I work at a small rural college, that given its size and location it is surprising that learning technology has been so widely embraced. We use Moodle as our LMS and while come fall offer over 100 courses fully online.
I have been fortunate enough that the people at the top of this college want to move forward. Finding instructional designers that are willing to come to a small Northern community is tough, I just happened to be married to a local guy. I think however my decision to leave K-12 and come to the college was perfect timing.
It was almost serendipity but it looks like multimedia development which is my passion will now be my future. I volunteered to develop a corporate training course on diversity. Our executive initially wanted to explore Second Life, which given the target audience I did not believe was the best approach. They were looking to be more forward in the design but really did not know what was available. What they really wanted was a somewhat immersive and interactive environment.
I have been lucky enough to suggest and lead the way on what we should get for software, how to outsource development such as animations and 3-D modeling, and the work on the design of a Flash interface to drive our product development. We are a small college and I know it sounds like a lot of money, but really it is not. We are purchasing programsthat allow for animation development without a programming background. We are looking for ways to play with the big boys without the big boy dollars.
I am just feeling happy today that my career move is taking me in this new direction.... maybe when I am well into it with a zillion deadlines I might feel otherwise!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
I have reached a decision
I have decided it is time for action. I am currently seeking out ideas, suggestions and support for the formation of a new association - the Canadian Association of Distance Graduate Students.
So having said that here is my proposed Mission Statement:
Mission Statement
" The promote the involvement of distance graduate students in the graduate experience by working with universities and associations to advocate for authentic experiences, opportunities and awards targeted specifically at distance graduate students."
Vision
1. To provide distance graduate students equal opportunities for research and teaching assistantships.
2. To provide access for distance students to virtually attend workshops and presentations provided by their faculty or GSA.
3. To lobby and campaign for scholarships, bursaries and endowments that can equally accessed by distance students.
4. To advocate for fair and reasonable tuition fees.
Please pass this along to those you know
I can be reached via e-mail at dgfeledi@ucalgary.ca
Thanks for your assistance!
So having said that here is my proposed Mission Statement:
Mission Statement
" The promote the involvement of distance graduate students in the graduate experience by working with universities and associations to advocate for authentic experiences, opportunities and awards targeted specifically at distance graduate students."
Vision
1. To provide distance graduate students equal opportunities for research and teaching assistantships.
2. To provide access for distance students to virtually attend workshops and presentations provided by their faculty or GSA.
3. To lobby and campaign for scholarships, bursaries and endowments that can equally accessed by distance students.
4. To advocate for fair and reasonable tuition fees.
Please pass this along to those you know
I can be reached via e-mail at dgfeledi@ucalgary.ca
Thanks for your assistance!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Are there inquities imposed upon distance graduate students?
I am working on my fourth University degree. Three of which have been online including the doctorate that I am currently working on (which includes two summer residencies). My primary reason for doing three out of my four degrees online, money, plain and simple. With three teenagers, a mortgage, a vehicle payment, and living three hours away from the nearest city, how could I afford to quit my job, move away from my family and go back to school? So online learning has worked really well for me and allowed me the opportunity to pursue course work I would not have otherwise been able to do, while still working and raising a family. I am exceedingly grateful for that. But if I had the chance I would do it face to face for the invaluable experience of being on campus immersed in the world of academia.
The other day I was informed I had received an award, I was ecstatic! My first every in 8 years as a distance student. I was surprised and honored. So I looked at other opportunities for awards, I had kind of looked casually before but I took a thorough look this time. To my disappointment few awards, scholarships, bursaries etc. are available to working distance graduate students. The reason we make too much money, regardless of our bills, our families, our obligations we pull a pay cheque, so we are ineligible for most awards.
Lets look at the reality, as a distance student in general I pay an enormously huge amount of money compared to on campus graduate students for the same degree, at least that seems to be the case at most Canadian Universities. However, I am denied many of the opportunities of the on campus graduate students. It is not from lack of willingness. I am willing to take on responsibilties above my course work and my day job. I am willing to teach undergraduate courses, many are online so it is feasible to do. I am willing to assist professors with their research, conducting surveys, interviews, crunching numbers etc. on my own time through vacation days etc. Why, because I believe the doctoral journey is important, and these experiences are part of that journey. However, this is all reserved for the on campus graduate students, they need the money and are given these opportunites. I don't begrudge the on campus student, I am just seeking equal treatment.
