Category: Resolution

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Critical Inquiry exploration Integration OTL301 post 4 Resolution Triggering Event

Facilitation

I don’t know anyone who has taught a continuous entry course, so I did not have an interview subject for this post. However, I have been a student in continuous entry courses, so I am going to reply based on my experiences.

It is, obviously, difficult to create community and connection in a course where everyone is at a different place. I think that one way is by encouraging students to make an introduction post in addition to replying to two classmates’ posts. I think this is a much easier ask in a cohort system, as student will be moving through courses together for the next several years. As a OLFM, I also reply to each student’s introduction and attempt to make a connection in some way [usually via their pets :)]. I can remember as a student posting an intro and never hearing from anyone. Why would I bother to post an intro in the next class I take?

Strategies for facilitating the process of critical inquiry: my continuous entry course is one in which there is not much critical thinking to be done. However, for one of my paced courses, I specifically ask for critical thinking. I ask students to reflect on what they have learned about themselves? Have they realized that some strategies that they have used in the past to ‘get through’, and which served them well, may not be working anymore? What strategies do they think will be helpful going forward?

I think that having a Course Cafe can still be utilized to provide the opportunity for Social Presence. However, older posts should be removed. If there is something especially relevant in one of the posts, it could be put into a FAQ, but posts that are a year old do not necessarily contribute to the current students’ learning. Assignments change and therefore so do questions and struggles. Having old information creates confusion. The OLFM should also be present in these discussions. There is no need to reply to every post, but ensure that information that is being provided by peers is indeed correct.

I wonder if a good idea is to put students into small groups based on the month of their entry into the course. They may not go through the material at the same pace, but they may not be too far off. That way students have at least a ‘go-to’ to ask questions. The first post could be an ice-breaker: what is your favorite movie, just to get some connection right off the start.

I think that many of these strategies are much more relevant for some subjects than others. Learning the names and identifying characteristics of parasites does not really lend itself to cognition, discourse, integration and resolution in my opinion. However, I do think that creating a community allows students to share tips and tricks to remember each of the parasites and so I continue to try and find ways to help students connect.

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Critical Inquiry OTL301 Resolution

Effective Practices

I took an online class a couple of semesters ago and I was really struggling with a final paper topic. Or not so much the topic as how to make it work within the course subject. The prof offered to chat over the phone with anyone in this dilemma, so I booked a time. We chatted, but I got off the call still feeling like I had no idea what I was going to write. Struggled for another few days, then booked another time with the prof. And got off the phone again without too much direction. I didn’t feel as though I had gotten much direction from the calls, but at the same time, they didn’t feel like I had wasted my time. I have had calls with other profs that weren’t helpful, but this was different. And I think it was because a) the prof took the time to talk and would have for more calls if I had requested it and b) she was never dismissive of my idea. Sure, she didn’t give a ton of direction, but she asked me questions that made me realize what I *wasn’t* going to do with this paper. She didn’t just tell me why I shouldn’t do what I was planning, but she helped me get on the right track nonetheless.

The keys/effective practices were that the prof was very engaged and available, she didn’t tell me what to do or what not to do, and I felt very ‘heard’. I don’t think I would change anything about this experience.

Intro: Hi! I’m Kirsten, my pronouns are she/her. I have been a lab facilitator for over 10 years at a Lower Mainland college and I am very happy to be expanding my teaching experience to TRO OL.

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Critical Inquiry exploration Integration OTL201 post 5 Resolution

Integration

  • What are the 2-3 most important concepts that have impacted your thoughts on student engagement and retention during this course?

Social presence is the concept that has impacted me most. I have always understood engagement to be important, especially in an online course, but I have realized there are more ways for me to enhance this in my course. The other concept is recognizing that the way in which a student gets to a learning outcome can be flexible. Obviously there are assignments and quizzes that must be submitted, but the way in which they are submitted can be of their choosing.

  • Discuss your rationale for implementing 1 or 2 course facilitation strategies to increase student retention and engagement.

I will be doing a video introduction of myself going forward. Text in a forum is so impersonal–I realized that my students didn’t know what I looked like until 3/4 the way through the semester. Presenting my authentic self through a video will give my students permission to do the same, not just in their intro, but in their coursework.

  • Identify 2-3 specific goals that you would like to achieve in light of what you have learned about social presence and creating effective educational media

As mentioned, a video introduction. But I also want to encourage more interaction between students within the course/forums. I will be introducing an article or some other current event relevant to the course each week, not for credit, just to be able to relate some course concepts to the real world.

