Week 1

Well it is week 1 and I am now in the role of the student. I havent

been on this side of the desk in a long while. I have to admit Im a
bit nervous. But I believe I have accomplished the learning
objectives for this week. I enjoyed meeting everyone in the
icebreaker. We are a diverse group and this will add richness to our
discussions. The discussion on myths and constraints of online
teaching and learning brought forth understanding of some of the
challenges of online teaching, and also the benefits of online
teaching and learning. Where else could I share my thoughts and
learn collaboratively with a classmate in a different county? Our
class is looking to be as social or more than a traditional face to face
class.
Week 2
I really enjoyed the reading Campfires in Cyberspace: Primordial
Metaphors for Learning in the 21st Century by Dr. David Thornburg.
The case for the watering hole having an equal place as the
campfire resonated with me. I have seen how students in a
traditional classroom often have study groups or peer tutors to help
them understand the content. Its informal and sometimes
spontaneous, other times planned. In the online classroom, the
discussion board is the watering hole. Students learn from each
other as they construct new learning experiences.
Week 3
I cant believe how excited I am to learn about Diigo. I was at a
conference once and it was part of a presentation. It seemed so
remote and difficulthmm it really is quite simple and what a useful
tool. Moodle seems to be easy to navigate. I am used to working
with Blackboard and this is similar. Composing and facilitating a
discussion forum for my peers was slightly intimidating but forced
me to think about how questions can either stymie or promote
critical thinking. The discussion prompts must be written effectively.
The readings on Tone and Voice are just the type of help I need for

responding to my students in discussion forums. Sometimes what

flows naturally in a verbal discussion is not as easy to convey in the
proper tone or voice in text.

Week 4
I achieved the learning objectives for the week. I chose to design
an online survey to see how my peers were using formative
assessments. I analyzed the results of my survey and also gave
feedback on my peers quizzes and surveys. I am intrigued by all
the links my classmates are including in their posts and also for
the quiz/survey. So many great resources. I am using my new
bookmarking skill to save the ones that I might use in the future.
Each week, I am trying to find relevant articles/links to share with
my colleagues.
Week 5
21st Century Fluency! I discovered I wasnt as fluent as I thought. I
resisted the plagiarism game, but found that I enjoyed it. I really
resisted the self-paced Web-Site Investigator. Once I completed it, I
found that, amazingly, I had a better ability to scrutinize web
information. Learning by doinghmm sounds a bit like the
constructivist theory. The discussion forum this week was
enlightening. I really enjoyed it. I am learning so much from my
peers.
Week 6
Curation. This is a fascinating subject. As I searched, I could not
find any curators of nursing education topics. I will search again
but I find this initial lack of curators in nursing a bit disappointing.
Of course, this is an opportunity to fill the gap as I develop my
curator skills. I want to introduce this to my students as a project in
place of the traditional paper. I found a few good articles for my
topic of using gaming in higher education. Although I am not a
gamer, I find this technology to be quite promising in promoting
critical thinking for students. Most of our younger students are
immersed in games. Gaming has the potential to get the student

immersed in learning and deep learning. According to the NMC

Horizon Report, 2014 Higher Education Edition, games and
gamification time to adoption is 2 to 3 years away. I dont think
that my college is ready for that!

Week 7 &8
The E-Portfolio project has made me stop and think about this class
as a whole and not just each individual unit. The whole class is
definitely more than the sum of its parts. Helen Barett talks about
metacognition in the E-Portfolios: Digital Stories of Deep Learning . For me
its kind of the aha moment of understanding and being aware of
my own thoughts and learning process. Even though I have been a
read/write learner all my life, the constructivist theory of doing and
putting together a new understanding and new learning is indeed a
deeper and more profound learning. I know my teaching from this
point forward will be more deliberate in promoting learning
activities that are based on constructivist theories.