522 -Reflection on the Course

My technological knowledge increased in this class by hands-on learning which included creating a rich media tutorial, using Camtasia, building a screencast of instructional/learning materials, and an online lesson with clear concise objectives. While creating a tutorial, the planning became imperative in the process to produce good online material. I learned about MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, and found so many free courses on EdX. I created my first online course utilizing Moodle and increased my awareness and knowledge of many new instructional tools that can help in generating educational course content.

While creating a tutorial, the planning became imperative in the process to produce good online material. Sometimes, by working backward with the assessments and then writing the goals, I will be able to create more concise and constructive material Then, by applying graphic design principles, following appropriate copyright laws along with using appropriate web accessibility attributes, a create a higher quality online lesson will be produced.

In this course, I utilized Knowles and colleagues theory of andragogy including the key attributes of adult learning theory of the need to know, self-concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation. Grasping concepts of learning theories of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism helped me encourage activities for active participants to integrate prior knowledge beliefs and experiences. Throughout the construction of instructional material, I incorporated cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence in order to expand metacognitive skills conducive to building a community of inquiry.

______________Impacting Future Work_________________

My learning in this course will definitely be applied to creating effective online courses. In the ADDIE model, especially the analysis of my audience, target learners, and the theories underpinning andragogy, adult learning, will be applied. As a result of building a lesson in Moodle and constructing a screencast, I learned the planning preparation is critical in designing a good course with clearly stated learning objectives and assessments that measure those stated learning objectives.

The importance of connecting learning around a “real-world problem, question, issue, case, or project will be practiced. It requires learners to actively use knowledge in the content domain in tasks that require them to solve, resolve, and interpret as they engage in learning activities.” (Stavredes, p. 118) Furthermore, the relevance of generating discussions or questions for the students to reflect upon, provoking them to apply the goals and objectives to real-world issues.

Through acquiring knowledge about screencasting and learning the software Camtasia, better video lessons will be built. Camtasia facilitates an environment to create videos, editing, audio, and ability to put teaching presence in the video by means of a picture within a picture. This influence of teaching presence will help support social and cognitive presence in my learners and aid them to achieving the course outcomes.

In the future, I hope to apply the theories I learned in class, and subsequently, utilize Camtasia, Screencast-O-Matic, Quizlet, Padlet, and other educational software including exploiting the capabilities within a Learning Management System in order to create an effective and valuable online course.

Reference

Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective Online Teaching, Foundations and Strategies for Student Success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Publishing.