Best Practices - EDUC 633

Our class, EDUC 633, experienced both asynchronous and synchronous discussions.  This is an important topic in the distance education field.  There were plenty of scholarly articles that discussed best practices in asynchronous and synchronous discussions (Molseed, 2011, Wanstreet & Stein, 2011, Zha  & Ottendorfer, 2011).  Some key terms that appear in these articles include Community of Inquiry, constructivism, teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence.  One article found that social presence and cognitive presence were highly positively correlated with learner-led synchronous environments. It also found that teaching presence and social presence are moderately positively correlated in learner-led synchronous environments (Wanstreet & Stein, 2011). In our class, our synchronous mandatory meetings would be similar to this research.  Also, our group meetings would definitely be an example of student-led synchronous discussions.  I can see how social and cognitive presence would be high learner-led synchronous environments.

For asynchronous studies, Ottendorfer (2011) found that student leaders in group discussion boards scored higher on lower-order cognitive achievement that that of student responders. In higher-order cognitive levels, the student leaders and responders scored the same. Both groups of students did experience positive and moderate correlations in their achievement (Ottendorfer, 2011). This would be similar to our blogs that we have been required to do or like discussion board posts in other classes.  In fact, I have had one class (Conflict Resolution) that required us to post in groups, and we each had to respond to all group members each week. That brought me closer to my five group members and increased my sense of community for that online learning environment. The professor also posted in our group discussion. With him participating, I felt a stronger sense of teaching presence and social presence.

One more aspect of asynchronous learning is the benefit of peer reviews in discussion boards.  This works especially well with graduate students because they are older, more mature, and able to critically think about content and style of writing (Molseed, 2011).  We experienced asynchronous peer reviews in this class. I received very positive comments from several of the group members that I did a peer review for. They appreciated my attention to detail and critical eye.  I, too, appreciated my peer review reports that I received.  Another one of my classes had us do two peer reviews.  I learned just as much doing their peer reviews as I learned in writing my personal paper.  I had to do some major critical thinking.  When I went back to my personal paper, I was able to critique it at a higher level than when I wrote it the first time.  My experience is very similar to the results that Molseed (2011) found in her research.

Each of these best practices in asynchronous and synchronous learning environments promote my personal theory of learning which aligns well with Malcolm Knowles' (1970) theory for adult learners called andragogy. He discovered that when designing learning for adult learners, the course needs to be self-directed and allow for higher levels of learner control (Knowles, 1970). What I have described above definitely falls under this category.

Knowles, M. (1970). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents.

Molseed, T. (2011). An analysis of peer review response types in threaded discussions of an online graduate class. American Journal of Distance Education, 25(4), 254-267.

Wanstreet, C. E., & Stein, D.S. (2011). Presence over time in synchronous communities of inquiry. American Journal of Distance Education, 25(3), 162-177.

Zha, S.,  & Ottendorfer, C. L. (2011). Effects of peer-led online asynchronous discussion on undergraduate students' cognitive achievement.  American Journal of Distance Education, 25(4), 238-253.

Chapter 3 Summary - Mayer & Clark

Summary Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is one of the three foundational chapters in the textbook. The chapter focuses on the importance of evidence-based practice as it relates to e-Learning courses.  Evidence-Based Practice addresses the importance of doing research on a topic that will be taught to a class.  Before a lesson can be prepared  the instructor should "look at what the research has to say (Clark & Mayer 2011) research should be done to find cases where the particular lesson's subject has been taught. The chapter outlines three approaches to research on instructional effectiveness.  The main point of instruction is to be effective and to teach the learner, there are three essential questions that should be asked about the research, what works, when does it work and how does it work.  The research will answer at least one of these questions to determine the overall instructional effectiveness with the key focus being on whatever works while presenting evidence that outlines how it works and under what conditions.

Experimental comparisons must include criteria that relates to the lesson that the instructor is preparing. If the comparative research does not apply to the lesson then it has no relevancy and therefore the research is virtually useless according to chapter 3.  The research studies that are selected should be close to the lesson that is being prepared and focus on the type of instructional method and learning environment that reflects yours, if you are developing an online course, for example, the research should include e-Learners. The chapter encourages experimental comparisons as the criteria for determining whether or not the research is good.  The last point that relates to good experimental comparisons include experimental control, random assignment and appropriate measures (Mayer, 2011a).

In some studies, there is no difference that shows up in the control group and the experimental group.  There are several reasons why this could occur.  The first reason could be as simple as the treatment does not actually affect the students.  Some studies could show no difference if the study size is not big enough.  The actual test that was looking for significance might not be adequate to detect a difference. Another reason could be that the treatment was not different enough to actually make a difference in the groups. Also, if the material was easy for the groups being tested, the treatment would not be effective because there would be no need for a treatment. Researchers should be careful about confounding variables.  An example of a confounding variable would be if there were two groups and one group was stacked with learners with higher intelligence scores.  That would make a difference in the outcome. When comparing two groups, there is a control group which does not receive the treatment and the test group which does receive the treatment. To find the standard deviation of these two groups, look at the test scores and see how they are spread out. The variation of these group scores shows the standard deviation. Two statistical measures that this chapter focuses on are probability and effects size.  In looking for treatments that are considered effective, probability should be less than .05 (p<.05) and the effect size should be .5 or greater.

When trying to decide if a research is relevant, look at who the learners are. Do the learners in the research design match the learners in the experiment you are designing or are they transferable?  Make sure the study is an experimental study that has a random and control group. If the research has been replicated and results have proven to be the same, that is a good indication that it was a good research design.  If the test measures learning recall rather than application then it might not work for workforce learning goals that are application based. Always go to the results section and look to see if there is a significance score (p<.05) and an effect size of .5 or greater. One special type of research article is a meta-analysis.  A meta-analysis looks at experiment results on many studies that test the same effectiveness of the same instructional method and record the effect size for each study and compute an average effect size from across all of the studies. 

Reflection

As a professional, I should choose an instructional strategy because of its proven worth and not because of its appeal to me as the instructor.  There is a plethora of scholarly research helping us practitioners make sound decisions.  We have to read that literature and be prepared to utilize effective practices and do away with ineffective practices.  For about a decade now, we have all been inundated with “Best Practices” in reading, writing, math, science, technology…the list goes on and on.  Since this world of eLearning is new to us as possible instructional distance designers, we need to familiarize ourselves with what is out there so we can capitalize on the time that we have with our distance students. Before this class, I would have designed a course just from the courses that I have already taken here at Liberty and also from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.  This chapter is another reminder that research does matter. It is an excellent brief summary of what we should look for in research.  I am not sure if I will become an instructional designer when I graduate.  I do know that I want to teach online in the near future.  It will cause me to question the instructional designs and to make sure they are research based.  I will not be coming into the course blindly.  I will also know where to look for answers

Reference

Mayer, R. & Clark, R (2011). e-Learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Assessment Blog

Mobile learning (m-learning) refers to learning that takes place using mobile technology, anytime or anyplace. It usually happens when people are away from their offices or classrooms. It is not normally a student’s main choice. Students are able to access documents, quizzes and self-assessments, participate in lessons or tutorials, receive lectures from podcasts or even live, access video clips or audio libraries, read discussion board posts, or communicate with classmates or professors instantly.  The challenges can be the fact that the screens are small, there is limited storage, battery life, operating system problems, less robust, graphic and flash limitations, devices become quickly outdated, or wireless bandwidth limitations (Hashemi,  Azizinezhad, Najafi, & Nesari, 2011). Mobile computing could be smart phones, tablets, or laptops. As for assessment, personal response systems allow teachers to quiz students, and instantly assess students before, during, and after a lesson. All that is required to do this is for the device to have the ability to send text (SMS) messages (Johnson, Smith, Levine, & Haywood, 2010). As for formative assessments using mobile or online methods, there are many tools such as self-test quiz tools, discussion forums and e-portfolios. This helps the learner’s engagement and also helps to build community which increases learning (Gikandi, J., Morrow, D., & Davis, N., 2011).

References:

Gikandi, J., Morrow, D., & Davis, N. (2011). Online formative assessment in higher education: A review of the literature. Computers & Education, 57(4), 2333-2351.

Hashemi, M., Azizinezhad, M., Najafi, V., & Nesari, A. J. (2011). What is mobile learning? Challenges and capabilities. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30, 2477-2481,

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Levine, A., & Haywood, K., (2010). The 2010 horizon report: K-12 edition.  Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. 

Behaviorism Reflection

How is behaviorism applicable to the distance education environment?  In the online classroom, sometimes I feel that I have not truly grasped what the assignments should look like - the high expectations of the professor.  I worry that what I develop is not high quality.  I love it when a professor puts an example of exemplary work up.  It helps me know how high the bar can be raised and motivates me to minimally reach that goal.  It also provides confidence that I can reach those expectation. It takes out the fear that I am not good enough.  This is important to adult learning.

What concepts of behaviorism do I see as useful to distance education instructional design? Modeling is an important part of distance education from my point of view. As an active learner, I really appreciate when a professor gets involved in the discussion boards.  They model for me how to connect with the others in the class. When they get involved, I really feel that sense of community that we are suppose to work for.

EDUC 633 Blog 2 - Learning Theories and Distance Education

I thought I would try a little something different with my video blog today.  I used Powerpoint for my slides and sound recorder for my voice. I then made a movie in Movie Maker with the slides and narration.  Does anyone else have a better way I should have done this?  I would appreciate any tips.  This was the only way I knew how to do it.

Winnie

Video Introduction Revision!!

Take 2!  This video blog includes not only an introduction about myself but also how I feel about learners.

Intro Video Post

This is my first time posting with my Bloggie.  I did run into a couple snags.  First, I couldn't remember my youtube username and password (that's how little I use it).  Second, I struggled actually speaking 2 minutes without messing up.  I needed a script! Keeping "uhm" and "uh" out of it was a challenge.  I felt like I was back in speech class.  Needless to say, I promise that improv is never in my future.