LEARNING STYLES

Given below are three (3) discussion prompts that occurred in the course of this class. I will be responding to the sections marked in blue as requested. At end of Getting Started Week What 'big idea,' concept or issue from this module had the greatest impact on your thinking? The Community of Inquiry (COI)

How will this idea, concept, or issue influence your practice as a DE Professional? Please go back to Module 5. I have answered this question there.

What questions remain for you from this module? How will you resolve these questions?

Please see my suggestions in Module 5.

Discussion Prompt at end of - Module 2/3 from instructors desk D2L Learning Analytics for Participation Students, we wanted to share this particular application of the D2L analytics with you. It's

been placed as an attached file here in the News and also in the Surprised, Challenged, Troubled forum In brief, we show you a view for Forum Statistics, where we can see student participation in the threads. Sharing these statistics could lead to a larger question of how legitimate it is to use participation as a measure of learning. Participation has long been a foundation of the COI "presence" model, constructivist pedagogy, connectivism, OCL, and so on. And it is foundational to our own pedagogy and assessment in this class. But it seems to us worth questioning these "foundations" in a class such as this. Additionally, this may open up some questions about the strengths and limitations of analytics. Please visit the Forum and let us know what you think. We've added some questions to get the discussion started. See you in the threads! Cindy and Steve Discussion Prompt at end of Module 5 - Create a set of best practices in online teaching and learning that is informed by theory and is appropriate for a specific educational organization.

Select two stakeholders and examine how their interests might be in conflict. Can we apply theory to resolve these conflicts or achieve some sort of equilibrium? The course syllabus clearly states that this is a discussion-based class. I agree completely. It is one way to measure student engagement. From Prof Steves Desk : You don't have to read very far into Chapter 5 ("Constructivist Learning Theory") of Harasim or think very hard about the structure of this particular class to realize that the class design of OMDE 610 is much influenced by constructivist theory. When you run across Harasim's discussion of Zone of Proximal Development, do you see that in this class? Do you see how we attempt this? Do you see scaffolding here?What's especially interesting is how you think this class might benefit from being more (or maybe even less) influenced by OCL. If it isn't obvious by now, it will be by the time you complete Chapter 6: Harasim's book really is a sustained argument for OCL. At least that's the heart of her book. But what's nice about Harasim's argument is how well she explains the context and movement of learning theory that brings us to OCL.And this gets us to a key question for this module (maybe even for this class). Do we accept OCL? And if we do, what sorts of things might we do here in OMDE 610 to become more appropriate to OCL theory? Or, perhaps even more important, what sorts of things can you do in your teaching and learning situation to build a framework of learning based on OCL theory? I agree completely.

In fact this aspect was discussed during a podcast thread I posted in conference. To underscore this point, Professor Eugene Rubin responded to the podcast as follows: - copied directly as shown online He was responding to the podcast by Dr. Manning

10 Responses to LTGR Ep. #9 Lurking

1. Eugene Rubin Says:
December 29th, 2006 at 3:24 pm

Here is what I post in my courses reading the issue of lurking. You should plan on checking in at least 2 times per week (probably more) and, as in all the Master of Distance Education courses, you will be expected to actively contribute to the discussions. This is a large chunk, so you should carefully decide how you plan to deal with it. You will be evaluated on both the quantity and the quality of your input. Last term there were C students who could have received a B if they had participated. They didnt. And there definitely were B students who could have received an A. It is your choice. I expect inputs that contribute something to the conversation. And I expect participation in every module. You cannot disappear for a couple of modules and then come back in later on and assume you can make it up. My perspective is that if I am going to be there talking with you, then I expect you to be there talking with us. There are logical reasons for this view. This course is based on two important assumptions. The case for Participation 1. Managers need to be able to communicate with their peers and subordinates. They need to work cooperatively and collaboratively. The need to be able to communicate ideas and concepts and to persuade others of their ideas. You cant do this without communicating. 2. This is a program that is based on interaction as a critical pedagogical concept. It is not an independent study course where you go away, read a bunch of books and article, then come back and submit your assignments, and thats it. It is based on the view that half the learning takes place within the interaction between you and your fellow class members or you and the faculty members. While there is some evidence that one can learn effectively as a lurker (e.g. one who just observes or reads, but does not say anything), this is not a balanced or fair situation in our type of classroom. A lurker can learn from someone else who has contributed. However the contributor cannot learn from the lurker. If everyone was a lurker, then there would be no conversation or interaction.

You should note that if you are missing from the discussion, even if you are reading everything that others are saying, we can only assume that you have not shown up at all, since we have no way of knowing you are here. Your contributions also tell us you are here. While there is some evidence that one can learn effectively as a lurker (e.g. one who just observes or reads, but does not say anything), that assumes that there are those who will always be there to say something. If everyone was a lurker then there would be no conversation, no interaction.