I will also be creating a “forum post guidelines” to ensure that all students feel safe in stating their ideas and opinions, but don’t worry that they (as opposed to their ideas) will be criticized.

  • Think about some questions you still have with respect to student engagement and retention. Post these questions and also a strategy for finding the answers.

How do I ensure that students are getting what they need to be successful? It can be difficult to get students to feel comfortable asking questions when they don’t understand. I will do some research to see if there are effective strategies for this. Do I have to assume that students will take responsibility for their own learning?

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Critical Inquiry Integration OTL201 post 4 Resolution

Effective Media

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Critical Inquiry Integration Learning Activities Portfolio Resolution

Enhancing discussion forums

I have a discussion assignment in my course in which students must discuss an ethical dilemma and come to a consensus on how they would handle it. One of the strategies that we use, noted in this article, was that these types of discussions should utilize real-world scenarios. This allows students to begin to synthesize what they are learning into a safe environment, before they must put it to real use.

I found that there was not enough conversation that occurred in this semester for this assignment to be really impactful for the students. I think that the wording of some of the scenarios was not clear enough and there was not enough time for students to work their way through the coursework required to really delve into the topic. For this reason, I extended the due date by a week. I will also be assigning some pre-work, as noted in the above article, to hopefully jump start the discussion.

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Critical Inquiry exploration Integration Learning Activities Portfolio Resolution

Student introduction forum

For my course, I have a student introduction forum. I ask them each to introduce themselves, where they live and one interesting thing about themselves (or unusual pet that they have). I find it allows the students to build some community early on in the course to rely on as they go through the coursework. I also introduce myself to give the students the opportunity to get to know who I am.

This was only done in text format the first time I taught the course. However, I uploaded a video of myself providing general feedback on an assignment that students have to complete that involves them taking video of themselves. It was well-received and I think I will offer the opportunity for students to do video introductions if they choose to increase the connection.

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Critical Inquiry Integration OTL201 Post 2 Resolution

Social Presence

  • describe the ways in which your introductory post could have enhanced social presence in a course that you teach

I used interpersonal and open communication by introducing my pronouns, giving others permission to do so, and doing a territory acknowledgement.

  • identify at least one improvement that you might make in light of what you know about social presence since completing your first post

If I were trying to enhance social presence in a course with my intro, I might have said something like “I am looking forward to working my way through the course with you.”

  • describe how your thinking about social presence has changed since your first post.

Not much changed for me–I try to utilize the ideas introduced from Garrison without realizing that there were names for them 🙂

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Critical Inquiry Integration OTL101 Reflection Resolution

Integration

Create a new post and discuss the following:

  • Take a look back through your previous posts and apply the ‘Showcase’ category to your best work.

I applied the showcase category to my cognitive presence post. I think that I understand this from a student perspective and so can apply that to my teaching.

  • What are 2-3 of the most important ideas that you have studied during this course?

Constructive alignment is very important to ensure student success. There is nothing more frustrating as a student than to have to complete an assessment that seems to have no bearing on course outcomes.

Feedback is also very important, especially in an online environment. The ability to keep students engaged by providing clear and effective feedback encourages student success.

  • Identify 2-3 specific goals that you would like to achieve in light of what you have learned about cognitive presence, approaches to learning, and feedback

I would like to review my course to ensure that there is good constructive alignment. I did not create/write the course and this was the first time I taught it. The course does not run again until next January, so I have some time to make that happen. I have already found a couple of places where the learning outcomes are indicated in the wrong module and where there is information missing for the students to be able to complete assignments.

There is one assignment where the students must participate in a discussion forum and I need to make sure that I am more present to be able to encourage more deep thinking about the topic. I also need to increase the time frame for the discussion to provide students the time to process replies to their posts.

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Critical Inquiry OTL101 Post 2 Resolution showcase

Cognitive Presence

I found it interesting, but not surprising, that there was a lack of attention focused on resolution in the responses received. As an online student myself, I find it difficult to really integrate new ideas and attitudes. I find that the trigger and exploration phases are relatively easy to manage in online conversations. However, when it comes to integration, it can be difficult to really delve deep. Especially when I am in ‘conversation’ with others who are new to the concept as well. In an in-person class, the instructor is there to guide, push, prompt with an experienced voice. That is often missing in an online class; there are often a number of groups, each having different conversations, and it is difficult for the instructor to be present in all of them. This was noted in another’s blog, who said that the best example of cognitive presence for them was a course in which the professor made a connection with each student. What better way to ensure engagement than to engage on a personal level with each of your students?