I agree. I teach math at another college where the students are required to use mymathlab for 1 math class another software product in another class and so on. In that case I share the students frustration.
jim
William,
These are correct concerns. You really want to make sure they are aligned. You want to make sure your course design enforces the alignment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I believe the three most important components for an effective on-line class are: Course out come and how it is broken up into modules. Second do the modules correspond to the syllabus and they clearly demonstrate the objectives. Is the material prepared in such a manner the students can be successful. Obviously there is much more but that would be my first three concerns.
Bill,
You make great comments. Yes, the learning objective should drive the technology. You don't want a barrier to learning be the technology.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Jim,
It is nice if the technology has multiple uses and has consistent use throughout the institution. Students do become frustrated when they have to learn a technology that is so specific in its use and they never will use again.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I believe first and foremost you need to consider the learning objective. What tool would help you achieve the objective?
Next should be ease of use. As the virtual environment is new to some, academic frustration can come solely based on the IT issues of the program.
Finally, Time line should be a consideration. The length of the program vs. the technology should match.
Ease of student use.
Is the tool appropriate for the class being taught.
Does the tool include a variety of media for teaching and learning.
Ty,
Those three considerations are so important. You have to make sure it has a purpose and it works for the student. I find that sometimes we try to use tools that really don't fit purpose just to use the technology.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Ty,
That is true. Students need to be comfortable with the LMS and have some familiarity with it. Orientations and consistency is so important for students using the LMS.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The three things that I feel are important when selecting the correct tool are The purpose of the class, the perspective of the instructor, and the type of student you are working with.
I have used LMS systems of many different types. For me what makes them successful is that they are simple and straightforward for the students to access information easily.
Marie,
Great strategies. I agree with you, an orientation or training is really needed for students to learn the LMS and other important tools. You cannot let students just "find their way" in an online course. The results are often disastrous!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I believe that students need to have an orientation or proper training on how to use the tools first and foremost because it is important that they feel comfortable with the tool. In my college we use a virtual classroom as well as a discussion board and the students take an orientation when they first enroll. This is important because that is what they will be familiar with as they pursue their degrees at the college. The lessons are recorded so they can access them at a later time. The interactivity that would normally occur in a face to face classroom is going to be different obviously in a virtual environment. There is still some of that because the students can ask questions through a chat box. As an instructor, I use voice over Power Points for the lessons and they can see me, I cannot see them, but we can communicate through the chat box.
Michael,
Nice post! We have to realize that the technology will only do what we tell it to. In other words, the instructor is not replaced by the technology it only helps the facilitating. I appreciate your comment about using the technology in both settings. Why not!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Using virtual technology tools are in the learning environment invaluable, however, dedication and commitment are required by faculty and students, because on the other side of the coin, virtual technology tools can also be overwhelming. When using the technology tools, some important considerations are, a) flexibility of the tool being used, as indicated from reading, the function of the tool is important but can only be matched by the purpose. b) Innovation and thinking out of the box, with the advancement of technology so are the tools and the minds (of students and faculty) using them in a traditional or non-traditional classroom setting, and lastly c) ease of use. It is irrelevant what type of technology tool is available; if EVERYONE does not understand how to use it or it is too taxing could cause serious disruption to the learning process.
Michael
Patricia,
Great post! You are right, we have to make sure that everyone can access it easily. We don't always think about the student that my have disabilities.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I think that the three most important things to consider when using technology tools in a virtual learning environment are:
1.) Choosing the right technology tool for the job
2.) Making sure that the technology does the function needed
3.) Ease of accessibility and ability to meet the needs of the online environment.
Anthony,
What a great post and thank you for sharing. You really show the different types of teaching in an online environment using a variety of tools. Outcomes may be different but what did you do in the Animation class that you could use in other courses. I teach an intro to business course to first semester freshmen. The first chapter is on basic business and economic terms. (How boring is that as a lecture). I now put the students in groups ( they meet new people). They are assigned a term ( equilibrium, supply and demand). They have to create a multimedia presentation explaining the term to an 8th grader and present it to the class. They do such a great job. This can be done in f2f or online. I love assignments that work in both environments. It saves me time.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson,
I think the 3 most important things to consider are the course outcomes, the course material, and the types of students you tend to have in your program. I teach animation and drawing courses, so my students tend to be more visual learns and try to utilize technology that is more visually oriented.I usually end up doing a lot of demo showing them different drawing techniques and software demos to help them complete their projects and grasp the material. Recently I had to teach an Animation Intro course, where the assignments were no longer visual projects, but research papers. So I had to adjust my approach and started using more announcements, emails, and discussion board post to help direct them to resources and provide various information on the History of animation. The changes came because the outcomes (assignments) were vastly different. But the course material still lent itself to having a very visual approach to it, by sharing images and links to videos of scenes we'd discuss. I doubt I'd take the same approach if I was teaching Business management (maybe if it was business management for freelance artists). Also, I find the heavy visual approach tends to work better for my student's who are looking to develop careers in the visual arts. They naturally learn by observing, and maybe even more so by creating.
Are there some other things I should be considering?
Catherine Affiong ,
You posted some interesting consideration. I keep thinking that students are using their laptops or desktops when in reality they could be using a tablet or a phone. I would like to know how comfortable students are in that type of environment. It does concern me that usually f2f students don't read and many of our f2f students are our online students!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
