Module 3 Responses

I responded to both posts for Module 3 on:

http://ena-spoonfulofsugar.blogspot.com/

and

http://marytolsoneds.blogspot.com

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

The point of collaboration is to address "issues that cannot be addressed individually." I think a big problem with collaborative learning is that instructors give assignments that require working in groups when collaboration is not necessary. For example, I for one have never worked in a group on a topic that I could not have researched alone. Many times the assignment is tedious and requires a lot of work that is easier split up amongst different people to save time, but the topic is not so intellectually stimulating that more than one brain is required.

When asked the question, "If a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community for an online course, what should the other members of the learning community do?" it makes me wonder if the collaboration is truly necessary. This video explains that not all students learn the same way, some need to be left alone:

However, if an assignment truly needs collaboration, it requires multiple people working together, the person will not request to be alone because the person will need the help of others.

If the instructor firmly believes that the assignment requires more than one person's help then the instructor can explain that. If one person can adequately accomplish his/her work without collaboration then I think the instructor should allow the person to work alone. It is not a challenge to the person and the assignment should be reconsidered for next year.

A collaborate learning community needs a different rubric than an assignment that requires individual work. George Siemens explains that the assessment of the project should include information on how many times a student logged in to work on a project or how many hours the student spent working with the others in the group (Laureate Education, Inc, 2012). This is because the collaboration portion is critical to the assignment, otherwise collaboration would not have been necessary. Other people from the class should also have the opportunity to rate the quality of the information presented and rank the usefulness (Laureate Education, Inc, 2012). This could also go into the grading of the individual and group. The varying skills and knowledge students bring to a course would be reflected in the rubric the same way it is during an individual evaluation, but in collaborative learning, it is more important how that individual shared that information with the group.

Resource
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). Assessment of Collaborative Learning. Baltimore, MD: Author

Video Presentation: Post Storyboard on Blog

Please provide feedback for this, I do not know if I am going in the right direction. I am not sure if I should be explaining the articles.

Visual	Sound
Me	Definition of Intellectual Property
Me	Provide an effective and specific summary on Intellectual Property
Me	Explains 1st Article
Me	Explains 2nd Article
Me	Explains 3rd Article
Me	Explains 4th Article
Me	Explains 5th Article
Me	Explains 6th Article
Shows a short video of an impact Intellectual Property has on educational technology	Sound is included
Shows a graph explaining the influence of educational technology on Intellectual Property	Explanation of graph provided by me
Me	Asks a thought-provoking question

Responses to Classmates for Module 2

I responded to: http://ena-spoonfulofsugar.blogspot.com/

and

gasappwife.wordpress.com

Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

Communication has improved and evolved in distance learning. In 2002-2003, I took an on-line course at the brick and mortar institution I was attending for my Bachelor's. The class was basically a website with instructions of what to read and questions to answer. The assignments had to be read and the answers to the questions needed to be emailed to the instructor. That was all that was required of the course. There was no way to communicate with anyone except with the instructor, if she was emailed.

Currently, at Walden University, there is a number of tools used to facilitate learning in the classroom and to promote communication. For starters, there is a Class Café, which is a message board that students can post. The weekly discussion boards require analysis and critique of the topic for the module, which also promotes communication. There are occasional group projects that students use Wikis, web cams, microphones, emails, and instant messaging in order to work together. Skype and GoToMeeting are two programs that allow visual and auditory communication due to their web cam, microphone, and text capabilities. As a result, they facilitate interactions among learners.

One blogger, Justin Ferriman, made a post showing the transgression of distance learning over the years.

A blogger, Beccary, created a post about conferences and workshops she attended about tools for distance learning. She said they detailed how they could use text messaging, Facebook, and other social media sites, and she was disappointed with the information. I too would be disappointed with that because those materials are already know by most people.

The Califone Blog explained how video conferencing can be used to host an actual class over the internet for distance learning. This is likely the closest connection to face to face learning.

The Next Generation of Distance Education

Distance learning is defined as "formal education in which the learning center (teacher, students, resources) are separated by geography and sometimes by time" (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012a). It is explained more in this video.

