Reflective Summary
ETEC 565 provided a good set of theories as well as practices that could help me build some general ideas and experience for learning, teaching and designing course on different LMS platforms. This was what I have expected to this course and I did learn a lot through this great experience.
The first memorable experience is using VideoScribe to make a video of time management. It was a rewarding practice. It expended my potentials to express myself in brand new ways. Comparing to text-based expression, the most significant challenge of making this video is the visualization of abstract thoughts and concepts. Besides, organizing all the materials in a smooth pace and comfortable camera performance are also challenging. Meanwhile, due to the limitations of the functions of the hardware and software, the expression is also restricted. It becomes especially difficult to present highly abstracted concepts and ideas.
Similar things happened to the instructional design on Moodle as well. The LMS widens the scale of teaching and learning subjects; meanwhile, the technological nature of an LMS also limits the presence of pedagogies, the way of communication and the course structure. Therefore, taking the learning outcomes into account at the very beginning of instructional design is very important, because it connects to various important elements such as assessment rubric and methods, developing activities, the logic of the structure and the choice of materials. During the process of designing the time management course on Moodle, I have once changed the assessment method. Since it is not a core curriculum, I followed Gibbs and Simpson’s (2005) suggestions and decided to move from summative assessment to the strategy that focuses on providing feedbacks and assists during audiences’ practicing and encouraging audiences’ engagement, because I believe that my audiences need advices and practical skills to solve problems rather than good academic credits.
I enjoyed reading and watching the materials in this course. They laid me a basic theoretical foundation of the application of educational technology. For example, Tony Bates’s (2014) book: Teaching In a Digital Age, is a great resource for a beginner like me to gain very detailed and practical information and guidelines of how to implement a framework (ADDIE) or organize my design; how to choose proper assessments and various medias. It also offered me a scope of the future of online education. Materials in Unit 2 helped me build a mind map of the pros and cons of LMS, which I cited a lot in my discussion and assignments. I agree with some of Porto (2015) and Spiro’s (2014) arguments that LMSs have the limitations to provide personalized learning experiences. The model of online learning developed by Anderson (2008) is a great theoretical tool that helps illustrate the relationships among student, knowledge and teacher. This reading is a little challenging to me but really worth any minute I spent. Gibbs and Simpson (2005) as well as Jenkins’s (2004) research offered me a better understanding about assessment, especially the concept of formative assessment as well as the importance of valuable feedbacks in teaching and instructional design. Materials in Unit 4: Social Media made a good argument that SMs are able to provide great support to learning and even has the potential to be the platform for online learning if implemented properly. Furthermore, I really got a lesson about online authorship rights and copyrights; especially Stephen Downes’s (2011) deep discussion of online copyright amazed me the most. It made a huge change to my previous opinion about the openness of this digital world.
Discussions were another amazing things happened in my learning. Comparing to face-to-face discussion, online discussion seems inefficient. However, Vaughan, Cleveland-Innes, and Garrison (2013) suggested that, such discussion might leads to deep learning. Since I have very limited experience of teaching, I can gain lots of information from my peers who are making contribution to Canada’s education. For example, Ana suggested me to start the instructional design with both objectives and assessment in our discussion in Week 8-9 discussion forum. It sounds more reliable from a person who has rich experience working in the classroom than simply from literacies.
Last but not least. I want to reflect a little about the limitations of online collaboration. Under a pure online environment, people come from different areas and are in the different time zones. Communications have to rely on online tools such as Skype, Google docs, Hangouts and LMS. Thus, audiences are not able to co-work synchronically. Individuals may not be able to get timely and enough responses. In addition, most of the discussions are text-based, which may leads to misunderstand and insufficient communication. Not only nonverbal expression is blocked, but also the tools that support online meeting are limited and mostly not user friendly. Less communication negatively influence the outcomes of learning and also leads to disagreement and even conflict. These situations might results in the difficulty to develop a good pace of collaboration, and especially harmful to intellectual works.
On the other hand, without the opportunity of making direct connections, audiences may not be able to develop close relationships and create learning communications. Individuals might loose the chances to learn during collaboration and informal learning. The width and depth of discussion are also deeply influenced by this superficial interaction. Since developing a solid and close community requires more openness, time and good attitude. And besides that, most of the time, individual has to rely on their own to solve problems. I believe, to be a successful student requires more positive and focusing attitudes. Not only focusing on work, but also on building good relationship with peers and instructors. To a collaborative work, in order to prevent any possible delays and unexpected problems, every individual needs more focus on deadlines, long-term goals and a lens of the whole map. That is to say, everyone should regard himself or herself as a leader to the work and shoulder the responsibilities positively.
Please allow me to make a suggestion to this course as the end of this reflection. This course may aims to the students who have working experience as teachers, therefore, some of the discussions questions are difficult to students whose teaching knowledge and practices are rare. Even these students might be minority, it is still possible to set neutral questions as well as keep the quality of discussion. Please consider about this suggestion.
Reference
Anderson, T. (2008a). Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton AB: Athabasca University.
BATES, A. T. (2015). Teaching in a digital age. Glokalde, 1(3). Retrieved from http://dergipark.ulakbim.gov.tr/glokalde/article/view/5000135229
Downes, S. (2011). Free learning. Essays on Open Educational Resources and Copyright. National Research Council Canada. Retrieved from http://www.udeeewana.org/FileUpload/ds701218/File/ud_freelearning.pdf
Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31.
Jenkins, M. (2004). Unfulfilled promise: Formative assessment using computer-aided assessment. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, i, 67-80.
Porto, S. (2015). The uncertain future of Learning Management Systems. The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement. Retrieved from http://evolllution.com/opinions/uncertain-future-learning-management-systems/
Spiro, K. (2014). 5 elearning trends leading to the end of the Learning Management Systems. Retrieved from http://elearningindustry.com/5-elearning-trends-leading-to-the-end-of-the-learning-management-system
Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Athabasca University Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9CqNAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=%22and+delivery+of+an+engaging+and+collaborative+blended%22+%22responsibility.+Appreciating+teaching+presence+is%22+%22to+bring+teachers+and+learners+together+in+sustained%22+%22face-to-face+learning+environment%3F+We+address%22+&ots=6kPnCeCN6Y&sig=oJisFFtGDjbE6xvw79KPIVo6_hs