Week 12 - it's a wrap

Where did that time go?  :)

I learned a lot in this course...having been on a leave of absence a few things have changed during my absence, with a few new tools (ok, lots of new tools - smile)

This was my first time using Google Forms/Slides/Docs - an excellent experience, and one I plan to incorporate in my asynchronous teaching for sure.

I have researched mind maps and will be incorporating those as well - lots of benefits to my teaching there.

I loved the peer review of our papers.  I am not terribly confident about my APA writing skills, and having the chance to read a few of my peer's papers gives me a much better idea of where other students are at, and stimulated some reflection and ideas for me.  Completing a review of my peer's paper was a really useful activity as well - I was able to step back and think about the APA formula approach to paper writing and really reflect on what works and what doesn't.  I also loved the way it was organized by Rob - using Google forms and anonymized papers (and the option to 'publish') - this was simulated from submitting to a real-life journal, also good experience.  The paper topic choice was great too.  An interim formative assessment might be helpful - it would for me - have someone review the paper, make suggestions, and then a re-write.  I feel like I would really benefit from some detailed guidance about my paper writing - so that someday I might be publishable :)

To be honest though, I found the course a LOT of work!  LOL.  I'm serious.  Weekly blogs + 2 responses, 3 PBL project presentations with websites, a paper, peer review, rebuttal...it adds up to a boatload of hours of work, for sure.  Scale back the number of evaluation criteria would be my suggestion :)

I enjoyed the presentations too - but would prefer them to be more spread out - 3 hours packed with back-to-back presentations, the last two presentations of the evening were "lost" - most students tuned out by then I'm thinking.  As well, preparing 3 x 15 minute presentations - my preference would be something longer and maybe only 2 presentations instead, with the ability to choose our topic (approved by prof of course).

That's my two cents.  For what it's worth!

In closing, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed working with my group, and I enjoyed getting to know my classmates and Rob also!  Thanks for a great course!!!

Week 9 - BYOC (Build Your Own Course)

Having just watched The Surprising Truth About Learning in Schools I'm thinking about how to apply the knowledge conclusions within the video.

Here are some key screenshots from the video:

Ok, excellent points, we can all agree.  But how does this translate into application within a college course?  To be honest, being a highly pragmatic person, I sometimes struggle with theoretical perspectives.  Yes, theories are wonderful, but what do they mean in terms of actual application to reality?  What's the point of theory without application to the real-world?  Looks like I'm talking about a couple of points from the first image in my own learning:  personal investment, real world application, and relevance to my own life.

What I will take with me from this video is to focus my efforts on student engagement and agency.  By providing students with choices about their own learning (agency), I can promote engagement.

We all know what BYOB means, even non-educators know BYOB, LOL.  We know what BYOD means too.  Here's my idea, a new acronym:  BYOC - build your own course.  Students are provided with agency over their learning, over their assessment.  Students can build their own course.

Here's a breakdown for my courses:

1. Lecture:  choice of PowerPoint (read) or Screencast videos (watch, listen)
2. Weekly discussion post:  choice of research activity, debate activity, digital tool activity (choice is even built in here - with multiple links within each type of post, interactivity required)
3. Weekly quizzes:  currently set as 10 multiple-choice questions (I'm stumped how to provide agency)
4. Midterm and final assignments:  choice of research paper, digital tool, video

So a couple of thoughts...

For my weekly quizzes, I don't know of a way to build in agency.  Suggestions out there, anyone?  Sometimes translating theory to practice creates real-world challenges.  If I eliminate my quizzes, students won't work through content - grades have to be attached for college students to actually do the work, that's reality.  I make the discussion posts and quizzes weekly because I know (from both research and experience) that if students aren't required to check in weekly, they fall behind and even fail.

As for my midterm and final assignments, I plan to build up a wiki or website of digital tools (also to be used for the weekly discussion post digital tool activity).  This resource will include a brief overview of the tool, a how-to video, and some real assignment ideas (for sharing with other teachers too).  Students will be directed to the resource site to learn about the tools.  I also plan to allow students to suggest new ideas for midterm and final assignments - so far I have research paper, digital tool, or video, but if students have some other idea that works, I can build up my resource tools, provide more choices for future students, and promote further agency.

I love the idea of building in agency.  As a teacher, I get tired of marking 200 identical submissions (YAWN!);  agency means variety and interesting creative work.  As a student, I absolutely love when I can choose what I want to learn about, and how I want to learn.  I can choose things that have double- or even triple- value - learn about something I can use, share it with others, and earn marks for my UOIT course too.  If you had your own agency, what would you choose?  Old-school lecture, breakout activities, written paper, digital tool activity, test, group work, PBL, presentation?

Week 8 Blog - Great Job A+ (Peer and Formative Assessment)

Many thanks to Kathleen Stewart, DC faculty and UOIT MEd grad, for sharing her insights and experiences regarding peer assessment (Kathleen's UOIT MEd project topic).  The peer and formative assessment challenges and solutions below are a result of our conversation, readings, and discussions with other colleagues...

