A final review on #BlendKit2014...a thank you and comments on our Learning Culture

Hello and Welcome Back!

This is my very last post on #BlendKit2014 - as I am not submitting a portfolio, I'm now done the course - but I'm not done learning.  Not by a long shot!

I will be continuing to take MOOCs and continuing to write about them - although not always here.  I will share links to my blogs as they are posted just in case you want to keep up with me :)

I'm starting a course on Gamification from OpenLearning - I expect to start posting about it in a week or two...You will get the details here as soon as I can release them!  If you've read my blog before, you know that Gamification and E-Portfolios really sparked my fire!

In the meantime, I have been reflecting on my MOOC experience in #BlendKit2014 (specifically, although Intro to Marketing on Coursera has been similar in experience).  The community we've built.  The shared experience. I've come to realize something.

Universities have it all wrong.  When they say MOOCs can't replace the school culture, the classroom experience and the one-on-one interactions with the professors, I have to ask, "What dream world do they live in??".

When I attend Saint Mary's University, I was lucky.  In the grand scheme of things it's a small school, although in Canada we would probably consider it a medium school.  I knew who my profs were.  They might know my name...but generally I was "Oh right, the one who wrote about...".  I didn't have many convos with the profs, the classes weren't filled with debate, I didn't know half of my class.

Which was ridiculous.  Some classes had 30 people in it.  Some upper level courses had 12.  I didn't know them.  They didn't know me.  We had a "sage on stage" most times with limited discussion.  We didn't try to help each other to understand the material or the context.  We were not a community as such.

Now again, I was kind of lucky.  I was on the executive of the English Society.  I arranged to have profs come in for symposiums to share their latest research (we made for a great group to tell you where you ideas had room for improvement!!) and often a beer or two after.  I had office hours and spent some time debating concepts, imagery, context, symbolism, etc with a few students - generally not those in my class though.  I didn't ever feel like my understanding was important to anyone else. I was alone in making my education count.  And...that led to me maybe not working quite as hard as I should have...

I worked ridiculous hours while in school - one year I did 52 hours a week for an entire semester, went to school full time and still had a social life.  Crazy? Yes! Did I do homework?  Barely.  Did I put forth nearly as much effort as I do now?  Nope.  Not by a long shot!!

Learning about Blended Learning meant I did probably 6+hrs/wk of work to understand the content and context of the work.  Researching, piecing things together, and reflecting in this blog...at least 6 hours/week.  Just for this course.  I have been taking 8-10 more at any time.  But I had help.  I had a community of people who would talk about concepts on twitter, Google+ or my blog.  Or the discussion forums.  Or LinkedIn.  I had a personal learning network.  I made connections that I want to stay connected with.

People shared their ideas, their understandings, their successes and failures (real or perceived).  They invested in each other - showing their work at various stages, looking for feedback and advice - which they got!  Our shared goal was to have a deeper understanding.  That we all have a deeper understanding.

MOOCs can drive the Learning Culture.  It's driven by the participants, not the university and not the professors.  Each may take part, but it is the students who take the lead, help each other, look for deeper meaning, share, support, and ensure no one who wants to get ahead is willingly left behind.   We drive the Learning Culture.

We did.  Us.  I'm so glad to have had the chance to take this course with each of you.  We came in from many different walks of life, experiences, and understandings.  We finish this course with a shared experience, a shared understanding, a shared desire to help our connections find a deeper learning.

Time for some Confidential Information...

I was very intimidated at the beginning of this course - I realized that I was one of the few who didn't teach in a school or - even scarier - in a university.  I thought about dropping out a dozen times in the first week even though I loved it, was learning and having fun.  Seeing so many people with PhD or EdD after their names or job titles that were followed by at X University...Yikes!  I only had a little ol' BA...and I seldom talk about it!  And I have been working in retail (and retail training)...Double Yikes!  But this community (thankfully) quickly grew and made me feel like it was OK to come in from a different angle.  That my experiences could add value and occasionally a different viewpoint.

Had I taken this course at a brick and mortar institution, I would have withdrawn and run for the hills by Week 2.  I'm glad I didn't.

Hello #BlendKit2014 friends! You gave me a real understanding of MOOC Driven Learning Cultures http://t.co/zU1RBlPFuf Enjoy! @Accredible

— Passage Gal (@passagegal) May 30, 2014

I've written a slightly more defined version of what I am emotionally trying to explain here over on Accredible.com.  The culture we created is just as relevant as the culture at any brick & mortar school - and possibly more valuable!  What we created was something I was never able to find at any university (even though the schools all say they have it).

