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.

Introduction to ONTL 651

I am very excited about our opportunity to facilitate some online teaching this semester.  I expect that I will have a better understanding of the process from the instructor’s point of view and that I will learn to use the tools that are provided for us. 

I look forward to using the “sandbox” as I like to be prepared and don’t like the unexpected.  This provides me with opportunity to use the blackboard collaborate tool, to fully understand and use it’s functionality to present a teaching unit.   Where I work we also employ a “sandbox” for learning our computer program.  Since adult learner learns best from hands on experience we feel that the “sandbox” is an excellent tool.  I am sure that I will learn best by doing as well.

My concerns are that I will not adequately prepare the students for the opportunity to meet their learning objectives.  I am use to teaching a prepared curriculum and this stretches me as I need to also come up with some activities to facilitate learning.  I am thankful for my co-facilitator to work with.  I am sure that together we will not fail our students.

I am concerned that I may not fully understand the functionality of blackboard collaborate and may not use it to its full potential.  However, that is something that I have some control over since I am afforded the opportunity to practice in the sandbox.

Any time we are using technology there is a fear that the technology may not work properly.  This is something that I have no control over but I do intend to have a backup plan in case of technology failure.  

I have found that anytime I am working with a group that there is the potential for the need to “manage” the classroom.  I am very familiar with doing this in a face to face group and if there are any issues it will give me an opportunity to practice those classroom management skills in an online classroom.

I am also more familiar with teaching than facilitating.  I am concerned that if I get nervous that I will fall back to what is most familiar, teaching rather than facilitating.  Again, I have some control over this by preparing properly to reduce my anxiety.  I am also familiar with several people in the class and that familiarity and trust will assist me. 

When all else fails, I have my humor to fall back on.  That seldom fails me.

 

photo courtesy of mon_munchkin_x on photobucket.

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Tired and Thrilled

I always like to get the good news first.  Well, the good news is that this is my last assignment for my Introduction to Online Teaching.   I am tired but satisfied with a job well done and an enormous of new knowledge and skills under my belt.  I have also been able to make the decision that I am really going to like online teaching.   I am truly excited about the educational journey that is ahead of me.

I had heard that the Certificate Program for Online Teaching was a difficult one but I was unconcerned as I have always done well in school.  What I found out was that my easy confidence had never been seriously challenged previously.  This was surprising to me since I have a Masters in Social Work.

I have entered a foreign land with a new language and have had to develop a new skill set to assure my success and survival.  During the last portion of this class I have learned the 7 principle of online teaching many of which I am already incorporating into my hybrid class during our online sessions.  I have learned different ways to engage online and how to encourage relationship between class mates.  I have made myself more available and in a wider manner of contact.  I am focusing on giving frequent positive feedback to encourage group process and to offer encouragement.  I have reworked some of our group activities to be completed online and to encourage group cooperation and collaboration. I am also using the diversity of our group to my advantage and to the educational advantage of our classes.

I have been able to test this on two complete classes and am now starting my third class.  So far I have had much success and the students are enjoying the class more.  By the time they get to the face to face portion of the class they have a relationship and are happy to put a face to the name and voice.

I have learned quite a bit about student centered learning which is great as this is the philosophy where I work.  I have learned how to support and encourage learners as they need to be highly motivated.  I spend more time on the WIFM (what’s in it for me?) during our early interactions.  Once each individual is focused on what they will gain from their time spent in the class they become more motivated and energized.    They must clearly understand what their responsibility for learning is and that their success is dependent on what they put in, that I am there to guide and facilitate not lecture and dump information into their heads as we have before.

Not only do I have to keep current on what is new in our field, but I give them links that they can use in the future to keep current with their field specialty as well.  

We learned about different learning styles and how to meet the needs of students with various learning needs.  A week before class, I am now sending out an email that introduces myself and tells the class something about me.  I also ask them to answer a few questions about themselves.  Some of the questions are icebreaker questions, some are about their educational backgrounds and experience, and others are about their learning styles, what I can do to support their learning and if they have an barriers to learning.  The students enjoy telling me about themselves.

The information I gather assists me in breaking up the groups so I have experienced and inexperienced people in the same group.  It assists me in knowing what learning style I am working with so I can provide material and activities in ways that best meet their various learning styles.  I am using more flip chart paper than previously and am using colors in my markers in various ways.  This also allows the student to disclose a learning problem or disability if they are comfortable.  To date I have not had a disclosure but I will make the necessary accommodations when someone does share a barrier with me.

We discussed various instructional strategies in class.  The one that I focused on mostly was the individual learning contract.  We have people entering our classes who are new from college and those who have worked for the agency in a different capacity for 20 years.  At this time they all receive the same instruction.  I am excited to learn that we will be giving an assessment to identify gaps in knowledge and then working with the students on learning contracts to fill those gaps.  I had identified this strategy prior to knowing that was the direction our agency is going so I was pretty impressed that this course gave me the critical thinking skills to identify this as an effective instructional strategy for our student population.

I have learned so much about technology, tools and search engines: diigo, Merlot, Web 2.0, wiki, blogs, ning, delicious and voice threads to name just a few.  I am reorganizing the way I keep my bookmarks and organize myself to I can more effectively and efficiently use these new things.  I know that as I progress through my next 3 classes that I will have more to add to this list.  I am very excited about the level of learning that has occurred and the challenges that I have received.

