I have enjoyed reading and commenting on my colleagues blog posts far more then I have enjoyed writing them myself thus far. Blogging is not something I have done before and I was unsure at the start what type of writing I wanted to use, or how personal or professional the work was supposed to be. I think however, that after a series of postings and reviewing the writing of others in the class, I have come to appreciate how with the right types of prompts or topics, blogging can be useful in a class about technology in education. Getting practical hands on experience with it has provided me with much more information on how to set things up, how it feels to write about topics I find interesting, and how participating in discussions about posts outside of the online classroom works in reality.
The use of a larger scale educational blog could certainly be useful for certain types of learners in a wide variety of subject areas. I think the key is the type of learner, as those who tend to be more creative and extroverted would tend to like this type of assignment and may continue with it after the end date has come and gone. For myself, I do like working with my fellow students in discussion boards on guided topics and I feel that I have gained a lot from reading others thoughts when it comes to distance education and education in general. However, the open flow of thoughts is not something that comes naturally for me, and I think that is why my preference is for it to be done within the structured environment of the classroom discussion boards. I also must say that I like the format of the LEO discussion boards better as you can follow the comments on a variety of thoughts more clearly then in the blogger format that I have set up.
All in all, I think the blogging assignment has given me an incite into a social media format that I had not previously experienced, and that extremely valuable to me, especially within the context of studying distance education. That said, I personally much prefer to keep social media separate from the classroom environment which I think may be why I found the blogging assignment more difficult. I enjoy the discussion boards in classes because they are actually part of the class, but this feels separate and open in a way that I am not really used to. Given time I think I could definitely come to enjoy blogging, but for me it would probably need to be about a topic that was unrelated to my studies.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Instructor Contribution to Course Material
In working with professors who are teaching hybrid courses at my office, I have had the pleasure of talking with several of them about their courses, what they enjoy, what they find challenging and in a few cases what they would have wanted to change. The class sizes are small, and all 5 of them have enjoyed the fact that they were able to get to know their students in a more familiar context then they had been able to previously. Two of them had taught online with UMUC in previous semesters and have said that they found the face to face interaction with their students really helped them to feel more connected. While this didn't specifically surprise me, I did find it interesting that the professor would have the same issue with building relationships as the student does in online only learning. As discussed in the class discussion boards, the hybrid classes allow the professor to act as the facilitator in their students learning. Our newest instructor was extremely happy that UMUC did not require him to lecture from a power point when teaching his class, and was excited that his business ethics course could be taught in a way that allowed for large amounts of student input. Our history professor was thrilled that while he was given a basic syllabus for his course, he was permitted to modify assignments so that they better fit his specific student population and allowed him to play on his strengths with regards to guiding his students through his class.
The first professor I worked with found UMUC to be too much work for him, which I found surprising at the time, and have not heard from anyone else. The ability to modify assignments and course material to ensure the students are engaged seemed to be a common positive trend in other professors comments, but I do not think it was a requirement. In reflection, I think it is possible that he either did not want to put in the effort to do anything other then lecture and grade assignments, or he had only ever lectured, and was not sure how facilitating the learning process would actually work.
I have found that professors who take an active role in facilitating their students learning, and serving as a mentor for those students to grow educationally both find more satisfaction in their work and also have better success with their students comprehension of the material. The students also seem to feel more of a connection with their professors and are able to better grasp the material and feel some ownership over the knowledge that they gain. Both of which are positive experiences for all parties and I think are things that should be encouraged within education in general.
The first professor I worked with found UMUC to be too much work for him, which I found surprising at the time, and have not heard from anyone else. The ability to modify assignments and course material to ensure the students are engaged seemed to be a common positive trend in other professors comments, but I do not think it was a requirement. In reflection, I think it is possible that he either did not want to put in the effort to do anything other then lecture and grade assignments, or he had only ever lectured, and was not sure how facilitating the learning process would actually work.
