It's always about reaching your students

The 7 Principles, Active-Passive Learning, Bloom’s Taxonomy: Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor. So far this has been an informative and busy course. As we move through Part two, I find the knowledge I’ve gained to be enlightening. The best practice teaching principles and the various learning theories will inform my teaching in an exciting new way. I now feel better informed. The issues of teacher-student and student-student collaboration present a fresh perspective about the dynamics involved in learner interactions whether f2f or online. As an instructor it’s important for me to remember, it’s always about reaching your students.

To actively engage students in the learning process you must build better learning communities. This can be accomplished through balancing the application of the various theories by adding different tools to reach specific learning styles. Whether it’s a well moderated discussion board posing stimulating questions with immediate feedback or breaking larger concepts into smaller pieces, it’s about engaging students in the learning process. This is my light bulb moment. I get it!

MCOM 660: Non Broadcast TV Operations aka Non-Traditional Broadcast Production
In my f2f media communications class I mainly used the “sage on the stage” approach. Even so, it was interesting to find without realizing it, I was using the constructivist model. I encouraged students to build on their prior knowledge and experience level to analyze specific approaches to production problems. My motto was, “ten producers, ten ideas.” But now I understand, the “ten ideas,” came from multiple styles of learning and information processing. This realization will forever alter my teaching style.

As the instructor, I now understand the importance of recognizing the impact of different learning styles on knowledge retention and processing. Whether it’s f2f or online, having a better grasp of the Visual/verbal, Visual/Non-verbal, Tactile/Kinesthetic and Auditory/Verbal styles informs the way one designs course content and student assignments. I now plan to include more visual and audio files along with text and incorporate more student lead discussions. In future course designs I will give up the “stage” more and be the “guide on the side” empowering students to help direct their own learning. I will clearly state course expectations, give plenty of prompt feedback, encourage team work and most of all; respect diverse learning styles.

In addition I have learned as an instructor you must prepare students to use their new power by helping them develop critical analysis and time management skills. These are crucial to their success, especially in an online environment. Understanding and utilizing Bloom’s three learning types will aid in this process. (Click the link below to view a Bloom’s Taxonomy animation)

http://www.apsnet.org/education/InstructorCommunication/TeachingArticles/Curtis/Images/Bloomstaxonomy2.html

Finally, what I’m most looking forward to in regards to my personal development, is the eportfolio challenge. I have always wanted to develop an electronic portfolio. Though the livetext software seems a bit basic I still want to incorporate some techie type ideas, so I purchased the extra video streaming capability. Besides our online knowledge, the eportfolio will be an excellent artifact to take away from the ONTL course.

Part One of ONTL 650, WOW!

Part One of ONTL 650 has been quite a learning experience. Though I work at being technologically savvy, there were a few things I hadn’t considered in my media and teaching designs. My first major eye opener was learning about Constructivism. It made such perfect sense. All students come to you with a past learning history that you as a teacher can pull from. It’s a great way to start your student-teacher interactions. There is nothing better than real-world case studies to get class discussions energized. I discovered through learning about this theory that I had a constructivist classroom. I encourage students to share their past experiences with the class and use it as a base to build on. Now I understand how to effectively use constructivism as an exploration tool for all of my student-teacher interactions.

One of my favorite lessons from part one was about learning and teaching styles. The initial DVC Survey put me on the right track. I didn’t fully comprehend how important it is to have a good working knowledge of these theories. I'm a Kinesthetic/Tactile learner, with reflective qualities who likes to contemplate in the cave before joining the campfire where I act as an Expert and Formal Authority, whew! I now know there cannot be effective teaching without understanding and applying these learning and teaching theories. I realize there’s a theoretical reason why video or audio files assist visual and auditory learners. I get why verbal learners react better to written instructions and flash cards. But I believe, even with the style differences, ALL learning and teaching benefit from the interactivity, immediacy, and variety of the online environment.

The challenge as I see it is how to make the “high tech” environment, “high touch.” I’m a technology lover, but I lean toward the hybrid design option because I really love the student-teacher f2f interaction. Wimba, synchronous Chat and asynchronous discussion boards help with community building in the “high touch” environment, but I have to admit I really miss the eye contact. I think people naturally feed off of each other’s energy. Though I like going off in the web world, researching and exploring on my own. I like regrouping to share the “aha” moments. So to me, online feels a bit lonely at times.

Week 6 - What is my teaching style?

"The combination of online learning with traditional classroom instruction could diversify teaching and learning alike, and as a bonus enhance technological literacy of both faculty and students."

I love this statement from the Schmidt and Brown article, "A Model to Integrate Online Teaching and Learning Tools Into the Classroom." It resonates deeply with my teaching style. According to the "Teaching Styles Inventory" which lists 5 major categories, I score high as an Expert and a Facilitator. So what does this mean? How do I integrate my style and the styles of my students?

The word, "Combination," is the key. It seems to describe everything I do. From combination plate to combination teaching, I can't seem to choose only one thing from the menu. Though I enjoy the online environment, (I'm such a tech junkie), why does the thought of not teaching F2F still unnerve me. Maybe it's because I crave student interaction. I want to see the faces behind the chats. The "aha moments" in their eyes. I know Wimba is a viable option. But there's just something about being in the room.

I believe teaching is about combining. About mixing it up. I need the word "hybrid." I want the best of both worlds. Some days I want to chat, other times I want to write my thoughts. Sometimes I need a team, others times I require some quite contemplation. And often I just want hands on...a camera, a paint brush, another human being.

So, how do I accomplish all of this in an online setting? How do I give this to my online students?

This class is truly opening my eyes to the many possibilities and some of the limitations of online learning. There are amazing resources, but the distance can be lonely. I enjoy the 24-7 access, but at times I wish we could just meet for Starbucks. I love the levelling of the playing field since online can remove visual preconceptions. But I miss being in the presence of other human energy. Online is fine, but a hybrid, that's me.