Oh boy, I am having dreams about the Julia/Julia lady who found fame and fortune through her blog.
Anyway, back to the point here. I set up this blog for my i3 "teaching online" workshop to talk about what I am learning. This week I learned about the pros and cons of online teaching/learning, philosophies about what constitutes knowledge nowadays, incorporating activities into my online classes, what Web 2.0 refers to, how to find and use a Web 2.0 tool (other than Facebook and Linkedin), how to incorporate various learning styles into my teaching, and ways to facilitate critical thinking during through online discussion. I also looked up an article that detailed concrete strategies for teaching online. Whew, I am sweating and a little out of breath from all that learning.
Regarding the shift in epistemology from an expert-based to a community-based perspective, I embrace this change because I believe that many conceptions and interpretations of reality can be valid and useful. Also, that the utility of knowledge depends on accessibility and that the concepts are robust when subjected to critique and analysis. I am pretty sure that many of my students are more savvy with the Web 2.0 technologies than I am because I get messages and assignments from all kinds of sources.
I was most excited to try to implement the engaging characteristics of an "authentic activity", but this will probably start in my on campus classrooms first, then hopefully transfer to my online class shortly. I was very excited by the idea of the "inverted classroom", a concept in my journal article, because I would love maximize the time I have with my students in class to recreate psychology experiments and help students personalize and apply the material during class time.
I have already incorporated a few more interactive activities in my current online psychology course, and I am trying to establish more of a presence through announcements. I will be recording and posting audio lectures next week, and I even got the equipment to work at home -yay! I created an email list for my online students to communicate with one another, and I will probably create a discussion board soon. In terms of learning styles, I would like to exploit as many techniques possible to create a stimulating sensory and intellectual experience for my students, but it was nice to hear that matching the method to the content works effectively, because student preferences are infinite. I think that if I capitalize on a variety of learning styles, it will keep students more engaged, which will maximize their processing of the course material. I haven't fully formulated my ideas about using Web 2.0 in my course yet, but I certainly use this technology to search for thought and discussion-provoking content. I will probably try to use the tools to create a collaborative writing project for my students in the near future.
Most of all, I am excited to start learning specific skills for teaching students to engage with psychology concepts rather than just describing all the fun stuff to them. The end.
