Teaching and Learning Online: Reflection

Teaching and Learning Online: Reflection Teaching and Learning Online In this reflection, I will capture a few of my thoughts that have changed my views the most. Although there was far more that I reflected on in my learning journal, I will focus on the main topics that interest me to take forward into my teaching. I found the initial orientation between different tools confusing, as I had been using Blackboard for everything previously. Moving to Canvas was good as it has a friendlier feel, less institutional, more laidback, which helped in feeling freer to informally chat. This helped create a sense of community. The wiki was initially overwhelming, now, as there are all the course materials and assignments kept there, I see it as a fantastic repository of shared knowledge, I shall use this idea in the future on teacher training courses. I was tentative about the online sessions as I had previous negative experiences of these and wondered if it was ever possible for the technical aspects to be overcome as Schrum Hong (2002 b) say, minimizing technical difficulties is very important, I felt this myself and at the start of the course, this experience can lead to a feeling of foreboding about online sessions. After the first synchronous session, I bought a new web camera and contacted my ISP to check all my connections. This worked well for me, as I was able to join the next sessions, albeit tentatively, and the technical problems were fixed. This was a huge relief and meant that I could follow and participate in the sessions. The effect of this meant that where I was originally much more at home with an asynchronous environment, I now started to see the real benefits in synchronous sessions, not least the social, community building aspect. I think that the technical aspect of online learning must be given a lot of tho ught and any use of new tools must also include clear guidelines or help in how to use them. As I progressed through the course, I noted in my journal times when I felt that the literature and course activities were overlapping, which led to several mini epiphanies. For me, this lead to a deeper understanding of the subject as I was reading the theoretical background and acting it out at the same time. Schrum Hong (2002 a)’s recommendations was a paper I found very helpful. The way that it is set out forms an excellent framework for thinking about how to organize online courses and in looking through these at the end of the course, I was able to see that they were all part of the course. Vicarious learning was quite revelatory for me; it gave a name to something I had been aware of. This somehow made it a more acceptable way of being an online learner and made me reflect on the fact that all learners are different, and while participation is a key factor in learning online, students can participate in different ways. On the forum I noted that â€Å"I found the Sutton (2001) paper very interesting from the point of view of reflecting on my own learning in online environments. I think that it would be difficult to categorise myself as either a direct interactor or vicarious interactor, as I use both aspects to greater or lesser extents. I think that the context does influence which one I am at any given time.† I was not previously aware of this category, the vicarious interactor, and would have put it down to social anxiety or shyness. This has never really sat well with me before, as I am not especially shy or introverted in social situations, and do not feel intimidated by posting my own opinions online. However, I can see that I have many traits of the vicarious interactor. I like to observe and process direct interaction, often before interacting myself and I do learn from the actions of others. I find it useful to reflect on my learning style and I think that this also plays a big part in my teaching. This is especially true when I am involved in teacher training, I like to observe the actions of participants, and draw threads and ideas together. I think that this works well when cultivating a social learning environment. As stated by Garrison Cleveland-Innes (2010), interaction plays a central role in any educational experience, and online learning is no exception. I had previously noted in my journal that I felt that there were two types of online learning, one where the teacher taught a class online, through a tool such as Adobe Connect, that would be similar to a lecture, and one where the teacher used an LMS to provide learning materials and was fairly hands-off after that. I now started to think that the teacher needs to be more active in monitoring progress and reacting to emerging needs, and also to act as a facilitator to the social experience. The idea of flexible learning as proposed by White (2006) and Collis Moonen (2008) was something that resonated with me. I had previously noted in my journal that I thought that one of the key factors in online learning for me was good quality learning materials. While I still agree with this view, Collis and Moonen (2008) said that learning situations need to be flexible and adaptable and White (2006) talks of making sure that learners receive sustained attention. On reflection, I think that this is a large part of teaching online. In the classroom, students expect the teacher to give them attention and to provide personalized learning according to their needs. I had tried out a number of MOOCs and always gave up due to the sheer size of them. Many of the materials were excellent, but I just did not engage with the course. I realize that this was one of the factors in my failure. I found that the framework proposed by Collis Moonen (2008) of the before, during and after activities one that could be easily and effectively transferred to my teaching context. Many teachers in my organization lack technical know-how and appear unwilling to try out new ideas. This framework can quite easily be adapted as many teachers use a similar lesson framework for activities such as listening comprehensions. This could be an excellent way of getting teachers to start working on using online learning with their students, probably with an emphasis on a blended learning approach. Word count: 1,081 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ References Collis, B. Moonen, J. (2008) The Contributing Student, Computers in the Schools, 19:3-4, 207-220 Garrison, R. Cleveland-Innes, M. (2010) Facilitating Cognitive Presence in Online Learning: Interaction Is Not Enough, American Journal of Distance Education, 19:3, 133-148 Minocha, S. Roberts, D. (2008) Laying the Groundwork for Socialisation and Knowledge Construction within 3D Virtual Worlds, ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology, Vol. 16, No. 3, September 2008, 181–196 Moore, M.G. (1997) Theory of Transactional Distance, in Keegan, D., ed. Theoretical Principles of Distance Education (1997), Routledge, pp. 22-38. Schrum, L. Hong, S. (2002 a) Dimensions and Strategies for Online Success: Voices from Experience and Educators, JALN Volume 6, Issue 1 July 2002 Schrum, L. Hong, S. (2002 b) From the Field: Characteristics of Successful Tertiary Online Students and Strategies of Experienced Online Educators, Education and Information Technologies 7:1, 5–16, 2002 White, C. (2006) Contribution of Distance Education to the Development of Individual Learners, Distance Education, 26:2, 165-181 Sutton, L.A. (2001) The Principle of Vicarious Interaction in Computer-Mediated Communications, International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 7(3), 223-242 Electronic Submission Form – Version 1.0

