Session 3: Response to Prompts

	Learner-Content	Learner-Instructor	Learner-Learner
Video Presentation	X
Lecture	X
Chat		X	X
Discussion		X	X
Blog		X	X
Skype		X	X
Website	X
Email		X	X

A. Download the interactionsmatrix.doc file. Note that this is a table listing the three types of interactions at the top, with some sample activities on the left. Place an X in the cells to indicate which activities correspond to which interactions. Add some additional activities of your own and mark the cells appropriate to the types of interactions each represents.

B. Discuss of the types of interactions that are most often used in the content area for which you expect to design instruction. Be sure to explain the content area, the types of students and types of objectives with which you will be working.

The most common forms of interaction in my content area are learner-content interactions and learner-instructor interactions.  I expect to design instruction in the Mathematics content area.  The types of students that I will be designing for are low-income students that are typically not very motivated or engaged in learning.  The objectives for the instruction will be to teach the students new mathematical processes and theorems and have them apply their newly acquired skills in multi-step problems as well as real-world problems.

C. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the Horton text discuss three categories of activities: Absorb, Do, and Connect. After reading these chapters you are to locate one or more online classes and identify one Absorb, one Do and one Connect activity. Present your findings using this format:

URL: https://www.citiprogram.org/index.cfm?pageID=91

Course Content: This course covers the general principles of ethical care and use of animals in research, training, and testing.

Intended Students/Probable Student Characteristics: Probable students are ones who wish to work more productively with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.  Future veterinarians would also be prospective students since the course deals with septic surgery, post-procedure care, post-approval monitoring, and wildlife research.  They might not have a whole lot of experience with technological tools.

Instructor Characteristics: Very knowledgeable on the content and in the use of technology.

Identify the Type of Activity: Absorb - Do – Connect

Absorb activity – Watching a slideshow

Do activity – Drill and practice

Connect activity – Guided research

Identify and Discuss the Interactions in the Activity: 

In the absorb activity, students are able to absorb a lot of information by going through a slideshow presented online.  In the do activity, students are tested on what they have learned through a series of repetitive tasks. In the connect activity, students are able to research the topic and connect the information to their actual life.  These are examples of learner-content interaction. 

Horton, W. (2011). e-Learning by Design, 2nd edition. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. doi:10.1002/9781118256039

Session 2: Response to prompts

1. Scenarios
To address these scenarios, identify the major characteristics or issues that would impact or influence the design of the described online class. Be sure to indicate which of the characteristics you identify would be your prime concern. Also be sure to indicate how each of the major issues you identify would influence your design of the online class.

You have been asked to lead the team that is developing a series of courses for an online University. Explain some design decisions or issues that you would have to deal with for each class given the characteristics of the content, instructors and students as presented. Note: Pick the most salient characteristics and issues and explain why the ones you have chosen are key. Don’t try to cover every possible issue in each scenario!



Course A

Content: This course will cover beginning college algebra.

Instructor(s): This course is taught by various adjunct and full time professors who are very familiar with the content who have differing degrees of tech skills and online teaching experience. The same class has to serve for all instructors.

Students: All students in this course are college freshman and sophomores with good technology skills and each has successfully taken an online orientation to online learning course.

In this course, the major characteristics include varying degrees of tech skills among the instructors.   Another major characteristic is that all of the students have successfully taken an online orientation to online learning course.  The major issue here is that the course is being taught by multiple instructors and their technology skills vary.  The course would have to be designed using a more customary approach with more procedural processes rather than holistic.  The technology being used would also have to be limited in order for all instructors to be comfortable.

Course B

Content: The course is a philosophy of leadership class.

Instructor(s): The instructor is an experienced face-to-face instructor with good tech skills and prior online teaching experience. This instructor prefers lecture and discussion classes.

Students: Graduate students who are well motivated and with a broad range of technology skills, from average to very advanced.

The major characteristics include the topic of the course, the experience and preference of the instructor, and the skills of the students.  This course would be better suited to a holistic approach.  The interaction should be more group-based rather than one-on-one because the instructor is more comfortable with bigger groups rather than individual interaction.  In addition, the technology used in this course should be intermediate (not too basic and not too advanced) because of the range of students' skill levels.

Course C

Content: This course is an introduction to college success. It teaches study skills, communication skills, and tries to help students learn how to fit into the college community.

Instructor(s): This course will be taught by various instructors all with good tech skills and prior online teaching experience but who have never taught this content before.

Students: Students are incoming freshman who have been identified by advisors as high risk for drop out.

