The journey comes to an end...

OK, well I guess this is just about it for Online Pedagogy in Practice!

I have enjoyed the course and do feel that I have gained new skills - I can't say that for some of the other courses I have undertaken as part of my GCTE!  I gained a lot of new skills via Assignment 2 both from facilitating the actual event and from the feedback and discussion from those involved.  I have also enjoyed using WIMBA within this course. As a distance student - feelings of isolation can be prevelant - so having the opportunity to engage with other students was good.  I would have enjoyed it more if there was more use of the camera - I like to be able to see who I'm speaking with. All this said, I am happy to say that I am leaving this course with a greater understanding of Pedagogy and the world of the online and virtual - the harder part with be working on the implimentation of these skills into my own teaching journey!

Ok, well that's Assignment 2 completed! Yippee!  Overall I was really happy with the way my online event went and happy with myself in that I am now gaining confidence in setting up Wiki sites.  I think using a Wiki worked well in that it was easy to access for participants and they did not need to log in with passwords etc and the site was fully open in all aspects and ready to go as per the advertised date.  I also learnt a great deal from particpants comments in my event - a range of applications I had never heard of - so that's certainly been a bonus!

I think other event that needed log ins etc did experience some problems in that sites were not always working as well as they could which inhibited participation - I did find this frustrating and am now more understanding of student complaints :).  All this said, no site is perfect and I will continue to browse other online media that I could potentially use in the future.  I do feel that I am gaining more confidence in the online virtual arenas - and will more investigation and practice this can only continue to improve.  All in all, I feel I have gained a lot from this course and have learnt a range of new skills and discovered a new world of online teaching strategies for use in the future.  Onward and upward!

How time flys when you're having fun!  Well that is the saying I guess, but currently time is flying and I'm not having too much fun!  Work and family illness have been absorbing all of my efforts of late and I do feel that I haven't participated as much as I would have like in the online presence aspects of Assignment 2. Working full time and having two young children, that seem to be constantly unwell of late really is starting to take its toll..But onward and upward!  I have tried to enter a few different online areas linked to Assignment 2 and have been amazed at the diversity of presentations and themes here.  The areas I have entered have given me a range of new ideas and techniques to both follow up further on and look at introducing to my current area of work.  So while I haven't been into them as frequently as planned, I do feel that I am gaing value from the work here of others. Go team!

The mind is a blur!!

Collaborative and non-collaborative learning/ social media/ student-centred learning/asynchronous and synchronous /wikis/blogs/google docs/pedagogy..the list goes on..I think sometimes it all becomes a bit of a blur!  Trying to stay active and engaged in creating and participating in a ‘online presence’ has become a task and a half!  Perhaps I needed to allocate my time better by being more aware of over-lapping dates for these events.  Being unwell during many of them also didn’t help..sigh!  I do think it will be harder for those students that have added events later to have the number of students active that is really required to facilitate a well- rounded discussion. But I will do my best here.

Assignment 2 - Online Pedagogy in Practice

Well my Wiki for Assignment 2 has been open for student discussion for a little over 24 hours now and already the discussions are flowing free!  It's great to see that fellow students are getting active and engaged in this assessment piece and still with three more days of converstation left!  As I am 'first off the mark' so to speak with this assessment, I am sure I will see far more fabulous events for others as the assessment item progresses that will give me more ideas for online presence in the future. 

The Wonderful World of the Wiki!

Ok, well my Wiki to use in my second assignment for Online Pedagogy in Practice is done and ready..well just about ready..for action!  Being a Wiki novice, it was a real experience to get one up and on the go.  In talking to work colleagues the general response is " Gee I know nothing about them - don't think I could do it!"  My response now, is "Hey it really is quite easy - even I can do it!".  The challenge for me now is to look at areas within my area that we can use the wonderful collaboration that Wiki's provide with our current student cohort.  Have in all reality had a lot of fun working with this Wiki, albeit a very simple Wiki - but it has certainly given me a taste for it.

A bit more calm than manic..well for today..

Ok, that's the first assignment - Literature review - done and dusted!  I really have found researching the particular topic I chose - Barriers to educators in adopting e-learning technology- to be really interesting.  I have now also discussed with work colleagues the potential of turning this area into a paper for the next Australasian Enabling Conference as it is such an important area of education. Funnily enough, I am now looking forward to Assignment 2!

Traditional VS Transcendent

My topic for Ass 1 has been so relevant to my current circumstances.  A number of staff that I currently work with are ‘technophobic’ and are therefore very reluctant to willingly jump on board with the new wave of distance education, primarily e-learning.  There is the misunderstanding here that e-learning is simply making standard print materials used in face to face delivery electronic and dumping them onto Moode.  Well we know that this is certainly not an effective method of e-learning, but without adequate training, support and the opportunity to engage with other staff that have been involved with e-learning for a number of years – circumstances not likely to change for some time..geez I wonder why distance students in these circumstances have higher attrition rates??

In many ways e-learning is learning to let go of the past…

http://www.eriding.net/images/thinkers_cartoon.jpg

WIMBA or ZUMBA?

