OK - 2 weeks and counting until this is over.
Would I do it again? Not with the same number of students - it is impossible
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Half Way Point
Oh my gosh -
Besides surviving my year teaching ninth grade religion, this is probably the HARDEST teaching gig I've ever endured!!?
Last week, I sent my mentor a message, full of the pain I was experiencing - mostly at the hands of administrative directives/requirements... it was a quote from Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach...
"In our rush to reform education, we have forgotten a simple truth: reform [and I'll add really caring and engaged teaching] will never be achieved by renewing appropriations, restructuring schools, rewriting curricula, and revising texts [or gradebooks] if we continue to demean and dishearten the human resource called the teacher on whom so much depends. Teachers must be better compensated, freed from bureaucratic harassment, given a role in academic governance, and provided with the best possible methods and materials... but none of that will transform education if we fail to cherish - and challenge - the human heart that is the source of good teaching...(pg 2)...
This was prompted by an administrative directive that came mid-course that everyone would be required to now use the company gradebook for all assignment feedback - After 3 weeks of inputting data into an Excel spreadsheet given to me by my mentor, with rubrics and built-in calculations that would now have to be duplicated by me into the corporate gradebook...
I was livid and really felt that for the first time in my life, I was going to hand in my resignation mid-contract...
If it wasn't for those students in my charge, I would have done so... A phone call from one of my students, "Sarah", mid-week kept me going - She is a great grandmother, living in the rural South - She drives 70 miles to get to work (WalMart) and got her GED many years ago - She decided to go back to school because, "There must be something more to life..." She doesn't understand the brainstorming assignment or how it relates to the essay outline to follow... It was one of those sacred moments of teaching - an opportunity to help someone - She said, "I know I've let you down by my bad grades - and I can't flunk this course and lose money I didn't have in the first place." What could I do for her? Encourage, explain in simpler terms, build confidence, listen - On the other end of the phone was a person who wanted to understand - so you know - let's do what we need to do to help her get it!! "Sarah" gave me the push I needed to keep going... In online learning, it is easy to forget that there are living breathing people on the other end...
OK, back to my initial train of thought - I was griping about administrative harassment...But to make sure that this blog remains a learning event and not just a griping event...
What tidbits of advice can come from this daily increasingly painful administrative nightmare??
** when we design courses and/or send down administrative directives - consider the faculty members and the students in terms of impact...
** I've already written about designing with balance in mind - will giving good feedback take too much time? So are there too many students? Too many activities needing feedback? What other design can we come up with to balance the equation?
In my case, the design so far has been really fine - well structured and sequenced - a good balance of reading and application... what goes REALLY wrong is the amount of students for the amount of feedback needed by students and required by the company...
IF little feedback will be needed for students success and if little is required by the administrating body THEN you can handle an increased student load....
IF a lot of feedback is needed and required - THEN a reduced student load is required.
Two other situations come to mind...
IF little feedback is needed but much is required... one has to ask, why? this ends up in a vicious cycle of busy work for students and faculty...
IF a lot of feedback is needed and none is required - THEN you run the risk of people taking advantage of the system and students falling through the cracks...
So....
Either design the course so that it cuts down on the amount of manual feedback required for student success (as long as learning doesn't suffer) ... or cut back on the number of students in each class so that faculty can spend a reasonable amount of time helping students through feedback to be successful..
Also, of course....use the technology available whenever possible to cut down on the amount of feedback that has to be done manually - as long as it remains meaningful in terms of learning
Besides surviving my year teaching ninth grade religion, this is probably the HARDEST teaching gig I've ever endured!!?
Last week, I sent my mentor a message, full of the pain I was experiencing - mostly at the hands of administrative directives/requirements... it was a quote from Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach...
"In our rush to reform education, we have forgotten a simple truth: reform [and I'll add really caring and engaged teaching] will never be achieved by renewing appropriations, restructuring schools, rewriting curricula, and revising texts [or gradebooks] if we continue to demean and dishearten the human resource called the teacher on whom so much depends. Teachers must be better compensated, freed from bureaucratic harassment, given a role in academic governance, and provided with the best possible methods and materials... but none of that will transform education if we fail to cherish - and challenge - the human heart that is the source of good teaching...(pg 2)...
This was prompted by an administrative directive that came mid-course that everyone would be required to now use the company gradebook for all assignment feedback - After 3 weeks of inputting data into an Excel spreadsheet given to me by my mentor, with rubrics and built-in calculations that would now have to be duplicated by me into the corporate gradebook...
I was livid and really felt that for the first time in my life, I was going to hand in my resignation mid-contract...
If it wasn't for those students in my charge, I would have done so... A phone call from one of my students, "Sarah", mid-week kept me going - She is a great grandmother, living in the rural South - She drives 70 miles to get to work (WalMart) and got her GED many years ago - She decided to go back to school because, "There must be something more to life..." She doesn't understand the brainstorming assignment or how it relates to the essay outline to follow... It was one of those sacred moments of teaching - an opportunity to help someone - She said, "I know I've let you down by my bad grades - and I can't flunk this course and lose money I didn't have in the first place." What could I do for her? Encourage, explain in simpler terms, build confidence, listen - On the other end of the phone was a person who wanted to understand - so you know - let's do what we need to do to help her get it!! "Sarah" gave me the push I needed to keep going... In online learning, it is easy to forget that there are living breathing people on the other end...
OK, back to my initial train of thought - I was griping about administrative harassment...But to make sure that this blog remains a learning event and not just a griping event...
What tidbits of advice can come from this daily increasingly painful administrative nightmare??
** when we design courses and/or send down administrative directives - consider the faculty members and the students in terms of impact...
** I've already written about designing with balance in mind - will giving good feedback take too much time? So are there too many students? Too many activities needing feedback? What other design can we come up with to balance the equation?
In my case, the design so far has been really fine - well structured and sequenced - a good balance of reading and application... what goes REALLY wrong is the amount of students for the amount of feedback needed by students and required by the company...
IF little feedback will be needed for students success and if little is required by the administrating body THEN you can handle an increased student load....
IF a lot of feedback is needed and required - THEN a reduced student load is required.
Two other situations come to mind...
IF little feedback is needed but much is required... one has to ask, why? this ends up in a vicious cycle of busy work for students and faculty...
