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Thursday, September 5, 2013
Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds
Gearing up to facilitate this MOOC again...New ideas! Special Guest Speaker!I'm sooo looking forward to it!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Care and Feeding of Online Students
A few weeks ago I attended a conference for Higher Education administrators from Community Colleges with a focus on Big Data. Big Data, we heard, is Huge. Massive. A Big Deal: We can now look at user behavior by counting mouse clicks as people navigate a website, see how many page views and what time of the day a student is doing homework, and break that down even further; maybe we can even start to tell students what time of day they study best, by looking at their results. We can see where online students get stuck, giving educators an idea of how to better explain things. With Big Data, we don't ask questions and look for the answer; the "data-first philosophy" mashes together the information from social networks and everywhere else on the web and we gain insights from what it tells us. And the cost is low; we can experiment often, looking for correlation rather than causation. It has turned analysis on its head, and everyone is bubbling with its potential.
The burning question among educators, as we shift our courses to various new models of blended and online learning, is: How can we make our students (especially those online students) more successful? (In other words, retention, retention, retention.) Obviously the online class has incredible potential; besides the time and money in transportation alone it frees up for the very busy community college student - many of whom are studying in a second language, are single parents and working at least part time - the online environment offers pathways to information and tools that can enhance, supplement and support learning at every level. The answer to that, from what I could gather from the Big Data experts, is to use the now-incredible power of data to analyze performance, use course analytics and hire very specialized experts in Big Data to glean how students are performing and how to make them perform better. (The "low cost" part breaks down a bit here.)
I am happy for Big Data; what a wonderfully useful tool to come out of our computer lives! But the whole time I listened to the presentations (many of which were coming from people involved with companies standing to benefit from Big Data users) I felt a nagging concern.
No one was talking about caring. The way to make any student stay involved is to make a personal connection and recognize that student as an individual. Even in my MOOC, even more than I expected, I was able to connect with my students by being a part of the discussions, responding as much as possible to as many as possible. ( I facilitated it along with doing my regular job, spending an hour in the morning and a few hours in the evenings checking in and answering questions.) I also structured the course so that the students had a chance to learn about themselves and each other as an integral part of the learning experience. We had a Facebook page, used twitter (#CnHyBest) and I made frequent announcements and updates, sometimes incorporating student responses. One of my early tweets was, "This MOOC classroom is so vibrant and international...can feel the energy pulsing from the computer!" Over a third of the active participants completed the final project for a certificate of completion...a very high rate for a MOOC course.
Caring doesn't sound very academic and it certainly isn't as new as Big Data. But I think any course that has a strong element of caring will retain more students than a course with low teacher-student interaction. The key is having an involved teacher who is trained not just in the subject matter but also to listen, watch for falters, be ready to gently cajole, try new things, and convey a sense of enthusiasm. Online teaching allows us so much more than more data; it allows us to have personal conversations with many people, and for them to have conversations with each other. We should be looking at it as a chance to get personally involved with our student success. MOOCs aside, the online teacher can reach each and every student in a way that empowers and motivates them. Each teacher needs to embrace the idea that we can have an effect on student lives beyond the subject matter. This is a skill that needs to be understood and talked about as much as anything else when it comes to student success.
This was on my mind when I saw a quote by the Dalai Lama on a friend's facebook page : "Open your arms to change, but never let go of your loving kindness." I created the infographic below thinking that I want to get more of a conversation going about this aspect of online teaching among educators. For increased student success, the answer is so clear.
(By the way I will be teaching the course again starting Oct. 21st; you can find it at The Canvas Network - Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds.)
The burning question among educators, as we shift our courses to various new models of blended and online learning, is: How can we make our students (especially those online students) more successful? (In other words, retention, retention, retention.) Obviously the online class has incredible potential; besides the time and money in transportation alone it frees up for the very busy community college student - many of whom are studying in a second language, are single parents and working at least part time - the online environment offers pathways to information and tools that can enhance, supplement and support learning at every level. The answer to that, from what I could gather from the Big Data experts, is to use the now-incredible power of data to analyze performance, use course analytics and hire very specialized experts in Big Data to glean how students are performing and how to make them perform better. (The "low cost" part breaks down a bit here.)
I am happy for Big Data; what a wonderfully useful tool to come out of our computer lives! But the whole time I listened to the presentations (many of which were coming from people involved with companies standing to benefit from Big Data users) I felt a nagging concern.
