http://www.vwbpe.org/

This conference is free. According to the website, the first year, over 1500 unique avatars attended and the second year, over 3800 unique avatars attended this conference.
This year there will be 192 presentations and 500 presenters with an expectation of 5000 attendees. Check out the conference website. I plan to attend for the first time and will post a blog about the experience.

Assessment- Discourse Analysis
This week, I reviewed my discussion posts from previous weeks using charts that Dr. Khalsa shared with the class. I searched the literature about this fascinating subject. Here are some interesting reads on the subject from various perspectives. The first article analyzed documents posted by distance and online learning organizations and highlights some of what the author perceives as contradictions in applying constructivist learning theories. The second is an interesting read about how to be successful in online teaching. VOCAL stands for Visible, Organized, Compassionate, Analytical, and Lead by example. I found some good tips in the article. The third is my favorite. It is part of what later became the authors Doctoral Thesis in 2005 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I have not read the entire thesis but plan to in the future. The author used ethnographic research- immersing self in the environment to understand the learning culture in an on-line game.

Kelland, J. (2006). Constructivist Theories and Online Learning Best Practices: A Discourse Analysis. 2006 National Conference On-Line Proceedings. York University, Toronto, Ontario. May 28-29. http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2006/2006onlineProceedings/CAS2006Jennifer%20H%20Kelland.pdf

Savery, J. (2005). BE VOCAL: Characteristics of Successful Online Instructors. Journal of Interactive Online Learning. Vol. 4, Number 2, Fall 2005. http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/PDF/4.2.6.pdf

Steinkuehler, C. (2004), Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Sixth International Conference on Learning Sciences. University of California, LA.
http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/papers/SteinkuehlerICLS2004.pdf

Steinkuehler, C. Doctoral Thesis
http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/thesis.html

Lastly, I want to share this with my class as I say goodbye and wish you joy in your future teaching careers. It is a free conference in the virtual world Second Life. I am going to dive in and learn what is in store for the future of learning.
http://www.vwbpe.org/

Assessment- The Final Project

I worked on my final project for the Assessment in E-Learning EDUC 762 Course. My project is
Carolyn's Assessment Toolbox Wiki (click to view). I explored and practiced using a Wiki this week and learned how to do many things including downloading files, editing, creating pages, creating links, adding graphics. My biggest frustration came when I made some errors on the Wiki page and wanted to revert back to a previous page but was unable to figure out how to do so even with tutorials and PDF help files. It seemed like it would be the easiest thing to learn how to do; but it has been a challenge.
I have begun updating my e-portfolio to include links to this blog and the wiki after reading another student's post about the benefit of keeping assessments from the E-Learning courses together. I am enjoying reviewing the final projects submitted by other students because I am being introduced to other on-line assessment tools. Their projects are so creative. I plan to test some of the tools in the future and possibly add to my assessment toolbox.

Assessment - What highlights or techniques can I apply to my on-line courses

Rubrics

Online surveys

Weekly reflection

Ice breakers in the first week

Scavenger Hunts

Wiki's / Blogs / Concept Maps

I would like to try to incorporate service learning into my on-line courses in the future because I think an immersive learning experience is active and meaningful. I also think it stretches the zone of proximal development for both the student and instructor. I would like to stimulate the cooperative, creative, and community spirit in each of us. I found Blog of Proximal Development and it has some good ideas about how to stretch myself and my students.

Assessment: On-line Instructor Training
This week I reviewed the Sloan Consortium Report, Learning on Demand: On Line Education in the United States, 2009. by I.Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman. My immediate reaction was to go back and compare the statistics from The Perfect E-Storm (2004) by Curtis Bonk relating to on-line training for educators.
According to Bonk, most teachers of on-line programs and courses had never received much formal training. When educators, administrators, and course designers were surveyed in 2003 about where typical online instructors in 2010 would be trained to teach on-line, greater than 50% responded that extensive internal training would be provided. 19% of those surveyed predicted no training would be provided.
Fast forward to the fall of 2009 Sloan Consortium Report of on-line education. Chief academic officers at all Unites States institutions of higher education open to the public were surveyed about type of training for faculty teaching on-line. 59% use informal mentoring and 65% use internally run training courses. Some schools use a combination of mentoring and internal training. According to the 2009 survey, 19% of the schools provided no training in the fall of 2009.
So it turns out that those surveyed by Bonk in 2003 were fairly accurate in their predictions about what would happen in 2010. I can not imagine teaching on-line in 2010 without some training and / or mentoring. It might be that the 19% of schools that don't offer the training rely on educators that received formal training and are experienced in teaching on-line.

