Kentucky State University Concert Choir - Spreading Christmas Joy!

What would the world be without a song? I recently received a gift CD from my Alma Mater, Kentucky State University featuring the Concert Choir. The KSU Concert Choir is a supreme musical ensemble led, directed and instructed by Dr. Carl Smith. This is the organization that provided me the opportunity to go to college on a music scholarship and of which I received the honer of being recognized as most valuable female vocalist in 1981. During my attendance the concert choir was then a spectacular ensemble which traveled all over the US and internationally, and the legacy continues. The sounds of the Kentucky State Concert Choir continues to stir the soul.

This recording is Sweet Little Jesus Boy, Arr. Stacey Gibbs, Soloist: Arlicia Shorter of the KSU Concert Choir. She sounds like me, I am so proud ! and Stacey Gibbs is one of my classmates, he has also arranged music for the Harlem Boys Choir and others. Great Job, Stacey.


Listen to the podcast and share in the giving of Arlicia's spirit.

Happy Holidays, Enjoy !

Michelle

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The Effective Foxy Facilitators Team Process

The Team Process
Janee Caslin, Michelle Jones and Julie Sandler all started at the beginning of the semester as strangers, who were then assigned as a group by Dr. Ke Zhang. The group slowly and out of necessity of completing assignment came together. All participant of this group possess strong personalities, are self motivation and operate as selfstarters. After just one team meeting, we accelerated past storming and norming and formed a Team.

The Formation
The formation of the team occurred naturally, and each member emerged with tangible strengths. We had no issues of ego, or esteem. Each member of this group stood eager and ready to assist the other. All willing to take on whatever, or all the tasks required to get the job done.

A Team
A team must have a leader, and considering that all of us possess leadership skills and qualities it was amazing that there were no struggles. Julie emerged as the project manager, Janee was the editor and idea generater and I was the visionary, the techie and quality assurance. All the while completing the responsibilities of our individual assignment.

A viewing of the vodcast in my previous blog will provide a glimpse of how well the three of us communicated by listening, learning and responding to one another.

One of the best team experiences I have had! Julie and Janee you are the BEST!

In Learning!

Michelle

Best Practices: Facilitation and Online Learning

Using Mobile Learning

What is Mobile Learning?
Mobile learning is the intersection of mobile computing and e-learning (Clark Quinn, 2000).

When examining mobile learning and its uses, it is apparent that mobile learning is really just the same as other learning except that is it is powered by available technologies that support digital learning by providing access anywhere anytime, it is ubiquitous!

For instructional use, what is it about mobile learning that might be important to a facilitator, trainer, teacher, professor? I think what, how, why and when, along with benefits and drawbacks of use, is what we all want to know.

Mobile Learning Technology is the How
Mobile technology that enables access media:

• iPod
• MP3 Player
• Laptop/Tablet
• Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
• USB Drive
• E-Book Reader
• Smart Phone
• Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC)
• PC

Tools to Create the Media:

• Internet
• Learning Management Systems
• Web Authoring Tools: Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Captivate and others
• Audio Authoring and Editing Tools: Soundbooth, Garageband, Audacity
• Video Authoring and Editing Tools: Pinnacle, Premier, Windows Movie Maker
• Digital Media Player such as Itunes

What Kinds of Learning to Use it for:

• Synchronous/Asynchronous
• Performance Support
• Specialized Knowledge Capture
• Audio, and Visual Learning Preferences or
• Reading and/or Displaying Development Phases
• Short bits of Knowledge Sharing

Mobile Learning Strategies:

• Educational Podcasting: Audio and Video
• Cell Casts
  
• E-learning
• Games
• Demonstrations
• Tutorials
• Simulations
• Vod-Casting: Video Lectures

Want to know more? click here to access a Mobile Learning Update pdf. published by Elliot Masie, 2008. This document has great information on mobile learning, its pedagogical uses and how it is being researched and applied by different industries.

What to create a Podcast go to PodBean Podcast Publishing site and click on Publish a Podcast.
You will need a microphone, and audio authoring tool. Try it you will enjoy the experience.


Got to the top 100 tools for learning professional by Jane Hart Knight this is a great resource.

Happy Learning!
Michelle

Interesting What is Being Projected - Though Not Surprising

Web 10.0? Is he close? What would you imagine it to be and how would you use it to empower learners?

Educational Podcasting

Thank you so much for listening and following on this educational journey!

Now that you have learned about Educational Podcasting in the context of Mobile Learning.

1. What do you think about using podcasting a mobile learning tool?
2. Do you see that podcasting has any benefits to making learning more accessible?
3. Do you think that you can incorporate podcasting into your lessons as an online facilitator?
4. How would you use podcasting in the learning modules that you present?
5. What are two of the benefits to using podcasting? Can you provide one example?
6. What are two draw backs to using podcasting? Can you think of a work around that would negate one of the drawbacks you listed, so that it will be a benefit to making it work positivily with in these identified circumstances or conditions (drawback)?

I look forward to your responses . . .

In Learning!
Michelle

Group 5 - Facilitation-Motivation

Group 5 - Facilitation

This Groups topic is Collaborative Learning Wikis

Three questions were posed for discussion:

1. What software is your school district using to help students with academic difficulties?
2. Has collaborative software increased performance ability in your students?
3. Have you been presented with data that supports the use of collaborative learning?

Though three questions on the topic of Collaborative Learning Wikis were posed, the discussion remained centered on the software that a particular district was using. To aid the group in beginning a new discussion thread pertaining to one of the other proposed topics, the response was not great. It seemed that the majority of the participants were unwilling to relinquish the original topic, though clearly evidenced that the thread of discussion had been exhausted and no new or valuable information was being exchanged.

