Retrieved from http://wcarozza.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/onlinecartoon.jpg
In recent years it has seemed as if every industry has become more and more reliant on technology to increase productivity and effectiveness; education was also included in this shift. Education has now added technology skill standards, with the 21st Century Skills Standards, along with adding more opportunities to use technology while learning general content standards such as online learning resources and online learning opportunities. Online learning is the most reliant on technology out of the educational classroom options but online learning is also increases the chances of students obtaining and mastering the new 21st Century Skills Standards recommended by the Federal government to increase career success. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE; www.iste,org) offers an annual report, NMC Horizon Report, which details the new technology that would most likely impact education in the coming year (Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine, Haywood, 2011). This report is one of several tools that educators should be using regularly to plan and produce educational opportunities that grow with technology.
With the range of technology and multimedia options there are now more productive and effective ways to engage and increase the interactivity of online students. In addition, more adult learners are able to gain additional education and training through online learning resources; many adult learners may not have had the opportunity to return to school while working full-time if not for available online learning programs, myself included. Calvin and Freeburg explore the impact and reactions of adult learner to the impact technology has on their educational opportunities, finding that it is the organizational and time management skills of adult learners that more impact their online learning than their access to technology or technology skills (Calvin & Freeburg, 2010).
As an online K-12 instructor I have found that technology is the greatest asset and hindrance for my students. As my students gain technology skills and ease of use of many types of technology in their online courses, many students struggle to gain the basic technology skills to navigate their courses. This is why this year our students had to complete a weeklong orientation course that included identifying needed technology skills and practicing those skills, before they were allowed to begin their core content courses. Also, the other instructors and I gave several synchronous sessions on organizational skills and introductions to the resources and tools provided to students to help them be successful.
In the future, I would like to expand my use and my skills in design and development of additional technology resources for my students, especially in the areas of science core content and science technology.
Thank you.
Calvin, J., Freeburg, B.W., (2010), Exploring adult learners’ perceptions of technology competence and retention in web-based courses, quarterly review of distance education, vol. 11 no. 2 pp 63- 72
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A. Haywood, K., (2011), The 20011 horizon report, New Media Consortium, Retrieved from www.iste.org/learn/horizon-report.aspx on October 06, 2001
The weeklong orientation course sounds interesting. Was this course offered during the school year or prior to it starting? Is the information from the course given to the teachers in your school so they have an idea of where the students technologies levels are?
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteThanks for providing insight on the world of online learning for K-12 learners. I often wondered how online learning works for younger students. You mentioned that this year you have incorporated a week-long orientation to help students become acclimated to the technology necessary for their coursework. Is that session synchronous or face-to-face? If so, has the learning environment traditionally been asynchronous or is the hybrid structure new? You also mentioned giving a series of synchronous sessions. Have you found the additional support to be successful?
Thanks for the insightful post!
Charisse
Hello Cheryl and Charisse,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your questions. The new orientation this year has been interesting. We had a similar orientation last year for students with synchronous sessions in addition to the required technology navigation course they have to take at the time of enrollment. This year we added face-to-face orientation sessions, additional synchronous sessions and additional asynchronous support resources. I think it is helping students to understand better what technology skills are required of them before beginning courses but it still does not assess their technology skills before being enrolled or at the time of enrollment. I would hope this would be the logical next step.
The school I am currently with is not planning to go to a hybrid setting but the corporation over the school is attempting to start work centers that would allow online students a physical place to work and meet. I personally think the hybrid education is the balanced solution to the two educational extremes, traditional and online, that are not currently supporting enough students to show successful results.
Thanks.
Elizabeth