Week #8: December 12th - December 16th.
This week has been very busy and challenging. The reading assignments for this week were interesting and helpful. I enjoyed reading over the additional readings as well I also participated in the discussions boards assigned for this week. In addition, I have had the opportunity to self-reflect about each assignment that has been created for this course. I have seen how these assignments have helped me to continue to develop the necessary skills to become an online instructor. I have enjoyed this class and the collaboration with my other colleagues.
I also feel that our instructor for this course did a wonderful job facilitating and guiding us during the eight weeks of this course. Throughout this journey, I have been able to learn new insights about the role of the facilitator in the online learning world. I have also been able to facilitate some discussions and activities. This experience has provided me an opportunity to continue to develop my communication skills and to learn more about how to create an online student-centered learning environment utiizing critical thinking and the different Web 2.0. tools available in this technological world. I believe that the next chapter in my journey about becoming an online instructor is the "Practicum". Once I have concluded the "Practicum" I will be inmersing myself in the online teaching worlld. I am very passionate about online learning and I look forward to have the opportunity of becoming an online instructor.
Finally, I would like to mention that throughout this course, I have been able to share wonderful collaborative experiences with my colleagues. I will be implementing what I have learned throughout this journey into my courses in order to continue to help the learners to achieve their academic goals.
Week #7: December 5th - December 11th.
This week has been challenging. The reading assignments for this week were helpful and insighful. I enjoyed reading over the two chapters and the additional reading. I also participated in the discussions boards assigned for this week. During the first discussion board I was able to share three prompts, three extenders and three redirections. This activity was interesting and challenging because it helped me to rethink some of the higher order thinking questions that I have used in some of the professional development sessions that I have taught in my school district. I am very passionate about helping the learning to go deeper in the thinking process. Therefore, this activity helped me to reinforce some of the previous knowledge that I had about questioning and communication skills. I am providing the questions used in this activity below.
Topic #1: Bloom's Digital Taxonomy
Prompt #1: After completing the readings assigned for this week, what are the differences between Bloom's Taxonomy and Bloom's Digital Taxonomy? Why the two models...?
Extension #1: As an online instructor, is it important to know the differences between these models? If so, why?
Redirection #1: As an online instructor, how does knowing the differences between these two models could impact the learning experience of an online student?
Topic #2: Blended Learning
Prompt #2: After completing the readings assigned for this week, how do you use blended learning in your classroom? Which models of blended learning are you familiar with? Which model would you like to try and why?
Extension #2: What is the role of the instructor in the blended environment? As an instructor, how would you balance the amount of online and face-to-face instruction?
Redirection #2: What would you recommend to a colleague that would like to start using blended learning in his or her classes?
Topic #3: Web 2.0. tools
Prompt #3: After completing the readings assigned for this week, how would you define the term Web 2.0. tool? What tool or tools are you familiar with and how do you use them in your classroom or online course?
Extension #3: Compare and contrast the features of 3 tools and share with your peers how would you use these tools in your course?
Redirection #3: Do Web 2.0. tools enhance the learning experience for the students? If so, how these tools help the students to reach their academic goals?
Throughout this activity, I had the opportunity to analyze the work from my peers. It was very helpful to received feedback from my colleagues in reagards to the questions that were created. I found this activity challenging, but very helpful. I have learned the importance of knowing when, what, why and how to ask a question to trigger the development of critical thinking in the discussion board and with the intereactions between other colleagues and the instructor.
During this week, I also had the opporunity to facilitate a "Live Chat". This was a wonderful experience that helped to take many positive things. One of the things that I notice while facilitating this activity was the fact of choosing the right tool for the chat. In addition, I also learned the importace of having some sort of expectations and guidelines for all the participants. It is important to communicate these expectations to the participants before the chat begins in order for everyone to know when and how to contribute to the discussion. This chat lasted for about 30 minutes, it was fun and intense. As a moderator, I was reading the responses of my colleagues and keeping the chat alive with extension and redirection questions. All of the participants were actively participating in the chat. However, as a student, I could see that it was challenging for the participants to be able to read the comments from the other colleagues while they were typing. In the future, I will adjust my facilitating skills in order to have more time in between the questions and responses. This activity was a great learning tool that I will be implementing my courses and also in the professional development sessions that I lead in my campus and my school district.
