Our final FIT team project has been steadily progressing over the past few weeks. We initially decided to separately brainstorm individual activities we thought would be applicable to our course. This initial activity allowed all of us to think about what we could implement or improve within the course. After about a week, the team coordinated the assignment by breaking it down into sections. Each of us selected a particular section to work on, with each of us working on either modifications to existing activities or developing new activities for the course.
So far, we’ve been communicating through email, which has worked well for our group. By separating some of the sections of the assignment, email has worked to keep the entire team in touch with what everyone is working on and planning on developing for the assignment.
Some of the challenges that I’ve experienced while working on my individual section is that the instructors have been teaching this course together for 8 years, which has proved to make the course very efficient and well-run. I think they’ve done a good job facilitating the online courses and developing assignments, which are effective for the students involved. My specific section to work on was to develop possible improvements for the course and justification for noted improvements. This was fairly challenging, as the course is well managed already. There were a few that I thought of, but it was difficult to come up with more after the first few. Two of us have been working on this section, so we’ve been able to develop several improvements as suggestions based on our own individual experiences with the course, which has been helpful.
We’re continuing to work on the final project and revise our initial ideas into finalized suggestions and plans. I think working individually on a few of the sections, then working collaboratively to revise and finalize them will work well with our team. So far, team member input has been extremely helpful to develop each of the sections as we go forward.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Facilitator-in-Training Specific Project
I recall in my first blog, I had mentioned that I was somewhat nervous about the Facilitator-in-Training experience. I was particularly apprehensive because I do not have any teaching or training experience, beyond serving as a teaching assistant during my undergraduate years. However, I was pleasantly surprised throughout the experience as a FIT to enjoy the opportunity, and correlate our class discussions with observations made during the FIT experience.
Our instructors posed several opportunities for FITs to choose from in the beginning of the semester. One activity was to create 15+ chapter multiple choice quizzes from the textbook into an electronic assessment software tool. I chose to complete this activity for my individual project, as assessment as a general topic is something that I am interested in (both with my previous degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and my Instructional Technology degree). Gaining access into the online textbook and the assessment software tools proved slightly challenging at first, but the instructors were extremely helpful and patient. Once I was able to access both tools, I began the task of creating the quizzes in the assessment tool. Each question had to be answered in order to find the correct answer during which I discovered I knew a lot less about European history than I originally thought! So instead, I decided to answer “C” to every question instead of attempting to answer correctly – which cut down on a lot of time and effort – although my scores looked worse! I’ve continued to transfer the information into the software tool, and hope to be done this week.
Although my individual project did not involve any hands-on facilitation with the students, I’ve been able to witness the other FITs opportunities and observe their experiences. This has been helpful, as the four of us have had different experiences throughout the course. In addition, participating in the Elluminate sessions has been a great experience, to really see a synchronous learning session take place.
I think if I were to do the assignment over again, I would have taken on more hands-on task, possibly in addition to the assessment tool. I know that creating the assessments was an important piece to the instructors, but guiding an individual assignment similar to what the other FITs worked on would have been beneficial as well.
Our instructors posed several opportunities for FITs to choose from in the beginning of the semester. One activity was to create 15+ chapter multiple choice quizzes from the textbook into an electronic assessment software tool. I chose to complete this activity for my individual project, as assessment as a general topic is something that I am interested in (both with my previous degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and my Instructional Technology degree). Gaining access into the online textbook and the assessment software tools proved slightly challenging at first, but the instructors were extremely helpful and patient. Once I was able to access both tools, I began the task of creating the quizzes in the assessment tool. Each question had to be answered in order to find the correct answer during which I discovered I knew a lot less about European history than I originally thought! So instead, I decided to answer “C” to every question instead of attempting to answer correctly – which cut down on a lot of time and effort – although my scores looked worse! I’ve continued to transfer the information into the software tool, and hope to be done this week.
Although my individual project did not involve any hands-on facilitation with the students, I’ve been able to witness the other FITs opportunities and observe their experiences. This has been helpful, as the four of us have had different experiences throughout the course. In addition, participating in the Elluminate sessions has been a great experience, to really see a synchronous learning session take place.
I think if I were to do the assignment over again, I would have taken on more hands-on task, possibly in addition to the assessment tool. I know that creating the assessments was an important piece to the instructors, but guiding an individual assignment similar to what the other FITs worked on would have been beneficial as well.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
FIT Experience – Specific Elluminate Sessions
As a Facilitator-in-Training with my specific courses, I’ve been able to experience two synchronous sessions. These sessions were held using Elluminate software, the chosen web conferencing tool for the course management system. Both sessions made a large impression on me, particularly in understanding more about the overall management of the course and the communication between the instructors and students.
