Module 1: Introduction and Student Debate
The first day signing into this class led by Dr. Thomas Huelsmann gave me a clear indication of what was to come in the classroom. The introduction was delivered by recording, which made me feel like the instructor understood the need for multimedia in the online classroom. The first activity was a debate, which automatically encouraged communication amongst class members, as well as some healthy disagreements and arguments. The first debate was concerning education and whether it was “Snake oil” or “elixir.” I took the position that education was snake oil, or that it does not produce the economic returns that some think it does. The concept was very interesting to me, but being assigned a position made me really have to use my critical thinking skills because my actual opinion was opposite of what I had to represent!
We then got together and brainstormed reasons for education, which included economic and non-economic reasons on both a micro and macro scale. This allowed me to reflect on my own reasons for getting/ continuing my education (which turned out to be mainly economical). OOPS! We also discussed internal rates of return (a concept I remember vaguely from Finance class in undergrad) and how hard it can be to truly show return on education, especially when it’s concerning human capital. Last, we rounded up the module with an activity. This was pretty awesome because it was a relaxed way to practice, without the stress of being graded. Overall, I have an EXTREMELY positive outlook on this class.
We then got together and brainstormed reasons for education, which included economic and non-economic reasons on both a micro and macro scale. This allowed me to reflect on my own reasons for getting/ continuing my education (which turned out to be mainly economical). OOPS! We also discussed internal rates of return (a concept I remember vaguely from Finance class in undergrad) and how hard it can be to truly show return on education, especially when it’s concerning human capital. Last, we rounded up the module with an activity. This was pretty awesome because it was a relaxed way to practice, without the stress of being graded. Overall, I have an EXTREMELY positive outlook on this class.
Module 2: Techniques of Cost Analysis
This module was different from any other class I’ve participated in. During this module, there was very little participation, which totally threw me off. Even the instructor asked us why we were being so quiet. However, there was a perfectly good explanation for it! We were all hard at work on our second assignment. This class, much to my dismay, requires us to use Excel in Microsoft. Don’t get me wrong, in college, I was great in excel; but I have since lost my mojo. This module dealt with cost analysis and taught us how to draw up a budget, how to treat capital costs, and then how to perform equations and create graphs.
Much to the instructor’s credit, he created a mock assignment for us to reference. This actually made it pretty easy for me once I toyed with the numbers and experimented a little bit. We were given a summary of an education project and a list of ingredients that was to go along with it. With those numbers, we filled in certain information and performed equations on excel and were able to find out fixed costs, total costs, depreciation when/if the project would make a profit, what the breakeven point was, etc. I did quite well on the assignment and was surprised to learn that so many of my classmates did not. I’m not going to lie, that was a bit of a confidence booster for me!
I’ve attached a copy of the costing project for you to see! Go to the artifacts page.
Much to the instructor’s credit, he created a mock assignment for us to reference. This actually made it pretty easy for me once I toyed with the numbers and experimented a little bit. We were given a summary of an education project and a list of ingredients that was to go along with it. With those numbers, we filled in certain information and performed equations on excel and were able to find out fixed costs, total costs, depreciation when/if the project would make a profit, what the breakeven point was, etc. I did quite well on the assignment and was surprised to learn that so many of my classmates did not. I’m not going to lie, that was a bit of a confidence booster for me!
I’ve attached a copy of the costing project for you to see! Go to the artifacts page.
Module 3: The Cost-Effectiveness of Distance Education
This module marked the beginning of a tough time for me. What happens with distance education, which makes it difficult for some students to stay in their programs, is LIFE. When life throws its curve balls at us, we have to be able to bounce back. But sometimes for us to focus on ourselves and our situations, certain things have to take the backburner. Unfortunately, it was my education that suffered in this case.
In lieu of the tragedy that struck my family, I was still able to hand in the assignments that were due for my classes, but I was not able to participate in the discussions. In retrospect, the module discussed efficiency, effectiveness, and cost effectiveness and applied them to institutions. We had a guest in the class, Greville Rumble, who has written the text that we have been using. Needless to say… WHOOPS, I missed out!
Efficiency and effectiveness are two concepts that I am very familiar with in my studies at Howard as a marketing major. I’ve always been taught exactly what Dr. Huelsmann taught in this class: efficiency is doing things right and effectiveness is doing the right things. Cost-effectiveness, however, is a concept a little less simple, especially in the educational arena. According to Grumble, cost-efficiency refers to using the correct amount of input (less) to achieve the same output. Cost-effectiveness refers to just the output, without a care for what is put in. I translate that as, if I want to be efficient, I want to minimize my inputs and get a satisfactory output; if I want to be effective, I don’t care what I put in, I just want the best output.