Finally, the EasyR acivity in my portfolio helped me to self-reflect about a previous lesson that I taught last year with the same lesson that I taught duirng this school year. It was amazing to see how this revised lesson was able to impact the learning experience of my students in such a positive way.
"There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest." Confucios
Week #6: November 28th - December 4th.
The sixth week has been a busy week... The reading assignments for this week has been helpful and the two discussions that we have had during this week have been interesting and have provided a different style of interaction among the different colleagues. Early in the week, I had the opportunity to read about "The Time Management Strategies for Online Instructors". I enjoyed reading over these strategies because it helped me to self-reflect about some of the strategies that I am currently using and how can I continue to improve them. For instance, I have learned over the years the importance of communicating with the students promptly. Responding to the students questions efficiently and within a time frame is important. This will help the students know that you, as an online instructor, is there and that you are welcoming a positive and reflective communication. The online students also needs to know how they can communicate with the instructor. Is the communication taking place via email, discussion board or by Skype or phone? However, after reading about this strategy, I think that I could be more consistent in continue to remind the students about the availability of the instructor and the email response timeline. In addition, I think that it is always helpful to create some visual products, such as "screencast" for procedural questions in order to help the students with their inquiry.
Another strategy that I think that it is valuable is the use of shortcuts in the keyboard and also in the desktop. I have been fortunate to be able to work with Mac's and PC's; however, there are many people that are unaware of how to use these shortcuts to maximize time and work more efficiently. As an online instructor, I think that I will create a "tip sheet" or perhaps add this topic to the Q&A forum. How tu use technology most effectively in online learning? I think that this will not only help those students that are taking their first course online, but to the entire learning community.
Regardless if the course is conducted face-to-face, blended or online it seems that time is one of the most important commodities. As online instructors, how can we help the online learners to manage their time most effectively? How can we, as instructors, mange our time most effectively as well...? I will start by being organized and by managing my time most effectively. In addition by communicating in a timely manner and effectively not only with my students, but also with my colleagues.
Finally, the "Blue Team" has concluded the "Tip Sheet". I enjoyed working my team-members and I hope that all of our efforts are noticeable in the product that we have created.
Week #5: November 21st - November 27h.
The fifth week has been an interesting week... I enjoyed the reading assignment for this week. Even though, I have been already exposed to the content of this reading in the past, it was a good reminder. According to Lehmann and Chamberlin (2009): "Getting everyone off to a great start is the most important task of the online instructor." Without a doubt, this extremely important not only in the online learning environment, but also in blended and face-to-face courses. The pre-course communication and preparation will help the instructor to set the expectations for the students and it will help the students to be exposed in a more organized and productive learning environment. Throughout the week, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts in the group discussions. This week, I participated in the group discussions as a student. I enjoyed exchanging ideas with my team-members and to continue to expand the topics in our discussions.
The 70/30 rule has impacted my online facilitation by helping me to understand the importance of pre-course communication and what the role of instructor should be in the first week of the course. In addition, I believe that reaching out to the students before the beginning of the course sets a positive and professional tone for the course. Throughout this week my team-members and I experienced a challenging situation with one of our team-members. Unfortunately, I was able to witness how sometimes the electronic communication could be misinterpreted by other colleagues and how the situation could easily escalate to a conflict. In order to mitigate this challenge, I reached out to my team-members and to the instructor via email in order to try to find a solution and help the team to move forward.
Finally, my team-members and I were able to continue to collaborate with our "Tip Sheet" assignment. We had the opportunity to exchange ideas and to come up with important decision in regards to the content of this assignment.
Week #4: November 14th - November 20th.
