Author Archives: Colleen Huck

Assignment 4: Final Synthesis Reflection

Flight Path Précis

I have been working as the Coordinator of Professional Development at a law firm in Toronto for the past 4 years. Initially, my role was project and event management. Meaning, my primary focus was on program, event, and orientation logistics. This included tasks like researching offsite venues, ordering catering, arranging audio visual equipment and support, creating PowerPoint presentations and handouts, and drafting evaluations. Over time as both departmental needs, and my personal interests evolved, I started working on e-Learning projects. While I still manage the logistics for our learning initiatives, I also re-designed and now maintain our department’s intranet page, I create short video (where applicable) for our live seminars, and I will be creating some online modules for our students using Articulate Storyline.

At the beginning of the term, I outlined a few learning goals for this course. I wanted to learn how to decide if you should use learning technologies and determine what works best and for whom. I also wanted to better understand how to implement an online learning solution effectively. I hoped to expand my library of online resources and learn how to use some new technology. But foremost, I wanted to gain some hands on experience developing content and designing an online platform. This goal was far exceeded by creating my own Moodle course and digital story. I was able to experiment, learn new software, and take advantage of the knowledge and experience of my classmates. While I still have a lot to learn, I feel like I now have new skills to take back and share with my department.

Overall Experience

If I had to choose one word to describe my ETEC 565A experience it would be enlightening. This is my fifth course in the MET program and it has been both the most practical and most enjoyable. This course struck the perfect balance between theory and practice. Unlike the other courses I have taken, I walk away from this course with resources, tools, and skills that I can start implementing right away. I feel like I can go and create successful e-Learning content that I would be proud to share with my colleagues. In addition to hands on skills, I have developed a much greater understanding of learning technologies.

Module one provided me with a great framework in which to evaluate technology implementation and learning in the classroom. What I appreciated about the Chickering & Ehrmann (1996) article was that the seven principles were applicable to both academic and adult learning. While some of the good practice tips seemed a bit common sense, they touched on points that are often overlooked. For instance, good practice communicates high expectations, “expecting students to perform well become a self-fulfilling prophecy” (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). It is important that we challenge learners to seek out new information and develop their skills. I think in professional development we sometimes focus too much on making things convenient and appealing and end up sacrificing the challenge.

I also found the Bates (2014) SECTIONS model to be extremely helpful. It provided very clear and easy to understand categories to evaluate when selecting learning technologies. This reading was probably my favorite in the course because it addressed one of my personal learning goals – how to decide when to use learning technologies. I see myself using the SECTIONS framework when I design professional development sessions. The SECTIONS framework also helped me evaluate both the areas in which I excel and where I could use some work. I focus a lot of attention on students and ease of use but haven’t really considered networking or teaching functions. I now know what areas to improve on and I think it will make me a better instructional designer.

In Module two we started to explore the world of Learning Managements Systems (LMS). I have experienced a few LMS platforms from the end-user side but I didn’t have much background on LMS selection, implementation, and trends. The Spiro (2014) article in week three really stood out to me. It was interesting to read about the potential future of the LMS, I especially enjoyable his point about personalized/adaptive learning. As Spiro pointed out, the days of the one-size-fits-all course are coming to an end and it is our job as educators to try and create more flexible content (2014).  Towards the end of Module two we looked at mobile technologies. I really appreciated the group discussion on the topic. I think my department can do a lot more to utilize mobile technologies (since our lawyers are attached to their phones at all times). I appreciated hearing what other people have found to be successful and plan to explore this area further in the future.

Module three was the most challenging for me personally. It was very hard for to extrapolate the core concepts from the readings and apply them to the professional development context. Interaction and assessment are probably two of our biggest challenges since we work in a large organization with optional programming. I appreciated the Anderson (2008a) reading because he outlined different kinds of learning interactions. When I hear the word interaction I always think between people but the Anderson reading expanded my perception to include learner-centered and knowledge-centered interactions. In terms of assessment, Bate (2014) summarized my workplace situation quite well, “There may be contexts, such as a community of practice, where learning is informal, and the learners themselves decide what they wish to learn, and whether they are satisfied with what they have learned” (Section A.8.3, p. 2). I think we will continue to use informal assessment (i.e. group discussions and activities) until LSUC standards say otherwise. Regardless, it was interesting to read about what strategies exist.

