Final Reflections

The first thing I'd like to say is Thank You to all in the course. This is course #4 for me in the Certificate program and I've learned so much. These courses have opened my eyes to the future of education.

As you may know, I've been placed on "early retirement" from my current teaching job. Being a bit too young to retire, I'm taking a temporary position at the University of Bridgeport filling in for a prof who is taking a year-long sabbatical leave. I plan to apply many of the approaches that I have learned in the courses that I will be teaching.

After returning from Bridgeport I plan to create a series of online courses for my profession. I suspect that my days of standing in front of a class and "telling" them what they need to learn are over. What a refreshing thought. I can make the transition from 'sage on the stage' to someone who is guiding their learning.

All the best.

Hoop in LA

Week 7 Reflections

Wow! Another week and we reach the end of the class. It went way too fast! I'm eagerly reading the final projects that others have created and am feeling woefully inadequate. I learn so much by observing what others are able to do. I submitted the first draft of my final project as a Word document and then saw all of the blogs and web pages that others had created. So, back to the drawing board and I'm working on an edublog page for draft number two. I'll post my final draft for feedback and go from there.

I've been playing with new software this past week; Adobe e-Learning Suite to be exact. I've worked my way through the Captivate program and, although I like it, I'm not sure I couldn't do most of what it does with Powerpoint.

On a positive note, I actually got a job offer this week. It's only temporary, filling in for a prof who is going on sabbatical for a year. The position is in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a world away from Los Angeles. But, it will give me an opportunity to try some new things with my classes. I'll also continue to work on my online courses. Actually, one of the primary reasons that I considered accepting this position is the University has a fairly advanced distance learning program. I'll be able to see how the infrastructure works first hand. That excites me.

Thanks to everybody in the class. I've learned a lot.

Reflection Week 6

As we near the end of this course, I am reflecting on the progress that is taking and has taken place. It's now Week 6 in this class and it's Week 12 of 15 in my regular face to face classes. At the end of this term (August 31) I am officially on "early retirement" from my day job. In an effort to "cost cut", the university that I work for gave me the option of "retiring". In return, they've made me a Professor Emeritus. Sounds pretty good! However, I looked it up on Wikipedia and it says "a professor who is retired and in good standing". It sounds much better than it really is.

At any rate, my days as the "sage on the stage" are winding down. That's probably just as well. I don't seem to have the enthusiasm for standing in front of a class anymore. However, far from being ready to retire, this online world has given me new life. I look forward to participating in this rapidly expanding methodology and am excited about what the future holds and what I can create. I've already begun to experiment with new teaching tactics and am putting together a proposal for continuing education courses online.

I realize that I have a great deal to learn but I'm invigorated by that. Rather than finding a rocking chair to while away my days, I'm looking at buying a new computer. I just bought a copy of Adobe e-Learning Suite and am eager to create new courses. I'm even thinking about getting an iPhone. I've got a lot of catching up to do and the digital natives are way ahead of me.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the learning... Thanks to all!

Hoop in LA

Reflections Week 5

Reflections for this week... Let me see... I had problems (still having) with my computer. That did not help me at all. Also, I had difficulty understanding what I was doing with the assignment. I'm still unsure.

I am beginning to get the idea that one has to make a concerted effort to develop and use assessment tools that match the learning objectives for the course. That, while it may be intuitive to most, is in and of itself a big step for me.

I was particularly pleased and interested in the studies of plagiarism and keeping students honest. This has been a major effort on my behalf for some years. I teach a class on Ethics to Term 6 students (out of 10). The class is focused mostly on the kind of ethical issues that the students are likely to face in clinical practice. I begin by telling them that practice today is a mine field and my job is to give them a map. Their job is to keep the map handy and refer to it when necessary. I have no illusions that a 2 hour course will make them ethical people.

This past year I introduced a sort of blended course for incoming students. The course is a mixture of online activities that I learned in this program, combined with 4 face to face sessions. The goal of this course is to alert the students to issues such as plagiarism, cheating, and behavioral issues that might confront them as students in a professional program. The course was designed to be a pass/fail but I'm considering modifying that based on some of the things that I have learned this term.