The fourth week has gone by very quick... I have enjoyed the readings assigned for this week and sharing my thoughts in the two discussion boards that we have had. During this week, I resumed my role as a student and I have noticed how vital the role of the facilitator is in the discussion board. My peers and I have been able to discuss about Web 2.0. tools that could be used to help to build community in an online environment and what possible privacy issues or potential pitfalls might appear while using these tools. As an educator, it is very overwhelming the amount of tools that we could use in our face-to-face, blended or online learning environments. However, in order to choose the best tool for our courses we need to know our audience and how comfortable the audience members are using technology. In addition, we need to understand the criteria that we need to use in order to choose the best Web 2.0. tool for our courses, as Lehmann & Chamberlin 2009 - Making the Move to E-Learning said: "The tool must be in the student’s possession, reason- ably accessible, and operable by the student." This criteria is definitely helpful in deciding which tool to use. I also would add, will the students use this tool for communication, for collaboration or to create a product?
I enjoy using technology and learning about how to integrate technology in my courses and other courses. However, I feel that we have some major gaps in our educational system (K-12) in how to successfully implement technology in our curriculum and in our classrooms. I have seen that sometimes some colleagues use some Web 2.0. tools and they claim that they are teaching in a blended environment... I am not sure how that is a reasonable claim. As educators, I feel that we need to educate ourselves and experience with other colleagues what tools might enhance the learning experience of our students and for ourselves. However, we need to be self-reflective and evaluate if these tools will enhance the learning experience of the students and if these tools will help to develop the 21st Century Learning Skills in our online or conventional classrooms.
During this week, I had the opportunity to create a Community Matrix. I believe that this was mi aha! moment. This assignment gave me the opportunity to self-reflect in a different way how to choose a Web 2.0. tool for my courses. I also think that this activity could be use in any content area for the instructors to evaluate what tool to use. However, this assignment made me curious to whether or not this could also be implemented with students as well... I think so... It will be great to have the students to use something similar to this in order for them to use these tools across different subjects.
Finally, my team-members and I are making progress with the "Tip Sheet" assignment. We have collaborated and communicated in regards to the content and the tools that we are using to successfully complete this assignment. I have had the opportunity to collaborate multiple times with other colleagues around the country and the world with collaborative projects/assignments and it is wonderful to be able to work with other people from different places and learn from their expertise as well.
Week #3: November 7th - November 13th.
The third week has been one of the most interesting this week of this course thus far ... Throughout the week, I had the opportunity to choose a topic for one of the discussion boards. I also had the opportunity to facilitate this discussion board. As an online instructor, it is important to understand your students and the skills that they are bringing to the course. The discussion boards are great ways to help the online learners to connect with other classmates and also to expand their knowledge. However, the most intriguing thing that I learned during this module was how to promote higher order level thinking through questions in the discussion boards. In addition, I also noticed how important the role of the facilitator is during the length of the discussion. The facilitator needs to continue to promote further interactions and deeper thinking after the students have posted their first post. The dialogues after the first post are not only important for each student that is contributing to the discussion, but also for the entire learning community. According to Lehman and Chamberlin (2009): "Running a good discussion online is somewhat similar to running one in the classroom. Still, it is important to review some basic discussion techniques and then look at how they might apply in the online environment." The role of the online instructor is an important component of the online learning environment.
I will continue to explore and expand my questioning techniques as a facilitator and as a student in the online learning community. I will also continue to expand my PLE/PLN in order to continue to grow as an educator. The PLN's are great ways to connect with other people, institutions and colleagues from all over the world.
Finally, my team-members and I have continued to collaborate with our assigned project: "Tip Sheet". We are making progress with this assignment. We also have been able to communicate via email and through the WhatsApp application in order to share any questions or thoughts in regards to this assignment.
Week #2: October 31st - November 6th.