In Module four we explored social media, multimedia, and privacy all of which are areas frequently discussed in my department. I think social media is used very differently in the educational context and the professional context which makes implementation in professional development tricky. Also trying to balance social media usage with privacy regulations poses an even bigger challenge at a law firm. What I found most meaningful in this module was reading the discussion forums. While I might have my hands tied it was great to hear about what others are doing. I will likely not work in the legal field forever so it was very beneficial to take notes on what other industries are doing. I would have liked to explore more multi-media platforms in this module but it would have been challenging due to our assignments. Perhaps the multimedia unit could be moved earlier in the term. I think it would allow for some really interesting discussions and fun projects.

Lastly, we closed the course in Module five looking at the future of learning. I really enjoyed the Alexander article. The scenarios he put forward were both realistic and extreme – or at least seemed extreme today. When discussion professional development, Alexander (2014) theorized that “Professional development most often occurs remotely, including through social media, for reasons of cost (using the Internet is cheaper than traveling) and efficiency (people respond well to rich media in this 2024)”. I found this to be a really eye opening idea. Remote professional development would make content significantly more accessible. On the other hand (as some of my colleagues pointed out in the discussion forum) there is still a need for face-to-face interaction and networking. I guess the question going forward will be what is more beneficial. I’m excited to see how it all pans out.

My reflection would be incomplete without evaluating the LMS design project. I had a lot of mixed feeling during the process of creating my Moodle course. Towards the beginning I was mostly overwhelmed and frustrated. I didn’t know how to use the platform and I was struggling to adapt my content into a multi-week program. Once I was able to re-imagine my content the rest really came together. I enjoyed the course design process – I found it fun to pick my own colour pallets and create buttons and icons.  It was also great to put our reading into practice and try to develop something reflecting core concepts like the SECTIONS model. The digital story project pushed me to think outside the box and forced me to communicate the value of what I do (which was significantly harder than I thought). Overall, I feel like I accomplished the learning goals set out in my flight path and I will leave this course with both knowledge and experience in online learning.

Next Steps

At a high level, my next steps are to further develop my knowledge of, and skills in, learning technologies. This is my fifth course in the MET program so I still have a ways to go. I am looking forward to taking elective courses on mobile learning, technology ventures, and reading and writing for the web. I plan to explore new technologies both academically and personally some of which include: VideoScribe, Articulate Storyline, and Captivate. Professionally, I plan to incorporate more technology into our programs. This might include video clips, voting polls, twitter feeds, digital stories, or learning blogs. I really want to push my department to move into the 21st century and try some blended and online solutions. Personally, I think I will always be a lifetime learner. I have gone from my undergraduate degree to a certificate program and now a Masters. I think after the MET program I will explore MOOCs. I’ve always wanted to learn to code so maybe I will take a course on that.  I’d also like to attend more conferences to network with other people in the industry and share ideas and experiences.

References

Alexander, B. (2014). Higher education in 2014: Glimpsing the future. Educause Review, 4(5) Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/higher-education-2024-glimpsing-future?utm_source=Informz&utm_medium=Email+marketing&utm_campaign=EDUCAUSE

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. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf

Bates. T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/5-8-assessment-of-learning/ (Chapter 8) and (Appendix 1. A8)

Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S., C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved from http://www.aahea.org/articles/sevenprinciples.htm

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

The Future of Professional Development

I really enjoyed Alexander’s “Higher education in 2014: Glimpsing the Future” article. I found his scenarios both realistic and extreme (which is a very interesting combination). I think I felt this way because he incorporated technology that already exists but made it common place. For example most people having 3D printers. While this technology exists it is not yet economically feasible for the average person to utilize – hence both realistic and extreme.

In his Renaissance scenario, Alexander (2014) said,

“And professional development most often occurs remotely, including through social media, for reasons of cost (using the Internet is cheaper than traveling) and efficiency (people respond well to rich media in this 2024)”.