I have found that professors who take an active role in facilitating their students learning, and serving as a mentor for those students to grow educationally both find more satisfaction in their work and also have better success with their students comprehension of the material. The students also seem to feel more of a connection with their professors and are able to better grasp the material and feel some ownership over the knowledge that they gain. Both of which are positive experiences for all parties and I think are things that should be encouraged within education in general.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Instructors in Distance Education
The role of facilitator and mentor to students that many online and distance education instructors take is one that I strongly support. I think that role is something that is needed within education in general, and as the methods of presentation of material continue to improve face to face instructors will see their role start to change as well. Many of my courses for my bachelor's degree were in 200 or 300 person lecture halls where the highly qualified professor was simply reading off of prepared notes and slides which were then either handed out or e-mailed out after class. There was no feeling of support or even remotely of mentor-ship and made the faculty seem distant and uncaring. As the technical capability of distance education continues to improve, I hope that more institutions embrace the online format for courses such as these. The interactive nature of online classes, between discussions, group projects, and shared assignments, along with the direct interaction with the professor through those same mediums gives a much more personal experience to the student.
I think a large part of this is going to be driven by the students themselves. The cost of their education is going to make them look for institutions and professors who give them more then just a lecture on material they could have read at home. The real benefit of the highly skilled professor is their in depth knowledge of their given subject and their ability to explain it to others. Having the content for a class lectured from a power point is, at least for me, not taking full advantage of that skilled professor and is also not giving me the support that the tuition is paying for. The learner focused environment of the online classroom is something that face to face institutions are going to need to take notice of as tuition continues to rise and funding sources continue to fall. For myself, I would be interested to hear from professors who have taught in both formats on whether they find the role of mentor and facilitator to be a more rewarding experience. I would assume that they would, but I also could imagine that the students who don't express an interest in their given teaching subject would be more obvious and harder to motivate in the role of mentor and facilitator.
I think a large part of this is going to be driven by the students themselves. The cost of their education is going to make them look for institutions and professors who give them more then just a lecture on material they could have read at home. The real benefit of the highly skilled professor is their in depth knowledge of their given subject and their ability to explain it to others. Having the content for a class lectured from a power point is, at least for me, not taking full advantage of that skilled professor and is also not giving me the support that the tuition is paying for. The learner focused environment of the online classroom is something that face to face institutions are going to need to take notice of as tuition continues to rise and funding sources continue to fall. For myself, I would be interested to hear from professors who have taught in both formats on whether they find the role of mentor and facilitator to be a more rewarding experience. I would assume that they would, but I also could imagine that the students who don't express an interest in their given teaching subject would be more obvious and harder to motivate in the role of mentor and facilitator.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Finances in Distance Education
The variety of options for reading within the Theory and Practices of Online Learning text was exciting as I have a specific interest in the finances of education and the chapter on Making Relevant Financial Decisions jumped out at me. I hadn't previously thought about the fact that even in finance, issues and options can be looked at in completely different ways that can completely change an opinion or decision. The ideas of allocated and sunk costs were important in all of the different options, and it reminded me strongly of my office at JBLM. The office, furniture, and general supplies were a sunk cost, and the staff salaries are allocated fixed costs, so running a few classes with less then the desired number of students, even if that means technically running at a loss is still going to help offset the cost of the salaries and of the initial office set up.
I can definitely see how someone with a less then optimal financial background, when placed into the decision making roll can end up going the wrong way with things like cost cutting and project elimination due to overrun. There was a specific example about buying a new copier even if your old one was only a day old because the long term cost savings on the new one made it a good financial decision. One thing that I didn't really agree with in the example was that the cost of the first copier was irrelevant as it was a sunk cost. Yes the cash was gone, but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter if you spend more money immediately on a new one. In cold financial logic, it makes sense to save the money long term, but in the short term trying to justify the outlay of even more funding right after an already large purchase would be difficult to do. Savings over 5 years is a hard bonus for me to swallow when looking at a short term or yearly budget that has already been stretched to the maximum.
Also, the reading made me want a new copier in my office.
I can definitely see how someone with a less then optimal financial background, when placed into the decision making roll can end up going the wrong way with things like cost cutting and project elimination due to overrun. There was a specific example about buying a new copier even if your old one was only a day old because the long term cost savings on the new one made it a good financial decision. One thing that I didn't really agree with in the example was that the cost of the first copier was irrelevant as it was a sunk cost. Yes the cash was gone, but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter if you spend more money immediately on a new one. In cold financial logic, it makes sense to save the money long term, but in the short term trying to justify the outlay of even more funding right after an already large purchase would be difficult to do. Savings over 5 years is a hard bonus for me to swallow when looking at a short term or yearly budget that has already been stretched to the maximum.
Also, the reading made me want a new copier in my office.
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