Virtual Teaching and Learning

Its kind of hilarious that trying to “search” the “search” company to find a simple index of all it services was kind of challenging. Nevertheless I found it (see previous blog) it would have helped a bit in doing the research for which topic to include in our experience blocks. Our project experience is entirely built around online tools, so inherently it keeps things simple if our materials can be co located in one place e.g. one vendor, central point of access etc. That being said... leveraging the extensive library of “help” and support documentation materials, simplifies our curated “experience” design process as much of the heavy lifting is already done well. This leaves the organization of said materials into clear pathways to understandings and application. Our team is keeping the video creation process in each of these overall design conversations as we look to have it pull each weeks understandings into a cohesive interlinked final project achievement showcasing the most useful elements for each learner/educator.

Team EMS course support materials can be found here as well as in our team collaboration folder.

After quite a bit of searching... ironically it was difficult to find a place where all of the latest Google tools are collected and overviewed.

Team EMS Course Outline can be found here.

The process of creating the outline developed organically as we worked through what our goals were for the project. We identified these goals as measures for success:

-Create something useful that could be used beyond a single purpose.

-The experience is relevant and engaging to different skill levels and/or professional goals. 

-Educators will finish the experience with powerful tools they can use in their teaching practice and share with others.

Each of our team members do different work so it was challenging to think about a way to do something engaging and fun for everyone, and remain useful across our different work applications. This lead us to the common theme of educators and their own self development around creating virtual learning experiences. Often educators can short change personal development for greater good of the student experience. It was clear upon that reflection that creating a comprehensive experience focused on new tools educators was a great fit. 

The current edition of Course Design Rubric Standards is in its sixth iteration. It is comprised of eight general standards that break out into 42 specific standards. That being said not all of the standards will apply to any given project. I am a huge fan of simplicity and one of my main concerns is user perception of complexity and I have found with career level learning assessment has to be both easy to adapt and powerfully aligned with the subject material. It’s a huge bonus if assessment can be visualized in a dash-board of sorts for easy analysis by leaders. Of the eight general standards I found multiple specifics I liked in seven of the generals. I won't call them all out here but further refine to 3 General standards with my top three specifics in each of those.

Q1 - 1. Which standards do you find the most important or valuable and why?

First setting the tone with a clear common language is key I have found so First up is:

Course overview and Introduction  1.1 Instructions must be clear on what to do and how to do it along with finding resources, 1.3 also because online setting expectations for engagement for the course is important. Combining 1.8 & 1.9 in the sense that a strong introduction from both the instructor and the class participants sets the tone early and provides early connections for colab.

Instructional Materials  4.1 The instructional materials e.g. authored modules, video, audio, manipulative’s must be relative to the learning goal. 4.2 Because business tools changes quick the materials need to be up to date and relevant to the business “just in time learning” 4.3 Other factors are important but having a variety or blended approach can capture different learning styles can be more effective overall in transfer.

Assessment & Measurement 3.1 Assessment can both tell you where your learners are at before and after a given training occurs allowing for tweaks for effective use of time. 3.2 with adult learners the need to explain the rules is paramount to cut confusion and get buy in. 3.3. Additionally, allowing learners to access and even compare progress has shown to be a great motivator for competitions. 

Q2. Which standards have been a low priority or are standards you hadn't previously considered and why? Has their value changed with the advent of what you've learned in the readings? Why or why not?

My personal biggest “ah ha” moment with the standards has been the awarenesses around designing instruction with accessibility in mind. When I worked at Apple this was always in the conversation as many features were built into the hardware to increase learner support. As a digital instructional designer it only makes sense to author content that can be accessed in a variety of formats as an example using text to voice learning media.

Q3. Which standards are the most challenging/time consuming to address? Why? How do you plan to address these challenges?

Currently I feel that how you measure the course or learning event is challenging not only in building questions and knowledge checks but the over all look and feel of the assessment and translating the results into usable data to inform future iterations.

Q4. What is the point of reviewing these standards/rubrics and discussing them in a blog before you get your collaborative and individual project assignments? 

Informations is power and by the same philosophy set forth in the General rubrics it will give myself and peers a solid understanding of what's important in assessing our respective learning projects and perhaps insight into other standards that can be measure for better results!

References:

Higher Ed Course Design Rubric: Quality Matters. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2019, from https://www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/rubric-standards/higher-ed-rubric#targetText=The Rubric is also used,Certification for quality course design*.

