Rachel e-Learning

Final Posting for my Special Topic

2010-10-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

My special topic has come to a close. I can sit back now and reflect on this last eLearning journey. Of course a part of reflection and action research is to consider whether you have achieved the intended outcomes.

Overall, I am pleased with the way that the course came together and more importantly that I learnt new things along the way that I can utilise further in my teaching.

This is also my last course in the Graduate Certificate of Applied eLearning and if I am to reflect back where I was 18 months ago, I have certainly had a great “elearning” journey. I cannot say it was a “smooth ride” all the way, however, the “rocky” parts made for an interesting learning experience.

I hope that I will not totally desert this blog, but use it to reflect on future elearning experiences.

Displaying Information (Moodle Books or eXe)

2010-09-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

There are a number of different ways that information can be displayed Moodle. You can use a ‘book’ or an eXe package. I have trialled both and have found that each one have their own pros and cons.

The eXe project was developed a freely available Open Source authoring application to assist teachers and academics in the publishing of web content without the need to become proficient in HTML or XML markup. Resources authored in eXe can be exported in IMS Content Package that can be easily uploaded into Moodle.

I have found it to be easy to use, allows you to be a little more creative than the Moodle books, you do not have to load individual files and then link or add to books. Great for embedding information such as my Camtasia screenshots and other YouTube videos used.

Moodle books have been useful for more text based information, allowing for students to read through notes or required information and providing links to other readings.

Using Camtasia

2010-08-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

A key aspect to this part of the course is for students to have knowledge of Fidelio (a property management/reservation system used in hotels). At present the face to face students have access to the programme on campus and the distance students have had access to the programme at their host institution. With the use of a manual students are able to work their way through the system, however, I wanted to be able to provide students with some visuals of how to make a reservation, add traces, profiles and routing instructions (as a start – more will be added later!).

Camtasia Studio is a screen video capture programme that is published by TechSmith. The programme allows the user to define the area of the screen or window that is to be captured. As well as capturing the visual information you can record instructions that go with the material.

I know that there are different tools available to do this, such as Adobe eLearning Suite, however I had access to Camtasia through my workplace and I had attended an hour workshop on the use of Camtasia a couple of years ago. The brief notes I made back then, plus the easy format of Camtasia have made it a very simple programme to use.

Having seen the results, I have wondered why I have not used it more in my teaching, but certainly see the benefits of using it, especially with more flexible and blended delivery methods in the future.

PowerPoints & iSpring

2010-08-10T16:12:00.001-07:00

A little time has passed since my last post, however, that does not mean that I have been idle! The time has been used to progress with the resources that are being used to engage students with their learning.

I understand that students do not want ‘death by PowerPoint’ in any situation (face to face, distance or blended learning) – however, in saying that I think there is often a time and place to be able to provide some information on PowerPoint’s, along with narration.

Under reservations I have three PowerPoint slides that explain a booking (contract), the traditional guest cycle and the reservation process.

I have created this using PowerPoint and have used the PowerPoint narration tool. This is a simple way to create slides and narration and there is no use for other software. Some of the pitfalls of using this narration tool in comparison to Audacity would be that you are unable to edit the narration, if you make a mistake, you have to start again.

To package the PowerPoint I have used the free version of iSpring. Again this has been very easy to use and follow and creates a Shockwave File of the PowerPoint that was then inserted into my eXe package.

Learning Management System - Moodle

2010-07-26T18:42:00.001-07:00

The starting point for the special topic has been to set up my Moodle site for the course. Otago Polytechnic made the decision to move to Moodle at the start of the 2010 academic year. This meant that resources that were originally housed in Blackboard could be transferred over to Moodle.

Moodle may be referred to as a Course Management System (CMS) or Learning Management System (LMS). It is a modular object-orientated dynamic learning environment which is a free and open-source e-learning software platform.

The move to the new learning management system also coincided with a directive that courses should be offered using a more blended approach. The course Rooms Division Operations Management is usually delivered as a fully face-to-face option, however, students from CPIT have been able to enrol on to this paper and therefore there has been the need to develop resources for these distance students.

The Rooms Division Operations Management course has been set up on Moodle using weekly settings, following the structure of the paper (14 teaching weeks with a 2 week break). Each section within Moodle will then have information relating to the topics being covered in that week (2 sessions per week).

ELearning Guidelines

2010-07-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

As a point of reference for the development of this eLearning module I have referred to the ELearning Guidelines (Milne & Dimock, 2006) which provide an overview of elearning guidelines developed to assist the tertiary sector in its use of elearning.

The guidelines provide information on best practice and help with the design of elearning materials and a basis for evaluating the quality of elearning teaching and resources (Milne & Dimock, 2006).

As part of the development of my own elearning resources and teaching I will take into consideration the following guidelines:

TD2 Do students get clearly defined learning objectives that assist them in focussing on their learning activities?

TD5 Has a representative sample of students tested the elearning materials and any necessary modifications been made?

TD12 Is the design of learning informed by research on effective elearning?

The main purpose of the course is to support face to face students and to provide distance students with the necessary information to achieve their learning objectives.

The first guideline, TD2 looks into clearly defined objectives and how it can assist students on focussing on their learning outcomes. The second guideline that has been chosen, TD5 ensures that the material is tested by students and gives them the opportunity to give necessary feedback so that modifications may be made if required. The third guideline, TD12 ensures that the design and development has been informed by research.

Milne, J., & Dimock, E. (2006). eLearning Guidelines. Guidelines for the support of e-learning in New Zealand Retrieved 15 June, 2010, from http://elg.massey.ac.nz/Guidelines-questions.pdf

New focus for Special Topic

2010-07-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am back on board for completing my Special Topic as part of the Graduate Certificate in Applied eLearning. A slight change of focus from what I had originally planned, however, having just completed one of the other papers Educational Design for eLearning, have decided to use one of the Hotel Management papers – Rooms Division Operations Management sites as the focus of the Special Topic.

So here is my plan:

Planning and Learning Outcomes

This post will hopefully outline my plan for my Special Topic, concentrating on the learning outcomes of the paper. This will also become a guide for me for the semester to ensure that I keep on track. I will also consider setting up my own timeline for the semester to ensure that milestones are met.

What do you want to do?
The overall plan is to develop a face to face course into a course that may be taken by students studying at a different institution (that we collaborate with). Although it would be predominately seen as a distance course, I would like it to be more blended learning so that there is interaction between the facilitator and students.