Challenges

Have you ever worked in a group and ended up with more than your share of work?  Teachers often employ peer assessments for grading purposes as an attempt to even out the unfair workload, but these peer assessments need to be honest and impactful (not just students giving other students all A+).

Collecting and re-distributing anonymous (confidential) peer assessment forms, and adding layers of self-assessment feedback and teacher feedback can be tedious, time-consuming, and complex.

Students feel they don't have the skills to evaluate peers..."I don't know how to evaluate, I'm not the teacher".

Students don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, the friendship dynamic kicks in.  Often their evaluations are limited to "great job", "well done", "contributed a lot".

Students don't see any purpose for evaluating each other.

Solutions

Start by convincing students of the value of peer and formative assessment.  How?

• Show specific examples (exemplars) of how the peer assessment process can improve work (and student results) from real student work in previous classes.  Consider including real-life performance evaluations as samples.
• Discuss patterns:  if feedback is consistent throughout several assessments, that is more valuable than single stand-alone comments.
• Define how to create a collaborative, participatory intellectual community as described in the Edutopia article Conversing, Consulting, and Creating.  
• Describe specific examples of the same article's value-adds (make your examples relevant to their assignment):
• Sharing Ideas in Process
• Seek to Understand and Support
• Decentralizing Authority and Knowledge
• Finding Inspiration and Models

Embrace anonymity in the process.  Protect identities.  It creates more honest feedback.

Provide specific questions.

• What percentage of the workload did this group member contribute? (with drop-down menu of percentages)
• Describe the role this group member played within the team dynamic.
• Describe the group member's attendance and contribution at group meetings.
• Describe the quality of work the group member submitted.
• Suggest an improvement and explain how it improves.
• Describe a strength and explain why it's a strength.

For formative assessment purposes, have two (or more) assessment cycles - one part-way through the project, to allow time for students to correct and improve on their work, and one at the end evaluating the final finished product.  Depending on the size and scope of the project, two interim assessments may work well.  Alternatively, you could try assigning one group to evaluate another group's work, as an interim and formative step.

Consider allowing students to choose if they want to work in a group, or as an individual.  While not always possible, being able to choose themselves is appreciated.  FYI usually about 1/3 of my students prefer to work in groups, while the other 2/3 work alone.  I do tell students that if they choose to work in a group, they're all receiving the identical grade, so make your choice carefully.

Online peer and formative assessments

How about a free digital tool?  One freely available software tool called Teammates provides templates with guiding questions provided for you as a starting point.  Teammates creates forms for anonymous (and confidential) peer feedback, along with teacher comments, all shareable and easily tailored to your needs.  This looks like a great tool to manage peer assessments!

Week 8 - Reply to Shannon

Hi Shannon,
Your post was very interesting!  Seeing as you're a UOIT employee you may already know...

Durham College employs a unique and award-winning marketing campaign:  the DC experience.  Prospective students (and now employees) can follow staff and students who are on DC's Team Experience, check out the Experience website and take a look at our team.  The team utilizes social media to describe individual college experiences.  Honestly, it's pretty cool, take a look :)

Week 8 - Reply to Dave

Hi Dave, I enjoyed your post, and I can relate wholeheartedly.  I just returned to my office having met with Brett in CAFE (our instructional technology office at DC) where I learned how to use surveys, intelligent agents, and pre-set templates inside our Desire 2 Learn LMS...now I have to actually spend the time creating these objects in my own asynchronous courses.  It's time-consuming, there's a learning curve, it's extra work, BUT there's a pay off - these features are well worth it, in my opinion.

In my other UOIT course (5103G), we had a breakout discussion about technology adoption, and the need for a paradigm shift in education to support ed tech.  Faculty complete ed tech training, but then struggle with finding the time to implement ed tech tools, strategies, and devices into their everyday curriculum.  Most often, it's a matter of time, adopting ed tech is truly VERY time-consuming.  There's no monetized award or time incentive provided for incorporating ed tech either (reminds me of research and publications within college/faculty too, a blog topic for another day).  So basically to implement ed tech in curriculum often means faculty will be investing their own time, on a voluntary basis.

However, on the flipside, I did read an article this week (unfortunately can't remember which one), that stated "we can no longer just say I'm not great with technology, there's no choice but to become proficient", and that is true.  Choosing not to adopt has an opportunity cost that students in the UOIT MEd program understand very well.

It's a catch 22, for sure.  What's the solution?  Some of the issues are systemic.

I always think the same thing...forget the naysayers, just go ahead and dive in.  Focus on the benefits and what works well, increase your own students' enjoyment (engagement), and know that it will pay off in the end.

Week 7 - Video Blog - "Look Inside an Asynchronous Course"

This week I'm trying a video blog.  I created this video using Snagit (to record my live demo tour), Windows Movie Maker (to trim - it's free), and YouTube (with closed captioning).  It was an interesting experience, I learned a lot.  The video includes a mix of teaching tips and strategies for developing and delivering a fully asynchronous online course.  I hope you enjoy it!

