Creating Collaborative Communities - Week 2

I hereby resolve to:

• Work on my tendency of being a Hijacker (p146)
• Work on my tendency of being an Overposter (144)
• Learn more about myself as a person, learner and instructor
• Introduce students to the idea of “personalities” and the strengths they bring to the table
• Learn more about my students based on personality inventories
• Work toward creating cooperative groups of students based on personality characteristics
• Employ the 5 critical decision points when implementing group work

I learned that there is a name for me: Hijacker! (146) or Overposter (144). Interestingly, I do not do this in the courses I teach, but I absolutely do it in those I take! I am going to work on that consciously!

I loved reexamining the learning theories, and reconnecting with social constructivist theories. Looking at group work and personality inventories was very intriguing to me. In both face-to-face and online classrooms, it can be hard to do group work and have it be successful. The idea of looking at the different strengths of students and trying to pair them that way is something I have never considered. We do want our students to be in heterogenous groups, but without knowing much about the students, it can be hard to create those groups. I also like the idea of having students take the inventories early on to get an idea of what kind of learner they are, and maybe point out some of the strengths that they have.

Creating Collaborative Communities - Week 1

I hereby resolve to:

• Foster a community of reciprocity and cooperation among students.
• Use the list of 26 reasons online education is better than brick and mortar whenever I find myself drawn into a debate with colleagues. 
• Employ the list of best practices as I build new online courses, and as I revamp ones I have already created. 
• Do a better job in creating feedback to assessments like quizzes and tests administered online. 
• Continue to focus on the process of learning as being just as important as the product. 
• Be responsive to student feedback about my course materials.
• Learn to model in a way that does not detract from students’ individual synthesis of information.
• Update older assignments and lessons to reflect more timely innovations.

I don’t know that there was a any new knowledge gained, per say, but I did reexamine some of the things I already do and make mental changes for the future. I will use the list of 26 reasons online education is better than brick and mortar whenever I find myself drawn into a debate with colleagues. I will also employ the list of best practices as I build new online courses, and as I revamp ones I have already created. The 8 key considerations really do make for a better teaching and learning experience. I have been in courses that do not follow them, and they were definitely horrid!