Open Course Analysis

One of my assignments for this week was to select a course from a free open course site and analyze it from the perspective of an instructional designer. The analysis is to be done based on the new information acquired from our resources of the week and in reference to planning for effective instruction.

An open course (or Open Courseware – OCW) is defined as the publication of course materials on the web which are created in higher education institutions and are free of charge (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., 2009). These publications are increasingly common and used by learners who want the knowledge but not necessarily the credits which accompany a program within a degree.

One of the institutions which have more than 1400 online courses as open courses is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Simonson, M. et. al., 2009). My personal interest guides me to review a Spanish open course and I have chosen Spanish I open course from MIT. This course can be found at here.

As I accessed the course, I found myself with the overview of the class and right away began to see flaws on the layout of the course. This one does not have indications to the learner about where to go from that point, there is no platform description as well as no background information of previous learners except from being beginner learners of the language.

The Syllabus is the first encounter to the content of the course and this one presents an overview of the course including evaluation methods. However, the description of the course is not detailed, does not include learning objectives and only describes activities related to the workbook and videos which are to be watched. According to Simonson, M. et. al. (2009) a distance education syllabus should include course goals, course objectives and a topic list.

Within the syllabus, there are embedded links to access videos related to the course. The first link gives access to another page. This one is MIT’s Foreign Language & Literature Resources. However, it is not a direct link to the video resources listed on the class. While searching for the exact video in this page, I found resources but these are available only at location, not downloadable.

The reliability of course materials and resources for distance education courses is an important requirement to consider for an effective online course (Simonson, et. al., 2009). The second link is the one which gives direct access to the videos used for this course. For this to be an effective online course there should be more clear directions.

On the other hand, the Related Resources list of the course is ample and contains very valuable links to the learner. Once again, this course is another example of how learning on line is not only about the content of a specific course, but the value of learning information beyond that content. Further research is encouraged within this course by presenting such array of resources.

For the purpose of viewing online course formats, this was a good resource. However, as a learning experience of the Spanish language I do not see a greater value other than the Related Resources page. This course was taught in 2003 and though it is on a list of Open Courses for MIT, it does not specify anywhere whether this course is an asynchronous or synchronous course. It is not clear on the course description if the access given is for anybody to take the class online, or just a record of a face-to-face class previously given.

It really seems as if this course was designed for a face-to-face class and only uploaded “as is”. In order for this course to be effective through distance learning some adaptations are needed. I would suggest the following:

a. Specify learner’s characteristics. The course states that it is designed for beginners, but no specific background is given or what does it entail to be a beginner.

b. Specify course goals and objectives. Stating completion of a workbook page and video watching does not qualify as either a goal or objective.

c. The course should specify content of each video and how watching the video will help the learner achieve a specific goal through the course. Likewise with the use of the workbook, specifying content of the pages to work on will give the learner more information as to the value of completing such pages.

d. If this course was to be graded, it should include rubrics for students to know ahead of time how they will be graded. The creation of rubrics also gives the instructor a framework on how to grade the individual learner with a fair score (Simonson, et. al., 2009). There are various free online sites for the creation of rubrics such as one found here.

Finally, this course could use a space for collaboration. There are not many studies done on the value of collaborative work for language learning. However, as found by Hoffman, S. (2011), students who use collaboration learn greater amount of second language vocabulary than those who work on their own.

Resources

Hoffman, S. (2011). The role of collaboration in Developing l2 vocabulary Knowledge through computer assisted Language quests. CALICO Conference 2011 as found in https://calico.org/Podcasts2011/Sat/HuffmanCALICO2011.pdf

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson

Case Scenario for Using Technology in the Classroom

Given Case Scenario: High School Teacher in the west coast who wants to expose students to exhibitions of New York City museums.

Description

Distance is becoming a very relative term. With the increasing exposure and use of technology in our schools we can continue to diminish that distance in order to provide greater variety of learning experiences. This project is intended describe the process and information provided as an instructional designer.

The case in question is of a high school teacher who wants to provide exposure to his or her students of New York City museums. The answers given will help students to explore art pieces from the museums, interact with personnel and critique art through the usage of technology to be able to give access to information found at a distance.