Look Inside an Asynchronous Course

Week 7 Reply to Melissa

Hi Melissa, what a great idea.  I'm wondering if you will include certain items within your links...your experiential learning, as well as curate their application, videos of use?  I hope you can share your website with us, I think it will be very valuable resource.

I'll include for you a link to Dr Robin Kay's publication list.  You'll find a wealth of resources here for evaluating web-based learning, it may be of some assistance to you.

Week 7 Reply to James

Hi James,

So you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. Totally agree!

Or is this picture more apt?

Sometimes I borrow a colleague's phrase for motivating students...for some reason, this phrase (and image) reaches college students.  We tell the students "we can only show you the door, you must walk through it." I feel kind of Dali-lama-ish typing this, but it captivates the students, for sure.

My teenagers say "why do I have to learn this, I will never use it", all the time.  I use my stock answer:  you're training your brain.  Literally, training your brain.  All knowledge may come in handy at some future point, but math will help you, EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE IT.  Math is a logic trainer (same for music, which is just awesome).  Learning math trains your brain!  You must learn it! :)  Consider stroke victims, establishing new pathways and then picture how math is busy carving out our future pathways for travel...our neuropathways are so cool!  

OK, so I might really love math, a little :)  Maybe science too...

Back to training your brain...week 3 of my Paranormal and Pseudoscience course covers ESP, telekinesis, telepathy, and the human brain.  We conduct an ESP experiment (here's the online version - do you have ESP?).  First we discover that we do NOT have ESP, telekinesis, or telepathy, sorry, believers :(   ...we then move on to current brain research, and what researchers believe we may unlock about the secrets of the brain, someday.  This video, CBC's the Dark Side of the Brain (which I first saw in Bill Hunter's POL course) absolutely captivates the students.  A woman in the video is using her mind to play video games, and is carving out new pathways in her brain, it's really, really cool.  Basically, we will, one day soon, control technology using a microchip implanted in our brains.  Think COD (call of duty) via microchip.  Talk about augmented reality!  We already have the technology available, and it's already in use to assist with exoskeletons designed for paralysis.

So James, you could tell your students that they're not learning math, they're carving out new pathways, they're training their brains (I'm LOLing)...

Of course if motivation is OUT...I know of one high school teacher who staples a Walmart application to every failing math test...

Week 5 Death of the Textbook

I've been in a position to observe and think about textbook trends from 4 perspectives, seeing as I'm a textbook author, a student, a teacher, and a parent of a kid who's about to start college.  Here are some of my thoughts, see if you agree:

• Holy mackerel, textbooks cost a LOT of money (and the costs are growing).
• Lots of courses are using open (free) resources (and sometimes even entire programs - smile UOIT Masters program).  This is a draw for students to register in these courses/programs.
• The internet resources available to support certain types of curriculum are seemingly endless; in some cases these internet resources not only replace the textbook but are in fact better resources (than the textbook).
• The textbook as a teaching tool is one of the worst on the engagement spectrum (you have to actually READ, and most students prefer to avoid it).  "OK, class everyone start reading chapter 5 now".
• More and more college students won't even purchase the textbook at all, sometimes because they're broke, but often because they see no value in the purchase.  These students focus on in-class learning, notes, PowerPoints and other teaching materials their teachers make freely available on their LMSs.  Students are willing to take the hit on their grades if necessary rather than buy the book.  
• Think about it - how much of curriculum content do students (in any grade) have to actually READ in their textbook, aren't the teachers covering that content in class anyways in lectures, activities, PowerPoints, etc.?  Ask yourself, as a teacher, what material do students have to go to their textbook for, because there's no other source for the material?
• If your curriculum is within a field where innovation and updates are frequent, new editions of textbooks struggle (and sometimes fail) to keep up.  One example:  computer-related curriculum textbooks are typically on a 3-year new edition cycle, keeping pace with the MS Office suite and Windows new version releases.  There's a new Office suite and usually Windows every 3 years in case you haven't kept track.
• Digital textbooks and textbook software (designed to teach/practice/grade) are growing markets for publishers.
• According to one article I read (see DIY textbook article below), less than 60% of students actually buy all of their required texts, and of those who buy the number of students actually reading the textbook is far lower (Borden, 2015).
• Common student complaints:  I bought an expensive textbook and we barely used it; I bought the textbook and now it's sitting on a shelf, never to be used again (and now I have to dust it! LOL);  I can't resell this textbook because there's a new edition;  I can't buy this textbook second-hand because there's a new edition.
• Textbook sales are taking a beating because of these trends.
• New editions seem to be coming out faster as publishers struggle with lost sales due to used book sales; teachers struggle to keep up with revisions from new editions.
• These are systemic issues.

Ok, so how many of those bullets do you agree with? :)

This brings to mind some questions to think about...

• When are textbooks invaluable and necessary to learning?  
• What are textbooks adding to learning (value-adds)?
• Why is reading a textbook important?
• Is the value of a textbook dependent on the curriculum content, the learner, the teacher?
• Is the death of the textbook imminent (for some curriculum)?
• Why are students paying so much for textbooks?
• As a society, do we read less?  Is this a scary trend, a generation of non-readers?
• Knowing students don't actually read, are teachers pandering to non-readers to cover our curriculum (from necessity)?
• With our evolving technology, are paper books a thing of the past?

