Assignment 4
OPTION 1
In my flight path I stated that one of my goals was to select, evaluate, and implement technological resources for sound pedagogical reasons and become better able to use technology in all different types of learning environments especially focused on junior high to adult learning. In assignment one selecting a LMS for a community organisation, it was a good experience in our group to evaluate which LMS was a better fit for a community organisation. I learned how to use Bates’ SECTION model to evaluate the affordances of a non-academic institution which tied very well with my goal to use technology for an adult learning environment. In assignment 2 I created an Introductory Module for a fully online course; I selected to explore the affordances and limitations of working with Blackboard Connect for this assignment. With no previous experience of how to create an online course, I opted to start with Connect because I was familiar with Blackboard Connect from the perspective of a student. To begin this Introductory Module for the fully online course, I had to find resources suited for the course and make decisions about how to use the various tools in Connect to ensure that students achieved the course learning objectives. As I said in my reflections for assignment 3 I considered that it would be better to create a course where I was familiar with the content and resources as that would grant me more time to explore the affordances of Connect. For example It would give me the opportunity to watch YouTube help videos on how to create courses in Blackboard Connect. Engaging in this activity contributed to my goal to select, evaluate, and implement technological resources for sound pedagogical reasons. While working on my project documentation for creating the Introductory Module, I was able to begin the process of articulating my rationale for the course creation, as well as decide on the elements for my course design.
I had to decide on the learning outcomes I want students to achieve at the end of the course, as well as the design and communication tools and the pedagogical theory that I would employ for designing my course. With abundant and constructive feedback I was able to make changes to my course design, so that the design of my course, including the layout of the weekly activities, and my selection of course templates and graphics connected to students being able to achieve their learning outcomes. As described in my assignment 3 project documentation working on the module for my online course allowed me to explore with more depth the affordances and limitations of Blackboard LMS.
Working on the project documentation also allowed for metacognitive thinking of the process that I used in the design process. These assignments have helped me to work towards the course learning outcomes of being able to:
- Formulate sets of learning objectives and achieving these in the technology-dependent educational environments
- Selectively use Learning Management Systems, digital learning tools and digital media in instruction to achieve specific learning objectives and purpose
- Make an informed choice evaluating Learning Management Systems and platforms: LMS applicability to specific organizational contexts, and LMS functionality, affordances and limitations for educational/instructional design.
Since using Blackboard connect was such a steep learning curve for me, I didn’t have the opportunity to try out the other LMS’ but I intend to explore and learn more by creating courses in the other LMS’ like Moodle. In this course, I was able to work on the learning outcome of using digital learning tools and digital media to achieve specific learning objectives in a LMS. The experience of collaborating on the wiki was good, however, this assignment was designed to be a group collaboration effort, but only two people selected blackboard aas their LMS. In spite of that, it was good to be able to identify the tools in Connect that we could employ to achieve learning outcomes in our online course.. We identified that the synchronous and asynchronous communication tools like the discussion boards, and journals provided the opportunity to collaborate. Blogs (and journals) allow students to create content, so they become producers, rather than just consumers. The difficulty I found with the wiki was that I was limited in my ability as a user to set up notifications when someone else contributed to the wiki. I had to log in to check if any additions to the wiki were made.
Creating my own blog, setting up the pages, posting and reworking the pages have helped me to start the process of blogging for my MET program, additionally, it provided me with the opportunity to reflect on own my learning as well as my professional and my academic goals. I have also gained a better understanding of how to use design space and elements that will allow for clear learning outcomes. For example if I added a component to my course I needed to give a description of the component and its purpose. The course readings, discussion themes and questions helped to create a good learning environment because of the a diverse range of learners in the class from different backgrounds.
The discussion board provided opportunities for knowledge construction, and it allowed for ideas, and concepts to be fleshed out to allow for the concretizing of learning. It was a useful exercise in week one (1) to assess my digital competencies and to tie it in with the reading to help me to place myself on the digital continuum using the ISTE standards. I found the discussion on Anderson’s article was also quite informative as I wrote in my discussion post for week seven (7) . Anderson’s article left a profound impact on me, one of the memorable excerpts is that the “learner-centred contexts must also meet the needs of the teacher, the institution, and of the larger society that provides support for the student” (p. 47).
Week ten (10) discussion board was also quite informative for me as it dealt with creative commons and helped me to examine my views around sharing content. I decided I would choose creative commons with attribution which would allow other people to use content I created while crediting the original creator.
One of the difficulties I experienced as an online learner was consistent internet problems even though I subscribe to ‘high speed internet’ I never seem to have strong enough signal until everyone in my part of town was gone to bed (it seemed). This could be as a result of the fact that I live in a remote region of Canada. It is possible that somewhere in this town other people were enjoying real high speed internet, but I was not one of the fortunate ones in that respect. The effect of not having good internet connection made it difficult for me to use both Connect and WordPress.
The information on WordPress was not intuitive to me as a learner so I had to be constantly checking and rechecking the information many times to try to figure out what was required and when it was required. Additionally, Connect would consistently send me messages about assignment being overdue when the due date had not yet passed. Even though I know how to set up my notifications, and the issue had nothing to do with the set-up of my notifications, I was constantly being alerted about assignment dates that didn’t correspond with the course dates or the assignment in the course. For example, Connect would notify me that Assignment 3 is due on Aug 2 when, in reality, Assignment 4 and not 3 due date was set for August 7th , this was quite the technical glitch for my Connect. As not only would the assignment be incorrect but the number of the assignment would be incorrect. This technological issue is not something that I could control.
Using both sites was more stressful for me, however, being able to collaborate synchronously and asynchronously with my group on Google docs, using the chat and comments features on our shared document for the platform evaluation increased my professional learning community. Also taking part in the class discussions well as learning how to use a LMS to create an online course has helped to strengthen my professional learning network.
References
Anderson, T. (2008). Chapter 2 Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In T. Anderson (Ed.), Theory and Practice of Online Learning (pp. 45–74). AU Press.