The major issues being faced in the design of this course are the fact that the instructors have no prior experience teaching this content and the type of students enrolled in the course.  Since the instructors have little experience with the content, then the course should incorporate low risk to make sure they are comfortable.  That is, there should be pre-developed material available and ready for use.  Since the students likely have low motivation, then the course should require basic technology to keep from diminishing what interest they have left.  I also think a more holistic approach would help with that.


2. Now, think about an online learning experience that you might someday create. Describe in detail the content, instructor and student characteristics. What are the design issues or features that these suggest? Explain your answers.

If I created an online learning experience, it would have to be a math course.  I would say an Algebra course for freshman and sophomore students.  I would most likely design it for myself, as I am a math teacher.  Typically, the students in this course are repeating which means they have low motivation and/or are at risk students.  They also usually have little experience with online courses and technology.  Based on this information, the course would have to include basic technology to keep the comfort levels high for the students.  I also believe a holistic approach should be taken in the design of the course to raise or at the very least keep the attention of the students.  Since it is a math course, procedural processes are necessary but I believe a strictly procedural approach will result in loss of interest and failure of the course.  I believe the grading should be spread throughout the course among a number of assignments rather than the bulk of the grade on one or two exams.  This way, students have a chance to improve and won't just give up after one bad score.

3. List the 11 instructional design steps presented in chapter 1 of the text (Design Quickly and Reliably).

I purchased but have not received the copy of the book yet.  However, I researched the steps and came up with these:

• Indentify underlying goal
• Analyze the learner's needs and abilities
• Identify content to teach
• Set learning objectives
• Identify prerequisites
• Choose the approach to mmet each objective
• Decide the teaching sequence of your objectives
• Create objects to accomplish objectives
• Create tests
• Select learning activities
• Choose media

Session 1: Response to Prompts

1. Explain the relationship between distance learning and online learning.

Online learning stemmed from distance learning.  Early distance models used a lot of text-based materials delivered through mail.  But, with the internet and technologies available now, many more types of materials can be used.  Furthermore delivery of instruction materials and student output can even be enhanced through online learning.  Distance learning was used because their was a time or distance barrier between the instructor and the student.  Now, distance or time are not the only reasons for online learning, the ease for teachers and students to share their work and materials with each other is another big one.

2. Discuss the main difference between distance learning and online learning.

Distance learning was created because there is a distance or time barrier between the student and teacher.  But, inline learning does not necessarily always have that issue.  It may be the case that online learning is just a simpler method to get materials back and forth between the instructor and the students and it can also be a good platform for students to discuss and share among themselves.  Distance earning implies that there is a distance or time barrier while online learning does not.

3. List the three types of interaction proposed by Moore (1989) and explain each type of interaction in your own words.

• Learner-content interaction: This is the interaction between the student or user and the materials provided online.  This includes the instructions as well as the information needed to complete a task.
• Learner-instructor interaction: This is the interaction between the student and the instructor.  This includes video conferencing and other forms of real-time communication as well as feedback.
• Learner-learner interaction: This is the interaction between students in the class.  This includes discussion boards, blogs, and video or voice communications.

4. Discuss some of the differences between the early days of online learning and today. Then make some predictions about the future of elearning. Please include at least one good article/website/citation for this item. For example: http://tinyurl.com/8zkvedh

In the early days, online learning was used only as a type of distance learning because it didn't have as much approval from universities and other institutions.  But, with the development of telecommunications technologies it has become more widely accepted and more frequently used.  In some instances, the interaction is even more efficient and effective than face-to-face courses.  Online learning has come a long way and still has a long way to go.  I believe that in the future, online learning will be so efficient that it can be completely done on mobile devices.  I also believe that more and more courses will be offered online and will eventually surpass the number of face-to-face courses offered by colleges universities.  I also think that K-12 institutions will surely jump into the online learning bandwagon in the near future

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Session 1: Introduction

Discuss your prior experiences with online learning, what you hope to learn in this class and anything else that will help you connect to your fellow students.

Hello fellow classmates, my name is Aldo Prado.  I am a 25 year old high school mathematics teacher working on my Masters in Instructional Technology.  This is my 3rd quarter in the program and I have enjoyed it a lot so far.  Before taking part in the courses for this program, I had very little experience with online learnin.  I was a little tentative at first because it was all new to me, but I have enjoyed taking online courses and I think they can be very useful if implemented properly.  In this course, I hope to learn strategies and techniques that will allow me to integrate some e-learning into my classes in the near future.