__________________________________________________ Despite the above, interaction in my classes does spread out over a continuum from almost nothing to very high. Here are some typical stats from a course of about 15 students. As you can see, students spread themselves out over a broad range of rate of participation. Total messages posted in the course: 784 Total message posted in the content modules: 600 Messages posted by faculty member in the content modules: 155 Avg. # of message posted per week by faculty member: 10.3 Range of messages posted by students: 8 93 Avg. # of messages posted by students in the content modules: 37 Avg. # of messages posted per week by students: 2.5 Eugene Rubin Master of Distance Education University of Maryland University College

I agree to all the good arguments for participation and agree that it should be part of the assessment for learning outcomes in online teaching and learning. However , the assessment weighting must be measured to account for all learning styles.Otherwise , the Participation assessment instrument will be flawed. Prof Rubin acknowledges that himself when he writes this: . This is a large chunk, so you should carefully decide how you plan to deal with it. You will be evaluated on both the quantity and the quality of your input. Last term there were C

students who could have received a B if they had participated. They didnt. And there definitely were B students who could have received an A. It is your choice. He is right, but the question I ask is which is more important. The process for learning or the learning outcomes? Granted, Participation can indicate presence, but can it truly measure or document learning in a student? Dr Beaudoin did research in this area and this is what he had to say on Learning and Participation from his work : http://www.c3l.uni-oldenburg.de/cde/series/mbfin.pdf While much has been written regarding the learning behaviors of students participating in online courses, little research has been conducted to ascertain whether or not students are still engaged and actually learning even when not actively involved in online discourse with other students and faculty. This study of inactive students enrolled in an online graduate course attempts to identify how much time is spent in course related activity, what the reasons are for their invisibility, and if their preferred learning styles influence their online behavior.

Findings suggest that further research in the area of the so-called invisible learner is a critical area of investigation to better understand the dynamics of asynchronous learning and teaching. Please follow here

Carol Tomlinson (2001), identifies 17 key strategies for teachers to successfully meet the challenge of designing and managing differentiated instruction. For instance, Assessments may ; That in planning and implementing differentiated instruction assessments should be summative and should strongly support the ZPD concept. ( The zone of proximal development referred to earlier above) That instructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to individual and diverse students in classrooms (Tomlinson, 2001)

AND THIS BRINGS ME TO YOUR QUESTION IN CLASS

ABOUT D2L ANALYTICS , MY THIRD PROMPT ABOVE MY SECOND PROMPT ABOVE AS WELL Can we apply theory to resolve these conflicts or achieve some sort of equilibrium?

The voice thread suggest that to respect different learning styles we should balance class participation with other requirements like asking passive students to produce portfolio pieces to document their learning. These portfolios must be detailed and different from the Blog style learning journal. That if your participation is minimal, your learning journal must be substantive to document your learning

Minimal Participation = Detailed style Learning Journal = both components passive student

Maximum Participation = Blog style Learning Journal = both components Active student

In summary, I agree that Participation in online teaching and learning is a necessary component especially when the class design is focused on discussion- based learning. However, all students are not alike and have different learning styles. For instance some are To respect the diversity of learning styles assessments also should reflect that and accommodate different learning needs. When the assessment structure is modified as suggested above, there is

Dear Susan and Dan Here is what I post in my courses reading the issue of lurking. You should plan on checking in at least 2 times per week (probably more) and, as in all the Master of Distance Education courses, you will be expected to actively contribute to the discussions. In this course, discussion participation will count for15% of your grade. This is a

large chunk, so you should carefully decide how you plan to deal with it. You will be evaluated on both the quantity and the quality of your input. Last term there were C students who could have received a B if they had participated. They didnt. And there definitely were B students who could have received an A. It is your choice. I expect inputs that contribute something to the conversation. And I expect participation in every module. You cannot disappear for a couple of modules and then come back in later on and assume you can make it up. Finally, participation is only descriptive it tells you the student is engaged. But I am not sure about the learning part. Besides you can not diagnose the students problems given the D2L Learner Analytics you have available. To the contrary, with what I call Detailed Learning Journals these are descriptive and prescriptive, given any level of D2L Learner analytics. By reading these detailed ePortfolio You can understand the trials and problems the student is facing , so you the instructor can diagnose THE SITUATION You can also tell that even though the participation level is a 2 or C = minimal participation the student is learning or not learning.

Professors, your question was how legitimate is the use of participation as a measure

of learning? Participation has long been a foundation of the COI "presence" model, constructivist pedagogy, connectivism, OCL, and so on. And it is foundational to our own pedagogy and assessment in this class. But it seems to us worth questioning these "foundations" in a class such as this. Additionally, this may open up some questions about the strengths and limitations of analytics. Your Request: Cindy and Steve Discussion Prompt at end of Module 5

Can we apply theory to resolve these conflicts or achieve some sort of equilibrium? Yes we can, Please see in the . It tells the learning journey of this student, this semester. This why I wrote my journal in this style to show an example of what a detailed LEARNING JOURNAL SHOULD BE to fit the suggested adjusted grading structure above. Thanks. Divine Eseh.