Research Showcase Video Blog

Educ 639 Wiki Reflection

Wiki Use One: During my first log in I added my articles for the wiki. That articles were each uploaded as PDF files for the group to review for the possibility of using the articles in the final paper. After these articles were submitted they were reviewed by each group member and then used for the final reference list on the wiki literature review. Wiki Use Two: During my second contribution to the wiki literature review I researched about the special education vs general education information. In this component of our review I researched 4 main articles and these articles provided various information about this topic. I added this information to the wiki and emailed it to my group. Wiki Use Three: During my third contribution to the wiki literature review I added graphics to the wiki. I searched for graphics to match each of the headings for our literature review and uploaded the files onto the wiki. I also compiled a list of the comments from the peer wiki literature review and submitted our comments to our editing group. This list took the comments from each of my group members and were divided into subgroups that were organized under headings. This list was then sent to the group for them to make changes to their document.

Educ 639 Muddiest Point Blog

Hi all! I pray you all had an enjoyable, safe and happy Thanksgiving! I spent mines with family and for that I am thankful! The muddiest point to me is the grey area with plagiarism. I feel that it is sometimes unclear in distance education because some courses want you to summarize and in some courses allow you to copy and paste portions of the original document. Therefore it is important to me as the student to make sure I have clarity about the instructions because it changes from course to course. As well as ensuring that after graduation, when I am the instructor, I am clear with my expectations for the assignments. This point is also unclear to me because their are so many copyright laws and it is hard to dictate what information can be duplicated and what information can not. Therefore plagiarism can often happen when it is taken for granted that the material can be used in a form outside of its original intent. Therefore it is unclear to me as to when information can be reused, how much of that information can be reused and when it is necessary to contact the original source in order to reproduce the information. I am sure that people work hard to produce their work, as do I. Hence I understand why people want to get credit for their creations and not have them stolen and intentionally or mistakenly used for another persons.

Educ 633: Webliography Blog

Hope everyone had a safe and blessed Thanksgiving break!!! I enjoyed mines with family and for that I am thankful :) Chapter 7 focused primarily on the coherence principle. This principle was used to describe an uncluttered learning environment in an education setting where the focus is geared towards the content. Everything that is implemented into online learning should add to the instructional process rather than defer away from the content that is relevant. Extraneous things that maybe add to the overall look or interest of the viewers, but they do very little for the actual content that is taught, should not be integrated into online instruction. This point is important because it can assist instructors with designing their course. It is important that students are not being distracted by content that is presented on a webpage and forget the overall purpose of what should be retained through the assignment. This point did change my view on instructional design because it gave me more insight into more things that must be taken into consideration when planning an online course. Audio and visual cues as well as text size was not necessarily something that I had considered; and definitely in respect to the possible distractions that could present themselves. This point is also relevant to my ISD project because it also aligns with not adding “fillers” or irrelevant material just to meet requirements, but rather providing quality, relevant information.

Educ 639: Most Important Theory Blog

The theory that I have found interesting to distance education is Gagne’s Nine Steps of Instruction Theory. This theory is important to me because it set up a framework that instructors can use to help develop their course. This theory focuses on all aspects of the development of the student and tracking their progress. The nine steps for the theory are as follows: 1.Gain Attention. 2. Inform Learner of Objective. 3. Stimulate Recall of Prior Knowledge. 4. Present the Material. 5. Provide Guidance for Learning. 6. Elicit Performance. 7. Provide Feedback. 8. Assess Performance. 9. Enhance Retention and Transfer. This theory did change a small perspective on my views of education because I had not really previously thought in-depth about pre (assessing prior knowledge) and post assessments in a distance education program. Since being a student at Liberty University, I do not recall any assessments of these two types. Hence it changed my perspective about the effectiveness of assessments at the distance education level because they are rarely seen and could be beneficial in tracking a student’s progress. In a prior research effort it was found that some online universities were trying to adopt a video system where students are recorded while taking assessments online, therefore ensuring that the student is the one taking the assessment and not someone else taking it for the student. This theory could be used by me in the future when I start my outline of assignments to develop the structure of my online courses. Hence I would try to include the steps, at times in a different order, to meet the overall needs of my course and blend in the aspects of a traditional classroom setting.

Educ 639: Most Important Point

The most important trend that I found from my interview was the integration of social networks into their distance education courses. This distance education instructor used the social network facebook to communicate with her students. Facebook was also used in this instructors online course as a means to have the students further collaborations among themselves for course material. This point is important because in todays society there is always a need to incorporate various forms of technology into distance education programs. The one factor that seperates distance education from a traditional classroom is the distance factor. Therefore social networks offer the ability to enhance the communications and make a more positive classroom environment. This did not change my view on distance education because I too feel that social networks can have a positive effect on distance education and can be incorporated into distance education courses in a variety of ways. The only part was a little muddy was a better description or example of how the social network facebook can be used in an online course beyond posts and chatting. Overall social networks as an important trend in distance education is a great point to help better the distance education experience.

Educ 633: Gagnes Nine Steps of Instruction Theory

My chosen theory is Gagne’s Nine Steps of Instruction. The nine steps that he outlined to effect learning are as follows: 1. Gain Attention. 2. Inform Learner of Objective. 3. Stimulate Recall of Prior Knowledge. 4. Present the Material. 5. Provide Guidance for Learning. 6. Elicit Performance. 7. Provide Feedback. 8. Assess Performance. 9. Enhance Retention and Transfer. The theory establishes 9 steps that are sequential in order to help establish a positive learning environment for both the instructor and the student. The strengths for this theory would be that it is very detailed. Each steps help to establish a framework for education that can benefit all parties in the learning environment. The steps could assist an instructor with developing their instruction. This could be particularly helpful when in kindergarten when schools are using the new Common Core State Standards. These steps would allow the teachers to have an additional support document to help develop activities to fit with their pacing guides. The pacing guides for each subject area are used as an overview for all standards and objectives that must be taught, however these steps would help to dissect the standards further and turn them into concrete lessons and activities that would help to thoroughly enhance the students learning. The weakness for this theory at the kindergarten level would be that it does not give to flexibility. Too often lessons at the kindergarten grade level are short mini lessons that are taught during whole group, small group and one-on-one instruction. Therefore these nine steps would almost be too overbearing on time due to the transition times that occur throughout the daily schedule. Another weakness could be that these steps are designed in a particular order and some of them may need to be skipped or rearranged to accommodate the needs of a particular student, group of students or activity. This theory can be applied in distance education course development by myself, as the instructor, being able to take these steps and help design my objectives and assignments. The big factor of distance limits professor and student interactions, so these steps would allow for the instructor to help develop a course where students take their prior knowledge, gain upon it, and are able to assess their performance while giving them reinforcement as well.