David's Thatched Roof Bungalow

I was really intrigued with Louisa Moon’s Eluminate session (previously recorded, Fall 2009).  Although I’ve previously heard much of what she had to say about the role of the online instructor, it was nice to have that “validation” again because I’m currently in a situation at a college where I teach online and the “administration” (aka ‘the wizard’) is attempting to pull the levers of the online instructors and dictate teaching methods that potentially infringe on academic freedom.  Anyhow, back to Louisa’s session, I took notes of the intriguing points and I put it in a Prezi; give it a look!!

Prezi: Role of the Online Instructor

I found value in reading the article, “College Students on the Web” because it addressed myths about how our college students interact with the Internet.  The first myth, “Students are Technology Wizards”, scored a direct hit on what many instructors presume about their students.  I believe this presumption is rooted in the belief “younger” people are more tech savvy than someone older.  The article described how a web site could turn away people because of its complexity.  I took this to mean, make our online courses concise, straight-forward, intuitive, and easy to navigate.  Making them overly complex will only turn-off the students and they may end up dropping the course, or not performing as well as they could have if they were not frustrated.

Another myth addresses the issue, “Students Crave Multimedia and Fancy Design”.   I think it is easy to fall prey to including “all the bells and whistles” in our presentations, etc.  However, we have to resist the urge because too much animation and sounds only serve to distract.  Think about yourself, have you ever had to sit through a presentation and the slideshow had all the fancy tricks present?  How distracting was it for you?  This brings me to another point, we should strive to make our presentations, and online courses, simple, clean, and informative.  For another resource, other than what we’ve been provided in this course, the book, “Presentation Zen” makes an excellent read.  Once I finished reading it, I immediately began applying what I learned to professional life.

I also found the article about undergraduate students and IT intriguing because it confirmed the presence of technology in our students’ daily lives.  As a result of this I ask myself, “am I doing enough in my courses from a technological perspective that enhances the learning experiences for my students?”  The answer to my own question lies in the fact that I’m taking this course and, as with reading the “Presentation Zen” book, I’m beginning to implement new ideas and techniques into my courses.

This past Sunday I returned from a professional development conference in Berkeley, California.  I was attending the 3-day “Annual Spring Critical Thinking Conference” sponsored by the Foundation for Critical Thinking and it was held at the Claremont Hotel.   I learned additional techniques how to assess my own thinking and the thinking of my students, with the goal of improving our collective thinking in the classroom.

When I read the project for this week about creating a mind-map and screencast, I immediately thought of mapping out the questions that help us assess our reasoning.  I took these questions directly from one of the guidebooks I received at the conference, and the questions are based upon the critical thinking model as developed by Drs. Richard Paul and Linda Elder.  I really like how this mind-map looks and I intend on using it in my course as a visual aide for the students during our facilitated discussions.  Hopefully you will find this useful as well.

Resource:  Elder, L. & Paul, R.  (2007).  The Art of Socratic Questioning. Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking Press.  www.criticalthinking.org

http://www.screencast.com/t/d0FyJNAFEaNh

UPDATE:  I’m still struggling with adding voice-over to this screencast.  I’m currently exploring my options and will hopefully have my screencast more lively soon.

Even today as I look at the photo, I’m still amazed at the uncanny timing.  I was at a botanical garden in Hong Kong, taking a photo of a tropical plant that interested me.  I lined up my shot, focused on the subject, pressed the shutter button, and WHOOSH!

It all happened so quickly that all I actually saw was a red flicker out the corner of my right eye.  Have you ever had a bird “buzz” your head so close that you actually feel the wind as it rushes by?  Well that is what happened to me except that it buzzed my face as I was taking the photo and this was the result:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76142081@N07/

Pretty cool, eh?  I’m only an amateur photographer so unless something like this happens again, I’ll consider this my once-in-a-lifetime photo.

I’ve done much introspection and self-evaluation of my online teaching this semester as a result of this class and I’m pleased to say I’ve started implementing some of the tools I’ve learned thus far in my current online courses.  Here are some of my thoughts on my online learning journey these past three months:

Week 1: Introduction

This was my “get acquainted” posting and the first time I posted a blog…ever.  Since then, the weather has turned a bit cooler here in San Diego so not doing much lounging in the hammock as of late.

