OMDE+other+classes+610

//**MDE 610 Reflective Learning Journal**//

//**Introduction**// This journal is for reflection upon what is being learned in the OMDE 610 course Teaching and Learning in Online Distance Education. Here I will be recording my connections between the course topics, thoughts and questions on readings, artifacts and resources that help make connections and critical reflections on new knowledge acquired through the course. Areas that are examined in this course are DE theory, Philosophy to teaching and learning online, issues relevant to online teaching and learning( social, instructional and cognitive presence), roles in online learning and communication technologies and the impact on pedagogies of online teaching and learning.

//**Week 1 Defining DE Theory, Elearning and Pedagogy 1/28**// The online learning community began to grow with introductions and comments as the week passed. The structure of the class was aligned to the syllabus allowing for easy clarification of objectives and resources for the upcoming weeks. This week we looked at Ally and Anderson introduce theory, Elearning and Pedagogy. Three major schools of learning are discussed by Ally. He continues to connect the major impacts of online learning and each school's value. I enjoyed the class discussions and exchange in the conference area as well as the perspectives of each student explaining why they agree that each school has its place in distance education. I can relate these readings to my everyday experience with my UMUC online DE classes. While responding to the discussion area, some website searching was done on this topic, additional resources found are The International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning. This journal has many articles such as Dabbagh, N. (2005). Pedagogical models for E-Learning: A theory-based design framework. Looking forward to reading more in week 2.

There is a wide range of interactivity and variety of DE activitiy when participating in online DE classes. Activities such as a learning journal, audio journals, live webconference, website and podcast plus much more. Instructors have fused together the 3 schools behaviorist, cognitive and theory to create effective online material and meet students learning styles.

Ally, M. (2008). Foundations of educational theory for online learning. In T. Anderson (Ed.), // The Theory and practice of online learning (2nd Ed.) //pp. 15-49. and 45-74

//**Week 2 Models and Frameworks 2/5**// So many perspectives to shed some light on this topic in the class discussion area. I enjoy completing the reading first then forming my answer. After reading a few different responses, I may reshape or rethink my initial perspective. Garrison, Anderson and Archer provide key highlights on the foundations of educational theory /the first decade of inquiry framework. Inquiry framework has evolved significantly since the traditional interaction days. Garrison and Baynton, 1987 state online learning creates an opportunity for flexibility and revision of content that was not provided by older forms of mediated teaching and learning. They also mention that the Net has the capacity to support many different forms of interaction.

Class commnets and discussions continued to grow interesting this week as more and more students shared their insight and experiences. It was interesting reading the responses to the question posted about your favorite online teacher/instructor approaches and the philiosophies in Kanuka's chapter. The class had a range of responses and experiences that expanded my perspective and a few made me laugh and think about a few things not to do that I may have not had the chance to get feedback about prior to this question. I am still rereading and using the UMUC online database for a few of the readings while outlining the first paper, looking forward to posting a few artifacts soon.

Interesting resources provided this week include: ** Available under Reserved **** Readings **** : ** Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2010). The first decade of the community of inquiry framework: a retrospective. // The Internet and Higher Education //, 13 (1-2) pp. 5-9. ** Ch. **** 7 in ** ** Bullen & Janes textbook: ** Morrison, D. (2007). E-learning in higher education: The need for a new pedagogy. In M. Bullen & D. Janes (Eds.), // Making the transition to e-learning // (pp. 104-120). Kanuka, H. (2008). Understanding e-learning technologies in practice through philosophies in practice. In T. Anderson (Ed.), // The Theory and practice of online learning (2nd Ed.) //pp. 91-12 Retrieved from [] Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context. In T. Anderson (Ed.), // The Theory and practice of online learning (2nd Ed.) //pp. 343-366. []

//**Week 3 Teaching and Learning 2/12**//

Great resources were introduced in this chapter. The class reflected on the topics of teaching and learning and exchanged ideas and perspectives on making the transition to e-learning(Conrad), effective instruction in e-learning environments(Gabriel) and theoretical perspectives on interactivity in e-learning(Mayes). After discussing Bullen and Jane's reflections on teaching and learning, I searched for more resources and information on Bullen and Jane. [] is a resource I found that told me more about Bullen and his past and present experiences in the field of DE.

//**Week 4 Design 2/19**// Module 2 began this week, Theory into Practice: Considerations for design and deliver. Class discussion included designing integrated, collaborative e-learning(Kirschner, Strijbos,Kreijns), integrated e-learning: implications for pedagogy, technology & organization(Jochems,Merrienboer,Koper). Also, educational design in planning for quality improvement and reflecting on the quality of rubrics. I highly enjoy the 2 websites that provided discussion and reflection on rubrics. I will use these resources in the future. [|http://www.qmprogram.org] Quality Matters rubric for online course design at [].

* Visit the Rubric for Online Instruction website at [] and review their [|rubric at http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp/resources/rubric/rubric.pdf.]

//**Week 5 Web 2.0 and Learning Environment 2/26 **// Here is the Rubric Review assignment. This was a useful reflective assignment allowing students to apply the module resources and reflect on the current discussions and reading and applying them in an authentic way. Class discussion in the conference area exchanged ideas and perspectives on web 2.0. Favorite Web 2.0 or Social Networking sites were critiqued and possible education affordances were discussed. I would have enjoyed reading other students rubric reviews and seen their rubrics, this may be a good collaborative project to do in trianings with future teachers and educators that I would like to revisit. George Siemens [] shares some thought provoking ideas on Web 2.0 and the Learning Environment, I will share this with teachers in future trainings and informal meetings.