Why?
The key reason for choosing this course is that there is the need to offer this paper online for students at another institution (it is a core paper that they must take as part of the Hotel Management major which is only offered at our institution).

By creating an online option this could allow other students to be able to take this course who may not be able to make on-campus classes.

Over the past few years there has been a push for more flexible learning offerings among our programmes.

What are the learning outcomes/project outcomes?
There are two different learning outcomes, obviously my own personal learning and the actual project outcomes.

I would like to explore some different eLearning technology that I have not previously used before. As an institution we have just moved to Moodle (open learning management system) at the start of 2010 (from Blackboard) so I am trying to navigate my way round Moodle, which will be used for this project. I would like to be able to use some videos or quizzes within the project that will assist the learners. Use of Camtasia to demonstrate the use of a reservation package and to ensure more interaction between students and facilitator as well as students to students.

In terms of the project outcomes, it will provide an efficient way of delivering a course to remote students, as well as providing a very comprehensive resource and support for f2f students as well.

Why are they important at this time?
My own personal learning outcomes are important as I know that I have students wanting to take my papers online and I do not want to offer them an inferior product due to location and therefore want to understand the requirements of elearning. Through the project I hope to have a better understanding of the needs and requirements of students studying online (of course I am myself one of these, so through this blog I can also give my own reflections of the process).

Does it require a budget?
I will of course try where possible to not have a budget! Where possible I will look to use software that can be downloaded for free or use existing software that is available through the Polytechnic or resources on Moodle.

Does it require approval and from whom?
My Head of School has given me approval for the project.

What is the underpinning literature and practice that you can draw on?
My research will be underpinned by current literature in elearning such as Mason and Rennie (2006). I will also need to consider the different learning styles of the students and augmented learning (how the student interacts with the technology). I will explore different online materials. The Elearning Guidelines (Milne & Dimock, 2006) will also be a valuable resource for this project. I will also draw on Gilly Salmon’s (2000) five stage model which try’s to create greater interaction and participation between participants in elearning courses.

References

Mason, R., & Rennie, F. (2006). Elearning: The key concepts. New York: Routledge.
Milne, J., & Dimock, E. (2006). eLearning Guidelines. Guidelines for the support of e-learning in New Zealand Retrieved 8 March, 2009, from http://elg.massey.ac.nz/Guidelines-questions.pdf
Salmon, G. (2000). E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online. London: Kogan Page.

My Plan for a Special Topic

2010-03-16T18:27:00.001-07:00

Planning and Learning Outcomes

This post will hopefully outline my plan for my Special Topic, concentrating on the learning outcomes of the paper. This will also become a guide for me for the semester to ensure that I keep on track. I will also consider setting up my own timeline for the semester to ensure that milestones are met.

What do you want to do?
The overall plan is to develop a face to face course into a course that may be taken by students studying at a different institution (that we collaborate with). Although it would be predominately seen as a distance course, I would like it to be more blended learning so that there is interaction between the facilitator and students.

Why?
The key reason for choosing this course is that there is the need to offer this paper online for students at another institution (it is a core paper that they must take as part of the Hotel Management major which is only offered at our institution).

By creating an online option this could allow other students to be able to take this course who may not be able to make on-campus classes.

Over the past few years there has been a push for more flexible learning offerings among our programmes.

What are the learning outcomes/project outcomes?
There are two different learning outcomes, obviously my own personal learning and the actual project outcomes.

I would like to explore some different eLearning technology that I have not previously used before. As an institution we have just moved to Moodle (open learning management system) at the start of 2010 (from Blackboard) so I am trying to navigate my way round Moodle, which will be used for this project. I would like to be able to use some videos or quizzes within the project that will assist the learners.

In terms of the project outcomes, it will provide an efficient way of delivering a course to remote students, as well as providing a very comprehensive resource and support for f2f students as well.

Why are they important at this time?
My own personal learning outcomes are important as I know that I have students wanting to take my papers online and I do not want to offer them an inferior product due to location and therefore want to understand the requirements of elearning. Through the project I hope to have a better understanding of the needs and requirements of students studying online (of course I am myself one of these, so through this blog I can also give my own reflections of the process)

Does it require a budget?
I will of course try where possible to not have a budget! Where possible I will look to use software that can be downloaded for free or use existing software that is available through the Polytechnic or resources on Moodle.

Does it require approval and from whom?
My Head of School has given me approval for the project.

What is the underpinning literature and practice that you can draw on?
My research will be underpinned by current literature in elearning such as Mason and Rennie (2006). I will also need to consider the different learning styles of the students and augmented learning (how the student interacts with the technology). I will explore different online materials. The Elearning Guidelines (Milne & Dimock, 2006) will also be a valuable resource for this project.

References

Mason, R., & Rennie, F. (2006). Elearning: The key concepts. New York: Routledge.
Milne, J., & Dimock, E. (2006). eLearning Guidelines. Guidelines for the support of e-learning in New Zealand Retrieved 8 March, 2009, from http://elg.massey.ac.nz/Guidelines-questions.pdf

Initial thoughts

2010-03-16T17:44:00.001-07:00

Stop the procrastination and get on with the brainstorm process for a suitable special topic. My teaching area is Hotel Management as part of an Applied Business degree. As part of collaboration with another New Zealand polytechnic, we have students that can be enrolled onto the papers we offer and study these by distance. My teaching up until July last year as all been face to face (f2f) and therefore have not necessarily thought about some of the challenges of eLearning. I have decided to look at a paper that I am to facilitate next semester as a distance paper. I am currently teaching the paper f2f with students on campus for the first time. This will give me a good idea of the expectations I have with f2f students and then what I will need to accomplish with on online programme.

I had put my initial thoughts about this via the discussion board on Blackboard (the learning management system) that Manukau Institute of Technology use with their students. I think I was being a little too ambitious to start with, so am glad that Oriel let me know this! So that is where my thoughts are at the moment with my project – obviously more detail to come.

I think the key to the special topic is that the project is accomplishable within the semester. I really want to know that I have put in some effort, explored different eLearning options, trial things I have learnt through the course so far as well as being able to know that student learning will benefit from my efforts. Oh, and on a budget!

This blog will serve as a reflective journal throughout the semester, a place to post milestones and my progress. I hope that I will also gain some valuable feedback and comments from anyone that cares to follow what I am writing as well.

Of course there will be challenges along the way, the paper that I have chosen to use is a theoretical paper, but in our f2f situations there is alot of discussion in classes. I need to think about different ways that students can be interactive (this will of course depend on the number of students that might take this course via distance).