It seems to me that the Universities are more than willing to take our money but not more than willing to treat us like other graduate students. No scholarships, no teaching or research assistantships, no dropping in on the noon hour sessions, guest presentations, graduate student workshops etc. This is not specific to my faculty, it is evident at all levels within the University I attend. For example my Graduate Student Association (which I pay fees to) is willing to take my money but offer no services to the distance student. It would be easy to include the distance student, presentations and workshops can be webcasted or Elluminated. I inquired about this and my GSA said they had not even heard of Elluminate but I was told they would look into for the future maybe. So are we some how lesser students, is our work, our willingness to learn, to participate in the University experience less important?
Plain and simple I just want to be treated equally. The biggest inequity I have found all to late is this:
I applied as an distance student because I could not meet the on campus residency requirements as outlined by the University, only to discover that a LOT of the on campus students do not either, at both Universities I have attended in my course of graduate studies. They work and live some of them in different provinces, never have had to be on residence, pay less for courses, have to take less courses and are eligible for all the doctoral awards. How does that work???? How is that fair? If I had known this I would have applied as an on campus student and kept working and living where I am at now, for a lot less money and a lot more benefits.
I simply want fairness and equality, as a working doctoral student between course work and my job sometimes I am grinding away for sometimes up to 18 hours a day. It is not an easier ride, I am required to do the same candidacy exam and defense as the on campus students . I take the same research and social theory courses PLUS a requirement for 5 other courses the on campus students are not required to take. I can understand the rationale if the on campus graduate students were actually meeting residency requirements, but if they are not, how is this fair?
I wonder if this has only been my experience or if others have had similar experiences. This is my second graduate degree, my masters was done at a different University, but my experience there was the same. I would love to hear from the other side of the debate as obviously I can only perceive this from own experience and do not necessarily understand all the rationale. So if you can enlighten me please do!
I don't know maybe there is a doctoral thesis in all of this! LOL!
The other day I was informed I had received an award, I was ecstatic! My first every in 8 years as a distance student. I was surprised and honored. So I looked at other opportunities for awards, I had kind of looked casually before but I took a thorough look this time. To my disappointment few awards, scholarships, bursaries etc. are available to working distance graduate students. The reason we make too much money, regardless of our bills, our families, our obligations we pull a pay cheque, so we are ineligible for most awards.
Lets look at the reality, as a distance student in general I pay an enormously huge amount of money compared to on campus graduate students for the same degree, at least that seems to be the case at most Canadian Universities. However, I am denied many of the opportunities of the on campus graduate students. It is not from lack of willingness. I am willing to take on responsibilties above my course work and my day job. I am willing to teach undergraduate courses, many are online so it is feasible to do. I am willing to assist professors with their research, conducting surveys, interviews, crunching numbers etc. on my own time through vacation days etc. Why, because I believe the doctoral journey is important, and these experiences are part of that journey. However, this is all reserved for the on campus graduate students, they need the money and are given these opportunites. I don't begrudge the on campus student, I am just seeking equal treatment.
It seems to me that the Universities are more than willing to take our money but not more than willing to treat us like other graduate students. No scholarships, no teaching or research assistantships, no dropping in on the noon hour sessions, guest presentations, graduate student workshops etc. This is not specific to my faculty, it is evident at all levels within the University I attend. For example my Graduate Student Association (which I pay fees to) is willing to take my money but offer no services to the distance student. It would be easy to include the distance student, presentations and workshops can be webcasted or Elluminated. I inquired about this and my GSA said they had not even heard of Elluminate but I was told they would look into for the future maybe. So are we some how lesser students, is our work, our willingness to learn, to participate in the University experience less important?
Plain and simple I just want to be treated equally. The biggest inequity I have found all to late is this:
I applied as an distance student because I could not meet the on campus residency requirements as outlined by the University, only to discover that a LOT of the on campus students do not either, at both Universities I have attended in my course of graduate studies. They work and live some of them in different provinces, never have had to be on residence, pay less for courses, have to take less courses and are eligible for all the doctoral awards. How does that work???? How is that fair? If I had known this I would have applied as an on campus student and kept working and living where I am at now, for a lot less money and a lot more benefits.
I simply want fairness and equality, as a working doctoral student between course work and my job sometimes I am grinding away for sometimes up to 18 hours a day. It is not an easier ride, I am required to do the same candidacy exam and defense as the on campus students . I take the same research and social theory courses PLUS a requirement for 5 other courses the on campus students are not required to take. I can understand the rationale if the on campus graduate students were actually meeting residency requirements, but if they are not, how is this fair?