In addition to that, there was also a discussion on social ethics and DE. This was what my first paper was on. I would have liked to have participated in this discussion as I really enjoyed writing the paper. The following is an excerpt from the instructor that was the premise to the discussion:
"My personal view on this is this: to the extent education is becoming the only portal to access the labor market (which in turn is the only portal formost to gain a livelihood), it is the responsibility govern to keep this portal open to all; this view ties in with Honderich arguing that education is a necessary condition to be saved from a ‘bad life’: without education, no jobs, without jobs, no livelihood."
In lieu of the tragedy that struck my family, I was still able to hand in the assignments that were due for my classes, but I was not able to participate in the discussions. In retrospect, the module discussed efficiency, effectiveness, and cost effectiveness and applied them to institutions. We had a guest in the class, Greville Rumble, who has written the text that we have been using. Needless to say… WHOOPS, I missed out!
Efficiency and effectiveness are two concepts that I am very familiar with in my studies at Howard as a marketing major. I’ve always been taught exactly what Dr. Huelsmann taught in this class: efficiency is doing things right and effectiveness is doing the right things. Cost-effectiveness, however, is a concept a little less simple, especially in the educational arena. According to Grumble, cost-efficiency refers to using the correct amount of input (less) to achieve the same output. Cost-effectiveness refers to just the output, without a care for what is put in. I translate that as, if I want to be efficient, I want to minimize my inputs and get a satisfactory output; if I want to be effective, I don’t care what I put in, I just want the best output.
In addition to that, there was also a discussion on social ethics and DE. This was what my first paper was on. I would have liked to have participated in this discussion as I really enjoyed writing the paper. The following is an excerpt from the instructor that was the premise to the discussion:
"My personal view on this is this: to the extent education is becoming the only portal to access the labor market (which in turn is the only portal formost to gain a livelihood), it is the responsibility govern to keep this portal open to all; this view ties in with Honderich arguing that education is a necessary condition to be saved from a ‘bad life’: without education, no jobs, without jobs, no livelihood."
Module 4 & 5: Costing Educational Technologies
Module 4 was one that discussed different technologies (including different media) used in education and how to cost them. These technologies included print and correspondence, radio and audio, and television and video and were divided further into several types of media. This discussion was held in the classroom because it discusses the importance of measuring the effectiveness of different media, which can affect cost-effectiveness. According to the discussion, there are 4 modes of learning: attending, discussing, practicing, and articulating. Different forms of media support different modes (some can support more than one). Of course, the most effective media are probably the ones that help us perform more than one mode. There are some forms of media, such as print, that only help us perform one (attending). During the discussion, the point that media may not at all affect learning outcomes did arise. I enjoyed Greville Rumble’s response to this: “Not really, Thomas, I just find it boring after all these years. Fundamentally I am an AGNOSTIC, I do not know what I believe but I DO believe that some media are better suited to some things (e.g. video to teach fly fishing at a distance!), and I also think that there is a cultural dimension (aural media very powerful in Africa). He was not present during this class, but Dr. Heulsmann does a great job of saving those tidbits and sharing them with us!
Module 5 was a continuation, but discussed e-learning activities. Activities such as video conferencing, virtual seminars, and other interactive forms of communication were the main topic here. With advanced technology, media has become more and more effective and efficient at educating students (hence, online learning) However, we also must keep in mind that advanced technology costs money. Therefore, analysis must be done to chose the RIGHT multi-media and the right medium to ensure that it's still cost-effective. New technologies were also discussed in respects to their abilities to facilitate "one-way" versus "two-way" traffic and being "Type A" or "Type B." Type A refers to Computer Based Learning involving text, audio, etc. Type B refers to Computer Mediated connections, which can facilitate synchronous and asynchronous communication and foster interactivity. I've stolen this grid from Dr. Huelsmann that I found extremely helpful in understanding these concepts. After I saw this,
Module 5 was a continuation, but discussed e-learning activities. Activities such as video conferencing, virtual seminars, and other interactive forms of communication were the main topic here. With advanced technology, media has become more and more effective and efficient at educating students (hence, online learning) However, we also must keep in mind that advanced technology costs money. Therefore, analysis must be done to chose the RIGHT multi-media and the right medium to ensure that it's still cost-effective. New technologies were also discussed in respects to their abilities to facilitate "one-way" versus "two-way" traffic and being "Type A" or "Type B." Type A refers to Computer Based Learning involving text, audio, etc. Type B refers to Computer Mediated connections, which can facilitate synchronous and asynchronous communication and foster interactivity. I've stolen this grid from Dr. Huelsmann that I found extremely helpful in understanding these concepts. After I saw this,
Coding the distinctions as: a = asynchronous; s = synchronous; o = one-way traffic; t = two-way traffic; and i = individual; g = group; combinatorics tells us that these three binary distinctions combine in exactly eight configurations, which means that they can be displayed as the vertices of a cube.