A new year, a new focus for my blog!

2010-03-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Another year and I am back to my elearning blog. This time it is going to be used for one of my final papers of the Graduate Certificate in Applied eLearning – Special Topic. The strange thing is, that I am completing a ‘special project” along with the paper Educational Design for eLearning which is often one of the first papers that people take! Oh well nothing like doing things a bit differently.

This blog will support my Special Topic course. I feel that I am a little behind at this stage, hard to believe that it is already week 5 of my own teaching, so I know I am behind with my study.

The learning outcomes for the Special Topic are to identify and negotiate an applied eLearning topic, design the process/plan by which the goals will be achieved, implement the process while modifying as appropriate, present a progress report at agreed stages and produce a report outlining and critiquing the project and outcomes.

Lost for words

2009-12-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I am lost for words and feel very humble as I have just read that I have been nominated for an Edublog Award - Best Student Blog by Sarah Stewart. I first read this on Herve's blog and then confirmed by reading Sarah's blog.

I have been participating in a number of e-learning papers this year and have used a blog in my latest paper Facilitating Online, this course has certainly sparked my interest in using technology to enhance learning and support my own teaching.

I would not confess to be a writer by any means and at times I am very nervous about what I am writing on the blog as 'others' will read it, however, it is great to have a forum where you can be open with your ideas and reflections and even better when someone critiques or comments on your blog.

So thank you Sarah for your nomination!

FOC09 - My final Post

2009-11-30T12:43:00.001-08:00

This is my final posting for the Facilitating Online Communities course. The key objective of the course was to explore online communities, facilitation as well as online tools (which included wiki, Second Life, elluminate, dimdim).

So what have I got out of FOC09?

This course has certainly been a journey, one of new experiences, learning and frustrations, however, the journey has come to an end and I feel relief and an appreciation of the differing roles that are involved within online courses. It took some time to really come to terms with the roles of ‘facilitator’ and ‘teacher’ and ‘moderator’ in online communities, however, having participated in and facilitated my own online event over the last few weeks, I have appreciated the difference between my own teaching role (comfort zone) and the very different facilitation role that I have witnessed through this paper. The mini conference was certainly a great way to put all the theory into practice!

This paper has certainly made me appreciate the difference between the three roles of teacher, facilitator and moderator. Back in August when I wrote the post regarding the role of facilitator it was hard to really know if a facilitator was “someone that managed a process of information exchange, and guided and managed a group to ensure the objectives were met effectively” – however, having watched Sarah in her role of facilitator through the course and again the experiences of the mini online conference this definition became much clearer.

I looked at some different discussion forums and I still await acceptance of one, may be they were not high users at all! These online forums have opened a new world of opportunities for both my own learning and professional teaching as well as the opportunities they have for our learners. Since my original post on the topic, I have come to better understand how these discussion forums can be useful and do we really need ‘shield’ ourselves behind a learning management system. Here’s to being more ‘openly’ involved in discussions.

From here we moved onto blogging networks. I tried to keep my interest within my own teaching context of hotel, hospitality and tourism at this stage and found a number of interesting sites, but they probably in hindsight were not necessarily the best examples of ‘networks’. As Willie commented, they probably were more advertising, but useful anyway.

From here we ventured into the virtual world of Second Life where I became my alter ego of pommieangel diabolo – she certainly had a better figure than me! Although this was my first time in SL and somewhat daunting, I can really see the range of possibilities that could be used in my teaching practice (although like many things it is the time required to prepare resources etc). At this stage of the course, everything became a little frantic! There was no break in the course, it was the busiest time of the year and I was worried that I was not going to make it!

My online event went ahead, I tried to be at as many events as I could make and have found that I have learnt so much through participation and attendance. The group have been so supportive of each other and I have valued the interaction.

The journey has been one of discovery of unknown technologies and online communities, even the FOC09 group itself (global participants). Despite feeling overwhelmed at times, I have made it. Some of the challenges were keeping up when work was so busy, I could have been better of really contributing to other people’s blogs, but I often find it hard to express myself on other people blogs (or is it the ‘openness’ of blogging!). Sarah (our facilitator) kept us on track via blogs, emails and phone calls which was great. Overall, I have enjoyed the course and looking back over the past 4 ½ months have gained a real sense of online communities.

FOC09 Reflection on my event

2009-11-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

I have had the opportunity now to participate in some of the other on line events as part of our mini conference. I must admit that I was very fortunate that technology was on my side, although I did favour using elluminate which we had been using through the course for some of our group “get togethers” (although the first time for me facilitating in elluminate).

Reflection on the event:

I decided for my event to facilitate a session on elluminate, I wanted to trial this medium as I can see benefits of using this online tool within my own teaching practice in the future.

I marketed my event via the FOC09 wiki page, as well as emailing my colleagues in the School of Applied Business, Otago Polytechnic and also through an internal message board at Otago Polytechnic and via a link through my blog. I was quite pleased with the number of attendees, although in hindsight more could have been done to promote the mini conference itself (through wider networks) as there were a lot of very varied and interesting topics.

My presenter (and colleague) Hillary Jenkins gave a 10 minute presentation on the use of wikis in education using the Diploma in Applied Travel and Tourism course as her example. This was then followed by a question session. As part of the presentation there was a link to the appropriate website, however, I failed to let people know that they would have to manipulate the website; this could not be controlled by the facilitator! Although people did not comment on this at the time, it may have been a little confusing and a point that I should certainly make mention of in future presentations. The use of wikis and collaboration had been one of our learning topics through the course and I have an interest in finding ways that people would collaborate with this online tool.

I think some of the key issues that I have learnt from my own event and from attending other FOC09 events was the preparation required, the ability to “think on your feet” and to be confident enough to “take charge"!

I wanted my event to be a facilitated session rather than a lesson/lecture style session, so the short presentation (to hopefully stimulate questions) followed by questions, seemed to work well.

As a facilitator in elluminate you do have to watch for both the ‘chat’ questions as well as people wanting to ask questions via audio. The participants did seem to engage with the presenter and there was some good discussion at the end.

So what have I learnt from my facilitation, you need to be prepared for all eventualities, there is skill and the need to multi task. When you are the facilitator, you have to let the presenter/teacher do their thing and let the participants engage. The role of facilitator is not to control, but to guide the event.

So here’s to my next facilitated event!

FOC09 - After the event!

