My New Direction

Change is natural...Change is natural.... Change is NATURAL??? Heck no it's not! Change it a ton of time, and hard work- but it can be enlightening, and FUN. For our kids, we need to make it pleasurable and try really hard to make it seem natural. Just like the mega-Olympian Michael Phelps makes his butterfly look easy, and natural. We know that he's been training since before he hit puberty- for hours a day, 6-7 days a week. BUT he makes it look soo effortless. THIS is what we, teachers, need to do. Make change look, or feel, EFFORTLESS. Moaning and groaning only hurts the kids, and make the person doing the whining miserable! So, let us, the few who are exploring technology within education move those who are afraid, forward with ease and compassion.

Many schools are, or should be, implementing some sort of virtual learning in the classroom. This could be blogging, district/school/class twitter accounts, wikis or even Web 2.0 programs/applications. There are so many studies of teachers posting video lectures on a class blog site along with notes over the content that students access out of class. Pros: This allows more time to have hands-on activities in class with more student-teacher interaction. Cons: It takes time to prepare the "lecture." Time is precious, and sometimes hard to come by for teachers. My IDEA: Only post class notes/lectures on Fridays. Allow the kids all weekend to access, and let the post cover the entire week. Do not try to burn yourself out by re-posting lectures/notes every day.

Reusability is an AWESOME benefit the World Wide Web has brought to teachers. I remember, when I was a kid, my mom (also a teacher) was sorting through her school boxes. She pulled out a collection of HUGE binders, and called them her "educational bibles." ???? I asked her why they were so important, and she told me that they contained every lesson plan she had ever made for every subject within every grade she had ever taught. Now, looking back, I couldn't imagine having binders full of lesson plans!! We have the Internet now! We do have to be careful that we do not infringe on intellectual property rights. The Web has made it all too easy to discover, then copy and paste anything we need. I am looking at possibly going into Library Sciences and becoming a Media Specialist. If I violate copyright, I could lose my license. :-/ Eeks. This is a topic I hope to thoroughly attack in my LIS classes.

Rich Media is defined as: learning products that incorporate high-end media such as sound, video, animation and simulation. After working towards my Masters in Educational Technology, I cannot see how I would ever keep Rich media out of any classroom. I am still torn on my future career, but whether it is post-secondary education, or a library, or even back to the classroom I will use rich media in multiple ways. These ways could be: instruction, presentation, classwork, projects or even examinations.

Emerging Technologies ARE the future of education... I cannot wait to incorporate Web 2.0 into instruction in whichever field I choose. When I was in the classroom, we used educational and virtual games. These games have been around for a long time. The oldest that I remember was the Oregon Trail, then Sim City in High School. My son is already playing Sim City and learning about infrastructure and money management. He is 6.

The classes I have taken over the last 5 months have been very informative and exciting. They have shed new light on how we can evolve the education system and ways to improve our students' desire to learn. I am very passionate about making others passionate and finding new approaches to things... Anything. Life will always have obstacles and we will always have to adapt and change. The future is, and will always hold change.

Good luck to everyone and may we use, and "reuse" the things we have learned through our education. I hope that everyone passes the knowledge we have been fortunate to learn on to our peers, students, administrators and family whether they work in education or not. Remember that learning takes place with everyone and everywhere!

Instructional Design Position

Good Day All!

My Background:

Currently I am not working a full time job. I work part time for a community college building classes and hiring new instructors. This particular college wanted to "re-vamp" their continuing education class options. Previously, I taught middle then high school, and coached UIL swimming at the high school level for 3 different 5A schools.

I am enrolled in the ETEC (Educational Technology) program at TAMU-Commerce and am expecting to graduate in May 2013. My weakness, I felt, was technology and that is what influenced my choice of majors. I am now dabbling with the idea of getting my librarian certification immediately after I graduate and becoming an elementary Media Specialist (Librarian). This year, having more free time (resigned from teaching May 2012) I have been helping in 2 different elementary libraries. I have fallen in love- too bad it was after I was 2/3's way through my degree ;). If I were to transfer to ETEC/Lib Science, I would be lacking 9 classes. This is the same amount of classes I would have left if I graduated, then started. Since I am not 100% what I want to do post-graduation, it is more beneficial for me to finish as an ETEC major, and then get the certification.


My other desire (the reason I initially enrolled in this program) is to become a post-secondary instructor, preferably for online classes. I have really enjoyed these online ETEC classes, and have had really good professors. I am leaning to applying for a position as an ETEC instructor in a college/university. In my undergrad classes, I had some online professors that were not-so-helpful and made the classes VERY frustrating- to say the least.