The second week has gone by very quick... I have been collaborating with my colleagues throughout the two discussions that have been required to do for this week. I have learned from both discussions how to improve collaborative environments in online learning. The Social Constructivism is a theory that mostly used in online learning. This theory promotes collaboration of the team-members and helps to connect the individual learning of each member with the overall learning experience of the team. Another important take away that I learned this week was the use of personality tests. I was able to find out more about my personality throughout this tests and how these tests could be used not only in online learning environments with prospect students, but also in the work-force and the learning environments. As an educator, I think that it is important to offer collaborative opportunities for the students with other colleagues with similar personality traits. Therefore, the personality inventory tests are a great tool for an instructor and also for students to learn more about who they are and who they could potentially work best throughout the duration of the project, assignment, course or term. I have also learned that when creating a group project, assignment or activity while teaching online a pre-course survey could be administered in order to find out how the students would like to collaborate and what tools they have used in the past to collaborate with other students. Nowadays, technology offers many tools to collaborate on-line with other students. Therefore, as an instructor, I would create a survey for the students in order to find out how they would like to collaborate with other colleagues. It is important to maximize the time and the resources that we have throughout the length of the course, and with students enrolled from all over the world there has to be some flexibility from the instructor in order to let the students find the collaboration tool that best work for them. In addition, as an instructor, it also important to offer support and guidance to the team-members of each group in order to help them to find the best way to collaborate throughout the assignments, activities or projects. The collaboration piece is very important within the members of the learning community. However, the instructor has a great opportunity to continue to model and encourage the team-members to work well together and to maximize this learning opportunity. Finally, my team-members and I will be collaborate with a project online. This is going to be a great opportunity to learn and to model the best collaboration practices that we have learned throughout this course.
Week #1: October 24th - 30th.
I have enjoyed the learning environment provided this first week. It has been a very positive experience to get to know the other colleagues taking this course. One of the things that I enjoy the most in an online course is the collaboration from colleagues from all over the world. In addition, I learned a new Icebreaker activity (Miscomm-puter-unication) to help the students to introduce themselves to the other students taking the course. The knowledge and skills that I have learned this week will benefit me as an online facilitator by "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever made the principles of good teaching more relevant to the current technol- ogy-driven classroom."
The Seven Principles:
This week has been very busy and challenging. The reading assignments for this week were interesting and helpful. I enjoyed reading over the additional readings as well I also participated in the discussions boards assigned for this week. In addition, I have had the opportunity to self-reflect about each assignment that has been created for this course. I have seen how these assignments have helped me to continue to develop the necessary skills to become an online instructor. I have enjoyed this class and the collaboration with my other colleagues.
I also feel that our instructor for this course did a wonderful job facilitating and guiding us during the eight weeks of this course. Throughout this journey, I have been able to learn new insights about the role of the facilitator in the online learning world. I have also been able to facilitate some discussions and activities. This experience has provided me an opportunity to continue to develop my communication skills and to learn more about how to create an online student-centered learning environment utiizing critical thinking and the different Web 2.0. tools available in this technological world. I believe that the next chapter in my journey about becoming an online instructor is the "Practicum". Once I have concluded the "Practicum" I will be inmersing myself in the online teaching worlld. I am very passionate about online learning and I look forward to have the opportunity of becoming an online instructor.
Finally, I would like to mention that throughout this course, I have been able to share wonderful collaborative experiences with my colleagues. I will be implementing what I have learned throughout this journey into my courses in order to continue to help the learners to achieve their academic goals.
Week #7: December 5th - December 11th.
This week has been challenging. The reading assignments for this week were helpful and insighful. I enjoyed reading over the two chapters and the additional reading. I also participated in the discussions boards assigned for this week. During the first discussion board I was able to share three prompts, three extenders and three redirections. This activity was interesting and challenging because it helped me to rethink some of the higher order thinking questions that I have used in some of the professional development sessions that I have taught in my school district. I am very passionate about helping the learning to go deeper in the thinking process. Therefore, this activity helped me to reinforce some of the previous knowledge that I had about questioning and communication skills. I am providing the questions used in this activity below.
Topic #1: Bloom's Digital Taxonomy
Prompt #1: After completing the readings assigned for this week, what are the differences between Bloom's Taxonomy and Bloom's Digital Taxonomy? Why the two models...?
