Converting to a Blended Learning Environment

The Scenario: 
A training manager has been frustrated with the quality of communication among trainees in his face-to-face training sessions and wants to try something new. With his supervisor’s permission, the trainer plans to convert all current training modules to a blended learning format, which would provide trainees and trainers the opportunity to interact with each other and learn the material in both a face-to-face and online environment. In addition, he is considering putting all of his training materials on a server so that the trainees have access to resources and assignments at all times.


Summary of Action Plan:


Creating an online course or converting a face-to-face training to a blended course takes much pre-planning. The trainer needs to take into consideration many aspects of distance learning, such as, software. Dr. Piskurich explains the role of the online instructor as being incredibly important. In this case, the trainer is the designer of the course, and the facilitator. The trainer must be able to understand the software being used and be able to keep up with all the activities he or she is having the students do. He or she must plan and be familiar with the whole lesson plan before starting the course. 


What are some of the pre-planning strategies the trainer needs to consider before converting his program?
1. Software familiarity
2. Learner characteristics


What aspects of his original training program could be enhanced in the distance learning format?
1. Discussion forums
2. Instructional activities involving technology
3. More choices for students 
4. More ways to assess student learning


How will his role, as trainer, change in a distance learning environment?
1. Update all materials to an online server
2. Become an online facilitator


What steps should the trainer take to encourage the trainees to communicate online?
1. Give statistics of blended learning success
2. Prepare a presentation and orientation before starting the online portion
3. Show how easy it is to access information for the course
4. Give the option of signing in online instead of in person at times




References: 

Piskurich, G. (2012) "Facilitating Online Learning" Laureate Education, Inc.      Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., Zvacek, S. (2012) Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education, Fifth Edition Pearson Education, Inc.

Free Online Course Analysis: Open Culture

Open Culture 
http://www.openculture.com/

Open Culture is a site where you can choose out of four hundred twenty-five free online courses from top universities. They are mostly formatted as video lectures on YouTube Vimeo, or iTunes. The site also includes audio books, movies, language lessons, eBooks and cultural icons. The site is funded and supported by advertisements and suggested links.

Open Culture seems to be carefully pre-planned with easy-to-navigate web pages. It is set up successfully for a distance-learning environment by having all material accessible on the Internet. Most of the classes are simply video lectures, so they do not follow all the recommendations for online instruction from the course text. Page two hundred forty three lists everything that should be included in a syllabus: course logistics, course policies, instructional activities, assessment information, and additional information. The course text explains recommendations for courses that require credit or a grade.

The course I chose to navigate is Introduction to Visual Thinking. It does not have course activities, but simply lectures with different images, presenters, and videos within the eleven video lectures. The main presenter is speaking to a face to-face class, and is recorded for the distance learners. Since it is a free course, it seems like it is set up to help students gain more information possibly for another course, or just for fun. The course online is not set up with a syllabus, course activities, or assessment.

On page one hundred seventy three, the course text outlines Foley’s general principles of good design. In Open Culture, the target audience seems to be well known. Anyone who wants more information on visual thinking in general or someone who is looking for an idea for art making would benefit from this course. Foley also expresses the need for the content of subject matter to be delivered. This course could have more of a specific summary of its parts. It only has a title to let learners know what might be included in the course. If students are choosing the course for fun or to gain information for something else, they need more information before beginning the course.

References

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., Zvacek, S. (2012) Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education, Fifth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc.

http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

Selecting Distance Learning Technologies

The following text explains a real world example of the need for distance education and my reasoning for selecting certain technologies to accomplish the goal of the scenario:

Collaborative Training Environment A new automated staff information system was recently purchased by a major corporation and needs to be implemented in six regional offices. Unfortunately, the staff is located throughout all the different offices and cannot meet at the same time or in the same location. As an instructional designer for the corporation, you have been charged with implementing a training workshop for these offices. As part of the training, you were advised how imperative it is that the staff members share information, in the form of screen captures and documents, and participate in ongoing collaboration.

Blackboard can be useful in the above scenario by using the onsite training solution.
Rcampus is another program that would work well in the above situation. In Rcampus, students can create a
clubs, faculty groups, private groups and study groups. So, the employees in the training can share information, screen captures, and have discussions within the website/program.

http://scobleizer.com/2010/09/29/blackboard-mobile-is-another-example-of-how-mobile-and-location-are-changing-everything/

http://www.blackboard.com/

http://www.rcampus.com/


"Sales training often involves an annual meeting where a company flies in its reps at launch time to train them together on location. Sound familiar?
Move beyond sales training of the past towards an engaging continuous and blended online learning program with the Blackboard Learn™ platform. With Blackboard Learn, you can create thorough and rigorous training that begins long before your reps arrive on-site, and doesn’t end until well after they return to the field" (http://www.blackboard.com/Markets/Corporate/Solutions/Business-Applications/Sales-Training.aspx).
The following video shows a real life example of how Blackboard can be used anywhere on a mobile device for students to access information and network with others: http://scobleizer.com/2010/09/29/blackboard-mobile-is-another-example-of-how-mobile-and-location-are-changing-everything/