Nature of Poverty Essay

The nature of poverty can be described in many ways. The obvious way to explain poverty is the lack of income. However, in the deeper meaning, poverty also includes those who lack of security, healthcare, power, and other basic necessities. Poverty can be categorised in terms of absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty is household based measure by income per year under a statistic developed by government which will aid those who are poor by giving them money depending on the number of members in the family on a yearly basis. While, relative poverty focus on people’s living with no statistic. For instance, if a family has 10 members but they have only 3 cars, they can be regarded as poor. Nevertheless, there are three common methods that use to measure the level of poverty. The first method defines poverty as a lack of income, which can be measured by World Bank. The absolute poverty for this case is a cut up point above or below the certain amount of income. Yet, this method has a major drawback. Since it focuses solely on income and ignoring other important factors such as social well-being or the general welfare of people, this method fails to provide the whole aspect of poverty. Secondly, UNDP measures poverty in terms of the lack of capability. It is known as Human Poverty Index that indicates the standard of living of the people in the country, which are life expectancy, life satisfaction, and footprint. This method provide not only deeper but also broader ways of measuring and assessing poverty. It looks pass the income factor and takes into consideration the non-monetary aspects, which generate the more well-rounded information and results. However, there are some critics that this method cannot truly measure the level of the poor since statistics and numerals are unable to measure people’s feelings. It is said that we cannot know how others feel unless we walk in their shoes, therefore, in order to get the accurate result, living with the poor is required. Lastly, poverty as a social exclusion is mentioned by Robert Chambers about the nature of poverty. Chambers introduces the bottom-up theory, which suggests that people should actually work with the rural poor who lack of power to speak out, security, and live with fears. Therefore, the approach is carried out to get an in depth understanding of what are the real meanings of poverty by associating directly with the poor. By this view, Chambers tends to provide qualitative method while other methods are quantitative based. Although this method  provides useful information of the poor, there are few flaws to be considered. Because the outcome is mainly based on qualitative methods such as verbal communication, there is a high tendency that the outcome will be bias. Moreover, snapshot may occur. For example, the interview conducted during the harvest season might get a better result than the actual reality. Therefore, the long-term picture should be taking into account in order for the outcome to be more anthological and longitudinal. Another problem is that people may not be honest, which is called courtesy bias. This way people will only answer what the researchers want to hear and leave the truth out. Thus, sometimes researchers may ask them to draw the picture of their life, which turns out to be a better way to get the real answer. Chambers talks more about vulnerability and isolation of people. For example, the poor cannot transport to sell the goods. In conclusion, there are several ways to measure the level of poverty. Three most common methods are the lack of income, HPI by UNDP (lack of capability) and social exclusion by Robert Chambers. Each method uses different viable and factors to indicate the level of poverty, all have their own advantages and criticisms. Therefore, each one is suitable and appropriate in different situations and purposes. However, in my opinion, even though, the lack of income method might be easier to measure and assess, the social exclusion theory by Robert Chambers could provide the real well-being of people since it includes the important of non-monetary factors that are crucial for the welfare of people.