No one was talking about caring. The way to make any student stay involved is to make a personal connection and recognize that student as an individual. Even in my MOOC, even more than I expected, I was able to connect with my students by being a part of the discussions, responding as much as possible to as many as possible. ( I facilitated it along with doing my regular job, spending an hour in the morning and a few hours in the evenings checking in and answering questions.) I also structured the course so that the students had a chance to learn about themselves and each other as an integral part of the learning experience. We had a Facebook page, used twitter (#CnHyBest) and I made frequent announcements and updates, sometimes incorporating student responses. One of my early tweets was, "This MOOC classroom is so vibrant and international...can feel the energy pulsing from the computer!" Over a third of the active participants completed the final project for a certificate of completion...a very high rate for a MOOC course.
Caring doesn't sound very academic and it certainly isn't as new as Big Data. But I think any course that has a strong element of caring will retain more students than a course with low teacher-student interaction. The key is having an involved teacher who is trained not just in the subject matter but also to listen, watch for falters, be ready to gently cajole, try new things, and convey a sense of enthusiasm. Online teaching allows us so much more than more data; it allows us to have personal conversations with many people, and for them to have conversations with each other. We should be looking at it as a chance to get personally involved with our student success. MOOCs aside, the online teacher can reach each and every student in a way that empowers and motivates them. Each teacher needs to embrace the idea that we can have an effect on student lives beyond the subject matter. This is a skill that needs to be understood and talked about as much as anything else when it comes to student success.
This was on my mind when I saw a quote by the Dalai Lama on a friend's facebook page : "Open your arms to change, but never let go of your loving kindness." I created the infographic below thinking that I want to get more of a conversation going about this aspect of online teaching among educators. For increased student success, the answer is so clear.
(By the way I will be teaching the course again starting Oct. 21st; you can find it at The Canvas Network - Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds.)
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Whirlwind of Ideas
This is the last week of the Canvas Network course I'm facilitating, Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds. It has been such a whirlwind of ideas that have brought me back to discussions again and again -- finding something new each time. It is like taking a walk on a beach in the morning and finding some shells, and then taking a walk the next day and collecting another beautiful basket of shells.
I don't exactly know what I was "expecting" in this course -- I spent several months planning and designing it. From scratch. (More on that in a future post!) I guess the main thing I was hoping was that it made sense and people found it useful. Beyond that, my inner hope is always the people become inspired. It is obvious that they have. I feel so happy I practically skip to my computer.
I also wasn't expecting how much the course would teach me, or what kind of seeds would be planted. Everyone was excited to see how international we are: our pinmap project shows that we are truly global. We started a Faeebook page that immediately became quite active: It is open for anyone interested in Hybrid teaching and learning to join; Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds. And our "Six-word" wordwall shows the enthusiasm and thoughtfulness of the participants: Derrick Logan's "Aging Educator still hungry for knowledge" stands out to me as representative of the kinds of people who continue to expand and learn in the MOOC environment.
Partway through the course I saw a need for students to be released from trying to read Every. Single. Post. and to understand how to navigate this huge cocktail-party of discussions. I wrote a post for MOOC News and Reviews about how to navigate large discussion forums: Engaging in MOOC Discussion Forums: The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower based on what I saw happening in the course. And a student in the course, Randy Orwin, wrote a post, MOOC Overload! that addresses the how-tos of understanding how the forums work in the Canvas network. Several students wrote blogs: Martine Reverda has reflections on the course at My MOOC Experiences and Cathy Anderson wrote on her Cathy Anderson Blog. Tweeting went on as well via #CNHyBest. (Where did I learn about the benefits of tweeting? In another Canvas Network course on social media that I took early this year.)
MOOCs are empowering because the focus is on learning, and this allows learners to have a chance inspire each other. We are all winning.
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| Photo: John Falconer - Tacoma at dusk |
I also wasn't expecting how much the course would teach me, or what kind of seeds would be planted. Everyone was excited to see how international we are: our pinmap project shows that we are truly global. We started a Faeebook page that immediately became quite active: It is open for anyone interested in Hybrid teaching and learning to join; Hybrid Courses: Best of Both Worlds. And our "Six-word" wordwall shows the enthusiasm and thoughtfulness of the participants: Derrick Logan's "Aging Educator still hungry for knowledge" stands out to me as representative of the kinds of people who continue to expand and learn in the MOOC environment.