The first session I attended (or rather, lurked in on) was focused on writing thesis statements. This session was fairly important to the final outcome of the course, as the students take an advanced placement written exam for credit after the course. The instructors utilized many of the web conferencing tools available within Elluminate to engage the students. Most, if not all, of the students had access to microphones for the audio portion of the session. The instructors encouraged the use of audio during the session and asked specific students questions throughout the session. They also encouraged use of the chat function. I was particularly impressed to note that both instructors were able to respond (one verbally and one through chat) to questions the students posed throughout the session. In addition, the instructors were able to gently guide the students if the chat appeared to veer off course. The instructors were very in-tune to the students needs and were therefore able to communicate with them very effectively.
The second session was equally informative, although more about the actual assignment discussed during the session. The assignment, a topical investigation in which each team of students answers several in-depth questions. Although the assignment is fairly traditional, the methods in which the students were allowed to complete the assignment in many different ways. I thought this was particularly interesting, as the students could select how to answer each question, whether it be a paper, art representation, or even a video posted on YouTube. The instructors focused quite a bit on YouTube, as they thought it would be a fit for at least some of the questions and an interesting format to use. I thought this was really important, to engage the high school students with a media that they may be familiar with and interested in.
Both sessions were helpful in understanding the basic interaction between the students and instructors. I think they were informative as a FIT, to get a better feel for the course and assignments. Even though as a FIT I lurked during the sessions, they were important part of my learning experience for this course.
The first session I attended (or rather, lurked in on) was focused on writing thesis statements. This session was fairly important to the final outcome of the course, as the students take an advanced placement written exam for credit after the course. The instructors utilized many of the web conferencing tools available within Elluminate to engage the students. Most, if not all, of the students had access to microphones for the audio portion of the session. The instructors encouraged the use of audio during the session and asked specific students questions throughout the session. They also encouraged use of the chat function. I was particularly impressed to note that both instructors were able to respond (one verbally and one through chat) to questions the students posed throughout the session. In addition, the instructors were able to gently guide the students if the chat appeared to veer off course. The instructors were very in-tune to the students needs and were therefore able to communicate with them very effectively.
The second session was equally informative, although more about the actual assignment discussed during the session. The assignment, a topical investigation in which each team of students answers several in-depth questions. Although the assignment is fairly traditional, the methods in which the students were allowed to complete the assignment in many different ways. I thought this was particularly interesting, as the students could select how to answer each question, whether it be a paper, art representation, or even a video posted on YouTube. The instructors focused quite a bit on YouTube, as they thought it would be a fit for at least some of the questions and an interesting format to use. I thought this was really important, to engage the high school students with a media that they may be familiar with and interested in.
Both sessions were helpful in understanding the basic interaction between the students and instructors. I think they were informative as a FIT, to get a better feel for the course and assignments. Even though as a FIT I lurked during the sessions, they were important part of my learning experience for this course.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Face-to-Face Facilitation Projects
The Face-to-Face Facilitation projects were informative and very useful as an assignment. I learned something new and unique during every presentation – all were interesting and informative. The topics related to learning facilitation and I was able to tie a piece of information provided during the presentation to something read in our books or articles or discussed later in class. I thought this helped to tie everything together – the presentations provided a brief insight into the topics, allowing for in-depth follow-up later through the readings.
For example, the video on blended learning from Week 12 was an excellent compliment to topics first discussed by both Brad and Julie in their F2F projects. Part of the video focused on the experiences immediately after Hurricane Katrina at a local college. Two instructors discussed how the college continued after the devastation and instituted a blended learning environment so that students would not be behind in their studies. Brad’s topic focused on emergency-related plans for exactly these types of situations. The video’s in-depth focus on how a school actually implemented a similar tactic during an emergency situation was very informative on how quickly the schools reacted and therefore succeeded. It was interesting to me because it was something I had never thought of before Brad’s presentation – but what an appropriate use of the technology we available. Julie’s presentation followed up on specific tools (WebEx, etc.) that can be used in similar situations. Again, these tools used in this manner was something new, and although the technologies were probably not designed for this specific use, it appears that they can be extremely useful in disaster situations.
Janee’s topic was also one that I hadn’t really thought about in terms of online learning prior to this class. The specific topic of assessing readiness for online courses was interesting, and I think ultimately very interesting. Some of the individual topics Janee talked about in terms of assessing your own readiness for online learning really hit home – particularly availability to be online and additional flexibility in terms of assignments, projects, etc. I have not taken an online course yet, but from what we’ve talked about during this class, I can see that those attributes are fairly important to your success in an online class.