IF a lot of feedback is needed and none is required - THEN you run the risk of people taking advantage of the system and students falling through the cracks...
So....
Either design the course so that it cuts down on the amount of manual feedback required for student success (as long as learning doesn't suffer) ... or cut back on the number of students in each class so that faculty can spend a reasonable amount of time helping students through feedback to be successful..
Also, of course....use the technology available whenever possible to cut down on the amount of feedback that has to be done manually - as long as it remains meaningful in terms of learning
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Instructional Strategies - in progress...
I thought it might be helpful to start a list of different instructional strategies that I've been exposed to so far in my travels...
Design note: Pick a strategy that helps your students reach learning objectives. As you are choosing, think about assessment and work load for each...
Online Discussion Forums (DFs)
Design note: Pick a strategy that helps your students reach learning objectives. As you are choosing, think about assessment and work load for each...
Online Discussion Forums (DFs)
- with and w/o choice of guiding questions to process readings - can be set up as closed until initial posting is added
- ice breakers
- FAQs for course/assignment processes - part of communication protocol - for non-personal questions - FAQ first
- learner journals - set up as private DF
- illicit peer feedback
- resource sharing
- get mid-semester feedback - allow anonymous posts in moderated DF
- discussion of course concepts - use well-posed seed questions to get students to consider/solve ill-structured problems - no clear answers - students have to wrestle with underlying concepts
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Plan with Yourself in Mind
Don't create a monster!! Think and plan carefully for students' workload AND yours!
This summer I've experienced what it feels like to be a student in an online course where the workload was just outrageous...unrealistic planning on the part of the instructor...
AND what it feels like to be an instructor in an online course where the designers didn't consider the workload of the faculty... and as a result - they will not have this now trained faculty member for round 2 - what is the cost of that turnover?
Let me talk about each in turn...
____________________________________________________________________
Workload for students... Yes we want rigor...and yes, interaction and meaningful engagement between student, faculty, and content...but how much is enough and how much is too much?
An example of too much!
Faculty "A" has 6 course objectives to achieve in 15 weeks (3 cr). This is a graduate level class, looking at theory and application. The 38 page syllabus details the readings, activities, and assignments for the group. Each week, participants complete readings, discuss the readings according to a different discussion protocol each week, complete activities that apply the content of the readings. These are then posted for the class to look at and comment upon.
Simultaneously, there are on-going projects: a research paper, 3 reflection papers, 2 application projects (one a group project), and an on-going journal.
Think about the goals of the course - If we are trying to understand theory from the readings (7 required texts) and our discussions - this took up almost all of my time. The readings were dense and required time to understand and process through discussions. On top of that, we had activities (sometimes multiple!) to complete, upload and then comment upon each person's work... Then the ever present on-going projects!!
So something has got to give - either the processing of the readings - In that case, the discussions become trite... or the activities and comments - which became a drudgery to get it done... or the on-going projects - another head down, get it done - but what did I really learn endeavor...
Also the instructor had us do multiple repetitions of the same type of activity - why?
Suggestion? Think about balance... Alternate reading/discussion weeks with activities/comment weeks to make the total work more meaningful and give students time to process and learn. Give a free week to work on big projects as needed.
These were not lazy students - on the contrary - very motivated and this teacher drove us beyond my comprehension -I think she just didn't have an understanding of the impact of the course design on students' learning - even with extensive feedback from us, she refused to change anything.
As a highly motivated and dedicated learner, I was driven to anger about the course, the program, and the instructor who seemed to not have a clue what she was asking of the learners in her class. In fact, when asked why she wasn't providing feedback, or participating in the discussions, she said she hadn't done the readings this semester since her plate was so full.
So I think she really did not understand what she was asking of her students... So.. test drive your course - Is it balanced??? Can you still reach your objectives, have academic rigor, and have a balanced amount of work with the design as it stands?
At the end of the day, something had to give - I chose to let the activities go in terms of the rigor, quality, and interest - because I wanted to really learn what the readings were saying - But I was still impacted, because others chose to let the readings/discussions go -so the conversation wasn't as meaningful as I needed to process everything...Sometimes a lot is simply too much!
Here's a link to my learning journal from this course with a description of how this felt in the moment http://l545lj.blogspot.com/2008/01/week-three-update.html
An example of juuuust right! Faculty "B" is also teaching graduate students in a mostly theoretical context. The course was rigorous, and in fact had some of the most meaningful discussions I have ever had - in a F2F situation or online!
The 15 week course was set up around different themes. Participants had several weekly readings about each theme. Discussion about the readings began on the Tuesday and Friday of each week. The instructor posted the readings that were due on Tuesday along with guiding questions - usually 4-5. Students chose one question to discuss as their initial post and usually each of the questions was chosen by someone - then the discussion commenced. Friday, the process started over again with the next set of readings/questions on the same theme.
The following Monday, the next theme began with the same process.
Ongoing work included:
There was metacognition being practiced - we were asked to think about what we were thinking and respond.
As a student in this course, I was challenged by the readings, but not overwhelmed. The discussions were amazing - because we had the time to enter into them and were engaged by the topics and the questions. The on-going work could be applied to my own practice in my job - so it was meaningful and relevant. The final post metaphor got me to think ab out my own learning and what I had actually learned during the 15 weeks.
From the chatter in the discussion area at the end, I was not alone in my happiness with the course - well designed, met its objectives, didn't torture anyone, and was still challenging.
What can guide us?
So while academic rigor and interaction are important, so too is time - give students ample time to read and process the readings - balance the workload - if there is too much content, maybe the course needs to be a 2-semester course. Don't give students busywork - make it meaningful -make the discussions interesting - Build in choice.
Repeatable rhythms also helped in Class "B" - After the first 2 weeks, everyone knew exactly what to do - so that cognitive load was lifted and we could focus on the learning - In Class "A" each week felt like a free-for-all - and precious time was lost trying to figure out what was due, when, and how... rather than on the content itself...
____________________________________________________________________
Workload for faculty
An example of too much!
In the post entitled Exploitative below, I describe in detail the reasons for the horror I felt after realizing that the contract I just signed to teach this course meant that every waking hour away from my 9-5 job would require me to be at work for the students in the 2 classes described below in order to fulfill the requirements of the contract.
