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Blog #4 – Planning and Implementation

December 4th, 2008

This class has given me an opportunity to explore and use multiple web 2.0 tools such as this blog, twitter, Diigo and Wikispaces.  I’ve also learned about numerous other tools I have at my disposal.  Between this class and others I’ve taken recently, I feel I’m in a place where I’m beginning to understand the power of these tools and their applications at work, school and home.  I’m thrilled that at the beginning of September I had no blog and now I’m writing my 12th post.  I’m also pleased to have responded for the first time to professional bloggers.  All of these activities have increased my confidence with using these tools and I look forward to continue using them.

In a perfect world, we would be able to go back to our workplace or school and implement some of these new tools.  In the real world, many of us are blocked from accessing these tools we’ve learned to enjoy that not only benefit us but could benefit our employers as well.  However, let’s just assume for a moment that we could implement some of these tools.  How do we use them and what do we need to consider when implementing them into our classroom?

When researching online learning best practices for another class I’m taking this semester, I came across General Guidelines for Distance Education Programs from Distance learning: Principles for effective design, delivery, and evaluation written by Mehrotra, Hollister, & McGahey. (2001) One of these guidelines stood out above all others:

  • Identify the teaching or learning objectives to be achieved, and then choose the technology tools that make the goals achievable.

I’m very excited about using these tools, but we can’t let our excitement cloud the reason for using them in the first place.  There’s so much “buzz” in my workplace about Web 2.0 and what tools may be available to us in the future, but:

  • Have we really taken the time to decide how to use these tools and are they more effective than the tools we currently use.
  • Will the benefit of using these tools outweigh the time and energy that we spend in trying to have them implemented?

I’d argue that it does but these are questions we need to answer as we move forward.  I have no doubt that Web 2.0 is already changing the way we learn and the way we’ll design learning in the future.  Let’s enjoy the journey but not forget to step back from time to time and reevaluate our destination.

Resource:  Mehrotra, C. M., Hollister, C. D. & McGahey, L. (2001) Distance learning: Principles for effective design, delivery, and evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Retrieved November 23, 2008 from http://www.rodp.org/faculty/pedagogy.htm.


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Blog #3 – Safe Practices with Web 2.0

November 25th, 2008

Safety and security of our students, learners and even ourselves is something we all need to consider when using Web 2.0 tools.  How do we keep our students safe and how do we keep our information secure?  I propose that we begin by teaching our students to become Digital Citizens.  The ISTE offers many guidelines on how to teach students to be digital citizens and recommends the following Four-Stage Technology Learning Framework for Teaching Digital Citizenship in the current issue of Learning and Leading with Technology:

  1. Awareness – Engage students to become technologically literate.  Students need to know whats appropriate and not appropriate when using different digital technologies.
  2. Guided Practice – Provide students with guidance on the appropriate use of technology.  Students need to know they’re in safe a environment where take can explore and take risks with the support of their teacher.
  3. Modeling & Demonstration – Teachers and other adults need to be positive role models to demonstrate what it means to be a good digital citizen so students can follow their example.
  4. Feedback and Analysis – Adults should offer constructive criticism and maintain an open discussion about how technology can be used in school and in society.

With the support of parents and others in the community, teaching digital citizenship can improve the safety of the classroom and online in general.  If we instill these values in our students today, will safety and security be less of a concern in corporate tomorrow?

Currently, safety and security is an issue of concern at the corporate level.  I’d think we need to set similar expectations and maintain a code of conduct when using tools in the corporate environment as well, but a blog post by Michele Martin may suggest otherwise.

She was an instructor and facilitator of an online Work Literacy course that presented various Web 2.0 tools for learning professionals.  The 5 week course had 3,000 visitors with 749 creating profiles and posting on each others walls.  There were 60 forum threads and 45 blog posts among numerous other communications.  Through all of this communication, she didn’t witness a single inappropriate or unprofessional exchange, nor did she receive complaints from any participants.  The only potential issues she witnessed was when there were a few participants that were there to sell a product.  In these cases, the other participants mostly ignored them so in a sense they were self policing and didn’t acknowledge this behavior.

Can we leave this self policing to chance in a corporate setting?  If not, how much control do we need to have over the tools we use?  If we provide too much control, will learners be discouraged from using the tools?