While this sentiment is simple, it would be a game changer in my industry. I cannot tell you how many conferences I would have loved to attend but couldn’t because of cost and timing. Being able to access international professional development content would expand the horizons of practitioners and create a global learning community.  I recently read an article by Vescio et al. discussing the benefits of professional learning communities for both educators and students. Research has shown that student achievement increases when educators participate in PLCs (Vescio et al, 2008). I have noticed more and more resources being available online but have yet to experience a remote professional development conference. On the flip side, if professional development information is more widely accessible it calls into question whether or not you need dedicated professional development departments – which is of course a huge concern for me.

A trend I have noticed in my industry is professional development being advertised as a value add and client incentive. Our department is getting more and more requests to organize seminars for our clients. Not only are we sending people off-site, we are recording live seminars and posting them on a secure site for our clients to access. In the last few years there has been a push for more e-learning (which was one of the reasons I started the MET program). Our department, as it currently stands, does not have the resources to create online seminars at the rate our clients (both in-house and external) expect.  I have openly said that our department needs to dedicate more personnel and resources towards online learning, but the legal industry is infamously slow to change. Perhaps technological advances will force our hand and require us to focus more on online content to stay competitive in the market.

References

Alexander, B. (2014). Higher education in 2014: Glimpsing the future. Educause Review, 4(5) Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/higher-education-2024-glimpsing-future?utm_source=Informz&utm_medium=Email+marketing&utm_campaign=EDUCAUSE

Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 80-91. http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.01.004

Assignment 3 Reflection – Content Module & Digital Story

Content Module

The process of creating my Moodle course has been an interesting one. I started off feeling very overwhelmed. This was partially due to my lack of experience with Moodle, but was primarily due to the fact that we have no multi-week online friendly programs at the Firm. I was able to come up with a concept for assignment two but did not have to fully implement it until assignment three. I decided to combine five separate sessions that we run for our summer law students into one comprehensive onboarding program. We have discussed revamping our onboarding program in the past so I believe this will resonate with my colleagues and may have the possibility of future implementation.

The biggest challenge in designing my Risk Management Module was re-structuring the content. The materials from the live ninety-minute session consist of the Firm policies and a group activity. I figured the Firm policies would make great “readings” for the week. I didn’t want to provide a long write-up on each policy because students would then have no need to read the policies. In place of the in-class activity, I incorporated a small group discussion. The Firm has a culture of collaboration so it was important that I designed something where our students could interact with each other. Since it is the first module a small group discussion seemed like a good way to ease them into the program.

Much like my introductory module, I included navigation arrows on each page to make my course more user friendly. As Bates (2014) states in the SECTIONS model, ease of use is very important in program design. If students have to fumble through using the technology they will not reap the full benefits of the content. Further, navigation arrows incorporate Spiros concept of curation by directing student in the order in which they should review the content (2014). I tried to keep the module clean and concise. Having done most of my trial and error for assignment two, I found it quite easy to aesthetically design my Risk Management Module. The one item that confused me was setting up a group discussion forum. However, after watching a YouTube video I was able to figure it out (groups versus groupings was throwing me off).

Digital Story

Once I understood the nature of the digital story, I knew I wanted to discuss the role of professional development in the summer law student program. I wanted my digital story to accomplish two goals: (1) to explain why professional development matters, and (2) to provide an overview of the summer law student learning program. The main driver behind my platform decisions was the content of my digital story. My content was all plain text from either speaking notes or PowerPoint presentations we have developed. I referred to the Siemens article on evaluating media characteristics to help me determine what media to incorporate. He explained that visual graphics and diagrams help enrich learning material and audio makes the learning experience more personal (Siemens, 2003). For that reason I thought PowToon would be a good platform to use. I have used it a few times before and the graphic and audio package are both extensive and easy to use. I considered using VideoScribe but I thought it was a bit too casual and that my content would not be easy to “scribe”.

I do not see my digital story being incorporated into any of our professional development courses. Instead, I see it being part of the onboarding process for summer students, articling students, and junior associates (with slight revisions being made for each audience). The Firm has dedicated significant time and resources to the professional development of these groups. I think it is important they understand why and get an idea of what to expect. For that reason, I incorporated my digital story into my Introduction Module. I think it is a good way to set the tone for the rest of the course and the summer term at large. Going forward, I would love to include interview style clips with prior students and associates to make the story more relatable.