For example, the video on blended learning from Week 12 was an excellent compliment to topics first discussed by both Brad and Julie in their F2F projects. Part of the video focused on the experiences immediately after Hurricane Katrina at a local college. Two instructors discussed how the college continued after the devastation and instituted a blended learning environment so that students would not be behind in their studies. Brad’s topic focused on emergency-related plans for exactly these types of situations. The video’s in-depth focus on how a school actually implemented a similar tactic during an emergency situation was very informative on how quickly the schools reacted and therefore succeeded. It was interesting to me because it was something I had never thought of before Brad’s presentation – but what an appropriate use of the technology we available. Julie’s presentation followed up on specific tools (WebEx, etc.) that can be used in similar situations. Again, these tools used in this manner was something new, and although the technologies were probably not designed for this specific use, it appears that they can be extremely useful in disaster situations.
Janee’s topic was also one that I hadn’t really thought about in terms of online learning prior to this class. The specific topic of assessing readiness for online courses was interesting, and I think ultimately very interesting. Some of the individual topics Janee talked about in terms of assessing your own readiness for online learning really hit home – particularly availability to be online and additional flexibility in terms of assignments, projects, etc. I have not taken an online course yet, but from what we’ve talked about during this class, I can see that those attributes are fairly important to your success in an online class.
F2F Project Reflections
For the Special Topic facilitation assignment, I chose to focus on wikis. From the start of the course, I thought this might be a useful topic to research further and would be very applicable to the course. In addition, I had a secondary reason to learn more about wikis, as I want to implement one in my job.
To keep true to form, I started my preliminary research on Wikipedia.com. I thought it was a little tribute to wikis and it definitely helped me understand how wikis were originally created, what they were intended to be used for, and an overall background on the topic. Although Wikipedia.com should not be used as a valid source, it’s a good place to get general information on a topic to follow up on later.
The later research that I did really focused on how wikis were used in either organizations or educational settings. There were many articles on wikis and other Web 2.0 technologies used in organizations. Most of these articles came from technological magazines or organizations, as it was difficult to find specific academic research articles on wiki technology. This may be more prevalent in the future (hopefully) as more and more organizations begin to use wikis as collaborative tools. However, I was very surprised at the amount of organizations currently using wikis and what they’re using them for. Not only the amount of organizations, but also the caliber of these organizations, such as Xerox and federal agencies like the CIA. I think this shows the very importance of using Web 2.0 to better facilitate not only learning within organizations, but also general efficiency improvements. The traditional educational uses for wikis was surprising as well. I hadn’t really thought of how wikis could possibly be used in educational settings previously, but I found that there are many uses and opportunities for wikis to be implemented in these settings. However, through our class discussion, it did become apparent that wikis, when used for more of the collaborative writing technique, may not be fully accepted by students. This may be particularly true for high school or college situations where students could be more protective of their own work and not want it available in an open format such as the Web. However, I think that prior to implementing such wikis in educational settings, several factors need to be evaluated.
Overall, I feel that the topic and assignment was a useful opportunity to learn more about an interesting topic. Allowing us to keep our choice of topic and how we organized the presentation was beneficial, particularly in relation to our class activity. I thought it was important for my class activity to be interactive with an actual wiki, since they’re easy to create and edit. I was happy that the activity seemed worked out well, to show how easy wikis can be added to, edited and how quickly it can happen.
To keep true to form, I started my preliminary research on Wikipedia.com. I thought it was a little tribute to wikis and it definitely helped me understand how wikis were originally created, what they were intended to be used for, and an overall background on the topic. Although Wikipedia.com should not be used as a valid source, it’s a good place to get general information on a topic to follow up on later.
The later research that I did really focused on how wikis were used in either organizations or educational settings. There were many articles on wikis and other Web 2.0 technologies used in organizations. Most of these articles came from technological magazines or organizations, as it was difficult to find specific academic research articles on wiki technology. This may be more prevalent in the future (hopefully) as more and more organizations begin to use wikis as collaborative tools. However, I was very surprised at the amount of organizations currently using wikis and what they’re using them for. Not only the amount of organizations, but also the caliber of these organizations, such as Xerox and federal agencies like the CIA. I think this shows the very importance of using Web 2.0 to better facilitate not only learning within organizations, but also general efficiency improvements. The traditional educational uses for wikis was surprising as well. I hadn’t really thought of how wikis could possibly be used in educational settings previously, but I found that there are many uses and opportunities for wikis to be implemented in these settings. However, through our class discussion, it did become apparent that wikis, when used for more of the collaborative writing technique, may not be fully accepted by students. This may be particularly true for high school or college situations where students could be more protective of their own work and not want it available in an open format such as the Web. However, I think that prior to implementing such wikis in educational settings, several factors need to be evaluated.
