Category: Building Online Courses

1. Courses are easy to navigate and there is a clear structure to the course.
2. The course has activities that engage the learner such as a discussion component or interactive links/videos.
3. Communication strategies are clearly laid out. The learner knows how to communicate with the instructor and when to expect a response.
4. The course learning outcomes are clear and attainable. There is sufficient content and resources to achieve the learning outcomes.
5. Course materials are accessible. All the e-books, links and external components work.

Quality Guideline Links

Click to access CanREGs%20Eng.pdf

Click to access facultycenter_OCAT_v2.0_25apr07.pdf

Click to access eCampusAlberta_QualityEQS2.0_Brochure_2017_FINAL.pdf

Click to access OnlineQualityCheckList_SiteJuly27.pdf

https://www.rit.edu/academicaffairs/tls/content/online-course-quality-checklist-ocqc

Click to access Online-Course-Guidelines-Checklist-DRAFT-2016.pdf

https://it.cornell.edu/document/online-course-quality-checklist-0

Quality Online Learning and Teaching (QOLT) Instrument. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxN4M6qCVbDPOEl0d1dKWmFXOEk/view?pli=1

Summary

E-Portfolio’s proved a dynamic and unique method for student assessment. They are typically a mini website or web page dedicated to the student’s courses or areas of research. E-Portfolio’s contain a variety of artifacts such as academic reflections and responses, compiled research, multimedia and academic resources. They allow the student to effectively organize all of their research and responses in one place that is both portable and accessible to people they share it with. E-Portfolio’s can be password protected or public, making it an easy and remote way to share assignments and research with instructors and other academic professionals.

Unlike, a heavily waited end of course exam E-Portfolios provide a way to assess student learning throughout the duration of a course or program. Student’s often contribute to their E-Portfolio on a regular basis through reading reflections, research compilation, and other writing assignments. This gives students the opportunity to “record their own progress, self-assess against learning outcomes, and reflect..on their development over time (Pelliccione & Dixone, 2008, pg.751). It also gives instructors the opportunity to see how a student has grown and developed over time, and provides a linear documentation that can be assessed. Rather than only seeing the outcome (like in a final exam) instructors can see the journey; they can observe student development.

E-Portfolio’s are also a great professional tool. They can take on the form of a active documentation of a students academic research and can be used as reference for potential employers or when a student is applying for a grant for academic research.

They are also creative, the allow the student to curate the information they find and integrate it with their own writing. E-Portfolio’s can also host a variety of media including videos, external links, photos or diagrams. this gives students the opportunity to express their learning in various formats. Overall, E-Portflio’s are a great assessment tool and benefit the learners professional and personal growth.

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My Learners

E-Portfolio’s would be a great way to assess my learners. Since, I primarily work in the humanities and creative arts, end of course examinations do not typically encompass student development. E-Portfolio’s would give my learners the opportunity to develop their own writing and engagement with academic text, reflect on their own artworks or writing pieces, and give them a creative outlet to do so.

They could also provide a way to engage in peer-assessment. Students can share pieces of their E-Portfolio with other students to get feedback on their research and projects.

My learner’s engagment with the readings is crucial and providing a way for students to respond to a reading is important. An E-Portfolio would give them a way to compile their responses and also look back on how their understanding of a text(s) may have changed over time.

It can also function as a professional tool for my students. They can include images of artworks and written pieces, that can be useful hen applying for grants or professional opportunities.

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My E-Portfolio

Developing an E-Portfolio would be a useful tool for my personal and professional development. I could use it to compile my research in an organized and portable place. An E-Portfolio can be way to showcase my research and my responses to other academic theories/ideas.

I also often find resources on the go and don’t always have the time to read them right away, I could create a place in my portfolio for these resources. It can also be a pace where I put my responses to a reading or essay, even a review of a book or paper, or experts from my own research.

In addition to professional reasons, I could include teaching resources on my portfolio. This could include my own writing, found articles and videos, and other resources.

Pelliccione l., Dixone, K. (2008) Portfolios: Beyond assessment to empowerment in the learning landscape. Conference proceedings Ascilite 2008. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ascilite.org/conferences/melbourne08/procs/pelliccione.pdf

Kahn, Susan (2014, Winter).  E-Portfolios: A Look at Where We’ve Been, Where We Are Now, and Where We’re (Possibly) Going.  Peer Review, 16/1, p. 4-7. 

https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/educational-technologies/all/eportfolios

https://teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/assessment-and-evaluation/design-assessment/e-portfolio

Behaviourism, Constructivism, Cognitivism, Humanism, Connectivism

Throughout my research into the various learning theories above, I learned that each theory argues for a different instructor and learner roles. The two that stood out to me where constructivism and connectivism. Constructivism argues that humans acquire knowledge from their experiences whereas connectivism argues that technology has created non-linear learning and that this learning can be used for the learners benefit (“Constructivism”; Siemens, 2005).