2009-11-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

My event which was part of the mini conference for Facilitating Online Communities 2009 was held yesterday. The topic for the session was Use of Wikis in education. Hillary Jenkins presented information on how wikis have been used within the Diploma of Applied Travel and Tourism, Otago Polytechnic. Through her presentation, Hillary spoke of the importance of ‘building an online community’, both with the students on the course, but also through collaboration of information on the wiki. I will write a further post regarding the event and my learning of online communities.

FOCO9 Mini Conference details

2009-11-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

Only six days before my online event where I will be facilitating a session with Hillary Jenkins, Programme Manager of Travel and Tourism from Otago Polytechnic. Hillary has been using wiki educator within her teaching for a number of year. During her presentation, Hillary will discuss how this can be used as both an educational tool to support her students as well as a marking tool. Prior to the event on Wednesday 18 November at 1pm (NZ time) you may want to browse through the Travel and Tourism wiki pages. Hillary presented some of her developmental work at the Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning.

At the end of the presentation, there will be time for questions.

If technology fails, there will be a backup plan via Skype and if that fails, the event will be re-scheduled.

I look forward to welcoming you.

FOC09 - Mini Conference

2009-11-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

So, my date is set for the mini conference and I have chosen to stick with a more familiar setting of elluminate, rather than the more exciting venue of Second Life (Sarah, I have not really chickened out!).

For the mini conference I have invited Hillary Jenkins (Programme Manager of Travel and Toursim) from Otago Polytechnic to talk about how she has been using wikis in promoting her courses, use of wiki in travel and tourism education and how students can collaborate in the learning experience and adding to the body of knowledge.

This session will be run via elluminate on Wednesday 18 November at 1pm.

FOC09 - Catching up, Second Life & Mini Conference

2009-10-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I know that I have some catching up to do and have definitely neglected the Facilitating Online Community for awhile, however I think I am getting my head round wikis, Second Life and also have signed up to the Online Facilitators Network on Grou.ps.

I was able to experience one session in Second Life, which was a general orientation. Pommieangel (my alter ego) certainly enjoyed “jumping” around the place and began to get used to chatting (either using the chat function or via voice). In some aspects Second Life gives you freedom to explore and be someone that you may not necessarily be in your “true” life, whilst another part of me thought what are we doing sitting here, chatting through these avatars. I would like to have the time to explore this as a teaching method more as I could see benefits for students in role play situations, however, it would be good to see these in action.

In relation to facilitation, I could see that if you were having a meeting or some form of formal teaching that the use of facilitator and moderator could be required.

Although it would be great to have held something in Second Life for the mini conference, due to timing and also the technical issues that some people have with connection, then I think that I will change that.

FOC09 - Catching up

2009-10-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Back to reality with a bump! after 10 days of glorious sunshine in Queensland. Now I have quite a lot of catching up to do. Need to digest wikis and second life so that I can also think about the online conference. Will be back soon with further ideas. Did manage to get into Second Life before I went away, although will be glad of a tutorial - found it rather daunting when a dashing young man came up to me and started chatting! At least I managed to "walk away" (well stumble over something!).

FOC09 - Blogging Networks

2009-09-16T20:57:00.001-07:00

A few tasks to complete this week, firstly to have an understanding of what blogosphere is and blogging networks and then to make contact with a member of a blogging network to see if they would benefit from facilitation services. Interestingly, before I even started to look at blogging networks, I had read that blogging has become a 'little old hat' in comparison to Facebook, Twitter or having a MySpace page, but then I also read that blogging remains one of the most effective ways to brand a business online, so there must be merit. Could this also be just part of technology, where we quickly move from one technology to another. Some of the key points that I have picked up from "bloggers" is that you need to ensure that you post regularly to your blog, post from experience, define your context, write well and use a clean design. Although there may be many more key pointers, these are a good starting point.

I think a Blogosphere is a site which lists blogs relating to a particular topic or theme, really a centralised point of reference for a particular subject. People that contribute form an online community within this network. Within the See Also section from the Wikipedia entry for Blogosphere there was a link to the New Zealand Blogosphere Tumeke!. This represents an online community which seems to concentrate on New Zealand politics and society in general. When I checked out the site it was crowded and confusing, the layout daunting and to be honest I really did not want to explore it further.

So onto the next task – finding a blogging network. I decided that I would start my search with some of the blogs that I follow to see if they were part of a wider blogging network. I follow a number of blogs associated with the hotel/tourism industry as part of my professional role in teaching hotel management, as well as my personal keen interest of hotels and travel.

Five Star Alliance have two blogs The Informed Traveler (which looks at upscale hotels which I follow) and also Upscale Travel (the travel side). I sent them a message via their “contact us” page and got a near immediate response from them (I was probably not expecting this after my luck with online forums). Although these blogs may not necessarily fit exactly with a blogging network, I presume that they all have to start somewhere. They use contract employees or staff employees of Five Star Alliance as blog contributors. The blog supports the Five Star Alliance site, which is made up of hotels that they work closely (promote bookings) and therefore they said that they try to balance out the content with information that is pertinent of the luxury traveller with a focus on the hotels they promote. Their editor handles all the moderation on the site when users make comments. As it is not a large network they did not see the value in facilitation.

Another blog that I follow is Upgrade: Travel Better. I did not know before this part of the course work that they were actually part of a wider blogging network or community called Trusted Travel Blogs. There are 25 listed blogs and they state that it is a ‘community project’ and ‘user monitored’. They state that their members “love reading and writing travel blogs and hope the keep the community fresh and clean”. They have two primary things in common:

they're recognized for consistently high publishing standards and
their content is not influenced by undisclosed affiliations with third parties.

Again, like the activity that we were required to do for the online forum, it is quite hard to make contact with someone…. Still working on that part for the above network.

Although I have not received a definite answer whether or not blogging networks should have a facilitator, I think it is important to remember that blogs are people’s ideas and opinions and are not necessarily the way that everyone has to think. Yet, saying that, if you are going to say something in an open forum, then you have to be ready to have your view points challenged by other members. Within some networks there may be some guidelines (similar to closed forums) of membership regulations. Over the past few weeks, I have seen that blogging networks and online forums are thriving in many different ways.

FOC09 - Online Communities discussion

2009-09-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

It has been an interesting couple of weeks coming to terms with what online communities are. I really wanted to find an online community in hospitality or hotel (but the ones I looked at were more blogs or were inactive). As an avid reader, I then decided to look at forums relating to book lovers – I found one that seemed to have a good following, were very active, however, I still await my invite to be accepted! Very frustrating. So I finally decided to look at Networked Learning which describes it self as “people in Otago investigating Networked learning”. There are 71 members in the group but not all from the Otago region. Many of the members have photos and brief profiles about themselves which makes it feel more of a community.

