Jim’s viewable streams of thought

“The 7 principles of good practice…  encourage: Contact Between Students and Faculty, Student Reciprocity and Cooperation, Prompt Feedback, Time on Task, Active Learning Techniques, Communication of High Expectations, Respect for Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning (Chickering & Gamson, as cited in Shea 2003)”

I think it would be difficult for teachers to disagree with the 7 principles of good practice above; we may feel that a few more should be added, but generally we understand that these practices are an important part of increasing learning in the classroom. It also takes a lot of extra time for the instructor in terms of instructional design, planning, and giving feedback.

Why would anyone dislike these practices? Well the title of this blog entry reflects the perspective of the student. 

This week several of us engaged in a little griping in the modules discussion about online discussion and other online assignments that seemed to be overwhelming… the usual student stuff.  Upon reflection on this weeks reading, discussion, and the process of building my course – I couldn’t help but see the paradox.  In a prior blog entry, I did the math concerning university course requirements and the number of hours I was putting in online (I found they were about the same).  Being the analytical person I am, I then started taking aim at the practices within the classes I’m taking… Well, in almost all the classes, the instructor’s employ the 7 principles of good practice. 

Self assessment and peer assessment (which I hate doing) makes the individual and the students of the class a part of the teaching process and adds to teaching presence by asking that students take more responsibility for their learning.   Our classroom discussions are generally problem based and focused on the tasks in which we are actively engaged.  Our activities are directly related to the primary goal, building an online course.  The feedback, especially in this class, has been extensive, prompt, personable, and aimed at helping improve my work.  My other courses follow a similar framework, and…. I really like the classes I’ve taken this summer; I’ve learned so much about so many things that I can directly apply in my classes and hopefully help other teachers do the same. 

Well then, what is it?  It’s difficult to be a student in classes where the instructors follow good teaching practices.  I have to admit, in the last year I’ve looked at it as a gift when a teacher didn’t load us up with work during a course, didn’t keep me on task, let me blather about any old thing in a discussion!  Sometimes, having such a class saved my sanity.  Good practice places demands on a student.  It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to learn a new language, how to play the piano, or how to teach online; for those of us who have our hands in lots of fires, it’s a burdensome stress. 

Funny,  in Alex’s feedback on my course activities, she mentioned that she wanted me to think about all the work I was giving the students and whether they would be able to complete it.  Am I a hypocrite?  Do I have high expectations of my students, try to keep them on task and engaged with the material using active learning strategies, make them responsible for the process?  I hope so, I try to follow “Best Practice”.  I am also gaining valuable insight into what it means to be a student in such a class…. It ain’t easy!  I will try to keep that in mind as I design my online class, and maybe we can make it another characteristic of good practice.

Jim

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Interestingly, I am coming full circle in just a short period of time.  Designing my learning activities, I am using simlar principles as I would in a f2f class; agreed, the method of delivery is different and I need to contemplate different issues in terms of instructional design, but the assignments are not that different at all.  As, I watched the presetation and read the weeks reading, I said to myself, I know this stuff already.  Now I feel it’s just about application and doing the work.  That, I’m not sure is as easy, it will be a challenge to design the learning activities in detail for a 14 week course in a week – perhaps impossible.  But I’m resigned to do what I can without killing myself.  I could have made this task easier on myself if I chose a short course rather than something that’s normally done over an entire year (I almost always bite off more than I can chew!).  On a positive note, I’m doing all the preplanning I need to do for the coming school year for AP psychology. 

Bill’s concern with losing the dynamics of teaching presence has set me thinking; how can I get the emotional boost from the online experience that I do for f2f teaching?  I mean I love the classroom, I don’t always love the planning and grading for sure, but I love being in the class with the kids.  Over  the past month and a half it’s all been about the students and the structure of the class and now it’s time to start thinking about what I get from the teaching experience and whether I’ll be able to get that online.  I have my doubts – maybe one class but I think I need the energy of f2f.  I’m already looking forward to the new year.  It’s not about being the “sage” but about being in a room full of people and interacting on issues I love.  That’s what makes teaching worth it – will I be able to get that energy from an online environment?  Can the discourse bring that type of excitement? 

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This Module came in like a lamb and went out like a lion.  I started the week fairly comfortable in what was happening in my future online course; I had drafted a rough outline used many of the guidelines from the “keys to success” and the online course tours, posted in the discussion area thinking I had plenty of time to write up the learning activities draft since I have taught this course for going on 8 years in a f2f environment.  As usual, I guessed wrong in terms of how much time I thought it would take me to think of appropriate online activities and then complete the draft.  When drafting an online course everything must be typed into text and then added to the course management system.  This takes much more time than one could realistically plan and realization doesn’t occur until you actually start going through the process.  I’m used to giving much of the information orally but didn’t know how much I relied on the f2f environment for communicating the course information. 

So what you may say…  What I’m really coming to grips with is how much the students might not be actually understanding when I communicate orally.  How much of this information is not remembered?  Should not most of this information already have been somewhere in text in my computer files?  Even though I have no plans to teach a totally online course next year in AP psychology, I know my future psychology students will most likely benefit from the most amount of time I’ve ever put into the design of their course.

Jim(3)

After viewing the presentation, discussing it with your classmates, and listening to and looking at the learning activities in the courses posted for observation, please reflect on what you have learned. What have you learned that you did not know before? How will you apply what you have learned to your own course? What decisions have you made so far about your own online course? How do you interact in this course? What if anything has been difficult for you? What if anything do you find yourself feeling resistance to? What is working for you in this course? What would you change/suggest to make it better for you?

This first week of module 3 has been one of reflection and reconsolidation in that I actually accomplished a good chunk of this weeks assignments last week while doing the research for and creating my course documents.  In course design, I feel I have a fairly good grasp o the concepts and skills needed to complete the work, Alex’s manual is a comprehensive step by step guide in completing the tasks.

I started using moodle more heavily last year and have made enough mistakes in the experiment that I have been on the path of rethinking my teaching and how to convey the material in a learning management system.  I found something’s that I believed and argued against, like completing the design and activities of a course in their entirety before you begin, now to be less of an issue with the right design.  The reason I argued against it revolves in the desire for mastery learning(if students don’t obtain mastery on an assessment with the first type of instruction, alternative instruction is offered and an entirely different assessment).  My units can change significantly from one year to the next and my best laid plans for a particular group of students often need to be adjusted depending on a particular groups English language ability and motivation.  Now, I’m thinking that the necessary flexibility in terms of differentiating instruction can be accomplished through greater emphasis on individual feedback and greater interaction.

I’m still unsure of the idea that the students due most of the work, especially in the high school environment where I am very much accountable for student performance.  Certain secondary administrators (and parents) have issues with the ratio of student and instructor responsibility within a course.  Judging from the timeframes given in the course tours, teaching in university and secondary school are different animals (1.5 – 2 hours a day in prep for all their courses mentioned by the university profs is a dream!).  That said, I do find it slightly easier to plan this year’s much enhanced AP psychology hybrid course than last year’s; I hope that carries over into planning time during the year as well.

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