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Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:1225] participating online or at a distanceNIFL-AALPD:1225]
From: jataylor (jataylor_at_utk.edu)
Date: Mon Mar 29 2004 - 09:42:45 EST
Hello Everyone! This question is for any/all of us on the list. Our experiences in participating in professional development online are as important as our experiences in developing/delivering online PD. Some may feel it is more important. With that in mind, I cannot think of a better place to start!
What have been your experiences in *participating* in professional development online or at a distance? (Examples include online courses, webcasting, videoconferening, audioconferencing, discussion lists, email, chat sessions, etc.) Why did/do you participate online or at a distance, versus other options?
Please describe the professional development experience(s). What stood out to you? What aspects/features of the online or distance professional development did/do you like or not like? What can be done to improve the learning experience? How do these experiences compare to your experiences with other types of professional development?
Thanks!
Jackie
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:1227] Re: participating online or at a distance
From: Art LaChance (arthur@ellijay.com)
Date: Mon Mar 29 2004 - 10:50:45 EST
I entered adult literacy back in the late 80's. At that point most of us couldn't even spell adult literacy. All we were trying to do was help folks learn to do math better or maybe build up reading and writing skills. The majority of people involved were retired school teachers from local churches or community clubs who had organized volunteer programs. I got involved in response to a friends suggestion that the program needed help. There was no "training". I remember clearly my first day. I walked into the evening classroom and was greeted by an elderly gentleman, husband of the retired school teacher organizer of the church program. He smiled and asked if he could help me and I told him I'd like to volunteer as a tutor. He asked if I had a GED or HS diploma, I told him I had a BS in Occupational Ed. He stepped asided and said "OK, go ahead ", and motioned me into the large room with about 10 students sitting at tables.
At the time the various lists became available via NIFL the only information gathering options were to participate in the limited state provided staff development or somehow get engaged with the higher institutions in some sort of practitioner inquiry project. Staff development consisted primarily of K12 philosophically based curriculum delivery options, while virtually all of the computer based delivery systems were designed for middle school students.
I became interested in the lists mainly as a means of acquiring validation for issues that we were experiencing in the classroom. Issues that violated standard K12 "education" philosophy. What I discovered from discussions on the lists was that a very large proportion of our adult literacy field is locked into that which they know best, or the K12 processes. We are changing, albeit slowly and painfully, to discussion and philosophy that is far more relevant to adult level learning. Additionally, State provided training is gradually adapting over to what is needed vs what is popular.
I guess one could cruise the internet and research applicable self training options but how would one identify that which is relevant? I think most of us rely on administrators to provide training to help improve the efficiency of our efforts.
Art
Art LaChance
Gilmer Learning Center
Ellijay,Ga
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:1229] RE: participating online or at a distance
From: Jane Mencer (jmencer@famlit.org)
Date: Mon Mar 29 2004 - 10:56:12 EST
I have taken, created, and facilitated several online PD courses but would like to talk about one in particular. I recently completed (taking, as a student) an excellent, two-month, online course for instructional designers called Leveraging E-Learning. It was sponsored by Friesen, Kaye and Associates, http://www.fka.com, and taught by Dr. Will Thalheimer of Work-Learning Research, http://www.work-learning.com/. Dr. Thalheimer distilled approximately 1,000 studies on work-learning research into eight key learning factors. The format of the course included required (online) reading and completion of two very relevant projects as well as participation on a discussion board and in several synchronous sessions.
Honestly, why did I take it? I was the lucky door prize winner at an online learning conference this past September. Lucky, I certainly was!
The one negative comment that I have is that the discussion board was, for the most part, a dead zone. My classmates only posted what was required. No real discussion took place though we were encouraged to use it actively to query and learn from each other.
One major point of the course was that e-learning's unique capability is contact with learners over time. This fact, though not always used to its fullest in other e-learning courses with which I have been involved, offers the greatest hope for the effectiveness of this delivery mode. I am a staunch supporter of e-learning but recognize that it is not a magic pill. E-learning, like classroom training, has the potential to be wonderful and effective...or not.
Jane Martel Mencer
Instructional Designer
National Center for Family Literacy
325 West Main Street, Suite 300
Louisville, KY 40202-4237
phone: 502/584-1133 ext 169
fax: 502/584-0172
e-mail: jmencer_at_famlit.org
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:1230] RE: participating online or at a distance
From: Beth Wheeler (bwheeler@sbctc.ctc.edu)
Date: Mon Mar 29 2004 - 11:03:26 EST
hello, i have participated in one online course that is mandatory for instructors wishing to teach through washington state's two-year distance education system. i approached this course with trepidation - i really like to see folks face-to-face. i was pleasantly surprised to find the camaraderie develop in the discussion boards between "students". as with other f2f courses i've taken, i was sorry to end the relationships developed at a distance. while i would still rather be f2f in a classroom situation, I would not hesitate to enroll in another professional development opportunity online.
beth wheeler
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:1238] RE: participating online or at a distance
From: Eileen Eckert (eileeneckert@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Mar 29 2004 - 17:15:01 EST
I'm going to try to just answer Jackie's question: What have been your experiences in *participating* in professional development online or at a distance? (Examples include online courses, webcasting, videoconferening, audioconferencing, discussion lists, email, chat sessions, etc.) Why did/do you participate online or at a distance, versus other options?
Upon re-reading the question, I realized I was thinking of professional development as something that had been designed and packaged as professional development. I wasn't really thinking of the informal activities through which I develop professionally. But, having re-adjusted my assumptions (temporarily at least), here goes.
Informal activities produce much greater learning for me than the few formal online experiences where I've been a student. Some of the informal PD includes:
- 1. Observing, reflecting on, categorizing, and experimenting with what's going on in the online courses I've taught (and writing about those observations etc.)
- 2. Participating in discussion lists, and then observing, reflecting, categorizing, experimenting... My learning from these goes well beyond the content of the discussions. I think about the changes, or not, in myself and other discussants, and what that means in terms of what I know of adult learning theory, research, and practice. This has helped me learn more about mental models and their roles in how we see the world and how we learn and teach, and about Freire's writings and teachings.
- 3. E-mail discussions off-list with people I only know through the list. Art LaChance and Debbie Yoho especially helped me learn more about how to participate in the lists, and if I haven't learned everything they've taught me it's my own responsibility.
- 4. Face-to-face discussions about online learning with others who use the lists or who have participated in online courses.
- 5. An email exchange I had with a colleague that occurred several years ago and from which I am still learning.
For me, the feature that is probably most important is that I have the autonomy to decide what and how I will learn. The experiences may be beyond my control, but what I put into them, and what I take from them are totally up to me. For example, one of the things I grapple with as I participate in the lists is the question of differences in expectations around how men and women participate. Another is the question of class and professionalization of the field, and yet another is the issue of insider vs. outsider status, who grants it and what it means. None of these is an explicit topic, but they're all ongoing themes in my professional development from participating in online discussions. And I want what and how I learn to be up to me; I think I'm the best judge of it!
Eileen
[More coming soon!]
