Seminar Experiences

Individually, we are
one drop. Together, we
are an ocean.
Ryunosuke Satoro
Seminar Experiences

Over the course of OLTD 503, Ive had several inspiring experiences that have broadened my view
of online teaching and learning. In reading and listening to a number of intelligent, creative and
knowledgeable individuals, I recognize that sometimes your best ideas come from someone else, or
as Thomas Carlyle eloquently states, The lightning spark of thought generated in the solitary
mind awakens its likeness in another mind.

In reading Kears (2011) work, she notes that teaching has moved away from delivery of content
to support for learning where the teachers role is stimulate and encourage the intellectual and
social needs of the learner, while helping [the learner] develop a positive and open attitude to
learning (Ch. 9, p. 2). I would say that the seminar experiences helped to illustrate these learning
design principles. In mulling-over my experiences in the seminar forum, several stand out for
various reasons: the technological wizardry that was utilized, the creativity, organization and
planning that went into the design, and the thoughtful articulation of ideas that were presented.
Seminar Experiences~Technology &
Design

Effective teachers never limit themselves to

one solution or one practicewe are always
exploring new and creative ways to improve
student learning and to make our teaching
practice relevant and meaningful.
Integrating technological tools into the
curriculum is becoming an inseparable part
of good teaching, and it is necessary to enable
all students to benefit from the dynamic and
transformative nature of technology and
connectedness.
Seminar Experiences~Technology &
Design

What Ive noticed over the course of our seminar

experiences is that online teaching not only requires
mastering tasks common to traditional teaching,
such as: teaching strategies, creating course content,
and structuring the course, and classroom
management (minimal with adult learners), but the
teacher must also have a solid grasp of technology.
The educator must mediate teaching duties via a
blog, a learning management system (LMS) and
with other tools. For example, does an instructor
have the ability to moderate an online discussion,
create a website, use an online survey? These skills,
among many, help to enhance an online course.
Seminar Experiences~Technology &
Design

E-learning must be effective in terms of

student engagement, facilitating a deep
understanding of content, providing
personalized learning opportunities and
constructing opportunities for students to
connect to each other and the world outside
of the classroom. The online environment
is an optimal context for learning when it
integrates technology to support content
knowledge and pedagogical practice
(Koehler and Mishra, 2009).
Seminar Experiences~Technolgoy &
Design
Seminar 4 with Sonny Dhaliwa and
Jean Kloppenberg, directed learners to
Karen Kears Chapter 6 Feeling
Connected. They focused on doing and
creating community with the help of
some fantastic asynchronous online tools
and creative ways of implementing
them.
Karen Kear (2011) speaks to
online learners sense of
community and the concept of
social presence, whether
online communication feels
real to participants which
varies between individuals
(Ch. 4, p.1).
Seminar Experiences~Technolgoy
Following Jean and Sonnys week
activities, their online survey
considered the learners feelings of
connectedness within the online
community. The result demonstrated
the a strong sense of community is
possible among it members with the
use of asynchronous tools;
participants found that the activities
made them feel more connected to the
group (4.3/5).
Seminar Experiences~More Engaging
Uses of Technology
OLTD Facebook Page
Bitstrips
Wordle
Weebly
Seminar Experiences~Technology &
Design
Something that has become clear to me this week is that online
communication tools can be critical to promoting social, cognitive, and
teaching presence in online learning. During the live twitter feed,
someone brought up the point that learners are just as responsible as
the facilitator to contribute to the development of social presence by
posting to discussions etc. According to Bowman, All participants share in
the learning and the responsibility for furthering discussionThis
also involves contributing further knowledge and experience, weaving
discussion threads together to provide focus and facilitating
harmonious collaboration. The role of the student is that of active
learner. The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning and to create a
learning community within the online classroom(http://bit.ly/Uc1sgN).
(M.Holtkamp, 2013)
Seminar Experiences~Technology &
Design
I love the collaborative nature of Realtime Board as a communication
tool. I really sense that education ~ and life in general ~ has shifted
towards connectedness and away from the values of individualism.
Technology certainly supports this shift and social networking seems to
be a natural response to the fundamental human need to belong. I can't
imagine keeping knowledge *secret* and *tricky* anymore as it seemed
education programs did when I was a child in the public school system.
Online communication tools are designed to connect and problem solve.
They don't support memorization and regurgitation of facts at all.
Exploring online tools and the theory behind it this week has
reinforced my belief in connectivism as an *age* of which we are part. I
believe our students require effective tools with which they can
participate as effective citizens in these connected, collaborative times.

