Jared Pyles

Category: Online Learning

  • Course Reflection

    What technological knowledge have you learned in this course? What pedagogical knowledge (e.g., knowledge about adult learning theories, instructional design, online learning and teaching) have you learned in this course?

    From a technological vantage point, the biggest takeaway that I can practically apply is best practices in presenting online lectures. Having instructor on screen is important to allow students to make social connection, as well as help with cognitive connection and inflection. And while theory would say that it’s best that the instructor present not in a window but in front of a green screen with the material chroma keyed in behind them. While this is not as likely or accessible for the vast majority of faculty, it is a good target to aim toward. At least having the instructor on screen is a step in the right direction for allowing students to make a better connection to the material. That’s something I can pass on to our faculty and use in any sort of rich media tutorials that I’ll be creating for faculty in the future as part of my instructional design role.

    Pedagogically, the Community of Inquiry is an invaluable theory that I can use as an instructional designer. The majority of my workload is helping develop online courses with faculty members. In the past, we have focused simply on getting content together, building it in a differentiated fashion, and publishing it. We’ve neglected the focus on community and ensuring that the students feel connected to the instructor and each other. The Community of Inquiry model is a great framework that can be applied to this progress. It’s a great way of ensuring there is a stronger student connection to the course instead of just in an academic, content absorbing fashion like what has been in the past.

    Explain how your learning in this course will make an impact on your current or future work. Will any artifacts you created be shared with your students or colleagues?

    I’ve already mentioned some ways in which this course will affect my current work, but there are so many ways of using the material presented in this course. The articles, videos, and text books in the course were the most valuable resources I hav experienced in a course. Almost everything is immediately applicable, which is a credit to the instructor and those putting the course together. I have already mentioned the Community of Inquiry, but the other philosophies surrounding pedagogy and andragogy are truly invaluable. I found myself learning something new and applying it or discussing my team each module. I will be using the attitudes and preferences of adult learners while developing graduate courses in the future.

    As far as using artifacts created in the course, I’ve already used the Rich Media tutorial as an example of a screen-captured lecture. It has been shared and viewed multiple times by faculty as they have been transitioning to remote learning and creating online lectures for their students. I also want to use the design checklist and framework when building courses. We already have one that I think is useful and adequate, but I’m considering adding some elements from the resources from that module to supplement some of the tools that we already use. I also want to use the rubrics for online courses in some capacity but again tailor it toward our own course expectations and requirements.

    Overall, this course was a great experience. I have finished this course with a vast amount of resources and best practices that I will be using to enhance online courses and encourage faculty to improve their courses.

  • Effective Online Learning: Staying Connected

    Online learning continues to be a growing environment in which higher education students are engaging in instruction and learning through web-based, virtual classrooms. However, there are some online courses that don’t quite hit the mark. Ineffective online courses, while convenient, usually lack the interaction and connectedness of a face-to-face course. This can make those students feel disconnected, which could then lead to students not completing or failing a course. It’s important to keep them socially and cognitively connected so that they end courses feeling successful.

    Stavredes (2011) stresses the instructor being actively present in the online learning environment as an important factor in student success. Not only instructor presence is important, but Stavredes says the variety and frequency of interactions in the course affects the students’ success. If an instructor is timely in responding to emails and messages from students, it will increase the student’s feeling of presence in the course. If the instructor holds weekly web conferencing (virtual “office hours”) and interact with students, they can feel more socially and cognitively connected. Sitting idly by watching the course, and students, go by is simply not an effective way of helping students succeed.

    Another way of increasing student cognitive presence is if the instructor encourages student to student interaction. This can be done through collaborative assignments like group projects, discussions, blogs, and wikis. There are also various Web 2.0 tools that can help with this. One of them is Trello, which allows for different virtual “boards” where students can discuss, build and trade ideas, compile resources (articles, YouTube videos, etc.), or informally interact. Students can also use Trello as a concept map which, as Hsu and Ching (2011, as cited in Hsu, et al., 2014) found, supports students’ “active and focused student interaction, communication, and their achievement of intended learning objectives” (p. 751).

    Above all, it is important for the instructor to be actively involved in the course, facilitating interaction between students while also interacting themselves. This interaction will help those students remain connected and help them succeed. While the presence will not be the same as a face-to-face course, it can assure them that they are not alone and part of a community of learners, wherever they are.

    References

    Hsu, Y.-C., Ching, Y.H., and Grabowski, B.L. (2014). Web 2.0 applications and practices for learning through collaboration. Handbook on Educational Communications and Technology. 747-758. Http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_60

    Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective Online Teaching: Foundations and Strategies for Student Success. Jossey-Bass.

  • Adult Online Learning: Definition and Assumptions

    Online education is growing. In fact, a study done by Allen, Seaman, Poulin, and Straut (2016) found that as of 2014, 2.8 million people are taking only online education courses. This total is continuing to trend upward as well. As technology advances, high speed internet becomes more available to more places, and educational programs continue to improve, there is a definite chance that online education will grow even more over this new decade.