Simonson (2000) states that there are four steps to build better distance learning: assessing instructional technologies, determining the learning outcomes, identifying the learning experiences and matching them to appropriate technology, and preparing the experiences for the online classroom (p. 30-33).

Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman (2008a) also believe that evaluating the instructional technologies is important because evaluations are not currently effectively used (p. 70). This means that the online learning is never assessed to determine its productivity. This could be due to the fact that managers believe that by providing the online opportunity they are filling a requirement, but do not actually care about its results (p. 71). Distance education needs to evolve so that it is the first choice because of its productivity, not a first choice because it is cheaper and less time-consuming.
 
The goal of distance education is not to make the learning experiences identical to face-to-face learning, but to make it equivalent (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012b). This means using a variety of different technologies in order to increase learning potential (Simonson, 2000, p. 29-30). However, there is "little evidence that traditional classroom models are all that effective," (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008b, p. 67). Because there is a steady increase in enrollment for distance learning, educators need to strive to create a better classroom experience. I agree with this statement. Just because the traditional classroom has been around the longest does not mean it is the best.

Currently, teachers are being trained to instruct students in a traditional classroom setting (Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman, 2008, p. 65). They must learn how to deliver online instruction. I agree with this statement and I believe it would be the next step in evolving distance education to the next generation.

Resources
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's title.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012a). Distance Education: The Next Generation. Baltimore, MD: Author

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012b). Equivalency Theory. Baltimore, MD: Author

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008a, May/June). The evolution
of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the
potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends,
52(3), 70–75. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search
using the article's title

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008b, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's title.

Simonson, M. (2000). Making decisions: The use of electronic technology in online classrooms. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 84, 29–34. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's title.

Learning in a Digital World

I believe every student learns differently. For example, one student may learn better by watching a factual movie, whereas another student may benefit from listening to a song with facts presented as lyrics. I believe that every student learns to the maximum possible capacity when the method that best serves them is used while all the other methods are used in conjuncture as well. I think it is critical and non-negotiable for lessons to include visual, auditory, and tactile learning. By planning lessons that use these strategies, students can actively participate in lessons and therefore learn (Driscoll, 2005, p. 156). This is also known as Situated Cognition. On the same hand, lessons can relate to past experiences, this is known as Schema Theory (p. 126). I personally believe in every learning theory, assuming a variety of methods are used. I also believe in connectivism as a learning theory, which is when learning occurs when a student interacts with a network. According to Davis, Edmunds, and Kelly-Bateman (2008), connectivism is a type of learning that can occur within a socially and technologically enhanced network where the learner recognizes and interprets patterns.

 Technology has influenced the way I learn by providing easier and faster access to information (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012.). In the past, gathering information involved finding time to go to the library, trying to think of the right key words to look up information, locating the right books, and then scanning them until finding the right information. The search took up more time than reading and retaining the information. Additionally, there was always information that could not be found in books. For example, unless someone wrote a book on how to fold a pinwheel, the way to learn involved finding someone who could make one and asking. With technology, information is delivered within seconds. However, there is little involvement in tactile learning on basic computers. Here is an example of a video that explains the use of a program that can be learned online, http://youtu.be/PI9EyGPe-oo it is visually and auditorally stimulating, but the extent of tactile learning is the use of the keyboard and mouse. That is where the SmartBoard and various other expensive technologies come into play, in order to make technology more tactile. The expense is pointed out because many schools and homes cannot afford them. On the other hand, how technology is integrated needs to be carefully considered. In this video, examples of technology integration are used in several subjects: http://youtu.be/Dsif-1dqPho. Although this video is meant to show how much faster students can do work, it also proves that long-term objectives of lessons may not be reached due to technology. For example, in the scene where one student is solving a complicated mathematics problem on paper and another is using a calculator, the one with the calculator is showing his ability to punch information correctly into a calculator. He is not showing his understanding of how to solve the problem. With that said, I believe technology should be integrated into lessons, but it is also critical that children be involved in group work that minimally uses technology. Students need to develop socially appropriate skills. Technology is not helping students develop the critical skills they need to interact with each other.

Resources

Davis, C., Edmunds, E., & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. Emerging perspectives on

learning, teaching and technology .

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson

Education.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2012). Connectivism learning theory. Baltimore, MD, Author: George Siemens