Analysis

The problem presented is that of needing practical and realistic access to New York City museums to a high school class of 11^th graders from the west coast of the United States.  The teacher is eager to find out ways in which to give his students access to art pieces from New York City museums using technology and hence moving beyond the textbook pictures or posters he might have used in previous classes.

Learners Analysis 

The learners are 11^th graders taking a required art class in high school. Their location is the west coast and hence technology is the way to have greater access to New York City museums. The learner’s characteristics are as follows:

1.      General Characteristics

a.       Males and Females

b.      Ages 16-17

c.       11^th graders

d.      Ethnicity – Poly-ethnic

2.      Specific Characteristics

a.       All learners and teacher are comfortable using the Internet

b.      Learners have access to at least one computer per every five students

c.       Learners have knowledge of Wiki  as a system of collaboration

Unit Goals
 

Goals were determined by the teacher who in search for the best practices of distance learning searched for information about learning technologies he could use to implement the following:

Topic 1. New York City Museums

a.       Tour two New York City Museums and see art work on display

b.      Interact with museum curators

Topic 2. Art Critique

a.       Critique of two art pieces in groups

Design

The design of this instructional unit is done in collaboration with the teacher who will be using it. In doing so, the first issue to determine is the sequence of the instruction (Morrison, Ross & Kemp, 2011).  In knowing which topic will be covered first we can determine what technology is going to be used first and hence include it in the design of the instructional unit. A learner-centered instructional unit will guide students through ways to find information, foster curiosity and expand research in a structured way which can be useful in their construction of meaning (Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009).

Multimedia Design

Using technology to obtain the information necessary and present options to students, the teacher would be advised to have either one of the following course management systems:

#1 www.Edu2.0.org:

This course management system will provide the teacher with the platform to add all information regarding the New York museums which he would like the students to explore. Using this platform will allow for embedding  the WebPages of the online interactive museums available, videos regarding the museums’ exhibitions or history or slideshow presentation of art pieces. 

In addition, a general class discussion about the chosen museums can take place in a discussion area for the whole class. As Anderson (2008) shares (Cited by Minocha, S., 2009), the use of forums, wikis, or blogs, facilitate the construction of knowledge “individually but mediated socially”.

After setting up class material in edu2.0, the layout of this one would look like this:

And one lesson would look like this with a video embedded in the layout:

#2  www.wikispaces.com

Within, edu2.0 the teacher can use the wikis will allow for him to set up wikis for each of the groups of students so that they can use one private place to have discussions specific to the pieces they choose to critique. In each wiki group, the teacher is able to be a visitor and read all opinions and keep track of who is participating in the discussions.  This is a very good venue for students to collaborate online on the given subject in one place (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., 2009). Wikis can be used independently of a course management system.

In the case of the wiki within the course management system, the tabs and layout cannot be varied as it can with the wiki spaces which stand on their own.

# 3 Multi-Point Videoconferencing - Skype

Multi-point videoconferencing will allow for students to interact live with museum curators. This activity requires a scheduled time and previous communication might have been established by having students write letters to the curator with specific questions to be addressed.

Skype (www.skype.com )is a good option for the high school class in question since it would only require webcam, broadband connection and the program downloaded into the computers. The curator would have to have the same requirements for the videoconference to take place.

Examples of schools where videoconferencing is being held abound. One of them is http://einstein.hempfieldsd.org/videoconferencing/ . Also, please take a look at this video where videoconferencing is taking place.  

Additional Resources

In addition to these technology resources, as an instructional designer, I would recommend sites to explore with his or her students through the internet. The following sites offer virtual tours on the topic of Art and are great resources for any learner interested in art to explore:

1. MOCA: Museum of Computer Art AutoGallery: http://moca.virtual.museum/autogallery2011/autogallery_avivi/index.asp?mode=view&Image=1&ReturnPage=1

2. Virtual Field Trips: http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/fieldtrips2.cgi?core_area_id=5

3. Virtual Museums: http://www.virtualfreesites.com/museums.museums.html

References

Minocha, S. (2009). New Review of Hypermedia & Multimedia;, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p245-265, 21p, 2 Charts

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction. (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.