I would prefer to design instruction, and possible develop it as well. I am very creative, and explain new ideas well. The times are changing- and instructors need to jump on the bandwagon to stay effective. I have never worked in the private school sector, and feel that I would rather stay with what I know- public school, whether it be elementary or post-secondary.

There is no way that I will gain all the skills I need for either of these jobs with only my graduate level classes. I will continuously take workshops and ask questions; one can never know enough.

Organizations that will best support my continued learning would be:
**FYI: section 6, chapter 26, Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology**

ETEC Instructor Post-Secondary:

Educational Technology: http://www.bookstoread.com/etp
Educational Technology, Research and Development (ETR&D): http://www.aect.org/Intranet/Publications/index.asp#etrd
Educational Technology and Society: http://ifets.info/others/
Educational Technology Review (ETR): http://www.aace.org/pubs/etr
Distance Education: http://www.odlaa.org/publications/publications.html
American Journal of Distance Education (AJDE): http://www.ajde.com
Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT): http://www.salt.org
Quarterly Review of Distance Education (QRDE): http://infoagepub.com/products/journals/qrde/index/htm
plus many more..

Elementary School Librarian (Media Specialist):

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE): http://iste.org
International Technology Education Association (ITEA): http://www.iteaconnect.org
International Forum of Educational Technology and Society: http://ifets.ieee.org
Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT): http://www.aect.org
Association for Media and Technology Education in Canada (AMTEC): http://www.amtec.ca
TechTrends: http://www.aect.org/Intranet/Publications/index.asp#tt
T.H.E. Journal: (non refereed Articles of real educators): http://www.thejournal.com
plus many more....

I DO feel that it would be great to join many of these organizations before graduating- because it could help me decide exactly what path to take. Why take the 7 extra classes (for the librarian certification) if I choose a different path?

Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT): This organization links professionals with common interests to educational technology and its application in learning. There are several different counsels so all needs/specialties can be met. The AECT hold a summer conference that has job placement as well as several hundred presentations. This organization would be beneficial for both jobs I am interested in... And it also publishes journals for other sites I have listed in each category.

Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT): This organization is for professionals in the field of instructional technology. There is an annual convention that covers topics from distance education to interactive instructional delivery. Becoming a member of this organization could really solidify whether I wanted to become an ETEC instructor, and whether I feel I would be successful in this career choice.

I am excited to continue my path to a new career, and cannot wait to see what the future holds!

 

Healthy Post-Secondary Classrooms

 At the beginning of my graduate degree choice, I was 100% certain I wanted to teach Higher Education (post secondary). Throughout these past five months, I met many other students who have made my “clear path” blurry. I am now torn between wanting to teach ETEC college classes, and becoming an elementary school librarian. These are two polar opposite jobs! After this semester, I will be lacking two classes to complete my degree. I have checked with advisors and my best path (financially and educationally) is to graduate and then get my library certification. I could change my mind by May, and not spend money (7 classes worth) on a certificate that I might never use. For the purpose of identifying trends with instructional design and technology, I will focus mainly on higher education.

The health professions follow an altruistic outline for caregivers called the Hippocratic Oath. When teaching college students, students who PAY for their education, I feel that an oath similar to this could be beneficial in student productivity and communication.

 

The Hippocratic Oath was put in place for healthcare professionals to maintain a set Code of Conduct. The oath provides guidelines for people who have chosen healthcare careers to abide in order for their patients to feel as comfortable, trusting and respected as possible. The main focus of these guidelines is to hold the professionals accountable for their actions and teach them that they need to have strong interpersonal and communications skills in order to perform their job completely.

In a post-secondary classroom, a professor could not only uphold a set of rules such as these, but post them online (or discuss them) the first day of class. The student could sign or e-sign a contract stating that they will be constructive and compassionate towards their classmates. Many students are afraid (in K-12 as well) of interacting with others or the teacher in classrooms. They are afraid of rejection, or being misunderstood. In many situations, it is easier to stay silent than offer an opinion.

 

The fuel behind learning, is interaction. This is a critical element that cannot be left out of classrooms, digital especially! The class oath would be inviting and uplifting, and the teacher would be expected to abide by it as well. In healthcare professions, prior to becoming a “professional,” students are taught the techniques of “care”. In my classroom, students would be TAUGHT how to interact. I would be very involved in the classroom discussions and maybe even organize and the first study group. The professors have to be the leaders of character and expected actions in the educational environment. Etiquette is the key that many people forget until it might be too late, and hurtful criticism has been spewed.     

