Week 1 Reflection
With one semester down, I am so happy to be able to get into the meat and potatoes of the Masters of Distance Education Program. While my previous classes were introductions and general overviews, I am now able to take classes that delve deeper into my field. In this class, Teaching and Learning in Online Distance Education, we are looking into the theoretical and philosophical reasoning behind the interaction between students, teacher, and content in the classroom. The first week, of course, is an opportunity to learn more about your instructors and classmates, make some connections from your previous classes, and start up some dialogue. It turns out that one of the professors from my previous courses is also going to be instructing this course. I believe that this is beneficial to me because she knows where I started in my last class and she can help me grow through this one as well! I also have some classmates in the class that I built a relationship with last semester and I’m interested in seeing how that develops further!
Week 2 Reflection
Week 2 has been a little bit challenging for me. Not because of the work, but because I think I’m confused about the meanings and differences of a few simple words: theory, philosophy, and model. In this course we use these words over and over and they sometimes overlap to the point where I need to seek out the help of an instructor. But to make matters worse, our first assignment, which is due to the writing coach on Monday, June 11, 2012 is about THEORIES! This is one of those times that distance education becomes frustrating. I would like to just be able to call a classmate or visit an instructor’s office to get immediate feedback, but instead, asynchronous communication it is!
On a more positive note, the conversation in the classroom is more stimulating. I am already participating more than I did last semester and feeling more comfortable speaking with my classmates and even disagreeing with what they say. One of the topics in class this week was Presence and Discourse. My conversation about presence (social presence), which I did a paper on last semester, was intriguing because a classmate of mine finally told me to stop lying to myself and admit that we aren’t able to express our personalities in the online classroom like we should. It’s true. In the classroom, we all try to sound so erudite and scholarly. I don’t care what people say; they don’t sound like that in real life! There’s no personality, but a bunch of OMDE robots regurgitating information they’ve read and trying to outdo each other to impress the instructors. Why can’t we all just say what we think in a scholarly manner, but with less formal writing? I’ve seen it done in some institutions (granted, it gets out of hand at times). I would like to use more of a relaxed style and tone in the classroom. It may make me want to participate even more! Perhaps I will take this experience and use it when it is time for me to design my own class!
On a more positive note, the conversation in the classroom is more stimulating. I am already participating more than I did last semester and feeling more comfortable speaking with my classmates and even disagreeing with what they say. One of the topics in class this week was Presence and Discourse. My conversation about presence (social presence), which I did a paper on last semester, was intriguing because a classmate of mine finally told me to stop lying to myself and admit that we aren’t able to express our personalities in the online classroom like we should. It’s true. In the classroom, we all try to sound so erudite and scholarly. I don’t care what people say; they don’t sound like that in real life! There’s no personality, but a bunch of OMDE robots regurgitating information they’ve read and trying to outdo each other to impress the instructors. Why can’t we all just say what we think in a scholarly manner, but with less formal writing? I’ve seen it done in some institutions (granted, it gets out of hand at times). I would like to use more of a relaxed style and tone in the classroom. It may make me want to participate even more! Perhaps I will take this experience and use it when it is time for me to design my own class!
Week 3 Reflection
HMMMMMMM...So it turns out I will be designing my own class a little earlier than I thought! In my other class from this semester, I will be building a prototype course! But that's for a different reflection journal...
I turned in my first assignment this week and I'm still a little bit weary about the feedback that I will receive on it. This paper just might be a miss! However, I'm sure that even if it is, I will be able to learn from the feedback and take my next assignment to the next level. What I really had a hard time understanding, honestly (and please don't judge me), was the difference between theories, philosophies, and ideas. Now clearly I should know this by now, seeing as how we've been focussing on learning theories since I started this program, but I was still confused. Perhaps I just thought too hard about it and psyched myself out. But to help me I did what most people do--I googled it! :) From my understanding of the information that I received from the all-knowing search enginge, is that philosophies and ways of thinking are what thheorie are built upon. Theories themselves are based off of these ideas and used for problem solving, and to determine practices. I'm sure I need more clarification, but I'm going with this for now. ;P
Either way, the writing coach told me that I was on the right track, so I'll take it!
