Category: OTL301

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OTL301 post 6 Uncategorized

Summary

  • What are the most important lessons you gathered from the course?

I think that Constructive Alignment is so important. Lack of alignment creates frustration for both student and OLFM (especially if the OLFM was not the curriculum developer. In some courses it is apparent that a print course was simply transferred to online and it does not work. This means that the FM must essentially check everything and rewrite where necessary. If they miss something, the students are confused and frustrated

  • How has your thinking changed as a result of completing the course?

I’m not sure how much my thinking has changed. I do see the value in the critical inquiry model, but I think I was using it before, I simply didn’t know the ‘title’.

  • What learning strategies were most effective for you? Why?

I found the most value in reading the articles/lessons and thinking about the questions asked. I found value in the posts that I had to write, but would have preferred to not have to blog them.

In addition to reflecting on your work, please include 2-3 ideas that you would like to implement in your own practice and how you might go about doing so.

I will be creating an introduction video to help create community at the start of the course.

I will be assigning pre-work to my discussion assignment so that students can use the entire time period to discuss rather than have to do the research within the unit week.

I will be much more present in the discussion forums to direct and assist students to think critically about the information.

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OTL301 post 5 Uncategorized

Reflection

  • Did you engage in each of the phases of the critical inquiry process?

I did engage in each of the phases, although resolution was the least used. I don’t think that is because I didn’t come to any resolutions, simply that I didn’t post about them.

  • Were you able to resolve any problems or dilemmas?
  • What might you do differently in a future course?

I did resolve some problems, and found some things that I would like to change. As I mentioned, I was not involved in the course creation or structure, so I would like to go through and change some things that I think will work better to increase critical thinking and integration for my students.

  • How might you engage with your students to ensure that they are working through the entire inquiry process?

As mentioned, I have created an introduction video for my students so that they get a sense of who their online instructor is. I will be changing some things about an online group discussion to ensure that students spend the time in discussion, rather than on doing research.

  • Do you think that working through this course in an open platform like WordPress helps to encourage reflective learning?

I think that the format could be better. TBH, I didn’t understand the blog process at all and actually feel as though it may have detracted from my learning as I was spending time trying to figure out how to make the blog work.

Categories
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 Integration OTL301 post 3

Designing Aligned Learning Experiences

Learning Outcomes

  • Examine different codes of ethics from professional organizations related to veterinary medicine and RVTs
  • Recognize the three different categories of ethics.
  • Discuss and resolve a practice dilemma, adhering to ethical principles.

Learning Activities

  • Read “Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics of the CVMA” and “NAVTA Veterinary Technician Code of Ethics”
  • In your assigned group, discuss the ethical dilemma presented, taking into account your responsibility to your patient, the client, the public, your place of work and yourself. Ensure your posts are on-topic and critique ideas, not people.
  • Write a summary of your group’s discussion and conclusion. What were the conflicts of interest or tensions that created the dilemma? Were you able to resolve the ethical dilemma? Was there more than one solution presented? Did you agree with your group mates? Which ethics categories applied?
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Critical Inquiry exploration Integration OTL301 Post 2

Teaching Presence

  1. How has your view of the effective practice changed now that you have read more about teaching presence?

I can see that the design and organization can really make a difference when it comes to teaching presence. There can be a disconnect if the person designing the course is not the same person who is facilitating it. Ideas that seem good on paper (or that worked in a f2f course) sometimes do not translate well to online instruction. It is important for anyone facilitating to have the ability to make changes ‘on the fly’ to design where necessary.

  1. In what ways did the effective practice that you identified show the characteristics of teaching presence?

The effective practice that I identified is absolutely facilitating discourse. My prof asking me questions to come to a conclusion on my own was to stimulate individual learning (Anderson et al., 2001). This prof was also very present in our forums, adding comments to move discussion along.

  1. How could the idea of teaching presence have made the experience even more effective than it was?

I am not sure there is anything that could have made the experience more effective. Not just for my conversations about my paper, but in general. I have no idea if my prof designed the course, but it was well designed; the assessments were very much aligned with the content and the objectives. As mentioned, each of the other elements of teaching presence were demonstrated by the prof.

Reference

Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of the Asynchronous Learning Network 5: 1-17.

Categories
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.