Thank you Dr Kelvin Thompson and Dr Linda Futch for creating this fantastic program and providing the forum for a Learning Culture to be built.  Your feedback and participation in Social Media played a great part in our community development.  Your in course emails provided great feedback and support to a gal who felt like a fish out of water but was loving to learn about Blended Learning.  Should you ever run this course again from a corporate training perspective, let me know!  I'm totally in!!

To my fellow coursemates, I look forward to staying in touch via twitter, each others blogs, Google+ and the LinkedIn group.  I hope to see you again in another course and wish you great learning, great understanding, great happiness and great success!

Week 2, Chapter 2 - Blended Interactions

I've just finished reading Chapter 2 - and WOW!  Where do I want to start???

Do I want to talk about Content vs Context?  

Content can be looked at as the subject matter; facts; written matter.

Context can be looked at as the way in which the facts can be fully understood.

Content understanding can be measured in knowledge recall tests.  Context understanding comes from explaining why something is the way it is.  I'm a big believer that content can be learned from reading and watching videos on-line, but the context comes through facilitated means - F2F discussions, webinars, group chats to discuss the topic.  Each is important - equally so...

Maslow's Theory and how the interaction of student and teacher or student with other students is an expression of human need?  

This could be viewed in terms of Safety (gained by having knowledge of how to deal with various situations, a safe environment to share thoughts and opinions), Belonging (as part of an on-line community), Esteem (in terms of building self esteem by conquering new material, earned respect of others based on their work, etc). and in Self-Actualization (ability to problem solve, acceptance of facts).  An on-line community, properly facilitated, can help fulfil many stages of the hierarchy of needs.

That interaction between student and teacher as well as student and other students needs to be kept in front of mind while planning a course.  Sometimes direct dialogue between student and teacher with feedback is best.  Other times, dialogue amongst students will allow for the greatest growth in understanding, rationale, and defending ones position.

How "learners generally value social contact and faculty guidance, especially when entering a new field or course of study (de Laat, 2006)" (quoted from text)? 

Having F2F meetings early in the course provide an opportunity to address fears, explain how the blended courses work (especially for a student who hasn't taken such a class before), and build relationships.  Those F2F relationships put a face to a name in a chat group, helping to create a safer environment in which to share ideas.  It is harder to disrespect someone you have a real connection with versus someone who just exists online (minimize trolling).

About interaction with Experts?  

Having Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) take part in F2F or on-line sessions can give greater context to the content, provide real life experiences and examples, as well as to create a real life contact that may be useful in finding employment later on.

More on Gamification? (Yes, this interests me greatly!) Progress bars, badges for completed tasks, levels of complexity...as long as it benefits the material and doesn't take away from it.

The role of educators? 

I loved the concept of the educator as a Concierge...or Network Administrator. A Network Administrator places students at the centre of their Personal Learning Network, which is constructed by the student with the help of the instructor - ensuring they gain the skills needed to construct the network for learning, evaluating their effectiveness, forming connections in a more holistic and diversified learning environment.

The concierge directs learners to resources of which they might not be aware. Sometimes through lectures, sometimes through self guided learning (i.e. Google it! LOL). This pushes students into learning possibilities that are perfect right now.  This also allows for learner designed programs and the teacher to be more of a tour guide.

The importance of not only what material is placed on-line, but the ways in which a student can interact with it.  Watch, comment, group chats, blogging, various "techno expressions".  Are you just posting a syllabus? Or creating an area for dialogue that allows students to ask questions, comment or state their own expectations? Are you creating opportunities for students to talk about how a class will help them meet their academic or professional goals?  To return to it through self reflection?

Asynchronous learning and it's value 

Especially for ESL students, but the importance of maintaining a connection to the community or class at large.  ESL students have a chance to review, translate, refer to other sources before communicating to the group at large (a HUGE benefit!).  It allows all students time to look up additional sources, draft, and refine before posting.  Students can become more confident in their responses (provided they did their work first!).

Synchronous learning and the creation of a community.

Synchronous activities can provide a sense of community (going back to the Maslow discussion - creating a safe environment for the expression of opinions). 

Encouraging expression - with peers, instructors, experts and potential employers.  

How the expression changes between groups (formal vs informal tones, word choices used if expressing to someone who studies their topic vs someone who doesn't).  Students should be prepared to make their case, state opinions and answer follow up questions.  Audiences should be mixed up to provide the opportunity to talk to many people.  Methods should also be mixed up (Blog, Vlog, Podcast, wiki, e-Portfolio)

What is an e-Portfolio?

To make your own, check out this lesson by a teacher for his class:

Guidelines - why? What? Creating models?

Ensuring your students know what you want is paramount!  If you fail to give clear instruction, you can expect to get everything from garbage to gold back!  In a F2F class,students can ask you questions easily and directly.  In an on-line or blended class, there is a delay in getting a reply.  Sometimes taking days to get a response.  Which is frustrating for a student who doesn't know if they are on the right track!