I turned in my first assignment this week and I'm still a little bit weary about the feedback that I will receive on it. This paper just might be a miss! However, I'm sure that even if it is, I will be able to learn from the feedback and take my next assignment to the next level. What I really had a hard time understanding, honestly (and please don't judge me), was the difference between theories, philosophies, and ideas. Now clearly I should know this by now, seeing as how we've been focussing on learning theories since I started this program, but I was still confused. Perhaps I just thought too hard about it and psyched myself out. But to help me I did what most people do--I googled it! :) From my understanding of the information that I received from the all-knowing search enginge, is that philosophies and ways of thinking are what thheorie are built upon. Theories themselves are based off of these ideas and used for problem solving, and to determine practices. I'm sure I need more clarification, but I'm going with this for now. ;P
Either way, the writing coach told me that I was on the right track, so I'll take it!
Week 4 Reflection
This week is the beginning of the 2nd module of our class. The week in particular is very interesting to me because the dicussion relates to my personal career goals. I want to go into instructional design, and that's exactly what this week is about--taking theories and usingn them in design processes and decisions. One of the discussions we had was about the differences between the instructional designer and the instructor on the way they see design course design. My opinion is that there are pros and cons to being in each seat because of an ID doesn't teach, they may not know the exact needs of the instructors of the students, and sometimes instructors can't see the bigger picture because they're so engulfed in their roles. However, this is the first time onw of my classmates really actually disagreed with me. However, this is where there are limitations on online learning because I don't thinkshe quite understood my point. I shouldd have taken the time to explain my point of view and then cleared things up with her, but I think since this was the first major disagreement I've had with a classmate, I probably got frustrated! Ooops! That's all a part of the learning process!
Week 5 Reflection
Web 2.0 and social media have been topics touched on in every class I've been in throughout this program. Although many of the technologies have been out for a while, it's my opinion that some instructors have jumped the gun on adopting and implementing them in the classroom. Our discussion this week was about how different tools are used in the classrrom and what, if any, suggestions we had for implementing the use of these tools.
Honestly, I don't think that I would use social networking as an instructor in my online class. At this point, I don't see an effective way to use the tools with adult learners (no offense to my older readers). However, as I was thinking about it, I came up with a different idea. Ready? Here it is... If I was a face to face isntructor, I would incorporate social media, such as Twitter, to extend the learning out of the classroom. I think that would be really effective and it would help the students stay connected and share information. I could see students using it to talk about what they learned, in jest or otherwise. I could also see them as using it to collaborate and share resources. When I was in undergrad, we were often exchanging numbers, trying to form study groups, and attempting to get tutoring and answers from each other.. That kind of use of social media can definitely help outcomes.
Honestly, I don't think that I would use social networking as an instructor in my online class. At this point, I don't see an effective way to use the tools with adult learners (no offense to my older readers). However, as I was thinking about it, I came up with a different idea. Ready? Here it is... If I was a face to face isntructor, I would incorporate social media, such as Twitter, to extend the learning out of the classroom. I think that would be really effective and it would help the students stay connected and share information. I could see students using it to talk about what they learned, in jest or otherwise. I could also see them as using it to collaborate and share resources. When I was in undergrad, we were often exchanging numbers, trying to form study groups, and attempting to get tutoring and answers from each other.. That kind of use of social media can definitely help outcomes.
Week 6 Reflection
Week 7 introduced a very interesting term for me: lurking. Hello everyone. My name is Courtney, and I am a lurker. There, I said it! That's how I prefer to learn! I want to to read what others say and contirbute when I feel like it. I call it....MOOCHING...like the person that comes over and eats all of your food, but never fills up the fridge (kind of like kids)! Now, readers, don't get me wrong. I know that lurking (mooching) can be dangerous, but it's also in a students' personality. Some students are just more quiet then others, but that doesn't mean that they aren't learning. For example, in the face to face classroom, the most quiet student is often the smartest. Well, I'm quiet in the online classroom. Draw your own conclusions! lol
Week 7 Reflection
Community and social presence is a topis that I like to discuss. However, it is a concept that I don't think every classroom or instructor has been ablel to master just yet. In my personal experience, there isn't a great level of social presence in the classroom. Or is there? I begin to question whether or not what I'm looking for in the online classroom actually exists. I want to feel like I know my classmates, and I don't. I want to feel like they recognize my presence in the classroom, and they don't. Is it because I don't dominate conversations? Is it because my contributions aren't as deep and profound as others? I'm not sure.