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INSYS 497 – Final Project Idea

November 13th, 2008

I will design a lesson plan to teach a class of 15 learners how to create a Google Map for family members who are visiting from out of town. I will divide the class into three groups:

  • Group 1 – Using a web 2.0 tool, will research and create a list of the top 10 restaurants in the area. (recommended tools: Yelp or Urbanspoon)
  • Group 2 - Using web 2.0 tools, will research 5 attractions and take or find picture of each one. (recommend using Picassa for photos)
  • Group 3 – Using Google Maps, will incorporate content from groups 1&2 to create Google Map for family.

This lesson will incorporate Connectivism, Project Based Learning and elements of Constructivism.

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Blog #2 – Research and the Reflective Practitioner

November 13th, 2008

As learning professionals, research and reflective practice are essential to insure success.  In a world that’s constantly changing with learners who are constantly changing, if we’re not reflecting on what we’re doing in practice:

  • How will we know if we’re successful?
  • How will we know what we’ve learned?
  • How will we know how to become better at what we do?

Reflective practice, introduced by Schon, involves thoughtfully considering one’s own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline.  As a new practitioner of instructional design, research and reflection are essential to my success. I need to think about what I’m doing each day when I’m completing a needs assessment or when I’m stroryboarding a new e-learning.  It’s important that I reflect on why I made the decisions I’ve made and where I acquired the information to make those decisions.  I need feedback from peers and coaching from mentors and supervisors.  I need to read industry publications like ASTD’s T&D and the E-learning Guild’s Learning Solutions E-Magazine.

During these past three weeks in class, I’ve become the reflective practitioner of which Schon is speaking.  Although Schon introduced this concept in 1987, with Web 2.0, reflective practice has never been easier than it is today. Blogs and wiki’s allow me to share my ideas with co-workers, classmates and other professionals in the industry. Because I’m a novice at blogging and new to the field, it’s yet another opportunity to solicit feedback and improve as a designer.  I read other professional’s posts to learn from and reflect on what they’re presenting.  By using Diigo, I’ve joined other e-learning and instructional design groups where we share and comment on links to blogs and sites that may be of interest to other group members.

I look forward to my journey as an instructional designer.  Research and reflective practice will be my guide.  Michelle Martin said it best on her blog, The Bamboo Project, when commmenting on reflective practice.  She said, “reflection is about–considering what you can learn from your experiences and then doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t.”  I want to do more of what works. How about you?

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Blog #1 – Creating My Own Social Network

October 30th, 2008

After reading the Wikipedia reference to social network services, I discovered that I started social networking when I joined Classmates.com in the late ‘90’s. The interface as I remember was relatively simple. I joined as a member and created a profile with my high school name, college name and years of graduation and then searched for fellow classmates by the same categories. The website allowed me to send an email through the site to classmates of my choice. It would be years later that I joined MySpace to keep in touch with my group of friends, send them party invitations, make plans with them for the weekend and be reminded to wish them a Happy Birthday. Who would have guessed how much social networks have changed the way we communicate and provided us with additional opportunities to learn and network?

Today, I’ve created a diverse social network via MySpace, Facebook, Linked In, Wikispaces, iGoogle and Twitter, among others. I keep a blog and post photos to Flickr and Mobileme galleries. I saw little value in social networks beyond keeping in touch with friends and networking through Linked In until recently. I continue to read in trade journals about the importance of using Web 2.0 and social networks as tools to enrich the learning experience.

Where do I go from here?  I think it’s very important as an Instructional Designer to continue to learn and keep up with industry trends and new technologies.  Social networking affords us that opportunity.  The E-learning Guild and Work Literacy are currently sponsoring an online conference called Work Literacy: Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals.  This is a great example of how we can use social networking to increase our knowledge in the field.  It’s no mistake that they’re using Ning, a Web 2.0 tool to present this conference.

» Read more: Blog #1 – Creating My Own Social Network

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Class 1 – Reflections – INSYS 497

October 28th, 2008

I’m taking a new class, “Social Networking For Educators: Using Web 2.0 in the Classroom,”  and I’m very excited about this class because I see it as an extension of “Designing Constructivist Learning.”   This time we’re focusing strictly on Web 2.0 and creating a Social Network.  The reading and podcast for the first class focused on Web 2.0 and how we need to change our thinking about educating students.  Both also stressed the role that Web 2.0 should play in this change of thinking.  With the help of technology, we now live in a global economy and if we are preparing students and our workforce to compete in this new economy, we must teach them how to use this technology effectively.

