3.Online Course Reflection

FET@KU

Forum of English Teacher Educators of Kannur University
Hi  friends,
My unexpected transfer to Govt. College of Teacher Education, Thiruvananthapuram, has  brought  this  new  venture of  English Teacher Educators to a standstill.
There is still hope…. the Online Course Reflections   which I am sharing below  can motivate  you to pursue  similar courses…

Warm Regards

Dr.C.Praveen 

Course Name: Online Teaching and Learning in K-12
Dates : June 20 to July 31, 2016
Duration: Six Weeks
Course Provider: Canvas
Course Instructors :
*Dr.Michael Orey, Associate Professor, University of Georgia
*Ms.Karah Hagins, Instructional Designer, The Office  of Online Learning, University  of Georgia

Compilation of Weekly Course Reflections…submitted as  one of the  must  do  assignments –Reflective Challenge

Week One
I find reading  large texts  on screen particularly difficult and  so  am forced to get a printout to read.  Hence getting a grip of the  different tabs and  novel   names assigned to activities took almost two days. Even  getting    a correct idea of  the  nature of  the tasks I am expected to do on this course   took a lot of time.

Streaming of videos is usually time consuming, so I always prefer  reading the transcript. As this  feature is  not available on this  course  I had no option  but  to view the  interactive video.  But  to my dismay I was able to view only  70% of  the   frame of the video  and 30%  of the video frame  was  never  visible on my computer screen.  Further,  for some  videos,    the   space  which provides the question and  for which answer had to be entered  was  not  available…Naturally   I   found  the  entire task   disappointing   and  tedious. Finally,   viewing and downloading  videos  from  the  site  to which a link was provided  was  particularly  difficult   hence  I  was forced to skip the Technology tool  challenge.

But  the introduction to the idea of  editing videos   and  inserting   questions  using the special software  was   definitely an Aha moment!  Thither to,  I  was under the  impression that  useful videos  available on YouTube could never be incorporated  effectively into the course material  as done on this Course.

I must also admit  that  the  links  provided for   articles   as part  of the Research challenge was a pedagogical treat.  Several problems  teachers usually face  during  Online instruction  have been referred to  and  solutions for  many  questions  I intended to ask  to an expert  was  available too!
While reading the responses of participants,  I found that I am  at the  toddler  stage of using a Learning Management System with my students. However their responses  helped me gain an insight into the  kind of problems  I am likely to confront in future.
A special thanks to the educators  for  offering this fairly challenging and interestingly conceived  course.

Week Two
I  just  missed out on  completing  the Reflective   Challenge…I would like to share my reflection of  Module 2.

 While taking the Digital Literacy Technology Skills Assessment, I feared that the questions are going to be tough. To my  sheer surprise I got everything right.

Going through the resources  I found plenty of technology tools I never  knew  existed.  Browsing through the features of such resources  I am  excited  and would like to try them out… As  I  have  to teach during week days which requires  preparation, I could  try practicing  the tools   only  during  weekends…The pity…I missed out  on completing the  Reflective Challenge for the week.

Using PowerPoint  for consolidating  major points of  lecture is something I would like to use on my Online course. The pencil and paper quiz is something  my learners are quite familiar with. The opportunity  to use Quizlet or Hot Potatoes which I have never tried before  would also become essential for  the Online course.

I have tried  creating videos  with  my mobile phone. Unfortunately the quality was poor. The video  had a lot of background noise and was  shaking too…But the article on using  videos  made me re-think…I  ought  to use this  extremely useful resource.

Connecting with teachers and  expert users, I think would help me improve my  knowledge and ability to use  techno tools.

Week Three
Hi friends,
For years  I had been trying to find a way of regularly sharing  learning content  and  assessing  study of the content by my students  through an online mode.  Making students  submit  assignments  and write-up for blogs  to my  email for  revision and upload  were  so far attempted by me.

The expenses involved in setting up affordable and reliable 24x7 servers in the government-run college where I teach  (which seldom gets  funding  for such individual teacher initiatives)  has  blocked  my aspirations for  pedagogy through LMS.