 

.. These are just a few thoughts and ideas I am excited to explore and refine. J

Performing Like a Human ;)

• Chapter 14 discusses the concept and evolution of human performance improvement. Several sections of chapter 14 present a variety of non-instructional solutions to performance problems. Identify a performance problem in your area of work and identify non-instructional solutions that may help solve the problem.

When I was teaching in a High School, one of the biggest problems we had that hurt the students’ performance were tardiness. The school had a “Tardy System” in place, but it was not well enforced (by administration), so many students were not really concerned with being on time. As all teachers know, this can seriously disrupt the learning environment! I am going to be creative and say that I believe a “compensation/reward” system would work! I’ll explain: To tie this in with my lesson, we could do a bell-ringer each day discussing money from a specific time/culture. I could have print outs of this money that I hand out to everyone who is on time. While doing the bell-ringer (which will be graded) those who received the money will write the culture/era description on the back. Anyone, at the end of the grading period (ie: 6 wks/9 wks etc), who has collected all the money AND has the description on the back can “buy” rewards.. These options would be: a dropped homework grade pass, a pass to drop 20% of the questions off any multiple choice test/quiz (they choose which questions), Pizza Pass (At the end of each semester each student with one pass gets to enjoy Pizza on me)…etc. Not only does this promote punctuality, but also responsibility because the students have to keep up with these passes and money. I would possibly have smaller prizes for those who had ¾ of the daily money print outs. This way one tardy does not 100% ruin the reward. J

 

 

• Chapter 15 presents Electronic performance support systems. Define performance support systems and explain how a performance support system might (or might not) help solve the problem you identified above.

The administration has just started trying to take the reins on this matter, and has bought an electronic ID card reader for the tardy offices. The school I worked at has appx 3000 students, so monitoring tardies was not a priority. The electronic card reader automatically prints out a tardy pass (take a ton less time than hand-writing passes for all students), and alerts the student how many tardies they have. If they receive 3 tardies in one grading period, they get a 30m detention.. As their tardy count increases so do their consequences. This really does not help, because the kids know how many times they can be tardy- and monitor it at the tardy stations. This just tends to make the student a little cocky as they walk in- knowing they received NO punishment the first 3 times. I, personally, think this type of electronic performance support system was a waste of money. Besides, teachers still had to monitor the stations during part of their conference period (which was legal because my school was block scheduled giving each teacher a 1.5 hr conference/planning period).

 

• Chapter 16 explains knowledge management: the way we manage information, share that information, and use it to solve organization problems. Organizations, such as schools, accumulate a great deal information/data, which must be organized in a way that we can make sense of it in order to use for making decisions. What knowledge would help solve the problem you identified above and how would that knowledge need to be collected and managed to help facilitate problem solving?

I have found that knowing a lot about truancy helped me explain the importance of being in class, on time, to the kids. In my school, if students miss 20m of class, they are counted absent. I adhere to that STRICTLY. So much that I set a timer for 20m, and anyone who comes in after it goes off is counted absent. A production is not made, but the extreme tardy is documented. I have a law enforcement officer come speak to the kids within the first couple of weeks and explain what truancy is and how it can hurt you with future goals/graduation. If I were to implement the bell-ringers and currency for the students on time, I would need to organize lesson plans and print/cut/laminate the money to hand out.

• Chapter 17 describes types of informal learning. What informal learning experiences have you participated in at your organization? Could those informal learning experiences be shared with others? Could the knowledge gained in those settings be codified and managed? And should it be managed or should the informal experiences be replicated or broadened to include others?

Informal Learning happens EVERYWHERE. I love to take something away from every interaction I have. As long as you talk to people, co-workers or learners or a guy at the bus stop, you will learn something. I have spoken with people in a checkout line at the grocery store about their children (convo starts with how cute they are- and leads to the parent saying “if you only knew”). Even these conversations reveal something I either didn’t know period, or forgot I knew. When you learn something the only “right” or “natural” thing to do should be to share the info. I think too many educators have gotten tied up trying to “one-up” each other, that the concept of sharing has been forgotten! I am always offering advice or info, whether someone asks or not. Some people might say this is rude, but I’ve never gotten a complaint!

