Mid-year post

I really enjoy learning and discovering new things with Pedagogy First course.

Although 4-5 hours a week seems reasonable, I needed to spend a few more hours… I didn’t realize how much more time I’d expend in my researches. Often, when you are working searching about a specific topic, you find new approaches or new perspectives of great attraction and must keep a huge discipline not to deviate from the assigned task.

I took the POT certification class mid-year class survey and the Mid-year Self-Assessment Check. My results tell me to work harder, especially in relation to the comments on other participants’ blogs.

Week 1: My presentation and getting started with Pedagogy First!-course

I started, by presenting myself and telling that I enjoy learning new things, particularly related with the innovation in the teaching and learning process. I created the Diigo account and start my learning process by experimenting. I created a new blog by moving my old blog from the WordPress.com over to my own hosted server. I got 5 comments

Week 2: Teaching and Learning Online

The recommended reading blogs allowed me to discover interesting input on the advantages of using social networking in education. I opened the book: Ko and Rossen, Teaching Online by reading the first chapter. I got 11-12 points in the Beginner’s Questionnaire.

I Completed also the Getting Started Chart. The most important part of the chart is related to the way I like to teach: I prefer a combination of lectures with discussion and group work. I got 2 comments: really motivating!

Week 3: Pedagogy and Course Design

A really good chapter of Ko and Rossen, Teaching Online Guide. The third chapter offer good proposals and practical tips related with the design and development of a course. The book point to 3 elements in the conversion or creation of an online course: Analysis, Course Goals and Learning Objectives and Design. I got 5 comments. All of these comment received my replay.

Week 4: Pedagogy and Course Design II

Continuing with the reading of Ko and Rossen, Chapter 3: Course Design and Development, pp. 63-end, I found really attractive the Table 3.2 as a useful template. I got 3 comments

Week 5: The Slippery Online Syllabus

Starting with the recommendations of this chapter, I highlighted the 3 aspects of an online syllabus to emphasize, from Teaching Online, Ko and Rossen.

1. the contract: between students and the instructor (participation and grading criteria, student expectations,
2. the map: course URL, used tools, assignments, document format, contact information, sequence of learning activities.
3. the schedule: week organization (start, due day)

I got 5 comments. All of these comment received my replay.

Week 6: Internet Skills, html code and embedded Videos

I reflected that it is always useful to know basic html commands, especially to identify how a website is coded, but in practice, an instructional designer has limited use of writing html code due to the existence of rapid e-learning tools that require no html knowledge. I got 1 comment

Week 7: “to be or not to be”

It was a week of reflexions about the LMS role. I thought that although LMS and CMS provide a centralized course management it goes the opposite way of the web 2.0 tools. In some way, the LMS is the online replica of the teacher role in the F2F environment.

Week 8: LMS – “to be or not to be” (the continuous discussion …)

I wrote about my experiences in online and blended courses. The LMS did not cover my expectations or those of my students. The effort to manage and master the functions of the LMS did not translate into clear benefits.

This is one of the main reasons I participate in initiatives such as Pedagogy First!

Week 9: trying to catching up…

As the book states, “collaboration doesn’t just happen“. It’s very important to deliver a clear and detailed description of the activity and the final product, (the what), the connection of the activity and the course subject (the why), the individuals and group responsibility (the who), and the proceeding (the how).

Week 10: open platforms for online courses

I found some very good recommendations related to weekly blogs responses:

1. What did you learn this week?
2. How do you connect what you learned with your experienced or with what you already know?
3. How could you apply your new knowledge?

Engrade was a positive surprise for me.

Week 11: Intellectual Property and Accessibility

The main disadvantage of the reading of this week (Chapter 8: Copyright, Intellectual Property) is that applies to the United States only. This American perspective needs to be complemented with others perspectives like the European.

In relation with the accessibility issues, I found a really good introduction to Accessibility by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Week 12: Resources Online

In this post I describe the websites that I visit regularly to find OER (Open Educational Resources and courseware.

The review the previously publishes posts helped me to recognize my own progress during these weeks and the conclusion is positive…

See you back in February!