POI Week 2 Responses

OK, here are the week 2 questions with my responses:

1.  How do you plan to design your online course to encourage free flow ideas and requests for clarification--discussion forums, email, chatrooms, team activities, other?

I generally make use the discussion boards for clarification.  I also generally set up a specific discussion board for clarification, and I will also set up one for general topics or off topics.  I call it the Student Union or Watercooler. I generally let the students handle the topics in there and let it be "their space."  I use synchronous chat for office hours.  I have it open at certain times and students can come in and ask questions as needed.  I use Facebook for the same thing.

2.  What thoughts do you have about timing access to different components of the lesson(s)--one-time dump, progressive access, access tied to specific assignments, allow students to work ahead or go back to catch up, other?

I've done both, and it generally depends on the content.  Some content lends itself to work-at-your-own-pace, and some doesn't.

So there you have it.  Nothing earth-shattering, but my opinions nonetheless.  I'm actually kind of bummed about how this course is going.  Not a whole lot of discussion going on, and everyone is waiting until the last minute to post and that makes it difficult for anyone to respond.

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about . . .

(POI) Week one responses to me

See my previous post to see what my week one response was.

Here is what classmate N. responded:

I completely agree with you and I do not see why grading participation is so important. Obviously the ultimate goal is to teach the topics covered in a course effectively by enforcing critical thinking. As long as a student demonstrates that he/she has learned the topics introduced through his/her performace in exams and assignments why we should force an individual to participate in a discussion by assigning grades to participation.  I think having a forum to exchange ideas is helpful but a lot of people can learn without participating or  by passive participation (by just reading the posts that interests him/her) in a discussion group. My approach would be to provide all the learning tools available to the students and let them choose the most effective method themselves. As instructors our job is to measure the outcome.

To that, classmate J. responded:

I don't see that there are any secrets to the educational process.  Students must interact with certain amounts of information in order to make it their own.  Participation has been proven to improve the levels of comprehension and absorption for the kinds of things most graduate students are expected to learn in their programs.  Yes there are some things that we can learn the first time we see or hear them, but most things take time.  Maybe I miss the point of this discussion but some of this is the reason I think I will always prefer the face to face discussions for some subjects.

Here's what I wrote back:

The real issue is that the educational process is so variable.  We can design, design, design to get effective educational materials and activities for our instruction, but we still can't account for the variability in humans as learners.  We can design multiple entry points into the instruction (audio, video, verbal, etc.), but we'll still never hit all the learners.

As for your comment that "participation has been proven to improve the levels of comprehension and absorption for the kinds of things most graduate students are expected to learn in their programs," I'm gonna disagree with you on that, but it could just be semantics.

When I teach my instructional design courses, I spend an entire day discussing the question "what is the difference between information and instruction?"  Answers are all over the place.  Most instructors think they are providing instructional activities to their students, but in reality they are just disseminating information; they are regurgitating content.  The difference between information and instruction is the ability to practice.  Instruction will involve the ability for the learner to practice and receive feedback. Here is a link to a blog post I wrote on just that topic, with an example of what a grad student response to the question might be (mine from grad school is posted there).

If you take your quote and change it to "PRACTICE has been proven to improve the levels of comprehension and absorption for the kinds of things most graduate students are expected to learn in their programs", then I'd agree (thus my assertion that we just might be disagreeing on semantics.)  Otherwise, I think your comment is an overgeneralization.  Content is too variable.

I do agree with you that some content lends itself better for face to face instruction.  Even as an instructional designer and educational technologist, I don't think everything should be taught online.  It just doesn't work.  Once I was an instructional designer for an online college algebra class.  It was the hardest thing I've ever designed.  The technology we have today wasn't available, and it was a nightmare.  Now, with that said, online components and simulations can ENHANCE face to face instruction (as can be seen with this story about brain surgeons practicing on virtual brains), but I still want my doctors and pilots to have practiced and learned on someone else before I need their services.

So what do y'all think?