I started out by mentioning that I was tired.  I think we all are.  This has been some fast paced learning and we have accomplished a lot.  If you are at all interest in teaching online, I suggest this course or one like it.  You owe it to yourself and your students.  I also started out with the good news.  Here is the even better news, my next class starts in two weeks so I am going to go rest now and get ready for my next educational sprint in this foreign land.   I like this foreign land and will keep at least one foot in this land.

See you soon!

Midterm Reflections

As we come to the middle part of this course in Introduction to Online Teaching we are asked to reflect on what we have learned to date and if this is a career that we are interested in continuing with.

During the first unit we became familiar with Blackboard and its components.  Although at first there was a learning curve that had to be mastered, I am now familiar with Blackboard and its tools and features.  As a student, through the use of Blackboard, I can communicate with my peers and the instructor.  We found many of the Blackboard and Blackboard IM features extremely helpful when we were doing our group projects.  Blackboard IM is very nice too since we know who else is online at any given time and we can use this to ask questions and collaborate.

Although I currently train “netiquette”, I was able to improve my personal “netiquette” and have forwarded the URL to our curriculum design team as a link we may want to use.  I found the site very detailed and helpful. 

I have learned that if I want to successfully complete this course that I have to restructure my time so that I can give this course the time that it requires.  To devote less time impairs my learning and success.  I am determined to complete this course and earn my certification as it will expand my employment opportunities and assist me in being the best teacher that I can be.  Excellence is a goal that I set for me and those I teach. 

I learned a new empathy for online learners and that has had an influence on the type of online instructor I will be in the future.  I am much more in tune to how to meet leaning needs based on learning styles and understand the types of adjustments that I need to make to my teaching style to be a more effective online instructor. 

We use a hybrid or blended style as we have web based teaching, self directed online classes, classroom for lecture, computer program instruction and hands on practice activities.  Students will also finish up their training with a couple of weeks of on the job training where they shadow experienced workers in the field.  This entire process is very thorough yet often confusing for the students.  

One of the changes that I will make is being more “high touch” in my approach. As I begin a new class next week, I have developed a welcome letter that sets a positive tone to the work we will be doing together and provides all of my contact information in case there are questions or difficulties.  Course expectations are clearly outlined and the class participants are invited to tell me of any special learning needs that they may have.

As I was preparing for this class I noted that some needed schedule changes left the students with only minimal support during their first few days.  Due to my new understanding of the needs of online students and my new understanding of learning styles, I have added twice daily contact between myself and the students.  I have also added a twice weekly group discussion for the group.  I believe that these needs would have gone unrecognized previously, leaving many learners with their needs unmet.

In this particular class we will spend the first two weeks together online doing facilitator led training as well as self directed training.  In keeping with the article Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning I am developing questions for them to work on in work groups to try to assist with engagement and provide opportunities for them to learn from each other instead of listening to me lecture.  This class is a combination of new employees and those who are transferring from another specialty to investigations.  This multiple levels of experience will be considered when groups are developed.  This should assist with the transfer of learning.  These groups will also meet the learning needs of those Visual/Verbal and Auditory/Verbal learners as they enjoy working in groups.  Combining the various experience levels allows for “campfire” and “water cooler” discussions within the groups.

In spite of the fact that our curriculum design may be confusing to students at first, it meets the various learning styles of our students.  The online and web instruction meet the needs of visual and auditory learners while the classroom has a lot of practice which meets the needs of kinesthetic learners.  I need to improve my facilitation and delegation skills and move away from the expert style in order to meet a wider variety of learning needs.  Being a subject matter expert and relying on that expertise in the face to face model may have become a crutch that I have utilized.  I think that as a visual learner I tend to believe that others learn in the same way.   I look forward to challenging myself in this area and stretching my teaching muscles as I prepare for class in a way that forces me to use facilitation and delegation skills.  I am certain that these will become more natural to me as I practice them.

I am excited about the digital portfolio.  It has a professional look and is not something that everyone is using.  The use of the digital portfolio demonstrates a skill simply by setting it up and referring others to it.  It also provides much more information than you can efficiently communicate through a resume alone.  I can display a curriculum that I have designed or one that I am trying to promote as a consultant.  As I seek consultation positions or online teaching jobs, this one simple and easy to design digital portfolio really sets me apart from my competition.  I am thankful that I have been introduced to this technology.

My portfolio strategy is to define what I am currently doing, what I am capable of doing, and what my experience in my field has been.  I want to sell my expertise in my profession and also sell that I can be an effective online instructor.  I want my portfolio to be friendly and professional.

Do I want to complete this certification course?  The answer is yes, yes, yes!  Is this something that I can do?  Can I be effective?  Again I believe that this is a good fit for me.  I am passionate about maximizing myself and others in my field.  I have heard that this curriculum gets more difficult each semester and I am already being challenged at a high level.  I love what I do.  I love child welfare and I love teaching.  Online teaching is the way of the future.  I believe that my passion for my field and my desire to remain relevant is what will motivate me forward towards certificate completion and my future success as an online instructor.