Course Materials Reflection

After filling out many course critiques over the long and winding road that was and is my academic experience, I must admit that my faith in such evaluation devices is suspect. I know institutions of Higher Learning read them, but beyond that, I have never believed that much change comes from them. More specifically, the system of evaluation does not allow for acute shifts in paradigm when it comes to curriculum changes or course improvement. To that end, I have made a point to provide commentary and personal feedback for several of my Grad courses at Wayne, and each time, whether the info was good or bad, the professor at least acknowledged the feedback. During the semester, Dr. Zhang has allowed for timely feedback about the readings or the course content and even took a shot at her own book! Very courageous indeed!

Well, here goes...

On the topic of assigned texts and related articles, I found both books to be complimentary to each other. The Empowering Online Learning picks up where Salmon's 5-Stage Model leaves off. The cases presented in E-moderating can be brought to life using many of the activities suggested by Zhang & Bonk. As an instructor, I especially like the suggested alternatives and lesson extensions and timeframe estimates. 

Conceptually, as a teaching and learning framework, R2D2 allows the instructor to select the appropriate point to infuse their lessons or units using many of the suggested activities. For me, R2D2 allows me to understand where it is appropriate to put planned activities and thus, to maximize the learning. I think of the diagram as a "Learning Compass". While R2D2 lacks the model hypothesis and test rigor of other teaching learning models, it more than makes up for it by offering very practical and authentic assessment options. As a Business teacher, I rely on portfolio types of assessment, which calls for multiple forms of assessment, with more and more reliance on technology. With a few modifications, many of the suggested activities can be used in more blended classrooms or even traditional face-to-face settings.

I don't have a great deal to say about the articles except to state that I have saved most of them to my electronic library. I did like the option of only having to read one of the suggested titles for each week. I was able to find at least one each week that caught my interest level, or at least made sense for my own learning preferences. 

Finally, on the course structure... 

I really enjoyed the seminar type structure of the class. It is in this environment that I really learn best, regardless of whether the session was face-to-face or Online. For graduate classes, expression of shared ideas, meaningful dialogue with following activities, and proper modeling of technology and techniques are very important and reflect a more diverse learning environment. These Androgogical approaches to curriculum development were certainly appreciated. Thank-you fellow FITs and to our "E-moderator" Dr. Zhang, I have really enjoyed this group.

Brad.

FIT Experience Reflection

After two sessions of FIT experience in IT 6135, I am certainly more confident in my abilities as an e-moderator after only a few short months. The readings in Salmon's E-moderating and the corresponding e-learning activities in Bonk and Zhang have increased my knowledge of how to engage adult students in a blended learning environment. 

For the most part, I enjoyed "lurking" at the beginning of each week to identify the hot button issues of the participants. I found myself getting annoyed at the genera lack of effort towards grammar, as well as the "two-liners" that merely mimicked what the presenters iterated in their own commentary. I'm sure this will come up in next week's FIT Project diagnoses and remedies, so I won't dwell on them. There are indeed many fixes to this problem!

One of the things I would like to reflect on is the noticeable changes in my own behavior as it relates to my duties as a FIT. That is, I was certainly more reserved in my commentary, more objective in my opinions of some of the posts, and certainly more reflective of the process of learning in the Online environment. Perhaps this is the point! My limited participation within the actual threads, was reserved for re-direction questions, encouraging comments on insightful posts, and a generous amount of resource materials for both host and observers alike. The latter part made me feel exceptionally useful in an otherwise neutral role as their FIT. In addition, I was especially grateful for having some knowledge of the subject areas-Podcasts and Virtual Schooling (K-12). I found myself digging up articles previously researched and read for reference. On the latter topic, I was fortunate enough to have participated in Dr. Barbour's IT 6230-Internet in the Classroom last Winter, which served me well for proper monitoring of the content presented and discussed.

Among the more intriguing activities that I found useful to analyze and synthesize the materials presented, were the concepts of summarizing and "weaving" of posted threads by the students. Having the students or hosts of each of the emerging technologies forums summarize the postings for the purpose of finding common themes of respondents is a good way to capture Salmon's Stage 3 & 4 activities. Simply put, it allows the students to reflect on their own understanding of the topics presented, while also allowing for meaningful dialogue. Similarly, one of the New activities for our group FIT Project deals with this in greater detail, but with a twist. So, standby for more details. 

Overall, I truly enjoyed being a FIT for Prof. Boileau's class and would welcome the chance to either teach or work in this environment again. It is not often one gets the chance to teach in such a safe learning environment. Twenty-five students to manage in the virtual realm represents a great deal of monitoring, planning, and "Classroom" management for any level of teaching and learning success.  IT 7130 was an excellent choice for my plan of work and will serve me well as I move on in my career. 

Brad.