In the reading, Solomon and Schrum state “Web 2.0 signals a transition from isolation to interconnectedness.”  They go on to say that these new tools allow multiple learners to participate and collaborate rather than work alone.  As an instructional designer in a corporate setting, collaboration is a major focus.  While each person may have a specific role, most of us work on projects as a team.  We particpate on multiple teams with various functions.  However, when I think back to how I was taught in school, we had very few group projects and homework was done as an individual rather than a collaboration.  Incorporating Web 2.0 into the classroom will help foster these skills.  In the podcast, John Seely Brown, mentioned that we must focus more on a collaborative learning environment or context of learning rather than the content of learning.  Web 2.0 creates an architecture that allows for this focus of collaboration.

As educators, we need to embrace these tools by using them ourselves so that we can make decisions about how to apply them to the classroom so that we encourage collaboration and learning by discovery.  Our learners are already using these tools for many reasons.  We need to take advantage of their motivation to use these tools and get them excited about learning.  My question is this, with so many Web 2.0 applications available with similar functionality and more being developed each day:

  1. Where do we start?
  2. Do we choose tools currently being used by our learners?  Does it matter?
  3. Will the tools we use be outdated in a few months or a year?

I’m looking forward to your thoughts and comments.

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Lessons Learned in Constructivism

October 17th, 2008

On the eve of our final class, I think it’s fitting to highlight what I’ve learned about constructivism these past 7 weeks.  Since it’s 11pm and I have class in the morning, a list is my preferred format:

  1. Less is more.
  2. Trust the process.
  3. Planning a lesson requires more thought and planning than actual writing of instructions and giving direction.
  4. Sprinkle.
  5. Scaffold.
  6. It’s not always what you think the learner should know.
  7. The sooner you “hook” the learner, the better. (hook=elicit an emotional response)
  8. Constructivism requires the facilitator to “think on their feet.”
  9. Constructivism requires a safe environment to be effective.

These are just a few of the themes that have been brought up in class.  If you have any to add, please feel free to comment.  This class has been one of the most enlightening of the program.  I was not so eager to take another Saturday class but this was a truly rewarding experience.  Thanks to Dr. Ackerman for practicing what she was teaching.  I look forward to “sprinkling” some constructivism in my future courses.

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The Key To Success

October 14th, 2008

In class, we’ve learned the importance of a skilled facilitator to conduct a Constructivist lesson.  I’m currently designing teaching outlines for a new method of delivering learning at my company.  The idea is that when business is slow and associates can afford time off the phones, a supervisor contacts the training department and requests that they attend a training session to cover a topic of which associates could use some additional instruction.  The sessions are conducted via a webinar format and last approximately one hour.  The session opens on a specific topic but the learners are asked where they’d like to begin.  The challenge in designing the teaching outline is similar to the challenge we faced when designing our Constructivist lesson.  How much is too much?  My first draft consisted of a series of subtopics and questions for each subtopic.  My approach was to provide the facilitator with possible subtopics and various questions and answers related to each subtopic.  It’s been suggested that perhaps we’re providing too much information for the facilitator because the facilitator should know the answers to the questions.  I was once again reminded that a skilled facilitator is a key to success.

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Hard Habit to break – Part II

October 8th, 2008

It’s been a few weeks since my last post and I’m still learning what it means to apply constructivism in the classroom.  I’ve learned a lot by working with Julie to present our lesson and by participating as a learner in others’ presentations.  It seems the biggest challenge for most of us has been to let go and trust the process.  In doing so, the learning has seemed to take on a life of it’s own and has exceeded my expectations.  I’ll share what I’ve learned by answering the questions I posed prior to presenting my Constructivist lesson. » Read more: Hard Habit to break – Part II

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Hard habit to break…

September 19th, 2008

Well, not actually so much a habit but rather a way of thinking about designing instruction. This week has been a challenge for Julie and I developing our Constructivist lesson for class this Saturday. Throughout the program at Penn State we spend a lot of time on the Dick and Carey model and breaking down it’s parts. Even though I’m a relatively novice instructional designer, this model has become somewhat second nature to me and guides my thinking about design. I personally prefer a lot of structure and that’s why I believe I respect the model the way I do. Although I recognize that we sometimes have to adapt the model to our specific learning situation, having a system that provides a framework and logical progression of designing learning works well for me. It’s been a challenge designing a lesson this week without providing too much direction to the learner. I find it difficult to give up control and instead guide the learner to discover what they need to know on their own.

  1. How are we sure the learners will come to the right conclusion and learn the information we’ve determined they need to know?
  2. How do we decide when the learners are going off track?
  3. Who defines the right track – the learner or the ID that’s completed needs assessments to determine what the learner needs to know?

I have a lot of questions and look forward to experiencing Constructivism first hand tomorrow during our lesson. Perhaps the answers will become clearer. Stay tuned.

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