By creating a model assignment, you can demonstrate to your students what you consider to be good work! Ensure they understand how to submit the assignment and the risks involved in sharing their document in an open forum (others being able to change or steal their work).

Importance of role of interaction between students, teachers. How technology can be used to guide learning or as a method of expression.

Technology is great.  But it adds zero value if you do not take time to provide timely feedback to the student.  That means reading and commenting on their blogs.  Joining in discussions.  Referring to a group chat in a F2F meeting.  

Ensuring your students know you are paying attention to what they are saying and doing.  It adds to the community you are growing!

So that is what I got from the reading and the supplemental research I did to support the reading and fill in my own gaps. I love having a structured environment to learn within that prompts me to research and discover extra things on my own!

Bloom's Taxonomy?!?

I'm not  teacher - at least not by formal, education standards.  

I've taken the course to teach English overseas, sure.  I've taken dozens of classes about Adult Learning.  But I've not taken classes on how to write lesson plans, define and design courses or the like until recently.  They have all been MOOC's with no assignments to pass in.  I am feeling at a disadvantage when I compare my experience to those of other participants in #BlendKit2014.

However.

I am a learner.  I am a fighter.  I don't give up because something is hard.  I do break things into smaller pieces and try to figure it out and put it back together. That's where I am at now.  

And I am a sharer. When I started this blog a couple of days ago, my thought was that I would post once a week, a note on the reading.  I can't do that now.  I need to spend a little (or a lot) of time each day trying to master the little skills that I need to take advantage of the opportunities allotted to me by taking this class.  For those who choose to read this blog, you will have a lot more entries to read than I anticipated (I'm sorry, You're Welcome?!? LOL).  You will also discover that I refuse to be uptight in my writing style.  I free flow write.  You get it as I think it.  Not to say that I won't polish on occasion,  but I don't go out of my way to sound all expert-ish or know-it-all-ish.  I try not to use $10 words when a 50 cent word will do and make my writing more readable.  My English profs would probably disown me.  Oh well!  This is to help me (and maybe you too in the process!) understand better what I am learning and to find way to apply it.

Now, occasionally I will need to use those $10 words but I will try to define them.  I am considering an entry that would be a Glossary of sorts.  A one-stop-shop I guess.  Words, abbreviations, whatever.  I think I need it, but I would like to know if you also would be interested in one?  It would be built as I go...a growing and ever changing document.

Now, onto Bloom's Taxonomy.

You may have seen a graphic to explain Bloom's Taxonomy that looks more like this:

Both are good to look at.  I just prefer the top picture.  I get a better understanding of the actions that lead to each stage of learning.

According to the Office of Quality Assurance at Carlton University in Ottawa, ON, Canada:

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is learning model that was first developed in 1956 by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom. It continues to be a widely used resource among education professionals. The taxonomy divides learning into three intellectual domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Within each domain different intellectual skills and abilities are structured in a hierarchy that ranges from basic to more higher-order capabilities.

 In a typical classroom setting, a teacher downloads a HUGE amount of information on a student.  The student 1) receives 2) may observe and 3) hopes to remember.  If they are lucky and have a good teacher, they might get to 1) model and 2) respond, leading to understanding.  A great teacher will get them to analyze what they did, evaluate it, and develop new standards of HOW to do a specific task better.

From Businessballs.com:

explanation of bloom's taxonomy

First, don't be put off by the language or the apparent complexity of Bloom's Taxonomy - at this basic level it's a relatively simple and logical model.

Taxonomy means 'a set of classification principles', or 'structure', and Domain simply means 'category'. Bloom and his colleagues were academics, looking at learning as a behavioural science, and writing for other academics, which is why they never called it 'Bloom's Learning Structure', which would perhaps have made more sense to people in the business world. (Interestingly this example of the use of technical language provides a helpful lesson in learning itself, namely, if you want to get an idea across to people, you should try to use language that your audience will easily recognise and understand.)

Bloom's Taxonomy underpins the classical 'Knowledge, Attitude, Skills' structure of learning method and evaluation, and aside from the even simpler Kirkpatrick learning evaluation model, Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains remains the most widely used system of its kind in education particularly, and also industry and corporate training. It's easy to see why, because it is such a simple, clear and effective model, both for explanation and application of learning objectives, teaching and training methods, and measurement of learning outcomes.

Bloom's Taxonomy provides an excellent structure for planning, designing, assessing and evaluating training and learning effectiveness. The model also serves as a sort of checklist, by which you can ensure that training is planned to deliver all the necessary development for students, trainees or learners, and a template by which you can assess the validity and coverage of any existing training, be it a course, a curriculum, or an entire training and development programme for a large organisation.