Extension #1: As an online instructor, is it important to know the differences between these models? If so, why?
Redirection #1: As an online instructor, how does knowing the differences between these two models could impact the learning experience of an online student?
Topic #2: Blended Learning
Prompt #2: After completing the readings assigned for this week, how do you use blended learning in your classroom? Which models of blended learning are you familiar with? Which model would you like to try and why?
Extension #2: What is the role of the instructor in the blended environment? As an instructor, how would you balance the amount of online and face-to-face instruction?
Redirection #2: What would you recommend to a colleague that would like to start using blended learning in his or her classes?
Topic #3: Web 2.0. tools
Prompt #3: After completing the readings assigned for this week, how would you define the term Web 2.0. tool? What tool or tools are you familiar with and how do you use them in your classroom or online course?
Extension #3: Compare and contrast the features of 3 tools and share with your peers how would you use these tools in your course?
Redirection #3: Do Web 2.0. tools enhance the learning experience for the students? If so, how these tools help the students to reach their academic goals?
Throughout this activity, I had the opportunity to analyze the work from my peers. It was very helpful to received feedback from my colleagues in reagards to the questions that were created. I found this activity challenging, but very helpful. I have learned the importance of knowing when, what, why and how to ask a question to trigger the development of critical thinking in the discussion board and with the intereactions between other colleagues and the instructor.
During this week, I also had the opporunity to facilitate a "Live Chat". This was a wonderful experience that helped to take many positive things. One of the things that I notice while facilitating this activity was the fact of choosing the right tool for the chat. In addition, I also learned the importace of having some sort of expectations and guidelines for all the participants. It is important to communicate these expectations to the participants before the chat begins in order for everyone to know when and how to contribute to the discussion. This chat lasted for about 30 minutes, it was fun and intense. As a moderator, I was reading the responses of my colleagues and keeping the chat alive with extension and redirection questions. All of the participants were actively participating in the chat. However, as a student, I could see that it was challenging for the participants to be able to read the comments from the other colleagues while they were typing. In the future, I will adjust my facilitating skills in order to have more time in between the questions and responses. This activity was a great learning tool that I will be implementing my courses and also in the professional development sessions that I lead in my campus and my school district.
Finally, the EasyR acivity in my portfolio helped me to self-reflect about a previous lesson that I taught last year with the same lesson that I taught duirng this school year. It was amazing to see how this revised lesson was able to impact the learning experience of my students in such a positive way.
"There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest." Confucios
Week #6: November 28th - December 4th.
The sixth week has been a busy week... The reading assignments for this week has been helpful and the two discussions that we have had during this week have been interesting and have provided a different style of interaction among the different colleagues. Early in the week, I had the opportunity to read about "The Time Management Strategies for Online Instructors". I enjoyed reading over these strategies because it helped me to self-reflect about some of the strategies that I am currently using and how can I continue to improve them. For instance, I have learned over the years the importance of communicating with the students promptly. Responding to the students questions efficiently and within a time frame is important. This will help the students know that you, as an online instructor, is there and that you are welcoming a positive and reflective communication. The online students also needs to know how they can communicate with the instructor. Is the communication taking place via email, discussion board or by Skype or phone? However, after reading about this strategy, I think that I could be more consistent in continue to remind the students about the availability of the instructor and the email response timeline. In addition, I think that it is always helpful to create some visual products, such as "screencast" for procedural questions in order to help the students with their inquiry.
Another strategy that I think that it is valuable is the use of shortcuts in the keyboard and also in the desktop. I have been fortunate to be able to work with Mac's and PC's; however, there are many people that are unaware of how to use these shortcuts to maximize time and work more efficiently. As an online instructor, I think that I will create a "tip sheet" or perhaps add this topic to the Q&A forum. How tu use technology most effectively in online learning? I think that this will not only help those students that are taking their first course online, but to the entire learning community.
Regardless if the course is conducted face-to-face, blended or online it seems that time is one of the most important commodities. As online instructors, how can we help the online learners to manage their time most effectively? How can we, as instructors, mange our time most effectively as well...? I will start by being organized and by managing my time most effectively. In addition by communicating in a timely manner and effectively not only with my students, but also with my colleagues.
