On the subject of the users group we created at RRC last week...one of my goals with this was to encourage and facilitate discussion...I'm finding this is much more difficult to do than I anticipated...

The community has only been set up for a week...so maybe I'm getting impatient too quickly...

I set up an online review in Groove for students this week. I have a test scheduled on October 15, so I want to ensure that this group of students has access to the same amount of resources that other groups have had. I guess I'm worried about these students failing miserably, and that performance being an indication of the true value of online learning...so in a way, I'm tempted to over "facilitate" students so that they do well on tests...

I'm still completely amazed at how quickly online learning moves. I have this feeling that I may currently be on the front lines of what is happening at RRC in online learning, but I'm afraid I'll get steam rolled as the movement picks up steam...(that, by the way, is a comment on the fast growth of online learning, not on my capacity to stay current...:-))

I read an interesting article today on the growth of online learning, and the corresponding shortage of online teachers...Online High Schools Grows

Interesting...the future of education is coming quickly and bringing with it a flood of new opportunities...mind you, I hope education does not abandon what has worked well in the past...online learning is not the answer to all that is wrong with society...

YIKES...I commit to writing regularly...but, life happens...

LOTS has been going on in the last several weeks...The CD ROM has had EXCELLENT response from students. I've also had an opportunity to demonstrate it to several groups. The feedback has been phenomenal.

I starting organizing an online group at RRC about mid-August. We had our first meeting several days ago. After my initial email to college staff, a steering committee was set up, consisting of various departments from the college. The steering committee organized the first meeting. We had 80 people express interest in online learning, and about 30 show up at the meeting. In order to enlarge our groups access to information (and to live what we preach!), we set up an online community in WebCT. Using WebCT was not my first goal...I was hoping for a web page, but time didn't allow. WebCT was a quick and simple starting point. Learning this program has been STRESSFUL. We used The Learning Manager in our department, and I don't do very much with it...Stephen does the programming and handles technical glitches. Now I'm in a position where I have to work with HTML and design the site...good experience...but very tedious.

I've been thinking of the differences between online learning and classroom learning. All learning (distance, online, classroom) is "driven by something". By this I mean that these types of learning have a "central" place that organizes and directs learning activities...in the classroom, it is the lecture, in distance ed., it is the course notes (which direct the student to which text readings etc.). What is it with online learning? Is it the LMS? If so...is it effective? A lecture in a class can motivate students to study, read, complete assignments etc. Can a LMS do this? I guess my question is: What "drives" online learning? What is the "central" place? Could it be something broader than the LMS? The instructor? Or some aspect of learning online that is not yet used - (I don't know what that would be!)...I don't know if this is coming through in writing the way it is in my head...but I really think that if online learnning needs to be successful, as much time needs to be spent analyzing/developing/improving the "central thing" as has been done with researching classroom techniques...does this make sense?

Today was our first online "class". It will take some huge shifts in my thinking to adjust to this format. One of the biggest changes will be in preparation. When I teach in a classroom, I have "recovery" opportunities...by this I mean, I have time to fill in blanks that I know I missed in different classes, or questions are asked that allow me to teach something I had forgotten to cover, or had not covered in enough detail...

Online courses strip instructors of this control. My communication has to be precise, my assignments have to be complete, and I have to think through things the way that students will experience them. This sucks!!! The online environment is not nearly as forgiving as classrooms...

When I put the parts of the course together, I believe I managed to include all critical areas, and in enough detail...I think my organization was fine (even if it wasn't, I don't think I would admit it!!). I included all the necessary parts of the course, but what I find now, is that I missed providing enough information on how the students should experience the course...i.e. go here first, do this, then do that...When questions arise in class, ("when is our next text, which folder is that document in..."), they can be answered immediately and the student continues studying. Online, however, those questions are not answered immediately, and the student may not be able to continue studying until they have contacted the instructor...

So, many aspects of learning benefit from the online environment...but it is worth mentioning, that not only do the students undergo a significant change in "how to learn online", but the instructor also experiences significant change...this change is mainly in two areas...planning details and precision...instructors cannot recover from mistakes in an online environment as easily as they can in a classroom...

Our online course started last week. The first class consisted of explaining what an online course is, how students will be graded, how to succeed in an online environment, and an introduction to Groove (which we are using for our collaborative software). The students are familiar with the LMS that will be used for the course. The CD that we designed can be used "stand alone", i.e. it can be explored without the need of an LMS, or it can be used with an LMS. An LMS basically guides students in how to experience the course material. This is very effective in ensuring that students are experiencing information/instruction as they need it.