I also read somewhere (and I'm sorry, but I don't remember the source) that it is the instructors responsibility to make sure each student feels included. Unfortunately, I feel like that can only go so far. My instructors try their hardest to make sure they respond to each students' posts, but what happens when you become the online class outcast. That would make you participate less and less, right? Afterall, I wouldn't want to sit down during my free time and put effort into formulating a post that I know nobody will really read. Moral of the story is...students have to want to build a community, but if every man is for himself, it will not work.
P.S.--I told my coworker that I was working on an "annotated bibliography" and she called it an "enunciated biblioteca" Oh...I'm the only one that laughed? OK. Guess you had to be there!
I also read somewhere (and I'm sorry, but I don't remember the source) that it is the instructors responsibility to make sure each student feels included. Unfortunately, I feel like that can only go so far. My instructors try their hardest to make sure they respond to each students' posts, but what happens when you become the online class outcast. That would make you participate less and less, right? Afterall, I wouldn't want to sit down during my free time and put effort into formulating a post that I know nobody will really read. Moral of the story is...students have to want to build a community, but if every man is for himself, it will not work.
P.S.--I told my coworker that I was working on an "annotated bibliography" and she called it an "enunciated biblioteca" Oh...I'm the only one that laughed? OK. Guess you had to be there!
Week 8 Reflection
AHA! Now I remember where I got the information about instructors making students feel included--the Community of Inquiry survey that discussed best practices (yeah, I read ahead). But that's not what I'm here to discuss. I'm here to discuss 2 things: UMUC student support and teacher feedback.
This topic does stem from the conversations that we had in class, but I want to vent a little bit about going to a large university from a distance. I love UMUC, I really do; but let me tell you what I don't love. I don't love calling the school and feeling like I'm calling the customer service for my phone company. Granted, there's no automated voice recognition, but everything else is the same. When I call, I don't feel like I'm being treated as an individual like I did when I went to face-to-face school. Now don't get me wrong, we were herded like cattle there, but at least we were being prodded in person! (hehehehe) It makes it difficult to seek out the resources and to try to do things remotely because I know that many other students are looking for the same services at the same time. Perhaps I'm spoiled now because I work at a small school and I see the attention they get.
Now on to teacher feedback. I messed up this week... Bad. I use two (or more) computers when I do my homework. I go from home to my job and back again and usually email myself my work so that I can access it easily. So this past week I got feedback from the writing coach about my annotated bibliography, and I updated it, but somehow didn't save the right one. Anywho, I turned in the wrong paper, as if I ignored all of the feedback I received. I felt terrible because my instructors thought I was being disrespectful and I wasn't. I can't even find the correct one...sigh... Moral of the story is, save your work to a USB and VALUE your instructor's feedback. There's no reason to ignore the feedback that can help you improve so greatly!
This topic does stem from the conversations that we had in class, but I want to vent a little bit about going to a large university from a distance. I love UMUC, I really do; but let me tell you what I don't love. I don't love calling the school and feeling like I'm calling the customer service for my phone company. Granted, there's no automated voice recognition, but everything else is the same. When I call, I don't feel like I'm being treated as an individual like I did when I went to face-to-face school. Now don't get me wrong, we were herded like cattle there, but at least we were being prodded in person! (hehehehe) It makes it difficult to seek out the resources and to try to do things remotely because I know that many other students are looking for the same services at the same time. Perhaps I'm spoiled now because I work at a small school and I see the attention they get.
Now on to teacher feedback. I messed up this week... Bad. I use two (or more) computers when I do my homework. I go from home to my job and back again and usually email myself my work so that I can access it easily. So this past week I got feedback from the writing coach about my annotated bibliography, and I updated it, but somehow didn't save the right one. Anywho, I turned in the wrong paper, as if I ignored all of the feedback I received. I felt terrible because my instructors thought I was being disrespectful and I wasn't. I can't even find the correct one...sigh... Moral of the story is, save your work to a USB and VALUE your instructor's feedback. There's no reason to ignore the feedback that can help you improve so greatly!
Week 9 Reflection
This week I've been scrambling to get my research paper off the ground and at least half-way finished so that I can get it reviewed. Work has been a challenge so I had to wait until the weekend to get started. I locked myself into my room and focussed on writing the paper. Honestly, writing an organized paper wasn't hard because I already had my annotated bibliography. One of the benefits of the bibliography is that I was able to look back on it and determine how I would used each source and where. I already had all my sources and I was ready to put my ideas together. I'm actually really excited about this paper because I got to choose the topic. My topic of discussion is whether or not participation (frequency) improves learning outcomes, and how? More to come later about that...