Week 2: Teaching and Learning Online

In this posting, I reflect on the 24/7 online learning environment and how instructors manage to “teach” in a classroom without boundaries.

Week 3: Pedagogy and Course Design

For this week’s posting, I discuss how I would incorporate a critical thinking model into my online course design and I also tie it into a concept from the reading for that week.  In the chapter, Ko and Rossen get us to think about how the development of an online course is a complete redesign, not a “cut and paste” from a traditional face to face course.

Week 4: Materials for Online

In this week’s posting, I elaborate on the design “discoveries” I’ve made in this course and how the use of these discoveries will enhance my online instruction.

Week 5: The Online Syllabus

In week five, I discuss how the syllabus should be “re-imagined” for the online course and how I’ll incorporate some of Ko and Rossen’s suggestions to accomplish this.

Week 6: Creating Presentations

Clicking here will take you to the weekly posting where I attempted slide narration, for the first time.  It wasn’t bad for a first attempt but I also recognize where I could improve, namely, repositioning the mic and moving to a small room with better acoustics.

Week 7: The Online Classroom

For this week, I proposed a discussion related to my field of instruction: Administration of Justice.  In this “mini lesson”, I initiated a discussion based upon the concepts of an individuals rights vs. the rights of society (the public order) in the eyes of the law.

Week 8: Creating Community

In the “Creating Community” posting, I came to the realization how much there is out there in the way of Web 2.0 tools for us to use in adult-education (and how much I really didn’t know about previous to this course).  I also acknowledged my wariness to jump into social networking on Facebook and Twitter, and after the news today about Facebook being reprimanded about failing to protect customer privacy, I’m relieved I have not yet taken the plunge into that pool.

Week 9: Student Activities

This was the week we tried “Second Life” and how do I sum up my experience?  One word:  Interesting.  One thing I value about this professional development course is we are encouraged to try new tools and techniques that enhance our instruction so without this course, I never would have blinked an eye at “Second Life”.  However, I did give “Second Life” a try and you can read about my experience and my conclusion in this posting.

Week 10: Open Platforms for Teaching and Learning

I must admit, at the beginning of this course I was skeptical how useful a blog would be.  But by the time this particular week’s posting came around, I realized just how valuable they actually are.  From a student’s (who is also a teacher) perspective, I find blogs liberating and in a sense, a break from the constraints of a Course Management/Learning Management system.

Week 11: Class Resources and Intellectual Property

In this posting, I discussed my challenges with compliance and how the complexity of the law makes it difficult to design “compliant” curriculum while still attempting to be creative.  In other words, the creativity is stifled by the law as demonstrated in the TED video we viewed that week.  If you haven’t watched that video, I highly recommend it because it provides a unique perspective to the law and how people are able to “remix” material that already exists out there into something unique.

Even though we are approaching the semester break, my intention is to continue to seek out and explore web-based tools to enhance my online instruction while we are on break.  Have a great holiday season and hopefully we’ll all be together for the second half of this course next year.

This post is  a week late but I’m determined to get it done.  The issue of accessibility and compliance (for people with disabilities) with the law is something I’ve been living with for the past few months as I develop a course for a community college in California.  This college uses an in-house developed CMS/LMS so it does not have all the “bells and whistles” one would find in Blackboard that makes accessibility and compliance simple.  I’m experiencing firsthand the challenges of developing online material that must be compliant with screen-readers and other accessibility devices.

However, I say “challenges” because the process I must follow with this un-named college is new to me.  I’m sure once I get familiar with it, the challenging aspect will be diminished.  To give you an example, I had to entirely reformat documents created with Word because they had “alt-tags” (don’t ask me what those are) embedded that conflicted with screen-readers.  Thankfully, the compliance officer at the college has been really patient with me and she’s walking me through the process (whew!).

Regarding the copyright issues, I wished I had an attorney sitting next to me while I read the article about the “TEACH Act”.  I’m going to read it a few more times to make sure I understand the complexities of that law and how I (as an online educator) can stay within the confines of it and not risk being sued.  Yes, I said, “sued” because, as the article correctly points out, individuals are being sued for damages and the attorney’s fees alone can bankrupt many.