We designed a quiz (we meaning - I wrote it, and Steve "made it interactive" with Authorware) to allow students to stop and reflect on their own views of online learning. Online learning is so new, that it is an error to assume that students will naturally be drawn to, or know intuitively how to handle it. Many schools that have moved online have discovered that a good classroom instructor is not necessarily a good onlin instructor. I think the same is true of students...just because a student succeeds in a classroom does not mean he or she will succeed online. Comments from students (about the quiz) have been very positive. Hopefully they will have paused long enough to think of their views of going online, and in the process, adjusted their habits in order to move to success (man, that sounds idealistic!!).

There are things in life that are "bigger", things that run deeper than what we are concsious of in the course of our lives. Because these things are larger than we are (in a sense it is like a fish in water - the water is so much a part of the existence of the fish, that the fish is not aware of it...ok, not the best analogy, but it serves to communicate what I'm trying to say), they can be forgotten.

This week, with the terrorist bombings, many have been brought into full view of the "bigger things". Unfortunately, it is not all positive...we have seen the greatness of humanity...we have seen the great destruction we can unleash...we have seen the great pain people can cause other people. Yet even in the face of this, the other "big things" of our existence are seen...we can love...we can hope...we can unify...

May God watch over, and guide us all...Father, Thy will be done...

Online learning should not be viewed as antagonistic to classroom learning. Mindsets I read/hear about seems to pit the two: Should this be taught in a classroom or online? As I've babbled about before, the incorporation of techonology in education is firstly about the learning. Decisions to use technology are justified when it means that a student will have better access to learning, or have a better learning experience.

Regular classrooms can be enhanced through use of technology. Blended learning is one of the terms being thrown about (and will quickly lose its meaning as people try to use it as a catch-all phrase - how's that for cynicism?). Ways to enhance the classroom experience with technology:
Encourage students to subscribe to listservs related to the subject matter being studied
Create an online community where students can submit responses to discussion questions (and make contributing to the online community part of the grading)
Use email to respond to student questions/comments
Encourage students to explore web sites that specialize in the subject matter - often, students will be motivated to learn if they have resources to explore (ok...well, in an ideal world they will be motivated!)
Use online quizzes as "pretest" before classes...this can be done with campus computer labs...students are expected to log in and take a quiz based on assigned readings. This will ensure (hopefully) that students come to class prepared and ready to participate in discussions.

This mixture of exploration (related web sites), communication (email), contribution (listservs), and preparation (online quizzes based on assigned readings) can help to significantly increase learning and retention...essentially creating an environment where the learning has more control (is learner-centered the over-used word I'm looking for?).

I guess the point is that it is dangerous (how is it dangerous you ask??...ok, maybe not dangerous...) to ride the wave of fads. It seems that online learning will go through the usual pendulum swing that new concepts experience. Everyone jumps onboard...it is the panacea...it will solve all of our problems...blah, blah, blah. The statement that "everything looks like a nail when all you have is a hammer", applies here. Then, after awhile, people with common sense start to pull in the reigns, and the pendulum swings back to a position of balance.

This concept emphasizes that online learning should be viewed as a tool for learning...not the end result of learning...and, classroom learning can be enhanced with online resources...not everything has to be exclusively online.

OK, it's been awhile, but I think things have finally calmed down, so I should be able to blog more regularly.

Have had many developments in our online project. I have started using the CD with one group of students in a classroom environment. The results have been very positive. The benefit of this type of information presentation is the versatility and precision of teaching. Previously, I would show a 30 minute video on a subject, much of which was irrelevant, but it had to be viewed to get to the good stuff. Now, students encounter only what they need (or at least what I think they need). Once this information is all stored in a repository, instructors teaching the same course that I do would be able to select what they wanted to use from the database. The learning objects provide precision in instruction. Often a student is overloaded by the amount of information they have to "wade" through. If an instructor eliminates the extraneous stuff, the student can interact more with the valuable information.

The students, many of them are new to secondary education, seem "WOWed" by the CD. Using technology effectively for learning is a first experience for many of them. They seem to have this, "Hey, I can do this at home...or this helps me to...". They are genuinely excited about learning in this format...mind you this is the initial reaction...in a few weeks they may be sick of it!!!

One of the sections where I found the CD really helped was in demonstrating how to use a POS system. Students previously watched a 1 hour demo given by the instructor, then they practiced, and finally they were tested. Now the instructor demo is reduced (only by about 15 - 20 minutes), but the retention seems to be much higher. Plus the students can review the material as often as they wish.

It appears as if (at least at our college) the ground swell for online learning is at a level where it is set to explode. Everyone talks about it...sooner or later there will be a mass movement.