I read Horton book chapter 8 and in this chapter he focus on :
1- How do you define a course?
2- What kind of e learning is best for your purposes?
3- What alternative forms of e-learning should you deploy (blended learning-embedded e-learning? will you reuse content?
Its important before we start to design the online classes we need to know the content characteristics, student characteristics, and instructor characteristics.
Course number 1:
Content: This course will cover beginning college algebra. Instructor(s): This course is taught by various adjunct and full time professors who are very familiar with the content who have differing degrees of tech skills and online teaching experience. The same class has to serve for all instructors. Students: All students in this course are college freshman and sophomores with good technology skills and each has successfully taken an online orientation to online learning course.
In this course the content is convergent because the content has a right answer such us the algebra. In this case we need to establish the course step by step and use some models and templates for the students to follow, after that they can arrive to the correct answer. The feedback is important to help the student know about their answers is right or wrong and learn by them mistake.
For example in this course we will use video pod cast to delver the topics to the students every week. In the end of each class there is online quiz, student need to do it to make sure they do understand the lesson. Students can contact with instructor by using skype and tokshoe to discuss any problem that may face it.
Instructor has a online teaching experience that main he is an experienced online instructor and developed a preference for certain types of technologies and methodologies for teaching and for interacting with students.
In this case we need to know what the instructor Experian’s and what are the types of technologies that he prefer, also if these types is effective or not. After that we will use them much we can in design this course. On the other hand if the instructor has a poor technology skills the course will design by using limited types of technology.
Students have good technology skills but they need to focus on the content and they should not use a lot of technologies tools. Also we need to focus on the students-content-, student-instructor, and student-student. Students will have online meeting and phone conferences.
Course number 2
Content: The course is a philosophy of leadership class. Instructor(s): The instructor is an experienced face-to-face instructor with good tech skills and prior online teaching experience. This instructor prefers lecture and discussion classes. Students: Graduate students who are well motivated and with a wide range of technology skills, from very basic to very advanced. In this course the content is Divergent content because the material doesn’t have a single correct answer, or even necessarily, a path that can be predicted in coming to any answer at all. In this case we will focus on make sure to deliver the contact to the student because the students will deal with subjects that are fuzzy or for which it is difficult to identify a single right answer. This kind of contact might not work best for all students. In this case we need to make each student explore multiple paths of his own creation for solving the problem that he face. “When the students creating their own set of procedures for dealing with the content they reach the part of the desired or necessary learning in the class”
Instructor should avoids providing too much explicit guidance or run the risk of students avoiding the more difficult path of developing their own approaches to the problem. Because when each student solution his problem, or procedures used to address the assigned tasks, could be unique to each student, and they can learn from each other.
In this course we will use blog to communication between students and instructor and between students with each other. Students need to listen to the prod cast and post their homework in their blog. There is 2 classes face to face in this course because the Divergent content requires more interaction between the instructor and the student than convergent content.
In this course we will have a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous activities such as online meetings and blog activity.
students are a wide range of technology skills, from very basic to very advanced.We need to know the students technology skills we need to do survey in the first face to face meeting than we will focus on the students who don’t have a good technology skills and do extras lesson to them and the instructor can have them in small groups in his office hours.
The class size should be not too big a maximum of 18 and but them in small groups to make them learn from each other. Because the students are wide range of technology skills, from very basic to very advanced, students who face problem can meet the instructor online or in his office hours.
Course number 3
Content: This course is an introduction to college success. It teaches study skills, communication skills, and tries to help students learn how to fit into the college community. Instructor(s): This course will be taught by various instructors all with good tech skills and prior online teaching experience but who have never taught this content before. Students: Students are incoming freshman who have been identified by advisors as high risk for drop out. In this course the content is easy and simple in this case we will use blogs and blackboard to show the students what they need step by step and we will make sure they understand the contact by ask them to post their homework in their blog after the create it. Students will contact with the instructor by use email and he can meet the instructor in his office hours if he faces any problem.
Instructor in this course are familiar with technology they will make sure to check the students post every week and give them feedback and focus to develop the students technology skills by give them a new tools every week to use it.
Students in course don’t have good skills in technology because of that we will focus on the students. These course 5 classes face-to-face and 5 classes online .We will do a survey and ask them about their technology skills in the first class. After that we will put them in groups to learn from each other.
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My online course:
I don’t have any experience in design online classes but I took many online classes and I love them. I like the book in this class because of that I will try to design a online classes to teach students who don’t have experience in design online course and I will use the book to develop my skills in design this course.
Content: this course will teach students how to design an online class.
Instructor characteristics: professors have god skills in technology and online teaching experience.
Student characteristics: All students in this course are college freshman and sophomores with good technology skills and each has successfully taken an online course.
Course goal:
Develop students technology skills and teach them how they can design online classes.
This course will be totally online class.
In this class we will use instructor website and each students should have blog.. and communication ways will be blog and email.
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After I read chapter8 I will present the online course based on this chapter.
What is the course?
MY online course is teaching students how to design an online class.
Choose the kind of e-learning (instructor-lead or learner –led?
I will use both because “ many e-learning course deliberately shift from instructor-led to learner-led during the progress of the course” (Horton,p .362)
In the first classes I will use prod cast to power points (instructor-lead), and in end of the course the students will design their online class(learner-led)
Synchronous or asynchronous?
In my course I will mixture of Synchronous or asynchronous activities.
Fore example:
“I will use synchronous when learner need to discuss issues with other learner at length”( Horton,p .364)
What size class?
It will be 9 students in this course because “the class smaller than 10, say, work can be done by the class as a whole” (p.365)
What devices will learners use to take e learning?
Students can use any kind of devices. For example: desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones and media player.
Where will learners take e learning?
As a designer you must design for where learners will actually take the courses (p.370)
I will do survey to know about my students place if they don’t have a good net contact I will use not high quality of programs.
I will blend the learning like what William Houston said in his book, I will use websites, books, broadcast and PowerPoint. Also the technologies that will use are the favor technologies that are reliable and available to many learners.
The first scenario is one where the content is what we probably need to focus on. This is because there will be many different instructors, and as you noted, the content is largely convergent. You make a good point that you could establish a pattern or process to use to teach Algebra and this might include video or other tools to create stand-alone materials that all instructors would use.
ReplyDeleteThe second scenario is one where the instructor would probably make most of the decisions since there is only one instructor. That instructor will need help determining the best tools to use to do what he/she wants to do.
The third scenario is one where we would probably look mostly at the students. What are their characteristics. A survey might be a good idea.
Your class about teaching how to create an online class sounds hard! Just kidding. That is a good topic. I like that you used Horton's construct to answer some of the important questions about the process.
Hello Eman,
ReplyDeleteYour thoroughness is admirable, and your insights are right on the money. And I like your idea of having your learning about an online class be your learning about an online class project! Bob M.