Blog Reflection on Creating an Online Lesson

Malcolm Knowles defined andragogy as "an emerging technology for adult learning". In order to design a good online lesson, it is best to utilize the Knowles' set of key assumptions to describe adult attributes "including their need to know, self-concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation to learn." (Stavredes (2011) p.13) Throughout the designing of the online lesson, I kept these adult attributes in mind. In order for the learner to stay motivated in an asynchronous setting of an online lesson, the learner has to have a desire to learn. Initially, in the first model, a supplantive strategy was applied by giving the learner the knowledge by reading and links to the main concepts through videos to build a foundation of the subject matter. Moreover, the learner wants to apply the knowledge to solve problems; thus, in building my Economics’ lesson, a generative strategy, a cognitive presence, was used as the learner was given the example of the Hudson Proxy clip on the Hula-Hoop and was to apply and demonstrate graphically the effects of supply and demand on price. By applying a generative strategy scaffolding approach, the learner was to apply the concepts that were covered earlier to a more difficult subject area, Brexit, Britain's exit from the European Union, and the immigration issue. Utilizing one of Knowles principles, relevancy, the learner is able to apply critical thinking and relate the economic concepts covered in a real-world scenario.

Since this is a beginning adult learning course at college, it can be assumed that most of the audience is going to be around eighteen to twenty-two years old. It is known that adult male brains don't mature until they are around 26, and the female brain matures around 23. As adults mature, they become more self-directed. "David Grow (1996) points out the need to reconsider the assumption that all adult learners are self-directed. He believes that self-directedness is situational; a learner may be self-directed in one situation but may require more direction in another. He makes the assertion that self-direction can be learned and taught, which has implications for the strategies you use to support learners." (Staverdes, (2011) p. 15) Consequently, looking at Grow's proposed four-stage model, the Staged Self-Directed model, learning the audience for this course is most likely Stage 1 or Stage 2, meaning the learners generally have little prior knowledge on the subject and ensure the focus of his or her learning so more instruction and more of a hand-holding needs to be done for the audience. Although the learners’ motivation and desire to learn might be there, the students might have a harder time sorting through the information with a need more explicit direction. A little item as not knowing what icon to click on can be the variable that can decrease the student's self-confidence causing the student to drop the course. As Stavredes (2011) stated, "By focusing on learning attributes specific to adults, you can target your pedagogy to meet the unique needs of adult learners, which can have an impact on their satisfaction and motivation to persist." (p. 30)

While creating my economic lesson and course, I incorporated Garrison & others concepts of social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence in order to establish a Community of Inquiry. "Kehrwald (2008) defines social presence as "an individual's ability to demonstrate his/her state of being in a virtual environment and so signal his/her availability for interpersonal transactions."(p.94) --without the awareness of other learners' presence, it is nearly impossible to develop a relationship with peers. Some learners may want it that way; however, knowledge construction does not occur in isolation." (Stavredes, 2011 p. 132) In order to provide an interaction between the students, each learner was to introduce themselves to a discussion board. This helps build interpersonal relationships and have a positive impact on motivation. Cognitive presences infuse three key ingredients of practical inquiry, critical thinking, and community building. In addition to providing a social presence, a cognitive presence was established by having the students apply the economic concepts to Brexit and the immigration issue (practical inquiry and critical thinking). Then, by posting it to a discussion board and having the other classmates critique it as a peer review to provide community building. "Teaching presence includes how you facilitate the learning activities to support social and cognitive presence to support learners in achieving the course outcomes." (Stavredes, (2011) p. 168) As the facilitator, organizing the information for the online course communicates what is important. The instructor takes on the role of the guide who continuously monitors and engages with the learners via email or open meetings utilizing software such as Adobe Connect to help them persist, overcome any barriers, and assess performances. In order to establish a teaching presence, the instructor will develop a rapport with the student blending knowledge, questions, and facilitation, which concurrently, will help discussions flow between the learners.

Besides applying the theories and knowledge that has been gained through the course and applying the concepts to the materials in the course, the most difficult issue I had in creating this Moodle lesson was trying to have more control over items on the page, and not having the knowledge to know if I can change something on the page, or if I had administrative permission to change it. In order to solve this problem, I watched many YouTube videos on editing in Moodle. I found that what was on my screen many times, did not match the screen on the YouTube video I was viewing. Therefore, I could watch 2 or 3 videos on the same subject trying to figure out how to change the page to what I wanted it to look like.

Like most everything the preparation of the material while applying the theories and concepts, the design, and having clear defined objectives is critical in creating a good online lesson. The actual editing with the online software, Moodle, wasn't difficult. But, overcoming my own fears of creating an online lesson, although my fears are hard to gauge, might take precedent on being the most difficult area to master. Yet, being able to create this online lesson and overcoming this fear, is probably the most rewarding undertaking I had to conquer.

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., and Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(1). Retrieved July 5 2012 from http://communitiesofinquiry.com/sites/communityofinquiry.com/files/CogPres_Final.pdf

Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching, training manual: foundations and strategies for student success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.