Project Idea Part II

This week, I've given more thought to my class project. And, today, I even began putting some thought into the infrastructure of the project. Although, I have not formalized anything, I think I'm off to a good start. [I'm still in the brainstorming stage.] Below, I have posted my latest thoughts and ideas.

1. Three hours is a long time to keep the attention of anyone, so I will divide the 3-hour session into manageable units of time and provide a variety of learning opportunities for students.

2. Since the session is a face-to-face session, I plan on inviting a remote guest speaker to speak to the class. The speaker will talk to the class using Elluminate synchronous chat software from the comfort of their home or office.

3. I will use Blackboard to store and present any media elements that I plan on showcasing to the class. This way, students can see me model the use of Blackboard as a learning tool [Note: I plan on leaving the projector on during the entire session so that students can see how I work with the technology.] This is especially important to model for MALS students who are enrolled in the course but have never taken an online course (i.e., not only will students be learning about the music of England, but they will be exposed to technology in use within online classes that are offered through the MALS degree program... part educational and part product placement).

Alright... that's it for now. My thinking cap is still in place.


Hey, Who Put that Coke There?

Project Idea Part I

I have to teach a 3-hour lesson on the music of England as a favor for a colleague who teaches for the MALS program at UNCG. If you're not familiar with that program, it's the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. There are three tracks for obtaining this degree--fully online, face-to-face, or a combination of online and face-to-face. This particular lesson will be taught in a face-to-face course, The History of London. I haven't given much thought to what I want to do... but I'm excited because I can be fairly flexible with content as long as I hit on the major composers of England. Also, the audience will be all adults (and mostly 35 and older), and students in this degree program are notorious for being eager learners. More Later...

Philosophy.... More Thoughts

My design philosophy and process has been influenced by a number of things including studies during my tenure as a graduate student in music education, the mission of the department at UNCG where I currently work (DCL), my creative side, my admiration for socializing [more later], my anal retentive nature, etc., etc., etc. For example, as I mentioned in response to one of Lauren's blog entries,
at DCL, one of our Dean's missions is to have faculty design instruction that challenges students to think critically. Moreover, while in graduate school, I took several classes taught by advocates of constructivism and student-centered learning--two arenas of education that distance themselves far from the tired direct instruction-knowledge spitback cycle.

I strongly believe that design should grow from an analysis of what the ultimate learning goals are--what do you want your students to remember a month from now? 5 years from now? 10 years from now? And, as Dr. King, suggested in his week two narrated slideshow presentation, the "what" (content) is often already set, but it is the job of the designer to worry more about the "how" (the structure of design and delivery). I also think that design should be based on a desire to deliver instructional content and design learning situations that can appeal to a variety of student learner types. One of the slides in Dr. King's week two narrated slideshow presented the "formula" audience + content + structure = instruction and indicated that most of our work would be concentrated on the structure part of the formula. Yes, there's not much we can do about the audience; however, hopefully, within our design (whether for face-to-face or online instruction), we can build in ways for all students to succeed and learn. This is important in terms of assessment--I believe that a number of different types of assessments should be considered as part of a course design (some students do better with essays than others... while other students might do better with authentic types of assessments like portfolios... and, yes, [egads!] some students are more successful with multiple-choice exams). Another audience consideration that I feel is very important is accessibility. This is not just important for online courses but for face-to-face courses as well. I mean, have you ever sat on the back row in a classroom and tried to interpret a PowerPoint presentation where the typeface was much too small to be seen from the back row... or the background color did not complement the text color, so everything just blurred together?

...from the Design Process Initial Discussion

When working with a team, I can effectively follow a strict procedure--that is, assessing what the needs are, working with the team to determine what is needed in the design to meet the needs, actually developing the materials, teaching, and learning strategies determined to be necessary, and testing the design to make sure that it mirrors what was intended.

The more difficult challenge for me is when I have to design something on my own. I don't know if it's just my intense desire to be creative or what. But, when I'm working on my own, I tend to just dive in and see where the current takes me. Of course, I know that disciplining myself to do otherwise is the answer. It's just that sometimes, I'm already in over my head before I realize it.

First Online Session -- Thoughts and Comments

I thought the first online session was quite successful. I enjoyed conversing with the class in the synchronous environment and look forward to future sessions. I certainly think that synchronous sessions help students to become more comfortable with one another and help build a sense of community. As most of you already know, one of the buzz terms associated with online learning is community of practice (COP). Now, I feel like we've begun to develop our own COP.

Another thing I noticed regarding tonight's session was each participant's dexterity in taking what they needed from the dialogue and making it their own--knowledge contruction in action.


Looking Through a Different Lense

Anyone, anyone...

Where is everyone so far? Hopefully, everyone's getting acclimated to the new semester and will be popping by soon. It's lonely in here.

:) SB

Welcome!

Hi, there. I'm Scott, and, within this blog, I will be posting ideas, revelations, and thought relating to my Spring 2005 Instructional Design class. Hopefully, you will find something of interest to you here.