Overall, I feel that the topic and assignment was a useful opportunity to learn more about an interesting topic. Allowing us to keep our choice of topic and how we organized the presentation was beneficial, particularly in relation to our class activity. I thought it was important for my class activity to be interactive with an actual wiki, since they’re easy to create and edit. I was happy that the activity seemed worked out well, to show how easy wikis can be added to, edited and how quickly it can happen.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Mid-Semester Blog
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Throughout the last week, I’ve been able to encounter and experience several different facilitation techniques for this course. These experiences have been new and interesting, although challenging at the same time. In addition, I’ve been working on my face-to-face special topic facilitation, from which I’ve learned quite a large amount about wikis.
The two experiences last week with web conferencing tools were very interesting. The first experience for class with Wimba was great – I really enjoyed participating in it. At first, I was frustrated with the system download requirements – I had difficulty with some of the settings. I was checking several times a day to fix the pop-up issue, when it finally (somehow) fixed itself. However, I was encouraged that the microphone worked seamlessly – although I only used it once in the beginning of the session. I was also a little uneasy about the tools and applications within system, after the session had started. I had done a little research on the Wimba site prior to our session, but wish I had more of a background on what all of the icons, tools and applications were. I was definitely intimated by the session, particularly with speaking up. I enjoyed Dr. Keller’s presentation and was happy that we were able to submit questions beforehand – that made the session more comfortable for me. It was interesting to note the different types and levels of communication available (hand raising, chat, voice, and video applications). I thought they were very beneficial to choose from, particularly if you’re not comfortable with the more visual/audio choices.
My second experience with web conferencing was with our FIT project. The instructors held an elluminate session right after ours. The timing worked out very well for comparison purposes and to see it in action with a different course. The application was very similar, all of the same functions and capabilities as Wimba. However, I found elluminate almost easier to navigate through, in part because it was very simplistic. The interaction between the students and instructors during this session was very informative and interesting. Four students participated in the session, and communicated mostly through the chat function. The way in which the instructors managed the session, particularly responding to and guiding the students’ focus was really impressive. A few of the students would randomly ask questions using chat, as well as have short sidebar conversations when one of the instructors was speaking. The other instructor would often jump in and respond via chat, answering questions and providing guidance, all during the ongoing main presentation. I thought this was super beneficial for the students – to have the ability to ask questions when they arose, instead of waiting for another time and possibly forgetting them. However, there were times when the chat conversations between students became unfocused, straying away from the topic at hand. The instructors interjected appropriately at these times, bringing the students back to the main topic. I thought about how similar this was to my own high school experiences, that general classroom management is still necessary in a web conferencing environment (useful for organizations as well!). At the end of the session, the instructors left some free time for the students to chat, use the white board function and basically engage in free discussion. It was very interesting and very similar to face-to-face high school settings.
Overall, I was happy to have the opportunity to experience these sessions back-to-back. Having participated in the Wimba session first, I was much more comfortable observing the elluminate session (although it may have been the fact that I only had to observe, rather than participate!).
As for my face-to-face special topic presentation, the information I've gathered on wikis has been really informative. I'd like to start using wiki technology in my organization, and I think all of the information I've found really speaks to the benefits of wikis for collaborative work. However, its been interesting to read and learn more about some of the challenges and limitations with wikis. Although wikis can be a great tool, they are so dependent on people actually using them. I think management buy-in and general support are so important for creating a useful wiki, one that people actually read, add to and edit to keep "alive".
Throughout the last week, I’ve been able to encounter and experience several different facilitation techniques for this course. These experiences have been new and interesting, although challenging at the same time. In addition, I’ve been working on my face-to-face special topic facilitation, from which I’ve learned quite a large amount about wikis.
The two experiences last week with web conferencing tools were very interesting. The first experience for class with Wimba was great – I really enjoyed participating in it. At first, I was frustrated with the system download requirements – I had difficulty with some of the settings. I was checking several times a day to fix the pop-up issue, when it finally (somehow) fixed itself. However, I was encouraged that the microphone worked seamlessly – although I only used it once in the beginning of the session. I was also a little uneasy about the tools and applications within system, after the session had started. I had done a little research on the Wimba site prior to our session, but wish I had more of a background on what all of the icons, tools and applications were. I was definitely intimated by the session, particularly with speaking up. I enjoyed Dr. Keller’s presentation and was happy that we were able to submit questions beforehand – that made the session more comfortable for me. It was interesting to note the different types and levels of communication available (hand raising, chat, voice, and video applications). I thought they were very beneficial to choose from, particularly if you’re not comfortable with the more visual/audio choices.