Overall, I really enjoyed the process of creating this course and think it will help me develop eLearning content for the Firm in the future.

References

Bates, T. (2014). Chapter 8: SECTION Framework. Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from: http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating media characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Elearnspace. Retrieved from: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.htm

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

 

The mysterious world of Copyright law

The first time I heard the term “digital footprint” was in high school. Everyone was getting cellphones, webcams, and digital cameras. We were moving from MySpace to Facebook and MSN Messenger to Skype. I remember a few teachers warning us to be careful about what we post online because of “predators”. As we got older (and more familiar with social media) the fear of the predator subsided and the fear of the potential employer took over. It was becoming common practice for employers to look you up online before hiring you. In high school this was not a big concern but in university it certainly was. I had a lot of friends change their screenname so they would not come up in a Google search. I personally, do not use my last name on my social media accounts (with the exception of LinkedIn). I think this is very common practice now but is still an important message to relay to students.

Intellectual Property and Privacy are not new concepts to me. I actually feel like I have a slight advantage in these areas simply because I work at a law firm with a large Intellectual Property practice and Privacy speciality group. Needless to say we have to ensure we are upholding IP and privacy regulations in order to represent our clients. The law is a hard thing to “copy”, after all it is absolute and written by a governing body. You cannot really claim that the regulations are your own and the information is publically accessible. It is common place to reference case law or statues in our programs. In our case, sharing knowledge is more so sharing precedent documents or best practices – all of which are owned by the Firm so no firm member is violating copyright by using them. Where you can get in trouble is trying to use these resources once you have left the firm.

I do not think every culture has the same views on intellectual property – I don’t even think the same cultures have the same views on intellectual property. For example many people would see no issue with playing music (that you purchased) at an event or conference. However, legally you are supposed to obtain a SOCAN license if you are playing music for business purposes. Buying the music only allows you to play it for private use.  It would be very easy for someone unfamiliar with copyright law to violate this regulation regardless of their cultural background. Where does the onus fall to educate people on copyright? I’m not sure I have the answer. I would think it would be industry specific, so perhaps in college, university, or workplace onboarding.

Social Media in the Corporate Context

It has been my experience that social media use in a professional context is very different than an educational context. Professionally, social media is used to network and develop business relationships. It is often also used to market a company or forward a brand. Educationally, social media is used to encourage collaboration, build digital literacy, and aid in knowledge management (Bates, 2014). The challenge I see in Professional Development is balancing professional and educational uses of social media. By that I mean, our learners would not want their professional social media feeds littered with educational content, yet they would likely enjoy using social media in our professional development programs. Realistically, I think learners would have to develop separate social media accounts for educational purposes (i.e. separate from their personal accounts/business accounts). We also have a social media policy which dictates what we are allowed to publically share and post related to the firm – making social media use a bit more complicated.

All that aside, I think social media would be a great tool to encourage learning and collaboration outside the formal classroom setting. Discussion forums or Twitter hashtags could help us keep our learners engaged and continue the conversation after a program ends.  We are always encouraging our learners to take ownership of their professional development. I think incorporating social media would further this goal because learners would have to actively participate and drive course content. We have talked about creating an internally hosted learning blog. Perhaps we could encourage people to post on the blog as part of our live seminars (maybe even create our own tagging system).

I think social media integration must be considered when designing a program. You have to look at your program goals, content, and target audience and ask yourself, will this be beneficial? If the answer is yes, you should design the session with your social media strategy in mind. I don’t think that necessarily mean re-designing around social media but it must be thoughtfully incorporated – you cannot simply add it as an afterthought.

References

Bates, T. (2014). Pedagogical differences between media: Social media. In Teaching in digital age, Chapter 7. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/9-5-5-social-media/

Optional completion based programs and assessment

The Continuing Professional Development world is an interesting one when it comes to assessment. A lot of our programs are optional and the ones that are mandatory do not have formal assessment or grades for students. I see that being the largest challenge with incorporating technology that supports student assessment. Our learners are simply not required to complete it. With that said, I think technology offers a lot of new interesting mediums that would be appealing to students. It also adds a level of convenience that our learner would appreciate. I’m sure they would be much more likely to complete assessments if they were easily accessible, quick, and provide immediate feedback.

