AET541_Staying Relevant_Team A

Staying Relevant

Team A Presentation

Deepika Prarlat, Ervin Bion,

Karen Calvillo, Deepika Pralat, Ervin BrionYolanda Lopez

AET/541May 24, 2014

Dr. Gale Cossette

Task Description •Team A will present strategies and components that help e-learning instructional designers offer courses that stay relevant and current with students needs.

•The team will review and reference topics covered in the reading assignment of the AET/ 541 course.

•Additionally, the team will create a rubric that will help the instructor evaluate the success of the presentation.

Strategies Here are the strategies and components that help e-learning instructional designers offer courses that stay relevant and current with students needs.

Week 1: Factors Influencing Learning

Week 2: Asynchronous (Anytime)

Week 3: Web Tools

Week 4: Collaborative Learning Strategies

Week 5: Learning Objectives

Week 6: Interactions for Self-Encouragement  

Factors Influencing Learning Introduction

Sarah is the facilitator for an online course on Business Administration. Her students add a lot of diversity to the classroom by the sheer fact that they have varying experience from different industries. Sarah is excited at the prospect of engaging in collaborative learning in her classroom. She reviews the course material and feels that many of the assignments could prove to be laborious and draining for the students. Sarah is anxious about the effectiveness of the course.

Many instructor and facilitators, just like Sarah, have experienced anxiety over the course content and learning components of their courses. They have all wondered about the factors that influence learning and the success of students in attaining their learning outcomes.

Factors Influencing Learning Factors that Influence learning include:•emotional factors•environmental factors•cognitive load•cognitive learning styles Emotional Factors

Positive emotions help focus on the learning goal, processing incoming information in working memory or short-term memory, and eventually storing information in long-term memory. Negative emotions interfere with the learning goal by distracting students’ attention away from learning to managing the emotion they feel.

Instructors need to be cognizant of the emotional state their students are in. It is important to address fears and anxiety the students experience to help them engage in learning activities. Distress interferes with students’ cognitive abilities by lowering working memory, processing speed, and comprehension ability.

Factors Influencing Learning Environmental Factors

Students are constantly surrounded by distractions around them as they learn. Noise, technology, temperature, communication, families, and other significant relationships can distract students as they engage in pursuing learning goals. If students are distracted as they learn, it hampers their ability to move information from short-term to long-term memory.

Instructors can guide their students on effective learning strategies that help them reduce distractions within the environment. Specific recommendations include:•Creating a dedicated space for learning. •Learning at times when there are minimum interruptions. •Ensuring there are no additional distractions such as TV, media, and noise.

Factors Influencing Learning Cognitive Load

Students in an online learning environment need to focus on many different components of the learning environment such as technology, course components, policies and procedures, expectations, and content. All this information processing should not interfere with the goal of learning. Students can face a barrier to learning if they experience cognitive load. Cognitive load is the load on working memory during learning. If too much new information is presented to students at one time, an immediate response can be anxiety, which impacts attention and information processing.

According to Sweller and Chandler (1994), there are two sources of cognitive load that have implications for instruction—intrinsic cognitive load and extraneous cognitive load.

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Factors Influencing Learning Cognitive Load

Intrinsic cognitive load relates to the complexity of the learning content, as well as the schemata that students have constructed, and cannot be controlled by design. Extraneous cognitive load is imposed by the design and the organization of the learning materials and has a negative impact on learning. Recommendations for minimizing cognitive load:•Avoid splitting attention of students by making them focus on multiple sources of information.•Eliminate redundant material to avoid duplicating learning effort by students. •Break up information into several chunks of five to seven units.•Avoid using multi-level links within sub-topics for navigational ease.•Limit resources to those that are necessary to complete or prepare for learning activities.•Specifically label supplemental resources as supplemental to avoid confusion. •Provide students the option to print online materials for reference and review.

Factors Influencing Learning Cognitive Learning Styles

Cognitive style refers to ‘‘an individual’s characteristic and consistent approach to organizing and processing information’’ (Tennant, 1997, p. 80).

The two dominant approaches of cognitive styles are the Field Dependence/Independence dimension by Witkin (1950) and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory by Kolb (1976). Field Dependence/Independence Dimension

Witkin (1950) examined how individual differences and context affect a person’s ability to make simple perceptual judgments. Witkin found that some individuals’ perceptions are influenced by context, whereas context has little or no influence for others. (Tennant, 1997).

