RSA 4: Designing for Learning: Ten Best Practices for TeachingOnline

http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html

Self-reflection is an important component of a successful online course, which leads to transformative learning.  Students need to be guided in the right direction in order to achieve this.  According to Palloff and Pratt (2007), “it is important to ask such questions as, “How were you as a learner before you came into this course? How have you changed? How do you anticipate this will affect your learning in the future?”…this is important…as it helps us know whether we have achieved our learning objectives.” (p. 199). This is difficult for students to learn how to do, because it is not something they are typically asked to do.  It is important for the instructor to setup their online course to allow this self-reflection process to occur.

This is addressed on a website, Designing for Learning: Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online- Quick Guide for New Online faculty.  Boettcher (2011) Dr. Boettcher has put together the top ten things needed for a successful online course.  “Best Practice 7: Prepare Discussion Posts that Invite Questions, Discussion, Reflections and Responses” (para. 21) There are six types of purposes for discussions listed, including “Supporting students in their own reflections and inquiries.” (para. 22).  Students need to be given the time think and reflect about what they have learned.

Both the textbook and website agree that self-reflection is an important part of a successful online course.  There are a variety of ways that students can do this, such as a blog or a journal (Palloff & Pratt, 2007).  Students were asked to create a blog for the online EDT 6030 course, and to post a summary of an online resource that supported our weekly topics for a Resource Sharing Activity. An additional component could be added to this, in which students are asked two or three times during the course to post a reflection.  This would allow for an opportunity for the student to have a transformative learning opportunity.

References

Boettcher, J.V. (2011). Designing for Learning: Ten best practices for teaching online- quick guide for new online faculty. (May 2001). Retrieved from http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. (2nd ed.). San Franciso: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-0-7879-8825-8.

RSA3: A Tale of Two Forums: One Professor’s Path to Improve Learning through a Common Online Teaching Tool

RSA3: A Tale of Two Forums: One Professor’s Path to Improve Learning through a Common Online Teaching Tool
submitted by: Lisa Kokos

http://www.eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ958885 

            Teaching an online course is different than teaching in a traditional face-to-face format.  Not all teachers are successful in both areas.  There are several different factors which help ensure the effectiveness of an online course. According to Palloff and Pratt (2007), “it is up to the instructor to create an effective container within which the course proceeds by posting goals, objectives, and expected outcomes for the course, initial guidelines for participation, thoughts and questions to kick off discussions, and assignments to be completed collaboratively” (p. 19).  If there is not enough guidance given to the students, then it is too easy for the course to take a detour and never reach the intended goals of the course.

            This is addressed in the peer reviewed article, A Tale of Two Forums: One Professor’s Path to Improve Learning through a Common Online Teaching Tool.   Nash (2011) wrote about his personal experience of teaching his first online course using the online discussion, or asynchronous discussion forum (ADF).  At the end of the course, he felt that he had learned from the mistakes he had made.  Nash realized that he had not given his students enough guidelines to follow and that he had to be an active participant in the online discussions.  “My solution to creating ADFs that were focused, effective, and assessable involved making conscious design choices that would create purposeful structure. While this could be done in a number of ways, I chose to break down the core components of the course by human role: what students will do and what I will do.” (p. 186).  Nash became a more active participant in all of the discussions, as a coach and as a peer.  He also used email to send out Monday reminders of the work to be done for the week, and additional emails showing support of the quality discussions his students were posting.

            Both the textbook and article agree that online teaching can be effective, if it is done correctly.  The online EDT 6030 course offered through Concordia University, does an effective job of blending components of the face-to-face course and best practices of an online course.  The online discussions are only a part of the program.  Guidelines are well established, with a grading rubric posted for each assignment.  By having established “Online Class Meeting Times” throughout the eight week course, students get the opportunity to collaborate with the instructor and fellow classmates.  This format ensures that the course goals will be met.

References

Nash, J. (2011). A tale of two forums: One professor’s path to improve learning through a common online teaching tool. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 6(5), 181-194.

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K.  (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. (2nd ed.). San Franciso: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-0-7879-8825-8.