(POI) Week one questions

The book we are using is Teaching online: A practical guide, by Ko and Rossen.  Week one had us reading chapters one and two.  We then answered the following questions:

Question #1: How would you implement online discussions in your course?

Question #2: To help students become involved in an online course, what should be included in the syllabus to help guide the students toward active/successful participation?

Here is my (partial) response:

Well, before I get to my answers, I think it may help a little to give you my background so you'll have insight into how I got here.

I feel like a kid here at the university (I'm only 41), but all through grad school all of my research was in online learning.  As a master's student I was selected to design and teach the first fully online course in the state of Utah.  Also while a grad student I helped design the Syllabase online course delivery system (a precursor to products like D2L). I've probably either designed or taught almost 30 different online course during my career (I worked in faculty development at my last school--much like H. and K. here).  My Ph.D. is in instructional design--specifically focused in this area.  So if there is ANY WAY to screw up an online course, I'll be I've done it at least twice . . .. I put all this on the table because I find this stuff VERY interesting.  I'm taking the course here to help myself be better, and to hopefully share some of what I've learned.  So you can take all of this with a grain of salt, but here are my answers . . .

2) As I stated in my response to someone else, "participation" in an online course is a HORRIBLE criteria.  It's extremely difficult to measure effectively, and it's very subjective. Some will think they participated well, and other's simply won't care.  What you have to do is structure the assignments so that you take "participation" out of the equation when it comes to assessment.  Either they did the assignments, or they didn't.  There are plenty of ways to make sure that learners do this.  I'm not a fan of counting posts.  BOOOOO!  There are actually a lot of published rubrics that evaluate the content of a post rather than the number.  Think about it.  Would you rather have a student in your face to face class who talked constantly (online: posts all the time), or would you rather have one who inputs meaningfully into the discussion, even if it is only one comment?  I'll take meaningful discussion anytime.  The trick is not letting your students get away with meaningless posts.  I find when I teach online I spend a lot of time responding to students saying things like: "Do you really mean that?" or "Is that what you really want to say?"  See, students, if they think they can get away without having to back up their comments, will say anything.  In a f2f class, we'll question them and press them for follow up.  It's harder and more time consuming to do in an online format, but I'd argue it's almost MORE important to do.  So long story short (too late!) I never grade "participation" as a criteria.

As for what needs to be in the syllabus? DETAIL, DETAIL, DETAIL.  You have to spell it out, brother!

Preparing Online Instructors (POI)

So I've been feeling the need to get back to blogging.  It's been tough, though, as I go up for tenure this coming fall, and I've been focusing on getting my research published.  Actually, I guess I've been more "micro-blogging" on FaceBook.  But my heart has been here.  I know there is a lot being written about the future of blogs like this, but I'll be honest with you: while it is really inspiring to hear from people who read this blog (even--especially--when they don't agree with me), my intended audience here is me.

As I said, I go up for tenure this coming fall, and that brings with it extra pressure.  And last semester wasn't a good one.  Yes, I got three publications, but my teaching wasn't to the level I'm accustomed to.  And to make matters worse, while I research and design online instruction, they were all online courses, and I definitely didn't practice what I preach.  So I figured I needed to "sharpen my saw."  To do this, I enrolled in a course offered by the faculty development group here at Oklahoma State University. The title of the course? The title of this post: Preparing Online Instructors.

We're one week in, and I'm already feeling weird about taking the class.  There is quite a range in technological expertise amongst the students, and an even broader range about pedagogy.  To be honest, as an instructional designer and when it comes to online instruction, I feel that I'm more experienced than the instructors.  Now that's not a knock on them, I just think I've done more.  So as we've started discussions, I find I write a lot more detail--based on my experience--than the other learners.  I'm afraid I'm going to come off looking like the "know-it-all," and I don't want that.  But if you're going to ask me a question, you had better want my answer, because I'll give it to you.

I thought the course would be a good way to get back to blogging, so here's what I'm going to do.  As I participate in discussions, I'm going to post my responses here.  I don't really know why other than if I'm going to spend that much time writing, I'd like feedback on my ideas and thoughts from those within my field.  So feel free to comment.

