To start with, I've added my "philosophy of teaching and elearning" to the tab labelled "Resume", so that specific part of the question is answered there this week.
In general, however, here are some thoughts about the themes and work this week...
Class blogs - it was fun to see how varied and individual the blogs of everyone in class were. I tried to join each of the ones published by Ernie so that I can "follow" the new info posted by the class. I find it hard to manage both the blogs and the discussion boards, but I realize that I need to log in to the CMS (Blackboard) every day to stay on top of it.
My blog - I finally figured out how to format the blog so that I have tabbed pages that I can use for my eportfolio (yeah!), but I am not happy with the fact that I cannot attach documents anywhere (so my resume looks really lame the way it is formatted). Regardless, I copied my personal profile statement from Module 1 over to the blog, posted my teaching philosophy and resume, started thinking about my Learning Module (please read and help if you can), and added this little page called "resources" where I am putting the extra stuff I am doing to organize my experience in class (but doesn't have a place in the CMS).
Themes of this week - This week we really got into the realities of creating elearning and dealing with being a teacher in an elearning world. First, the experience of using a rubric to assess an on-line class (this one) was extremely helpful and enlightening. I also looked at few other one-line options and saw that there is a vast assortment of experiences labelled "on-line learning", not all of which are actually classes. Also, the difference between the closed door world of the face-to-face classroom and the on-line published world are vast when it comes to copyrighted materials use. Additionally, the structure of an elearning course is vastly different than a face-to-face class in terms of expectations of the learner, learning process and creation of the activities which cause the learning to happen. I find the elearning environment to be more targeted, progressive, and well-planned than live teaching, in many ways. Perhaps, though, it is also more sterile, and building a sense of person and community is key to elearning. Finally, elearning is changing the role of the educator profoundly, and I feel like current educators with no recent private sector experience (or professional training in elearning) are ill-equipped to grapple with the new expectations from society, academia, employers, parents, and kids for more project-based, tech-rich experiences in the classroom.
Dina,
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog. Nice design and well-organized, a perfect place to share your very interesting ideas and experiences. The resource section is a smart addition and very useful.
It was great to read this post about what you've learned so far and the focus of the course at the moment. I've learned so much from all different ideas and tools that are introduced by everyone. I do agree with you that current educators (even in traditional teaching) should be trained and informed about tech-rich teaching.
Sara