Factors Influencing Learning

Field Dependence/Independence Dimension

•Field independent learners are more analytical because of their ability to separate the parts from the whole, whereas field dependent learners perceive things more globally.

•Field independent learners perform better on cognitive tasks and are able to structure unorganized or ambiguous materials, which is more difficult for field dependent learners.

•Field independent learners can more easily define their learning goals because they are independent thinkers, whereas field dependent learners need to have their goals defined.

•Field independent learners are more self-motivated, whereas field dependent learners need more external reinforcements to keep them motivated.

Factors Influencing Learning Kolb Learning Style Inventory

It measures cognitive style preferences on two bipolar dimensions: active experimentation versus reflective observation and concrete versus abstract. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory identifies a learner’s preferred learning style as diverger, converger, assimilator, or accommodator. •Divergers are characterized as open-minded and they look at a learning situation from many different perspectives. They often have difficulty making a decision and may prefer to observe rather than participate.

•Convergers combine this preference with a need for active experimentation. They prefer to learn through problem solving, deductive decision making, and the direct application of ideas and theories.

Factors Influencing Learning Kolb Learning Style Inventory

•Assimilators prefer to combine abstract conceptualization with reflective observation. They are good at taking in a wide range of information and reducing it to a more logical form.

•Accomodators have a preference for active experimentation and have the ability to carry out plans and get things done. They like hands-on or trial-and-error methods of learning.

An in-depth understanding of the learning style preferences will help you utilize a variety of instructional strategies to engage your students in learning activities and fulfill their specific needs for effective learning.

Asynchronous

Using Asynchronous permit instructor and students-to-students ways to communicate at any given time. Globally these tools entails affordability to get and post messages. Asynchronous allows for all students to contribute to ideas of an assignment, the students only have to log in to their elearning site to experience all that there is to offer, and obtain all sorts of feedbacks and information.

Using Asynchronous tools promotes the elearner to stay on task, for example these tools;•Electronic learning resources (presentations, tutorials, videos, web links, etc.)•Electronic mailing•Discussion boards and Google groups•Social networking sites (facebook, twitter, …)Wikis, blogs, etc.

Ideally, an e-course would include applications that enhance learning and engage students. Web 2.0 communication tools are versatile and can be used to create a fun environment in which to explore and experience course content in diverse, non-traditional e-learning methods. The next slides will describe the following synchronous web 2.0 tools.

VoIPInstant message/chatsWeb ConferenceVirtual Worlds

Synchronous Web 2.0 in the Classroom Synchronous Web 2.0 in the Classroom

VoIPVoIP

Voice over Internet ProtocolHost speakers via video conferenceClass participation – comments, FAQsOne-on-One instruction or interaction

Applications

SkypeGoogle talkTiny chat

Staying Relevant

Incorporating VoIP lessons enriches the learning experience as students have the opportunity to engage in interactive

Instant Message/ChatInstant Message/Chat

Real-time environment for students to collaborate can be an informal platform where students can socialize virtuallyfacilitate discussions or one-on-one instruction sessions

ApplicationsAOLYahooGoogle Talk

Staying RelevantMany students now stay connected in real-time in and out of class with instant messaging applications. Creating a classroom chat can provide students an additional resource to seek assistance or maintain plugged in to team collaborations.

Real-time application that facilitates group learningenables students to interactincludes audio and video components can be used one-to-one or with the whole classprovides a sense of community

Applications ElluminateAobe connectDim DimVyew

Staying Relevant

Instructors can deliver presentations and schedule web conferences throughout the course to provide a variety of instructional strategies.

Virtual WorldsVirtual Worlds

Are simulated real-world environments created by students designed to interact with others through the use of avatars challenge and motivate students to explore creative tools

Applications Quest Atlantis Fantage Reaction Grid Second Life

Collaborative Learning StrategiesCollaborative Learning Strategies

Build higher-order thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving skills by allowing learners to share multiple perspectives and challenge one another.

Enhances learning outcomes, eliminating the possibility for student isolation which may kill any chance for collaboration. Enables students to share new ideas and form groups to support one another, constructing stronger bonds amongst students which can aid in the e-learning process. Building interpersonal relationships between students fortifies trust in the online classroom as students will learn to support and believe in one another despite the distance they share.