One more thing, I'll never identify a classmate by name.  I'll use an initial.

Here we go . . .

Cammy Bean on instructional design

Cammy Bean is the Manager of Instructional Design for Invision Learning in Southborough, MA. The interview was done for my students in EDTC 5753: Introduction to Instructional Design. In it, Cammy discusses her background, how she came to the instructional design field, what her current day-to-day job as an instructional designer is like, what skills she feels are important for instructional designers, and what she feels the future of the field will be.

Alan Young on Instructional Design

Here's an interview with Alan Young, Director of Curriculum Development at Brigham Young University-Idaho. The interview was done for my students in EDTC 5753: Introduction to Instructional Design. In it, Alan discusses his background, how he came to the instructional design field, what his current day-to-day job as an instructional designer is like, what skills he feels are important for instructional designers, and what he feels the future of the field will be.

Dr. Jennifer Summerville on Instructional Design

Here's an interview with Jennifer Summerville, Ph.D, Associate Dean for the Distance and Weekend College for Collin College. The interview was done for my students in EDTC 5753: Introduction to Instructional Design. In it, Dr. Summerville discusses her background, how she came to the instructional design field, what her current day-to-day job is like, what skills she feels are important for instructional designers, and what she feels the future of the field will be.

This podcast had to be removed for clearance purposes.

Dr. Andrew Teasdale on Instructional Design

Here's an interview with Andrew Teasdale, Ph.D, an instructional designer in the Clinical Guidance Organization for Humana Health Care. The interview was done for my students in EDTC 5753: Introduction to Instructional Design. In it, Dr. Teasdale discusses his background, how he came to the instructional design field, what his current day-to-day job as an instructional designer is like, what skills he feels are important for instructional designers, and what he feels the future of the field will be.

Once again, I sing the praises of Cammy Bean (Learning Objectives)

I've written plenty of times about how much I admire Cammy Bean's thinking (you must read her Learning Visions blog), but today she helped me out and she didn't even mean to.

So here's to you, Cammy!

You see, I'm preparing materials for my EDTC 5753: Introduction to Instructional Design course, and I've been interviewing people working in different aspects of the Instructional Design field. Earlier today, I interviewed Dr. Jennifer Summerville, an old (not in age) friend and colleague. The problem was, at the exact same time I had scheduled to interview Jen, Will Thalheimer was giving a webinosh about learning objectives. I wanted to attend, but I couldn't.

But Cammy came through. She's posted excellent notes on the whole thing, and it's kept me in the loop and considering I couldn't attend, I still got the information.

As for what was said, I appreciate Will's breakdown of types of objectives and the questions he posed. I thought the questions seemed well thought out and they helped illustrate his points. I must admit I got different answers than some that were given, but I guess that's to be expected.

And if learning objectives are something you're interested in, you should read Cammy's post "My objection to learning objectives" and David Merrill's "Teachers should not waste time writing instructional objectives."

Nikoli and "one-buttock music"

I saw this first posted at Alvin's Educational Technology blog, and after watching it, I couldn't help but wonder if I make learning as fun as it can be.  Does the passion I feel for what I teach show through?  This presentation is by Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

@ Yahoo! Video

Point/Counterpoint with an academic and a practitioner: On Cammy Bean, certification, and instructional design

I've had some people ask me to post some more of my thoughts on instructional design and certification. They were interested in the conversations Cammy Bean and I have had about those topics, and wondered where those conversations were going. Today Cammy e-mailed me, and she and I have been going back and forth, and she's graciously agreed to let me post the conversation here. See it here after the jump (with minor edits).

Teaching Preservice Teachers Online: Pitfalls and Practices

Today was my presentation for the AECT Teacher Education division's WAG (web-based brown bag). They had me present on our efforts to put the preservice teacher technology course online here at Oklahoma State University. Angel Kymes and I taught it the first time together (different sections of the same class), and she and I presented it at last year's AECT conference. So the Teacher Ed division had me do an overview of that presentation and update it so everyone could see what we are doing. It was well received, and the feedback makes me think we're really doing good work here.

