Blog Assignment 4: Engagement

Over the past week, we have learned about engagement in the classroom. One thing that I definitly learned about engagment is if the students are engaged, they are learning! We have also been creating our own online course. This has been.... interesting.. to say the least. Even though it has been a lot of work, I have honestly enjoyed doing this type of assignment because it is something I have never done before. I guess I have really never thought about how much really goes into creating an online course... but goodness, its been a lot and we are not even done yet! I do not believe I have any concerns this week, other than trying to get everything completed! Everytime I would think I was completed with the Course Outline Assignment, I would check the rubric and have to add something else! Im suuuureee Dr. Gale will let me know if I am missing anything or need to change something! :) 

Blog Assignment 3: Community & Collaboration

This week I have learned A LOT about collaboration. We read about the Stages of collaboration, tools for collaboration and challanges one might have in a collaborative setting.

Stages of Collaboration-
Set the stage- Set clear guidelines for completing the project Make sure students are comfortable with the technology that is needed.
Create the environment- Students need to know where to meet their peers. (Discussion board, wiki, etc.)
Model the process- Set an example of collaboration behavior.
Guide the process- Just because the instructor has model the activity, does not mean their job is complete. They must continue to stay involved with the process and give the students the confidence they need to move forward.
Evaluate the process- It is important to include some form of evaluation in an collaborative activity because it allows the instructor to gain insight into whether the learning objectives of the activity were met.

Tools for Collaboration-
Explanations for Teams- Students are sometimes worried about completing collaborative assignments because other students might not pull their load. It is important to have it step where each student has the same amount of work needed to complete the assignment and if one does not do their part, it wil not affect the other students grade.
Guidelines and Expectations- Guidelines help set the stage for students. With guidelines, students will know exactly what is expected of them so they will have confidence to complete the assignment.
Agreements- A team charter serves as an agreement or contract among members, outlining how they will interact together, determining the roles each member will play in the activity and creating benchmarks and deadlines for the completion of the work.
Buy-in- The group members form a contract for their activity, should a member not fulfill that agreement, it then becomes the responsibility of the instructor to follow up with that student and remind them of the agreed-upon responsibilities and tasks.

Collaboration Challenges-
Participation- Like stated before, it is important to get all the student to participate in the collaborative activity. There will be times when you will have that student that does not want to put out as much work as everyone else. This is when you intervene and remind them of their responsibilities.
Leadership and Decision Making- This will be different in every group. There is always one that wants to take charge and make all the decisions. Every now and then, there is a possibility for conflict between the group.
Cultural Differences- A few challenges you might have is- different communication styles, different attitudes toward conflict, different approaches to completing tasks, different decision-making styles, different attitudes towards disclosure and different approaches to knowing.


When assessing the students in a collaboration assignment, it id important for the students to know what exactly was expected of them. Using learner-centered assessments- self assessment is a great way for the instructor to get great feedback. Using rubrics is a great way for students to know exactly how their final grade was figured up. Students would also have this at the beginning of a project so they would know the expectations of them.   
The information that we were required to read in this module was VERY helpful in learning about collaboration!

Blog Assignment 2: Assessment

This pass week in my ED 308 class we have began to look at the second phase of the ADDIE Model. We have talked a lot of assessment this past week. After working on the objectives for my Course Outline Assignment, I feel that having assessments for my assignment will not be difficult. A concern I have and the more I think about it is my topic for my Course Outline Assignment is going to be difficult. I feel like I might have picked a diffcult topic. I believe it will be fine and I will enjoy completing my assignment with this topic  in the long run though because I enjoy learning and researching my topic. I am doing college level 10 week course. It will be interesting, to say the least!
Learning about assessments have always been kinda interesting to me. I believe the reason why I enjoy studying about them is because you get your end result from them! All that planning and all the trouble- the moment you wait for is the assessment to see if it was all worth it! Plus, there are SO many assesments you can use for all different situations!
I have also enjoyed how involved and dedicated our instructor is for this class. I can tell he goes above and beyond to help all his students. When an instructor is like that, it makes me want to try harder in their class. It's very rare to find such a great, dedicated instructor!

Brittany Etheredge

Blog Assignment 1: Analysis

This week we have began talking about the ADDIE Model. I have heard of the ADDIE Model before in previous readings and I have also known the steps in the ADDIE Model-but all this time, I have never put two and two together and make the connection that it was the same thing...crazy huh? Anyways, in the following weeks, we will be learning about each step in the ADDIE Model. This week we are learning about the Analysis stage of the ADDIE Model. This is where the pre-planning thinking begins of the course. A few things that may take place in this stage is design of course, understanding your audience, planning goals and objectives and identifying instructional and assessment strategies.

Of all the stages of the ADDIE Model, I feel that the Analysis stage is one of the -if not THE- most important stage of all. This is where all the important planning comes into play and everything is adapted to the students. I feel like this is also the most hardest stage of all the stages. It requires a lot of brain-storming to complete this stage.

A concern I have about the Analysis stage is-where do you begin?? Say on the first few days of school, do you just hope that you have made your lesson plans able to adapt well enough for all your students? Is it just trial and error?...... If your can't tell, that is one of my biggest fears.. walking into a classroom the first week of school and not knowing WHAT TO DO! :)

Resources:

http://www.agiledocs.com/elearning/custom-elearning-solutions/