Greetings! Remember me? Class has started! Work has been completed! It is now time to reflect on what I have learned in part one of my first completely online course! I have discovered many things. I will be sharing
them with you as I resonate about the beginning of my journey to completing an online teaching certificate.
In the
first week, I learned the basic course tools to assist me in getting oriented to the
flow of the overall course. I accomplished a Blackboard tutorial orientation that took me through the functionality and
operation of how to use this learning management system. Within the Blackboard tutorial, I achieved the following: assignment submission, making a URL active, creating a discussion board post, sending emails within blackboard,
and checking my grades. I have participated in a live synchronous learning
event through the use of video and discussion through Blackboard Collaborate. That was interesting, it was like using face-time for the computer! Oh my goodness-I am so behind in the times :-).
I have found that
you receive a lot of feedback throughout the online course, from your graded
assignments, to your discussion posts, to your group projects. Feedback within the online world is a must! I have recognized that I enjoy receiving the
feedback and look forward to reviewing it every week. Netiquette is defined as proper socially acceptable online
communication with my peers and instructor. An online student must always have great netiquette, our words represent our personality!
To finish this course successfully I will need to remain organized with daily
check-ins with course progression, carefully review the rubric for each
assignment, and fully participate in discussion posts. It has been a full time commitment but I am in it for the long haul :-).
As I journeyed through week one, my overall understanding of online
teaching is constantly evolving and growing. I am now fully aware that online teaching takes involvement with the student to another level. Online instructors must create a sense of
community. In order to achieve this community, online students must participate in weekly discussion posts,
icebreaker activities, group projects, and synchronous learning in order to get the full realm of course benefits. Online instructors must be creative,
available, and reflect daily professional netiquette at all times. I think through
online teaching you, as the instructor, get to know the students who may
not have necessarily participated in the traditional classroom
discussion. Through weekly discussion posts, I have gained the sense that the internet makes
everyone more reflective, more honest, and more transparent in some ways. As I
continue my journey through my pursuit of a certificate in online teaching, I
expect that this road will continue to challenge me. I believe that I will be more technologically savvy
by the end of this course.
As I
journeyed into week two, I became versed in differentiating between web-enhanced,
hybrid, and fully online courses through reading a series of articles. One of
our first discussion posts was to suggest how we can web enhance a classroom
course that was already in existence. I
chose Nursing Assessment 101. Nursing Assessment 101 is a traditional
classroom course with a clinical simulation lab accompaniment. In my discussion post, I advised that the nursing instructor could use Blackboard to upload pre and post
quizzes, case studies, and have weekly discussion posts. Although my instructor
wasn’t too confident about her health workers being fully educated online, I
thought it was a great idea because it created more flexibility for the working student. After week two’s lessons, I came to the realization
that universities and colleges all over the country are offering more and more
four year degrees completely online. So it was interesting to discover that
some of the classes could be web-enhanced, blended, or fully online courses. Most
of week two’s readings stated that students achieved the same learning outcomes as compared to a traditional classroom course, which was very informative
and exciting since I, too, have decided to travel through the online education realm. During week two, I learned some of the advantages of online learning are the reduction of cost, increase in class attendance, and
positive student outcomes in tougher subjects. I think one consistent challenge in online teaching is getting the student who
is unfamiliar with how an online course works and soothing their concerns about
instructor availability, tutorial resources, and the need for face to face
contact in some subject areas.
As I
entered into week three, we begin to discuss the different learning environments. Different learning environments were
introduced to us in our required reading, in an article titled, “Campfires in
Cyberspace” by David Thornburg. In his article the learning environments were
the campfire, the watering hole, and the cave. Our assignment was to identify
what we thought Thornburg’s environments represented to us within the online
learning work space. In my opinion, it
didn’t matter which learning environment the student chose to learn the
information in. I concluded that once the
learning is done, the measure of success is how the student applies his or her
learning to life, which may be the reason online environments are now so heavily ingrained in college education. As I
continued through week three, our instructor assigned us to think about the
differences between student centered learning verses a traditional classroom. I
have been an active participate of the traditional classroom throughout my
educational process. But I do believe student centered learning has its
advantages. One major conclusion that I drew from this assignment is that the
online environment is very student centered.
It places the learning and participation as the responsibility of the
student. This type of reflective thinking led us to our journal entry for that
week to discuss the differences between active and passive learning. Most
individuals, including myself, like to actively participate while learning a
new topic, this is a very simple definition of active learning. While passive
learning is listening and note taking.
In week four,
I discovered the various learning styles. This included visual, kinesthetic,
aural, and reading. During this week, our instructor required us to complete a
VARK survey which was a series of questions that helped to determine our
learning style. I discovered that I was a kinesthetic learner, which means that
I learn by doing. After giving that some thought, I felt that it was an
accurate assessment, and since that time I am more aware of how I have retained
information that I am learning. Once, I figured out my learning style, it was
time for our first group project. For the first group project the instructor
wanted us to create a lesson plan for each learning style using web based
sources. Each lesson plan included activities, quizzes, and a grading scale on a subject selected by the group. My group decided on the Great Depression. The ladies that I worked with during
the group project were absolutely fantastic.
We constructed a Code of Conduct that assisted us in strategizing our
communication throughout the project, how to handle incomplete assignments, or
if an individual had an emergency. Our group decided to use the discussion board to communicate the details of our project and to exchange our
work. Accessibility is one of the
biggest challenges in online learning, everyone in my group was well aware of
that. With these thoughts in mind, every member in the group participated and
checked in daily for updates. I think
that was a huge contributor of why our project went very smoothly.
In week
five, I expanded my knowledge into learning about the variety of teaching
styles. The teaching styles I learned
this week were expert, personal model, and facilitator. To discover my preferred
teaching style, I was required to take a teaching style inventory survey that
would tell me my preferred teaching style.
My preferred teaching style was personal model. According to the
required readings for that week, personal model style teaching uses real life
scenarios to link the information that you are teaching. One disadvantage of
this type of teaching style that left me intrigued was that your audience may
feel inadequate if they are not performing in the way that the instructor has
taught. After learning about the various learning and teaching styles I have
come to the solid conclusion that there are many ways to instruct and learn the
material, it really comes down to the person who is learning to discover what
works for them. I, as the instructor
have the responsibility to be informed about these different learning and
teaching styles, and to have material representative of each, available to the
student.