Here are some digital innovative initiatives and ideas to combat textbook trauma...you may want to READ these (smile)...

• From Jeff Borden's Advancing Learning Conference 2015 presentation, here's an interesting article about a DIY Textbook Initiative at Saint Leo's University (Florida).  This is a pragmatic approach to DIY textbook creation, including:  approaches (students write their own book, students contribute chapters, groups create their own book, groups contribute chapters); suggestions for which textbook creation digital tools to use; and the learning advantages of DIY textbook creation.  (FYI, Jeff  has a really interesting blog called The Innovation Incubator). 
• From Vicki Ellis here's an interesting article How Teachers Can Self Publish Books where Vicki describes David Hopkins' new book describing his process and lessons learned.
• Check out what's going on at Algonquin College where they've embraced the digital textbook adopting a mandatory standard cost per student and all students get all textbooks in ebook format (no paper!).  Read more in this article eTextbooks at Algonquin College to Reach 10,000 Students and 120 Programs Next School Year.
• Follow the Twitter hashtag #ditchthetextbook, lots of interesting articles, thoughts, and feedback there.
• Check out this Twitter post (from UOIT EduGrad Studies @uoitmed):  The Periodic Table of iPad Apps (pictured below, sorry it's a bit grainy, you may have to click on the link), and reference the textbook and storytelling creation and collaboration tools.
• Read this article The Death of Textbooks, curated from the UOIT EduGrad studies account.  The article is about digitized materials (and there's an interesting graph depicting tuition and textbook increases over time).

Week 5 - Reply to Melissa

Hi Melissa,

My PLN is really important to me...other than taking UOIT Masters courses I just don't have time (or funding) to take a lot of formal courses.  I might get to two conferences per year, so the rest of my learning has to be self-taught.  One of the fastest ways to gather information is to look to my PLN, mostly experts who have no idea I'm alive :)  For one thing, I like to follow the "right people" on Twitter and use that as a curation tool.  By following the right people, and seeing what they're up to, I can take a huge shortcut - they've already figured out the best innovative stuff, and filtered down the enormous world of Google for me.  I don't always get to my PLN (and it's often when I have insomnia LOL).  I find the most useful links posted by my PLN people, then I email those to myself, and place them in a to-do folder for follow-up within my email (and organize the ideas and information from there).  Honestly, I can't tell you how much I've learned and how many valuable items I have discovered within my PLN.

Here's a snip of a slide (from my other course)...using Twitter to curate.  I mention in this slide the "snowball effect" - once you find someone or something great to add to your PLN, check out their PLN (see who they're following, or check out their hangouts)...it's kind of like when you're researching and you find a really relevant and great article, you can skip to the references to find more of the same.

Week 5 - Reply to Janet

Hi Janet, the tools of the educational trade have changed a lot (especially in the last 5 years)!  Collaboration in education (through technology) is one of the positives for sure.  Today's college students are MUCH better at collaborating.  Not only are they quite comfortable with technology and devices, they're already using these tools to stay connected every day.  Connection and collaboration is seamless and learning new collaborative tools is "no big deal".  Often students enjoy utilizing their devices in new innovative ways.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about GAFE (Google Apps For Education) and how I can utilize these tools within my asynchronous courses.  I love how students can contribute simultaneously, and see when others are online and working (collaboratively).  All the tools within GAFE are free (who doesn't love free?).  Here's an excellent Google Slides document GAFE for beginners, created by Sylvia Duckworth, a french teacher from Toronto.  Google Slides is just like PowerPoint btw.  Here's one of Sylvia's Sketchnotes (she's big on visual notetaking too, check out her archive of awesome pictures).

Week 4 Futurity

I plan to develop a new General Education course FUTURITY (within the science and technology theme).  Here's the course description from my proposal:

What will our future lives look like?  Students examine past predictions (and their accuracy) and then move forward to glimpses of our future.  A diverse range of topics are introduced, including medical breakthroughs and research such as gene therapy and personalization of medication, scientific and technological advancements such as the digital evolution and driver-less cars, the future of crime, evolving privacy standards, demographic and population trends, and environmental and climate change.

Critical thinking will be a major theme threaded throughout the entire course.  Students will analyze a wide variety of source materials and evaluate information and categorize data into fact, fiction, or exaggeration.  Media, cultural, and technological influences will be examined.

Futurity topics will be discussed at an introductory level, designed for an audience of cross-disciplinary students.  These topics include:

• Medical breakthroughs and research such as gene therapy and personalization of medication, global pandemics, evolving diseases and human evolution;
• Scientific and technological advancements such as the digital evolution and driver-less cars, travel, food supply and distribution;
• Sociological trends, including demographic, population, religion, crime, evolving privacy standards;
• Environment and climate change.