In my search of forum’s I also wanted to consider the features of an online community based on people’s blogs in the course and also the discussions we have had within class meetings, some of which are as follows:

communicating towards a common goal
bringing people together that have the same interest
like minded people sharing information
level of contribution is dependent on individual choice
shared knowledge (through shared experiences, question/answers

Despite these, there is also the sense of how long it takes for an online community to build trust with each other (this is can be debated, some people will like the anonymity of this type of forum, where as others will feel that trust takes time when you are not f2f). I also need to gain a better understanding of the forums and the role of facilitators and moderators.

Howard Reingold lists sensible, practical techniques with the following topics:

What an online host wants to achieve
Good online discussions
What a host does, what a host tries to grow
Host behaviour

An article by Nancy White identifies the four frameworks for online facilitation, group processes, applications, key skills, and links to relevant articles. I found her comments relating to facilitators as role models interesting as she stated ‘they are often the first members to be challenged” and then went on to say that “integrity, patience, a good sense of humour and a love of other people will be valued in any host”. The key skills she identified included:

Group facilitation skills
Cybrarianship
Passion for community
Ability to facilitate facilitative behaviours within the community

She also went on to say that the facilitator may also act as a ‘referee’, and would also need further skills such as a “thick skin and slow fuse, internet experiences, familiarity with common netiquette”.

As I know some of the members of the group, I decided to contact someone that I did not know to pose the question of whether they felt the forum required a facilitator. The person I contacted suggested that for them they did not feel that this particular forum required facilitation. They said “the conversations all seem to occur on email and participants respond to items of interest to them”. They went on to say as they responded on Gmail email, all of these discussions are connected in one thread and so they did not need them pulled together in any other way. However, for others it may be useful. They did say that this could be a fairly time consuming job and would require quite a commitment from someone. They said that the use of facilitation is where a person assists in coordinating the forum to help focus people around a particular issue, or the writing of a summary to close a thread in the forum.

After our class meeting last night, I have also been thinking about the time involved in such a job and as was mentioned many of these forums are ‘interest’ groups and therefore there would be no funding for this role.

I look forward to comments and suggestions.

FOCO9 - Discussion Forums

2009-09-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Since my last post I have been trying to explore further this idea of online discussion forums. I chose to look at Google Groups (and was somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer number of different forums).

I wanted to try and find something that would either be of interest in my professional life and/or my personal interest.

With a little guidance from Sarah via the phone, I have now got myself signed up to a couple of different online discussion groups, one an interest online discussion forum (I was especially interested in the book review section of this one, being an avid reader) and I have also joined Networked Learning which is relevant to the professional side of my life. The discussion for this forum is people in Otago , New Zealand investigating networked learning.

The interest group forum that involves book reviews seems to follow the format that someone adds a post as a starting point and then people add their own comments as a thread. At this initial stage it is hard to see whether there is an actual facilitator, although some of the people that are ‘posting’ are called senior members and tend to be attributing on a regular basis. As for moderation, too soon for me to tell, although as part of the registration there were terms and conditions, so in some way they are in place to moderate the information.

FOCO9 - Online discussion forum

2009-08-30T18:02:00.001-07:00

Our task over the next two weeks is to find and join and online discussion forum. We have been advised that these tend to be via Google groups or Yahoo groups. Again, I am going into unknown territory!

I have followed blogs, but have been advised that these are not the same as these online discussion forums (which tend to be text based discussions - someone posts the start of a discussion and then people can comment via threads) - so will now have to delve into the "unknown"

I suppose in some ways this is what happens in other educational courses in discussion forums, the difference being that only 'enrolled' students can participate and they are often 'shielded' behind a learning management system such as Blackboard or Moodle.

Once we have this forum we need to then join their email forum and also interview a member of the forum that we are looking at and obtain comments and ideas on how the forum might benefit from facilitation services - such as a coordinated event to help focus people around a particular issue, or the writing of a summary to close a thread in the forum.

Of course this brings me back to our discussion on facilitation, teaching and moderation.

We discussed the roles of each and how they may impact on each of the other roles. The group considered the role of the facilitator and came up with a list now posted on the course blog.

FOCO9 Teacher, Facilitator & Moderator

2009-08-22T16:39:00.001-07:00

For this blog post we have been asked to try to determine what the different roles and behaviours are for facilitator, moderator and teacher. Following that to answer three questions:
· When might the role of a teacher undermine the role of a facilitator?
· When might the role of a moderator undermine the role of a facilitator?
· When might the role of a facilitator undermine the role of a teacher or moderator?

Teacher
Teachers tend to play an active role throughout the learning process of any student. Their role may be seen as making links to their learning and help make the learning process authentic. Teachers try to instil knowledge, and an interest of learning, engage with their students.

Facilitator
Wikipedia’s defines ‘facilitator’ as someone who helps a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular position in the discussion. Therefore a facilitator is someone that helps to manage a process of information exchange, guide and manage a group to ensure that the group’s objectives are met effectively.

Moderator
A moderator is given authority to ensure and enforce forum rules and maybe conduct administrative tasks that may not be entrusted amongst other users. I did need to think more carefully about this as in my area of education it means something different from the role and context that we are looking at here. At the moment, I would not say that I am engaged in being a moderator or how that role really works.

I would consider myself a teacher, I present information in the classroom, passing on as much knowledge to my students as I can, in the hope that the information will be retained, digested and used. Having reviewed Kemshal-Bell’s (2001) three main categories of skills and attributes of a good facilitator, then I would also consider myself as a facilitator (especially in a couple of my courses that are not delivered face to face). I encourage students in their learning process, provide feedback along the way and support their learning. Although the courses I am involved in at present are not fully on-line, I can see that there are areas of facilitation that are important, such as the skills involved in managing online discussion, the ability to build online teams and keeping everyone motivated.

I read with interest Leigh Blackall’s (http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/to-facilitate-or-to-teach/) blogpost “To Facilitate or Teach” and the subsequent comments. One comment made my Blackall was the “problem of needing self motivated learners to participate in a facilitated learning environment”. This comes back to the role of the facilitator and how they would encourage these learners.