I concluded my study of this week’s topic with the viewing of the TED video, “How creativity is being strangled by the law”.  The presenter made a great point about creativity and how it is constrained.  Personally, I found that rather dismal.  However, I discovered the latter portion offered a ray of hope because, if history is any indication, the “remix” of creativity currently underway will hopefully bring common sense back into laws which are stifling the way they are currently written.

As I mentioned in my first posting, this is my first blog, ever.  As I reflect back on the past 10 weeks of this professional development course, I’m struck with how useful this communication tool has been.  But it makes me realize how constraining a Course Management/Learning Management System (CMS/LMS) really is, because with a blog, I can be more “free-flowing” in my thoughts.  So, the question for this week asks if a blog would be useful for the class or students?  I say YES!

The nature of a blog allows us to take a discussion in many different directions, and all the contributions have value, regardless of where they end up.  How would I use a blog in my online class?  I would use it as supplement to the graded online discussions/assignments.  Although, I would not grade a blog, and I would provide minimal direction for the topics; I would prefer the topics be student-generated.  I think it would  be better served allowing the students to determine the direction the blog takes, as long as it loosely relates to the course topic.  I teach Administration of Justice so there is no shortage of topics to discuss, all you have to do is pay attention to the news headlines on a given day.

I also tried my hand at Google sites this week and I intend on building-up and enhancing the webpage I set-up.  I teach online at more than one college and having important course information in one location is a great time saver for me.  No longer will I have to update information on three difference websites, instead I can do it all through one site and I also have control over how the information is displayed.

Check out my creation at:  https://sites.google.com/site/mccadmonline/

So I tried “Second Life” this week, and I can see there would be a “cool” factor for some students.  But is it for me as an instructor?  Although I spent a relatively short time on it (compared to the time some students spend in their virtual world) I recognized it isn’t for me.  My reasons for coming to this conclusion are varied ranging from hardware limitations, technical limitations of some students, to lack of appeal to other students.  Regarding the hardware aspect, the graphics were slow and I also found the program periodically slow to respond.  My laptop is only two years old so what would the experience be for a student using a much older computer?  Also, it is doubtful the “help desk” at any one of my colleges would be eager to help a student with a technical issue related to S.L. because it is unsupported software (i.e. not a part of the college’s distance ed. plan).  Also, it has a “role-playing” feel to it and that genre does not appeal to everyone and as instructors, should we focus on a niche, or be more inclusive for all our students?  What experiences have you had with “Second Life” and should I give it a second chance?

Wow!  We’ve really been exposed to a lot of unique teaching tools in the past eight weeks and I’m still sorting through some of them.  This week, I’ve explored Elluminate on the Bb site and I even tried my hand at taking the assessment after playing around with the program (whew…I passed).  I also liked the voice-thread “posting”; that was something I’ve never experienced before.  However, I’ve got one question for our instructors/moderators:  How have you learned of all these tools?  So much of what have been exposed to are things I never dreamed of.  The previous extent of my knowledge of Web 2.0 tools were the standard social networking sites: FB, Twitter, Linked-In, etc.  To continue the pool metaphor, I guess I was splashing around the shallow-end with water wings all these years!

But I must admit, I’m still wary of setting up accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  I felt this way before taking this course and although many of our classmates are using them for a bulk of the discussions (as I’ve read in the blogs), I resist because of privacy issues.  Oh well, maybe I’ll come around to changing my mind by the end of this course next year…

I teach a variety of courses in Administration of Justice and a common theme in all of the courses is the applicability of the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights to the daily workings of the Criminal Justice system. Yes, I agree this is really broad in scope for this week’s blog posting so I’m going to demonstrate a mini lesson from my “Introduction to Administration of Justice” course.  The emphasis is on “mini” here because the overall context is gleaned from the book, which you do not have for the purpose of this discussion.  If you are interested in learning more about the topic, I encourage you to look it up on the Internet (and in this case, yes, a wikipedia search of the 4th amendment is acceptable).  You can also look up “Individual Rights” and “Public Order” if you are so inclined.  Here is the discussion question:

Should an arrested suspect be freed, and criminal charges dropped (or the person acquitted at trial), if law enforcement violated the suspect’s 4th amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure?  Or, if the crime is heinous enough, should the suspect still be tried and convicted even though the evidence was obtained in violation of the law, solely in the interest of protecting society against this criminal?