I'm not a science major.  So why do I want to develop a FUTURITY course?  And how will I manage such a broad range of topics (not being an expert)?  Good questions, for sure.

I want to create this course for two reasons.  First reason:  these topics really interest me (which makes my prep way more enjoyable).  But what about college students, are they interested?  I didn't know...so I polled students on a few ideas for courses to see what they liked best, and FUTURITY was the winner (by a landslide).  Job one accomplished - I have (implicit) engagement, this won't be a course they "have to take".  So that's my second reason:  student engagement.  My job engaging students is a whole lot easier when they're interested in the content from the start (I've just gotta keep their interest piqued and the enthusiasm going).  Believe me when I say this is important to me - I taught Accounting for 10 years (it's REALLY hard to make Accounting exciting!)

Next question:  how will I manage such a broad range of topics, not being an expert?   Futurity will be the third Gen Ed course I've developed, I've also developed Paranormal and Pseudoscience and World Mysteries (these courses were also developed based on a popular interest poll - when you don't know - ask!).  All three courses have critical thinking themes, and for all three courses I don't consider myself a content "expert".  I should re-state from the description above that the course topics are taught at an introductory level, meant for a wide (diverse) audience, all college students.  Seeing as General Education elective courses are taken by every college student, my classes are an interesting mix of students from every discipline, from nursing students to engineers to early childhood education students.  So what's ideal about the FUTURITY course is that students will have a varied level of expertise and education depending on the topic of the week.  For example, the health sciences majors will be able to contribute a lot about medical breakthroughs during those weeks of instruction, and the computer tech and engineer majors can bring knowledge in weeks where we are covering the digital evolution and driver-less cars.  What's my role?  I do teach a short lecture, introducing the topic content and covering the basics (and I'm well prepared).  But then I make it clear - I'm NOT an expert.  We go to the Internet, we look at sources (some provided by me, some provided by students both on the spot and for homework), we evaluate content, students have a highly interactive role in the selection of source content, the evaluation process, and they learn to critically analyze information.  Is it fact?  Is it fiction?  Is it exaggeration?  What are the underlying motivations?  Sources? What are the media, cultural, sociological, and technological influences at play?  So not only are they learning about the topic itself (interesting stuff!), they are also learning how to research and gather information, analyze veracity, synthesize a variety of information, evaluate, and make informed decisions.  Win, win, win.  

And now, the futurity of education.  The role of teacher has changed.  Dramatically.  I have strategies for facilitating my classes instead of straight up teaching.  I do teach them some science, straight up, but I also teach students how to research on the Internet, how to create artifacts of their learning, how to use tools for collaboration, how to think critically.  Along the way we all learn about the topic content, and keeping up with new trends and innovations is much easier when there's 201 people "keeping up" instead of 1!  What also interests me is that most students really enjoy learning about digital tools too, this feedback is positive.  They learn collaborative ways to work, and cool tools they can use in other courses and other presentations, they appreciate it.

Here's a couple of links about the future of education, if you're interested:

Edutopia: Education Trends

A 2016 Look at the Future of Online Learning Part 1

Week 4 Response #2 to Melissa

Reply to:  Melissa's blog

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for quoting our group presentation, it was cool to open your blog and see that :)

I love your insights - you're so right, technology maintenance time is extremely time-consuming!  The digital tools are always "updated" with new features, formats, and sometimes even entirely new tools/trends.  It's very, very time-consuming.

I literally just read an article about our college graduates missing important soft skills (time management and organization skills) immediately before I read your blog...talk about timing!  The article To Solve the Skills Gap in Hiring, Create Expectations in the Classroom discusses critical EESOs (essential employability skills and outcomes).

To learn more about EESOs, here's a checklist we have to complete for all course outlines and course proposals (this checklist comes from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities):

Back to the article...we are trying to prepare college students for the workplace (hence the application of EESOs), so the article argues we need to establish some guidelines that are similar to the workplace, such as NO DO-OVERS!  If you're late you're marked ABSENT, and so on, the article is a good read.  Actually, it's a GREAT read, and so totally relevant to college professors.

The skills gaps identified in the article are personal accountability for work, self-motivation, strong work ethic, punctuality, time management, professionalism, and adaptability (Kent, 2016). I personally think of these as "get your act together" skills or "reality check". The article is absolutely correct:  college students are shocked every time I tell them there isn't a second chance. There isn't extra credit to make up for late or missing work, and as the article states "there are no extra credits" in real life.

Bottom line:  our college students, like ourselves, have to be able to show initiative, learn on their own, manage their time, their work, and their responsibilities, all by themselves.  That's a life lesson for an 18-yr-old who has only experienced endless do-overs and in some school districts no due dates whatsoever.  I'm happy I read your blog, because it helps me remember that we're all challenged too, and reinforces that we need to keep the reality check going, it's "tough love" in the classroom.

Week 4 Response #1 to Rachel's blog

Response to Rachel's blog


Hi Rachel, I totally agree, the new technology we already have available is really exciting. I'm not sure if I can even visualize what education might look like in 20 or even 30 years! 

