Third Reflection, Blended e-Learning

My learning experience of defining and designing the interface for my lesson was a frustrating one to say the least. In an effort to produce something useable, I am making a lesson for the 7th and 8th grade Confirmation class at my Presbyterian church. I just completed the Intro. To Website Development class, and my final project was to design a website, and I chose to do one for my church. Learning HTML was a challenge, especially over six weeks, with various holidays and missing a weeks’ worth of class. I got just familiar enough with Dreamweaver to do some damage, but I know enough to know that using it will make my work come together more quickly.
It was my desire to maintain the consistency between this project and the website project, since it is my goal to integrate the lesson into the website once it is complete.
Reading the articles about the importance of interface design reinforced and reminded me that just like painting, it takes longer to prepare for the main job, than it does to actually do the main job! I knew all of that was important, I had just forgotten HOW important.
As previously mentioned, it was my desire to maintain consistency with the website already completed, so I chose to use the same CSS for both projects. I also wanted to make it unique for their class, so I chose an older photo which the church had provided for the website.
However, getting back into working with HTML code was extremely frustrating. I will presume that working with it on a daily basis greatly enhances one’s chances of keeping the knowledge at the forefront of memory and understanding, and I had been enjoying my break from it just a little TOO long. Coming up with a design that would maintain interest from the learners, ensuring that all the elements we had discussed in class were included (the links in the navigation bar, et c.) took some thinking, but actually translating the design from paper to webpage was overwhelming at times.
I had typical code problems, typos, misnamed files, mislocated files, et c. which further enflamed the process. Then when it came time to try and figure out how to post it, there was an additional obstacle. Now that I am familiar with Dr. Byers’ class format, I think I can pretty well keep things on track, but then something like that can cost me hours of frustration! I eventually chose to post it to the MSIT server as a url, but then there were technical difficulties there as well, although they were eventually overcome. It was a relief to have it done, and then I had to move on to the next big stumbling block, the Scavenger Hunt!

Blended E-Learning, Second Blog Post

Second Blog Reflection
Blended e-Learning

My learning experience of defining blended e-learning began with my desire to understand just what this course was about. I couldn’t remember which class I had registered for, for the second half of the summer term, although I knew it was with Dr. Byers, and when I learned the name of the course the first thought I had was, “what the heck is ‘blended e-learning’?” Even after receiving the course materials, I was still not sure. I found it rather fortuitous that my first assignment was just that!
My first step in learning the definition was to read the required reading. Coming from a science background, I again found myself absorbing material that at first glance appears rather vague. Sometimes it seems like this educational material is created by people who are too wordy. I am still more accustomed to “Just the facts, m’am.” Understanding learning theories, describing teaching tools, et c., is a huge contrast from understanding chemistry or mathematics. The former has a more generalized range of focus because there ar so many variations on how to accomplish the goal, whereas the latter is very specific and focused, and rarely has alternative methods to reach the end.
So, once again, I found myself somewhat bothered when presented with reading materials for which I had to broaden my focus to the whole picture. I read and underlined pertinent facts in the article of required reading, Blended Learning Environments: Definitions and Directions. I needed this information to complete my first Blog. I also printed out all of the articles which I could gain access to (a couple of the links didn’t work for me), and was specifically focused on the article titled Blended e-Learning, since it had a specific definition of what this course is titled.
In my need to simplify a large volume of information into a few succinct words, I focused in on the phrase from the blended learning article above, “Blended learning combines face-to-face with distance delivery systems.” I understood that blended learning was a combination of self-study in any format, combined with instructor-led study in any format. Likewise, I was able to deduce that blended e-learning is an extension of blended learning, which takes place in electronic form. Voila! I had my simplified definitions. Simplified definitions require a greater knowledge of the whole, however, so I must keep in mind the rather large variation in the phrases “self-study” and “instructor-led study.” I had a bit of a scare during the group compilations, when I consistently heard the others stating something to the effect that either type of blended learning always included electronic media. I questioned my understanding, but I have come to believe that perhaps my personal definition of the two works best for me as long as when explaining it to others I am sure to be more specifically detailed about the components of ‘independent study’ and ‘instructor-led study.’
As much as I like to grumble about all of the work involved in Dr. Byers’ courses, the reading, the blogs, the documents and presentations provided, the discussion postings, the group work, the projects, I try to look at it as I do literature or poetry. Each piece in the whole is linked to the others, they are synergistic, forming a more unified picture, i.e., ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.’ In a way, that is what blended learning and blended e-learning are to me. All of the theories and definitions are integrated resulting in a greater opportunity for the students to learn the course materials more deeply and memorably. I don’t necessarily like it sometimes (mostly because it is so different from the more traditional educational training I had for my B.S. degree), but then the reason I am following this field of study is not for my personal entertainment, but for my betterment as a ‘master of instructional technology.’
So, reading the articles, having to think about the topics in writing my blog posting, organizing my thoughts for answering and posting my responses to the questions, combining my understanding with that of my fellow group members, listening to the presentations of the other groups all unite synergistically to create in me an understanding of the course content which is also linked to my existing knowledge, giving me wisdom.

Blended e-Learning, First Reflection

My expectations of the course Blended e-Learning include gaining the understanding of the topic, gaining experience relating to my Master’s of Science in Instructional Technology degree and future employment, meeting the requirements to obtain my degree, and doing the work necessary to obtain the best grade possible. These expectations fall on me, it is my responsibility to ensure that I accomplish these goals, with the understanding that my instructor will provide reliable information and support, along with tools to reinforce this learning experience.

I had no real understanding of the course until I read the article required for the first question on the discussion board. It took me a little bit of thinking to come up with what the difference between Blended Learning and Blended e-Learning is. (Hopefully I have it!) I am noticing a strong similarity in the structure of this class and the first class I took from Dr. Byers, Instructional Design, so there is some familiarity, which is somewhat comforting. Again, I find myself somewhat disquieted by some of the terminology, i.e., synchronous and asynchronous, and a bit unsure of the direction I wish to take with my projects.

I am somewhat concerned about the timing of this course, remembering how overloaded I felt with Instructional Design and knowing that the schedule for this course is extremely condensed, and that I will be away for one week of the course. I feel pressured by myself to get as much work done ahead of time as possible, so that there is not a huge crunch at the end. I also learned from Instructional design that online learning feels much more formal than a classroom experience, and that I will most likely need to be aware of that, and prepare my presentations to be more formal, having had an embarrassing experience with the final presentation of Instructional Design.

My expectation for what I will learn with this class is the ‘research proven’ method to blend both ‘media centered’ and traditional teaching methods into a course, which will optimize students’ knowledge and understanding of the subject matter combined with the convenience that electronic media can provide for both student and instructor.

C. S. Taylor-Santos

C. S. Taylor-Santos