Finally, the "Blue Team" has concluded the "Tip Sheet". I enjoyed working my team-members and I hope that all of our efforts are noticeable in the product that we have created.
Week #5: November 21st - November 27h.
The fifth week has been an interesting week... I enjoyed the reading assignment for this week. Even though, I have been already exposed to the content of this reading in the past, it was a good reminder. According to Lehmann and Chamberlin (2009): "Getting everyone off to a great start is the most important task of the online instructor." Without a doubt, this extremely important not only in the online learning environment, but also in blended and face-to-face courses. The pre-course communication and preparation will help the instructor to set the expectations for the students and it will help the students to be exposed in a more organized and productive learning environment. Throughout the week, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts in the group discussions. This week, I participated in the group discussions as a student. I enjoyed exchanging ideas with my team-members and to continue to expand the topics in our discussions.
The 70/30 rule has impacted my online facilitation by helping me to understand the importance of pre-course communication and what the role of instructor should be in the first week of the course. In addition, I believe that reaching out to the students before the beginning of the course sets a positive and professional tone for the course. Throughout this week my team-members and I experienced a challenging situation with one of our team-members. Unfortunately, I was able to witness how sometimes the electronic communication could be misinterpreted by other colleagues and how the situation could easily escalate to a conflict. In order to mitigate this challenge, I reached out to my team-members and to the instructor via email in order to try to find a solution and help the team to move forward.
Finally, my team-members and I were able to continue to collaborate with our "Tip Sheet" assignment. We had the opportunity to exchange ideas and to come up with important decision in regards to the content of this assignment.
Week #4: November 14th - November 20th.
The fourth week has gone by very quick... I have enjoyed the readings assigned for this week and sharing my thoughts in the two discussion boards that we have had. During this week, I resumed my role as a student and I have noticed how vital the role of the facilitator is in the discussion board. My peers and I have been able to discuss about Web 2.0. tools that could be used to help to build community in an online environment and what possible privacy issues or potential pitfalls might appear while using these tools. As an educator, it is very overwhelming the amount of tools that we could use in our face-to-face, blended or online learning environments. However, in order to choose the best tool for our courses we need to know our audience and how comfortable the audience members are using technology. In addition, we need to understand the criteria that we need to use in order to choose the best Web 2.0. tool for our courses, as Lehmann & Chamberlin 2009 - Making the Move to E-Learning said: "The tool must be in the student’s possession, reason- ably accessible, and operable by the student." This criteria is definitely helpful in deciding which tool to use. I also would add, will the students use this tool for communication, for collaboration or to create a product?
I enjoy using technology and learning about how to integrate technology in my courses and other courses. However, I feel that we have some major gaps in our educational system (K-12) in how to successfully implement technology in our curriculum and in our classrooms. I have seen that sometimes some colleagues use some Web 2.0. tools and they claim that they are teaching in a blended environment... I am not sure how that is a reasonable claim. As educators, I feel that we need to educate ourselves and experience with other colleagues what tools might enhance the learning experience of our students and for ourselves. However, we need to be self-reflective and evaluate if these tools will enhance the learning experience of the students and if these tools will help to develop the 21st Century Learning Skills in our online or conventional classrooms.
During this week, I had the opportunity to create a Community Matrix. I believe that this was mi aha! moment. This assignment gave me the opportunity to self-reflect in a different way how to choose a Web 2.0. tool for my courses. I also think that this activity could be use in any content area for the instructors to evaluate what tool to use. However, this assignment made me curious to whether or not this could also be implemented with students as well... I think so... It will be great to have the students to use something similar to this in order for them to use these tools across different subjects.
Finally, my team-members and I are making progress with the "Tip Sheet" assignment. We have collaborated and communicated in regards to the content and the tools that we are using to successfully complete this assignment. I have had the opportunity to collaborate multiple times with other colleagues around the country and the world with collaborative projects/assignments and it is wonderful to be able to work with other people from different places and learn from their expertise as well.