I'm going to check out Google Cardboard and Google Expeditions, thanks for the tips. 

I'm also interested in how you use Twitter - it sounds like you use it as a research tool. I've started doing that as well. To build up content in my courses I follow people/accounts that are "in the know" - experts in the fields. Their tweets are so valuable - since their tweet content is already "vetted" it's an easy way to narrow my internet research into useful items...they've already found items that are good. I'm really interested about how people use the internet to research, what tools they are using, and how. Thanks for your post, I really enjoyed it.

Week 3 Blog - responses to Rob's week 3 blog questions

Week 3 EDUC5101G Blog

Responses to:  http://robpower74.blogspot.ca/2016/01/analyzing-and-categorizing-online.html

1.  What types of tools do you think are missing?

Student assistance tools (tutors, test prep, student study tools), digital textbooks, e-portfolios (career search and planning, resumes), digital marketplaces, financial tools (corporate, public, personal).  These are all specific examples that may fit into one of your listed categories.

2.  What types of tools from the list have you used as a teacher? As a student? (Can you provide examples?)

Honestly, there is an enormous list.  

From my blog, last week in two days I used the following tools:  Wikispaces, Weebly, Padlet, Word, Google Docs, Excel, Chrome, Explorer, Realtime Boards (MindMaps), Videoscribe, Adobe Connect and Adobe Connect plug-in for Word Clouds, Outlook, PowerPoint, Prezi, D2L, Camtasia, SnagIt, Blogger, YouTube, Socrative.

3.  Which of those tools have you found most (and least) useful as a teacher? As a student? Why?

BEST

Teacher:  SnagIt to screencast to YouTube for online lecture and demonstration recordings.  Providing the PowerPoint files and accompanying videos means the content is UDL compliant.  Plus for students with challenges (learning disabilities, ESL, other), they can re-watch as many times as they want.  It's an advantage within asynchronous teaching (I also post the videos for my face-to-face students who miss class, they can catch up).  My student feedback has been very positive about the screencast lectures.  Demos of software (tools, LMS), or explanations of assignment expectations with accompanying exemplars are exceptionally helpful for clarity in the asynchronous learning network.

Student:  I enjoy tools that engage my interactive participation, such as polling tools, and visual tools such as Word Clouds and Padlet (I love visuals).  I think the breakout rooms in Adobe Connect are excellent for collaborative work.

WORST

Teacher:  poorly designed textbook software (example:  to teach how to use Microsoft Office).  These are packaged with textbooks and students complete exercises within the platform which mimics the real Office products (and marks the students' work).  They are often far from intuitive and detract from the learning of the real software (MS Office), a lot of time is spent assisting students within the functionality and limitations of the textbook "mimic software"  i.e. how to advance to next instructions/exercise, save your work, fix an error you catch (and sometimes it grades them wrong).  Makes for a frustrating learning experience for everyone and wastes valuable time.

Student:  LMSs that are hard to navigate.  In some courses I feel like I'm always spending time trying to figure out where things are or what is expected of me.  The functionality of some LMSs (and organization) can be counter-intuitive, which is one reason why some teachers decide to use other tools of their own creation.  Although the self-made teacher LMS replacements are almost always better and my own preference too, the problem with using other tools such as wikis and websites - every teacher has their own system, so it's back to figuring out where things are.  My own student feedback when I was using a wiki was "Why aren't you using the LMS like my other teachers?" - college students don't like the variation.  They also don't like putting things in more than one location (I've taken courses myself where the teacher is using 3 different tools to house course content, work, etc.)  To combat this in my teaching I created a video that demos the LMS and where to find things, how to submit work, etc.

4.  Which types of tools from the list have you NOT personally used as a teacher or student? Why?

I don't use any of the K-12 tools (obviously), and I don't use curriculum specific tools (such as science or math sites designed to match up with curriculum).  For my courses there just isn't anything available that I'm aware of (but I would love to find one!)

5.  Find an example of that type of tool that might be useful in your personal teaching / learning context.

Personal (for something different):  I want a smartphone app that shows me pictures of recipes  based on what's on sale that week in multiple store flyers (or allows me to create/add and choose my own recipes), then I pick the ones I want for the week, it creates my grocery list, includes nutritional information, and matches up within the rewards point for my store.  LOL!  I have lots of ideas for apps, if only I ruled the world :)

Teaching/learning:  I want a tool that helps me teach critical thinking.  I'm not sure how this would work or look, but it's such an important skill...maybe there's one out there already I haven't been able to find yet.

6.  What would be your first questions / steps when evaluating how (or if) you would use such an online tool? (We’ll be looking at more formal assessment strategies for digital tools over the next few weeks!)

How hard is it to teach my students how to use it (perceived difficulty).

How much does it add to the learning experience (perceived value).


Here's an interesting video about the SAMR model for technology adoption, Introduction to the SAMR Model. The video length is 4:22 and provides real samples of applications of transforming your learning design using technology at a higher level (analyzing, evaluating and creating - there are linkages to Bloom's taxonomy).