One opportunity that I do see for us to use more technology to support student assessment is through online modules. Our department has been growing our on demand program offerings both internally and externally. I think we could use software like Articulate Storyline to build assessment right into our modules. Whether that is a few multiple choice questions throughout the module or a summative question at the end. I think we could utilize this technology to assess our learner and make modules more interactive.

I would love to hear all of your thought on the matter!

Assignment 2 – Intro. Module Reflection

For the LMS design project I decided to use Moodle. I have seen people create Moodle pages in my other classes and wanted to use this as an opportunity to learn the platform.

Here is the link to my course: Summer Student Orientation

When I first started this assignment I felt very overwhelmed. Not only was I not familiar with how to use Moodle, I also had no content that was structured to be used for a multi-week program. I spent a lot of time upfront just brainstorming what I could adapt for this assignment. Eventually I came to the realization that there was no single program that would translate well in an online multi-week course, but I could combine multiple programs into a series. I decided to focus on the on-boarding program for our summer law student. Currently, the students go through a two week orientation which consists of live face to face information sessions, networking, and formal training. This is then followed by an eight week long professional development curriculum (with one program happening each week). Our department has considered putting some of this content online before so this assignment is a great opportunity to test that out. I selected five sessions that I thought would lend themselves well to an online environment and created the Summer Student Orientation program.

To build my course, I first looked at the examples provided. Certain features really stood out to me. I took note of the aspects I liked and started to form an idea on how to structure my site. Earlier in this course, we learned how important ease of use is in content design (Coates et al., 2005). I decided it was important to have a clear navigation menu at the top of the page with frequently used items. Further, I felt it was important for every page to have navigation arrows and a home button. I then went on YouTube and watched tutorials on how to use Moodle (including creating a navigation menu, formatting charts, developing labels etc.). This allowed me to create what I think it a very clean easy to maneuver course site.

Communication Strategies

When developing my introduction module I asked myself two questions: (1) what do students need to know at the onset of this course, and (2) how best do I share this information. I didn’t want to overload end users with too much content right out the gate, yet I wanted to ensure they would have enough information to proceed effectively through the course. As this course is directed at busy professionals I tried to keep my writing clear and concise – no fluff!

Keeping in mind the importance of social presence (Garrison et al., 1999), I emphasised the significance of student feedback and participation in my introduction module. I implored students to both post and respond to questions in the Q&A forum, comment on each other’s discussion posts, and collaborate on group activities. I am hoping all of these factors will help build a learning community. While these activities are asynchronous, the participants will continue to partake in face to face synchronous professional development programs. I believe the combination of the two will create a holistic learning experience.

As we learned in the Trinh case study, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with communication in an online course. For that reason, I only provided two points of contact in my introduction module: my work email and the Q&A discussion forum. I also provided clear timeframes within which I would respond (24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends). I wanted to make it clear that my responses would not be instantaneous and that they should also rely on their peers for support. I decided against providing any personal or social media contact information because I don’t think it is relevant for this course and I do not want students contacting me on multiple platforms.

The participants for this program are all located in either the Toronto, Ottawa, or New York. This means we are all in the same time zone and can connect relatively easily in real time. I mentioned in my introduction that I can speak over the phone or meet face to face Monday to Friday, 8:30 – 4:30. Students will still have to reach out to me via email or discussion forum to set this up, but it is a viable option that I am comfortable with.

Assessment Strategies

I found developing assessments strategies much more challenging than developing communication strategies. This was primarily due to the fact that we do not “grade” participants in our learning programs. Everything at the firm is based on completion – i.e. did you attend this program, did you login to this webinar, did you certify your compliance, etc. Further, there are very few programs where we assign attendees homework or assignments. I struggled with balancing firm culture, effective online course design, and the assignment requirements.

To help me, I first reviewed Bates’ (2014) purpose of assessment. He stated that one single assessment instrument will not meet all assessment needs so it is important to determine what your needs are (Bate, 2014). Based on the Bates (2014) criteria, I decided that the needs of the Summer Student Orientation program are to: assess student’s knowledge, provide information to employers about what students know, and to filter students for further jobs (or in our case, rotations). I didn’t feel that all of these needs would be assessed from a Moodle quiz so I added an additional assignment to my course.

