Summer Workshop Reflections

Day 2

The team building activity to start the day was a follow-up from yesterday's Celebrity Interview where we wrote a headline summarizing significant aspects of the interview. It was a good activity to get to know the others better and have some fun at the same time.

After a quick review of yesterday's activities, we launched into a discussion of Learning communities. The assignment was to join a formal learning community which I missed somehow. Some of the thoughts shared were how most of us already are a part of a learning community. I suggested that NAF would qualify. Sandie challenged Jennifer and I to join a more formal community.

We determined that a learning community would have something in-common, a purpose or objective. We contrasted a community of practice which would be more like the open source community. In the end, they are pretty much the same thing except on rare occasions.

I expressed my sense of anxiety having one more thing to check off the to-do list. I can see the benefit of a blog and discussion groups. This is my third endeavor into blogging. I commit that I will be diligent all week at this design journal.

We did an activity dealing with a math trick that illustrated the importance of collaboration in distance learning. In teams of one, we were given one of four steps to complete the math trick. Steve had step one which meant he did not have enough information to anything more than fill out a few cells in the answer sheet. Jennifer was given the second step and she was able to complete all of one column and some of the final answer column while I had step three and readily completed the answer column and most of the problem column. Marilyn had all steps and finished all work.

We then collaborated to fill in the missing steps. Interestingly enough, I did not pay close enough attention to step two so when I tried to demonstrate the trick to my daughter and son-in-law, I got some bad answers. Only then did I get the significance of step two.

We also discussed the importance of formative evaluation in the design process. All of us related experiences with Yanghee's class and how enlightening the process was. We determined that as SME's we too often make assumptions that others have an understanding where they do not. Also, we realized there was a point where the steps become too simple and that learners sometimes expect some result to be manifest where none should.

We then did an interesting exercise using MSN Instant Messenger. We discussed Simulations using chat. The main points were that a simulation is not real, entirely. The consequences of mistakes in a simulation are controlled so they are save and inexpensive. The benefit of repetition as a learning tool was mentioned and that it may be a simulated scenario such as a mock business or process. I liked the idea of simulation as a scaffolding tool. The simulation may include the real thing in a controlled environment.

I expressed my frustration, Sandie called it off-balance, with not having a firm grip on how I could use simulation other than those already used in the CBT programs I use in class. Jennifer pointed out the scenario type of simulation where the classroom is operated like a business. I like the concept but will have to work this out in my mind for my particular situation.

We then wrapped up the day talking about the Final paper due July 9th. Up to 6 pages that will describe what we want to accomplish with out final project to be completed over the fall and spring semesters. Sandie suggested looking at the Proposal template for the 6460 course. We need to review the latest literature and check available resources, methodologies, an use project management tools.