Week 111 Discussion: Ideas for EdWeb Visual Communication

A general overview of the discussion:
We participated in threaded discussions about the importance of visual display, and techniques for communicating content and ideas visually and how we can use effective visual communication techniques to accomplish quite a lot, like to establish relevance and meaning, arouse interest and excitement, convey information about structure and expectations, and so.

We thought about our visual display and communication ideas for our own EdWebs and if we had any a-ha thoughts about how navigation

An excerpt of my most valuable contribution to the discussion:
I kicked off the discussion with posting what my is about, "Many residents and nurses need to rapidly adapt and learn new Information Technology to deliver patient care. This learning curve creates a huge training demand as new clinical applications are implemented frequently and new blocks of residents rotate into and out of the Hospital every month. Having "savvy" nurses who are certified expert users of the applications can help train the residents, and not so computer "savvy" nurses, on how to use the applications to deliver better and safer patient care."

What struck me the most about the readings and was my most valuable contribution was the statistics out of Driscoll that stated 83% learning comes via sight and 11% audio.

An explanation of why I consider it my best contribution:
People in my discussion thread were also stuck by the just how much of our learning comes from sight! I think it gave my fellow discussion partners a concrete idea of just how important a good visual layout can benefit the learning process and how important a good visual layout can determine a learning design's success or its failure, and who wants to spend hundreds of hours building something people can't benefit from anyway!?

Week 9 Discussion: Attention Getter

A general overview of the discussion:
In week 9 we broke out in groups with each member of the group to post a quote they identified with a significant ideas from the reading. We posted our quote to start a threaded discussion for the rest of the group to discussion the quote in less than 250 words. After everyone in the group participated in the dicussion, the person who posted the quote had the last word in no more than 250 word response about what they are now thinking about the issue and their reaction to what the other people said about the post.

Linda Gillmore quoted a sentence out of our reading, "Gagne (1985) lists grabbing the attention of learners as the first of his nine events of instruction, which he proposed long before e-learning earned its current popularity." It seems that most instructors struggle with daunting task of getting the learners attention in a creative fashion that will motivate the learner to stay engaged in the learning.

Here's my most valuable contribution to the discussion:
Engaging the learner's attention is crucial. In the Marines, the first things we were taught when we delivered classes was to create an "attention getter." The interesting thing was that the "attention getter" didn't have to relate to the topic, it could have been an off topic joke. What was important was grabbing their attention as a means of shifting their focus from "what am I going to make for dinner," to "its time to put everything aside and focus on learning. "

What I discovered was beginning with a topic related story or question was the most effective, I always enjoyed the "attention getter" and was motivated to attend a class just to hear "the getter." It also helps the instructor to shift into the "teaching" mode as well as with bringing their energy level up a notch.

I also think we can think about how our "attention getters" can relate to our Common Instructional Values:

1. Active? engaging, exploratory
2. Supportive? fun
3. Contextual? relevant
4. Social? discourse, discussion

Explanation for why this was my best contribution:
I think tying our discussion in with our Common Instructional Values helps us to reconnect with what we are trying to accomplish with learning in our course. I believe if we can answer yes when connecting to our Common Learning Values the chances are good that we are approaching the learning design in a manner that will lead to successful learning.

Week 7 Discussion: Why is Informal Learning So Valuable?

Each learning experience I have, whether or not I am a student or a teacher, I am reminded how valuable informal learning really is to the learning process. Just today, I taught a class of nurses how to use a medication administration checking application, where they scan bar codes listed on medications and patient's wrist bands to ensure that the right medication is being given to the right patient at the right time. The trick to training nurses is that they are so hands-on and that they expect their learning experience to be authentic so they can rationalize just how this program will work in real life when dealing with real patients whose lives are in their hands. Time and time again while training in this environment I notice just how much they actually learn from one another, they often share learning experience in off the cuff discussions or side conversations. As a trainer in a hospital I am challenged with either hushing their conversations and request them to plainly follow along with my mouse clicks, but the teacher inside that is actually putting the kibosh on what they value and relate to as learners. So, just how can I include this informal learning into the formal classroom training?

Its important to remember that "we all bring unique experiences into our "formal" learning environments that we likely cultivated in "informal" learning experiences. And, 'that we are' be more motivated by our "informal' learning goals than by our formal learning goals."