RSA2- SMART Goals

RSA2: Teachers Learn to Set Goals with Students: Cooperative Process Brings Wisconsin School to New Heights of Innovation and Success
submitted by: Lisa Kokos

Teachers Learn to Set Goals with Students: Cooperative Process Brings Wisconsin School to New Heights of Innovation and Success

            Setting goals within a Professional Learning Community will help create results and have a positive impact on student learning.  However, these goals cannot be general, they need to be SMART.   This stands for Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Results oriented, and Time bound.  Goals need to focus on results instead of the activities the teachers will do. According to the book, Learning by Doing, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Thomas Many (2010), “Effective team goals will help answer the question, ‘How will we know if our strategies are resulting in gains in student learning?’ ” (p. 159).  This may be a different way of writing goals for some teachers.  SMART goals are also more effective if they correlate with school and district goals.  Teachers will need to work with their collaborative teams on developing these goals, and they will need time to gather the data to evaluate progress.

            Having teachers write SMART goals is a good plan.  If it works well for teachers, can writing SMART goals be good for students?  This is addressed in the peer reviewed article, Teachers Learn to Set Goals with Students: Cooperative Process Brings Wisconsin School to New Heights of Innovation and Success.(2004)  Administrators and teachers saw setting SMART goals was helping, but they wanted to have more student involvement with the process.  “The group became convinced that increasing students’ responsibility using the goal setting process … would empower students and raise achievement.” (p. 34).  After four years of this process, goal setting is a part of the school culture.  The school also saw increased achievement by minority and special education students. If the school fell short of reaching a goal, they would take a look at the goal again and determine what needed to be done differently to help the students achieve these goals.  This becomes an evolving cycle over the years.

            Both the textbook and article agree that SMART goal setting is effective for increasing students achievement.  However, the article goes on to show that it is just as effective having students participate in their own goal setting.  In the past, I have had students write goals, but never at this level.  Having teacher buy-in is essential for PLC’s to develop team SMART goals.  Teams need to be able to go back and evaluate results to determine what worked and what needs to be changed.  If students are empowered to track their own progress, to read and record their data, they will also have more accountability for their achievement.  Teachers and students working together can be very powerful.

References

DuFour, D., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work. (2nd ed.). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

O’Neill, J. (2004). Teachers Learn to Set Goals with Students: Cooperative Process Brings Wisconsin School to New Heights of Innovation and Success. Journal of Staff Development, 25(3), 32-37.

RSA1: It Can Be Done, It's Being Done, and Here's How

RSA1: It Can Be Done, It's Being Done, and Here's How
submitted by: Lisa Kokos

http://cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s8419239&db=eric&AN=EJ856133&site=ehost-live

            One of the components of an effective Professional Learning Community is having time for collaboration.  I feel this is very important.  If we want to see students achieve, we need to be able to give the teachers time to work together to find solutions.  According to the book, Learning by Doing, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Thomas Many (2010), “Reciprocal accountability demands that leaders who ask educators to work in collaborative teams provide those educators with time to meet during their contractual day.” (p. 124).  Having common prep times allow teachers to meet and collaborate. This also makes a convenient time for a person from the district, such as a technology or curriculum facilitator, to work with the team of teachers. This is one of my roles in my current position.

            What makes a high-poverty, high-minority school successful?  This question was answered in the article I read, It Can Be Done, It’s Being Done, and Here’s How.(2009) After spending years visiting schools, Chenoweth concluded, “that they succeed where other schools fail because they ruthlessly organize themselves around one thing: helping students learn a great deal.” (p. 38-43). In order for teachers to have the right kind of conversations on how to help students, look at data, and make good decision, they need to be given time to work together.  Schools need to be creative with their scheduling to allow for collaboration.

            Having a well developed PLC in schools can have a powerful impact on student achievement.  School leaders and teachers need to work together to make this happen.  Both the article and textbook support this process.  Having set times for teachers to work together is critical.  If administrators want the PLC process to work well in their buildings, then they need to help develop and support a schedule that allows time for teachers to work together.

References

DuFour, D., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work. (2nd ed.). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

Chenoweth, K. (2009). It Can Be Done, It’s Being Done, and Here’s How. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(1), 38-43.

Welcome!

I have been a technology teacher for many years, but this is my first blog.  I will be using this for my EDT-6030 "Using Technology to Build Learning Communities" class.  I look forward to learning how to effectively use a blog.  When I am not busy teaching or taking classes, I enjoy spending time with my family.