Fundamental research, theories, design models and technologies applied to effective online teaching are introduced. Students review program expectations and outcomes and define the infrastructure of informed practice for digital learning environments. Learning supported objectives are investigated relative to a diversity of environments.
Demonstrate basic competency with design and implementation within a variety of online learning environments and tools
Evidence to Support Outcome
I successfully created a Pecha Kucha. This Pecha Kucha Powerpoint presentation featured twelve slides with fifteen seconds in timing for each slide. They were accompanyed by an audio recording. The theme of the Pecha Kucha, I Imagine, described what I believe my future in online education looks like. I tried to upload the presentation here but the free Weebly does not allow for over 10mb.
Reflection to Support Evidence
I created my Pecha Kucha in the fourth week of OLTD 501. I decided to use Microsoft Powerpoint as I am familiar with this program. I selected meaningful images that best described the "I Imagine" theme using the Creative Commons in Flicker.com. I inserted each of these images into the first 12 slides of my presentation. I sized each image to fill the entire slide. I then added words in creative ways that I believed best described my vision of teaching online. Using a youtube tutorial, I learned how loop a song for the entirety of the presentation. I chose a song that has been very meaningful to me an many of my past strudents. To accompany the song, I needed to adjust the timing of the slides to 14 seconds each. This adjustment allowed the song and the presentation to complete at the same time. I added a bibliography at the end on slide 13. The URL's for the images were very large so I used a program online, tinyurl.com, to condense them.
This is a great activity for any student to try. I know personally I am not a Powerpoint expert but I came out of this activity feeling like I had truly created a piece of art and I was very proud of the outcome. I think this would be usefull in DL to teach students how to create with Powerpoint and show something in a creative way. In the future, I am going to use this activity as an introduction assignment for my students to get to know each other. In presenting the Picha Kucha, I believe the students will feel their first sense of community in the DL world.
I believe the more tools we know are out there, and the more activity's we can have our students participate in, the more exciting our lessons will be. Students need to feel like learning is fun and teachers are a key component in facilitating this.
In week one of OLTD we were assigned a a partner and asked to conduct an Appreciative Inuiry. I had the pleasure of being partnered with an awesome teacher by the name of Fanella. We were given questions to ask our partner then we were asked to take that information to write a review. Once the interview was complete, I created a word document that described this ever passionate teacher. To create the Wordle, I went to http://www.wordle.net/ and copied my review of Fanella and pasted it into the text box on the create page. Wordle took all the key words in my document and created a really neat piece of art that reflected Fanella perfectly. I did change the design and the colours to better represent this beautiful woman.
I think that this project was a nice introduction of all the possibility's there may be online for students to create and put their own personality into their work. I believe that engagement is so important in creating the feeling of community. I also think that it is very important to create connections for the school environment and for the job market later in life. Just by doing this asignment, I learned that there are many ways to connect students and I am sure there will be many more ways introduced to us as our OLTD sessions continue.
Engaging online learning environments and tools are a way to keep students excited about their learning. If we connect our learners to each other, they can learn form one another using their own prior knowledge. Students could come together on projects, assignments, readings, study groups, and more.
OLTD 501 e-Portfolio
OLTD 501 Learning Outcome
Begin evidence and reflection collection in an ePortfolio template to demonstrate course and program mastery
Evidence to Support Outcome
You are looking at the evidence now :) I created this ePortfolio with the help of Mary O'Neill.
Reflection to Support Evidence
This was a very fun activity and I believe I already have the ePortfolio itch. I created this page on October 1st and have become obsessed with it. I have my family in BC watching my journey from afar and they are loving it. I would not have been able to work through the process of this piece without the help of my professor. I chose to use Weebley as that was the suggestion of Mary O'Neill. She walked us through the creation step by step during a collaborate session. This made the assignment simple. We were able to follow along and ask questions as needed.
By creating this space, I have learned how I and other students can truly demonstrate our learning throughout their courses.I think this is a fantastic tool for demonstrating learning and mastery throughout courses. It also allows us to share our journeys with our fellow students and our families.
Currently, I have my students contributing to discussion boards with their responses to critical thinking questions but I think the ePortfolio would be a great complement to this activity. I think this would be a great tool in any online course. I would love to be able to read about my students journeys as you are reading about mine right now.