Amelia Robinson

Critical thinking creates problem-solvers and teamwork promotes positive relationships with teammates, said to be critical to employment. Active online learning helps develop both of these attributes through cooperative and collaborative learning. This type of learning requires students to research answers on their own reflect on them and bring them back to the group for discussion and evaluation or the creation of a jig saw project. The flipped classroom also contributes greatly to critical thinking and reflection, allowing collaboration in the discussion of the findings in the following synchronous session or through discussion boards. Real world topics and situations may be… >>>

One of the most important components of active online learning is instructor attitude. Online instructors must come to online teaching with a positive attitude and be willing to put in the time and effort to develop two or three active learning activities. Student attitudes must also be managed by setting clear expectations, including the estimated amount of time needed to complete projects and how they will be graded on completion of those projects. Clear rubrics can address the challenges of grading activities such as role play and group discussion, and may be partially based on active participation and time on… >>>

Online instructors face challenges from all sides in developing online learning. Students often wish to put in the minimum effort to pass the class, hoping to click through screens, take an exam, and be done. Instructors must make clear at enrollment that active participation is required, and that critical thinking and higher levels of learning will be accessed as success criteria. Other instructors often perceive, or act as if they perceive, online instructors as less than F2F instructors and see online learning as a form of entertainment, pandering for higher enrollments. Institutions often do not know the value of active… >>>

Active learning requires students to be responsible for their own learning, and instructors to be responsible for providing and facilitating the activities that enable that. Whether live or online, courses that provide active components such as discussion, group work and projects, and problem-based learning provide greater learning success. While the active learning component may be more time- and labor-intensive to design and develop, including discussion and collaboration, questing and wikis, and production of learning products, it also improves learning outcomes and student completion and retention. I am eager to incorporate more of this into my online courses, particularly effective discussion… >>>

The strength of Mixed Reality (MR) is in collaboration. Best practices for the use of MR include instructors immersing in their own content to be able to assist learners and challege them to consider other perspectives;  introducing new elements at a reasonable pace; and including well-designed experiences that focus on helpful mechanisms. Microsoft says MR lets anyone in the general public build their own virtual world, but only a few headsets are available for purchase, and technology requirements to use their application seem quite high level (for instance, 10 gig of free space, high RAM processing, and high-end graphics cards… >>>

The AR approach focuses on practical learning rather than cognitive learning and it is typically recommmended to present the concepts before its use. Best practices for using ar include focusing on emotional inter- and intrapersonal interaction and spatial intelligence; working the experience in line with the objectives; incorporating realistic imagery and situations; and incorporating user-based interactivity. It is currently used mostly in gaming and entertainment, along with retail and navigation applications.  It still seems a very expensive and development-intensive platform, considering many of its advantages can be achieved through the use of images and videos in a branched scenario that… >>>

When using VR in an educational setting, it is important to make the learner the protagonist, expand their worldview, and make the impossible possible. Several applications exist to use this technology, including Star Chart, public speaking, Quiver and anatomy. The author claims that it is already being widely used in education. However, Star Chart only delivers information based on a received image: Point your phone at a star and receive information about it. I don't understand how this qualifies as VR, as it is not immersing anyone in anything and is similar to a Google Image Search, which is free.… >>>

There are three types of "realities" available, including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Realit, (AR), and Mixed REality (MR), a blend of the first two. While these technologies can be immersive and engaging, several downsides are identified. First, while performance increases at the outset, the novelty may wear off and it is not clear that learning is actually enhanced. the technologies and development to produce AR, VR or MR can be expensive or altogether unavailable. Students are also susceptible to illness or injury from using these, and aside from this course, I have been told that they can create siezures in… >>>

Tehnology tools used for assessments may include online quizzes, virtual labs, digital portfolios, and web quests,  and track changes on essays ans assignments, among others. Technology tools can simplify assessments and enable question pools for randomized questions and unique tests each time, as well as being capable of deployment at any place and time and being automatically graded The downfalls include  the quality of the technology affecting the assessment, the time-consuming nature of developing test banks and the need to word questions very carefully. Evaluating technologies for use in assessments should include whether students received effective feedback and found the… >>>

VAlue added assement can be used to indicate a student's progress in the learning rather than a percentage of the content they have mastered. Value-added assessments can be used with special needs learners, who are not expected to master a percentage of content to be successful. Value added assessment can be diagnostic and can provide fair comparison and accountability.