Assessment-
Using Bloom's Taxonomy and other tips for Avoiding Plagiarism
Bloom's Taxonomy was the focus of discussion this week. The class participated in an exercise to convert a traditional face to face journalism class to an on-line format.
An Assessment Taxonomy Table Template (click to view) was used to organize the learning objective verbs and associated assessment activities into Bloom categories. -

Educational Origami-Bloom's and ICT Tools

Center for Teaching: Bloom's Taxonomy

Plagiarism-

Seven Strategies for Plagiarism-Proofing Discussion Threads in On-Line Courses

Useful Tips on Avoiding Plagiarism

• Both articles describe using Bloom's taxonomy of higher order thinking to avoid plagiarism.
  

Point Click and Cheat: Frequency and Types of Academic Dishonesty in the Virtual Classroom

• Research about on-line versus classroom cheating.

I have been reflecting on the assessment tools available for me to incorporate into my final project and the choice of technology for presenting. I need to remember the audience and their ability with technology for the course I am developing for the final project.

Bonk, C. (Aug. 5, 2008). From R2D2 to the Matrix: A Galaxy of On-line Learning Style, Motivational, Blended Learning, and Learner-Centered Examples. Presented at Pyle Center, Madison Wisconsin. Retrieved on Feb. 6, 2010 from http://www.uwex.edu/ics/bonk_presentation/

Assessment - Group Process and Team Work

There is an ideal of teams and groups working together to create and publish their work and then there is the reality - or is that reality check. I read some information about Social Learning Theory and began to think about where the learner's use of modeling fits with on-line learning? What do I expect of myself, my colleagues / students?

In 2008, Dr Curtis Bonk presented From R2D2 to the Matrix: A Galaxy of On-Line learning Style, Motivational, Blended Learning, and Learner Centered Examples. I viewed it this morning using Windows Media. It is approximately two hours. It was well worth the time I spent viewing it. I was able to see some examples of how modeling fits in with on-line learning. Dr. Bonk also discussed the intersection of technology, pedagogy, and people, culture, etc. I posted one slide of Dr. Bonk's Venn Diagram above. You can see the lecture and download the power point presentation at the link above.

For me, this was an exercise in learning that we all have different strengths and weaknesses. The challenge, for me, is to build on those strengths in my teaching / learning and facilitate that process of building on strengths with my colleagues / students. We are all on this learning journey together.

Assessment- Midterm "Discovery and Experimentation"

This week I gathered information, watched tutorials, reviewed the literature, and practiced using three different assessment tools.

Google Docs

I started the week using Google Docs. I uploaded files and created a template for the midterm assessment. I transferred information between documents and edited documents. I gave access to view and edit documents to my group. I learned how to download files and entered the final version of the group midterm assessment file to a wiki that I created.

Wiki

I contributed the research about Wiki to the on-line assessment tool group midterm project. I value the opportunity to test and practice using equipment so I decided to make a wiki. The practical experience was invaluable. While reviewing the literature, I found Wikimatrix, a wiki comparison tool. I answered a few questions in the Wiki Choice Wizard and was provided with a list of appropriate wikis for my project. I chose wikispaces to create my first wiki. Through the process of making a wiki, I realized that I can assess individual contributions and group process with wikis. I would need to provide a rubric and clear explanation of how students would be graded. At the start of a class, I would want to assess student experience with wiki. A wiki is easy to learn to use; but it is necessary to provide time to familiarize the students with the mechanics of the wiki.

Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro

Thanks to Carol Kubota for giving me two opportunities to experience a peer to peer collaboration tool. We had so much fun and laughed so hard as we fumbled through the process of trying to figure out how things worked in the collaborative tool. It takes patience and humor if you are not going through a formal training. We both watched tutorials to prepare to use the tool. Carol hosted the meetings. Attending the first meeting, I had a goal of exploring, having fun, and getting my webcam on. I met the first two goals; but was unable to get my webcam up. I went back to view tutorials and went back to the second meeting with the same three goals. Again, I met the first two goals; but was unsuccessful with getting my webcam on. I believe it is related to the fact that my webcam is built in to my computer. I plan to explore this more and try to figure out why there is only an avatar on my camera box in the tool. Carol, being the great teacher and host had several goals. She presented her power point in the first meeting. In the second meeting, she gave me permission to upload and share a document and a powerpoint. Carol also created an on-line survey in the tool. This program is very powerful and complicated. I would use it in a work setting with participants that work collaboratively on a continual basis. Formal training and technical support would decrease the learning curve as opposed to on-line tutorials. For on-line classes, I think it would work best if your teaching / learning with a group of students over an extended period of time to learn the functions and capabilities of this tool.

