OLE

This weeks readings proved very enlightening to me. My project is to develop a "lesson plan" on the Oklahoma Career Tech's LMS, icat, to present how to change learning activity packages (LAP) into a online learning environment. I knew that the text from Bonk & KeZhang would prove to be very useful to me and I read Chapter 5 : reflective and observational learners, to enable me to better create online discussion forums, and Chapter 7 to help me better understand what steps visual learners would benefit from. But the additional readings not only helped me better understand the process of changing a LAP into a online learning environment but also helped me better understand the dynamics of the self-paced PN program I work with. Bernice McCarthy best explained the retention problems I have tried to understand, by stating (in the 4MAT system) dynamic learners are primarily interested in self directed discovery. Could the retention problems my nursing school faces be related to the strength of steps in LAPS and how it relates to the other types of learners? We have always attempted to address different learning styles, but this article made me think differently about how LAPS are put together, and thus, how my online learning environment would be developed. The overview of OLE components and design heuristics was very instrumental in assisting me in this final project. This project meets a real need in technology education. Most programs in the state use LAPS as an instructional design. To have a template to assist in turning them into an OLE will be a good addition if done properly. I look forward to my classmates critique!

my virtual community

Well, here we are blogging about our virtual community. I have put my objectives into blogs before, but as this conversation has progressed, I see that MAYBE my objectives are to broad to do a good job. In fact in this week's readings I have determined I am very unsure about my objectives completely. But wait, I get ahead of myself. First the task analysis. In chapter 4 of Morrison, Kemp and Ross I have identified the steps I need to conduct a solid task analysis. My global objective is to deliver professional development to my technology center and the 10 partner high schools in our district. From chapter 4 I think I need to work through a task analysis an a topic analysis. Beginning with the instructional goals derived from the definition of the instructional problem, I would say the goal is to deliver prof. dev. in an easily accessible form, ( online as opposed to face to face, taking time away from prep for first day of class) and to stimulate interest in the school improvement process. But I will learn more from a learner analysis. One neat feature that is offered ( as a generic assessment ) is the "comfort zone" assessment. The LMS I am using offers a generic prof. dev. assessment about how comfortable the person is in 11 different categories. This will help my topic analysis. I particularly enjoyed the section of chapter 4 that discussed how to be prepared to work with the SME. Then moving into objectives. I am unsure how to correct write the objectives for this training. There will be cognitive ( classroom management ) psycho motor ( fire safety ) and affective ( customer service ). This section will be a challenge. Finally the sequencing of the material. This chapter struck me as similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In professional development if the teacher cannot do the simple foundational classroom tasks, they are not concerned with how to provide advanced educational tasks or technology like SenseMaker or any of the other advanced classroom ideas we have seen in this course. I'll stick to one of the last comments in this section of reading "your task analysis will provide a general outline" and go from there. Comments?