Instructional Approaches

In week 10 of ILT 5670 we had a discussion on Bender’s Chapter 3 about rethinking learning theory and how to apply this as we approach the EdWeb project. There are definitely benefits in having discussions for online learning because the responses are often more thought out, participants can review the discussion more than once and pull out new ideas, and because there is still the social aspect that is important for learning.

It seems to be a recurring topic, but we again came to discussing the lack of participation in the Web Conference and ways to try to solve that. After the first run, we made changes and thought and talked about what worked and did not work to get participants involved. But this run had much less participation. Armi and Kerry had some great ideas on this such as laying out discussion expectations better and giving examples of what an engaging discussion might look like. I also liked Armi’s thoughts on using a case study but making sure it was relevant so that the connections would occur faster. This should make for better discussion too since it will be relevant to the jobs of the participants.

Could the lack of participation be because there was not motivation in the form of a grade or job requirement? I included a quote from the reading in our discussion that I think is an important part of teaching: “"Learning, Fardouly states, is an emotional process, but the right balance must be struck. Some excitement, encouragement, and challenge can be motivating, whereas too much anxiety over a course can severely limit the potential for learning.” (Bender, 22). I wonder if some of the participants felt anxiety over this new type of conference and jumping into discussions for the first time. I thought the encouragement was there, but maybe there was not enough excitement to overcome the anxiety. I hope to get my students excited about going online for the EdWeb but also put enough support in there to keep them from being too anxious or overwhelmed. It will be something different for them as far as learning in school goes, but this could be a motivating factor because of their involvement with technology in other facets of their lives. After getting started on my formative evaluation, I have some ideas on reorganizing the navigation to guide them through the project a little better and some ideas on how to get them motivated and interested. Now it is just a matter of putting those thoughts into action.