Final Blog for ONTL 650

Most of the learning objectives for this segment of our class were brand new and foreign to me. I really did have to focus more because of all the new material being introduced to me. I was able to get through the material and learn some valuable information.

One of the lessons I found helpful was the 7 Principles that were covered. The principles are guides that will help online teachers maintain good practices. http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html

My favorite of these principles is:
Good Practice Encourages Contacts Between Students and Faculty
Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is a most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and plans.

I think that student centered learning is also very valuable as a tool. According to our reading, it requires that the learner be engaged in advance critical thinking. The student is responsible for problem analysis, research and solutions.

The teacher coaches the student as needed. I believe that the teacher needs good organizational skills. They should also be able to communicate well and develop questions that facilitate growth with their students. They should be flexible and be able to meet individual learning needs. Instructors should encourage students.

Students need to be able to write well and be actively involved in their own learning.

In order to make student centered learning work, students need to be good at analysis and problem solving. Prior learning for students might include statistics and research. Developing group learning and visual tools may prepare students for student–centered learning.

Wiki
A wiki is a website where everyone can edit or add a page and links. It is the simplest way to create and share information on the web. Our group project with wetpaint did not go well. That being said, I can only imagine that this technology is a useful tool. My use was limited, but I can see it as being a useful collaborative online tool.

Observations
During one of our discussion boards we were asked what new technology would we find useful for developing our individual courses in our discipline. I want to teach speech communication at the junior college level. I choose video streaming. This supports student content interaction because video streaming of learning objectives will cover this forum. Student to student interaction would be addressed when commenting on discussions threads regarding the video streams. This tool also provides the class with examples of various presentation styles of speeches.

The next major project that is being covered in this portion of the class is e-portfolios. I covered them extensively in my previous blog, so I will not revisit them here, but please feel free to review my previous blog for more details regarding e-portfolios.

I again have to admit that all the new technology that is available to online instructors is very exciting and a bit overwhelming, but I am enjoying the process! I will go forth as a “digital immigrant.” :-)