Evaluation and Implementation: Different Strokes For Different Folks

Why evaluate? Why should we, educators, test? WHY?? Well, the reason is largely being forgotten- We evaluate students so we and they can learn and continue to be motivated to learn. LEARN, MOTIVATION??? Yes, that is the sole reason for education... to obtain knowledge... not to memorize facts! To have the desire and drive to obtain and hold fast to the precious information we call knowledge. So, how can we evaluate effectively? There are many models besides the well-known CIPP and Kirkpatrick models. Here are two:

1. The Brinkerhoff Success Case Method is a more flexible, effective HRD evaluation model, and requires the evaluation to focus on all levels of learning. Brinkerhoff feels that evaluation should not only happen at the end of a lesson or study.

 

There are six stages when evaluation needs to take place:

Stage 1: Evaluation of Needs/Goal Setting – What are the needs, and are they real?

Stage 2: Evaluation of Program Design – What is required to meet these needs, and will the program design do so?

Stage 3: Program Implementation and Operation – How do we evaluate the program being used?

Stage 4: Evaluation of Learning– Did the participants learn, and if so what?

Stage 5: Evaluation of Usage of Learning – Are the participants implementing their learning?

Stage 6: Evaluation of Payoff/Worth – Did it make a worthwhile difference to the participants’organizations and their personal development? WAS IT WORTH IT?

2. Eisner’s Connoisseurship Model relies 100% on the teacher's judgment to assess the quality of their program/lesson.

The two ideas behind this model are educational connoisseurship (appreciating the program being taught) and educational criticism (the ability to explain the program to those who do not understand/appreciate it). He called his model "non-scientific" and "humanistic." The primary purpose is to improve education, not just make students accountable, and to do this through evaluating the students' synthesis of the program. The "connoisseur"/teacher guides students towards knowledge and is the catalyst for evaluation of synthesis to begin. It is suggested that faculty involve students in developing the criteria for evaluating their work. The student motivation is higher when they are involved in the learning/evaluating process. Synthesis is hard to assess so this method recommends that as many faculty members as possible be allowed to evaluate students' work.

One main question that most evaluation models do not ask is... Was the evaluation enjoyable to the student? I feel that when the student is empowered to choose how an evaluation might be enjoyable, they might be more successful. I, one semester, allowed my students to choose one of three different assessments over the same topic. I kept it basic- 50 questions T/F, or Multiple Choice; 2 essays; or a short project assessment (this particular time they had to place events on a timeline, match key figures with the events, and add a short description/outcome of the event). The students loved having an option, but it was very painful to grade :).

 

Since this is a time of economic decline, and many schools do not have the money budgeted to afford different technologies, we the faculty need to be creative on ways to keep technology in the classroom. First, in a professional, or staff, development meetings the librarians need to speak to the staff about what electronics they have to loan out to classes. Many teachers are not aware of the large amount of hardware libraries have on hand for faculty members to use. Second, all "teams" or subject areas should be required to apply for a grant by the end of the 1st semester. Teachers from the campus need to have representatives who go to seminars (local and free) and learn about grant writing. This information needs to then be taught to others. Third, and lastly, all teachers need to be aware of Web 2.0 applications. An easy link to access them is:  http://www.go2web20.net/

All educators, whether your district is in a economic decline, or not, should play around on many of these applications. I have used an elementary math application (game) to teach a GED prep student basic addition and subtraction. This particular student was so far behind the rest of the class, that I had them play around with this for homework. He was so excited the next class to tell me he was hooked playing for 4 days, and had graduated from a 1st grade level to a third grade level in one week. This young man was about to give up on getting his GED before he tried this program. Web 2.0's are free online applications. Some are free trials, and ask for $$ to get the "full version" or after a trial period. But there are thousands of applications! I will end with a quote that I live by, especially when times are tough... "Attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching?"   

 

Theories and Models of Learning

Epistemology is the study of how we know about, or understand, knowledge. Philosophical researchers are always searching for the depth of human knowledge. How much can any single person know? When does knowledge stop? Are there any limits? Instructional methods, instructional theories, and models of learning are all included in the psychology behind teaching. These concepts/ideas are all dedicated on how to get the learner to LEARN information. Epistemology is focused on knowledge specifically, and not how to "get it into" the learner. There are two MAIN focuses of epistemology, and both focus more on understanding knowledge itself. The positivism perspective believes that knowledge exists regardless of the learner. The relativism perspective believes that the learner constructs the knowledge that exists. All of these theories and designs should be inextricably linked, although they rarely are.

