Teaching: E-Teaching Seminar #2

The second seminar picked up on the themes of identity and community, that is, where we finished the first seminar. We first discussed how best to share materials prepared for the seminars, and how to capture and document the experience. Several seminar participants indicated that it was very helpful to have the PowerPoint annotated with my notes, both to help comprehend my English-language lecture, and to provide additional information for the slide. So, if I'm doing a PowerPoint, I'll make sure to prepare the notes in writing. I made arrangements with Dr. Komenczi to distribute the file through email attachment during the week before the seminar.

I also told the participants that I would make the Seminar #2 slides with notes available on Slideshare.net for both viewing and downloading. This is a site I have used before to post conference presentations and make them available to those who express interest. It's free and easy to use--I encouraged the seminar participants to take a look at the site and see if it would be of use in their professional practices.

This blog was included in the discussion of how to share seminar materials, as was a Moodle site, set up by some of my departmental colleagues. EKTF uses Moodle, finding the free access and open architecture a plus. I expressed interest in using Moodle in the seminar, and asked for guidance from participants as to the best way to do this. Another resource mentioned was Voicethread.com, another site unfamiliar to me, but of interest.

The idea behind this seminar was for me to share my contemporaneous experience with the Valdosta State University course, ITED 8100 Theory, Models, and Perspectives of Instructional Technology, as I teach it online during this term from, obviously, a FAR distance. Although I communicated the instructional context of this class to the group during Seminar #1--graduate, first course in online program, mature, experienced educational professionals as students--I wasn't sure I'd been entirely clear.

I created a slide that (conceptually, not mathematically) showed why design of this particular class would have such a strong emphasis on the principles of identity and community. The two largest pieces of the "pie" are identity and community, followed by an emphasis on motivation (research shows that new online students are at risk for dropping out), opportunity for peer teaching and informal learning (these are experienced teachers).

I contrasted this perspective with a conceptual analysis of a research-based course I will teach in Summer 2009--with the SAME STUDENTS. The emphasis will be far more on formal learning (half the pie), evaluation of their knowledge, and development of problem-solving skills. Identity and community won't be lost in the design, but will hold far less emphasis.

As always, desired learning outcomes should determine the design of the course.

The reason this distinction was important became clear as we discussed the instructional contexts of my Hungarian colleagues in relation to online teaching. In many cases, faculty reported very large classes (over 100), which would obviously render the kinds of activities I do with my classes of 20 quite impossible.

Although I'm not entirely clear on all the reasons for choosing to offer courses online at EKTF, common reasons such as appealing to wider student audiences, initiating new programs, and conserving funds, were mentioned. Thus, my emphasis on discussing how to establish personal identities for students and instructor, and forming ample opportunity for developing community among the students, seemed out of place. I was assured, however, that the methods I use are a part of a hoped for future, when, at least some online courses at EKTF would be small enough to employ interactive methods like mine.

The rest of the PowerPoint presentation gave examples of specific activities and assignments in ITED 8100 in relation to identity and community. I don't know how useful the group would find these exercises at this point, but it was a very useful, reflective activity for me as I assembled the list. ITED 8100 is a mature online course. I have taught the course each Fall and Spring semester for several years. There have been a lot of changes, but gradual ones, over time. In analyzing my own instructional design, I am pleased by what I see. I do provide ample and meaningful ways for students to establish and develop identity (personal, professional, and academic), while engaging in acquisition of new knowledge, supported by the multiple and rich examples of authentic experiences.

So I learned from my own seminar--whoops? No, but I do want and need input from the group in order to make this seminar useful for all of us. I worked the Principles of E-Teaching for Learning (from Seminar #1) into an informal survey, that I hope will provide a way for us to work together to make the seminar meaningful. I asked the group to look at the list of principles, and to assess them in two ways: 1) Importance in their own perspective and practice, and 2) Desire to include as a part of the seminar.

Although I considered creating the survey electronically through a free service such as Survey Monkey, I opted for the old fashioned paper and pencil version. Almost immediately, one of my colleagues in the Seminar asked if we could put it in a Moodle survey--so I'm looking forward to seeing that. More than anything else, I want to find ways to use my online teaching experience to support the ideas and problem solving efforts by my friends in the Hungarian higher education context.