In addition, how do we as designers of online learning think about about the relationship of a given course’s design with the learner's informal learning experiences and goals. The five questions and my challenges in the classroom led training got me thinking about how they tie in with our Common Values.

A few weeks back my classmates and I in CU Denver's eLearning Design and Implementation cohort engaged in a discussion on Informal Learning and its relevance in eLearning.

Here's some questions that were asked, I boldeded my responses.
1. What do you often talk about at home or with your friends that you seldom talk about at school (this course) or work?
• Authentic and Real-World! The design should be contextual to the learner.
2. What are topics that you find relevant or valuable that you would like to see addressed in this course?
• Practical and Hands-On? Of course, the design should actively engage the learner.
3. What are some questions that this course should be asking if it were to be realistically related to the life you live? (or want to live?)
• Applicable…yes, the design should definitely be learner-centered to meet the highly motivated learner’s objective.
• 4. If Dave and Joni were to spend time with you outside of class, they might find it interesting that you.......
• Valued and Respected!! Everyone wants to feel valued, the design should be culturally responsive to include social interaction and also be supportive of the learner.
5. Something you definitely think you know more about than Dave and Joni is.......
• Sharing! As a teacher/trainer, I always deepen my knowledge about what I am teaching when I share my knowledge, the design would be enhanced if it included peer teaching/mentoring/coaching and fun…more social instructional values and supportive instructional values.

Why are these questions and the respective answers so important? In relevance to both eLearning and classroom learning the quality of informality brings with it an authentic learning experience that the learners can connect with on a personal level: this is important with retaining what's been taught. Sometimes I feel that my learners are like chatty kids on a playground running amuck, but this time also provides them with invaluable incites that I as a trainer of Information Technology Systems cannot offer. So I let them run for a bit, then gently guide them back into the formal classroom environment and onto another learning objective comfortable knowing that their conversations have provided them with a relavent and memorable learning experience.

Week 6 Discussion: Strategies Discussion

What was the discussion about?

Discussion protocols provide a step-by-step approach to discussion, and a structure for making sure that everyone in a group has a chance to lead and guide the discussion. These protocols are especially useful when discussing challenging or controversial content, but are equally suited to helping us achieve variety in our approach to online discussions. Discussion protocols provide a step-by-step approach to discussion, and a structure for making sure that everyone in a group has a chance to lead and guide the discussion. These protocols are especially useful when discussing challenging or controversial content, but are equally suited to helping us achieve variety in our approach to online discussions.

General Overview
This discussion was interesting because it we all got to play the role of discussion leader. It was interesting to see different styles emerge and all the different interests everyone had. We picked a quote out of Horton's book that made a connection with us for using different strategies for eLearning. We posted in 100 words or less the quote and why we thought the quote was significant. Then each member of the discussion posted in 50 words or less a response to our quote to stimulate discussion or to shed new light on our quote.

Most valuable contribution to the discussion
My most “fab” contribution on to the discussion was due to the topic I picked for the quote: synchronous eLearning. Synchronous learning is a vital piece of the larger learning strategies that must be engaged if self-paced learning is to succeed. It is such a vital piece because it incorporates "social instructional values" as learners are required/encourage to communicate with one another to enhance each other’s learning experience. One ways this is beneficial is because synchronous learning is not black and white, that is it doesn't necessarily need to happen at the same time and place for it to be synchronous learning. People can meet economically in a chat room or post comments to a discussion blog, or with a bigger budget in Adobe connect webinar. Either way we can share valuable experience and knowledge with one another via synchronous learning.

My quote:“One of the most important design decisions is whether to make e-learning synchronous or asynchronous.” page 363This quote struck me because I noticed that in taking online instruction we all still have different learning needs. Synchronous and asynchronous learning really is not black and white, but a mixture of real time learning and everybody at different stages. Both can be blended together, but first consider your learners’ needs, consider the learners’ schedules, should they have discussions, do they need motivation…. I think synchronous learning might be useful for projects in different stages, learners using the product can provide synchronous feedback to learners just beginning to use the product."

