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Author: vcolleran
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Activity three
Activity 3: The chat feature on Moodle
If you can provide an initial chat, this normally will get the students going on using this feature. It can be helpful for those that wish to ask a very simple and quick question, rather than feeling like they have to type out a longer message.
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Activity two
Activity 2: Creating some course expectation
Expectations of the Student:
- Log into Moodle daily (every 24 hours) to check messages and forum posts
- Respond to messages within 24 hours
- Keep up to date on forum post readings and participate as requested/required
- Read/review ALL of the information provided for you on Moodle (forum posts, assignments, evaluation summaries, forum etiquette, news updates, video’s, etc.)
- Ensure that in the case of 2 instructors facilitating a course you review to whom your submissions are required to be submitted to
- Communicate with the instructor if you are going to be away (so we know of any absences IN ADVANCE whenever possible)
- Communicate with the instructor if you do not understand any material we are covering and/or would like more direction or explanation
Expectations of the Instructor/Lecturer/Facilitator:
- Check Moodle messages AND email at least once daily, and respond to you within 24 hrs. (In the case of a planned absence advance notice will be given)
- Anticipate graded material to be returned to you in a timely manner (within the week)
The suggestions for increasing social presence that Vaughan recommended are the following:
1)Faculty should provide opportunities for introductions and ongoing social interaction.
2) Set appropriate norms for online interactions.
3) Discuss the nature of online learning and allow learners who are new to the medium to adjust to their expectations (e.g., everything takes longer online compared to f2f).
4) Be very clear about how to complete the course.
5) Allow appropriate flexibility in how students meet course outcomes
In order to facilitate this, the following learning activities could be used:
Activity 1: providing parameters in which to communicate in the online settings
Some have been expanded upon below:
-Be kind, honest and supportive
-Refrain from using ALL CAPS
Typing in all capital letters is frowned upon; it’s the equivalent of screaming at everyone.
It also makes your message more difficult to read.
-Communicate clearly
Don’t post meaningless messages
Consider sending a reply by e-mail
Refrain from cross posting
-Replying to Others Posts
For a quick reminder of the topic in long threads:
include the initial post in your reply
a link to the initial post if in another post
or cut and paste a section of the initial post
-Be careful when posting personal informatio
-Follow the forum guidelines
Check the message board area for specific Forum Guidelines, such as rules concerning
which topics should be posted in which folders and answers to Frequently Asked
Questions
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Summary of your learning
- What are the most important lessons you gathered from the course?
I have found these courses challenging but so rewarding as they dive deeping into the community of inquiry process. I have managed to review a lot of areas of my current teaching and explore ideas and areas to improve. Lots of ideas actually of what I can bring into the online classroom from here which I am excited about.
I have always known student engagement to be at the core of a successful learning experience and I was able to explore these concepts in more detail here and come up with ways to help facilitate more engagement esp. with the students that are coming into the course on a more superficial level.
- How has your thinking changed as a result of completing the course?
Seeing that ‘birds eye’ view of the students learning process helped me to see the gaps in my approaches.
My thinking was pretty simplistic before and it could often lead to frustration of why a student might not be meeting an objective the way that I think they should have been. The critical inquiry process itself, and the model of that process, was most insightful. Now I can see myself looking from that lens when I question a particular assignment or discussion or outcome for example.
I have also often felt that my goal as an online facilitator was to not try to duplicate the face to face classroom, but where I would get stuck was in ‘how’. More opportunities were present to me here to get me beyond any perceived constraints with the use of more media, different approaches, etc. while keeping in alignment with student engagement and outcomes. Also, by remembering that the process should be student-driven and self-directed, cemented my role in the process in a new way.
- In what ways did the platform (WordPress) influence your interaction with the content and other people and what you learned?
I learned a lot from reading others perspectives and expertise. I can get very comfortable in my way of doing things so to see such a diverse group of educators share their approaches and experiences has really opened my eyes up to a lot of other possibilities.