This course has undergraduate students, returning to college after many years, who need writing support. The goals of the design of activities and the level of required faculty interactions are meant to ensure student success. So far, I agree that the design of the course is excellent - content is appropriate, resources abundant, sequences are chunked and scaffolded appropriately. Faculty interactions are indeed organized, meaningful, and supportive...
So what's wrong?? - Class size!! 40 students per faculty member with multiple detailed feedbacks required several times per week is simply outrageous. What the company feels will take faculty 4 hours to complete each night, has taken me 7 and more - now granted it is my first time through the course - but the sheer amount of time to draft feedback and post it to each individual student's forum, plus post grades and comment on weekly progress, plus engage in discussions meant to process the content(read more details below) is frankly nothing less than exploitation of faculty.
However, if the class size were reduced by 50%, this would be more humane for the faculty and surely more impactful for students... because I can see burn out just around the corner and what will happen - I'll become a teacher who thinks, "Let me just get this done!!!!!!!!" which I have never been before... rather than one who knows and cares about her students and their progress - They WILL become simply numbers to process...
OK, let's turn away from this horror show to look at how it can be....
An example of juuuust right!
This is a graduate course that has multi-media components, course readings, applications, learning log entries, unit quizzes and essays, on-the-job activities, graded and non-graded discussions, and a final research paper with action plan for improvement.
The designers of this course and the administrators really thought about students and faculty in the design of this course.
Class size is maximum of 10! Students have a balanced amount of work each week and faculty are responsible for facilitating the learning through discussions and feedback to log entries, essays, and the final paper (all of which have clear rubrics for grading)
The course has a repeated rhythm, with detailed learning guide and faculty guide. The Course Management System assists with some of the workload - quizzes are graded automatically - and the timing of assignments that are graded is spread out evenly for students and faculty.
I feel like I have the opportunity to really get to know my students and help them in their progress throughout the course. This has been a very enjoyable experience, well-supported on the back-end for technical questions and other issues as they arise. I hope I get the chance to teach another course for this organization - The pay for this course is 40% of the other course bundle with only 25% of the students. The time invested is about 10 hours per week - more on heavy feedback weeks (4 times in the course) as opposed to 35 or more in the other!
What can guide us as we design courses for ourselves or others?
Course size!
Think about the course, the work, the feedback required - if you can't automate tasks and grading, then you need to carefully consider how many students you can really manage effectively - 15-20 max!
How many activities are going to require feedback? and when? You need to pace the course in a reasonable way for you and your students.
One size doesn't fit all - Students will probably need more support early in the course - so plan for a higher degree of faculty/student interaction in the beginning - to make sure students know what to do - how to do it like you want it - and where to place it - so design for this - fewer activities at the beginning so everyone gets off on the right foot and no one is overwhelmed!
We know that retention in online courses is impacted by how connected students feel to the course/instructor - do they feel a real presence there on the other end? If you can't make that happen, then you need fewer students...
This summer I've experienced what it feels like to be a student in an online course where the workload was just outrageous...unrealistic planning on the part of the instructor...
AND what it feels like to be an instructor in an online course where the designers didn't consider the workload of the faculty... and as a result - they will not have this now trained faculty member for round 2 - what is the cost of that turnover?
Let me talk about each in turn...
____________________________________________________________________
Workload for students... Yes we want rigor...and yes, interaction and meaningful engagement between student, faculty, and content...but how much is enough and how much is too much?
An example of too much!
Faculty "A" has 6 course objectives to achieve in 15 weeks (3 cr). This is a graduate level class, looking at theory and application. The 38 page syllabus details the readings, activities, and assignments for the group. Each week, participants complete readings, discuss the readings according to a different discussion protocol each week, complete activities that apply the content of the readings. These are then posted for the class to look at and comment upon.
Simultaneously, there are on-going projects: a research paper, 3 reflection papers, 2 application projects (one a group project), and an on-going journal.
Think about the goals of the course - If we are trying to understand theory from the readings (7 required texts) and our discussions - this took up almost all of my time. The readings were dense and required time to understand and process through discussions. On top of that, we had activities (sometimes multiple!) to complete, upload and then comment upon each person's work... Then the ever present on-going projects!!
So something has got to give - either the processing of the readings - In that case, the discussions become trite... or the activities and comments - which became a drudgery to get it done... or the on-going projects - another head down, get it done - but what did I really learn endeavor...
Also the instructor had us do multiple repetitions of the same type of activity - why?
Suggestion? Think about balance... Alternate reading/discussion weeks with activities/comment weeks to make the total work more meaningful and give students time to process and learn. Give a free week to work on big projects as needed.
These were not lazy students - on the contrary - very motivated and this teacher drove us beyond my comprehension -I think she just didn't have an understanding of the impact of the course design on students' learning - even with extensive feedback from us, she refused to change anything.
As a highly motivated and dedicated learner, I was driven to anger about the course, the program, and the instructor who seemed to not have a clue what she was asking of the learners in her class. In fact, when asked why she wasn't providing feedback, or participating in the discussions, she said she hadn't done the readings this semester since her plate was so full.
So I think she really did not understand what she was asking of her students... So.. test drive your course - Is it balanced??? Can you still reach your objectives, have academic rigor, and have a balanced amount of work with the design as it stands?
At the end of the day, something had to give - I chose to let the activities go in terms of the rigor, quality, and interest - because I wanted to really learn what the readings were saying - But I was still impacted, because others chose to let the readings/discussions go -so the conversation wasn't as meaningful as I needed to process everything...Sometimes a lot is simply too much!
Here's a link to my learning journal from this course with a description of how this felt in the moment http://l545lj.blogspot.com/2008/01/week-three-update.html
An example of juuuust right! Faculty "B" is also teaching graduate students in a mostly theoretical context. The course was rigorous, and in fact had some of the most meaningful discussions I have ever had - in a F2F situation or online!
The 15 week course was set up around different themes. Participants had several weekly readings about each theme. Discussion about the readings began on the Tuesday and Friday of each week. The instructor posted the readings that were due on Tuesday along with guiding questions - usually 4-5. Students chose one question to discuss as their initial post and usually each of the questions was chosen by someone - then the discussion commenced. Friday, the process started over again with the next set of readings/questions on the same theme.
