1. Please describe your overall experience in this course, and what you think of the approach where students learn about technology, and teaching, by designing educational technology.

I will preface my answer to this question by saying that I did not need to take this course to complete the degree requirements. I wanted to take this course because I wanted to know more about how to put classes online (and it helped me to get financial aid as well.) This can be a good thing, or not a good thing, depending on your perspective. That being said, overall, my experience in this course was everything I thought it would be and more! I thought I would learn “how to” (in terms of the technology piece of this) transfer face-to-face courses to the online environment, but I did not realize I would learn so much about teaching and the obstacles and challenges that teachers must deal with when teaching an online class.
The concept of having professor’s work with MA students to learn about “online learning” is terrific! I found myself thinking several times how grateful I am to have had this opportunity. David brought his teaching expertise to the group and Doug, Kurt and I brought our own different technological knowledge to the table as we worked together to produce the end product…David’s CEP848 class in an on-line format. David will have a good, solid start to transferring this class to the on-line environment. Chances are, without CEP817, he might still have dared to make this transfer, but on the other hand, he might not be so willing to make this move. I now have a deeper respect for the process of teaching at the higher education level that, given my current situation, I couldn’t really have gotten any other way.
This “learning by designing” philosophy is not an easy concept for some, I know. For me, it is a great way to learn. I know that some folks have expressed their frustration with this concept because it is fairly open-ended and there is much more room for perceived failure. We are brought up to believe, after all, that you take a class, take the tests, and get the grades and so on and so on (as Punya often says.) With this approach, while you certainly have goals and expectations from the start, how you achieve these goals may really be different for each person and ultimately how a student learns and how much they learn is critically related to the effort they put into the class. What is frustrating for some is that you learn in a sort of “baptism by fire” mode. I guess I am used to this type of learning from my experiences at New Horizons Learning Center, where I would take a computer class, have one day to “prep” the material I had just been taught, and quite literally in some cases, would have to stand up and teach 18 people what I had just learned. It was “learning through design” in its truest sense.

2. Do you think differently about the role of technology in education after this course? What do you think is the relationship between technology and education?

I cannot honestly say I think differently about the role of technology in education as a result of anything I learned in this class. If anything, my beliefs about it are now stronger than ever before. I have always believed that technology is a tool…that should be used to enhance student learning and achievement and not used simply for using technology sake.
In my experience at Howell, I have found many teachers who feel overwhelmed by technology and who have difficulties with it because they do not understand how to use it, and more importantly, how to use it effectively to enhance their students learning. I typically explain that learning technology is a process and that they should not expect to become “experts” because really and truly there are no “experts” in technology. Technology is a moving target so no matter how much you know today, if you wait until tomorrow, there will be more to learn. I also explain that they should expect some bumps in the road when they begin to use technology in their teaching. That’s okay…it will get better. The reason I mention this is because I think many teachers were in the situation where their district essentially said…”we better get on this technology bandwagon” and they basically jammed technology down the throats of the teachers with no regard for how it would be used effectively or even how teachers would learn how to use it. This is why so many teachers still have the idea that using technology is nothing more than taking their students to a computer lab so they can search the Internet, or that it is having students type their papers and work in Word. The role between technology and education goes far beyond these ideas.
Technology is a tool…it is not the education. It is not the teacher. It can’t take the place of either. It must be transparent. If it adds to the student learning, if student learning is changed for the better because of the technology, then it is appropriate to use it. I advocate for content-driven technology. That is, the content must come first and the content (in most cases) must drive the technology. The bottom line, however, is that this is a process and the process is interactive. The technologies that are chosen will work well with certain content and the content will be more impacted by choosing particular technologies.

3. Tell me how much you think you learned in each of the following areas. (1=Nothing, 2 = very little, 3 = some, 4 = quite a bit).

4. What did you learn, if anything, about the content area that your faculty member is going to teach about?

I learned some about the using sign language in the classroom. Primarily, I learned that there are differences in the types of signing that people may use…kind of like having different dialects and regional colloquialisms, signing can be different depending on where someone learned it and in what environment they use it. It might also be different depending on what content area the teacher is teaching with sign language. In addition, I learned that there are “short-cuts” (sort of a short-hand) for sign language just like there is for spoken language.

5. What do you think are the most important differences (if any) between teaching an online course vs. a face-to-face course?

Essentially, I began this course strongly believing that there really were not a lot of major differences between teaching an online course versus a face-to-face course. What I now understand and believe is that fundamentally, the same types of qualities that make a face-to-face course successful are predominantly the same kinds of things that will help to make an online course successful. However, there are some differences in teaching an online course versus a face-to-face course. Some of these differences are:

• Teaching an online course takes a lot of time (especially the first time you teach it) for planning and organizing.
• Teaching an online course requires the instructor to give up much more control of the class, allowing the students to take responsibility for their own learning
• Although the outcomes may be the same for an online course as in the face-to-face course, how you reach these outcomes will very likely be very different.
• In an online course, it is important for the instructor to get a full picture of who the students are before the class even begins. This is not something that would necessarily have to take place in a face-to-face class.
• It is also very important for instructors to be flexible when teaching an online course. “Stuff” happens…and it is a good idea to be open to looking at solving problems in creative ways.
• Teaching an online course is “messy” as Punya says, and there really is not one “magic” potion that you can apply to all online courses.

6. What do you think are the most important differences (if any) between taking an online course vs. a face-to-face course?