Where it is often difficult to form bonds in the virtual classroom, both student as well as facilitator must work in order to make their presence felt. That is to say, as you create presence in the e-learning classroom you create opportunities for interaction among students, stimulating conversation-allowing learners to learn from one another. 

Strategies

For an e-class to be creative there are certain strategies , a strategic way would be to insure the elearner will not feel as if they are on their own. A way to do this is by establishing reading materials that will help the elearner. Suggesting several outside sources, have discussions on the discoveries that each has found. Another way is to establish a team system, to promote positive collaboration with each team member, this brings a sense that he or she is part of a learning cooperating group. by facilitated and promoting creativity within the e-class, by doing this, it promotes an internal satisfaction for the elearner (Stavredes, 2011,pg.61)

•Introducing a unit read and discussed•Promote outside learning activities•Different strategies to help the elearners stay relevant to the assignments•Posting some outside readings, the challenge is to find out what the elearner has obtained the proper information from the readings.

Blooms Taxonomy Theories  Students can also work together in order to get more ideasideas from each other; they can also help each other develop a better way of thinking and processing information.

Utilize Bloom'sBloom's Taxonomy can prove helpful when students are required to move through a learning process utilizing an organized framework and get to the same level of understanding (Forehand, 2005).

Bloom's Taxonomy provides steps from low to high level of thinking and it encourages a group of students to work together and reach the same level of thinking. It is there as a stepping stone for cognitive development; students get to develop their cognitive skills and move from bottom to top of the hierarchy by developing their understanding of the subject.

• Elearners will acquire a concept of which signs to look for when reading from an outside source given by the instructor.

• Guide the eLearners to further develop the concept at hand when giving constructive feedback.

• When reading students work to be informed if they have weaknesses and need further assistance.

• Have students fill out one type of survey with a link that explains it all.

Students’ Level of Comprehension

When elearners are entering an unknown virtual world, it is important for the facilitator to create different forms of surveys, to help promote an e-classroom, and know the students, and the student get to know other students.

After the first week where the introductions are met, and surveys have been completed, and reviewed, the facilitator will make the proper recommendations for students to get the full benefit of the class.

The facilitator therefore will have a better outlook on where the students level of comprehension is at; "Understand the different stages of self-direction (Grow, 1996) When eLearners enter a virtual classroom it’s difficult to find out exactly who the facilitator/instructor will be conducting the program, or for that matter, who the rest of the e-class learners will collaborate, or what is expectation on the kind of web tools they will be using

Recommendations

A recommendations is for the facilitator to plan on different ways to introduce the elearners to each other, this will promote different ways to have elearners obtain their full potential in the program, or for some students who have not explore the web tools it will further there capacity to be creative and self-motivated

Elearners will acquire a concept of which signs to look for when reading from an outside source given by the Instructor

Guide the eLearner to further develop the concept at hand when giving constructive feedback

When reading students work to be informed if they have weakness and need further assistance.

Have students fill out one type of survey with a link that explains it all.

Content and Organization 80%

Percent Earned

Comments:

Staying Relevant

Create a presentation that outlines strategies and components that help e-learning instructional designers offer courses that stay relevant and current with students needs.

Cite information gleaned from the research and academic resources to support the suggested components. List recommendations or instructions that an e-learning instructional designer can use to create courses that stay relevant and current.

Percentage Earned

Mechanics Component 20%

Percent Earned

Comments

Text is clear and concise

Transition well between topics and subtopics.

Includes APA (title page, in text citations, and reference page)

Rules of grammar, word usage, punctuation, and spelling have been followed

Percentage Earned

Total 100%

Percent Earned

Comments

Points Possible Percent Earned x 10 Points Possible

Points earned:

Rubric for Evaluating Success of Presentation Rubric for Evaluating Success of Presentation

References

AET/541. (2014). University of Phoenix (n.d) College of Education podcast. Retrieved from http://www.university of pheoenix.edu/eLearning website

Fabry, Dee L.. "Designing Learning Experiences for Comparability Across Delivery Methods", Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching/19471017, 20090301

Haythornthwaite, C., & Andrews, R. (2011). E-learning theory & practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: foundations and strategies for student

success. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Sweller, J., & Chandler, P. (1994). Why some material is difficult to learn. Cognition and

instruction, 12, 185–233.

Tennant, M. (1997). Psychology of adult learning. London and New York. Routledge.