Setting Up an Online Learning Experience

Setting Up an Online Learning Experience
After reading the require reading and viewing the Video online environment is an essential step to creating a positive learning experience. “Computer knowledge is a deeper understanding of how technology works. It provides a foundation for you to understand how technology is being used today and how you might use technology in the future. For example, knowing how the Internet works provides the foundation for you to understand the potential of electronic commerce and to understand how information about you can be collected and dispensed without your consent” (http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/computing/oleary/pdf/ole65985_ch01_web.pdf).

What is the significance of knowing the technology available to you?
All sources are important when it comes to researching and knowing where to go and receive it. You might have a paper and need more information to finish the paper or the research. Conrad and Donaldson (2011, p. 38) state, “the biggest challenges is making sure that all participants have the necessary skill level with the communication tools that will be used during the course. Tracking students’ use of the technology is essential. The best way for students to learn to use the online course tools is to actually use them. The significance of knowing that technology is available is to focus on the essential tools, and build your first course around those tools. The primary tool to become familiar with is the course management systems (CMS)”.

Why is it essential to communicate clear expectations to learners? It is essential to communicate clear high expectation to facilitators and the need to create a welcoming learning environment that connects trust and respect. The learners need to have a clear understanding where they may be able to perform or translate what is being communicated to them. “High expectations must not exist in a vacuum; they are an integral part of a larger learning environment that is solidified at the beginning of a learning experience. Student performance is significantly affected by how we communicate expectations for performance and how we communicate confidence that conditions for success exist in our classrooms. In general, students will perform to the level of their own, their peers’, and their professors’ expectations” (http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/computing/oleary/pdf/ole65985_ch01_web.pdf).

What additional considerations should the instructor take into account when setting up an online learning experience?
Boettcher and Conrad (2010, p. 53) state, “The instructor focuses on creating a comfortable and trusting learning environment and begins implementing the course plan for the first weeks. The faculty member models thinking behavior by making connections among the learners, the content, and the desired learning outcomes. Other important actions for the faculty member are making course requirements clear and processes for communicating explicit, leading the launch of the course learning community, and ensuring that all students are engaged”. The instructor needs to be sure that all the information is clear, precise and able to understand on that student’s level.

References
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. A. (2011). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction (Updated ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Setting High Expectations Retrieved from

Online Learning Communities

How do online learning communities significantly impact both student learning and satisfaction within online courses?
Boettcher and Conrad (2010, p.10) state, “the goals are to launch the course well, laying the groundwork for a learning community in which learners and faculty support one another in the accomplishment of course goals”. Dr. Rena Palloff and Dr. Keith Pratt state, “A community of students and faculty who explore content together to construct meaning and knowledge about that content. Learning communities create a dynamic where facilitators and learners are equal, participants (Laureate Education, Inc.)”. Instructors must find ways to help students become strongly connected with other, the instructor and the facilitative actively in order to create a strong community with online learning.

What are the essential elements of online community building?
According to Dr. Rena Palloff and Dr. Keith Pratt, “facilitators need to explain to students how they will be supporting them in a learning community approach”. Conrad and Donaldson (2011, p.) state, “build peer interaction through peer partnerships and team activities, create authentic activities and implement games and simulations and phase in activities that promote engagement among online learners”. Some of the essential elements accordance to Boettcher and Conrad (2010, p. 7) state, “the faculty role shifts to coaching and mentoring, meetings are asynchronous, learners are more active, learning resources and spaces are more flexible and assessment is continuous”.

How can online learning communities be sustained?
The best ways to sustained online communities is to use the phase of engagement. Conrad and Donaldson (2011, p. 8-9) state, “the phase of engagement framework includes introductory community-building exercises, which build trust and help a group learn how to work together. As learners gain more confidence and expertise, they can be guided to use the phase of engagement”.

The roles and responsibilities

PHASE	LEARNER	INSTRUCTOR
1	Newcomer	Social negotiator
2	Cooperator	Structural engineer
3	Collaborator	Facilitator
4	Initiator/partner	Community member/challenger

(Conrad and Donaldson, 2011, p.9)

“Phase 1 activity focuses on introducing peers to one another in a creative and fun manner.
Phase 2 activity focuses on two peers working together.
Phase 3 demonstrates a reflective activity
Phase 4 exhibits how learners can be provided with the opportunity to lead an activity in the online community” (Conrad and Donaldson, 2011, p.11)

What is the relationship between community building and effective online instruction?
The relationships are:

• Clear goals and expectations for learners,
• Multiple representations of course content,
• Frequent opportunities for active learning,
• Frequent and constructive feedback,
• Flexibility and choice in satisfying course objectives, and
• Instructor guidance and support.

http://cguevara.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2009/09/learning-effectiveness.pdf

 

References
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. A. (2011). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction (Updated ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Learning effectiveness online: What the research tells us Retrieve from http://cguevara.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2009/09/learning-effectiveness.pdf