My second experience with web conferencing was with our FIT project. The instructors held an elluminate session right after ours. The timing worked out very well for comparison purposes and to see it in action with a different course. The application was very similar, all of the same functions and capabilities as Wimba. However, I found elluminate almost easier to navigate through, in part because it was very simplistic. The interaction between the students and instructors during this session was very informative and interesting. Four students participated in the session, and communicated mostly through the chat function. The way in which the instructors managed the session, particularly responding to and guiding the students’ focus was really impressive. A few of the students would randomly ask questions using chat, as well as have short sidebar conversations when one of the instructors was speaking. The other instructor would often jump in and respond via chat, answering questions and providing guidance, all during the ongoing main presentation. I thought this was super beneficial for the students – to have the ability to ask questions when they arose, instead of waiting for another time and possibly forgetting them. However, there were times when the chat conversations between students became unfocused, straying away from the topic at hand. The instructors interjected appropriately at these times, bringing the students back to the main topic. I thought about how similar this was to my own high school experiences, that general classroom management is still necessary in a web conferencing environment (useful for organizations as well!). At the end of the session, the instructors left some free time for the students to chat, use the white board function and basically engage in free discussion. It was very interesting and very similar to face-to-face high school settings.
Overall, I was happy to have the opportunity to experience these sessions back-to-back. Having participated in the Wimba session first, I was much more comfortable observing the elluminate session (although it may have been the fact that I only had to observe, rather than participate!).
As for my face-to-face special topic presentation, the information I've gathered on wikis has been really informative. I'd like to start using wiki technology in my organization, and I think all of the information I've found really speaks to the benefits of wikis for collaborative work. However, its been interesting to read and learn more about some of the challenges and limitations with wikis. Although wikis can be a great tool, they are so dependent on people actually using them. I think management buy-in and general support are so important for creating a useful wiki, one that people actually read, add to and edit to keep "alive".
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
First Impressions of Course!
After the first class for IT 7130, I have several initial impressions and thoughts. Overall – the assignments and course expectations are intriguing but intimidating at the same time! As I stated in class, I’ve never had a full online course before. I’ve used Blackboard-type systems for traditional face-to-face courses during both undergrad and graduate school, but have decided against taking full online courses. Online courses were not available as choices for my graduate program (in Industrial/Organizational Psychology), so I was not particularly interested in taking any for this program. However, I was interested in learning more about online courses and how they are facilitated – which seems like a good personal objective for this course.
I’m definitely interested in the facilitator-in-training aspect of the course, yet apprehensive. I don’t have any teaching or training experience and am concerned with that potentially holding me back from gaining a full experience from the FIT project. However, it will be interesting to see how the experience turns out. I also think that a lack of teaching or training experiences may yield different perspectives on the project as well. During the description of the project, I thought about my experiences as a teaching/research assistant during undergrad. Part of what I’d like to determine from the FIT project is how these experiences may be different, yet similar.
One aspect that I’m definitely looking forward to researching and learning more about is emerging technologies within organizations, particularly with different generations. Other courses have discussed technology comfort level or generational gaps within organizations, but I’d really like to learn if there are different facilitation techniques in terms of multiple generations. As I struggle with emerging technologies (postponing taking an online course, never involving myself with blogs or wikis, etc.), I wonder what other employees within my organization feel/expect with these technologies becoming commonplace with corporations. To learn more about how facilitation changes when dealing with potentially different generational or comfort levels with technology aspects is a definite goal/objective for this course.
I’m definitely interested in the facilitator-in-training aspect of the course, yet apprehensive. I don’t have any teaching or training experience and am concerned with that potentially holding me back from gaining a full experience from the FIT project. However, it will be interesting to see how the experience turns out. I also think that a lack of teaching or training experiences may yield different perspectives on the project as well. During the description of the project, I thought about my experiences as a teaching/research assistant during undergrad. Part of what I’d like to determine from the FIT project is how these experiences may be different, yet similar.
One aspect that I’m definitely looking forward to researching and learning more about is emerging technologies within organizations, particularly with different generations. Other courses have discussed technology comfort level or generational gaps within organizations, but I’d really like to learn if there are different facilitation techniques in terms of multiple generations. As I struggle with emerging technologies (postponing taking an online course, never involving myself with blogs or wikis, etc.), I wonder what other employees within my organization feel/expect with these technologies becoming commonplace with corporations. To learn more about how facilitation changes when dealing with potentially different generational or comfort levels with technology aspects is a definite goal/objective for this course.
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