I wonder if this has only been my experience or if others have had similar experiences. This is my second graduate degree, my masters was done at a different University, but my experience there was the same. I would love to hear from the other side of the debate as obviously I can only perceive this from own experience and do not necessarily understand all the rationale. So if you can enlighten me please do!
I don't know maybe there is a doctoral thesis in all of this! LOL!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Social Media as Part of the School Curriculum
In the last few years with the exponential growth of the Web 2.0 our digital footprints are growing. It is not only the things we post on our own blogs and social networking sites about ourselves, but also about what others post about us.
I routinely google my name to see what comes up, and lately I google my children's names especially since sites like Facebook and Nexopia are obsessions for them. As much as I tell my teenagers to watch what they put out there and what others put out about them, they really have no concept. Does a teenager have the reasoning skills to consider that the photo of them passed out at party my not look so good ten years from now when they are applying for that dream job, or worse yet 15 years or 20 years from now when their own children find it online? And that is all only a click away? Teenagers are not known for their ability to plan for the long term. So how then do we get them to be concerned about and monitor their own digital footprint?
ClaimID has a list of best practices which will help you and your teen find what is posted about them, but what do we do once it is out there? There are lots of stories of individuals losing their jobs due to something posted on Facebook or a blog. The unfortunate part is we have unleashed this enoromous Social Network with the best of intentions and it was not until further down the road that we realize its ramifications.
As we all know that once it is on the web it is there to stay. To help address this issue MySpace has put out a School Administrator's guide to Social Networks. Some schools like the University of Oklahoma and the Academy of Discovery are putting out guidelines for their students, as are even some businesses for their employees such as Dell and the BBC. Karen Montgomery has provided a great template for schools and school division to use to set guidelines around Social Media. While these are great measures will they really protect our teens today? I am guessing not, I suspect this generation will have to experience the growing pains of Social Media, but we can only hope they will pass their wisdom onto the generations that follow.
I think that we need to do today however, is to make Social Media part of the mandatory K-12 curriculum. Students need to be taught at an early age the pros and cons of Social Media. The need to understand the importance of their digital identity and their footprint. Just like students care about their reputation at school they should be taught to care about their online reputations. You might argue why should the schools being teaching it, because unfortunately many of this generations' parents do not have the level of experience with Social Media that their child does. Will it fix all the problems, of course! But at least it is a start.
I routinely google my name to see what comes up, and lately I google my children's names especially since sites like Facebook and Nexopia are obsessions for them. As much as I tell my teenagers to watch what they put out there and what others put out about them, they really have no concept. Does a teenager have the reasoning skills to consider that the photo of them passed out at party my not look so good ten years from now when they are applying for that dream job, or worse yet 15 years or 20 years from now when their own children find it online? And that is all only a click away? Teenagers are not known for their ability to plan for the long term. So how then do we get them to be concerned about and monitor their own digital footprint?
ClaimID has a list of best practices which will help you and your teen find what is posted about them, but what do we do once it is out there? There are lots of stories of individuals losing their jobs due to something posted on Facebook or a blog. The unfortunate part is we have unleashed this enoromous Social Network with the best of intentions and it was not until further down the road that we realize its ramifications.
As we all know that once it is on the web it is there to stay. To help address this issue MySpace has put out a School Administrator's guide to Social Networks. Some schools like the University of Oklahoma and the Academy of Discovery are putting out guidelines for their students, as are even some businesses for their employees such as Dell and the BBC. Karen Montgomery has provided a great template for schools and school division to use to set guidelines around Social Media. While these are great measures will they really protect our teens today? I am guessing not, I suspect this generation will have to experience the growing pains of Social Media, but we can only hope they will pass their wisdom onto the generations that follow.
I think that we need to do today however, is to make Social Media part of the mandatory K-12 curriculum. Students need to be taught at an early age the pros and cons of Social Media. The need to understand the importance of their digital identity and their footprint. Just like students care about their reputation at school they should be taught to care about their online reputations. You might argue why should the schools being teaching it, because unfortunately many of this generations' parents do not have the level of experience with Social Media that their child does. Will it fix all the problems, of course! But at least it is a start.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
My theory of learning
One of the greatest flaws I see within education is our fundamental lack of knowledge on how we learn. Yes, I know there are numerous learning theories in existence each with their own individual merits and weaknesses, but they all seem to miss the big picture. Maybe it is just me and I am the only one of this mindset but let me try to explain my thoughts.