(L.Mann, 2013)
Seminar Experiences~Technology
It is easy to become overwhelmed and even
discouraged in an online communication
environment. The choice of online tools is
expansive. (S.Volk, 2013).
I must say that I enjoy the creative
and remarkable ways that we are
able to use technology for
educational purposes, but is it all
about the technology?
Seminar Experiences~Technology
Yes, there are technologies that allow us to leverage
connective possibilities that would be very difficult if not
impossible f2f. There are other things (graphics,
archiving) that are undeniable but. And this is the but
that doesnt show up in the original syllabus, its not
about any specific technology, but rather, understanding
the pedagogies implicit in them, the things that can be
leveraged from them, and the ways in which we can be
successful in using them.

So. Focus on the things that are important let the

technologies come naturally when theyre needed (
Dave Cormier, 2010)
Seminar Experiences~Discussions

What makes our community and

connected learning great is the that each
one of us brings a little knowledge to the
plate, we come with our personal
backgrounds, education and life
experiences, and through discussion we
get to ask questions, and show some of our
thinking to others--sharing ideas,
knowledge and understanding of topics.
Seminar Experiences~Discussions
Synchronous, asynchronous; online, blended or F2F; 21st century
or the beginning of time...I feel like the best way to connect to each
other is and has always been through sharing stories. As Thomas
King suggests: "The truth about stories is that that's all we are.
The experience of sharing stories, or little sips of stories about
ourselves asynchronously through Twitter and our wiki profile has
shown me how powerful and tenacious storytelling is in an online
environment. Never having taught online I have been curious
about how community is built, stories shared and people
connected. I love the variety of tools available for digital
storytelling - even the simple, succinct Twitter has incredible
connective properties. The strength of a community, however,
depends on its participants and their willingness to share their
stories.
(L. Mann, 2013)
Seminar Experiences~Discussions

I believe one of the largest barriers to online

communication is literacy. An online community can
have a diverse membership which means there will be
a wide range in skill levels. This can be an issue for
online communication since it is primarily text based.
Now if you combine the fact that it can be difficult to
read tone, there are bound to be misunderstandings
and conflicts; people may not understand the question
they are responding to. These are my thoughts on this
concept, my question for the group in your personal
experience have you found this to be the case, and if so
how did you mitigate the conflicts that might arise?

(S.Dhaliwa, 2013)
Seminar Experiences~Discussions
Laura, your post ,I am passionate about integrating technology into
my F2F teaching resonated with me becauseAre their benefit with
anyone elses f2f classrooms to shift part of it online using
technology?
(J.Kloppenburg,2013)
This is an interesting question for me. When I first read it, my initial
response was that I definitely feel more comfortable online. Yet, when
I really think about it, it truly depends on so many factors other than
the environment. I tend to be a watcher and am not one of those
students who contribute a lot, f2f or online. I admit that I much prefer
a f2f discussion with a small group than this type of forum which can
quickly become overwhelming...
M.Holtkamp (2013) responding to the question: Where do you, as a
student, feel most comfortable? Is it the learning environment (physical
or virtual) or rapport which most significantly affects sense of
belonging?
Seminar Experiences~Discussions

The discussion groups are a valuable place

for learning. In his blog, Dave Cormier
(2011) speaks to the real learning and best
kind of knowledge happening in spaces
between the things we can identify (the
points) [facts] (Cormier, 2011). Yes, I am
able to pick out specific facts and bits of
information that are useful for my learning
in the text, but the actual learning is
happening in the conversations we share
with each other.
Seminar Discussions~A Place for
Learning