What I do want to talk about is the conversation we (the class) had via email. Our instructor emailed us (which I liked because I was able to read and respond immediately) to ask us where our drafts were as we were to post drafts of our papers to be peer reviewed. Most posted our drafts in the wrong conference, which was OK. The problem was not so much what we hadn't posted them as much as it was that we hadn't reviewed our peers. Here's my qualm with peer reviews: I don't have time for it. I know that sounds selfish, andn interaction with my peers can be very helpful. And I know that I can benefit from having my peers review my paper. HOWEVER, I hardly have enough time ro read my own materials, type my papers, etc., let alone read and critique someone elses. I know, I know, it makes me seem like someone that isn't willing to learn and do what it takes to make the most of my education, but it's the truth. Some of my classmates even said it in the email (I just didn't have the guts). I see the benefit and I know why the instructors assigned the task, but I don't think it was something the rest of the class was insterested in doing. I wonder what an instructor would do in this situation? I wonder how the pushback made our instructors feel?
What I do want to talk about is the conversation we (the class) had via email. Our instructor emailed us (which I liked because I was able to read and respond immediately) to ask us where our drafts were as we were to post drafts of our papers to be peer reviewed. Most posted our drafts in the wrong conference, which was OK. The problem was not so much what we hadn't posted them as much as it was that we hadn't reviewed our peers. Here's my qualm with peer reviews: I don't have time for it. I know that sounds selfish, andn interaction with my peers can be very helpful. And I know that I can benefit from having my peers review my paper. HOWEVER, I hardly have enough time ro read my own materials, type my papers, etc., let alone read and critique someone elses. I know, I know, it makes me seem like someone that isn't willing to learn and do what it takes to make the most of my education, but it's the truth. Some of my classmates even said it in the email (I just didn't have the guts). I see the benefit and I know why the instructors assigned the task, but I don't think it was something the rest of the class was insterested in doing. I wonder what an instructor would do in this situation? I wonder how the pushback made our instructors feel?
Week 10 Reflection
This week-- I'm not going to lie--I am wrapped in my project in my other class. I think that I am so excited to be working on it and applying what I've been learning so far, that I am not spending as much time in the conferences (in either class). Let me briefly tell you that in OMDE 607, my instructional design class, I have been performing each step in the instructional design process. This is the point in time when we're putting together our prototypes in WebTycho. This is a perfect opportunity to put together everything that I've learned so far. I've been able to take readings and discussions that we've had in this class and apply it to my other class. I've decided that I really am a hand-on learner. When I was younger, I didn't have a problem sitting in my dorm and reading all day because I didn't have a family to support or a job to perform. Now, I want to do less reading and writing and more projects and doing. I know it's unrealistic to want that in every class, but I seem to do better in those kinds of classes and assessments. Anyway, I just wanted to share my excitement.
In THIS class we read an interesting piece entitled The Sloan Report, which was a survey of faculty to determine feelings, opinions, and institutional statistics about online education. What I was most surprised to learn from the results is that there hasn't been a noted increased acceptance of DE amoungst faculty. It makes me wonder why that is... One reason that seems to be a obstacle is that so many institutions offer online deegrees. Anybody with a social securtiy number can enroll into these programs and receive undergraduate and graduate degrees without truly earning it. Some instutions even offer doctorates without truly making students earn it. I would have a hard time taking online classes seriously too, I suppose...
In THIS class we read an interesting piece entitled The Sloan Report, which was a survey of faculty to determine feelings, opinions, and institutional statistics about online education. What I was most surprised to learn from the results is that there hasn't been a noted increased acceptance of DE amoungst faculty. It makes me wonder why that is... One reason that seems to be a obstacle is that so many institutions offer online deegrees. Anybody with a social securtiy number can enroll into these programs and receive undergraduate and graduate degrees without truly earning it. Some instutions even offer doctorates without truly making students earn it. I would have a hard time taking online classes seriously too, I suppose...