- What learning strategies were most effective for you? Why?
The process of providing feedback stood out for me as I think this was one area where I wasn’t particularly effective. Now I can see that I can include a gauge of the students progress to highlight again the goal and objective. Also to create an environment that is safe and allows the students to safely make mistakes.
The idea of a FAQ page is something I can’t believe I havn’t thought about before, but makes so much sense, esp. in tackling those misconceptions that students might be holding onto.
Finally, while I have always done introductory videos, now I can truly appreciate the importance of them and how they can set the tone for sharing the common goals and objectives of the learning community.«
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Interview
Olt301 post 4 Interview
Post #4 should be a summary of your interview, including:
The topics of discussion and/or questions asked:
1) How do you promote engagement and community in a continuous entry course?
2) Are there any digital tools that you have found to be the most useful?
Answers, solutions, suggestions or other advice given;
1) How do you promote engagement and community in an continuous entry course?
One of the ways that I have found is to provide personalized feedback to the students for each of their submissions. When a class is continuous entry, oftentimes the students are working on their assignments and quizzes at a time when their peers might have already moved on or not even begun. So if you, the faciliator, can provide feedback for them that not only includes where they may have done well or gone off track, but can also share anecdotes of others submissions that you have seen for example, this will help them feel that they are indeed part of a community and not going at this alone.
2) Are there any digital tools that you have found to be the most useful?
BBB synchrounous sessions are particulary useful esp. when dealing with students who have expressed frustration with any of the course content. You have such an easier time getting a truer sense of where the student is at when you can speak to them face to face. And what I also find is normally investing in this time upfront can actually save a lot of time of online commincation in the end.
2-3 key lessons learned through the conversation:
Some key lessons I learned here is that these steps are not hard nor time consuming and in fact, could actually save time in the long run. If the student feels supported and their work evaluated on that personal level, they are much less likely to be spending energy on things that aren’t aligned with the course objectives themselves (technical issues or not understanding where they went wrong on an assignment for example) and instead you free them up to continue to progress in their learning.
Create 2-3 intended learning outcomes for an area of knowledge or skill within your area of expertise or training.
- Sustain partnerships and communication with your program team.
- Maintain relationships with fellow learners through group discussions and collaborative activities.
Then create a learning activity (or two) aligned to one or more of those intended learning outcomes.
Engaging with Your Team
In any educational journey, yours included, it becomes obvious that we can’t do an endeavour of this magnitude on our own. We need a team—a team of experts, facilitators, mentors, and other support—in order to actualize what we need to learn and where we want to go. These are the “stakeholders” of your learning experience—those that are invested, in one form or another, to varying degrees, that will help influence and guide you along the way.
In this program, these key stakeholders could be identified, in no particular order of importance, as:
Yourself
Your fellow learners
Your Open Learning Faculty Members
Your patients—the animals you work with
Your clients—the animal’s owners
Your clinical mentors
Your DVMs
Each group, or person, plays their own significant role in your learning path and where it will lead.
This topic is focused on the first two stakeholders listed, you and your fellow learners, as you explore your initial impressions from last term and how you are all building towards a common goal.
In the upcoming terms of the Veterinary Technology program, the other relationships will be highlighted, as your professional development and understanding deepens.
Providing Team Support
For this activity, you are asked to participate in a synchronous Big Blue Button (BBB) session with your Open Learning Faculty Member, and your fellow learners. This activity will focus on building your relationships by providing an opportunity for everyone to meet in the same place, and at the same time.
You are in a unique program where you will have the opportunity to come together as a class in the last term of year 3 during your wet labs. Between now and then, these relationships you build will be very influential and, for some, lifelong. This activity will facilitate the beginning of the camaraderie and support that will be so important, not only for your overall experience of the program, but ultimately for your success. One of the most common comments heard during the onsite wet labs is: “I wish I could have had the chance to get to know you earlier!”
