Module 6

Summarized Learnings

This course has provided me with a lot of tools and different ways to think about teaching students effectively through an online format.  The execution of the material for me was clunky at first but I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Conquering the Content-  I found myself referring back to this book quite a bit, and I think it will be an effective resource moving forward. The book itself sets up, like I think so I really appreciated that.
Dave-  You are clearly a passionate individual who loves what he does.  Not only that, you are a fantastic teacher, who is pushing the expectations and boundaries of the classroom I really appreciate that and your enthusiasm is infectious.

I currently feel like I'm still just throwing ideas around my course to see what sticks, but I'm not convinced a "clean cut" product is a reality at this point.  Things are taking shape and I feel confident in my pedagogy and outline.  The execution is clunky but we're getting there.

Really appreciated the interaction and idea sharing, not always my strong point but I enjoyed reading others interactions and learning from that.

Anxious to put my learnings into practice this fall. Ready or not, here we go.  

Module 5

Screencast-o-matic. Awesome. - I've already been putting this into work this morning, with my correspondence with my athletes for summer lifting.  I'll be incorporating this tool with football, strength &conditioning as well as the courses.

Copyright laws and usage- still fuzzy on the details, but get the idea, the Fair Use Evaluator tool should come in handy.   I haven't done a lot of material use that hasn't already been authorized by the publishing company, but can see the benefit to creativity and engagement being able to use mainstream media in the teaching.

Chunking the content- this has been a goal of mine in every course I've taught. It's good to get further reassurance that you can cut material and eliminate items.  All the information may be good to know, but what is going to stick long term.  I'm also toying with the idea of spending a bigger chunk of class time focusing on how to study, remember material, and how to process ideas.  Those are items I think we as teachers sometimes assume our students have down, at least I do.

Adapting Conventional Instruction- chart and list were helpful, I need to do more exploring into technological alternative.

 Another thought I've been convicted of is I need to become a better story teller with the course material.  Stories give facts meaning, don't know exactly how I'm going to implement it but am convinced that technology can help.

Module 4

Using VoiceThread was an eye opener for me and I immediately knew exactly how I wanted to use it in my course.  I had been searching (half-heartedly) for this exact tool.  Excited to put it to good use, and steer clear of drawn out class lectures.

A topic that grabbed my attention was "building relevance in your course", which I believe was part of the Building Community blog post.  That's always been a big area of emphasis for me when I set out to teach a course. I don't think I've always hit the mark on it. The reiteration of making the course relevant outside the classroom, increases the odds that the material will be remembered.  The bullet points for success were helpful in brainstorming through the setup of my fall courses weekly schedule.

I wrestle a bit with the idea of the "engagement of the student" and how to do that well.  Personally I want to connect with them and communicate the material effectively and in the most efficient manner and I make that a conscious focus.   My struggle is often with the idea of catering too much to the student to try and get them interested in the material (or pass the course).  At what point is it their responsibility to get on board with what you are doing?  I haven't run into this at Dordt so much but have had students at other institutions that were flat out not interested in the subject but were there to fulfill a credit. It's more difficult to reach a student with motives like that, at what point do you move on?  Not sure there is a clear cut answer, just musing.  I welcome any thoughts on the matter.

Module 3

Biggest take away for me in this module was the objectives builder tool. I'm excited to use the template and the formatting to round out my course. I was very motivated to actually use the material right away, and have been revamping my fall course and syllabus over the past week...on vacation, which has never happened to me before.  I've also been reading a couple books on the side. One being The Art of Explanation, by Lee LeFever. It's ideas come right along side this module and have beefed up my syllabus and how I will be teaching this course to a variety of students. I'm gaining confidence with the pedagogy and the formatting, really wanting to lean more into the technological tools and creative ways to reach students.

Module 2

Excited to incorporate some of the new material and course mapping with my Anatomy course.  Really want to streamline the information delivery process.  Also want to be able to have freedom within material and add elements of student control in the class.  Feel good about the parameters set and interested to incorporate more technology and mediums into it to expand our impact to different learning styles.  Feally want to get the information across to all students and allow students to learn the material at their own pace while incorporating real world applications, which isn't always easy in Anatomy.

First Post

Sorry for the late start to this blog.  My thoughts from the first module both reading and the class interactions are pretty cohesive.  It's neat to be a part of a group or class that is interested in using mediums that perhaps may be foreign or clunky to us, but so seamless and intuitive for students.

The Conquering the Content reading got me thinking about a book I read during graduate school.  What The Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain.  This book was impactful on many levels, how teachers design class, how do they anticipate learning styles, how to treat students, etc.  The Conquering the Content reading and the 10 Principles of Effective Online teachings, fit this same mold, but are concentrated on the mode of transportation of knowledge as well, which I am excited about.

As an undergraduate student I attended a major state university and had a taste of online learning in multiple classes, some done well, some done very poorly.  I'm excited to find ways to incorporate my experiences as an online student into the teaching aspect as well.

Bottom line, good teaching is good teaching no matter the medium, and those principles don't change. However I think particular mediums can streamline efficiency and reach a wider audience and capitalize on different learning styles more effectively as well.

Excited to be a student and learn these next couple of weeks.

-Adam Conway