Defining Distance Education

At my current position as an online student, I am learning a great deal about the progress of distance learning and technology in education. For example, the way people learn has changed so much since I was a young student in school. The blog I’m referencing explains the differences in generational learning styles very well. The veterans learned by rote memorization, the boomers learned with books and materials, gen x learned with exploration and hands on experiences (me) and now, the young students (milennials) learn through media, networking, eLearning, etc. (http://nkilkenny.wordpress.com/2006/08/30/generational-learning-styles-and-methods/ ) So, anyone who starts taking courses online, not matter what age, will still use their old ways to study, write, and learn, but they will also start to use some of the new ways. Digital immigrants are learning from digital natives and using the new ways to learn, collaborate, and network.
            Before staring the course, EDUC-6135-2 Distance Learning, I only know about distance learning in terms of what I’ve done online so far. I’ve learned distance education works very well for me and many other people. I was skeptical at first since I am used to the traditional setting. For adults, however, we don’t need the traditional setting. We don’t need the social, physical interactions in order to learn. Children, however, and possibly undergraduate students should probably have that social aspect of school.
            After starting this course, I have started to redefine distance learning and have found that distance education is much more than getting a degree online.            
Distance education has been around for a long time with correspondence studies, open universities in Europe, and the Internet. The definition of distance education is using technological resources to learn at a distance. The teacher and student are separated physically, using technology to connect. (Simonson, M. 2012) There are four main components of distance education: institutionally based, separation of teacher and student, interactive telecommunications, and sharing of data, voice, and video (learning experiences). (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2012) Distance education is not self-study. It is institutionally based. An institution is not just a school. Businesses, companies, and corporations offer instruction at a distance.
            The evolution of distance education will continue to progress and more and more students, employees, businesses, schools, and corporations will continue utilizing distance education. Even children will use distance education more, such as K12, but traditional learning and the traditional school setting will not be replaced completely with distance education.

           
References:
Simonson, M. (2012) Distance Education: The Next Generation Laureate Education, Inc.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., (2012) Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education, Fifth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc.
Generational Learning Styles and Methods (2006) Retrieved fromhttp://nkilkenny.wordpress.com/2006/08/30/generational-learning-styles-and-methods/ in February, 2012.

Check out my Prezi Mind Map

Learning Theories and Technology

     When I first began reading and analyzing how people learn a few weeks ago, I decided that I learn in many different ways depending on the material being processed. I came to the conclusion that it is important for me as a teacher to know how the brain works to the best of my ability, however, I will never fully know how each of my students learn best for each subject or project. Therefore, I must use many different teaching strategies and not only remember that students learn differently than each other, but each student has a different learning style when learning different things. "To teach effectively, you've got to know how students learn and you have to know, in particular, how they think and what's going on inside their heads" (Ormrod, J. 2011). I agree with Dr. Ormrod, however, this is generally. In order to teach effectively, you've got to know how students learn, in general. You have to know how they think generally. I attempted to understand how people learn by studying the different learning theories. Understanding how people learn is a generalized subject. Everyone learns differently at different times and when learning different subjects. If we want to know how each students learns each subject, we would have to study each student very carefully for a long period of time. As teachers, we don't have the time or resouces to do so. Therefore, we study generally how people learn and try to use different strategies to impact, engage, and assess each student. When I teach a concept using a certain strategy or method, I then assess the students learning. If some students don't seem to get it, I help them individually using a different strategy. Or, if my initial strategy didn't seem to work for most students, I'll revisit the concept using a different method. The dynamics of a class helps me decide which strategy will possibly work best for that group.

     On the website, http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/edtech/strategy.html, there is a list of different teaching and learning methods that are very popular and effective: collaborative learning, cooperative learning, discovery based learning, engaged learning, problem based learning, and whole language approach. There are many other strategies as well: whole group discussion and/or debate, small group discussion and/or debate, story telling, interactive media engagement, games, polling, socratic discussion, project based, and so on. I am learning about new strategies and how I can apply them to my teaching, including many new methods using technology. I have learning how big of a role technology plays in my teaching and learning. I use the websites, online articles and journals and blogs to research information, opinions and theories on instructional design and technology.

     Now that I have a better understanding of how students learn in general, I can now make better assumptions on how I can help individual students understand a concept better. I can also use the new teaching and learning tools relating to technology to understand my own learning and apply it in the classroom.

Ormrod, J. (2011) An Introduction to Learning Laureate Education, Inc. 2011

Teaching and Learning Methods and Strategies Retrieved from
http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/edtech/strategy.html in June 2011.

Connectivism in the Digital World

     With new ways to learn and gain information hitting us from all directions at a fast speed, it is only natural to want to use these new resources (well, some of them). Students take control of their own learning and make new connections with others who will strenthen the learning process (Dembo, S. 2011). When I was in school before technology was so advanced and we had all the tools and ways to use connectivism like we have now, I relied on being able to get to study groups without having many other ways to find information or learn from others. It was just a small group of people who I could brainstorm with. Now, the amount of brains and websites I can learn from is never-ending.
     Out of the many digital tools out there, the ones I use the most are informational websites. Since my time taking classes online, I use much of my time reading articles and finding theories and information to support my claims. This is also how I gain new knowledge when I have questions. However, learning from others on discussion boards is also a way I gain knowledge. I ask others what they think of a topic and with discussion boards, I can get many opinions, facts and theories all at once. Digital tools such as these make learning happen at my pace. And as Dembo states, students take control of their own learning and find the tools and connections that work for them. We are now much more proactive in our own learning instead of reading out of one textbook and all hearing one lecture in a course.
    My personal learning network supports the learning tenets of connectivism by giving me new information and new strategies for teaching, learning and organizing thoughts and theories. For example, recently, I have used new programs and websites that I have not used before but since others have exposed me to these resources I am thinking of ways I can use them in the classroom and then share my newly found resources in my teaching and show my students how they can use these programs in their own learning, such as Jing and Spinscape).  The more ways we can deliver material to students, the more students we will reach and the easier they will learn. Also, if we give our students the tools to take control of their own learning, learning will be fun and exciting. Giving students choices instead of "making" them learn is a much more effective way of teaching.

Dembo, S., (2011) The Networked Student in Plain English Retreived from http://www.teach42.com/2008/12/06/the-networked-student-in-plain-english/ in June, 2011

Connectivism Mind Map

http://screencast.com/t/ba0banoR