The Summer Student Orientation program will be graded based on completion. Students are given one week to complete each modules and I will restrict access so they cannot move forward until they complete all required activities from the prior module. Both the Moodle quiz and assignment will also be graded based on completion. However, if a student does poorly on the quiz or submits an incomplete assignment, the Director of Student Programs will personally reach out to them.

The Moodle quiz is a formative norm-based assessment focused on Module 1: Risk Management. Every member of the firm must sign quality assurance policies when they are hired and then certify each year that they have complied with them. As such, it is important to assess student’s knowledge of these policies. A quiz is an effective assessment tool because the policy guidelines are clear and not open to debate. If students have read the policies and engaged in that weeks’ activity, they should do fairly well on the quiz.  Comparably, the assignment is a summative assessment of Modules 3-5: Practice Area Resources. The assignment is reflection based and intended to determine what students know and help make rotations decisions. In this case, there are no wrong answers – the reflection is based on the students’ perceptions, preferences, and goals. Despite not having formal grades, I believe these assessment strategies will be effective in meeting course objectives.

 

References

Bates. T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/5-8-assessment-oflearning/ (Appendix 1. A8)

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/GarrisonAndersonArcher2000.pdf

Learning Attributes in the MET context

In the article “Towards a theory of online learning,” Anderson (2008) outlines four broad categories that must be addressed to create an effective learning experience: leaner, knowledge, assessment, and community. Overall, the courses I have taken in the MET program have addressed these four areas. However, some areas have received more attention in some courses than others.

Learner-centered

Anderson (2008) emphasises the importance of understanding what a learner brings to the learning context. This includes pre-requisite knowledge/understanding, misconceptions, and cultural perspectives (Anderson, 2008). In the MET program, I have seen this accomplished through preliminary discussion posts asking for initial thoughts and understanding on the subject matter. Further, many course have an “introduce yourself” forum where you can share your background and experience. With that said, I find most people focus on their profession versus themselves. Perhaps asking a set of culturally pertinent questions during course introductions would help. Otherwise, I think these methods are quite effective at addressing learner-centered needs.

Knowledge-centered

Anderson states that, “effective learning is both defined and bounded by the epistemology, language, and context of disciplinary thought” (2008, 49). I would say knowledge-centered attributes receive the most attention in the majority of educational contexts. After all, the purpose of education is to build and further knowledge. The MET program has addressed this through: course objectives, modules, readings, videos, and discussions. While these methods are effective, I don’t think they take advantage of the technology available such as wikis, podcasts, and tutorials. Using diverse mediums may also help address learner-centered needs by accounting for different learning styles.

Assessment-centered

Anderson highlights the importance of both formative evaluation and summative assessment that motivates, informs, and provides feedback to learners and teachers (2008). In the MET program this has taken the form of essays, reflections, discussion posts, creating e-learning platforms/content, and facilitating seminars. I have found feedback to be extremely beneficial but not always timely. Interestingly, I have yet to experience a quiz in the MET program. I believe this is due to the more hands on approach of the program.

Community-centered

Building a learning community online while very challenging, is very effective. Anderson states that learning communities can both support and challenge each other, leading to collaborative knowledge construction (2008). In my experience, some MET courses have been more successful than others at creating a community feel. This can be accomplished through discussion posts, group assignments, collaborative documents, live chats, and incorporating social media. I have mixed feelings about how MET addresses community. I feel more engaged and interested in courses with discussion and peer interaction but the asynchronous nature often takes away from the experience. Further, I find group work to be very challenging from a scheduling perspective and yet have had the most fun working with my peers. Perhaps incorporating optional live chats or online real-time offices hours would help balance these needs and challenges.

 

References

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. Retrieved fromhttp://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf

Adjust Course Expectations

In this scenario Trinh has fallen victim to over-accessibility.  With advancements in technology there are more methods of communication than ever. Most people have multiple email addresses, phone numbers, and social media accounts making it increasingly challenging to stay on top of communication. In a desire to be accessible, available, and helpful Trinh gave her students multiple avenues to connect with her (a mistake most of us have probably made at one point or another). I believe part of Trinh’s challenge is the perception of availability in an online course. Since the course is online and always “live” there is a perception that course content and resources (including the instructor) are always available. While this perception is hard to alter I believe there are some guidelines Trinh can set-up to help her deal with the communication overload.