Partway through the course I saw a need for students to be released from trying to read Every. Single. Post. and to understand how to navigate this huge cocktail-party of discussions. I wrote a post for MOOC News and Reviews about how to navigate large discussion forums: Engaging in MOOC Discussion Forums: The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower based on what I saw happening in the course. And a student in the course, Randy Orwin, wrote a post, MOOC Overload! that addresses the how-tos of understanding how the forums work in the Canvas network. Several students wrote blogs: Martine Reverda has reflections on the course at My MOOC Experiences and Cathy Anderson wrote on her Cathy Anderson Blog. Tweeting went on as well via #CNHyBest. (Where did I learn about the benefits of tweeting? In another Canvas Network course on social media that I took early this year.)
MOOCs are empowering because the focus is on learning, and this allows learners to have a chance inspire each other. We are all winning.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
PRICE REDUCED! COLLEGE EDUCATION - A LOT WITH A VIEW!
My article on my MOOC Experience, Whitewater Rafting the Canvas Social Media MOOC is out! The MOOC News and Reviews Blog is getting really interesting, and I am excited to be part of this.
So many articles about changes in education options lately, with MOOCS being a sort of major representation of what can and will happen with our current system. Among in all, I notice that everything is framed in an all-or-nothing format: You can study for a LARGE amount of money that will probably require taking out loans and living frugally for years afterwards, forgoing travel and other things that could enlighten you, OR you can study for absolutely FREE, putting together your own courses and hoping that MOOCs will come into their own as respected college courses in the job market. (And do interesting things such as travel to boot.)
At this point, there has been lots of finger-pointing regarding quality of course content and online vs. traditional learning, comparatively little has been said regarding the main problem with our current education system: It is WAY OVERPRICED. We need to have a huge PRICE REDUCTION on this oversized house that no longer fits the needs or income of today's family.
Education needs a reality check, and it is coming in the form of MOOCs. People are saying not so much that they are unhappy with education, they are saying they can't afford the price being asked.
I will write about this more this soon. But I want to say that it's time to drastically reduce the price of that house, because - lovely as it is - even if we want to buy it, we can't.
So many articles about changes in education options lately, with MOOCS being a sort of major representation of what can and will happen with our current system. Among in all, I notice that everything is framed in an all-or-nothing format: You can study for a LARGE amount of money that will probably require taking out loans and living frugally for years afterwards, forgoing travel and other things that could enlighten you, OR you can study for absolutely FREE, putting together your own courses and hoping that MOOCs will come into their own as respected college courses in the job market. (And do interesting things such as travel to boot.)
At this point, there has been lots of finger-pointing regarding quality of course content and online vs. traditional learning, comparatively little has been said regarding the main problem with our current education system: It is WAY OVERPRICED. We need to have a huge PRICE REDUCTION on this oversized house that no longer fits the needs or income of today's family.
I will write about this more this soon. But I want to say that it's time to drastically reduce the price of that house, because - lovely as it is - even if we want to buy it, we can't.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Quality Matters Conference
This week I attended QM WORKS! Great Northwest Regional Conference in Vancouver, WA. It was the first conference in our area - and had nearly 200 participants, so I believe there will be more. Sessions concerned QM - Quality Matters - is an organization that has developed a detailed rubric for online courses to ensure the best learning experience for students. I got involved a little over 2 years ago, and QM has become a major force in the way I look at online classes. Obviously I'm not the only one it has had this effect on - over and over I heard people say they started from dubious and become committed to the QM review process. I'm now a master reviewer, and really enjoy how much it continues to teach me about education, and picked up some ideas about how to help other faculty get on board as well.
One of the most interesting sessions I went to was presented by Clayn Lambert from Idaho State University, "Un-Inventing the Wheel -Using QM Standard 1 to Revise Perceptions of the Role and Function of the Course Syllabus." (How could I resist going to a session that was going to "un-invent" something?) He discussed several ideas regarding how we look at our online syllabus, such as making it available in formats in addition to being written, and one of the participants gave a hilarious on-the-spot presentation why a video can portray the intent and personality of the instructor so much more than words. (Wish I had had my video on; comedy in academia is such an unusual sighting.) Lambert talked about our assumptions that 1) students read the syllabus and 2) they understand it. Another participant noted that she discovered one of her students thought "office hours" were the time she would be working in her office and did not want to be disturbed. Ah-hah. We need to clarify ourselves with adult learners, which Lambert likened to "penguins in a desert"....needing a pathway shown to them.