Well I used to be a WIMBA virgin!  While I had heard of WIMBA it is not a tool that I had used before in my studies and I must say it was refreshing to be able to ask questions in ‘real-time’ and to catch a glimpse of my lecturer.  I find virtual face to face communications a real advantage in distance/e-learning environments.  I was also a wonderful opportunity to engage with other students.  All this aside, I was relaying the events to my technologically challenged Hairdressing partner that evening.  His reply “is WIMBA a new version of ZUMBA?”  God love him!

Social Media

I came across this link earlier in the week and thought it was worth sharing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUeL3n7fDs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

From Calmy manic to simply manic!

OK, well here we are at the end of week 2 and I'm transitioning from calmly manic to simply manic.

Man´ic

a.

1.

(Med.) Of or pert. to, or characterized by, mania, or excitement; frenzied; as, with manic energy.

I am having troubles opening many of the reading links for the topics which is proving to be a tad frustrating! All said, I am moving ahead with my 1st assessment item..though I am getting a minor head ache from all this head banging!

Online Pedagogy in Practice - what's it all about?

When I printed out The Horizon Report - all 40 pages (and yes I'm a print kinda gal!), I was a little apprehensive about the size of the document sitting alongside the other reading that we were addressing for Week 1 of this course.  What a pleasant surprise this report was to read!  I was quite shocked, embarrassingly so, at how engaged I became with the content.  In my current situation, I am fighting a somewhat losing battle to draw a well-established bridging program into the 21^st Century in a way that will work for the new cohort of “web-based/ Generation Y” learners.  My plan now is to leave this report strategically placed around the local staff room!

Evaluation

OK, now I'm really a bit behind I know..however:
There were some interesting reads in this section.
I have linked governance and policy evaluation to the Bruce King 'evaluation' of the Enabling programs at CQUniversity.  What do we do with evaluation and how do we process evaluation information?  Often there is organization resistance to many forms of evaluation - that is of course unless the evaluation is organizationally based.  As we are all aware, all evaluations are, and can be, open to manipulation to suit the 'requirements of the evaluation'.  In the example I have stated above - it is important to consider the conditions of the evaluation - are they merely a source of legitimization as Boswell indicates can be the case.  That is: has the decision of the evaluation outcome already been decided?.  In the example indicated - while extensive research was carried out - it is far easier to have an external party offer an evaluation in that they can come and go and not be part of the fall out of the evaluation findings - or to experience the 'wash-back effects' as Anderson and Wall discuss in this article. 
In terms of Course Evaluations - good or bad, they are used as parameters of teaching productivity and outcomes.   Educators need to keep in mind that difference forms of evaluation vary in effectiveness from student to student depending on learning styles are preferences.  I recently attending an International Enabling Conference - various speakers here indicated the need for flexible and creative evaluation techniques that they were implementing to align with students learning styles, which is quite the opposite to the norm.  Evaluations here allowed students to show understanding of course materials by which ever means worked for them, so long as they meaning was clear.  Examples here included building workable scale versions of constructions to show understanding of elements of pre-Engineering requirements, such as measurements, weights etc.

OK will keep it brief..onward and upward folks!

Echo...echo...echo

HI folks, have been out of action for a little while on annual leave, and then couldn't get back into my blog!

Apparently I have a 'conflicting' account issue that the fabulous ITD team at CQUni have been working on for me..so I currently have dubious access :)

So...Week 6:

I explored areas related to generational differences in my Annotated Bibliography.  What to do with the 'Net Generation'?  It would seem that many of these users come with the skills to find..but not critically evaluate..what has been found.  I think as educators we need to work with the skills this generation has, in that they don't really need to be taught how to search, but why, and need assistance in locating relevant and reputable information that is suitable for academic use.

So, we need to recognize the abilities of the ‘net generation’ of university students to confidently read images and text, but question their ability to critically evaluate the information.  The challenges for educators, is to adequately consider students current knowledge and to address the imbalance of teacher and student within this context by refining the teacher-directed approach and the student-centered approach to course content that focuses on critical reflection and to understand texts in relation to contexts. This in itself requires a paradigm shift from old practices and the embracing of flexibility on the part of the educator to distinguish what does and does not work in the new millennium of education

As a “generation X-er” and having experience with Generation Y youngsters (J) there is a focus to have it all now.

Week 7 & 8

Ok, thanks for the links provided there Scott.  The fist link to the article outlining the power of 6 model was great.  The six ares of potential value adding, areas of professional capacity and the six strategic APD Initiatives do look really beneficial.  As I deal solely with external students, having a working and relevant online learning system and area are crucial to the students success.  I did have a chuckle at the ‘current approaches to developing staff skills’ section – as I remember when CQUni switched from Blackboard to Moodle and the staff conflict that surrounded the transition! You would think that academics would be eager to learn new skills!

Planning for Learning and Assessment – I don’t think that there was anything in these slides that we haven’t already really covered in the overall content of this course. This said, I have passed this slide show onto colleagues to take a look at.  I have seen the ‘8 Learning Management questions’ before and YES they are very handy in course design.