Matt…you know me well enough by now to know that I strongly believe that the success of taking any course is primarily tied to the amount of time, effort and energy that the student is willing to put into the course. So…essentially, I think that there are no differences in taking an online course versus a face-to-face course. To be successful in any course, you must take responsibility for your own success. However…on a practical level, I guess there are differences between taking and online course versus a face-to-face course.
The biggest difference I see in taking an online course is simply that you cannot hide. Ironically, I think people who first take an online course believe it will be easier to not be seen by the instructor. I think that just the opposite is true. If you are participating as you are supposed to, then the instructor will have ample opportunity to not only notice you, but to be able to take his/her time in really reading what you have written, and look at your work to determine if you truly understand the material. In a face-to-face class, it is easier to sort of fade into the crowd. If, on the other hand, you are not participating as you are supposed to in the online course, then it is easy for the instructor to see that as well. All he/she has to do is check the logs.
Taking an online course has other differences that include:

• Students really need to be more self-disciplined and self-directed
• Students must be willing to take more responsibility for their own learning.
• Students need to understand that the time commitment for an online class will be just as much (if not more) for an online class.
• Students must understand that the instructor may or may not be as available as they would in a face-to-face class.
• Students must be able to work both collaboratively and independently for successful online learning.

7. What do you think are the most important differences (if any) between designing an online course vs. a face-to-face course?

To design on online course, you must think about the following:

• Who are the students? It is important to actually know more about the students in an online course before the course begins so that you can best design how to deliver the content of your course.
• It is important to be able to combine (transparently) both the usability and the aesthetic qualities of the course web site.
• In designing an online course, you must think about what you want your students to learn, feel, and know when they complete the class and which technologies to use to best achieve these outcomes.
• You must think about how comfortable you will be as the instructor in letting go of a certain amount of control, thus allowing the students to take more responsibility for their own learning.
• You must think about how you will address issues of attendance (it may be different for online courses than you would handle this for a face-to-face course.
• You must be willing to design and then re-design the course.
• You must really think about the methods you will use to build an online learning community through your course. A lot of the success of online classes is dependent on this.

8. Think about the first five weeks of the course, the middle five weeks, and the last five weeks. For each of those periods, describe how the group was functioning, what were they working on? What were the debates in the group about?

a. Early weeks: Our group was in “high gear.” We were actively involved in the planning of the web site, designing different layouts, thinking about both the look of the site and the content. We also were talking about some practical matters like how we would accomplish creating the type of site that David was looking for (technologolically). Kurt and Doug and I had worked together before in groups and I think this worked to our advantage in that we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We get along well and respect each other, so there were not major problems with communication or making decisions. We were also all actively involved in the online discussions.
b. Middle weeks: I believe this portion of the class was really geared more for the instructors in the class. The middle weeks were not as intense for the students in one way and in another way they were more intense. On the one hand, we had already accomplished much of what we wanted to with regard to the web site design. So, at least for Web Signs, this time was a bit less intense. On the other hand, this was the time we were asked to play “student” for the other group’s web sites. This was very intense, since we were asked to fully participate in another class…albeit a primitive version of the class. We still had readings to do, papers to write and discussions to participate in. This was all on top of continued participation in discussions for CEP817 and continued work on the web site we were responsible for designing. This made the middle weeks quite intense. I don’t recall that Web Signs members had much debating about anything. We were too busy just trying to keep everything organized and in order.
c. Last weeks: This has been a slow time for us. J Admittedly, we did not get the same type of feedback as the other groups did regarding our web site, but David is very happy with what we presented to him and now we are fine-tuning it. Personally, I have found myself feeling a lot less intense about the class, the work, and even the discussions. I also think this is due, in part, to the fact that we have had a lot of discussions…both online and in class. I almost feel like we are “discussioned out.” What more is there to say that hasn’t already been said? If anything, with regard to group debates, etc., the hardest thing has been to get everyone to participate at a really engaged level. The level of participation has waned. This may be due to the types of discussion guidelines being used as much as anything else.

9. What changes do you recommend for the course next time it is offered?

You might want to think about handling the weekly online discussions a bit differently. While I think it is a good idea for both students and instructors to see what works and what doesn’t work in online discussions by having different people facilitate weekly (setting their own guidelines), I found that after a while, even this format began to lose its appeal. I also think that during these last few weeks, it doesn’t seem like the same amount of effort is being made…by anyone…the people who are facilitating and the rest of the students. The enthusiasm has waned. Perhaps you could drop the online discussions for the middle three weeks to give students a break (while they are participating in online discussions for the classes they are evaluating anyway). I would not suggest this for a full online course, but since this is sort of a hybrid class, I think it would be okay.
Other than this I think the format of the class is terrific. I know some people do not like the “group” idea for many higher education courses, but I think this works especially well for this class.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to say?

This is a great class Matt! I really do think grouping MA students with instructors is a win/win situation. You do a wonderful job of “stepping back” and letting us learn. Some may view that as being AWOL (if this was strictly an online course it might be) but in this situation, I really think you did a nice job of balancing your presence and your ability to let us learn. I enjoyed the experience immensely!
I would like to know more about possible job opportunities to work at the higher education level (with only a Master’s Degree.) Is this possible? Does MSU hire its graduates to teach these courses or even as assistants to full-time professors? I feel so “pumped up” about all that I have learned that I am eager to put some of this knowledge into play. Unfortunately, due to the budget situation, we will not be putting any classes online anytime soon in Howell (a complete turn-around from three months ago when they were anxious to do so.) Any ideas would be appreciated Matt. GREAT CLASS! J

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