//**Week 6 Facilitating Interaction and Communication 3/4**// Module 3 began this week, Theory into Practice facilitating learning, interaction and communicaiton. Students read Bullen and Janes chapters 13, 19, discussed and reflected on Empowering learners to interact effectively in asynchronous disucssion activities. Also, read and discussed adopting tools for online synchronous communication, issues and strategies as well as Beaudoin's tracking the invisible online student. I enjoyed the conference very much this week, below are insightful comments made by many students( such as Lakeisha and April) that made me think from a different perspective that I may not have looked at without the group discussion. I do not think Wozniak is creating a paradox concerning high quality leaner-learner interaction. He is clearly providing direction to instructors concerning "teaching presence" and the fine line that must be walked when facilitating an online classroom and encouraging learner's to interact with each other."
 * Conference 6 ||  ** Inisghtful posts **  || By Lakeisha Mathews"

By : April McKisick" While reading a study by Gary Falloon, he explores the importance of “examining how synchronous communication can help break down a sense of isolation when working or studying at a distance, assist in the formation of communities of practice, promote interaction, and further personal and cognitive participation” (p. 187). The study also explores Adobe Connect virtual classroom and utilizes Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance (1997) to analysis student autonomy." ||

//**Week 7 Fostering Community 3/11**// Designing and Fostering learning communities and building social presence in online class discussions was another high interest area for me. According to a student in the discussion area, there is an OMDE mentoring group on Facebook that provides support and connects UMUC students in the program. This is a concrete example of the toppics we are looking at for this week. When I first started my online courses, students were a great support in learning the tech skills and format expectations in the disucssion area. I was not in a social media such as the one for OMDE students and am very impressed at this resource. It is another example that I can add to when talking with other professionals about the benefits of the UMUC online community. I envision fostering the online community will strengthen with more research and with the evolution of Web 2.0 and beyond. In the future I will continue to study the new findings and research on this topic.

Resources I will refer to and use in the future that we read during this conference are below. ** REQUIRED **** READINGS **** : ** Wilson, B. G., Ludwig-Hardman, S., Thornam, C.L. & Dunlap, J.C. (2004). Bounded community: Designing and facilitating learning communities in formal courses. In // The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning,(5) //3, 1-22. Retrieved from [] Palloff & Pratt (2009). Web 2.0 technologies and community building online. // Proceedings of 25th Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, 1-6. // Available at [] ** Available in Reserved **** Readings **** : ** Shih, L., & Swan, K. (2005). Fostering social presence in asynchronous online class discussions. // Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning: Learning 2005: the next 10 years!, // 602-606. Retrieved from the ACM Digital Library. ** Participate in Week 7 Conference Discussions **

//**Week 8 Best Practices and Standards 3/18**// Module 4 began this week, students discussed and reflected on implementing effective online teaching practices and supporting the online learner and the community of inquiry survey instrument ( COI survey). The COI survey is an interesting tool I would like to use in the future. Interesting class discussion comments, once again, further developed perspectives and understanding from different view points. Leila "The article support learning through connection of personal experiences of students and current events in the world. COI line items #32, 33 and 34 agrees with this concept.The authors discuss how active participation will help build communities. COI supports this as well in the line items under “integration”.Overall, I see the COI survey and the article in agreement." Robert" I am reminded of our textbook for OMDE 601, by Moore and Kearsley, that emphasized a systems approach to distance learning, in which all departments of a university help support students. Thus, for prospective students, lots of support systems could be called into play, such as academic advisors, financial advisors, faculty, library services, etc. I think that UMUC does this, at least for undergrads, with so-called 411 classrooms, where prospective students can go in and "test-drive" WebTycho, get info, and ask questions." || When working with the transition of F2F classes to DE classes, it is good to get feedback from the students to best meet their needs, the survey could also evolve with some questions that may reflect the institutions mission and objectives.
 * ** Conference 8: **
 * Interesting Comments**

//**Week 9 Emerging Technologies and Implications for Teaching and Learning Online 3/25**// The topic we focused on this week is emerging technologies and implications for teaching and learning online. Analyzing the Horizon report and reading Veletsianos emerging technologies allowed me to compare two types of student support. I enjoyed reading the different perspectives of the Horizon report in the discussion area because more analytical perceptions were brought forward by the group as a whole. The Gartner Hype Cycle is a neat resource I learned about this week that I will look continue to explore in the future each year. [|Gartner Hype Cycle].

//**Week 10 The state of online teaching and learning 4/1**// //**This week students got into groups collaborated in google docs to create a rubric. We looked at key components of a rubric and identified the most important features. I enjoyed this project very much because it allowed for professional development discussions on rubrics, collaboration and reflection. In the future, I would apply this to trianings with educators. It is a fun and useful synchronous activity. All group members contributed and collaborated both synchronously and asynchronously while completing the group activity. I will continue to reserach participation in online communities and work to complete the last assignment.**//

//**Week 11 Meta Analysis on online learning studies 4/8 media type="file" key="week 11.mp3" width="240" height="20"**//

Many students were intrigued with the Meta Analysis findings and shared good questions such as when will the public schools implement the findings. I also found that some of the students shared my enthusiasm for interactive or multimedia learning journals( such as links or videos). In the future I would add a podcast or ppt of a group activity or disucssion for an artifact. Five adjectives to best describe my participation in the course are futuristic, interesting, brief, eager and educated. As an online learner I am as busy as a bee. Strengths I brought to the course include contributing ideas and exchanging reflections in the group dicsussion area as well as collaboration in the group activities. Through participation in the online learning community, I learned how important my role is in the discussion area and group activity in shaping knowledge. For the remainder of the MDE program I would like to find more resources such as the OMDE social network resource on FB(one I read about in the disucssion area from another students post) for MDE students to continue reflecting and collaborating on various areas of DE such as building an online community. This will be one way to improve my self perspectives, experiences and knowledge of issues and changes of DE past, present and future.