I feel that both are applicable for online learning. Constructivism encourages problem-solving, peer-to-peer group work, and instructor facilitation. In an online learning environment, all of these aspects are important for a successful course. As an instructor’s role in an online course is to mentor and facilitate learning and thus they are not always readily available the importance of peer work and problem solving is significant (textbook, 2017). Through the lens of constructivism learner’s can work with their peers through online discussions and group projects, share their experiences, and learn together.

I teach contemporary art and art history, so peer to peer discussion is crucial. This includes discussing and interpreting artwork, and critiquing one peers artwork. Right now, I am building visual art online courses and the majority of my students will Generation Y and Z. Most of them will be 1st year students and thus, feeling and building a sense of community online will be important to their learning experience. I feel the connectivism supports a peer-to-peer learning experience and I plan on incorporating tools such as the Mural Brainstorming tool and other collobarative resources to encourage peer learning.

Constructivism is also a useful theory for online learning because it incorporates the learners experience with technology and maximizes. The majority of my learners have used the internet to “self-teach” and connectisvism provides method for using their desire to use the internet to learn while encouraging them how to find accurate information and make multidisciplinary connections with it (Giesbrecht, 2017). Learning how to find and use information online can help them build both their technical art skills (drawing, painting, Photoshop etc) and their theoretical skills as research is a pivotal aspect of contemporary art.

Connectivism also focuses on creating networks including using social media etc. When learning of art and visual learning, social media plays a key role in today’s environment (Goldie, 2016). Learners are continually viewing images and taking information from and it is my role as the instructor to show them how to read and understand images. In addition, to know what they may be trying to communicate or how they may try to manipulate the viewer.

Connectivism encourages the instructor to curate and guide the learners through their knowledge and connection forming experience. As an instructor, I can use visual networks to create research activities and encourage students to use this research to communicate their own visual message. Learners can then put their creation back into a visual network and see how new connections may form. These visual networks could be youtube, instagram, VSCO, flickr etc.

Construcvism and Connectivism both support my learners online and provide different methods for expanding my learners knowledge and learning network. I feel that both are useful in different ways, and in some cases compliment each other.

References

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2016). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Constructivism. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/learning_teaching/ict/theory/constructivism.shtml

Giesbrecht, N. (2017, June). Connectivism: Teaching and Learning (E. Van Dusen & P. Pichette, Eds.). Retrieved from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Connectivism:_Teaching_and_Learning

Goldie, J. (2016). Connectivism: A knowledge learning theory for the digital age? Medical Teacher,38(10), 1064-1069. Retrieved from http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/118043/9/118043.pdf

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism:A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved from http://itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm

What do you know about these generations that will be important to consider in designing your course? What possibilities exist with making assumptions about our learners and their learning needs? How can you overcome some of these potential challenges?

Objective Questions: What have you learned about working with different generations of learners in an online forum?

            Throughout the assigned videos and readings, and my own research I have found that designing successful courses online for multiple generations requires a variety of different styles, tools, and methods of engagement in order to guide learners through a course. In scholar  Michael Marmon’s (2018) research on social presence in online learning, he highlights the importance of creating online course that are well structured and organized because he found that online students are often challenged by both the content of the course and the “fundamental skills that support learning in an [online environment]” (p.69). This is especially relevant for generations that are “Digital Immigrants” as outlined by Marc Prensky’s (2001) two categories of learners; which is informed by generations different exposures to technology throughout their lifetime. He described the two as “Digital Natives” and Digital Immigrants,” Digital Natives are the Net-Generation or those who have grown up in the digital world whereas, Digital Immigrants are those who were exposed to the digital world later such as the Silent Generation, Babyboomers, or Generation X. Prensky’s research shows that many of the Digital Immigrants are teaching Digital Natives and as a result, the technology gap causes some tension in the learning environment because “today’s students think and process information differently” (p.1).  He argued for a teaching methodology that incorporates “legacy content” such as traditional learning methods (reading, writing, lectures) with “future content” such technology, robotics and the politics associated with them (p.1). Together, he proposed that this method creates an environment where intergenerational teachers and students can be successful as both learner and instructor.

Caroline Koh’s (2015) research on teaching the net-generation and 21st-century learner’s, provides methods for teaching them and she suggested motivating students with virtual labs that provide instant feedback and interactions with peers and instructors. Alongside a variety of embedded resources such as online tools, forums, and documents. Some of these methods are echoed in research on teaching different generations (“Teaching across Generations,” 2014)  where the author outlines the characteristics given to each generation and proposes both suggestions for each generation and suggested strategies for all students (figure 1).

                                 Figure 1

The authors argue that creating a variety of learning practices will appeal to all generations of learners in addition to acknowledging that the characteristic placed on learners in each generation may be biased. The author asks us to question the validity of these generation labels because of their bases on specific class, racial and social background. Therefore, working with different generation online requires insight into their generations exposure to technology, generation-specific characteristics as well as an awareness of different global and local backgrounds.