 

Contextual epistemology should fall between positivism and relativism so that knowledge is still separate from the learner, but that it can be independent or created. Contextualists will favor the social constructivist, and their contexts determine whether the knowledge output becomes a truth. A radical constructivist (favoring a Relativist) believes that ALL pieces of knowledge ARE truths, regardless of reality. Positivists lean towards behaviorists who believe learning comes from external stimuli. Positivists believe knowledge (what is being learned) IS external, and separate from the learner.

 

Behaviorists would continue to try and solve a problem until they got it correct (reinforcement). After the problem was solved, the instructor would most likely give feedback, or require peer feedback for constructive criticism. Their learners would be motivated by positive and negative reinforcement. I personally feel this motivation works *briefly* on learners. Too much positive reinforcement becomes a norm, and too much negative reinforcement can have the opposite psychological effects than was desired. Very few educators can employ these reinforcement strategies correctly.

A constructivist might solve problems in a group setting and they would work well with others. Their groups would be question driven and analyze the problem closely. The instructors would verbally support the groups, and have them set goals to be met. After the project is completed the groups would reflect on what and how they are learning. This is (what I feel to be) the best approach for students. Learners need to be hands- on and involved in the learning environment. In groups, students can feed off of one another and are usually motivated by the teacher and their peers for successful completion. Knowledge is gained from the context around them, and they can also create knowledge.


 

ADDIE: "It's elementary, my dear."

Educational technology is a term that can be defined many different ways to each person. I look at it as more of an evolving process. Since education and technology are ever-changing, the definition cannot be concrete. My current definition is that educational technology is more of a learner centered process that develops with the aid of technology. This process can be student (individually driven trial/error) led or educator led (guided by someone with prior knowledge of the material). Whenever students of any age are learning any new material, finding technologies associated with the subject matter is imperative. Too much of our present day, and future is controlled by the progression of technology. Everything from daily interaction to the workforce requires (or is benefited by) a knowledge of technology. The progression of definitions in our text supports my idea of there not being a set specific definition for the term/idea. As technology advances, so does our use of it in education. When I started teaching 5 1/2 years ago, there were not too many applications I could use in the classroom. This all changed when schools began to relax their network firewalls and with the rise of smart phones. Not many people had an iPhone, and the districts were scared of the trouble students could get in when accessing internet.

Now, many districts are incredibly relaxed on their cell phone policies and many teachers allow use of cell phones when working on projects. I taught a mixed level high school class 3 years ago and gave the students many option/ideas on presenting their final project. For comfort reasons, I allowed them to use PowerPoint, but reminded them it would have to "knock my socks off" in order to receive an A- an average power point was going to receive an 80 on our grading rubric. A different option I gave my students was to make a video on their cell phones and email it to my school account after it was edited. The kids were thrilled that I was allowing them to pull their phones out and film during class times. I reminded the kids to be creative and find newer, free apps to edit the video. The project outline they tuned in also had to include which application they used to edit and the process/time it took. Finally they reviewed the application and their own final video. After all the projects were turned in (90% chose the video route), I showed my principal and he was so impressed that he put his favorite 2 in our next staff development meeting and allowed me to explain what we did. I, along with my students, was thrilled about the success of this project.
 **This lesson was 100% learner centered and goal oriented. It also focused on a meaningful performance and was very self-correcting. Even though this was a team effort, I feel the outcome could have been measured differently for the groups. The project had a rubric, but some of the grading scale was participation and I allowed them to grade each other. Usually, and in my previous experience, this approach allows the students to be anonymously honest.... but I found that for this project, they must have enjoyed themselves so much that most teams gave each other a 100% participation grade. I am choosing to believe I just had an AMAZING group who really did all equally share the responsibilities :).**

Dr. Robert A. Reiser has chosen to follow the viewpoint [along with others] that teachers, chalkboards and textbooks are not considered instructional media. I disagree with his choice. I feel teachers, or facilitators, will always be instructional media. We instruct our students how to use different technologies, or at least facilitate the search for them. The literal, and dated, terms "textbook" and "chalkboard" have been replaced with eBooks and dry erase whiteboards. The eBooks is still a text, and the whiteboard allows classes to use an integrated system to link the whiteboard and the projector. I believe the purpose of instructional design is not to incorporate media into instruction, but instead to use it to increase learning by doing. By adding media into the classroom lesson, the students are more responsible for their own learning. This gives even the youngest a sense of empowerment.