Here's a link to the Teacher Education divison's blog, The Playground. You can see Dr. Peter Rich's comments on the presentation there.

You can see my Slideshare presentation (we actually did it using BYU's Adobe Breeze server) after the jump.

Can't we all just get along? Or the need for instructional design certification

To say the last couple of weeks here at effectivedesign have been interesting is an understatement. First of all, I had been reading the posts at Cammy Bean's Learning Visions blog, and had been linking to them on my weekly post of links. On my Links for 1-26-08 to 2-01-08 post, Cammy commented to me (on my birthday, no less) and said, "Hey there! I’m delighted to see that you’re getting so much out of my non-educated musings on instructional design. I’ll look forward to reading your musings on ID from the other side of the fence. Cammy" I'll be honest, I thought it was just cool that Cammy had actually come and seen my blog. So I ponied up and wrote my This one’s for you, Cammy Bean! Or, is the role of the instructional designer changing? I began thinking about Cammy and others in her situation who are instructional design practitioners and how what their jobs are and what they really do and what we teach in academia. So I wrote about that disconnect in my post Instructional design in academia–where theory and practice RARELY meet. And that post really started things going. Stephen Downes mentioned our conversation on OL~Daily, and then all sorts of people started chiming in. COOL! So I continued the conversation with Cammy by writing how to get an Instructional Design education without paying tuition and an immediately accessible instructional design education. Later, I posted Have we “Reclaimed” Instructional Design? to try and further suss out just what I've been thinking about instructional design as well as teaching and practicing it.

Read what I find interesting about all this and my thoughts about instructional design certification after the jump.

Which blog are you?

Vicki Davis at the Cool Cat Teacher Blog posted a presentation by Rohit Bargava and Jesse Thomas of the 25 basic styles of blogging.

Me? I'm a sometimes life blogger, most of the time link blogger.

Which one are you?

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Links for 1-6-08 to 1-12-08

Here are my links for this week. I have to warn you, there are more than a few. I wonder if I should post them all or be more selective? At any rate, here's what I found interesting this week:

• Remove Clutter in the Background of Photographs. I stink at photo editing, so I'm always looking for tips.


• The Secret to Creating your own PowerPoint Templates for e-Learning. Again, I'm no graphics expert, so I appreciate someone telling me how to be better.


• Social Networks, or "I'm a Hermit." Dave Warlick at the 2¢ Worth blog tries to wrap his mind around Facebook and other social networks. I've already blogged about my usage of Facebook and how it has enhanced my interaction with students and about my thoughts for Facebook as a CMS. It's interesting to me to see other's opinions about something I feel strongly about.


• The Bamboo Project Readers' Guide to Getting Back Your Creative Mojo. Ever get stuck in a rut and you can't get your juices flowing to get things done? Here are some suggestions. Me? I throw darts in my office.


• The Value of Instructional Designers. Okay, I have to admit I'm geeking out COMPLETELY about Cammy Bean's Learning Visions blog. It's all things instructional design! The interesting thing about this post is that it attacks a question my fellow students and I grappled with while in graduate school. What good are we as instructional designers? I think I'm going to need a full post on this one. (You know, in my immense free time!)


• How to Avoid the 10 Worst Energy Zappers. I'm always looking to be more productive, and I've tried to start implementing some of these suggestions to see if they help. I particularly like the Toxic People suggestion. Sometimes I let others control me way too much.


• Quickly Install the Best OpenSource Apps with WinLibre and MacLibre. I love OpenSource technologies, and I'm all about getting the newest things easily. I haven't downloaded and used these yet, but when I do, I'll let you know how it went.


• Convert any Audio File with MediaEncoder Audio Edition. I've got some files I need converting, so I'm going to give this one a whirl.


• Instructional Design and Market Sector Differences. Another post by Cammy Bean that I need to follow up on. This one asks the question, "Just what is it that you do, Dr. Curry?" Actually, it asks what those of us in academia do.


• New Blogs for Learning. Jeff Utecht at the Thinking Stick blog talks about the power of putting the technology in student hands.