Reflective Questions: How does this fit with your experience? What has your own learning been like related to interacting and learning with different generations?

    In my experience as an instructor, I worked primarily with students from the “Y” and “Z” generations.  And as a late millennial, near the border of Gen Z, I recognized and empathized with the descriptions of the millennial and Gen Z characteristics. Like White’s (2015) description of them, I grew up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, have been conditioned to believe that you need a University degree to get in the door, and was raised with technology at an early age. I grew up with myspace then facebook and Instagram, and find that social media plays a large role in my life and education. I found as an instructor that I could use my knowledge of technology and social media to engage students but, also that students would constantly be challenging me with new resources that I was not aware of. However, another challenge has been teaching students from different countries who have experience with different learning styles and expectations. For example, some of my students from other countries feared failure more than others or struggled with assignments centered on critical thinking. In addition, some students were more comfortable engaging in peer discussion whereas as other preferred solitary work. This experience showed by the importance of being aware of intergenerational and international classrooms as “Teaching Across Generations” touched on.

 In developing an online and taking online courses, I have found that I have a high expectation with the level of technology and the design and structure of a course. And I feel that the upcoming generations hold these expectations as well. In Liam Morgan’s research on Y learners, he found that “One of the most consistent themes to emerge from the diaries was the students heightened awareness of what was available in terms of ICT and multimedia and being able to make judgments about their effectiveness (p.167). I also find that while technology may be a learner curve for some learners, well-designed courses and web-tools are usually user-friendly and made to be quite clear for many different types of users. Therefore, while some online tools may not be accessible for everyone, I do find that the ease of design helps everybody. When I took an online course, I found that the instructor was hands-out and did not take the time to check-in or introduce themselves to the students. There was also no peer-to-peer interaction that Marmon (2018) argues is vital in an online course. However, they aren’t as easy to incorporate and teach other generations and types of learners. It is not accessible for everyone, however, I do find that the ease of design helps for everybody.

            Working with other generations have been very rewarding for me and I have found that I get along with baby boomers (as the Tammy Erickson [2008] described). I find that there mutual learning that happens when working with baby boomers and Gen-Xers. I teach them about some of the latest resources and they guide me on navigating the workplace. As a student, being taught by digital immigrants I found that my instructors often used traditional learning sources which is what I grew up on and am comfortable with. However, I found that there is a need to engage other learning methods because of the various new ways people in the millennial and z generation are learning to learn, and are teaching themselves to learn (gaming, online resources/courses, etc). 

Interpretive Questions: What does this new learning mean to you? What new insights do you now have? How has your thinking changed because of this learning?

From all of the readings, I learned that when designing an online platform it has to incorporate learning methods that are accessible to all generations as well as people with different learning styles. In order to do this, I will need to incorporate tools that are user-friendly, encourage peer engagement, and are interactive.  This challenged me to think about how I can successfully create an online course that incorporates different tools while still making it easy to navigate through all the content in clear and concise delivery. As Marmon (2018) pointed out, students will be challenged by both the course content and for many of them the online platform.

Some of the articles reminded me of my own experience working with inter-generation and international students, and the different content delivery they may be accustomed too and the learning hurdles they may have.  I have new insights on how digital immigrants or natives can incorporate legacy and future content, that appeals to both of their learning needs as well as instructors teaching needs. Lastly, the readings changed how I think about peer-to-peer interactions online. They showed the importance of it and the importance of creating intentional spaces for these interactions online.

Decisional Questions: How can this new learning be applied in your online course?

    In order to minimize the learning curve for all generations, I am going to focus on developing the course layout to create courses that are easy to navigate and intuitive. I am also going to incorporate multiple web tools with diverse uses such as video chats, quizzes, and games. I will do this to appeal to the learning styles and comfort levels of various generations and learning styles. Lastly, I will incorporate social engagement through forums to encourage peer communication and give the students a sense of community. I will also try to incorporate a peer project which will encourage students to work together and also share their experience taking an online course and any challenges they may have.

Reference List:

Koh, C. (2015). Motivation, Leadership and Curriculum design Engaging the Net Generation and 21st Century Learners / edited by Caroline Koh.

Managing Generation Y with Tammy Erickson. (2008, May 27). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/rDAdaaupMno

Marmon, M. (2018). Enhancing social presence in online learning environments / Michael Marmon, editor.

Morgan, Liam. (2012). Generation Y, Learner Autonomy and the Potential of Web 2.0 Tools for Language Learning and Teaching. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 29(3), 166-Wide Information Systems, 2012, Vol.29(3), p.166-176.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. 

Teaching Across Generations – Part II. (2014, August 12). Retrieved from https://uminntilt.com/2014/07/14/teaching-across-generations-part-ii/

White, S. (2015, May). The Generation Z effect. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/canadian-university-report/the-genz-effect/article26898388/