As a teacher you tend to be in control of the classroom situation, the lesson being taught, timing, discussions you may have in class, whereas as a facilitator you have to learn to let go a little, you cannot assume that same control of the participants (online community). You can give them guidance on how to reach their end goals, but they may achieve these at their own pace, they may wander on a tangent before being guided back to the original task. Learning may be less structured, but nonetheless rewarding. The facilitator encourages with comments on the way. It may also depend on the independence of the students learning as well. There tends to be a role shift between teacher and facilitator dependent on the student’s learning ability, problems they may encounter, etc. For many students they are not familiar with the self learning environment and therefore need to be taught basic concepts before they can become more independent learners.

Overlaps in the roles of teaching, facilitating and moderating may be seen in online community. In many cases both teacher and facilitator roles are used as well as moderating.
Still much to ponder…. Hopefully it will all become clearer.

Kemshal-Bell, G. (2001). The Online Teacher - Final report prepared for the Project Steering Committee of the VET Teachers and Online learning Project. Retrieved 20 August, 2009, from http://cyberteacher.onestop.net

FOCo9

2009-08-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Before I move on to the next topic of our course, I have been taking time to further delve into the material and also refer & make comment on some of the blogs. I wonder if we are worrying that we are not a 'community' straight away, does it matter if we start out at as a network.

I think that a community cannot be created instantly and it does take time and willingnees for members to get to know each other, to converse and share thoughts and ideas freely.

FOC09 - What is an online community?

2009-08-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, I have started on my next elearning journey of being part of the Facilitating Online Communities course. We have had a few online meetings via Elluminate, which have not been without issues, both from a groups point of view (the first one technology failed, so it ended up only being myself & Leigh chatting as we were both on-site at Otago Polytechnic), the second I had microphone issues so could not talk and the third seemed to go without a hitch. I have been impressed by the dedication of some members, fronting up to a meeting at 4am, apologies, but I need my sleep! Fascinating though that people from all over the world are joining in.

Our last meeting though focussed on “what is an online community?”. Over the past couple of weeks since my involvement with the course I have been reading the required information, looking at other people’s comments and trying to understand more about online communities.

Any “community” has to have a purpose, a reason for being, so I would presume that this would be the same for any online community. Whether you are involved in a community of practice at work, or maybe through external activities such as committee through childcare or school, there is always some focus of why people would gravitate together.

In the past face to face communities have been characterised through the geographic location of the participants and travel to and from a location could have been seen as a barrier to forming extended communities. In many of these local communities there is not only a sense of togetherness, but also of familiarity and safety, which may not always be the case with on online community. Saying that, the level of anonymity could certainly contribute in some degree to the safety felt on line. There is also that sense that you can come and go.

So what is an online community?....

It enables people from all over the world with a similar purpose or interest or maybe need to meet/connect
It enables likeminded people with similar attitudes and skills to connect with each other

An online community may give some people an opportunity to involve themselves in different ways than a f2f community because of a feeling of anonymity, or it may be time pressures associated with f2f communities

Etienne Wagner (1998) from the Communities of Practice quoted “a community functions with mutual engagement”, where you must interact with others to have sense of belonging. In our meeting this week there was some discussion around whether or not “we” the FOC09 are actually a ‘community’. The question has to be asked if we are by virtue of enrolling on to the course or joining in with the discussion a community. Sarah raised the question of whether we are a network (I have not come to a sound conclusion just yet). Does it depend on the level of engagement that people have? What happens if we are more reticent in nature? Or to quote Willie a “legitimate peripheral participant”! I can see the need for interaction, familiarity of online communities to maybe build confidence. I could also see that you are more likely to have people ‘lurking’ in an online community rather than f2f. If you don’t contribute then you would not feel part of that community. I need to leave my post here at the moment, but will come back to it, once I have delved into some more of the reading.

Facilitating Online Communities

2009-07-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, just a quick introduction to the Facilitating Online Communities course participants. This is my second paper I am taking as part of the Graduate Certificate in Applied eLearning, I am also taking Technical Appreciation of eLearning Tools at the same time. The reason for me taking this course is to learn about how to better facilitate online courses.

I look forward to meeting, working and learning with you all.

My final post

2009-07-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

My evaluation of elearning for Best Practice journey is complete. Although this was my first elearning paper I have enjoyed my learning experience. I am looking forward to my next papers. Hopefully this link will allow you to look at my final needs assessment.

http://docs.google.com/ViewDoc?docid=dghwppcg_1dpc9pvd9

This blog will now be used for my next paper Facilitating Online Communities.

Interview information

2009-06-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

I have shared my interview information - I am now in the process of drawing out the themes. I interviewed an educational expert and then three people involved in elearning (3 different colours).

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dghwppcg_0hmbxfhf9&hl=en

Week 16

2009-06-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to have completed more of my evaluation plan this weekend, I took all my work home with me, but left my memory stick at work. In some ways I can see why Google docs is so useful as you access your work from anywhere! So I had to make do with the information I had on Google docs (limited) and my handwritten notes.

The feedback from Bronwyn and others has been very useful as I try to bring everything together now in one document. Tyring to be creative with my analysis to cut down the word count, getting my head round frequencies, means etc (I knew there was a reason why I prefer qualitative work!) and trying to keep to the timeline.

Pleased to have been involved with the course, as I have to have a course up and running for online learning sooner than I thought! Ready for next semester, only a few weeks away! Back to my analysis and discussion.

Week 13 continued

2009-06-05T20:51:00.001-07:00

I have shared with you my initial analysis of student feedback from the survey.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dghwppcg_48q9mgbgk&hl=en

Week 13

2009-06-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

This stage of the course has been really good as it is the practical part of the evaluation plan. Over the past couple of weeks I have had the opportunity in interviewing an educational expert and also three lecturers that are already involved in elearning at the Polytechnic. I chose lecturers that had different levels of experience with elearning and also from three different areas which has also made it more interesting, but also valuable in terms of seeing whether or not they had the same views on some of my questions.

Within my original evaluation plan, I had said that I would look at documentation and carry out the interviews and would survey students in the future due to the short timeframe allocated for the course. However, I decided last week that I would survey students as I felt that I was missing a key link in my evaluation plan if I did not do that at the same time. Although my sample size was small (eleven students), I still think that it has been beneficial to have their views of technology and education.

I have collated the information from the students, which I will post as a separate document. This has not been fully analysed, but it is a start!

