Professional Development.
Continuing education is an important part of an educator's journey. I am always looking for these opportunities to enhance my practice and collaborate with fellow instructors. Check back as I will be continuously updating my PD experiences and hope to begin a blog on my take-aways, revelations, and growth!
Sarah D. Barder Conference 2019
How to Build an Educator
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It was an absolute honor and joy to participate in the Sarah D. Barder Conference this year (2019). Along with being inducted into the class of 2018, I heard from great speakers such as Dr. David Steiner (who agreed with my core belief that educators must first be content experts), Mary Ellen Beaty-O'Ferrall and Dennis Jutras. Our goal was to look at the current state of teacher training and determine in what ways we can improve. Some ideas included introducing students to tutoring as juniors or seniors in high school as a recruiting tool (which stuck a chord with me as this is how my educational journey began), encouraging undergraduate work in a specific content area to ensure mastery, and using fellowship, peer review, and mentors to help ease new teachers into their position with constant feedback and reflection for growth. I have a great article that looks at this idea that I will attach if I can locate it! But while teacher education was our overall goal, we also touched on the current climate for teachers and beliefs about educators. I was shocked to know that many are unaware that educators have both bachelors and graduate degrees! And obviously low pay is a regular barrier for recruitment and retention. I was happy to have the chance to share my views, while also hear the opinion and experiences of others. It was truly a fellowship that I hope to participate in yearly and I do feel I have made some amazing new friends!
Quality Matters Professional Development
Teaching Online Certificate |
The teaching online certificate was a culmination of seven online courses that explored important aspects of eLearning and how to be an effective educator in this exciting environment.
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Orienting Your Online Learners explored two levels of orientation. The first is a university or school-wide orientation that provides learners with the basics such as how to login to a learning management system, understanding the demands and expectations of eLearning and what it takes to be successful. The second level of orientation is what should be included in all online courses; how do students get started? how do they access the course? who is the instructor and how/when do I contact them? who are the students? and what is the purpose of this course? are some great starting points. By setting up students with all of this initial information, it can increase retention and perseverance, lower technical problems, and create an online environment in which students are not spending most of their time struggling with the how of an online environment and can focus on the what or the content.
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Connecting Learning Theories to Teaching Strategies was perhaps my favorite course. We discussed learning theorists and theories (behaviorism, cognitive, constructivism), pedagogy and adragogy, and types of motivation all in the context of online teaching. Some important take aways were how to create active learning activities and motivating through data collection and monitoring as well as personalization to lower transactional distance. How it is crucial to explain expectations and help with time management by for example creating printable schedules and timelines. I also learned a great deal about online lectures, such as the importance of energy and enthusiasm, and using examples freely. This course both provided me with some great readings and resources as well as confirmed much of my practice. I highly recommend it!
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Creating Presence in Your Online Course might be one of the most difficult concepts for educators new to online learning. In this course we explored not only the importance but how to achieve this. Online learning can be isolating, feeling like you as the student have to learn everything on your own and that your instructor is MIA is even more intimidating. Online courses should focus on building a community of inquiry, with frequent opportunities for interaction and shared experiences and opinions. One of the things I have struggled with is my presence in the discussion board. In this course we discussed how frequent interaction in the beginning helps get things started but then stepping away allows students to feel free to express themselves and take on a larger role in the discussion. I am a big proponent of online discussions, I find that students learn more through explanation which can happen in an authentic way in the discussion forum which helps all students. We also learned video lecture techniques and ways to increase active learning as well as strategies for responding to students to acknowledge their contribution, build on their ideas, and focus the discussion or correct any misconceptions.
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Assessing Your Online Learners had a large focus on rubrics for grading. We also explored common issues with online assessments and academic integrity. Tools for dealing with cheating and how to discourage cheating were addressed. We practiced both grading with rubrics and creating our own rubrics to accurately reflect understanding of the learning outcomes. Alignment is a key point for Quality Matters certification so making sure the learning outcomes were clear and what evidence shows successful completion of these outcomes guided our rubric creation.
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Policy Awareness is important for online instructors because you must know how to help students or where to direct them. On campus students can much more easily ask for help, however for online students their instructors are often their only point of contact. This includes resources such as tutoring and disability services. The syllabus is a key document that provides students with much of the information they will need for a course, making sure to know your institutions syllabus expectations and any information that is required is key. Also, including information about expectations and where to receive help allows learners for easy access to any support they may require while taking the course.
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Technology Awareness is non-negotiable in an online educator. We must be able to easily navigate and troubleshoot to help students, but also a certain level of aptitude is needed to create engaging lecture videos, digital organizer, and aggregate resources for students. In this course we completed a technology "quiz" that evaluated are current understanding of technology. Then we continued to reflect and consider steps we could take to improve in each area. Perhaps the best part of this course was communicating with peers and learning of other technologies or methods to stay up-to-date as well as expand on our skills
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Evaluating Your Online Course focused on alignment and the QM rubric. This course really set participants up to develop courses that can be certified as QM. We discussed the QM rubric and went over each portion to evaluate a current course, finding areas for improvement and discussing how we can fix these gaps as both a designer and an instructor. We discussed the characteristics of great online learning activities, and how to ensure course components are accessible. In addition, we explore not only how to align course and module objectives with activities and assessments but also the tools used in the course to effectively utilize technology and minimize distractions.
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I have also since completed the K-12 reviewer course and become a Certified Quality Matters Reviewer.
eLearn 2019-2020
Located in New Orleans, eLearn provided an excellent opportunity to discuss the current state of education with colleagues. I participated in a course on Adobe Captivate, attended round-table discussions that provided an in-depth debate regarding the focus on mathematical theory (or lack of), and presented my research into developing an online course focused on mathematics computation (see publications).
Managing Virtual Teams
As a supervisor for over 40 online instructors continuing to learn techniques and strategies for online management is crucial. This course, offered by LinkedIn Learning, provided great insight on boosting morale, being transparent, and ways to increase efficiency when working with a geographically diverse team. My major take away was the importance of communication, keeping everyone up-to-date and making expectations clear. This inspired me to update my current training - which received positive feedback, and create a multitude of resources for instructors to help in their day-to-day work.
Complete Course on Supervising
Complete through Johns Hopkins University, I worked with my colleagues to identity morale boosting opportunities and tangibles. My key take-away was to provide recognition often for work well-done. Since completing this course, I have begun implementing this in my daily supervisory duties and the result has been wonderful. The recognition is motivating and let's instructors know they are on the right track and doing excellent work.
DevLearn 2020
Coming Soon!