This group could have used more scaffolding and directing by the course instructor to redirect and facilitate a couple of discussion thread that would have enticed the participants to explore their assigned topic in more depth for understanding and application.

Some activities that would have aided the learning experience:

• A demonstration of how a collaborative wiki works for communication.
• A listing and description of various wiki products and/or applications.
• A case study on the use of collaborative wikis in the K12 public school educational settings.

The participants of this group were lacking direction and a reason that would have made the information valuable to them.
The member of this group were lacking sufficient base knowledge that would have provide a connection of usefulness to the acquisition of the new knowledge.

In John Keller's ARCS model the R is representative of " Relevance". Relevance, based on review of the discussion thread is an issue for this group. It seems that many are not yet in a school system working as an educator. Possibly the members are not very interested in the application of technology. Those that are in the class room do not and/or have not actively employed technology as a learning tool in their class room.

The R2D2 Model - Phases

"Learners with a strong preference for a specific learning style may have difficulties in learning if the teaching style does not match with their learning style (Feldman)."
The R2D2 Model

The R2D2 model: Read, Reflect, Display and Do, is a framework, not an ISD model.
Each of the phases of this framework has as an implicit use. As with all frameworks, its use, is a guide to aid in development. The model is designed to assist facilitators with advantageous utilization of enabling web technologies to facilitate teaching a varied audience, such that you would find in an on-line course.

Each phase of the model addresses the learning preferences of a specific learner type, i.e. Auditory-Verbal, Reflective - Observational, Visual, and Tactile - Kinesthetic.




Phase 1 - Reading
Phase 1, the Reading phase is focused on the Auditory-Verbal learner. In this learner group, individuals prefer words, sounds and explanation. The recommended tech tools for this group are: Podcasts, PDF, Audio, PPT presentations, E-books and other reading centric tech tools. This phase can also be characterized by its knowledge gathering attribute and activity types. It is a fact finding, exploratory, acquisition stage (Bonk & Zhange, 2008).

Phase 2 - Reflecting
Phase 2, the Reflective phase is for the reflective or observational learner. In this learner group the individual learns best by gaining an overall view by consideration of acquired knowledge. The recommended tech tools for this group are: Blogs, discussion boards, online exams, etc. In this phase learners use reflective activities for clarification. It is characterized by learners

Phase 3 - Displaying
Phase 3, the displaying phase for the visual learner. In this learner group the learner requires visual models of concepts or demonstrations to grasp new knowledge. The tech tools that most appropriately support this group learning are: video content, animations , interactive media, graphs and charts. This phase is focused on acquiring understanding and building of individual knowledge with the assistance of concept mapping and visualization.

Phase 4 - Doing
Phase 4, the doing phase is for the tactile learner. In this learner group learnes deal well with role plays multisensory activitites, manipulitives and experiential learning situations. The tech tools that support this group are: simulations, online game, wikies video senarios, collaborative tools.

Where Are We Now?

Well, this adventure of learning to facilitate online learning and the various theories, technological enabling tools is very vast and also interesting.

So far, in this endeavor we are being acquainted with best practices and methodologies from the aspect of " The Facilitator" or "The Moderator". At first glance, you would think that participating in this role would be an easy, effective method, performed effortlessly by the online facilitator. Think again!

For the facilitator there are nuances, knowledge, theories, models, strategies and challenges to cognizant and knowledgeable of. This knowledge and awareness is crucial for creating a valued and valuable experience for on-line learners. With respect to preparation and arming of the appropriate knowledge to facilitate an enriching and valuable experience for the on-line learner, an instructional model called "R2D2" has been introduced.

R2D2 Model
The R2D2 model is representative of Read, Reflect, Display and Do and is a framework that promotes the development and application of appropriate information, activities and learning tools to facilitate learning in an on-line environment or as (Bonk, Zhang, 2008) have titled it:"the web of learning".

The R2D2 model is presented as a tool to facilitate the selection and usage of available tools that will most appropriately promote achievement in "the web of learning. The R2D2 model consists of four phases: Reading, Reflecting, Displaying and Doing, aligned to learner preferences and suggested learning activities.

My Next Post . . .

It is worth while to explore each of these phases in brief. In my next post, I will provide more insight into the purpose and application of each of the phases of R2D2.

Web 2.0 and Learning 2.0 is Exciting!

My Discoveries!
This week my discoveries in facilitation and on-line learning have taken me down the track of Web 2.0 and Learning 2.0 technologies, tools and methods. On my blog you may notice many new links for accessing other social networks I am connected to. Most have the potential as a learning and teaching tool in the practice of Instructional Technology, only limited by, access and imagination.

What is Web 2.0?
There are many tools that are common to our usage that are Web 2.0 in nature, i.e., this blog, Flicker, Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn, to name a few.

Web 2.o seems to be many things to many people. One thing for sure, this new perception of internet usage is only at a beginning stage of development, and is setting new standards of WWW utilization. Characteristics of Web 2.0: user content, context driven and collaboration is its engine. This is an unfolding phenomenon! I would like to invite you to follow along this discovery tract, we are sure to uncover some useful information and tools for our use!

My definition, hum ... let see? I haven't narrowed it down yet. Though, I did find some people who are thinking about it. See what Bill O'Reilly says in the "What the Experts Say"section of this blog.

What the Experts Say . . .

See what Bill O"Reilly says about: What is Web 2.0?

What Do You Say . . . Let's get the conversation started!
Leave your definition!



All the Best!
Michelle F. Jones

Blogging is so exciting!

This is my first blog posting for this blog. As I adventured through the blogging technology and features, I have discovered so many exciting technological features. I also learned a lot. I am hooked.

MFJ

By the by, I have a tinyURL for this blog is: http://tinyurl.com/mfjblog