Check out Carol's review of this assessment tool at
http://midterm-assessment-uws.wikispaces.com/

Assessment - Reflecting on Learning Tools
This week I sometimes felt overwhelmed with information overload. There is so much information that segways into other information.

I am also learning more new language in on-line learning. For example Re-usable Learning Objects (RLO). These are tool kits that you can use pieces and parts of for constructing learning modules. I am reading the article, Introducing Reusable Learning Objects that Datta shared with the class to learn more about RLO's.

There were discussions about fair compensation, ownership of course curriculum, and standardizing credentialing for educators. This is probably one of the major challenges faced by national and international education systems today.

Lastly, Dream big dreams and provide "Reality Checks" -which brings to mind this quote in a frame on my desk
"Do what you can where you are with what you have" Theodore Roosevelt @ the battle of San Juan Hill, Spanish American War
While he is famous for the quote, the African American Cavalry is responsible for winning the battle according to some historians.

Assessment & Course Design using Concept / Mind Map
(Inspiration Software)
Click on the name above for an enlarged view in Google Docs

Time Flies

Assessment - Weekly Reflections
Wow- I had an epiphany while reading an asynchronous discussion post between Carol, Paul, and Chris this week.

There is an opportunity for exposure to more discussion in asynchronous discussion posts as opposed to the classroom. The reason for this is related to time.
In a face to face class, you need to listen to one person at a time. If there are 10 people sharing in the class and they each speak for 5 minutes, the 50 minutes go by and you have heard the thoughts of 10 people.
In Asynchronous discussion posts 10 people can think at the same time and post simultaneously. So 10 people used 5 minutes as opposed to 50 minutes.
The strength and opportunity with asynchronous discussion boards is exposure to more information and a variety of perspectives. The weakness or threat of the asynchronous discussion board is becoming overwhelmed and experiencing information overload. I am still thinking about the repercussions of this time warp.

Medical Symbol at Ancient Ruins in Ephesus, Turkey-

Assessment- The Interview

The first week of class I was interviewed by Kim Hollman to gain experience with interview as an assessment tool. It was a nice ice breaker and most students agree that is a nice way to ease into a new group or class. Kim posted the interview to introduce me to the class.

Introducing Carolyn

Carolyn is a nurse and is responsible for nursing and health care education, and she is interested in offering some of the courses online. This is Carolyn's second online course; the first being E-Learning for Educators. She would like to teach health care at a community college.

Carolyn and I both have children at the high school age and both have been to Turkey. Carolyn lives in South Carolina and does not miss the cold from growing up in Washington D.C.

We did find our log-in times are very different, and never got to a "live chat".

Kim- Wisconsin

Assessment - Interactive Inventory
Teacher Centered versus Student Centered Learning

I was able to identify the characteristics of learner based assessments. I agree with how the assessments are different. Teacher centered versus learner centered assessments in the classroom represent a paradigm shift in the United States. I believe the education system, educators, and students are currently in the process of adapting to this shift.

Sometimes teachers get very excited when they are introduced to learner centered teaching methods and start implementing the techniques in their class. Students in traditional classrooms may object strenuously and say they only want to be taught through lecture what will be on the test. The teacher ends up with a poor evaluation from the students. Poor evaluations make the teacher less likely to introduce these new learner centered teaching methods in future classes. Other teachers argue that they don't have time to provide learner centered techniques and also teach to the standardized tests that are a measure of success in learning.

While I favor learner based assessments, I realize that adult learners have not had much experience with this type of learning and need a gradual introduction into the process. I believe there will also need to be some changes in the United States education system to support alternative assessment and student centered learning.
Carolyn Jenkins

BLOGS and CREATIVITY
This is the third time I created a blog in my life. It has been a creative process for me.

Last semester I created my first blog as part of a requirement for the e-learning for educators class. I decided to make the blog about the Pasos Beaufort program in our community and it evolved into a blog to document grant deliverables. Check out Pasos Beaufort I will continue to post on the progress of the program for grantors and the community.

Then last weekend, I helped my husband create his own blog for his customers to post ideas, techniques, and solutions to problems encountered while making their creations. Check out glasseyesonline I hope his customers will post and comment.

Today I am creating my third blog. Carolyn's Reflective Journal. I am happy to have an opportunity to practice and build on what I learned about blogs last semester.