Most educators have heard of learning styles, some students have preferences for visual representation of information, others auditory etc. Likewise there are behaviorist, constructivist and cognitive approaches to learning, but is that how we actually learn? What really happens in the brain when learning occurs? They way I see it we have a fair understanding of the start and the end of the learning sequence have no real idea about what happens in the middle.
To me learning styles explains the beginning of learning - how do we best receive information. Really what it means is that we all have personal preferences on how we like to be shown new concepts. No different in that we all have our preferences for how we like to obtain energy for our bodies. I might prefer pizza, my husband prefers a steak. Regardless of how I get it my body requires energy but ultimately it gets processed the same way each and every time.
To me it seems the same way with learning and what is happening in the mind. We all need input data, we can get it from different sensory sources but I believe ultimately it all gets processed in the same way. This explains the beginning of the learning sequence.
Looking at the end and using the food analogy we all eliminate waste from our bodies in the same way (and I do not need to explain the how of that you :). Likewise, we also all output our understanding of what the brain has processed in a similar fashion. Dependent on how much our bodies take in for food our amount of eliminated waste varies, likewise dependent on how much information our brain takes in we output varying degrees of understanding and the ability to apply our understanding.
So the question is what happens in the middle? In every cell of our body the process of getting energy out of the food we have taken in is the same - it is called cellular respiration. Regardless of what type of food or how much of it we ate, it is all processed the same way each and every time at the cellular level. Therefore I cannot believe that it is any different with the mind. I hear continue expressions like everyone learns differently? Do we really - in the very essence of learning, do we really each learn differently? That would essentially mean that every brain at a physiological level works differently. The science of biology would seem to suggest otherwise. I think we tend to confuse our preference for how we obtain data to how we learn. I prefer visual cues for learning, my son is totally auditory - but once we obtain that data what happens to it, where does it go? Are we really processing it differently?
I think this is the little black box in the field of education, we do not understand HOW we process the data. We have figured out how our body processes our food to make energy right down to the cellular level, but do really know how the brain processes the sensory inputs to form understanding? Piaget introduce the idea of schema formation as a theory to explain this process- but is this really what happens? What have we scientifically proven today about the processing of information in the brain?
I believe that until we really understand the how, that one process that is the same in all of us, we can not really be effective in maximizing the learning experience for the student. What I see is current practice and even research is a lot of trail and error. We see something that works one on student we try it on another, we really do not understand why it works, because we do not understand the process. No different than the mechanic who does not understand how your car engine works, he might tweak this or that and your car seems to work better. But was it the best solution to the problem? You can't answer the question unless you understand the process.
In education we keep trying out things without understanding the process, and lo and behold some things work and others do not and we can never really explain why. Ask a teacher to explain why their best instructional strategy works, most will say they can't explain why, it just does.
Maybe I have missed some work in field of neuroscience that has solved the little black box riddle and if I have someone please point me in the direction of this research so I can understand the process. But this is my ultimate passion within education is to make sense of that process. Ok I will get off my soap box now.
Most educators have heard of learning styles, some students have preferences for visual representation of information, others auditory etc. Likewise there are behaviorist, constructivist and cognitive approaches to learning, but is that how we actually learn? What really happens in the brain when learning occurs? They way I see it we have a fair understanding of the start and the end of the learning sequence have no real idea about what happens in the middle.
To me learning styles explains the beginning of learning - how do we best receive information. Really what it means is that we all have personal preferences on how we like to be shown new concepts. No different in that we all have our preferences for how we like to obtain energy for our bodies. I might prefer pizza, my husband prefers a steak. Regardless of how I get it my body requires energy but ultimately it gets processed the same way each and every time.
To me it seems the same way with learning and what is happening in the mind. We all need input data, we can get it from different sensory sources but I believe ultimately it all gets processed in the same way. This explains the beginning of the learning sequence.
Looking at the end and using the food analogy we all eliminate waste from our bodies in the same way (and I do not need to explain the how of that you :). Likewise, we also all output our understanding of what the brain has processed in a similar fashion. Dependent on how much our bodies take in for food our amount of eliminated waste varies, likewise dependent on how much information our brain takes in we output varying degrees of understanding and the ability to apply our understanding.