Week 12

2009-05-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Slightly behind the course guideline, but on track on my evaluation plan timeline! I have just completed two of my interviews, one with an educational expert (although they prefer not to have that title!) and the other from a lecturer that has just become more involved with elearning.

My interview, with the "educational expert", was very interesting and probably very different than I had anticipated. It has made me consider my own f2f teaching and my personal reflective practice of my current teaching.

I think the key things at the moment is that it is all about "small chunks" - you do not have to think that you have to take a "whole course" and put it on-line, but you can make headway, by breaking it down, running with it, seeing how it works for you as lecturer and the student and then reflecting on it.

I look forward to my next two interviews and then getting my head stuck into the "documentation" I have said that I will analyse.

May have more time to do this if we get snowed in! Looking pretty bleak outside.

Week 11

2009-05-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

Bronwyn has asked me to post the link of my evaluation plan with her feedback on it. It has been a very useful process to have had this feedback. It has also been good to get used to google docs, as I have not used this tool before - just tend to use track & trace and comments on a Word doc and email back and forth!

here is my the document link with Bronwyn's feedback http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgg6nrz2_159fpjd42dj

I am now looking forward to the 'action' stage of this evaluation plan, where I get to talk to 'experts' in the field and 'colleagues' that are already using different elearning methods. I am hoping to be converted, inspired and impressed by the use of elearning as a valuable teaching method.

2009-05-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

My evaluation plan may be viewed at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dghwppcg_1dxcqmgd4

Week 9

2009-05-09T18:57:00.001-07:00

I have just sent a message through our discussion forum with a link to google docs with my evaluation plan for feedback. I have not used this before, so I am hoping that it all works! Do let me know if you cannot access it. I look forward to feedback and also the opportunity in reading some of my colleagues so I am also able to give feedback.

Having post the evaluation plan and working through what needs to be done, I realise that I am going to be busy over the next 4-6 weeks!

Better get on with those interview questions.......

Week 8

2009-04-26T17:07:00.000-07:00

I am preparing for the negotiation of my evaluation plan with Bronwyn. I have been avidly reading other posts and some of the feedback and comments being posted. I have revisited my own evaluation plan so that I can form a better question.

The question I have now formed is "How can an existing hotel management paper be re-developed using elearning methods which will best meet the needs of the target audience and lecturers?"

The outcome of the evaluation plan should give me clarity of the chosen elearning guidelines. At this stage, further to Bronwyn's comments on other blogs, I now need to have a set of sub questions.

Week 7 - Negotiate evaluation plan

2009-04-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Time to put back on my learning hat after a very busy Easter with family from overseas! and the past couple of days attending a two day conference for all staff at Otago Polytechnic. (Bronwyn was the conference organiser!) There were four strands to the conference: Teaching and Learning, Effective use of Technology, Self Care and Sustainability with a wide range of key note speakers, panel discussions, workshops, lectures and other hands-on activities. I have come away reflecting on many aspects of my own teaching and learning. I have learnt new skills, especially through attending a workshop on Camtasia, I am very keen to put this new found skill into practice. Maybe even for my presentation later in this paper – watch this space.

I have reflected on my last blog where I considered my evaluation plan. Here is a little more detail of where I see my project heading.

Area of teaching: I am currently involved in teaching on the Bachelor of Applied management degree in the area of Hotel Management at both second and third year level. These papers are currently only available face to face; however, there is a strong mandate for papers to be more ‘flexible’ in their delivery, whether this is fully on-line or some form of ‘blended’ delivery.

Purpose of evaluation plan: A needs assessment will be carried out to establish suitable eLearning options when teaching hotel management. I have revisited the eLearning guidelines, which are a wonderful tool and revised my chosen guidelines to: TD1 - Is the use of e-learning appropriate to the intended learning outcome?
TO10 - Is good elearning practice available to staff in a way they can adopt and adapt in their own work?

Framework: The evaluation plan will be based on a needs assessment which Rossett (1995, as cited in Reeves & Hedberg, 2003) explains is a way to gather information to assist professionals in making recommendations about how to solve a problem or introduce new technology. By carrying out a needs assessment it will enable the research to evaluate the viability of the project and explore a variety of possibilities. As part of this evaluation, I will make use of the evaluation framework, called the 'eclectic-mixed methods-pragmatic paradigm' (EMMPP) as it will allow for a more flexible approach to the research. This framework also recongnises that multiple perspectives are necessary to “triangulate information and conclusions regarding complex phenomena” (Reeves & Hedberg, 2003, p. 35)

Data Collection:
By choosing the EMMPP it will allow for a wider scope of data collection. The first method will be to review the organisations strategic information on flexible and elearning as this will form a good basis of my research and will give direction for my interview questions. Secondly, I will interview two experts within the organisation. Thirdly, it is important to have information from the students; however, due to time limitations for this particular project, I will only carry out the first two at this stage of the project.

I now look forward to negotiating this plan with Bronwyn, when we catch up next week. I also welcome comments from others.

Reference

Reeves, T. C., & Hedberg, J. C. (2003). Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Weeks 5 & 6

2009-04-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Over these two weeks we have been asked to look at different evaluation models, presented by Professor Tom Reeves. As I only teach F2F I have been struggling with the getting my head around the whole evaluation concept. After last nights class meeting, I think things have suddenly become clearer and I can see a way forward, great when everything starts to click.

The outline of my project is that I will carry out a needs assessment (or needs analysis, front end analysis) on a third year paper I teach as part of the Hotel major of the Bachelor of Applied Management degree. As lecturers, we have been asked to consider delivering these Level 7 papers more 'flexibly', however, that does not mean at this stage that they have to be totally online. Students at present can access powerpoint slides, readings and link via Blackboard.

The first stage and way of introduction and background to the project will be a review of some of the information that we have been given as lecturers, this will form the basis to conduct a needs assessment, which will evaluate the viability of putting the course online, the opportunity to engage with students in what they want and also discuss with experts in the field on eLearning.
I have suggested in my previous post that I will use the eclectic-mixed methods pragmatic approach and I still believe that it will work well in this context.

I have revisited the eLearning guidelines, which are a wonderful tool and revised my chosen guidelines to:

TD1 - Is the use of e-learning appropriate to the intended learning outcome? - this will be crucial to answer to ensure that the proposed eLearning fits with the learning outcomes of the paper.

ST1 - Do you have a way to identify needs and respond to them - if I am to move towards more a more flexible delivery approach, I want a better understanding from the outset of what students would like from this type of delivery, I believe that it is crucial to ensure connectivity between the students, their learning and lecturer.