After the BBB session, you are then asked to participate in an activity using Jamboard, a free, web-based space that does not require a login.
Please make every effort to attend the BBB synchronous session by planning ahead and reserving the date and time in your calendars. Opportunities to meet with your Open Learning Faculty Member as well as your classmates, in a synchronous way, should not be missed. Full participation in activities such as this one lends to a rich and meaningful experience for all. You will also gain valuable exposure to the BBB feature in Moodle, which will be useful throughout all of your upcoming courses. However, if you are unable to attend the BBB session, notify your Open Learning Faculty Member, who will message instructions on how to fulfil the requirements for this activity.
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Your current practice
- How has your view of the effective practice changed now that you have read more about teaching presence?
My view of effective practice now that I have read through the courses content, can be added too with some pretty simple yet effective tools that ensure student engagement right from the beginning of the course. By focusing on highlighting and showing my history and understanding of the course content and objectives, this can give the students a sense of why they are in the course and help with engagement and curiosity with the course content.
- In what ways did the effective practice that you identified show the characteristics of teaching presence?
While other measures such as a good course outline, teacher presence, appropriate activities, etc, are important, helping students to see the common cause/objectives that we share can help them relate not only to me but to the course content in a more authentic and engaged way.
- How could the idea of teaching presence have made the experience even more effective than it was?
By continuing to highlight that sense of community within the learning cohort and helping to facilitate the learners who are coming into the course from multiple different perspectives, to unite around a common community goal.
This final course of the series will take you through an examination and application of teaching presence in a community of inquiry.
To begin, think about an example of an effective practice you have experienced with regard to online learning, either as a learner or a facilitator.
As a facilitator, one experience that I had with a class was in regards to checking in with them after a midterm exam. I wanted to get a sense to how the class was doing personally, as opposed to making that assessment based off of the midterm results solely. I set up a class Jamboard where students could all go into a shared whiteboard and add in their word or words to describe their current position in the course and how they are feeling at this point in the term. This class collaboration resulted in 26 students sharing with their peers, and then everyone reviewing the completed whiteboard at the end of the activity.
From what I saw, and from the feedback I received from the students, this was a very effective practice not only for myself but also for them. For me, it helped me get a truer measure of where the class was at as a whole, instead of just using the midterm results as a guide. For the students, it helped for them to see that they were not alone in how they were feeling, esp. for the ones that were struggling or continued to struggle.
Some of the key ingredients that underlie this experience in my opinion is having curiosity to ask the question, having a sense of trust to be able to share your experience, and then having some group reflection on the results.
What I would do to improve this experience in the future would be to have all of the students submit their responses privately to me as well, so that I could engage in some more meaningful one on one conversations with any students that identified themselves as needing more support overall in the course, instead of addressing the support more as a global class offering.
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Integration
Olt201 Post 5 Integration
- What are the 2-3 most important concepts that have impacted your thoughts on student engagement and retention during this course?
Exploring the different models of learning that have been presented and the differences between them in terms of social presence. Specifically the differences between traditional vs online teaching is concerned. The categories of peer/peer, teacher/self and student/self and the interactions between these 3 groups or ‘objects’ from a teaching point of view and how the instructor can facilitated social interactions to support learning.
- Discuss your rationale for implementing 1 or 2 course facilitation strategies to increase student retention and engagement.
In the courses that I teach, the students are from all over Canada in different time zones, leading very busy lives where they are balancing work requirements (there are in a practicum setting), home life and school. And strategies that I can implement that help with course content facilitation and student engagement are so very important, as they navigate the balance of all of their responsibilities.
- Identify 2-3 specific goals that you would like to achieve in light of what you have learned about social presence and creating effective educational media;
- make sure that your goals areSMART,
- identify strategies you intend to use in order to meet your goals.
A goal would be to align all of my future correspondence to the SMART principles, as well as focus on highlighting initially the objectives that have brought everyone into the learning group/class to begin with, instead of the solely focusing on building relationships within the cohort.