Week 3 EDUC5101G Blog - responses to two other students

Response to Rachel:  http://racheleduc5101.blogspot.ca/

Hi Rachel, I really enjoyed your extensive list, and I've already checked out two new tools I've never heard of, so thank you :) I would love to see a demo of how you used classtools.net, and some of the other tools you've mentioned. The application of google apps suite is awesome too. I'm going to think about how I can take advantage of this more in my own asynchronous college classroom.



Response to Janet:  http://janetyg.blogspot.ca/2016/01/week-3-educ5101g-post-digital-tools-for.html?showComment=1454377044868#c5951596648395933738

Hi Janet,

I loved reading the trends, very interesting.

I also find it interesting to read about what the corporate world is doing for their training. 

Last year at the Advancing Learning Conference I saw Articulate Storyline and absolutely loved it. As you know, it is ideal for asynchronous course design and development. But on my return back to Durham I discovered it's not in our faculty laptop image - it's an expensive license. 

Some of the bigger colleges have separate departments that have people who do nothing but instructional design and the faculty are SMEs who simply provide their paper-based old-school content for adaptation into the online learning network (SMEs=subject matter expert). 

At Durham (and most other colleges) we are SMEs and we design our own online courses from the ground up, using our standard laptop image software platforms (nothing out of the ordinary) and free digital tools. While the academic freedom is unlimited (and of course I love that), at times standards can suffer. I believe a blend of freedom combined with some standards would be ideal (and a bagful of money to buy cool equipment and software too).

Week 2 EDUC5101G Post - Digital Tools

Here’s a list of digital tools (and software) I’ve used this week:  Wikispaces, Weebly, Padlet, Word, Google Docs, Excel, Chrome, Explorer, Realtime Boards (MindMaps), Videoscribe, Adobe Connect and Adobe Connect plug-in for Word Clouds, Outlook, PowerPoint, Prezi, D2L, Camtasia, SnagIt, Blogger, YouTube, Socrative.  How many of these tools do you recognize?  What does your list look like this week?  I’ve probably left a few off the list (and I’ve excluded smartphone apps).   A couple of these tools are brand-new to me, introduced by UOIT classmates, but most I’ve used at an intermediate or advanced level.  Like almost all of my colleagues, I’m self-taught with every one of these tools.

Sometimes keeping up with the latest digital tools is a fulltime job all by itself.  Having taken some time off from the UOIT MEd program and my studies, I’m surely feeling that right now (and playing catch up).  There’s a seemingly endless supply train of digital tools, what’s in, what’s out, steamrolling through our lives.  Do you remember the first time you saw YouTube?  A touch screen?  FaceTime?  Everyone has their favourites of the moment.  I know I’m in the business of online training, but I have to admit, I get truly excited when I find a new tool that really works for my needs.  This week, I’m excited about free extensions for Adobe Connect, Adobe has a doorbell (and a digital timer, and a word cloud generator)!  Take a look at this link too, the EdSurgeProduct Index for a few more digital tools (1500 or so).

But before you get carried away (and sidetracked), ask yourself the most important question:  WHY are you using the digital tool?  Let’s stop that steamrolling train for a moment and think…what exactly do these tools ADD to the learning experience?  WHY are we using them?

We need to be very aware of our motivation – in fact, the use of digital tools needs to be pedagogy-driven.  They need to add value.  That’s exactly the point of this article:  InSuccessful Edtech, Pedagogy Comes First--Devices Second.  Two ideas in this article resonate with me, firstly:  “when planning edtech initiatives, ensure that mastery of pedagogy is in place or in the works”.  This tool, My SmartHealthCare, is used at Durham College in our Paramedic program.  Its simulations are designed to allow students to practice techniques and decision making in a variety of life-threatening situations that replicate the real experience of the business of being a paramedic and saving lives.  Having mastered simulations, the next step is to bring these students into live practicum training.  Good pedagogy is illustrated here, this isn’t just a theoretical tool that’s definition based, it’s real-world simulations.  Another idea from the article that resonates is that we must “understand that technology is there to help teachers”.  The tool should assist the teacher, and add value in some meaningful way.  We have to be sure we’re not simply using technology for the sake of using technology (or due to some administrative requirement or other motivation).  Have you ever been asked to develop or deliver online teaching due to an administrative policy (such as, 20% of our training must be online by 2017)?

I love meeting with other online teachers and talking to them about what digital tools they’re using, how they use them in their classes, what works, and what doesn’t.  It saves me time and wasted effort.  That’s one of the things I have really enjoyed about taking UOIT courses, getting great ideas from my classmates!  I have a few assignments I share regularly (at DC and with UOIT folks too), such as creating a Padlet Internet Artifact, creating a course- and student-centered Wiki (similar to Dr Bill Hunter’s Principles of Learning Wiki), and smaller activities such as creating two Mind Maps as a reflective exercise on learning achieved (this one was created by a colleague).

What’s your favourite “cool” digital tool?  How do you use it?