It is fascinating that Bloom's Taxonomy model (1956/64) and Kirkpatrick's learning evaluation model (1959) remain classical reference models and tools into the 21st century. This is because concepts such as Bloom's Taxonomy, Kirkpatrick's model, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Mcgregor's XY Theory, The SWOT analysis model, and Berne's Transactional Analysis theory, to name a few other examples, are timeless, and as such will always be relevant to the understanding and development of people and organisations.

bloom's taxonomy definitions

Bloom's Taxonomy model is in three parts, or 'overlapping domains'. Again, Bloom used rather academic language, but the meanings are simple to understand:

1. Cognitive domain (intellectual capability, ie., knowledge, or 'think')
2. Affective domain (feelings, emotions and behaviour, ie., attitude, or 'feel')
3. Psychomotor domain (manual and physical skills, ie., skills, or 'do')

This has given rise to the obvious short-hand variations on the theme which summarise the three domains; for example, Skills-Knowledge-Attitude, KAS, Do-Think-Feel, etc.

Various people have since built on Bloom's work, notably in the third domain, the 'psychomotor' or skills, which Bloom originally identified in a broad sense, but which he never fully detailed. This was apparently because Bloom and his colleagues felt that the academic environment held insufficient expertise to analyse and create a suitable reliable structure for the physical ability 'Psychomotor' domain. While this might seem strange, such caution is not uncommon among expert and highly specialised academics - they strive for accuracy as well as innovation. In Bloom's case it is as well that he left a few gaps for others to complete the detail; the model seems to have benefited from having several different contributors fill in the detail over the years, such as Anderson, Krathwhol, Masia, Simpson, Harrow and Dave (these last three having each developed versions of the third 'Psychomotor' domain).

In each of the three domains Bloom's Taxonomy is based on the premise that the categories are ordered in degree of difficulty. An important premise of Bloom's Taxonomy is that each category (or 'level') must be mastered before progressing to the next. As such the categories within each domain are levels of learning development, and these levels increase in difficulty.

The simple matrix structure enables a checklist or template to be constructed for the design of learning programmes, training courses, lesson plans, etc. Effective learning - especially in organisations, where training is to be converted into organisational results - should arguably cover all the levels of each of the domains, where relevant to the situation and the learner.

The learner should benefit from development of knowledge and intellect (Cognitive Domain); attitude and beliefs (Affective Domain); and the ability to put physical and bodily skills into effect - to act (Psychomotor Domain).

Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs

So it is all about how you write, what you write...nothing ever changes!!  

I found this chart online designed to help students when studying and trying to figure out what kinds of questions their teachers would ask.

I. KNOWLEDGE (drawing out factual answers, testing recall and recognition)
who	where	describe	which one
what	how	define	what is the best one
why	match	choose	how much
when	select	omit	what does it mean

II. COMPREHENSION (translating, interpreting and extrapolating)
state in your own words	classify	which are facts
what does this mean	judge	is this the same as
give an example	infer	select the best definition
condense this paragraph	show	what would happen if
state in one word	indicate	explain what is happening
what part doesn't fit	tell	explain what is meant
what expectations are there	translate	read the graph, table
what are they saying	select	this represents
what seems to be	match	is it valid that
what seems likely	explain	show in a graph, table
which statements support	represent	demonstrate
-	what restrictions would you add

III. APPLICATION (to situations that are new, unfamiliar or have a new slant for students)
predict what would happen if	explain
choose the best statements that apply	identify the results of
judge the effects	select
what would result	tell what would happen
tell how, when, where, why	tell how much change there would be

IV. ANALYSIS (breaking down into parts, forms)
distinguish	what is the function of
identify	what's fact, opinion
what assumptions	what statement is relevant
what motive is there	related to, extraneous to, not applicable
what conclusions	what does author believe, assume
make a distinction	state the point of view of
what is the premise	state the point of view of
what ideas apply	what ideas justify conclusion
what's the relationship between	the least essential statements are
what's the main idea, theme	what inconsistencies, fallacies
what literary form is used	what persuasive technique
implicit in the statement is

V. SYNTHESIS (combining elements into a pattern not clearly there before)
create	how would you test	make up
-tell	propose an alternative	compose
make	solve the following	formulate
do	plan	how else would you
choose	design	state a rule
develop

VI. EVALUATION (according to some set of criteria, and state why)
appraise	what fallacies, consistencies, inconsistencies appear
judge	which is more important, moral, better, logical, valid, appropriate
criticize	find the errors
defend	compare

Resources you should check out:

Businessballs
Carlton's Office of Quality Assurance
Wikipedia
Humber College
Clemson University
Vanderbilt University
University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Big Dog & Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition