As I reach the finish line. . .

This semester is drawing to a close as I complete both the Production course and the certification program.  This has been a difficult semester and I have struggled with learning how to produce my course in the Blackboard Learning Management System.  The learning objectives for this course were:

1. Set up a course structure in a learning management system.
2. Create a course menu that supports course structure and instructional design.
3. Create a standard learning module template for use in course lessons.
4. Create digital content using a variety of learning management system tools.
5. Establish student-student interactions through the use of the discussion board and other learning management system tools.
6. Create assignments and tests to assess student learning.
7. Establish mechanisms to encourage student-instructor interaction.
8. Create an interactive syllabus using the learning module tool
9. Create an interactive orientation using the learning module tool.

I have accomplished setting up my course in the Blackboard Learning Management System in spite of the difficulties that I had with learning this system.  I am sure that I will be able to reproduce the product in the free coursesites.com site offered by Blackboard.  In my course I have set up the course structure and have developed the instructional design.  I have developed a standard learning module template so each page has the same 'look and feel" and the students will be able to navigate the course easily.  I have developed student-to-student interactions in the form of discussion board questions and student interactions with each other.  Students will complete assignments for the purposes of ongoing assessment.  The feedback on these assessments will let both the student and instructor know to what degree the student is learning the material.  These assignments will also allow the student and instructor to interact in this online environment.  The syllabus and orientation let the student know what to expect for the course and to also know what is expected of them.


The course has also been assessed by a tool called the Quality Matters Worksheet.  This worksheet assess the course on eight different quality standards and assures that the course is a high quality course, easily navigated and in compliance with ethical standards.    The quality standards are as follows:

1. Overall Course Design
2. Learning Objectives
3. Assessment
4. Course Materials
5. Interactions
6. Navigation and Technology
7. Support Services
8. Accessibility

I am happy to report that this course received the highest ratings in all areas since I am devoted to producing a quality product that meets the needs of the student's.  In keeping with that commitment, I will be teaching the first class to several volunteers who will provide me with feedback about how to improve the course and best meet the needs of future students who will pay for the course.  I will also have a survey at the end of each course which will invite students to provide feedback to assure the course continues to meet their learning needs.


I am proud of my accomplishments and my final product.  I am looking forward to duplicating the units that have to be written in coursesites.com where I be teaching from.  I have  nine additional units to write before I can begin teaching my dream course but I am determined to get that done over the summer so I can begin teaching my course in the fall.  Thank you Governor's State University and their patient instructors for this certification program and making all of this a possibility for me!

Producing Digital Content

I am very excited and anxious as I begin this course.  I am excited as I have been bored over the break and am happy to return to a learning environment.  I am excited to be entering the final stage of the Certification Program.  For me the completion of this program means that I can move forward with and achieve a long time goal.  I have worked with traumatized children for over 30 years both personally and professionally.  I have developed an understanding and expertise of this population and am passionate about improving their life experiences.  One area that I would like to impact is the educational system.  I have noted over the years how children who have experienced trauma have behavioral problems and are often negatively labeled in the school system.  The labeling is not done with malice but out of misunderstanding of the impact of trauma.  I want to offer a course that provides trauma education to those working in the elementary school system.  During the course of this Certification Program I have developed a course called,  Identification and Management of Traumatized Children in the Classroom.  The completion of this course will give me the knowledge and skills needed to achieve this long time goal.

Yes, I am also anxious but part of that is my very nature.  I am anxious that I may not be successful in this class which is probably not based in reality.  I am also anxious that I may not meet my own expectations, which may be real since I set very high expectation of myself.  I tend to be a perfectionist and am disappointed with falling short.  I am also anxious because of my lack of experience in this area.  I have never designed or produced a class and this is a new experience for me.  Prior to this Certification Program I have never taken an online course.  The classes we offer where I work are more of a hybrid course, using conference calling and webinar.   This anxiety is offset somewhat by my previous success in the classes I have taken in the Certification Program.

I am also somewhat anxious, silly though it may be, that our due dates are now Friday.  Historically our due dates have been on Sunday.  Although I have usually turned my work in early, I still had the weekend if I needed it.  This only means that I will have to readjust when I complete my work and that I have to work ahead a bit more.  Still, change causes me anxiety.  As I said, that is a part of my nature.  I am lucky that I have learned to accept my anxious nature and use it to motivate me.

I am particularly anxious because I do not anticipate anchoring my course with a University and thus will not be using their Learning Management System.  I will be offering this course independently for a fee on the internet.  It has been recommended that I utilize coursesites.com as my Learning Management System.  I am nervous as I want to develop/produce this class in that environment so I do not have to duplicate my work in the future and also because I want to familiarize myself with that system as I will be using that environment/LMS.  Since our instruction is on the Blackboard system used here at Governor's State University I am worried that I may not have the necessary support and thus not meet my learning objectives.  I know that coursesites.com is a free site offered by Blackboard but I anticipate differences.  I have adjusted my life schedule to have 12-15 hours available each week for class work but I also work full time and thus have limited time to learn two systems.

My main barrier or weakness is my lack of experience.  This has been a concern every semester but I have been successful in spite of that.  My strengths are that I learn quickly and work hard to overcome barriers.  Failure is not an option.  I am excited and anxious about moving forward with this course.  I plan on nothing less than success but fear not meeting my goals.

Designing Courses - Part 2

I have finished with the final project in Curriculum Design and only have two more small assignments and then I am done for the semester.  I can honestly say that it was a wonderful learning experience and that the instructor provided much needed guidance and support throughout the course, making this a challenging and productive learning experience.

Since my last blog we began the actual design process of our course.  We worked with design worksheets that guided our learning and the actual design of our first 3 units.  These design worksheets were the tools that we used to develop our lesson plans.  We first developed the Lesson Objectives and found our content resources for the first 3 lessons.  This was challenging as I had failed to consider my first week as an introduction week so I had to find resources for that week and plan on how to do introductions for this course and really lay some groundwork.  I was disappointed as I was excited to begin and wanted to work on 3 weeks of my course content.  However, I am very glad that the introduction week was a requirement as I had some struggles here and benefited from the feedback.  I believe that I have now built an introduction week that sets good expectations, clearly identifies the requirements of the course and begins to consider the technological learning needs of students entering the class. 

We then moved into student-to-content interactions.  This was a difficult unit for me as I had a hard time grasping the concepts.  I understood that something was occurring while the students read the materials and considered the subject as hand but I could not understand how I could plan a course and lay a foundation for that student-to-content interaction.  I got some additional assistance from the instructor and began making critical connections.  Student-to-content interactions are learning activities that occur after the content has been digested by the student.  These learning activities require that the student uses the material they have learned in some manner.  The design goal is to design learning activities that are relevant and facilitate learning.

We then worked on our student-to-student interactions which are simply designing how students interact with other students using the content materials.  Some examples of how this occurs are through discussion posts, group activities, chat, and synchronous group discussions.  In my course the interactions will be only through the discussions posts so my design goal was to produce discussion posts questions that students would answer (student to content interaction) and that other students could read and then respond to (student-to-student interaction).  These questions needed to be open ended questions that the student could respond to in such a way that other students could then offer their varying opinions about first student's response.  This interaction teaches students to read a response, think critically about the response and then provide their own reactions to the first students response.  This provides both students an opportunity to learn from the other student and to perhaps learn the material from another perspective or at a deeper level.

We then considered the student-to-instructor interaction where the instructor provides feedback and guidance to the student. In my course the student-to-instructor interactions will occur during the discussion boards and through assessments/assignments.  Points are assigned to the assigned work based on a rubric that has been provided to clearly communicate the expectations to the student. This allows both the student and the instructor to assess how well the student is learning the material. 

We also designed the assessments for these first three units.  It was challenging to make sure that the assessments were developed in such a way that they assessed the learning objectives that were originally established.  This was a point where I needed to really focus to see if my course was "hanging together" from beginning to end and if the design and material were functional to meet the learning objectives.  There were many re-writes at this point as I determined that I had gotten off track. 

The design sheets are a wonderful tool to keep you on track and to help you determine if you have gotten off track.  They are also a great way to share your work with someone else and receive feedback from them as to if you are being consistent throughout the design of the course.  They are a tool that I will use in the future as I work on completing my course design.

We then began exploring quality standards in course design using the Quality Matters Rubric.  This is a very thorough rubric that assists with the assessment of a course.  We first were given one standard and used that standard to evaluate the design class that we are taking.  We had access to every ones work and thus could see how each standard was assessed in the course we were currently taking.  Next we used the entire rubric to assess a partners design project.  That was much more difficult since the course was not fully developed and we had to use each standard in the rubric.  What this learning activity accomplished for me was it gave me many areas to consider in my own course that I would not have otherwise considered.  This is another tool that I will use as I fully design my course.

We worked on our own assignments and reviewed peers assignments, providing feedback throughout this course.  This course is designed to model what we are learning so I learned from the model my own work, responding to others work, other's responses to my work and the instructors feedback to my work.  Due to this well designed course I have been able to master the course objectives set out in the course and the learning objectives in each unit.

Thanks to GSU for this course and certificate program.  And a very special thanks to my instructor, Jan Engle, who taught we forethought and patience.  Enjoy your retirement, you will be missed!

Designing Courses

I am very excited about moving forward with the Design portion of the certificate program.  I have never designed a curriculum and am looking forward to the process.

 I have taught both on-ground and on-line and I have learned to know when a curriculum is not designed correctly and when it really hits the mark.  At times competencies are sometimes not if the right order, activities don’t appear to be making the necessary linkages for the students and sometimes the pacing is just off.  Luckily, where I work, we have the leisure of making accommodations as we feel are necessary as long as we teach the learning competencies or objectives.  

We have a feedback loop where we debrief after we have taught each course.  We discuss what went well, what did not go well, if we met our objectives, and what design recommendations we have to improve the product.  I have helped curriculum design with restructuring and re-writing a curriculum.  This seemed easy at the time because it was a curriculum I had taught many times.  Now that I have taught the redesigned curriculum, I have more suggestions and know what is not working with the new design.  I almost always have some suggestion to curriculum design after I complete a course.  It’s real easy to identify what isn’t working and what changes need to be made.  I hope I am up to the challenge of designing a course from the bottom up.  

 To date I have learned a few things about curriculum design which should be a good foundation for me to start with.  I know that I first have to identify what it is that I want to teach – what are the objectives?  I then have to break the objectives up into smaller parts that build on each other and follow a logical path and strategically flow.  I need to decide how and when I will provide assessments and ways for the students to demonstrate their knowledge.  I will need to develop discussion questions that meet the goals of demonstrating learning and stimulating conversation.  

That is what I think I know at this point.  There is a whole lot I don’t know and need to learn.  My first question is where do I start?  What do I do first and second?  What do I do last?  Can I really design a rubric that can guide students and assist me with fair and unbiased grading?  I will need to consider different learning styles as I design the course and make sure that I am meeting everyone’s needs.

Yes, I am a bit intimidated.  I knew how to learn and how to teach so the first two semesters where just increasing my knowledge base.  This class will teach me new knowledge and skills and really stretch my imagination and planning abilities I am sure.  So, I am also excited because I love to learn and I love to be challenged.  Also this class and the next class are a path to help me achieve a goal that is important to me.  I am glad to have the support of this class.  I am sure that this support will help me to produce a higher quality product which in the long term has benefit to children who have experienced trauma. 

Online Facilitation Reflection

During my week as the online facilitator, I shared the responsibilities with my co-facilitator, David Corbin.   Using a wiki, Dave and I worked together on building a story board and power point for our synchronous session.  We met online a couple of times to discuss the process and split up responsibilities.  We then met the morning of our facilitation to run through the presentation and time it to make sure we were ready and on track.  

I do online facilitation of power point presentations for my full time job so I had no real fears about presenting to the class.  I don’t feel as comfortable teaching my peers as I do a class of learners but I have also become accustomed to that at work.

For our synchronous session, attendance was low and that put a lot of pressure on the participants to participate.  It took awhile for them to warm up but they did step and begin participating with the icebreaker, discussions and final activity.  I think Dave and I did and good job of facilitating our section and were well received by the class.  We met our learning objectives for the session and people seemed to enjoy themselves.  I enjoyed having a co-facilitator as it divided the work and we had plans to cover each other as needed if the class failed to participate.

Dave and I also met and decided to split up the responsibilities for the asynchronous sessions.  We each planned on taking half the class and responding to their discussion threads.  As it was we both decided to comment on everyone’s discussion threads.  It was not as time consuming as we believed it might be. 

My comfort level with managing the asynchronous session was not as high.  I was unsure of what type of responses that I should me making and believe that I irritated one of my classmates by my response to her post.  This is an area that I need to build and will begin taking more notice of the types of responses my instructors make to my discussions.

To date I have not been surprised by anything that occurred but that my change as my peer feedback begins to roll in.

Although this experience has not changed my thoughts on facilitation, this class has greatly changed the way I facilitate on my job.  I am thankful that this is what I do for a living so I have opportunities to practice skills and tools as we learn them.

Facilitator Roles

During this section of the course we have discussed the many roles of the facilitator of online teaching.  It has been very interesting and provides new insight for the many and varied responsibilities and tasks of the online teacher.

I have begun to see how I would facilitate a course that I have wanted to teach.  The course would be for elementary school teachers and is called Identifying and Managing the Traumatized Child in the Classroom.   This would be an online course that would be an independent course provided as a consultant not associated with a university.  It would be primarily a constructivist model, using both synchronous and asynchronous sessions. 

The article, The Pedagogy of Web Site Design by Knox gave me many ideas on how to set up the course and market it.  Since I am looking at teaching a class outside of the university setting marketing the class to consumers who would be motivated to pay for the course and spend their valuable time on the course is extremely important.  My approach would be to join several education groups on Facebook and begin using the social network to meet people.  I would set up a series of blogs and posts related to child trauma and the impact on school behavior.  I would have a professional page on Facebook that people could see.  On that page I would have some facts about my career and expertise.  I would provide a description of the class and the class objectives.  Part one of the content would be about how children who have experienced trauma present in the classroom and how they are often misdiagnosed as having ADHD.  This misdiagnosis often leads to treatment which actually exacerbates their behaviors in the classroom and other areas of the child life.  Part two of the content would pertain to therapeutic (helpful) ways to deal with the child in the classroom, thus reducing their anxiety and creating a safe environment thus improving their classroom behaviors and producing a less stressful and chaotic classroom setting.

Based on Knox's writings I want to develop a community of scholars.  He says that "Creating a virtual course is about creating a community of scholars among a group of people who will never see one another".  I believe that teachers have a lot of experience with this population that they can share with each other.  This is consistent with the principle of effective learning and teaching regarding enhancing through worthwhile learning partnerships.  The teacher and learners would learn from each other and the learners would learn from each other.  They would be able to share their successes and struggles and continue to learn from each other as they take their learning into the classroom and integrate into their practice.  I believe this would make a very rich learning environment, building and sustaining hope as they share their successes in the classroom.

I would also introduce social bookmarking to the class and ask that they make their social bookmarks public so their class peers can benefit from their excellent materials.  It would be a requirement that each student capture at least 3 sites for their social bookmarkers and then find one site from a peers social bookmark that they would add to their own.  This exercise will help build the community long term as well as teach social bookmarking and giving them additional resources to find and read.

To start this community, the course would begin with an icebreaker.  The icebreaker would introduce the students to each other and hopefully to remind each student with why they chose their careers and to reconnect them with their early desires to help children in the classroom.  My icebreaker is not new but I feel it meet the objectives of the icebreaker for this class.  The icebreaker is as follows:

Childhood Dream.

Ask the participants to share what they wanted to be when they grew up and ask them to reflect on how this correlates with their current career.

I would go a step further and ask them to choose a picture that symbolizes where they find themselves in their current career and explain why they chose that picture.  They would also briefly comment on what they hope to gain from this course.

One of the barriers to community that might occur would be teachers from an urban "at risk" school believing that the children in their classes produced more challenging behaviors than teachers from rural settings were experiencing.  There could also be some belief that children from impoverished homes produced more challenging behaviors that those of children from middle to upper class homes. If teachers from war torn countries participated the type of trauma those children have experienced would be very different and they may initially believe that they don’t belong in the class.   I believe that these barriers would be removed with strong initial education on the causes of trauma and that the impact of trauma is the same regardless of the cause of the trauma.  Also good facilitation and community and group process will assist with minimizing the barriers.

Online instruction would be a good model for teaching this class.  It would meet the learning objectives of the students and allow them to take the class at their convenience.  I believe that they would also see a benefit from interacting with other teachers with similar interests and convictions.  Online instruction would offer them opportunities to meet other teachers who they would not normally meet and would have the potential to expand their thinking.

I would also incorporate the principles of understanding of the learner and the active construction of meaning.  I would work on identifying what past and present experiences influence the student’s development.  I would use those experiences to promote their ability to identify trauma and to link that knowledge with their prior experiences.  I would use those experiences to promote their creative and critical thinking about how they could best manage the behaviors presented by the traumatized child.  I would use the teachers understanding of how to deal with a child of trauma of war, natural disasters and other understandable trauma to challenge their knowledge and understanding of how to respond to the behaviors of the child who has been traumatized in their family and neighborhoods.  I would ask them to critically look at their prior practice and develop a new strategy of responding.

Although I do believe that there is a place for twitter in online instruction, I am not sure that I would incorporate its use into this class.  From my reading on twitter and from following some professional twitter pages, I don’t feel like I would have the time to devote to this.  It requires a great deal of research to produce a twitter daily or weekly.  If at some point in time this became a source of full time employment instead of being outside of my full time job, I would consider adding twitter since I would be able to devote the time that it deserves.

I believe that I would use Facebook to develop a professional page and to access the educational groups on Facebook.  It would be one of my marketing strategies.  I would also use that forum to offer a place for class graduates to continue their work of community, sharing their successes and offering suggestions for those who are struggling.    I would follow those discussions, participating on occasion to let them know I am still invested in them but wanting them to have their own support system. This would be an excellent place to recruit guest speakers. 

Well there are the large brushstrokes of my dream class.  Now I must get down to the work.  There are several key things that I would do to prepare for an upcoming class.  I will be using Black Board 9.1 that is offered through coursesites.com.  I will need to build my class first conceptually and then within the Course Management System.  I must become an expert on this system so I know how to use it and can assist my class participants.

I need to develop an Orientation.  The Orientation would discuss how to get in touch with me, how the class operated, what the expectations were such as due dates and numbers of replies to threaded discussions. I would include a paragraph about what the benefits would be to the students taking the class.

I would also develop a syllabus that would discuss class policies, extra credit, how to use citations and so forth.  Grading rubrics would be placed into the syllabus.  Although a syllabus would not be required since this class is not attached to an accreditation agency or university, I believe it is expected from higher level learners and is a valuable communication tool.

I would develop a course calendar and have all of the due dates of projects placed into the calendar. I like the structure and organization that a calendar adds to the class. It is a visual reminder of what is due when and it helps students to plan. 

 I would develop a section for course questions and explain the purpose of course questions. I would explain when to use course questions and when to use email. These explanations would be included in the Orientation as well.  Students who used course email for course questions will be redirected to course questions in a positive manner.

Lastly, I would write a welcome email to the students welcoming them to class and directing them to my previously designed home page that identified the class name, my name and contact information and clear instructions about what to do first. The email would be friendly and informative.

I think if I used these  elements each time, I would find some areas that needed clarification or strengthening and then I could modify for the next class until all gaps were closed and class launch would become a smooth process for me and the students.  Of course there would be ongoing maintenance of the Course Management System and of the course itself.  There will be technical problems that need to be addressed.  This can be minimized by my familiarity with the tools that I am using.  I will also need to keep notes about modifications I want to make to the course as I go along so the course can continue to be relevant and strong.

My plan is to set up the class and then have a group of friends, many of whom are teachers, take the course and offer feedback about the course and allow me time to practice and familiarize myself with the tools and process.  I see this process as taking about one year to launch from development to testing and redesign.  I am very excited about beginning this process and am looking forward to completing the certificate program that is teaching me so much about how to make this dream a reality.

Adjustments to Online Instruction and Learning

Instructors must make several adjustments as they move from the traditional classroom into the virtual or online classroom.  They need to move away from their role as subject matter expert or “sage on the stage” to providing opportunities for students to learn on their own. The instructor needs to cheer the student on from the side lines, offering support, clear, frequent and timely communication, and encouragement. 

The instructor needs to understand how students learn and tailor the curriculum to address various learning styles.  They need to plan learning activities that demonstrate that learning as occurred and that help the student integrate the new skills or knowledge into their field of practice or study.  In order to do this, the instructor needs to have a clear view of the competencies that are to be achieved in each unit.  The student needs to be able to demonstrate their ability to use the new skills or knowledge so the instructor can accurately assess their learning.

                                                          

The instructor also needs to make time in their schedule to interact with the students daily, answering their questions and providing feedback.  Without this contact students feel disconnected and less engaged.  The instructor needs to have the time and skills to assure that technology is working properly and to make the necessary corrections quickly when they find out that there are problems.

Students also need to have a different skill set to be successful online learners.  They need to have basic computer skills, being able to make folders, opening and saving files, working with multiple applications at one time, understanding how to use the web and how to attach files and links to their work.  They also need access to a computer with a high speed connection.

Students need to have the willingness and ability to communicate with their peers and instructors online. They also need to create time in their schedules to participate in the class discussions fully and frequently.  They need to be able to check their class several times a week.  They need to plan their work accordingly as it may take 24-48 hours for the instructor to respond to questions.  They need to begin their work early in the week in case they find they have questions.  Students need to feel comfortable with asking questions of both their instructor and their peers.

Time management is critical.  The student needs to be both organized and self-motivated.  They need to be willing to take responsibility for their own learning.  Online learning takes a certain maturity on the part of the student.  The students learning directly corresponds with the effort and time they put into the class and the process of their own learning.  

Students also need to be able to balance their personal lives and responsibilities with their online class.  This can be difficult and needs serious considerations dependent on your personal obligations or your own personal needs.  It is also important to note that online learning also offers the flexibility to work your study time around other personal obligations.  It is helpful to have a study area that is free of distractions.

Some strategies for helping students be more successful in their online experiences would be to clearly identify the challenges and benefits of online instruction and allow the student to make educated decisions based on their understanding.  I was very surprised to learn that I was expected to spend 15 hours per week on a 3 credit hour course.  I would have anticipated 9 hours and had made allowances for that in my schedule.  I have made some sacrifices in my personal life that I did not expect having to make.  I might not have begun this process if I had been fully informed that I would have to make that type of time commitment and that I would need to be in school over the summer to stay on course.   During the first week, I would have them develop a plan or schedule that they intend to follow to make the time in their day that they need to be successful.  If they have difficulty in developing the plan they might see that they would have difficulty in dedicating the time needed to be successful.

I would advise students regarding their need to computer and technical expertise and offer classes to support the necessary skills.  I would also design the curriculum to build slowly on their skills while teaching the new skills that they need.  I would make recommendations on where and when they could access computers if they did not have a computer or the needed bandwidth.

I believe that some of the most critical skills for an online instructor is their ability to engage the student online and provide them with the needed feedback and encouragement in a timely manner.  The instructor needs to set consistent and clear expectations on when coursework is due and provide a calendar to keep the student on track.

When I first began this certification process I was struggling with engagement online.  I learned to provide multiple ways of contacting me so that students got their questions and concerns addressed in a timely manner.  I developed some tools, activities and techniques that have helped me engage the student and to assess their learning of the needed competencies.  I have learned a great deal about clear communication, especially clear communication of expectations.  I have developed a calendar of when assignments are due. I also verbally communicate expectations at least weekly and send summaries at the end of each week.  

I know I have a lot to learn about curriculum design for online teaching and I look forward to maximizing my learning experiences as I move through this program.

Technology is changing so rapidly and I am sure that there are no exceptions in online instruction.  Instructors need to find ways to keep up with the current online teaching technologies.  Keeping current is the instructor’s responsibility.  There are several websites that offer support for online instructors.  There is ongoing training and education to keep instructors current on new technology.  I also believe that we are developing a worldwide network of peers in this class that we can keep in contact with and assist each other in remaining relevant and current in online teaching technology.