Instructional+Design


 * Sunday, May 16, 2010**

Learning, researching, and communicating online with other students and teacher foster development of skills in using technology that is critical in the 21st century global business world. In online learning, course material is accessible 24 hours 7 days a week. Often times, spoken materials in the traditional classroom are lost to students due to distractions, missed classes, or tiredness. Students have the ability to read and reread online lectures, discussions, and assignments on their own time and as many times as they need. Students can think longer before responding to discussions, and they can comment when they are ready. Everyone gets a chance to contribute and express their thoughts, not only the most talkative students. Student interaction among students will subsequently increase along with the diversity of opinion. Students can also contact the instructor with their questions or concerns at any time, not limited by class time or office hours. Group learning can be facilitated through discussions, web conferences, and online collaborative projects. Online learning minimizes problems with mismatched schedules and finding meeting locations. There are no geographic barriers to online learning.
 * What benefits do you see in educators knowing how to design and implement online learning?**

My Schoology course is designed to be carried out concurrently with my face-to-face Chemistry course. The most notably component is the online discussion board. The first assignment in my sample lesson unit was for students to watch a YouTube video on Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) and post discussions on the danger of the substance. Students get into a lively discussion only to discover that DHMO is the chemical name of water. This is then led to naming covalent compounds and extension of the benefits and dangers of all chemicals, including water. I plan to use online learning concurrently with traditional face-to-face instructions. Schoology offers a nice online management tool to organize content materials and assignments. The design renders more focus on the student keeping track of their learning and makes the student’s role more active. On the other hand, considerations must include the differences between an online literary course versus an online science course. Although laboratory simulations hold value, actual experience and performance in laboratory investigations are irreplaceable.
 * How will you professionally use your course that you designed?**

I have invited several teachers, my team leader, department chair, director of instructions, and principal to explore my Schoology course. Initially, we had problems with the registration, but the problems resolved when I decided to set their username and password and activated their accounts myself. Once the user successfully log in, they are then prompted to change the password if they choose. I also saw that there are multiple listings of my school. Each listing of my school has a different code, and the code was only visible on the activation page and not the login page. I understand that the reason is due to multiple admins and teachers from my school creating their Schoology accounts, and I have contacted Schoology regarding my concern on the issue. There has to be a better way to merge and better identify each school as a singular overarching account. Overall, the feedback I have received on the general navigation and ease of use of Schoology has been very positive.
 * Will you integrate online learning in your role as a teacher/staff developer?**

Online learning offers great potential, but we must consider the question: How safe is the online learning management system? Schoology was originally created as an online resource for sharing knowledge and has evolved to the current version of course management system and social network. The interface design and color scheme of Schoology are similar to Facebook. Facebook has recently updated its security settings after identifying a hacker who managed to sell a number of credentials to third parties. Even though “the number of accounts Facebook found was ‘orders of magnitude less than what was reported,’” the threat is real, and precautionary actions need to be taken. (2010, Chen) What network security measures has Schoology taken to protect teachers and students? Furthermore, there are open source learning modules where course contents are available to everyone. Since Schoology is not an open source learning management system, what steps have been taken for content security of the courses?
 * What questions do you still have about online learning?**

“Student interest in online learning has exploded over the past few years and almost three-quarters of high school students report they know someone (a family member or friend) who has taken an online class.” (2010, Project Tomorrow) Even students who have never taken an online class express interest, how will we as educators meet students’ demand for online learning? The results from a recent survey by the nonprofit group, Project Tomorrow, on education technology suggest that schools are making progress on integrating technology into the curriculum, but barriers exist in implementation. District administrators are most concerned with “training teachers about how to effectively use digital resources.” Teachers are “primarily being taught to use technology for word processing, spreadsheet, database tools or multi-media presentations,” my desire is to help teachers integrate technology to support “socially-based, digitally rich curriculum.” Online learning through social network fosters an environment of interactivity, participation, and collaboration. Managing such a learning system poses unique challenges, but we shall embrace this next frontier in our education evolution.
 * What will you do with this new learning?**

// References: // Cheng, Jacqui. (2010, May 14). Facebook Ups Login Security, Outs Hacker With 1.5M Accounts. //Ars Technica//. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2010/05/facebook-ups-login-security-outs-hacker-with-15m-accounts.ars.

Popov, Lev. (2010, May 13). Staying In Control of Your Facebook Logins. //Facebook//. Retrieved from http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=389991097130.

Unleashing the Future: Educators “Speak Up” about the use of Emerging Technologies for Learning Speak Up 2009 National Findings. (2010, May). //Project Tomorrow//. Retrieved from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU09UnleashingTheFuture.pdf.

Wesch, Michael. (2009, January 7). From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New Media Environments. //Academic Commons//. Retrieved from http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/knowledgable-knowledge-able.

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2000). //Understanding by Design.// Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.