As I reflect upon what I have learned and my experience within this course, many thoughts float up to the surface. As previously stated in my first blog entry, this is all new to me. I am beginning to understand why I have been so overwhelmed with teaching online. Now, where do I start? Well, first I must give Kudos to my online instructor who has provided me with ongoing support, great feedback and excellent critiques of all of my work! I must say, I am surprised at the quantity and quality of material that I have been exposed to in such a short period of time!I would like to start out by commenting on my WebCt. Having a computer background, I started this course with a moderate comfort level. However, after navigating through the course tools and stumbling a few times, it became apparent that I had a lot to learn. I became more and more comfortable by joining chat sessions, being a part of threaded discussions and at times offering help to other classmates as they navigated through the course. At this point in the course, I am not very comfortable with the content manager section of my WebCT. My comfort level has always been with the Blackboard platform, but now I can add yet another online learning platform to my credentials!
If I had to compare the online environment with the F2F setting, I would have to say that as an online learner, I find that I can focus better at home and in some instances be more creative. There are many ways to interact in the online community; email, chat rooms, discussion threads, therefore I do have a sense of community with my online peers. So, what will I do with the knowledge I have gained thus far? Well, for starters, I am now made aware of my personal learning style. Based on the DVC survey I am a visual/non-verbal learner. Taking this survey also provided me with a broader perspective in relation to the students that I teach. Believe it or not, I never really thought much about this concept until now. I have in turn begun to incorporate this aspect of learning into one of my F2F courses, where I provided the students with a link to the VARK learning styles inventory:
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
"The report that I received back from the students was of course a mixed bag; 2/3 were visual learners and the remaining 1/3 were kinesthetic learners"
What was the take home message for me? I now know that I must include learning activities for all types of learners. Typically I present the lecture verbally and utilize PowerPoint's, however based on my student population and the various learning styles, I will now include more visual aides, group interaction and hands on demonstrations to effectively deliver the lecture content. In order to improve student success, the instructor must be aware of the abilities, levels, and preferences of the group being taught.
The courses that I now teach online are either web enhanced or hybrid in nature. What I have learned is that not all topics are great candidates for the fully online version, but could be very successful courses with either the web enhanced or hybrid focus. For example, I teach a variety of nursing topics all of which requires some form of validation of skills by the instructor, therefore, many of the nursing courses are either web enhanced or hybrid. At this point, I am investigating other ways to bring about a virtual clinical experience, patient assessment and documentation section of our F2F classes to the blended online environment.
This will take a joint effort on the parts of the staff and the IT department to make it successful. The upside to this intervention is that the students can practice over and over without physically being on campus and with out the stress of the instructor being on the scene. This will not only build the confidence level of the students but keep them engaged. I found that the seventeen elements of online courses by Madden outlined excellent pointers to follow when developing fully online courses.
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/online/web-elem.htm
Another point that I feel worth mentioning is how the disabled students are not often considered in the design of online courses. As I read through the section about the learner with disabilities, I felt as though I had been negligent by not considering this population. Wow, what a challenging issue! My plan is to meet with my IT department and ask for assistance as I incorporate this into my existing courses. I found an excellent Internet course that overviews the intricacies of the disabled learner and I plan to share it with my peers on campus.
http://www.harpercollege.edu/doit/examples/RWLO/overview.html
Now, this brings me to what I have learned about my teaching style. As a result of reading and understanding the various teaching styles, it is very clear to me that there is a difference between my learning style and my teaching style... two different entities both of which must come under consideration as I develop my teaching strategies. As I completed the survey, I found that I was the " expert" in my teaching style. I could not agree more! I feel as though I really need to give the students a quality learning experience, therefore I take total control of the classes and assignments.
I must learn to become more flexible in my approach as not to appear too authoritative. I was also surprised that my personal style ranked number three. The area that I plan to concentrate on is the delegator style. This approach will allow the students to have more control of their learning experience. As I reviewed the Bio's of other online educators, I have a better concept of the overall picture of online learning. Organization and presentation are key elements to keep the students engaged. I look forward to the next phase of this course as I learn more about technology and instructional concepts, putting it all together to become an effective online educator!
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