Reflecting on Part 2

As we come to the end of this course, I must say that I have gained a wealth of information! I must say that going in I was really nervous about taking an online course because I had never taken one before. However as I come to the close of this one I have to admit that it will be hard to go back into a F2F class as a student after having this experience. While the class as whole was a valuable learning experience, I really felt that with my background in the area of Education, a lot of the information in part 1 was somewhat of a refresher for me. The second half of the course on the other hand gave me a chance to go a little deeper and learn some new things to put under my belt. While I was familiar with some of the terms in part 2, I had not had the opportunity to learn the content as a whole. Taking part 2 of this class gave me a chance to accomplish that.

One of the first things we talked about were the learning theories. I was very familiar with constructivism and behaviorism and in fact have even implemented them to a certain extent in my own classroom. Cognitivism on the other hand was a little less familiar to me. The one idea that stood out to me concerning cognitivism was the fact that you have to understand how that brain processes information and that active participation has to be present in order for learning to occur. I really think that this theory complements the constructivism theory and that the two together could maximize the learning experience for anyone. In fact my goal is to learn more about both theories and put them into action in my own classroom!

The next thing we talked about was the teaching models. As I mentioned before it took me a few bumps on the head to understand that while teacher centered instruction is acceptable sometimes, a more student centered style of instruction is what is going to provide the maximum benefit for students. Going forward in my teaching career I will be trying to find that balance between teacher centered and student centered so that the learning experience occurs at full capacity. After all it really is about the student. Hopefully if you have made it to the point of teaching you have already mastered the material you are teaching so it should be all about your students.

Next we talked about the different technologies. I must say I was overwhelmed to see all the things that were available. In fact, during that unit I spent a lot of extra time looking at the resources out there and I was still not able to get through them all. Although I use many different multimedia sources in my classroom, creating the rubric to rate them was a wonderful experience for me. Before that assignment I never really thought of rating them but I must admit it will save time to just do a quick mental evaluation using the rubric as you look at different multimedia resources. Also I learned what an annotated bibliography was.

Finally I learned about digital portfolios. Prior to this course I had been working on a digital portfolio in livetext. However because of the nature of my portfolio I did not realize how valuable a digital portfolio could be. As I continue to develop my portfolio for this course I will keep my audience in mind and the purpose for the portfolio.

As the second part of this course comes to a close I must admit that I am definitely still interested in teaching an online course. I'm still a little intimidated about actually designing one but I'm sure that after taking the third class, I will be well prepared for it!

Instructor Centered vs. Student Centered

A few weeks ago we were discussing instructor centered vs. student centered learning. I took a special interest in this topic because when I had my evaluations at work this week, not being student-centered is what made the difference in me receiving an acceptable rating and receiving a noteworthy rating. I just could not understand how I was suppose to be evaluated if my students were doing all the work. Well on my final evaluation for the year I decided to try doing a project that focused solely on the student. BINGO! I finally got that noteworthy that I had been working so hard for! All it took was for me to come to the harsh reality that my evaluations really were not about me, it was about my students engaging in their own learning process and how I lead them to that point!

Anyway I said all that to say that when we were discussing this as a topic the class seemed to lean toward student centered learning being more feasible in a higher education. Our instructor politely redirected us saying:
Let me turn this around a bit and suggest that 'maybe' student-centered learning is something that can help to develop self-direction skills in students. Maybe student-centered learning doesn't need to be reserved for more advanced education and students? Student-centered learning would certainly look different (as I mentioned in response to Maxine's post) in a doctoral course than it would in a second-grade classroom. But, student-centered learning (or at least student-centered strategies) are possible within any environment and with any topic.

I could not agree more with the above statement. Student-centered learning has to start at the primary level. It absolutely is key in developing self-direction skills. If we waited until a certain age or level of education to develop these skills, we would handicap a lot of people. We cannot just assume that because you are a certain age or have a certain level of education that you are capable of self-directing. Like anything else, self-direction is something that has to be learned. Just as reaching the age of 16 does not automatically give you the necessary skills to drive, age and education level does not give you the necessary skills to self-direct. As educators it is our responsibility to find out how to develop these skills at the appropriate level so that by the time students reach college they will be able to maximize the benefits of student-centered learning. Equally as important if we don't develop these skills early we will raise up a generation that will require hand holding throughout their adult lives. Let's think about this, do we really want our future leaders to only be able to function if someone is holding their hand!?!

Reflecting On Part 1!

Going in to this course, I was extremely nervous and even felt somewhat overhwhelmed. While I am familiar with the online world, I had limited experience with WebCT and noe experience at all with blackboard learning. Each week as I tried to navigate the course I felt like someone with a blindfold on trying to find their way through a mansion. Each week it began to get easier. I still felt like I had the blind fold on but it felt like I had an assistant guiding me through. I am much more confident now than I was at the beginning.

I'm amazed at the wealth of information that I have gained in just a short time. In comparison with my experience with F2F courses I would say my online learning experience so far has been much more valuable in the fact that I had more responsibility for my learning experience. I also find that online learning is a better fit for me because first of all being at home allows me the opportunity to be more focused and flexible. It also accommodates my need to do a variety of things at one time. I'm also pleased that the online environment still appeals to my very social being. I find that you can communicate in a variety of ways. I also find that the online community allows for a less intimidating environment for communication.

Taking the online surveys for both the teaching and learning style was very beneficial. I will constantly use these tools in online teaching. I will also use the information learned about online learners to design a course that caters to all learners. Also as I move forward I will continue to search for a connection between my learning style and my teaching style. I'm excited to see what's to come........

Learning Style Vs Teaching Style

I found it quite interesting that Professor Engle introduced us to learning styles and then followed it up with Teaching styles. In previous courses I had been exposed to the learning styles before but never teaching styles. I found this sequence interesting because I could not help but wonder if there was a link between the two that she wanted us to make. I'm still not sure if that was the goal in presenting the information in this sequence. However if this was the point or not, it sure started me to thinking.

I found myself wondering if an individuals learning style influences their teaching style. I could be completely off base here but it seems to me that your learning style would influence your teaching style at least a little. I mean if you really think about it both your learning style and your teaching style are part of your personality and therefore have to be related in some way. My opinion is that each teaching style appeals to a certain learning style. If that is the case I would assume that a person would teach the way that appeals most to their learning style, at least in the beginning of their teaching career. Don't get me wrong here I'm not saying that a person can only have a teaching style that appeals to their learning style. I do believe that individuals are capable of diversifying their teaching style to accommodate their students needs. I just can't help but believe that their learning style has to shine through just a little in their teaching style.

Tell me what you think...........

I'll be the first to admit that when I decided to take this course, I had no idea of what it would be like. I honestly could only think about the fact that I am a natural born educator and I hope to one day educate in an institution of higher learning. With the way the world is going these days I thought it would be a great benefit for me to take the classes to get the online teaching certificate so that I could be one step ahead of the game.

This entire course is a learning experience for me. It is my first experience with online learning and my first exposure to what it means to teach online. I'm definitely up for the challenge. I love educating and I am willing to take a little pain if it means that one day I will become a better educator. Honestly at this point I cannot even imagine facilitating an online course. However because I'm willing to learn I know that one day I will facilitate and I will be good at it!

Currently I'm an elementary school teacher and I'm also looking for anyway that I can use the knowledge and skills learned in this course to provided my students with a better learning experience! I'm optimistic. Let's see what happens next........