Week 5 Discussion Summary

Our discussion this week centered around the question of whether or not we can remain true to our instructional values if we have student-content, student-student, or student-instructor interaction. We began the week with an Xcel spreadsheet listing the instructional values on one axis and the types of interaction on the other so we could see which types of activities would match up with both the values and interactions. Early in the discussion we came to the consensus that we needed variety in order to cover all the values. Then we moved on to talk in more detail about keeping the social aspect as part of the learning. This including different ways that students could obtain the social aspect even if they were not working with other students in a classroom.

My best contribution to the discussion was a response to Joni’s question about whether we could be true to our values if we had student-student, student-content, or student-instructor interaction. My response was,

“I think we can still be true to our values, but maybe not meet all of them in one particular activity. Over the length of a course we could still be true to the values because there is time for all 3 different types of interaction, such as we have experienced in this class so far. But if we used only one type such as student-content for a whole course, I don't think that we could stick to all the values. I do think the same is true for learning in a classroom too though. It is best when there is a good variety.”

I feel this was my best contribution because it got to the heart of the question and applied to my teaching in a classroom and eLearning. As an instructor this is something that I need to work on in my classes every day. It is important to keep a variety of activities to meet different instructional values in different ways so as to utilize as many as possible over the length of a course. We all need to keep this in mind as we learn how to develop eLearning because the values are still an essential part of the learning. This is definitely something to keep in mind as we go forward with this class and the rest of the eLearning program.