The following Monday, the next theme began with the same process.
Ongoing work included:
- two 7-10 page research papers to explore themes more in-depth from the course
- a pre-post metaphor paper - Working in our field is like....(pre) - how would you change your metaphor after this course - include elements form the readings (post)
- an observation with comments from the field
There was metacognition being practiced - we were asked to think about what we were thinking and respond.
As a student in this course, I was challenged by the readings, but not overwhelmed. The discussions were amazing - because we had the time to enter into them and were engaged by the topics and the questions. The on-going work could be applied to my own practice in my job - so it was meaningful and relevant. The final post metaphor got me to think ab out my own learning and what I had actually learned during the 15 weeks.
From the chatter in the discussion area at the end, I was not alone in my happiness with the course - well designed, met its objectives, didn't torture anyone, and was still challenging.
What can guide us?
So while academic rigor and interaction are important, so too is time - give students ample time to read and process the readings - balance the workload - if there is too much content, maybe the course needs to be a 2-semester course. Don't give students busywork - make it meaningful -make the discussions interesting - Build in choice.
Repeatable rhythms also helped in Class "B" - After the first 2 weeks, everyone knew exactly what to do - so that cognitive load was lifted and we could focus on the learning - In Class "A" each week felt like a free-for-all - and precious time was lost trying to figure out what was due, when, and how... rather than on the content itself...
____________________________________________________________________
Workload for faculty
An example of too much!
In the post entitled Exploitative below, I describe in detail the reasons for the horror I felt after realizing that the contract I just signed to teach this course meant that every waking hour away from my 9-5 job would require me to be at work for the students in the 2 classes described below in order to fulfill the requirements of the contract.
This course has undergraduate students, returning to college after many years, who need writing support. The goals of the design of activities and the level of required faculty interactions are meant to ensure student success. So far, I agree that the design of the course is excellent - content is appropriate, resources abundant, sequences are chunked and scaffolded appropriately. Faculty interactions are indeed organized, meaningful, and supportive...
So what's wrong?? - Class size!! 40 students per faculty member with multiple detailed feedbacks required several times per week is simply outrageous. What the company feels will take faculty 4 hours to complete each night, has taken me 7 and more - now granted it is my first time through the course - but the sheer amount of time to draft feedback and post it to each individual student's forum, plus post grades and comment on weekly progress, plus engage in discussions meant to process the content(read more details below) is frankly nothing less than exploitation of faculty.
However, if the class size were reduced by 50%, this would be more humane for the faculty and surely more impactful for students... because I can see burn out just around the corner and what will happen - I'll become a teacher who thinks, "Let me just get this done!!!!!!!!" which I have never been before... rather than one who knows and cares about her students and their progress - They WILL become simply numbers to process...
OK, let's turn away from this horror show to look at how it can be....
An example of juuuust right!
This is a graduate course that has multi-media components, course readings, applications, learning log entries, unit quizzes and essays, on-the-job activities, graded and non-graded discussions, and a final research paper with action plan for improvement.
The designers of this course and the administrators really thought about students and faculty in the design of this course.
Class size is maximum of 10! Students have a balanced amount of work each week and faculty are responsible for facilitating the learning through discussions and feedback to log entries, essays, and the final paper (all of which have clear rubrics for grading)
The course has a repeated rhythm, with detailed learning guide and faculty guide. The Course Management System assists with some of the workload - quizzes are graded automatically - and the timing of assignments that are graded is spread out evenly for students and faculty.
I feel like I have the opportunity to really get to know my students and help them in their progress throughout the course. This has been a very enjoyable experience, well-supported on the back-end for technical questions and other issues as they arise. I hope I get the chance to teach another course for this organization - The pay for this course is 40% of the other course bundle with only 25% of the students. The time invested is about 10 hours per week - more on heavy feedback weeks (4 times in the course) as opposed to 35 or more in the other!
What can guide us as we design courses for ourselves or others?
Course size!
Think about the course, the work, the feedback required - if you can't automate tasks and grading, then you need to carefully consider how many students you can really manage effectively - 15-20 max!
How many activities are going to require feedback? and when? You need to pace the course in a reasonable way for you and your students.
One size doesn't fit all - Students will probably need more support early in the course - so plan for a higher degree of faculty/student interaction in the beginning - to make sure students know what to do - how to do it like you want it - and where to place it - so design for this - fewer activities at the beginning so everyone gets off on the right foot and no one is overwhelmed!
We know that retention in online courses is impacted by how connected students feel to the course/instructor - do they feel a real presence there on the other end? If you can't make that happen, then you need fewer students...
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Exploitative?
OK,
I've begun the other classes - you have to teach 2 sections of the same course at the same time - that means 40 students - in an effective essay writing course - It is day 2 and I already feel overwhelmed.
I feel VERY well prepared by the company to handle to technical aspects of how the interface works...
I feel very UNDER-PREPARED for keeping up - Yesterday, I spent at least 7 hours (I'm NOT kidding) trying to respond to everything I was supposed to respond to - Postings in several forums - getting students to check administrative stuff - have you downloaded the syllabus? - what is your contact info? - post your bio?
Today they have their first Discussion Question (DQ) due - They have to answer the question (for points that I have to determine) AND they have participation requirements - 2 substantive posts on 3 days... so what makes substantive? - they have guidelines... but MY role is to coach all 40 folks as to what that means AND get them through the content...AND keep track of grades AND give weekly feedback on everything AND feedback on assignments mid-week - AND keep daily office hours from 5-9 pm M-TH and 6-10 pm Sunday
I am intellectually intrigued by the challenge, however - Is it possible to coach 40 people in 9 weeks to write an effective essay without losing my mind...
They have given me a mentor for the 1st 4 weeks - so far he has shared some helpful docs and strategies - let's see how it goes and if I really learn anything or just get beaten up (for what comes to less than $6.00 per hour - tell me teachers aren't undervalued in this country....
I feel very exploited in a sense by this company and I would not do this again...
What makes it worthwhile? Reading their bios and hearing about their lives and dreams and the hopes they place in their education - leading to a better life....
All this and it's only day 2 - ugh!!!!!