Although, limited to only two guidelines, I would also like to consider the following guideline:
TO10 - Is good elearning practice available to staff in a way they can adopt and adapt in their own work? - in some ways, that is the reason that I have enrolled onto to this course, as I want to learn and understand some of the issues with elearning.

I have also started to consider the adoption of multiple methods evaluation (Mark and Shortland, 1987 as cited in Reeves & Hedberg, 2003) as an appropriate model, I believe that this will ensure that the final product will work well and through surveys (or focus groups - undecided after last nights discussion what will work best and considering the credibility of student answers ) of students, interviews with an elearning expert (and maybe further discussion with staff outside of my school area) and review of strategic plan documentation. This triangulation should give a reasonable indication and support for the outcomes and success of adopting flexible options to a F2F course.

I am still trying to find/digest some articles that fit with my project, so will post that part when I have that information. I welcome your comments and feedback.

Reference
Reeves, T. C., & Hedberg, J. C. (2003). Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Week 4 Evaluation models and paradigms

2009-03-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have read with interest the different inquiry paradigms and evaluation models. It is probably fair to say that I often steer away from anything that may have ‘quantitative’ in the title as I do not see myself as a numbers person or the reliance on measuring, variables and the analysis of relationships among statistical information, although this is changing slightly as a number of my colleagues along with our research director within the school are being put through our paces of a quantitative refresher course.

I can relate more to the constructivist-hermeneutic-interpretivist-qualitative paradigm, as it allows for the emphasis on the human being as a primary evaluation instrument and some of the methods used such as observation draw on this.

However, despite this, I also have to think about the task at hand and as I am not involved with a eLearning course at the moment and the courses I teach are all F2F, I will need to look at a needs assessment as part of my evaluation for this course.

I also need to re-visit the eLearning guidelines and look further at which will be more suited to my project.

I am veering towards the eclectic-mixed methods-pragmatic paradigm which is capable of handling the complexity of contemporary society and technology Casti, 1994; Pascale, Millerman & Goja, 2000; Sedgwick, 1993 as cited in Reeves & Hedberg, 2003). By drawing on multiple perspectives this allows a variety of evaluation methods to be used and also the ‘pragmatic’ aspect reflects the practical orientation that may be used and if it does not work the first time you can only try again. This paradigm allows a flexible approach to the design, delivery and evaluation of interactive learning systems (Reeves & Hedberg, 2003) and also allows researchers to adopt different perspectives and theoretical approaches depending on the practical needs of a project. One of the strengths of this approach is there are no ‘right’ approaches and maintaining an open approach is essential. This paradigm should offer a pragmatic way of conceptualising evaluation design.

Reeves, T. C., & Hedberg, J. C. (2003). Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

2009-03-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Week 3 eLearning Guide for Quality

This week’s task is to identify 2 eLearning guidelines relevant to my area of practice (which is in the School of Applied Business). At present I am not involved in teaching any eLearning subjects, however, we are being encouraged to with some of our papers to allow flexibility for students that may want to take some of our courses. I am hoping that by undertaking this course, I will have a better understanding.

I found the eLearning guidelines to be very interesting reading. The guidelines contend that to successfully implement elearning guidelines, they should be done at an institution wide level, not necessarily just at an individual or course level. This got me thinking a little more about resources, time, development for elearning courses etc, then I realised that I was getting off track from the question at hand and realised that I had to make my choices!

I found it quite hard to make my choice of only two and to know whether these will really be the ones that will help and guide me through my elearning project.

The two I have chosen are:
TD1 Is the use of e-learning appropriate to the intended learning outcomes?
TT13 Does the teacher evaluate the eLearning during the course to identify its effectiveness and how to improve it?

I have chosen TD1 as my first guideline, as I am still questioning the use of eLearning and whether it is the answer to learning. Although it may not be the final solution, I can see some benefits towards the use of elearning, however, there is also the issue of time, energy and effort that is required to successfully introduce eLearning that ensures a quality product at the end. I suppose I want assurance that there is learner/teacher engagement throughout the course (same as f2f) and that the needs of the learner are being met.

I have chosen TT13 as my second guideline, as I am interested in how you can evaluate progress and the effectiveness of the course during the teaching. When you are f2f you can often guage the learner/teacher engagement, students may talk informally with you and there are informal evaluation mechanisms that we use within our programme. Again, this is really ensuring that the needs of the user are being met.

2009-03-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

The first task as part of the course Evaluation eLearning for best practice, I have been asked to comment on the following questions:
# Why is evaluation important to you and how do you define it?
# What sort of evaluations mentioned on the presentation are familiar to you already and why?
# Why is quality important in eLearning?

In answer to the first question, why evaluation is important to me, my initial thoughts were to consider how evaluation validates my resources and delivery as a lecturer within my course and context. In many ways evaluation gives you the confidence in the materials, resources, teaching and learning strategies that I would use in the classroom and the assessment material. As most of my teaching is face to face, I may need to look at different strategies as I embark into the world of elearning. Evaluation comes from a number of different sources and by way of definition.

Course evaluation by students, pre and post moderation of assessment material (peer review), usability of teaching methods, feedback from students in class, student retention and results, industry feedback.

A number of evaluations were presented within Bronwyn’s slides and on the wiki, although familiar with many, I may not have practiced many. At the end of last year, my HOD observed my teaching within the classroom. I am interested in exploring some of these evaluation methods with regards to eLearning.

As I am new to eLearning, I would have to question “Why is quality important in eLearning?’ – and ask is quality not important in all learning?, should there be a distinction. I see quality as a needs assurance, that it is cost effective, that student retention and completion of a course is good and that the outcomes for students is positive.

2009-02-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

I thought I should introduce myself a little more, for my fellow colleagues taking this paper. I am a lecturer at Otago Polytechnic Dunedin, I teach hotel management papers and co-ordinate our year 3 students on their Cooperative Education Project within the School of Applied Business. I have been teaching at the polytechnic for 13 years.

This is my first paper of the Graduate Certificate in Applied eLearning. My main motivations for enrolling onto this programme is to gain first hand experience and knowledge of elearning, so that I may be able to incorporate this into my own teaching which may in turn increase the student experience and enhance their learning, as we are being asked to provide students more flexibility with their learning.

2009-02-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

Hi

This is the start of my blog for a course I have just enrolled on, Evaluation of elearning for Best practice. I hope that the posts will benefit not only my own learning, but others as well.

Watch out for more posts!
Rachel