    What is online education?

    It is difficult to pinpoint a definition of online education because of its growth. It is also dynamic and ever-changing as technology improves. There are also different major factors that create different types of online education. Some schools offer distance education, which is solely online. Others will offer distance as well as blended, or hybrid, courses in which students still meet in a face-to-face environment but some materials, assignments, and discussions take place online. Other factors determining the online education include whether the course is synchronous or asynchronous, self-paced or directed by an instructor. Regardless of type or style, online education is marked by, as Ko and Rossen (2017) put it, collaboration, discussion, and usage of online resources. Another major factor in online education is the changing role of the instructor. The instructor is no longer seen as the driving force that delivers content but is instead seen as a facilitator and guide (Ko and Rossen, 2017).

    How does this apply to adult learners?

    Malcolm Knowles famously discussed six assumptions about adult learners for the purpose of helping instructors and administrators create effective and authentic content and instruction:

    1. Self-concept – the adult learner, as they mature, becomes more self-directed and less dependent upon others. In fact, they prefer working independently.
    2. Experience – adult education should be formulated in a way that the adult learner’s accumulated experience has a major role in instruction, assignments, and discussion.
    3. Readiness to learn– the adult learner’s willingness to engage the content is connected to their own social role and how they value the subject matter.
    4. Orientation to learn – in order for the adult learner to connect fully to the content of the course, they must see the relevance of the content to their daily lives. They need to see that they can use the received knowledge to solve an immediate problem that they may face.
    5. Motivation to learn– the adult learner is already internally motivated to achieve success in education. They are goal driven.
    6. The need to know – Much like assumption 4, adult learners need to see the relevancy of the material and its value. Once they see its value, they will fully buy in.

    When Knowles first discussed these assumptions, online education wasn’t a consideration. However, when the factors that make up online education are brought in alignment with Knowles’ assumptions, they blend well. Adult learners are self-driven, and ready to learn, so the self-directed nature of online education fits well. Collaboration and discussion are already crucial factors of online education. Giving adult learners the opportunity to discuss their experiences and to collaborate with others makes it relevant and timely for them. The most crucial factor that does not seem a given as others is the relevancy of the content. Instructors, designers, and administrators of online courses must make sure the content in adult online courses is relevant for their students. But for the majority of Knowles’ assumptions, online education is a great fit for adult learners.

    References

    Online Report Card: Tracking Online Education in the United States

    Ko, Susan, and Steve Rossen. Teaching Online: a Practical Guide. Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

  • Classroom Multimedia Integration – Vlog

    Harris Poll referenced in video

  • The G Suite in the Classroom

    Word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet software are essential elements in the modern classroom. Each allows high school students to develop the skills necessary to succeed at the next level. They allow for constructivist learning; specifically, the software can help develop experience-based knowledge through trial and error, cooperation, and problem solving (Roblyer & Hughes, 2019, p. 55). 

    The Google Suite (G Suite) for Education is a revolutionary set of applications that have set the bar for purposeful integration of technology in the classroom. With sharing capabilities and add-ons, G Suite can be used daily to enhance instruction and create new opportunities for student learning. Let’s discuss two of the applications and why they should be an integral part of every secondary educator’s classroom.

    Google Docs 

    While it may seem like a Microsoft Word clone on the surface, Google Docs can become a metaphorical Swiss Army knife if you know how to use it. First, the included “Explore” feature allows students to do research via Google Scholar, search Google Images, or open existing documents in Drive for reference…all while staying inside of the document. This is a valuable tool for Language Arts educators who want to help their students grow and develop their research skills. But because research is also universal, any discipline can use it effectively. Google Docs, like other applications in G Suite, allows for collaboration. Students can work together on a written assignment, fill out a chart, or work independently on tasks that they as a group have delegated to each other. 

    Google Slides

    While it may not be as robust as Powerpoint, Google Slides makes up for it in its functionality. Slides is more than just a presentation tool. For example: educators can create interactive worksheets with embedded videos, quizzes, and animation. Educators can also use it as a class-wide collaboration task in which each student is assigned a slide and can work together on one presentation with one common objective. Students can also work in groups,  collaborating on presentations. I have used Slides in my classroom for five years, and I’m pretty sure I have used the presentation option the least. With some creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, Slides can be very versatile in the secondary classroom.

    Last, but certainly not least…

    Slides, Docs, and G Suite applications feature Add-Ons, which are third-party tools that enhance the abilities of the application they’re added to. For example: DocuTube allows for embedding of YouTube videos into a sidebar of a Google Doc. Pear Deck is an Add On for Google Slides that allows for interactive questions embedded seamlessly into the slidedeck. And if you’re a Google Sheets fan, rowCall can sort data and create sheets based on a certain column or row of a Google Sheet. 

    Oh and one more thing: Google Forms is the unsung hero of the G Suite for Education. Forms and Google Sheets together is a match made in Heaven.

    References:

    Roblyer, M. D., & Hughes, J. E. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: transforming learning across disciplines. NY, NY: Pearson