I would first suggest that in her introductory module, Trinh clearly outlines what methods of communication are acceptable. I would suggest using 1 central email for course queries. If Trinh wishes to share her blog or Twitter handle she must make clear that it is for general interest and resource sharing as opposed to Q&A.  Trinh should also set student expectations in terms of response rate (e.g. within 24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on the weekend). If Trinh will be away or unavailable for longer periods of time she should notify students.

As some of you have already suggested, Trinh should also create a general Q&A discussion board for the class. That way students can assist each other with challenges and Trinh can direct people to the discussion board for questions that have already been answered. Putting more emphasis on class collaboration will really help relieve some of Trinh’s communication burden.  Trinh can also try holding live chats periodically throughout the course. That way students with questions or concerns can connect with Trinh in real time (much like what Natasha did for our LMS project). These live chats would be optional but Trinh can advertise them ahead of time and hold them almost as virtual office hours.

In terms of mandatory live streaming, I see that causing a lot of unnecessary hardship. Knowing that her course has a very large international presence she should not make participating in live streams mandatory. Instead, Trinh should continue to hold live streams – as they add another level of dimension to an online course – but she should record them and post them for everyone to view at their convenience. In order to ensure students view the live streams, Trinh can generate discussion questions or assignments based on the content of the live streams and required students to complete them within that course week.

Lastly, I think Trinh needs to limit the number of registrants in her course. 150 students per 1 instructor is a bit outrageous. I have never been in a virtual class of more than 30 students per one instructor. Perhaps Trinh can cross train a few colleagues so they can facilitate additional offerings of the course. Alternatively, Trinh could offer the course in multiple terms (with smaller class sizes) to help keep up with the demand. An online medium can feel isolating and impersonal to students even in a class size of 30. I think it will be more beneficial for both Trinh and her students if the class sizes are smaller allowing for personal connections to be made between classmates and with Trinh.

Mobile Devices in the Legal Context

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I work in Professional Development at a law firm. Our department runs both optional and mandatory CPD (Continuing Professional Development) programs for a wide range of audiences. Mobile devices are a staple at our firm. The firm issues devices to all lawyers, law students, and senior management (or they can opt to use their own phone with firm access). Despite the prevalence of mobile devices, they are often not incorporated into our learning programs.

The firm does not really have a position when it comes to using mobile devices in learning. It is a given that most (if not all) attendees will have their mobile devices at our programs. Lawyers especially like to be connected at all times and will often check their email during our programs. You will even see facilitators checking their phones during group activities. Sometimes I think this points to a lack of engagement, but often it is driven by workload. The downside of live sessions is that they will never be convenient for everyone. If you are in the middle of a large deal it is challenging to disconnect and focus on a CPD program.

In the past, we have used polling software like Poll Everywhere and Socrative at our programs and the feedback has been positive. Participants enjoy the real time results and like seeing how they stack up against their peers. I also think it adds a level of interest and “fun” to our programs. The main challenge when utilizing such technology is teaching facilitators how to use it. Our programs are typically delivered by SMEs and they have varying levels of comfort with technology. It is not always feasible to have a member of our team who is well versed in the technology at the program.

With that said, I think we are missing an opportunity by not utilizing mobile devices more. As the Ciampa article pointed out, mobile devices (when used properly) can lead to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In the case of our lawyers, I see the extrinsic rewards being slightly more appealing: competition, cooperation, and recognition. We have found friendly competition and bragging rights to be highly motivating in the past. However, the Ciampa article talked a lot about learning apps and games. I don’t think there are any learning apps/games that would have content reflecting our firms’ procedures, standards, and expectations. The same (to a certain extent) can be said of social media. The firm’s social media and privacy policy make utilizing applications like Twitter a bit challenging.

Any suggestions of software/programs that can be used in a professional context?

References

Ciampa, K. (2013). Learning in a mobile age: An investigation of student motivation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(1), 82–96.