Hey Sandor, 

In reading Stavredes, I really enjoyed the attention given to psychological theory and perspectives employed, as an example the key element of cognitive presence is “multiple perspectives” employed to build a cohorts learning knowledge. Or in other words the collaboration of a group to tackle a particular problem set and collectively use each others existing knowledge sets to incubate solutions. I really liked the reference to moving the learner to intrinsic vs. extrinsic learning as motivation theory calls for learning to become intrinsically motivated. I plan to incorporate this as it is based on transformative learning that can be leveraged professionally which is the exact goal.(Stavredes, 2019) The idea is to take the knowledge and immediately employ it to everyday work in practice in the business. Critical thinking and challenging assumptions are key components as well, as this allows a learner to move past ingrained habits and the notorious “this is the way we have always done it” mindset. As I look to build online content this aspect of the cognitive will be high priority to create buy-in and avoid assumptive shut downs or lack of engagement as a result of poorly executed intrinsic method. I really had to dig deep to find a new approach that could encourage sharing of perspectives in an online learning format. Fortunately there is a tool within the Adobe learning management system that uses social learning tools to allow for collaboration around source material in a social media type format. Participants will be able to share, like, promote and respond within their learning group on a specific course topic. Regardless of what learning model is chosen the importance of reflection is ubiquitous, I believe the social learning tool will be the vehicle that fosters both the interactions and the reflection to move the learning outcomes forward. Asking great questions can have such a positive effect, from the reading Elder & Paul speak to this and break down standards based questioning which can increase the efficiency of inquiry. (Elder & Paul, 2010) I plan to keep these question sets handy as I build knowledge checks into bite sized courses I author. I realize that much of the learning I create or adapt, is more process or systems related so the need for heavy analysis of arguments and critical thinking are relegated to a learners own preconceived notions, assumptions, and learning styles they bring to the training. I do rely heavily on feedback as it gives me as an author a view into what works and what doesn't with a particular course. Fortunately there are a few different ways I can gather this data within the LMS, to make tweaks to authored content on the fly. I digress, to recap I plan to use social learning tools to help engage critical thinking amongst different groups of learners, this will allow for a more intrinsically driven experience that can have elements of debate, reflection, & discussion as a team. I am still on the fence as to how open these group interactions will be e.g. group to group as in one department vs. another or will it be topic based and group agnostic? These are the next steps to map out the parameters of the social learning experience and how to moderate it effectively.

References:

Elder, L., & Paul, R. (2010). The thinker's guide to analytic thinking. Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking Press.

Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: foundations and strategies for student success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.

I really enjoyed this Blog assignment as initially I thought about whether I had a particular philosophy around teaching. I do not have a teaching degree, fortunately my undergrad was in psychology which is particularly handy in understanding better ways to engage learners using psychology. This weeks reading was a reflective visit back to the early and current philosophies on learning, memory, cultural factors, learning attributes, etc. It’s hard to call out just one philosophical model as my own as I seem to take elements that make sense from different models. As an example I was introduced to “Growth Mindset” as part of my masters program and align with that concept as I have seen the most successful learners have a belief and ownership in the process.(Guido, 2019) I also believe we as educators and facilitators can impact the learner with strong or weak language, this can begin at an early age and re-enforce or de-enforce a students inherent beliefs around their potential. That said I see “Social Constructivism” as part of my own philosophy as the “cure” for a learners preconceived notions of self ability through the support of social learning. (Stavredes, 2019) For example, I am currently implementing a online learning management system for 300 employees of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. In order to roll out an organized online learning tool for employees used to using paper and outdated videos is a daunting task. I have seen implementations such as this fail for a variety of reasons and my belief is that the missing ingredient for success is the leveraging of an social learning approach. Fortunately the designers at Adobe have introduced Social Learning tools into the latest version release. I hope to co-opt the way people/employees use and consume electronic media already and deliver a learning experience that feels both familiar and taps into the community or tribe of peers and cohorts. My biggest questions at the moment is “Will employees embrace social media style learning”. We have every type  of learner representation from the savvy IT professional to the employee close to retirement. it will be interesting to see adoption trends and feedback as we integrate the LMS. I am a huge fan of simplicity and relevance so these will be philosophical guides as employees are enrolled and begin their learning experiences using the LMS. Ultimately, I would define success as the ability for every employee to access and share learning resources they need to be powerful in their roles at the corporation. 

References:

Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: foundations and strategies for student success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.

Here are some links to my various virtual spaces:

Twitter https://twitter.com/SandorBrown

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