ETEC 511 Foundations of Educational Technology
Reflections
In ETEC 511, we discussed the foundations of educational technology. In this course, I learned what implications different dimensions of technology have on curriculum and instructional design and how history, philosophy and education are all intertwined and related. This course was quite challenging for me but constant collaboration with peers and feedback from the instructor helped to make it very interesting. Also, I learned that educational technology is not just a tool but a process that requires constant innovation.
One of our assignments for this course was to develop a Discourse Leadership Group Case Study aiming at showcasing our knowledge of course content through a blog presentation. In our group, we decided to create a blog about copyright and its impact on students in the classroom using Weebly. Our intention was to create a resource that could be completed in or outside of the classroom. Besides learning about our topic, I also learned that it is important to be part of a safe, nurturing online community where I could communicate and collaborate with other students.
One of our assignments for this course was to develop a Discourse Leadership Group Case Study aiming at showcasing our knowledge of course content through a blog presentation. In our group, we decided to create a blog about copyright and its impact on students in the classroom using Weebly. Our intention was to create a resource that could be completed in or outside of the classroom. Besides learning about our topic, I also learned that it is important to be part of a safe, nurturing online community where I could communicate and collaborate with other students.
Artifacts
Before diving into analyzing specific cases on copyright, we ask participants to understand and define what copyright is. As a result of what we learned in this course, we felt that it was important that students understand what it is that they're studying. Understanding copyright is important as students create various pieces of work using pictures, videos, songs almost every day. As they become the owners of those creations, they need to understand that no one is allowed to reuse their work without their permission, and that they cannot reuse any person’s work without their permission. For the culminating activity, students are asked to demonstrate what they have learned by creating a short 3-5 minute video that explains a specific area of copyright: images, video or music.
Interaction with the content in personally meaningful ways through bringing their own unique personal perspective to the content and hearing what others think.
Artifact 2: Scholarly Essay Review
As an instructional designer for UMD Executive MBA program, where synchronous virtual Adobe Connect sessions have recently become a required part of the online program, I realize that instructors are unprepared to implement synchronous media and are in urgent need of guidance on when and how to use and design synchronous e-learning, and what the best practices are.
So far, most research has focused on asynchronous e-learning. The results on its benefits show promoting reflection and discussing complex ideas. Synchronous e-learning has received much less research attention (Hrastinski, Keller & Carlsson, 2010).
As virtual classrooms are added to asynchronous online courses, it is important that there is new awareness of its vast potential in order to ensure that this technology is fully exploited for the benefit of learning communities (Martin, 2005).
In this critical essay I provide appropriate support to faculty who will be able to use synchronous virtual classroom as a valid educational resource and enhance teaching and learning in virtual learning environment using best practices for designing virtual learning experiences. I explored previous research on synchronous e-learning and summarized critical success factors and design constraints of synchronous e-learning. I have used this critical essay at work to prepare instructors to design synchronous experience that promotes active learning, encourages social interactions, maximizes student engagement and builds learning community.