This was great!
This was great!
Module 6- Cost and Economics of Student Support
This module was suppose to contain a meeting with Tony Bates, who I not only follow on Twitter, but whos ACTIONS module I've actually done a paper one. I was saddened to hear that he would not be attending our conferene out of frustration with the process that is required to access the class. But, the show must go on! The conference focused on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), which is a brand new phenomenon. As a matter of fact, the first time I heard of a MOOC, was when I was sifting through job openings via higheredjobs.com and I learned about a company called Education Portal that delivers courses to the masses. The topic was extremely interesting and I wish he was there to offer his insights on where it would go next.
By this time in class, I am back in the swing of things. Although I spent Module 6 on a cruise to the "exotic western carribean," I have been working on my group project, doing my class readings and starting to enjoy learning again. **At one point, school was starting to really seem like a chore...and that's sad for an OMDE student**
This module then turned to a discussion on student support and its importance on retention. Student support includes, but is not limited to tutoring, counseling, and technical support. It’s important for retention because teaching activities alone will not keep a student enrolled in school. There are so many other factors that keep students motivated and encourage them to finish their programs. In the college where I work there is, of course, a student services department. This department includes student advisors, first term retention advisors, learning resource coordinators, first year experience coordinators, and tutors. This department, while does not affect enrollment, affects retention, which is equally as important. They even have benchmarks of continuing students and former students returning to achieve in order to remain effective. This module made an economic argument regarding the need for student support using a formula from Ormond Simpson.
By this time in class, I am back in the swing of things. Although I spent Module 6 on a cruise to the "exotic western carribean," I have been working on my group project, doing my class readings and starting to enjoy learning again. **At one point, school was starting to really seem like a chore...and that's sad for an OMDE student**
This module then turned to a discussion on student support and its importance on retention. Student support includes, but is not limited to tutoring, counseling, and technical support. It’s important for retention because teaching activities alone will not keep a student enrolled in school. There are so many other factors that keep students motivated and encourage them to finish their programs. In the college where I work there is, of course, a student services department. This department includes student advisors, first term retention advisors, learning resource coordinators, first year experience coordinators, and tutors. This department, while does not affect enrollment, affects retention, which is equally as important. They even have benchmarks of continuing students and former students returning to achieve in order to remain effective. This module made an economic argument regarding the need for student support using a formula from Ormond Simpson.
Group Exercise
The best part of this class was the group exercise. The group exercise that was assigned to us required us to create a learning institution or company that provides an educational service and perform the cost analysis for the project. As a group, we started very early (which could have contributed to the lack of participation) and we emailed back and forth to get acquainted. We scheduled several dates to chat in the group using the group chat feature from WebTycho, which allowed us to answer questions quickly and collaborate on the project. It was a conversation that allowed not only work, but play too. We really got to know each other and discussed our performance in the class. We started by coming up with a concept, an online yoga instruction course, and then I came up with a name, Flexible Learning, Inc. (get it? GET IT?) Then we assigned tasks and went off to work. We checked in with each other from time to time and set deadlines so that no one would fall behind. I knew I would have to go on a cruise for a week (the week before the assignment was due), so I did my part nice and early and handed it over. Happily, the group was pleased and when I got off the ship, they had turned in a beautiful assignment. Here it is! Best online group experience ever!
Module 7: Web 2.0
The weird thing about Web 2.0 is that, even after taking all of these classes, I still....don't know what it is. I know what Web 2.0 entails: advanced technology that allows user to interact, communicate, and share information better than ever before. Such Web 2.0 sites are FaceBook, Youtube, Google, all of which we use on a day to day basis. The topic of Web 2.0 is not quite related to cost as our past conversations have been, but it is one of my favorite conversations to have because I love technology.
The class isn't quite over at this point and conversations are still occurring, but this is where I have left off in my learning. Overall, I am very satisfied with this course. I liked the style of this instructors classroom. He was very informative with the information and provided additional information to support his own lessons. Maybe that's what I liked about this class...there were lessons. lol... Simple enough, I know, but one would be surprised at what an online class can be like.
The class isn't quite over at this point and conversations are still occurring, but this is where I have left off in my learning. Overall, I am very satisfied with this course. I liked the style of this instructors classroom. He was very informative with the information and provided additional information to support his own lessons. Maybe that's what I liked about this class...there were lessons. lol... Simple enough, I know, but one would be surprised at what an online class can be like.