Teamwork makes the Dream Work

Working on the team presentation has highlighted to me the importance collaborative learning. When the assignment was first given, it was my natural instinct to go at it alone. In the past I have relied on my own hard work and imagination. But in the spirit of this class we took a projectized approach to the presentation, and maximized our resources by doing so. I was amazed at what synergies were created (and still are) when all four of us were focused on accomplishing the same goal. We were able to draw individual strengths from each member and create something that none of us could on our own. I know this sounds like an old tune, however, working together has shown me how important teamwork is especially in a e-Learning 2.0 environment. I hope this will reflect in our work on Wednesday.

My Learning Paradigm

In my learning, I tend to gravitate towards connectivism. We live in an information overloaded society. Knowing how to access quality sources and weed out the clutter is of paramount importance. When I was a child, I loved spending hours in the library reading. My favorite books were encyclopedias. I remember wandering through article after article and getting giddy with joy after seeing a particularly interesting diagram. I realized at a young age that even if I had completely read every encyclopedia, there would still be information out there that I needed or wanted to know. As an undergraduate, I studied French Literature. At first I found myself overwhelmed by the amount of articles written about any given work. I developed a method of finding what was most relevant by surveying the bibliographies of a number of articles and looking for common sources, I would then concentrate my efforts on the most referenced items. This was during the time when most references were not published on the internet and I had to manually browse through index cards, microfiche, and the like.

Fortunately, today this method of research and learning has been greatly facilitated by the availability of online resources. Now I simply browse Web2.0 products such as blogs, YouTube, Wikipedia and the like. I can now follow a reference at the click of a link and determine whether or not the information is relevant to me or not. The very reason that I am completing this certificate program is that I browsed several LinkedIn profiles of training professionals and found that many had attended this program.

That being said, I do not feel that connectivism works in every situation. In a previous training engagement, I was a flight attendant instructor. In this safety critical position, we had to rely on good old fashioned behaviorism. There is no way a flight attendant can be trained to open a door in an emergency by browsing YouTube. This would be the result:

In summary, I believe the learning paradigm needs to be adapted to the learner and learning object. The instructor must be attuned to the learner's needs and flexible enough to adapt an a case by case basis. Having a solid foundation in all of these paradigms will allow the instructor select the most appropriate delivery method.

Privacy and Blogging

Laura brought up a good point in her posting about privacy and feelings of vulnerability on the blogosphere. I have to admit, I also feel some trepidation bearing out my soul on the internet. The classroom has historically been a domain for exploration and experimentation safe from external scrutiny. Does a public forum threaten to breach this fostering environment? I can certainly see this hampering some students. I wonder if there have been any studies done on this subject?

But on the other hand I can also see the benefits of using this media. A blog does offer various levels of anonymity. Some may have difficulties expressing themselves in person or in front of a crowd. This can be eloquently circumvented by blogging.

And then there is a bit of "sniffing each other's butts." In the animal kingdom, this is done frequently and frankly. We humans have developed a far more delicate system of intricacies to assess and learn from each other. While posting, the blogger knowingly puts his work out for examination. This in and of itself can be a daunting process, but I believe the internet offers a comforting barrier, inline with our human timidity. Moreover the knowledge that your work will be sized up in a public sphere offers a great incentive to put forward a polished, well thought out product. A bit of competition can be good for the learning experience. What are your thoughts on this?

-Ben

Team 1

Hello fellow classmates, I have signed up for team 1 for the group assignment. I know it is daunting to be the first ones up, but then don't you get extra moxie points for being the guinea pigs? I am taking the Group Facilitation class next week. If anybody else is in that class, we can team up and work on the project together after class on Friday or Saturday. Let me know if you guys are up for it. See you all on Tuesday!

After the first class

First impressions of class:

I had always assumed that the physical environment plays a secondary role in online learning. I figured out how wrong I was within the first few minutes of the class. I was following along in computer lab where other students were typing away. I did not feel as comfortable expressing myself as I normally would in a classroom setting.

I liked the pace of the instruction, even though it was mostly housekeeping items that were covered, it didn't seem to be dummied down.

I really liked the surveymonkey CIQ. I have been looking for a way to deliver CIQ's online and I just found it! I wonder if it will work with a 1 minute essay also.

I want to see the pugs. I had a pug called Bud when I was a boy.

Until next time!

Learning Theories 101

Here is a quick refresher cheat sheet for Learning theories. Please note that all quoted material has been directly sourced from the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_theory_(education).

Behaviorism:

1. "Learning is manifested by a change in behavior."
2. "The environment shapes behavior."
3. "The principles of contiguity (how close in time, two events must be for a bond to be formed ) and reinforcement (any means of increasing the likelihood that an event will be repeated ) are central to explaining the learning process. "

• Classic Conditioning: reflex response to stimuli (Pavlov's dogs)
• Operant Conditioning: reinforcement by reward or stimuli (Skinner's doves) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepqpTtKbwo

In short learning is facilitated by environment.

Cognitivism:

1. "The memory system is an active organized processor of information"
2. "Prior knowledge plays an important role in learning. "

Basically learning is facilitated by the learner, not so much the outside environment.

Constructivism:

• "Constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts based upon current and past knowledge or experience."
• Social Constructivism: Learning created when groups interact and collaborate.

Connectivism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_(learning_theory)

• "Learning is the process of creating connections and developing a network"
• "In other words, "know-how" and "know-what" are being supplemented with "know-where" (the understanding of where to find the knowledge when it is needed), and meta-learning is becoming just as important as the learning itself."
• "To teach is to model and demonstrate, to learn is to practice and reflect"

Hope this helps,

-Ben

The night before

Thanks for stopping by my blog for detailing my journey through the Principles & Practices of Online Course Creation & Instructional Design Course. Boy, that's a mouthful. It's 1:30am the night before the first class, I have just finished the required readings and reviewed the revised syllabus. My first reactions to the readings were:

1. I need to brush up on pedagogical theory.
2. It sounded like Web 2.0 hype was still very new when the texts were written (I think in a large part the Web 2.0 has already been assimilated in many domains.
3. What the heck is an Advance Organizer? http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Advance_organizers (I think I will try KWL in my next class!)
4. The texts seemed to be very precursory, I hope we go into a little more detail in class.

I suppose now is the time for me to list some of my needs and expectations for the class. I am sure I will revise them as we go along.

1. I want to learn easy ways to facilitate online collaboration
2. I want to learn online evaluation techniques in the absence of an LMS
3. I want to identify technologies and software that I need to learn in order to advance my career in Training
4. I need to learn the specifics of ID as it pertains to the online world
5. I want to know what SCORM is and how to design SCORM compliant materials
6. I want to be able to add items to this list for future (or current) study that I am currently unaware or ignorant of.

Here is a list of the concerns that I bring to the class. By mentioning them of the bat, I hope I will be able to manage them and not let them get in the way of my success. (I'm really into making lists tonight!)

1. My schedule: I have many commitments and I hope I will be able to manage my time
2. My lack of experience in e-learning: I hope I will find enough material to make this class relevant.
3. My limited experience in curriculum design: same as above
4. My limited exposure to the corporate training world: same as above
5. I guess I have to get over my feeling of "impostorship" (for those who read The Skillful Teacher by Brookfield, you know what I mean)

Well, that's all for tonight. I look forward to class tomorrow, and hope I can jump in at 7:30 sharp.