My major take-away was to start breaking up the syllabus into bite-sized pieces the way we do with other information in online courses. It is unrealistic to think someone is going to read a 14 page document, but by using links, the schedule can link to the calendar page, the "start here" button can explain the course expectations, and links can be used for school policies. Lambert pointed out another advantage for doing it this way; you can track which places the student has been, as opposed to just seeing that syllabus page has been viewed.
I carried out my MOOC pledge too...tweeted the whole way through about the conference at #QMconf, and even put in a few photos. My Canvas Network Social Media MOOC #CNSoMe is empowering me!!
Great conference....nourishing and inspiring.
One of the most interesting sessions I went to was presented by Clayn Lambert from Idaho State University, "Un-Inventing the Wheel -Using QM Standard 1 to Revise Perceptions of the Role and Function of the Course Syllabus." (How could I resist going to a session that was going to "un-invent" something?) He discussed several ideas regarding how we look at our online syllabus, such as making it available in formats in addition to being written, and one of the participants gave a hilarious on-the-spot presentation why a video can portray the intent and personality of the instructor so much more than words. (Wish I had had my video on; comedy in academia is such an unusual sighting.) Lambert talked about our assumptions that 1) students read the syllabus and 2) they understand it. Another participant noted that she discovered one of her students thought "office hours" were the time she would be working in her office and did not want to be disturbed. Ah-hah. We need to clarify ourselves with adult learners, which Lambert likened to "penguins in a desert"....needing a pathway shown to them.
My major take-away was to start breaking up the syllabus into bite-sized pieces the way we do with other information in online courses. It is unrealistic to think someone is going to read a 14 page document, but by using links, the schedule can link to the calendar page, the "start here" button can explain the course expectations, and links can be used for school policies. Lambert pointed out another advantage for doing it this way; you can track which places the student has been, as opposed to just seeing that syllabus page has been viewed.
I carried out my MOOC pledge too...tweeted the whole way through about the conference at #QMconf, and even put in a few photos. My Canvas Network Social Media MOOC #CNSoMe is empowering me!!
Great conference....nourishing and inspiring.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
It's a MOOC, MOOC, MOOC, MOOC World
(If you understand this title reference AND are reading blogs like this, welcome to the club of "seasoned"online adventurers! Here we are, looking for the online education treasure!)
This week I was excited to be one of the first writers to help launch a great new site: MOOC News and Reviews. My article was about my experience in a Coursera MOOC, and compares the experience with something from my past, homeschooling: Something Familiar, Something Great. The editor, Robert McGuire writes, "MOOC News and Reviews is an online publication devoted to thoughtful critique of individual MOOC courses and to discussion of the evolving MOOC landscape. We are independent and user-centric, and our goal in every review is to answer for readers, “What will I experience in this course and how will it impact my life?”
One of the excited aspects was that I was asked to write for them because of an article I wrote here, The Wail of the Online Course. (It was also published in Edudemic - I was struck with how the different graphics and title gave the same article a different feel.)
In the meantime, I am spending my energies now in on a Canvas MOOC, Social Media, which has been a very involving class. Interestingly I actually ran into another class member at a local conference for Canvas users, when I sat down for lunch and the woman next to me saw my name tag and said, "Liz Falconer? Um, I recognize your name from the SoMe MOOC!" Such a small world. That MOOC is running from the end of Feb. to the beginning of May -- we are getting ready for our final projects now. My head is all but spinning from the amount of information I've learned and the pathways that are opening for online education....Stay tuned for more about that!
This week I was excited to be one of the first writers to help launch a great new site: MOOC News and Reviews. My article was about my experience in a Coursera MOOC, and compares the experience with something from my past, homeschooling: Something Familiar, Something Great. The editor, Robert McGuire writes, "MOOC News and Reviews is an online publication devoted to thoughtful critique of individual MOOC courses and to discussion of the evolving MOOC landscape. We are independent and user-centric, and our goal in every review is to answer for readers, “What will I experience in this course and how will it impact my life?”
One of the excited aspects was that I was asked to write for them because of an article I wrote here, The Wail of the Online Course. (It was also published in Edudemic - I was struck with how the different graphics and title gave the same article a different feel.)
