Module 8 MVMs

Module 8 marks the end of this course and my last course before the Practicum. I've learned a great deal. The series has not been an "eye-opener" for me, because I have been teaching online for over 10 years. However, it has given me solid, practical tools that I will use.

I have been reviewing and revising my ePortfolio for this class over the past week. I probably have missed quite a few changes; however, I incorporated the suggestions made in my grading sheets right after receiving the grading sheet. Now I have to go back through and remember what I changed. The nature of the my classes require that we fix our work before we go on--if there is a problem in your database, you must fix it or the next steps will not work. I should have kept better track of what I did. However, I did not receive any serious "error messages." I wrote introductions for all my pages. It didn't make sense to me to create something without an explanation of what it was. Perhaps that is just the teacher in me coming out.

Internet in Cabarete has been up and down for the last few days. Fortunately, I finished the review of my ePortfolio on Wednesday. I'll do the proofreading on Friday.

What did I get out of this particular module? I tend to be very organized, so I did not pick up many organization tips. Unfortunately, I don't have the option of using Subject Lines; our new LMS just doesn't have that feature at this time.

I did feel like I was apologizing all week for wanting to have a life. I have given 150% to my job for 16 years. For the first 10 years I felt valued and was rewarded. Over the last five years the politicking and morale have gotten so bad that I have had to check out to stay sane. My support group has retired or is retiring. I planned to retire four years ago, but the economy nixed that. I don't think I have copped an attitude. I think that I am just coming to the realization that the people who are rewarded are the ones that give out A's and pass all their students. Those faculty get to be "real" online instructors and don't have to come to campus. The rest of us do the work that they are not on campus to do.

I got some great tips for tools. Google Docs is built into Canvas and I need to revisit all the Google tools. We have had issues with the built in tools in Canvas. Instructure's vendors we overloaded and Scribd was running nearly a week behind in translating documents. Our Camtasia Relay was locked up too and it was taking days to render a video. I am so glad that I know how to use other tools and have learned more from my classmates. As I have found an item that I think a colleague would enjoy, I've forwarded it. They have all thanked me and said it was a new resource they would use. Thanks to all my classmates.

Next stop? The Practicum. But that will have to wait until Summer--maybe Spring, but likely summer.

Thanks!!

Added on 11/17/2012

I have to admit I am surprised at the manner in which we all just "checked out" without closing. In my summer class we almost did not want to say "good bye." This course is about online community and we exited silently. Was the community building too intense and we burned out on communication? There is much to consider.

Module 7 MVMs

My reading on Monday began with Chapters 7 & 8 in Making the Move to eLearning: Putting Your Course Online. The two passages that follow hold particular importance to me in light of the week that just passed.

"When planning for a cooperative project in the course design phase, the most important thing is to determine a product that will not only showcase the important knowledge and skills but is also a task that would be difficult, if not impossible, to complete alone. This compels the group to work together to accomplish the task." (p. 81)

 "The project needs to be meaty enough that all group members will need to be involved if the group is to complete it within the required time frame." (p. 103)

The cooperative project that was assigned was an exercise in patience because it was too simple to be a group project. The coordination detracted from the product rather than adding to it. As it was, I did about 1/3 of what I normally would have done and it took about three times longer. What I will take away from this exercise is to review all of my group projects to make sure they are truly suitable from the number of students assigned.

I have rediscovered something I already knew about myself--I love to chase tangents to see how they may be relevant to the topic. In our classes at UW-Stout I often extend discussions; however, I don't  redirect the discussion back to the original topic. However, in studying my interactions with my students, I find that I extend and redirect as necessary. Only one of my classes is discussion based. All my other classes use the discussion board to surface issues, answer questions, and provide a forum for team work. In database classes there are correct answers. The answers are situational, but there are rules that govern the creation of databases that are founded in math. We can discuss and argue theory, yet math does create answers.

Most of my classes are entry level in which students are given the initial groundwork to develop critical thinking and the objectives must to approved by the Curriculum Committee. Each instructor teaching the class must teach to the same set of objectives. I will need to rewrite my lesson objectives to incorporate the EASy method while adhering to the class objectives stipulated by the program.

Resource:

Lehmann, K., & Chamberlin, L. (2009). Making the Move to eLearning: Putting Your Course Online. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Education.