Though I have  on several occasions  tried to convince my superiors  of the necessity of an LMS  it  falls on deaf ears. Disappointed with  the stance of   the authority, I  started  creating  Blogs  for specific purposes  often in a magazine mode.  For  certain  personal reasons   I have been forced to  reserve  a  few  such Blogs   for  private view only. However most of the Blogs   I  created  can be  viewed at the following link. 

As  I have already created quite a few Blogs, I did not want to add another one for reflections   of  this course.

I am at a loss for words  to thank the educators  of this course  for illuminating my path to find  appropriate  technology and pedagogical  strategies  for the  21st century learner.

The assortment of tools  suggested (some of which I am yet to use) appears  sufficient for an LMS  which I intend to use.
Once I  get  the services of a free LMS service  for my students, I will definitely  make my students  use it.

Week Four

Article chosen: Online communities of learning
A couple of years ago  I taught in a college which had a  two-month vacation between  a two-semester course. In previous years I had noticed that the sixty-day-vacation often resulted in many students forgetting key content learned in the first semester which they  were expected  to apply in the second semester. This prompted me to form an Online learning community to revise content during the 60-day  vacation using a social media tool-Whatsapp.   I have chosen the article   on Online communities of learning to share my experience by referring to  my experiment.

I have identified three  website  articles  with links  for those interested in learning more:
No.1
1.An article on Learning communities  in the Learning Forward website  suggests that effectiveness  happens through …A)Engaging in continuous improvement  B)Developing collective responsibility  C)Creating  alignment and accountability.
Please view

 https://learningforward.org/standards/learning-communities
No.2
This is an article  which says why learning through social networks is the  future and it appeared in the website Teachthought.   Please view 
http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/learning-through-networks-is-the-future/

No.3
The third article on education through  Whatsapp is available  on the   Whatsapp website.
Please view  
http://www.whatsappfor.org/facts/whatsapp-education/

I have identified three  journal articles too:

No.1:
Beyond social networking   is an article which appeared in an Online  journal and it can be viewed at the following link
https://thejournal.com/Articles/2009/07/15/Beyond-Social-Networking-Building-Toward-Learning-Communities.aspx?p=1

No.2
This  is a journal article  by Yeh which  anlayzes  online behaviours,roles and learning communities   and it appeared in Educational Technology & Society, 13 (1), 140–151.

No.3
This article by a faculty of Taibah University  is  related to  my experiment of using Whatsapp for   social learning  and  appeared in  European Scientific Journal August 2014 edition vol.10, No.22 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

One question that came to my mind while  reading  the  article I have chosen was the possibility of integrating assessment of Whatsapp learning  with the LMS  which  I  intend to use.

The experiment which I conducted  was  quite successful and was rated as a best practice by  an agency of the Department of Education, Government of Kerala.

The following link takes you to  the Blog  entry which  I used to communicate to  the  participants of the experiment   the  accolades  which the  experiment received.  Please view
https://brennenbreeze.wordpress.com/2015/12/24/11-our-whatsapp-study/

Week Five
It is only   this year that   I started seriously  contemplating  the need to master  the  skills necessary to launch my own Online course…. So  I joined this course to learn about the whole  process of  offering an Online course.

The  kind of professionalism  displayed in  course design  in  MOOC’s   which  I had already taken  in subjects of  my choice  through Canvas, Future Learn and  edX ,  gave  the feel that  it  requires  team work of the highest order to  deliver an Online course….
Incidentally   during April-July, I  came  across several  MOOC’s  by  other  agencies  offering  to teach  the  nitty-gritty of  Online courses….And I must  admit,  I am   fortunate to have chosen this course. The  guidelines  given in each module  particularly   related to learner  problems,   illumined  a  very  significant  area  which I had  completely ignored in my   eagerness  to    master  Online pedagogy…Hence  reading  about  ‘Instructor  Presence’ and  ‘Ways of fostering student  engagement’   were  real   ‘Aha!’ moments…

Relating  the  guidelines  provided in the modules to  my own experiments in using Blogs and Whatsapp for teaching and learning  gave me  the  hint  that I am on the right track. Finally the feedback on  the work  submitted were  quite encouraging making me feel elated  with regard to the efforts  I have put in  so far… 



Posted by Dr.C.Praveen 





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