Discussion responses:
1. I agree Kerry this decision is most important to design. In terms of learners providing the feedback, I found that Jackie Dobrovolny article on self-paced learning in that she states that discussions and conversations are a definite part of self-paced learning has stuck with me. She says adults use conversations in three ways to learn the content: (1)ask or answer questions about the course content, (2)discuss problems the content helped solve and (3)teach a colleague or subordinate. As I indicated in a post in Week 5 it seems natural to me to use learners as part of the feedback process through threaded discussions, e-mails, etc. in the role of coach, mentor, instructor assistants or "Champions" to engage other learners.

2. Kerry - This is always difficult since both learners and content are in constant change. Sometimes it's also helpful to look at the ROI and budget allocation which does drive how to present content. For example, Breeze is a great interactive tool, but one that I cannot afford to use in my design. Email, threaded discussions and phone chats are my modes of interaction with learners.

3. Synchronous learning and $$$...I agree with everyone's assessment of blended learning and how important the decision is on when and how to use each. I think it is a shame that synchronous methods are so often difficult to incorporate because of time and money concerns. This is especially a problem in situations where management outside the training/instructional design department writes all the checks and has to answer to "efficiency" guidelines. While the value can be clear to us, it isn't always the case with corporate management.

4. I to think that e-learning can be synchronous or asynchronous or mixture of both, you just need to decide if it is cost effective to do it one way or the other and keep in mind the advantages of each.

My response: Yes, cost is very important component to consider. I am thinking about cost in a new way, especially since three posts focused on cost. I was intrigued by Linda's info on the ways adults learn content.

Week 5 Discussion: Where’s the Social in Self-Paced Instruction?

Week 5 Discussion: Where’s the Social in Self-Paced Instruction?

What was the discussion about?

In the world of eLearning (in corporate settings, in particular), a lot of our instructional design work is in the service of creating self-paced instruction. Think back to your original stories of great learning experiences that you shared...were any of them self-paced? No. But, that doesn't get us off the hook when determining how we can achieve the common values -- especially the Social value -- when there are no (or limited) learner-to-learner or learner-to-instructor interactions. How should we reconcile our need to create self-paced instruction with our need to reflect the common values in our designs? Or, do we need to reconcile? What strategies do you have for addressing the values in self-paced instruction (or in learning from computers instruction, in general)?

General Overview

This discussion was interesting because it made us probe into the Common Instructional Values. We focused on the Social Instructional Value by pondering how we should reconcile our need to create self-paced instruction with our need to reflect the common values in our designs.

Most students agreed that including self-paced learning is valuable since is adds spice to the blandness of self-pace learning. To “kick-it up a notch,” self-paced learning need to be learner-centered, authentic, engaging, but it also needs to include social instructional values—collaboration, debate, conversation, team work, cooperation, discourse, discussion…ect. One example of how social interaction contributed to self-paced learning was seen in an Audio car forum. The Audio forum didn’t meet the needs of all involved, so the dissatisfied members left the forum to create their own Audio forum. This forum grew into a national forum beckoning members to travel the county to meet face-to-face, in the kitchen no less! They had a different take of things, and quenched their needs by building a new forum using social interaction.

But not everyone agreed that social interaction is fabulous. Some saw value in learning on their own as a way to learn the most since figuring things out and learning by mistake makes a more memorable learning experience.

Most valuable contribution to the discussion

My most “fab” contribution on to the discussion was how self-paced learning is going to revolutionize learning. No more are we going to think of learning as being one-directional: it is not going to come from the hierarchy of expert to student, e.g. author to student, teacher to student. We are going to be using on our own creativity and ingenuity to aide us in our own learning process, and, in addition, we are equally going to us our peers as teachers/mentors/coaches.

Why was this a great contribution?

It reformed the way I view “feedback” from peers. Now, I really see the value social interaction and how I can grow from learning from my peers. I used to take suggestions from my peers as a knock against me/my ideas. But now, I see how their point of view as a way to broaden the way I understand ideas, thus making me a well rounded individual.

2nd Blog

Just making sure I am blogging correctly......this is a test of my personal blogging system....this is only a test....

1st Post--ever!

So, this is my very first post to any blog, ever--at least in recent memory! I am feeling sorta proud since its my own blog that I am blogging on for the first time ever.