Depending on the level of technical proficiency in my class, there are several

options for an online icebreaker. I might open a gallery where we could share
photo albums, or I might hold a synchronous sessions where each participant is
allotted time to display one image and discuss how it is representative of
personal characteristics. You could set up a survey where each participant
contributes two truths and a lie, participants take the survey, and results are
displayed. Participants could be split into pairs, asked to interview each other,
and write a brief bio for posting. Frequently people are not comfortable directly
discussing and revealing themselves. As an introductory exercise the facilitator
could begin a work of creative fiction, one sentence, and require that the cohort
complete the story with each participant contributing a paragraph.
(J.Finley, 2013)
Seminar Discussions~A Place for
Learning

Recently, I was reading a psychology article about the

relationship between multi-tasking and productivity. One
study found that it is possible to lose up to 40% of your
productivity if you multi-task, because the reality is what
you are doing is task-switching, not multi-tasking. People
cant actually do more than one task at a time. When you
are constantly switching between tasks it takes more time
to get things completed, you make more errors when
switching, and if the tasks are complex, then the time and
errors increase, and task switching is too taxing on the
brain--the research shows that people can attend to only
one cognitive task at a time...
(M.Kennedy, 2013)
Discussions~Information Overload

At certain points in the OLTD program I have

felt very overwhelmed by the abundant
contributions of my classmates to the discussion
forum. At times, the conversations seemed more
about filling a quota of words and academic
references than offering authentic conversation,
and the large discussion group size was all the
more daunting, leaving me feeling inadequate
and suffering from discussion board fatigue.
Discussion board~Information Overload

Social presence cannot be determined solely by

the number of posts written by a student. In my
opinion, discussion boards are overused in
courses as a method of communicating and
assessing student participation in a class. On
one hand, good communication skills as
expressed through text is a vital digital literacy
to develop. On the other hand, how do discussion
boards make accommodations for the different
learning styles of students?
(S.Volk, 2013)
Discussion Board~Information Overload

The *big* question I considered today was discussion forums and

whether or not they are effective communication/learning tools. My
conclusion: DFs are not necessarily effective for everyone all the time.
Discussion forums are convenient and provide an accessible space for
thought exploration. They can also be a space for providing instruction
or information. They can be a place to house readings and links. For
me, DFs haven't inspired consistently engaging dialogue. In theory, I
believe they could but I've found many posts (my own included) to feel
disconnected or used to concur with another point of view.

For some learners, working through thoughts in writing provide for

meaningful learning experiences. For others, post *quotas* are
burdensome and uninspiring.
(L.Mann, 2013)
Discussions~Information Overload?
This seminar experience provided a new outlook on the use of
discussion boards as an effective educational tool. It was refreshing to be
placed in smaller groupshelping to alleviate the fatigue, and allowing
users to feel more comfortable expressing themselves. The limited
number of members allowed for contributors to be heard and to feel part
of a community among learnersI believe as Kear (2011) suggests, that
this encouraged trust and openness, which are needed for genuine
collaborative learning(Ch.4, p.3). At times, the passion, interest
and/or enthusiasm about technology in education was communicated
through our discussions, and at other times the dialogue was refreshingly
critical about the nature of technology and learning. In all, a vast
majority of the conversations took on a more authentic tone allowing the
reader to detect the writers voice.
Seminar Experiences~Discussion Board

You ask about engagement in logging as a repository for

reflection on learning I know I am always more motivated
to contribute when the topic is engaging and personally or
professionally relevant

This week I really enjoyed being able to hear everyones

voices. It adds a human touch when synchronous activities
are not required which contributes to community building.
(J.Finlay, 2013)
Seminar Experience~Feedback
This seminar reaffirmed the importance
of providing ongoing and regular feedback
to students. Ive come to recognize that in
carefully moderating online discussions
and providing feedback to learners
stimulates an ongoing conversations,
allows the writer to feel heard and
inspires more engaging dialogue.
Seminar Experience~Feedback

Thanks Tracy. I think you have hit the nail on the head here
as I agree that it is all about relationship building. I have
noted since the onset of OLTD and our time together that I
feel I have spent more time with each of you and somehow
"know" you better from your posts and Collaborate sessions,
along with course assignments, than I do my f2f students
(M. ONeil, 2013).

Sonny, Yes at times we struggle with students' literacy

skills. The bigger issue for us this year is how do we support
students that would like to take online courses that have an
IEP that requires adaptations within the learning (S.
Peterson, 2013).