it can't work both ways? Why can't you determine the type of technology you'll use and then build your course around that? I just wonder what the implications of that would be....

Reflective Thinking

I've heard the term reflective thinking countless times but it never occurred to me to discover what it really was. Considering that I've been in school for over 20 years, you'd think that I would be quite familiar with its concept. Reading Mayes' article (as well as just about everything else in this course) made me realize just how truly important reflective thinking is. Not just important, but an essential and fundamental element necessary for learning.

It is through discussion that we are able to learn, to take in other people's perceptions and we use reflective thinking to process these new perceptions and try to make sense of those new perceptions by using our own perceptions (prior knowledge). Reflective thinking allows for a greater learning experience and it's something that I becoming to understand is pretty much unavoidable. So when I really think about it, it's more than likely (highly possible) that I have utilized reflective thinking in the past without realizing it. However, now I am able to channel my thoughts in a way to get the most of learning.

I also feel as though effective reflective thinking in itself is a learning technique. What I mean is that I don't think you're a born expert, it is something that must be honed in on in order to mature to its full capability. I'm off to do some research to see if there are ways in which you can improve your reflective thinking skills, it's such a necessary concept, one that shouldn't be left unattended!