Reflections for Week 4

This was an interesting assignment. I always enjoy working in groups. It allows me to get to know other students in a more meaningful way. In addition, it makes the assignment more important because the grades of others are riding, in part, on my work.

I've been struggling with taking two classes this summer term, while teaching 4 face to face classes at my university. It's been difficult to keep things straight. This week I realized that everybody else is in the same boat, trying to maintain a normal life while keeping up with the course work.

I suppose that I've known that all along but it became clear this week. I must make an effort in the future to enable students to balance their studies with their lives.

Module 4 Group 5 Assessment Tools

We have completed the assignment and, I believe posted it properly.

Reflections on Week 3

Wow! What just happened? I read the first reading by McLinden and Trochim. Maybe it's just me but I still don't know what I read. For me, they complicated something that is relatively straight forward. I then downloaded the Inspiration software and attempted to make a Concept Map (see attached). I have no idea if I'm even in the ballpark with this one. I must admit though, the software made it simple to do.

Then I read the Jigsaw and The Perfect E-Storm papers. Thoroughly enjoyed both of them. I felt like my brain was still working after reading them.

This week has been frustrating for me. It's already Saturday and I feel like I've accomplished very little this week. On a more positive note, I developed a blog for one of my face to face classes this week. I'm experimenting with it as both a learning tool and an assessment. That's progress!

Concept Map

I'm posting a copy of a Concept Map that I created using the Inspiration software. I actually have little idea of whether or not I'm on target on this one so will welcome any feedback that I get.

Musings...

Thought I'd write a new post today. I'm enjoying the idea of a blog and am going to use it in one of my face to face courses this week. I have a small group assignment that I'm going to provide students. After giving them time to work on the assignment, I'm going to have them provide me with an electronic copy. I'll then preview it and post it on the blog for other class members to see and comment on. The final exam will come from the info contained in the blog. What do you think? I'd welcome any comments. Although it's a pretty easy use of a blog, it's my first attempt at using one in a classroom so I thought I'd go easy on myself. If you're interested, take a look at www.hoopersbclass.blogspot.com. Let me know what you think...

Reflections

So far I have enjoyed using the blogs. I can see that they are an easy to use, low cost mechanism for getting to know students. By posting their thoughts and experiences, faculty can follow and monitor the progress of individual students. In a face to face classroom environment, even though the students are in the same room as the teacher, s/he may not ever stand out or make any comments. I have a number of classes that are predominantly lecture format, with 40 to 60 students in them (on a good day). When I ask for comments, questions, etc. it’s always the same 4 or 5 students who have any. Many students are able to “hide” in a face to face environment.

By requiring students to post their thoughts in a blog, as we are doing now, it is possible to get input and feedback from all. That’s a revelation for me.

Hoop in LA

Partner interview

Here's the interview that Mary Hopple did...

Paul Hooper, the "Hoop" is a professor at Southern California University of Health Sciences. Hoop and I are also classmates in another online U Wisconsin-Stout course - "Instructional Design". Paul, getting a head start on the activities, choose me to be his "think-pair-share" partner because he recognized my name from the other course we were in. Me obsessing over an long assignment for the other course, missed Paul's initial email and when he sent me another, he was, rightly so, disappointed that I hadn't responded in a timely manner. Garnering a feel for "Hoop" from Instructional design threads, he is a man of few words, a "freeform" kind of guy, who may be feeling overwhelmed right now (I know I'm side-stepping it, to keep up!) as he commented in one string, "someone once said, 'I'm so far behind, I think I'm first'. I now know how they felt." I think perfectly understandable, because in my experience online courses take much more time to process, than F2F. Paul lives in Los Angeles, where he feels the public schools are lacking quality. He compliments the students from the Mid-West he has met in online courses and wonders what the difference is between the South-West and Mid-West in terms of quality education. "Hoop" hails from England, loves Fleetwood Mac....mine too! and enjoys a "nailbiting" Deadliest Catch episode.

Mary @ PA

Okay, I'm now apparently an official blogger. Let's see what this baby can do...