• Download and Listen to Free Music on the Web. Great overview of the different places to get music on the web. I do so much podcasting with my students that I'm always looking out for buffer music. Granted, I have something like 10,000 songs on my iPod, but you can never have too much music. You have to have something for every occasion. Plus, I try to make my buffer music apply to the topic. I'm quirky that way.


• Top Ten Underhyped Web Apps. The best web applications you've never heard of.


• Watch Full-Length TV Online with Fancast. This one's just for fun . . .


• Edit PDFs Online with PDFHammer. A neat looking new tool for editing PDFs online.


• PRISM Video Converter. I've been having problems with Handbrake as of late, so I'm going to give this one a try. Thanks, Neil, for the tip! It seems they also have an audio converter as well. YEE HA!


• See Real Recent Car Sale Prices at PriceHub. I've got to get a new car, so I need some help countering the dreaded car salesmen of the world . . .


• NEULIO. I'm not going to use this to publish a course, but I'm interested in seeing how it works.


• Convert WMV files to MOV Files for Free. Another interesting-looking tool.


• Getting Productive in 2008 with JOTT. Now this looks COOL. This is a longer post about one of the above mentioned underhyped web apps. I will DEFINITELY use this one. Basically, you call a toll-free number, leave yourself a message, and it sends you a reminder (text-based) via e-mail.


• Social Networking in Education. Steve Hargadon provides a HUGE list of social networking sites specific to education.

And my links from my del.icio.us account:

• Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do. This is video of a TED talk given by Gever Tulley. Very insightful and entertaining.


• Blue Moon of Kentucky performed by Conan O'Brien. HILARIOUS. Great, but hilarious.


• Technology Skills for Instructional Designers. This parallels the conversation Cammy Bean has above.


• Dizzler.com. Free music and video with the MySpace player.


• Taxonomy of Technology Integration. I'm working on an article that deals with levels of technology integration, and this proved helpful.


• CARET. ISTE's Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology's research database.


• 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes. Who knows, maybe one of these will show up on here one day.


• Five Effective e-Learning Design Strategies. Webinar given by Karl Kapp.

Blogs, RSS feeds, and Del.icio.us

I remember last October giggling as I read Trey Martindale's blog post stating (follow the link to read the whole thing):

My friend John Curry reminded me that I’m not posting very often on my blog these days, and he’s right. It seems I’m taking a shorter route–kind of “mini-blogging”. Basically I’m just saving and tagging interesting net resources in my delicious bookmarks account. I now have over 1000 items in that account, and it’s been useful for me, and for students–sort of like my external long-term memory. So, if you would like to know what I’m reading about, investigating, or find interesting, that’s the place.

Web 2.0 and meetings, meetings, meetings . . .

So today is one of THOSE days. You know what I mean, right? It's back to school time, and so we as faculty get to spend the day in meetings. So as I sit here listening to the same old things that we seem to go over every year (new faculty, policies and procedures, etc.) I'm wondering, isn't there some better use of our time? Right now I'm in my School meeting, and later I "get to go" to College of Education faculty meeting where we'll go over the same things.

I guess the good thing is I'm getting a free lunch from McAlister's Deli, and who can argue with their potato salad? At the COE faculty meeting, I'll get a new T-shirt, so here's to hoping I like it better than last year's which is now a sleep shirt for my kids.

But what does all of this have to do with Web 2.0?

Wikis in the classroom

I'm always on the lookout for integration ideas and how to explain the benefits of Web 2.0 to people. Today as I read the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, I ran across the following slideshow by Adam Frey (founder of Wikispaces) on Wikis in the classroom. See it after the jump.

More about Web 2.0

I ran across this slideshow about Web 2.0 and how it is used in its entirety. Enjoy.

Web 2.0 and Your Own Learning and Development

Stephen Downes, whose blog I really enjoy reading and who I described to my wife as one of the most knowledgeable guys around in EdTech, has a great video about Web 2.0 and learning.

The video is succinct, to the point, and full of practical information.Nice job, sir.