I've begun the other classes - you have to teach 2 sections of the same course at the same time - that means 40 students - in an effective essay writing course - It is day 2 and I already feel overwhelmed.
I feel VERY well prepared by the company to handle to technical aspects of how the interface works...
I feel very UNDER-PREPARED for keeping up - Yesterday, I spent at least 7 hours (I'm NOT kidding) trying to respond to everything I was supposed to respond to - Postings in several forums - getting students to check administrative stuff - have you downloaded the syllabus? - what is your contact info? - post your bio?
Today they have their first Discussion Question (DQ) due - They have to answer the question (for points that I have to determine) AND they have participation requirements - 2 substantive posts on 3 days... so what makes substantive? - they have guidelines... but MY role is to coach all 40 folks as to what that means AND get them through the content...AND keep track of grades AND give weekly feedback on everything AND feedback on assignments mid-week - AND keep daily office hours from 5-9 pm M-TH and 6-10 pm Sunday
I am intellectually intrigued by the challenge, however - Is it possible to coach 40 people in 9 weeks to write an effective essay without losing my mind...
They have given me a mentor for the 1st 4 weeks - so far he has shared some helpful docs and strategies - let's see how it goes and if I really learn anything or just get beaten up (for what comes to less than $6.00 per hour - tell me teachers aren't undervalued in this country....
I feel very exploited in a sense by this company and I would not do this again...
What makes it worthwhile? Reading their bios and hearing about their lives and dreams and the hopes they place in their education - leading to a better life....
All this and it's only day 2 - ugh!!!!!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Class Size
In 2 weeks I begin teaching a vastly different course for a vastly different company - this time - undergrads - students who have been away from school for some time, perhaps a little unsure of their academic skills and definitely reported to be rusty. The requirements for teaching for this company are that you have to teach 2 sections of the same course simultaneously. Also there are 20 students in each section - so 40 total...
Now I'm thinking - oh my gosh - in my current course there are only 10 folks, and I can spend a lot of time with feedback and support - but how will this change - strategies used, etc... to shift gears to a more demanding load... with students that are not graduate students, but struggling undergrads...both new to online learning -
What impact will it have on my ability to really support these other learners. The training for this new course consisted mostly of all the things we HAVE to do to make sure that students are supported - It is a much more controlling environment in terms of what facilitators have to do - it will be an interesting comparison... So much for free time :)
Now I'm thinking - oh my gosh - in my current course there are only 10 folks, and I can spend a lot of time with feedback and support - but how will this change - strategies used, etc... to shift gears to a more demanding load... with students that are not graduate students, but struggling undergrads...both new to online learning -
What impact will it have on my ability to really support these other learners. The training for this new course consisted mostly of all the things we HAVE to do to make sure that students are supported - It is a much more controlling environment in terms of what facilitators have to do - it will be an interesting comparison... So much for free time :)
Assisting Struggling Learners
OK, so what if someone is struggling in the course - At what time do you intervene? How much support is too much?
I have one student, who from the beginning, I thought - uh-oh, this person is going to run into trouble at some point... Let's call him John... John barely posted and from the limited tracking capability on this particular CMS, I could see that by mid-week, he hadn't even started the work... So I e-mailed saying that I had noticed that he hadn't begun the work yet and asked if he needed anything - help with time management, or understanding the flow of online vs F2F courses... He said he was OK and would catch up...
By week 4 and the first major set of graded items, things hadn't changed much for John - He was barely posting and by Sunday night (of the due date) at 8:30 pm, he hadn't begun any of the 4 hefty written assignments due that week.... So I thought, well, let's see what he can do at zero hour... I mean after all, this is adult ed - so people have to squeeze it in when they can...
Monday comes around and all assignments are posted... but disastrously... poorly done, incomplete, no evidence of synthesis or time devoted to the work...
So the e-mail with the scores goes out and a question to John - "Are you finding it difficult to find the time to do your assignments with the rigor needed to be successful?"
The classic answer comes back for online learning -
"I didn't think online learning would take this much time"
But other typical student responses for those not doing well were also there - "I didn't know there was all this work for Week 4 due" (when numerous e-mails with detailed instructions for completing the work AND opportunities to submit work early for feedback before the final submission) were sent at the beginning of the week... including the essay question and the rubric... This happened every week in the course - so he clearly wasn't reading the e-mails either.
So John was clearly under the common misconception that online learning was going to be a breeze - and now the rude awakening had arrived...
But this also brings up the age old question - why do some students (no matter the level - these are graduate students) not take advantage of supports available to them to be successful?
One big thing I think is the misconception about how easy online learning is...
The other is that people bite off more than they can chew... They over-schedule - over-plan and then they end up not being able to do everything in a meaningful way...
So I think this has to really be hammered home for students new to online learning - the work load involved and time demands and self-directed nature of the learning... If students who can't spend the time needed still opt to sign up for the course, then the only alternative is consequences for their actions through grades they will earn...
While part of me wants to support, remind, prompt, cajole students to get the work done and do it in a meaningful fashion... if students don't step up to the plate, there isn't much I can do - or want to do at some point in the process...
One other final thought - In this CMS, I have only e-mail to send out the weekly reminders - maybe an audio or video message might reach more people? - Or would it be one more effort on my part - overkill for those who get it and still ignored by those who can't get to it anyway?
Of the 10 people in this class, only 1 is struggling below acceptable level... and 9 are new to online learning - so I have to think that some of the supports have been helpful to their success working online - but more is probably due to their own internal motivation and aptitude - they probably excel at everything... or maybe somewhere in between... A survey at the end should reveal more. A request for mid-term feedback didn't return much info... so no news is good news I suspect...
I have one student, who from the beginning, I thought - uh-oh, this person is going to run into trouble at some point... Let's call him John... John barely posted and from the limited tracking capability on this particular CMS, I could see that by mid-week, he hadn't even started the work... So I e-mailed saying that I had noticed that he hadn't begun the work yet and asked if he needed anything - help with time management, or understanding the flow of online vs F2F courses... He said he was OK and would catch up...
By week 4 and the first major set of graded items, things hadn't changed much for John - He was barely posting and by Sunday night (of the due date) at 8:30 pm, he hadn't begun any of the 4 hefty written assignments due that week.... So I thought, well, let's see what he can do at zero hour... I mean after all, this is adult ed - so people have to squeeze it in when they can...
Monday comes around and all assignments are posted... but disastrously... poorly done, incomplete, no evidence of synthesis or time devoted to the work...
So the e-mail with the scores goes out and a question to John - "Are you finding it difficult to find the time to do your assignments with the rigor needed to be successful?"
The classic answer comes back for online learning -
"I didn't think online learning would take this much time"
But other typical student responses for those not doing well were also there - "I didn't know there was all this work for Week 4 due" (when numerous e-mails with detailed instructions for completing the work AND opportunities to submit work early for feedback before the final submission) were sent at the beginning of the week... including the essay question and the rubric... This happened every week in the course - so he clearly wasn't reading the e-mails either.
So John was clearly under the common misconception that online learning was going to be a breeze - and now the rude awakening had arrived...
But this also brings up the age old question - why do some students (no matter the level - these are graduate students) not take advantage of supports available to them to be successful?
One big thing I think is the misconception about how easy online learning is...
The other is that people bite off more than they can chew... They over-schedule - over-plan and then they end up not being able to do everything in a meaningful way...
So I think this has to really be hammered home for students new to online learning - the work load involved and time demands and self-directed nature of the learning... If students who can't spend the time needed still opt to sign up for the course, then the only alternative is consequences for their actions through grades they will earn...
While part of me wants to support, remind, prompt, cajole students to get the work done and do it in a meaningful fashion... if students don't step up to the plate, there isn't much I can do - or want to do at some point in the process...
One other final thought - In this CMS, I have only e-mail to send out the weekly reminders - maybe an audio or video message might reach more people? - Or would it be one more effort on my part - overkill for those who get it and still ignored by those who can't get to it anyway?
Of the 10 people in this class, only 1 is struggling below acceptable level... and 9 are new to online learning - so I have to think that some of the supports have been helpful to their success working online - but more is probably due to their own internal motivation and aptitude - they probably excel at everything... or maybe somewhere in between... A survey at the end should reveal more. A request for mid-term feedback didn't return much info... so no news is good news I suspect...
Monday, April 14, 2008
Assessment, Feedback, and Time
We just finished up our first unit of study in this course, and so I had 4 graded items to look at and score for each student... After 5 hours of work (and still 20% more to go), it occurred to me how important it is in online learning to take this time requirement into account!!
I have 2 choices - either not do as thorough a job next time and save myself work, or think about why I feel it is important to spend the time to give meaningful and detailed feedback and then discipline myself to do it...
I don't have control over the course design in this case, I am just the facilitator, but if I were designing the course, I would take all of this into account - and weave together assessments that allow for more balanced interaction - still meaningful, but not as time demanding each week!!!
Additionally, each graded item has a rubric, so one would think that grading would be a snap... but I was soon discovering first hand a lot about assessment and my own values associated with it..
So I could have easily just given each assignment a grade and moved on...but I felt it would be better to explain in detail why students received a certain score - for the underachievers, letting them know where the gaps were - for the high achievers to use the feedback as an avenue to continue the conversation about the course and the ideas being discussed - for everyone as a motivation to keep going - to be heard - to be a real presence in the class - to make myself a real presence as well... to distinguish our inter-activities from just a self-study course - to a learning community... to acknowledge that if they had taken the time to write something, I was going to take the time to respond meaningfully and responsibly and if they did NOT take the time or did a sloppy job, to let them know that there is accountability and expectations for their work.. and role modeling so maybe they will move up to the expectations set...
The last thought I had and the one that was taking the longest was how to give feedback to help students do better the next time... So the three steps all added up to a lot of time on my part...
Will this get faster the next iteration?
I have 2 choices - either not do as thorough a job next time and save myself work, or think about why I feel it is important to spend the time to give meaningful and detailed feedback and then discipline myself to do it...
I don't have control over the course design in this case, I am just the facilitator, but if I were designing the course, I would take all of this into account - and weave together assessments that allow for more balanced interaction - still meaningful, but not as time demanding each week!!!
Additionally, each graded item has a rubric, so one would think that grading would be a snap... but I was soon discovering first hand a lot about assessment and my own values associated with it..
So I could have easily just given each assignment a grade and moved on...but I felt it would be better to explain in detail why students received a certain score - for the underachievers, letting them know where the gaps were - for the high achievers to use the feedback as an avenue to continue the conversation about the course and the ideas being discussed - for everyone as a motivation to keep going - to be heard - to be a real presence in the class - to make myself a real presence as well... to distinguish our inter-activities from just a self-study course - to a learning community... to acknowledge that if they had taken the time to write something, I was going to take the time to respond meaningfully and responsibly and if they did NOT take the time or did a sloppy job, to let them know that there is accountability and expectations for their work.. and role modeling so maybe they will move up to the expectations set...
The last thought I had and the one that was taking the longest was how to give feedback to help students do better the next time... So the three steps all added up to a lot of time on my part...
- determine the grade
- articulate why they earned the grade they did - high, low, in between - talk about their work in a meaningful way
- suggest ways to improve their performance next time... or ways to share what they have done well
Will this get faster the next iteration?
Friday, April 11, 2008
Getting Over the Hump
OK, We just are finishing up Week 4 of an 8 week class which has a metacognitive paper due after teh class finishes (worth 40%) and I'm starting to think about the role of feedback in motivating people, in keeping everyone on track, in getting folks up to speed with expectations, and in establishing a real presence in the online forum..
One of my pet peeves as a student in online classes has been absentee faculty members who treat the course almost as a self-study course - and at the graduate level, I have often said that feedback is critical - that is where the learning happens - without this, I am just talking to myself basically, so how can I grow or be stretched without that outside, more experienced voice calling me to move forward...
So now that I am in the driver's seat I have to laugh, because the temptation is there to not do as diligent a time as I know I should with feedback because it takes so bloody long... but then I hear my own voice scolding me and so far, I've been able to keep going - because I really believe it is true that feedback is critical... so it becomes a matter of integrity - if I believe it, then I need to toe the line and do it!
Where I am struggling with feedback right now is my next growing edge... I feel I am doing a good job responding to them in discussions, and in their learning logs... I am pulling out the major contributions and points, reiterating them and continuing the conversation, in a sense, with what they have written, adding my own thoughts and related experiences... What I haven't yet been able to do is spot the place where they don't get it and draw them forward - This might be because I am not as familiar with the content as I'd like to be - so I wonder if the next time around will be better in this aspect -I'd like to find some resources on facilitation and online feedback that might also give me some ideas.
One of my pet peeves as a student in online classes has been absentee faculty members who treat the course almost as a self-study course - and at the graduate level, I have often said that feedback is critical - that is where the learning happens - without this, I am just talking to myself basically, so how can I grow or be stretched without that outside, more experienced voice calling me to move forward...
So now that I am in the driver's seat I have to laugh, because the temptation is there to not do as diligent a time as I know I should with feedback because it takes so bloody long... but then I hear my own voice scolding me and so far, I've been able to keep going - because I really believe it is true that feedback is critical... so it becomes a matter of integrity - if I believe it, then I need to toe the line and do it!
Where I am struggling with feedback right now is my next growing edge... I feel I am doing a good job responding to them in discussions, and in their learning logs... I am pulling out the major contributions and points, reiterating them and continuing the conversation, in a sense, with what they have written, adding my own thoughts and related experiences... What I haven't yet been able to do is spot the place where they don't get it and draw them forward - This might be because I am not as familiar with the content as I'd like to be - so I wonder if the next time around will be better in this aspect -I'd like to find some resources on facilitation and online feedback that might also give me some ideas.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Week One is Finished: Supporting a New Class
My initial posts to this blog were more informational in nature, based on my limited experience and lots of book learning....and now that I am in the thick of things, teaching my own course, I'd like to post "lessons learned" as I go along..
We just finished Week One (Sunday) and I opened up Week Two on Saturday, so those working faster could get started and have the weekend to work - but also to try to keep everyone pretty much together too - so the discussions would be more meaningful.
I spent a lot of time in Week One - feeling that if I got everyone off to a good start in terms of how to navigate the course activities and course space, expectations for discussions and other assignments, and starting to build the learning community, that the rest of the course would run more smoothly.
To reach those goals, here are some of the things I did... (comments here by other practitioners would be GREAT!! Please jump in!!)
Now with week 2 underway, I feel like I can step back a bit and let them jump in more.
The number one realization this week is THANK GOODNESS this course is already designed - the details above just describe the requirements for the facilitator - I can't imagine if I were also responsible for content in this course at this point.
LESSONS for me:
We just finished Week One (Sunday) and I opened up Week Two on Saturday, so those working faster could get started and have the weekend to work - but also to try to keep everyone pretty much together too - so the discussions would be more meaningful.
I spent a lot of time in Week One - feeling that if I got everyone off to a good start in terms of how to navigate the course activities and course space, expectations for discussions and other assignments, and starting to build the learning community, that the rest of the course would run more smoothly.
To reach those goals, here are some of the things I did... (comments here by other practitioners would be GREAT!! Please jump in!!)
- Sent a welcome e-mail to the group - both in the course e-mail system and to the personal e-mails provided - letting them know how to contact me with questions, a little about myself, the syllabus and course time line, directions and expectations for the first week of class as well as a broad overview of timing for the entire course.
- 2 Discussions areas were set-up - one for introductions and one to start to talk about how they'll incorporate the reflection process into their busy schedules (reflection and application are a big part of the course)
- As people started posting, I took notes about each person on a spread sheet, so I could start to internalize who each person was, their teaching experience and online learning experience, and their goals for the course
- I welcomed each person as they posted and reiterated that they could contact me at any time with questions
- This course is made up of graduate students - all working teachers - some new to teaching, some mid-career. Most were new to online learning, so I knew I would need to do more coaching about the paradigm shift, and I wanted to right away set the stage for meaningful and substantive postings.
- I sent them a detailed description of the activities for Week One and the time frame for completion. They have a detailed Learning Guide for the entire course, so a simple table with descriptions was enough with notes to refer to the Learning Guide.
- I could see that most folks were starting to post, but by Tuesday, I contacted the office to let them know who had not - They contacted the students directly and by mid-week, everyone was on and seemed to be OK.
- I held live office hours via the course chat mid-week to make sure everyone was OK - They were...
- I posted an FAQ discussion for process questions that others might also have. 10 postings there during the week - so that seemed to work well.
- Every e-mail during week one went to both personal and course e-mail with a message towards week's end that I would transition to only the course site by week 2. This course site also has a place for "Message of the Day" which I also used to make the message available in many locations.
- During the week, I monitored the discussion postings and worked to expand the conversation through questioning, spring boarding, sharing my own experiences, and devil's advocate.. I talked about the strategies explicitly and sent out tips for creating substantive discussions so they can also use the strategies. Part of their grade is discussion postings - and they have the rubric and my tips.
- By Friday of Week One, I went through all the discussion postings and sent detailed feedback (using a provided discussion rubric) and suggestions to each student individually - so they knew where they stood and where they could improve before the week closed out on Sunday. Many took advantage of this and were thankful for the feedback. My big concern was encouraging meaningful and substantive postings that would build on the conversation and share concrete details of practice with each other - not just "Nice post" or "Good idea!"
- By weeks end, I sent an e-mail with thoughts about Week One so far, general tips for creating substantive discussions, and Week Two info about what they'll be doing next.
- I posted their grades for Week One activities
- Finally, I added a discussion wrap-up, summarizing the main points of the discussion that week and invited additions, comments etc... (Normally, I would like them to take turns doing this role - but for this company, the assignments are all programmed, so I cannot add anything - I can invite, but I can't make it a requirement...)
Now with week 2 underway, I feel like I can step back a bit and let them jump in more.
The number one realization this week is THANK GOODNESS this course is already designed - the details above just describe the requirements for the facilitator - I can't imagine if I were also responsible for content in this course at this point.
LESSONS for me:
- you need TIME to develop a quality course AND facilitate meaningfully
- the flow of an online course is much different F2F and online - I was online more - checking e-mail, discussions, FAQs and providing feedback. This should slow down in some ways as we go forward, but I don't foresee me being less invested in some ways either.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Gaps in Training
Well, part of this blog is to capture lessons learned - I just learned a huge lesson about the 2-parts of preparation for online teaching - the pedagogical and the technical.
I am facilitating an online course for a local organization that does professional development for K-12 teachers. Our class begins on-line tomorrow. I recently finished a 4-week online training to prepare to facilitate the course which is a graduate course - The course space was released to me last night and I have one day to get it ready to go.
I realized very quickly that the training we received was inadequate in terms of the interface. We spent our training in the student side of the interface and I realize that I have no idea how to configure and administer the course from the back-end. The training I received was mostly about facilitating and grading student assignments, based on given rubrics. Even for someone with lots of experience in online venues, I found it very disconcerting this morning as I tried to figure what to do and how to get the course site up and ready to go. Also, it was not clear who to contact with questions. My only contact with the company had been the person who hired me who was also the trainer, but I didn't suspect they would be around on a Sunday morning - and I was right...
Once again, it hits home how much TIME it takes to prepare well to teach online. Even if the courses are already fully developed, there is a lot to learn about communicating with students, navigation, and administration of the course!!!
Also, let new faculty know who they can contact for technical and pedagogical questions - and when help is available.
Also, how difficult it is to do anything the first time around - for teachers, designers, and students...
I am facilitating an online course for a local organization that does professional development for K-12 teachers. Our class begins on-line tomorrow. I recently finished a 4-week online training to prepare to facilitate the course which is a graduate course - The course space was released to me last night and I have one day to get it ready to go.
I realized very quickly that the training we received was inadequate in terms of the interface. We spent our training in the student side of the interface and I realize that I have no idea how to configure and administer the course from the back-end. The training I received was mostly about facilitating and grading student assignments, based on given rubrics. Even for someone with lots of experience in online venues, I found it very disconcerting this morning as I tried to figure what to do and how to get the course site up and ready to go. Also, it was not clear who to contact with questions. My only contact with the company had been the person who hired me who was also the trainer, but I didn't suspect they would be around on a Sunday morning - and I was right...
Once again, it hits home how much TIME it takes to prepare well to teach online. Even if the courses are already fully developed, there is a lot to learn about communicating with students, navigation, and administration of the course!!!
Also, let new faculty know who they can contact for technical and pedagogical questions - and when help is available.
Also, how difficult it is to do anything the first time around - for teachers, designers, and students...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Facilitation: Being There!
When it comes to facilitation, being there is key!!
Students need to know that there is a real person on the other end of the computer - They need to feel connected and involved - otherwise, research shows they just drop-out...
Set reasonable guidelines for you and your students about checking-in - at least three times per week is a good place to start - Remember, you never see them, so your communication and feedback in prompt and meaningful ways is critical.
Build a communication plan into your syllabus:
You can see already that the rhythm and pace of online learning is very different from F2F.
What you can expect? A lot of work before class getting things just right - Different kind of work once class gets underway - you'll be more of a facilitator and coach than formal instructor... so what resources can help you to be an effective facilitator? More to come...
Students need to know that there is a real person on the other end of the computer - They need to feel connected and involved - otherwise, research shows they just drop-out...
Set reasonable guidelines for you and your students about checking-in - at least three times per week is a good place to start - Remember, you never see them, so your communication and feedback in prompt and meaningful ways is critical.
Build a communication plan into your syllabus:
- How should students contact you for help - via e-mail - in ANGEL - through a FAQ discussion thread - other?
- What's the time frame for them to expect you to answer - 24 hours during the week? Longer on weekends?
- How will you communicate announcements to them?
You can see already that the rhythm and pace of online learning is very different from F2F.
What you can expect? A lot of work before class getting things just right - Different kind of work once class gets underway - you'll be more of a facilitator and coach than formal instructor... so what resources can help you to be an effective facilitator? More to come...
Interaction is the key...
OK, so we want to shift from F2F classes to online... what helps us to move (conceptually) from one to the other...
Think INTERACTION in both design of activities and facilitation.....
How will the students learn? Through interaction - with the content - with you as the instructor, with each other...
More on specifics of this later....
Think INTERACTION in both design of activities and facilitation.....
How will the students learn? Through interaction - with the content - with you as the instructor, with each other...
More on specifics of this later....
2 Sides of Coin: Design and Facilitation
Obviously, there are 2 sides to this project:
- Quality design of online/blended courses
- Quality delivery and facilitation
Initial Questions/Goals
First, What are our individual goals for being in the group? - What would we like to accomplish/do/get support for? Are we taking one course as fully online for FA 08 delivery - others as blended?
Second, What level of support do we need to meet these goals? - instructional design help, multi-media support for resource development, software?
Third, Where should we gather and house the resources that we find that can be shared later with others - this blog?
Fourth - What's our plan of attack - time line?
This semester, I'm trying to sample as many different examples of online learning as I can - I'm taking 2 graduate courses online through IU Bloomington and I'm in training at U. of Phoenix (Axia College - their developmental ed arm) to teach classes for them soon, and I just finished facilitator training for Learning Sciences International, a group doing online professional development for K-12 teachers in PA - so I'm getting a LOT of useful information about what works... at undergraduate and graduate levels in terms of design and facilitation...
The Quality Matters rubric probably should be our guide in design because it will be the standard for courses getting acceptance to the elearning cooperative (the place where campus online courses go to get a wider audience) It has been suggested that for our first run of any course, we should stay completely local (only PSY students) - work out the kinks, then go to the eLearning cooperative... what do you think....
Second, What level of support do we need to meet these goals? - instructional design help, multi-media support for resource development, software?
Third, Where should we gather and house the resources that we find that can be shared later with others - this blog?
Fourth - What's our plan of attack - time line?
This semester, I'm trying to sample as many different examples of online learning as I can - I'm taking 2 graduate courses online through IU Bloomington and I'm in training at U. of Phoenix (Axia College - their developmental ed arm) to teach classes for them soon, and I just finished facilitator training for Learning Sciences International, a group doing online professional development for K-12 teachers in PA - so I'm getting a LOT of useful information about what works... at undergraduate and graduate levels in terms of design and facilitation...
The Quality Matters rubric probably should be our guide in design because it will be the standard for courses getting acceptance to the elearning cooperative (the place where campus online courses go to get a wider audience) It has been suggested that for our first run of any course, we should stay completely local (only PSY students) - work out the kinks, then go to the eLearning cooperative... what do you think....
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