Contact me...

michelle.rivers@durhamcollege.ca

Twitter:@profmichrivers

Week 2 Responses to Other Students

Week 2 Response to James Elsdon:
http://jameselsdon.weebly.com/blog/the-p-with-pbl#comments

Hi James,

Grading the PROCESS of PBL is an interesting challenge and one I can relate to. In my two courses my underlying main theme is critical thinking, and that itself is process PBL.

I teach students the step-by-step process of critical thinking and then we move on to applying this process to specific course topics (Stonehenge, ESP) and evaluate veracity and worth. I developed all of the course content from my brain, including all assignments (we have no curriculum designers at college, we are totally on our own - which is an interesting topic for another post I think!)

Anyways, I realized I wasn't doing a great job marking their critical thinking process when grading their assignments (I used to teach Accounting and Computers mostly, so teaching critical thinking was a huge change for me). I've had to re-think, and re-vamp my rubrics to fit in with my essential learning outcome - being able to think critically.

Designing a good assignment that applied critical thinking was my first challenge, then figuring out how to mark their process (their critical thinking) was my next challenge. Consider too, that these students are all online and asynchronous, so all my instructions have to be super-clear, and super-detailed. My rule of thumb: if two students ask the same question, my instructions are sub-par.

It took me a long time, and many edits to design an effective rubric that doesn't take me 3,000 hours to mark my 200 students' work. I'm still revising my rubric (I think I always will be!). The great thing about teaching, there's always room for improvement and growth.

Week 2 Response to Rob Power:

https://robpower74.blogspot.ca/2016/01/are-there-limits-to-distributed-learning.html?showComment=1453665274101#c8813707906021325453 

Hi Rob,

I find your insights around the changes (trends) in education over the last 10 years really interesting. My job has changed so much, it’s unbelievable, truly. Looking back to look forward, very thought-provoking. The first thing that came to mind was a lecture in one of my other UOIT classes – a discussion about tipping points. It’s funny how some things you learn stick with you…for some reason, the concept of a tipping point is absolutely fascinating to me (I still want to develop a General Education subject about significant tipping points in history, after I develop my next course, which is about Futurity). 

So to define a tipping point: "the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change." You can always read Malcolm Gladwell’s book "The Tipping Point" (http://gladwell.com/the-tipping-point/the-tipping-point-q-and-a/) for his take on “understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does” and his stimulating ideas on the epidemic nature of change in our society. We are all experiencing tremendous technological advances right now, we may be in the middle of many tipping points that we aren’t even aware of, in the moment. 

In the UOIT lecture I remember we were presented with visuals of different tools, one image depicted advanced tools in medicine (thankfully we’ve come a long way since bloodletting). The lecture theorized that tipping points begin with the introduction of new innovative tools (example: an invention of an advanced medical tool). As the use of the new innovative tool spreads and catches on throughout the discipline, voila, suddenly there’s your tipping point! A whole new level has been reached! 

Of course this theory is especially applicable to education, right now. We have these advanced tools, software, capabilities, and their use and application is spreading. As our best efforts and practices spread and evolve, we are all a part of this tipping point in education. It’s about time too – how long has the chalkboard been around? :)

Michelle Rivers

Reply

Sample of Digital Tools in College Assignment: Mind Map Reflective Learning (DRAFT)

Mind Map – 5% of term

A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the centre, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches.

The purpose of this activity is to determine what you currently know about the Canadian Criminal Justice System.  There are no right or wrong answers.  Googling the words in order to create the mind map is not the purpose of the activity.  At the conclusion of this course, you will create another mind map and the comparison between the two will indicate your learning throughout the course.

Mind Map Activity You will create a mind map with the words “Criminal Justice System” placed in the centre. 1.   Download the cmap tool at http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/ 2.   Create a new mind map with “Criminal Justice System” in the centre. 3.   Add at least 10 other words that represent what you currently know about the Criminal Justice System.  Be sure to create links between the words in the map. 4.   Once completed, save the map with your name in the document name.  Submit your completed map to the Mind Map Dropbox before Sunday at midnight.

Mind Map Conclusion – 5% of term

A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the centre, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches.

The purpose of this activity is to visually show what you have learned about the Canadian Criminal Justice System.  There are no right or wrong answers.  Googling the words in order to create the mind map is not the purpose of the activity.  A comparison between the original mind map and this new conclusion map will indicate your learning throughout the course.

Mind Map Activity You will create a mind map with the words “Criminal Justice System” placed in the centre. 1.   Download the cmap tool at http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/ 2.   If you created a mind map at the beginning of the course, use it as a reference to create this new map.  You can still complete this assignment if you did not submit an original map. 3.   Create a new mind map with “Criminal Justice System” in the centre and save it as “Mind Map Conclusion – your name”. 4.   Add as many subcategories and words that represent what you now know about the Criminal Justice System.  Be sure to create links between the words in the map. 5.   Once completed, submit your completed map to the Mind Map Dropbox before Thursday, December 5, 2013 at midnight. 6.   Additionally, when submitting the mind map to the dropbox, create a paragraph explaining the differences between the two maps.  If you did not complete an original map, complete your paragraph on what you feel you have learned from this course.