Week 11 Reflection
We are coming around to the end of the semester and final projects and papers are due. This, of course, is taking the majority of my time, especially seeing as how I am having serious computer issues which are keeping me from being able to do homework at HOME. Even as I speak now I am sitting in my office using the resources here (shhhhhh...don't tell my boss)! However, I am here to summarize this course!
Week 11 of a 12-week course should be really exciting. You should enter your final weeks feelinf like you've accomplished something and that vicotry is nie. However, that's not what I am feeling, at all. I want to rewind. Week 11 came way too quickly. I feel like I still have work and learning to do and that I missed something in class. This semester has been really trying for me at work and at home, which hasn't allowed for much of my attention to go to school work. I feel like there was so much more that could've been done, so much more that I could've put into my classes.
Currently, I am working on my final paper. I'm glad there were steps laid out for the class to have certain parts of the paper completed so that I wouldn't be able to procrastinate! By week 10, I already had about 75% of my paper completed, which really helps going into the final weeks for me to be able to balance the work between my two classes. I shared in my conference discussion that I am struglling with my paper because my research is taking me in a different direction than which I thought it would go. When I first started writing, I thought the research would support my ideas that participation would lead to greater learning outcomes. After defining outcomes and participation, it turns out that there weren't any studies conducted (that I could find) that measured learning "outcomes" in the way that I believe would be necessary to produce significant results. In other words, I believe that learning outcomes should'nt be measured simply by final grades, because other factors can effect those grades. Learning outcomes shouldd be measured using each learning objective separately. Furthermore, I found that most studies that were conducted weren't able to show a significant correlation between participation and outcomes, rather, they all suggested that the two are related. Boy Oh Boy!
Week 11 of a 12-week course should be really exciting. You should enter your final weeks feelinf like you've accomplished something and that vicotry is nie. However, that's not what I am feeling, at all. I want to rewind. Week 11 came way too quickly. I feel like I still have work and learning to do and that I missed something in class. This semester has been really trying for me at work and at home, which hasn't allowed for much of my attention to go to school work. I feel like there was so much more that could've been done, so much more that I could've put into my classes.
Currently, I am working on my final paper. I'm glad there were steps laid out for the class to have certain parts of the paper completed so that I wouldn't be able to procrastinate! By week 10, I already had about 75% of my paper completed, which really helps going into the final weeks for me to be able to balance the work between my two classes. I shared in my conference discussion that I am struglling with my paper because my research is taking me in a different direction than which I thought it would go. When I first started writing, I thought the research would support my ideas that participation would lead to greater learning outcomes. After defining outcomes and participation, it turns out that there weren't any studies conducted (that I could find) that measured learning "outcomes" in the way that I believe would be necessary to produce significant results. In other words, I believe that learning outcomes should'nt be measured simply by final grades, because other factors can effect those grades. Learning outcomes shouldd be measured using each learning objective separately. Furthermore, I found that most studies that were conducted weren't able to show a significant correlation between participation and outcomes, rather, they all suggested that the two are related. Boy Oh Boy!
Week 12 Reflection
- What five adjectives do you feel best describe your participation in this course? What metaphor might you use to describe yourself as an online learner?- I would describe myself as the "little engine that could." What I mean by this is that I want to do it. I really do. I want to reach my goals and I want to finish this degree. However, I feel like I am too little to pull this load up the hill. I'm pushing and pulling and I'm making it slowly, but it's hard! With that being said, adjectives I would use to describe my participation include: earnest, honest, simple, basic, and real.
- What strength(s) do you feel that you brought to this course? How/when were those strengths exhibited?- I hope to think that I brough a sense of (and I'm making this word up) down-to-earth-ness to the classroom. Whatever I had to say, I made it plain for everyone to understand. I stayed true to myself in the classroom and I hope that some consider that a strength.
- What area(s) of weakness, if any, did you discover in your own learning?- I am not extremely disciplined in my learning. I need to work on getting to the point where I can set aside time and really focus on school rather that just trying to fit it in where I can.
- Describe one thing that you learned about yourself as an online learner through your participation.- I learned that I am not the same student that I was in undergrad. There, participation came easy to me and I didn't understand the people who thought that was the hard part of class. Now, I am the student struggling to maintain a decent participation grade!
- Develop a self-improvement learning plan for the rest of your MDE program.- Part of my learning plan is to get organized ahead of time, adding reminders and setting personal dealines for participation and completion of assignments. This will help me make the most of my time in the classroom and will give me time to communicate more with my classmates.