So the question is what happens in the middle? In every cell of our body the process of getting energy out of the food we have taken in is the same - it is called cellular respiration. Regardless of what type of food or how much of it we ate, it is all processed the same way each and every time at the cellular level. Therefore I cannot believe that it is any different with the mind. I hear continue expressions like everyone learns differently? Do we really - in the very essence of learning, do we really each learn differently? That would essentially mean that every brain at a physiological level works differently. The science of biology would seem to suggest otherwise. I think we tend to confuse our preference for how we obtain data to how we learn. I prefer visual cues for learning, my son is totally auditory - but once we obtain that data what happens to it, where does it go? Are we really processing it differently?
I think this is the little black box in the field of education, we do not understand HOW we process the data. We have figured out how our body processes our food to make energy right down to the cellular level, but do really know how the brain processes the sensory inputs to form understanding? Piaget introduce the idea of schema formation as a theory to explain this process- but is this really what happens? What have we scientifically proven today about the processing of information in the brain?
I believe that until we really understand the how, that one process that is the same in all of us, we can not really be effective in maximizing the learning experience for the student. What I see is current practice and even research is a lot of trail and error. We see something that works one on student we try it on another, we really do not understand why it works, because we do not understand the process. No different than the mechanic who does not understand how your car engine works, he might tweak this or that and your car seems to work better. But was it the best solution to the problem? You can't answer the question unless you understand the process.
In education we keep trying out things without understanding the process, and lo and behold some things work and others do not and we can never really explain why. Ask a teacher to explain why their best instructional strategy works, most will say they can't explain why, it just does.
Maybe I have missed some work in field of neuroscience that has solved the little black box riddle and if I have someone please point me in the direction of this research so I can understand the process. But this is my ultimate passion within education is to make sense of that process. Ok I will get off my soap box now.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Time to be using this blog
Ok it is time for me to get using this blog more regularly. So I plan on posting my musings on technology and instructional design, as well as my musings, frustrations and aha moments in my doctoral journey.
To start with I am going to discuss my new found infatuation with Twitter. I write a monthly newsletter for my college on Instructional Technology for Faculty and about a month ago came across an article on Twitter as a Professional Development Tool. I was instantly intrigued but had tried Twitter before and really did not get it. So I thought I would do some research and learn how do to use Twitter. What a world has been opened for me on a professional level!
So how do I use Twitter, first I am selective about who I follow, and yes I realize I might be stepping on the toes of Twitter etiquette, but I only follow people who Tweet about Educational Technology (for the most part that is - I had to help Ashton get to 1,000,000 tweets and I do follow CBC!) So if someone follows me or if I see an interesting post by someone I do not follow when I am searching Twitter - I check out their tweets. If most of their tweets are about their personal life I do not follow them. It is not anything personal it is simply a matter of managing my time - I only have so much time in my day so I try to optimize the quality of professional tweets I receive.
Some of my faves that I follow on Twitter are @jackiegerstein - she supplies tons of great educational resources, @rmbyrne besides being an avid Boston any sport fan he has a great blog as well and supplies good resources. As for my other interest completing my doctorate - same day I will get up the nerve at ask @academicdave a question - he is always musing about his doctoral students, and I like reading about @shawncalhoun experiences in completing his doctorate, which he elaborates upon on his blog.
To start with I am going to discuss my new found infatuation with Twitter. I write a monthly newsletter for my college on Instructional Technology for Faculty and about a month ago came across an article on Twitter as a Professional Development Tool. I was instantly intrigued but had tried Twitter before and really did not get it. So I thought I would do some research and learn how do to use Twitter. What a world has been opened for me on a professional level!
So how do I use Twitter, first I am selective about who I follow, and yes I realize I might be stepping on the toes of Twitter etiquette, but I only follow people who Tweet about Educational Technology (for the most part that is - I had to help Ashton get to 1,000,000 tweets and I do follow CBC!) So if someone follows me or if I see an interesting post by someone I do not follow when I am searching Twitter - I check out their tweets. If most of their tweets are about their personal life I do not follow them. It is not anything personal it is simply a matter of managing my time - I only have so much time in my day so I try to optimize the quality of professional tweets I receive.
Some of my faves that I follow on Twitter are @jackiegerstein - she supplies tons of great educational resources, @rmbyrne besides being an avid Boston any sport fan he has a great blog as well and supplies good resources. As for my other interest completing my doctorate - same day I will get up the nerve at ask @academicdave a question - he is always musing about his doctoral students, and I like reading about @shawncalhoun experiences in completing his doctorate, which he elaborates upon on his blog.
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