How to Facilitate Online Learning

This is a quick read about facilitating an online course.  As I read it I said to myself several times "This seems like common sense. Of course you would do this."  Then I remembered that common sense is not so common and we have all experienced online facilitators that did not do some of the points they made.  I have no idea what it is like to teach an online course.  While I am sure there are similarities to teaching face-to-face.  I am sure there are big differences as well.  They recommended five major points for the facilitators to keep in mind. 
1.  Have a base of operations.  If you will facilitate from home you should organize a home office.
2.  Establish course policies and procedures.  Work with the university to identify what they already have in place and add what you need.
3.  Regularly contact students.  Because you are not seeing the student on a regular basis it is important to make yourself accessible.  Answer emails within 24 hours.  Have regularly scheduled office hours for phone calls or chats.  Post to the discussion board so students know you are monitoring. 
4.  Provide grade feedback in a timely fashion.  Not only provide the letter grade, but also some commentary so students know if they are on the right track. 
5.  Take the diversity of students into consideration.  Students can range from traditional college students to working students.  They can be first-time students or continuing their education.  They will very in age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic backgrounds.  Students are individuals and need to be treated as such.
Like I said earlier I do not think this info is going to surprise anyone, but it is a good reminder for what good teachers should do.  After being part of a learning community, I truly understand why the above five points are important.  I know how I feel when I have a teacher who does not have the same kind of methods as explained above.  This can make the difference in the learning community.



http://www.ehow.com/how_5072558_facilitate-online-learning.

Exploring Faculty Learning Communities: Building Connections among Teachering, Learning, and Technology

 This article discussed the role of digital technology in shaping the teaching and learning landscape of higher education.  Since 20% of children between the ages of five and eight are using computers, one can see why they bring the expectation of being engaged with new digitally mediated approaches to learning with them to school.  And with a vast array of technology out there to choose from one can see why teachers need to make informed decisions about digital technology in their classrooms.  Faculty at all levels needs support and training in how to use technology, but also in how to select technology that would be the best suited for their learning goals.  Research indicates that learning occurs most effectively in a community, this article explored the impact of a faculty learning community (FLC) at a large urban university.  This FLC consisted of eight faculty members form various departments across the university.  Their goal was to explore the use of technology as an instructional tool and its ability to support learning in the classroom.  The FLC attended bi-weekly meetings and distinguished ways in which what they were learning and practicing could be used in their own pedagogical practices.  In addition to meeting face-to-face they also posted notes and comments to a online blackboard to float ideas.  
I found this article interesting because it was addressing issues that we face daily in the elementary and high school level, but at the university level.  It was interesting to see what they are doing in higher education to combat the technology gap that is occurring between teachers and students.  For many teachers fear of change and new things limits their desire to change.  The assumption that today's students are technologically savvy often deters teachers form taking risks and exploring new options.  It was nice to see what was happening at the college level and what the faculty does there on top of the other expectations they have to keep themselves current within their profession.  Their ability to interact and discuss the role of the technology in their specific areas, along with critiques of specific technology they tried, with the success and failure of the implementation was central to the function of their FLC.  This lead most of them to continue for an additional year.  Their success also lead to the development of three more FLC within the university.     




 The link is automatically popping the PDF up on my computer - Let me know if you are having a problem with that...sorry.
www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/articleView.cfm?id=379

Text Messaging to Improve Social Presence in Online Learning

A  new generation of students are coming through today's colleges with far more experience with technology.  They rely on this technology to stay socially and academically connected.  Text messaging is considered one way to create an environment where students and instructors can become comfortable and interact with each other.  This article addresses the use of text messaging at the university level.  The university piloted web-software that could distribute campus alerts and distance education course updates.  Then they evaluated the effectiveness of integrating text message in an online environment.  The university sent out four types of messages; course updates, grade information, deadline information and weekly "hot" topics.  The university conducted a survey where at least 75% of the students agreed and had positive comments about the pilot.  In fact, most students were willing and anxious to experiment with the use of text messaging.  This study aimed to change the pedagogy in order to accommodate the mobile lifestyle of today's students.  The study found that using the text messaging tool, students and teachers became active participants in the learning process.  The field of education is typically slow to move forward and change its ways.  I think this article showcases educations shift into its willingness to change and advance with the times.  Since social presence has been linked to the satisfaction of the online learner I think the text messaging helps to keep students feeling connected and up-to-date within their community.


http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/TextMessagingtoImproveSocialPr/161829

The Learning Centered Principal

Ok, so, I guess I am on a DuFour kick.  I really just like his ideas and how they tie into what we are learning and reading about in class.  This article discusses the role of the principal within the learning community.  After going through educational leadership courses this topic is of high interest to me.  Everyone is aware that a principal must serve as an instructional leader for the school.  It is their responsibility to set an example and keep their school abreast on the most recent instructional strategies.  I think most principals want to help their teachers teach more effectively, but how?  In order for the shift to occur principals need to change their roles as well as teachers.  They are not just instructional leaders, but learning leaders.  The principal needs to be at the forefront of changing the school culture.  Along with initiating, facilitating, and sustaining the process of the shifting school mindset the principal must also support their teachers in all aspects of professional development including confronting staff members who are not fulfilling their obligations.  Principals, now need to put student and adult learning at the core of their priorities and serve as the lead learner.


http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/may02/vol59/num08/The_Learning-Centered_Principal.aspx

What is a Professional Learning Communtiy?

After the past two weeks of reading it got me really thinking about our first posting and the professional learning communities we have been involved in personally.  I discussed how my schools meetings use the Dufour model.  I have to admit I did not know much more about the DuFour than those three questions we use at our meetings.  That is why I decided to do my first posting on an article written by Richard DuFour - What is a "Professional Learning Community"?  I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn more about DuFour's professional learning community model.


The article was a more in depth look at the DuFour model.  This model focuses on the core mission of education shifting from students being taught to ensuring the fact that students are actually learning.  Every professional in the building must work together to keep exploring how they want students to learn, how they will know when they have learned, and how they will respond when students are experiencing difficulty?  The part of the article that really touched me was the standard scenario where a teacher teaches unit and by the end some students still have not mastered the skills and the teacher is left to make a decision to move forward or go back and review again.  I feel like this happens frequently and I do not know what the correct thing to do is.  However, using this model the team makes decisions and works together to help the student.  The article truly explains a great environment to learn and work I see some components of this model within my school district, but I also feel like they are just expecting it to happen by merely presenting teachers with questions, standards, and curriculum.  Our school seems to be suffering from the data rich/information poor syndrome.  I think this information is useful because it presented examples of successful schools that use this model.  After the various readings I have done I am interested in continuing to learn more about how true professional learning communities work and operate within the school setting.

http://pdonline.ascd.org/pd_online/secondary_reading/el200405_dufour.html

Welcome

Thank you for coming to my blog.  The purpose of my blog is to discuss online community building.

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