Week #3: November 7th - November 13th.
The third week has been one of the most interesting this week of this course thus far ... Throughout the week, I had the opportunity to choose a topic for one of the discussion boards. I also had the opportunity to facilitate this discussion board. As an online instructor, it is important to understand your students and the skills that they are bringing to the course. The discussion boards are great ways to help the online learners to connect with other classmates and also to expand their knowledge. However, the most intriguing thing that I learned during this module was how to promote higher order level thinking through questions in the discussion boards. In addition, I also noticed how important the role of the facilitator is during the length of the discussion. The facilitator needs to continue to promote further interactions and deeper thinking after the students have posted their first post. The dialogues after the first post are not only important for each student that is contributing to the discussion, but also for the entire learning community. According to Lehman and Chamberlin (2009): "Running a good discussion online is somewhat similar to running one in the classroom. Still, it is important to review some basic discussion techniques and then look at how they might apply in the online environment." The role of the online instructor is an important component of the online learning environment.
I will continue to explore and expand my questioning techniques as a facilitator and as a student in the online learning community. I will also continue to expand my PLE/PLN in order to continue to grow as an educator. The PLN's are great ways to connect with other people, institutions and colleagues from all over the world.
Finally, my team-members and I have continued to collaborate with our assigned project: "Tip Sheet". We are making progress with this assignment. We also have been able to communicate via email and through the WhatsApp application in order to share any questions or thoughts in regards to this assignment.
Week #2: October 31st - November 6th.
The second week has gone by very quick... I have been collaborating with my colleagues throughout the two discussions that have been required to do for this week. I have learned from both discussions how to improve collaborative environments in online learning. The Social Constructivism is a theory that mostly used in online learning. This theory promotes collaboration of the team-members and helps to connect the individual learning of each member with the overall learning experience of the team. Another important take away that I learned this week was the use of personality tests. I was able to find out more about my personality throughout this tests and how these tests could be used not only in online learning environments with prospect students, but also in the work-force and the learning environments. As an educator, I think that it is important to offer collaborative opportunities for the students with other colleagues with similar personality traits. Therefore, the personality inventory tests are a great tool for an instructor and also for students to learn more about who they are and who they could potentially work best throughout the duration of the project, assignment, course or term. I have also learned that when creating a group project, assignment or activity while teaching online a pre-course survey could be administered in order to find out how the students would like to collaborate and what tools they have used in the past to collaborate with other students. Nowadays, technology offers many tools to collaborate on-line with other students. Therefore, as an instructor, I would create a survey for the students in order to find out how they would like to collaborate with other colleagues. It is important to maximize the time and the resources that we have throughout the length of the course, and with students enrolled from all over the world there has to be some flexibility from the instructor in order to let the students find the collaboration tool that best work for them. In addition, as an instructor, it also important to offer support and guidance to the team-members of each group in order to help them to find the best way to collaborate throughout the assignments, activities or projects. The collaboration piece is very important within the members of the learning community. However, the instructor has a great opportunity to continue to model and encourage the team-members to work well together and to maximize this learning opportunity. Finally, my team-members and I will be collaborate with a project online. This is going to be a great opportunity to learn and to model the best collaboration practices that we have learned throughout this course.
Week #1: October 24th - 30th.
I have enjoyed the learning environment provided this first week. It has been a very positive experience to get to know the other colleagues taking this course. One of the things that I enjoy the most in an online course is the collaboration from colleagues from all over the world. In addition, I learned a new Icebreaker activity (Miscomm-puter-unication) to help the students to introduce themselves to the other students taking the course. The knowledge and skills that I have learned this week will benefit me as an online facilitator by "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever made the principles of good teaching more relevant to the current technol- ogy-driven classroom."
The Seven Principles:
- Encourages contacts between students and faculty.
- Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.
- Uses active learning techniques.
- Gives prompt feedback.
- Emphasizes time on task.
- Communicates high expectations.
- Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.