In the meantime, I am spending my energies now in on a Canvas MOOC, Social Media, which has been a very involving class. Interestingly I actually ran into another class member at a local conference for Canvas users, when I sat down for lunch and the woman next to me saw my name tag and said, "Liz Falconer? Um, I recognize your name from the SoMe MOOC!" Such a small world. That MOOC is running from the end of Feb. to the beginning of May -- we are getting ready for our final projects now. My head is all but spinning from the amount of information I've learned and the pathways that are opening for online education....Stay tuned for more about that!
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| Random Meeting! Fellow MOOCer Renee and I at the Canvas User's Group Conference |
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Online Ed: 3 Ways to Save Time
There is a landslide of press on online teaching and learning....Who would have thought things could change so completely and dramatically? What. A. Revolution.
As an online teacher and learner, I have found that there is only one way to succeed: Stop doing everything else. I mean, Everything. You can no longer go to the store, do the dishes, feed the cat, pet the dog, or vacuum. You are now riveted to your computer, about to finish, almost ready to be done, just one more post to write, one more website to browse, and oh! a tweet just for me! How delicious.
Surely your husband/wife/partner/kids will undertand that just as sooooon as you finish this, you will be with them. Just a few minutes more....
Somehow others seem to be able to combine extremely in-depth online teaching and learning with real life (or IRL, they call it) but I have not quite figured out how. In the meantime, What to do? Here are some time-saving hints I have come up with:
1. Eat off of paper plates. I mean, look at how much you are saving the environment by going paperless! It is only fair that you are allowed a little paper in return, right? And think of the time it will save you in washing dishes (and putting them away, if you even even wasted time with that.) Think of the water bills you are saving on.
2. Stop looking in the mirror. Really it is too depressing, when you see what you now look like. Just keep using the same avitar or that one photo of that one time you looked great, and get on with it. In the online world, it really doesn't matter. It just takes time away from your online presence, and as a teacher or student, that presence is the core of your identity.
3. Start seeing the beauty of letting a sunny day go by without going outside. In the evenings, don't even wonder if there is a moon or not; enjoy that computer glow on your determined face and watch your keyboard light up as day turns to night. Fresh air is overrated - once you have let the first day go by, the rest are easier. Stay focused, and keep typing. Don't let the world distract you! If you never, ever look up when someone tries to have a conversation with you, they will eventually give up and leave you alone.
Surely this will get better soon, and I can somehow regain what used to be my life. I understand Shirkey's concept of "It's not information overload, it's filter failure"....and as soon as I figure out how to get a filter on my filters, winnow down the sites, tweets, blogs, videos, discussions and chats, I'll join you at the poolside.
But first, I really want to explore this online education stuff, and the rest can just wait.
As an online teacher and learner, I have found that there is only one way to succeed: Stop doing everything else. I mean, Everything. You can no longer go to the store, do the dishes, feed the cat, pet the dog, or vacuum. You are now riveted to your computer, about to finish, almost ready to be done, just one more post to write, one more website to browse, and oh! a tweet just for me! How delicious.
Surely your husband/wife/partner/kids will undertand that just as sooooon as you finish this, you will be with them. Just a few minutes more....
Somehow others seem to be able to combine extremely in-depth online teaching and learning with real life (or IRL, they call it) but I have not quite figured out how. In the meantime, What to do? Here are some time-saving hints I have come up with:
1. Eat off of paper plates. I mean, look at how much you are saving the environment by going paperless! It is only fair that you are allowed a little paper in return, right? And think of the time it will save you in washing dishes (and putting them away, if you even even wasted time with that.) Think of the water bills you are saving on.
2. Stop looking in the mirror. Really it is too depressing, when you see what you now look like. Just keep using the same avitar or that one photo of that one time you looked great, and get on with it. In the online world, it really doesn't matter. It just takes time away from your online presence, and as a teacher or student, that presence is the core of your identity.
3. Start seeing the beauty of letting a sunny day go by without going outside. In the evenings, don't even wonder if there is a moon or not; enjoy that computer glow on your determined face and watch your keyboard light up as day turns to night. Fresh air is overrated - once you have let the first day go by, the rest are easier. Stay focused, and keep typing. Don't let the world distract you! If you never, ever look up when someone tries to have a conversation with you, they will eventually give up and leave you alone.
Surely this will get better soon, and I can somehow regain what used to be my life. I understand Shirkey's concept of "It's not information overload, it's filter failure"....and as soon as I figure out how to get a filter on my filters, winnow down the sites, tweets, blogs, videos, discussions and chats, I'll join you at the poolside.
But first, I really want to explore this online education stuff, and the rest can just wait.
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