Case for critical thinking: A flood of decisions Essay

1. What information sources (or potential information sources) could have been used to assist with the decision-making process for Wivenhoe Dam in this case? Potential information sources that could have been used to assist with the decision-making process for Wivenhoe Dam -SEQWater -Sought advice from Water Grid Manager -Water Commission -DERM (Department of Environmental Resource Management) Managerial decision-making Problem avoiders Problem solvers Problem seekers Approaches to decision making Classical decision model Behavioral decision model Judgmental decision model 2. With references to decision-making theory covered in the chapter, describe the type of managerial decision-making evident in this case, and the conditions under which decisions were made. Managerial Decision Making *Problem avoidably *Problem solvers *Problem seekers Decision conditions: *Certain environment *Risk environment *Uncertain environment 3. Evaluate the decisions made in the case in relation to the classical, behavioural and judgmental heuristics approaches to decision-making that are outlined in the chapter. Which model do you believe best describes the situation and subsequent decision-making process in this case? Justify your answer? Approaches to decision making ^Classical decision model ^Behavioral decision model ^Judgmental decision model Case decision *Classical decision model Problem: it was the flood that damage Brisbane and Ipswich Possible alternative: Not releasing flood waters. Consequently threatened stability of dam Optimizing decision: Release of flood waters being aware of potential damage. SWOT Analysis: Strengths: *New technology *They set priorities *Manage time Weakness: Lack of communication Misunderstanding Misconduct Problem solving Crisis Opportunities: *Professional engineer *Employment Threats: Natural disaster (climate change) Damage roads and homes. Conclusion People should make wise decision to save the lifes of the others.

A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole Analysis...

A Confederacy of Dunces Characters 1. Every character is connected leaving no loose end. I. Ignatius i. A modern Don Quixote. ii. Hates modern society. iii. Prefer the middle Ages, obsess with Boethius. II. Myrna Minkoff The minx i. Have different perspective from Ignatius. ii. Is fascinated with Ignatius. iii. Ignatius and her do things to impress each other even thought they are separated. III. Irene Reilly i. Long time widow. ii. Thinks Ignatius is a child. iii. Drink a lot of wine and its constantly drunk. IV. Santa Battaglia i. Is Mrs. Reillys new best friend and aunt of Patrolman Mancuso. ii. She wants to get Ignatius out of the way so she can fix up his mother with a potential new husband Mr.†¦show more content†¦i. A good heart man who was arrested because of ignatious. ii. Wants to marry Mrs. Reilly Techniques I. Outrageous exaggeration by the main character. i. Ignatious valve ii. His point of view on everything iii. Mark Twain iv. Modern society Luciano, Paola A Confederacy of Dunces: An Essay When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by the sign that the dunces are all in confederacy against him, a quote from Jonathan swift a man known as an expert of satire. There couldnt be a better way to start this novel about a person who is convinced of his own genius, and the idiocy of those around him. Yet, at the same time, he is in almost every way the most outrageous candidate for such a suitable name. , this book itself is a spoof. From the techniques toole used to the portrayal of modern society and one of Americans greatest writer Mark Twain. The characters are what make this novel, they are all connect by some way or other and end up affecting each other most of the time without even knowing it. John Kennedy Toole greatest accomplishments in this novel were the characters, and how they developed a web like relationship. What I mean by a web like relationship is that all the characters were connected and by the end there were no loose ends. The main character Ignatius J. Reilly an unusual personality that readers wont find in any other novel. A Modern Don Quixote, peculiar and creative, sometimes to the pointShow MoreRelated The Modern Grotesque Hero in John Kennedy Tooles, A Confederacy of Dunces3939 Words   |  16 PagesThe Modern Grotesque Hero in John Kennedy Tooles, A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole unleashes a compelling criticism of modern society in the principal work he produced in his short lifetime, A Confederacy of Dunces. Using masterfully crafted comedy, Toole actually strengthens his disparaging position on the modern world. Boisterously and unabashedly opinionated, Ignatius Reilly, the principal character of this novel, colors the narrative with a poignant humor that simultaneously evokes