I really enjoyed this class!  I have to admit that I was rather overwhelmed by the amount of reading required when we began the class.  While I enjoyed all of the articles and learned a lot, the amount was daunting when we needed to have the reading done early enough to post on the discussion board.  I felt that there often was some overlap between the articles, so for the next class maybe it would be possible to assign portions of articles or fewer articles to read.  It may also work better to change the class to a full semester, rather than the short summer semester it was in this time.

I really liked that the class was a hybrid format, because that allowed us all to test out some online learning tools.  What happened in class could be further discussed online and vice-versa.  I would have preferred a different platform for the discussion to occur.  I found the blackboard discussion to be structured in a way that was difficult to follow.  I think there are better options available that are more intuitive for students, like Google Wave, which we used briefly for one week’s discussion.

I really enjoyed facilitating class discussion for a week.  I thought it was the perfect assignment for this course.  It allowed each of us to experience facilitation for a brief period of time.  Forming discussion topics that would allow fellow students to explore the readings and tie in personal experience was challenging.  Making sure everyone was participating and responding to student’s contributions to the discussion was a new experience for me and although a little daunting at first, I thought it was fun.  I think we all were able to see how important it is as an instructor, to structure discussions well and to provide feedback throughout the discussions.  Although we read about this and discussed it, it was great to experience it firsthand.

The assignment involving the creation of 3 assessments with grading rubrics was also very useful.  Sadly, I probably won’t be able to use what I created immediately, but for many students it seems that the assessments and rubrics could be applicable to their current work.  Since almost everyone in class works full-time doing some type of instruction, it was great to have a practical assignment we could apply to our work if possible.  I learned a lot about how I could formulate assessments and grade students if I had the opportunity.

After this class I am looking forward to the next two classes!  Thanks to everyone in class for making it an enjoyable experience!

Last week APT and I facilitated our class discussion.  We wanted to try to use a new tool for the discussion.  I have voiced my dislike for the discussion board in Blackboard and APT agreed it would be interesting to see what other tools are available.  So after looking at a few different tools we decided to try Google Wave.  We hoped it would be fairly easy to use and would allow for a more organic discussion.

In thinking about what we wanted students to discuss, we both thought that previous discussions had tended to be a little negative and critical overall.  We also had both been hoping to gain some practical knowledge from the class.  With the two topics for the week being:  practical considerations for e-learning delivery and interactivity and learner engagement, we thought we could combine our hopes for the class and the topics.  Thus, we asked everyone to post information about an e-learning tool they knew of or had used before and to discuss it’s practical application in an online course.

I thought the discussion went really well.  Using Google Wave did pose some challenges, but overall I think most students enjoyed using it.  The discussion did seem to be more informal and organic than it had been in blackboard.  Responses tended to be shorter and more colloquial.  Google Wave also seemed to feel more social and personable to students.  I think this was due to the inclusion of pictures and the indented format of the Wave.  If the purpose of having a discussion in an online course is to get students talking to each other and develop discussion similar to what occurs in-person I think Google Wave would be a good choice.

Some considerations I think should be made if using Google Wave, would be to provide support for initiating new Waves and creating an account.  The problems we ran into, mostly involved account issues.  The invitations we sent out to students did not always work properly, but after some troubleshooting I think most everyone was able to get into the Wave.  We also had at least one person who had been ‘inoculated’ to Google and simply had a negative mind-set before even starting.  This is certainly something to consider if instituting any technology product.  Having detailed instructions, troubleshooting help, and a positive focus seem to be the best ways to deal with these issues.

Beyond troubleshooting issues, APT and I tried to make sure we responded in some way to everyone’s Wave to keep discussion going.  I tried to respond positively and include questions in my responses that the original author or other students could answer to continue the discussion and tie in the class readings.  This seemed to work well and students responded positively to it.  We both felt that the discussion ended up being more positive than it had been in previous weeks.

Near the end of the week APT and I noticed that a few people hadn’t either posted a new wave to describe a tool, or had not commented on other waves.  We didn’t want to single anyone out, and we felt that as adult learners it was their responsibility to use the contact information to get help from us if they needed it.  So we sent out a mass email reminder encouraging people to contribute and to contact us if they had any problems.  This seemed to give a few people a boost to contribute, however, there were still a few folks who did not fully complete what we asked them to.  As I mentioned earlier, this is not something we can necessarily control.  I think we provided enough support that students could figure out what to do or contact us if they had problems.

Overall, I think this was a beneficial learning experience.  It gave us a taste of being the instructor for an online class.  We were able to test a new tool, Google Wave too!

So I was thinking the other night, while I couldn’t fall asleep of course…

Last semester our course was predominantly a discussion based course.  We read various articles and chapters prior to class and then had group discussion while we were in class.  I really enjoyed this.  Having many people with different perspectives always lead to new ideas and ways of thinking about the content.  Additionally, the blog posts we did were usually based on a suggestion/assignment from the instructor.  So not only did I have the discussion to build upon for the blog posts I wrote, but I also had suggested topics.

This semester our class had far fewer class discussions and spent more time working in our groups on our projects.  While this was very important for our group work and helpful for forming our groups and building cohesion, I was still disappointed to not have as much class discussion of the concepts.  Not having group discussions or specified topics to reflect and blog about made it more difficult to remember to blog and to decide what to blog about. Really, it was probably more important to reflect and blog for this class, because we did so much work outside of the class structure.  I don’t think I was the only person who struggled with this, since I often couldn’t find any new blogs to comment on for fellow students.  I wonder if anyone else felt the same way?

I also think it was a little difficult to reflect and then write about ourselves and our group members in what is a public forum.  If your group had problems you don’t want to look like you don’t understand the concepts we were supposed to be learning about, so it was difficult to post about problems while they occurred.

I have been thinking about this since yesterday and the more I think about it the more I feel that it would have been beneficial for our group to have completed some of the activities we did during the facilitation presentations at the end of the semester.  I wonder if I feel this partly because I seemed to take on the leader role most often in my group.  If I had known more techniques and strategies for facilitating constructive group work, would I have been a better leader?  Would the other members in our group have taken on the leadership role more? Would our group have done something differently?  I suppose there is no way to know what might have been, but somehow I feel that we might have reached a higher level of ‘groupness’.

Learning about and talking about group conflict and your contributions to problems earlier may have been an impetus to have difficult conversations and work on problems.  It felt like, by the time we really looked at these issues and learned how to deal with them, it was the end of the semester and it was too late to really change the dynamics of the group.  In some ways it also made me suddenly feel that my group wasn’t working together as well as it could/should have been.  Things I didn’t think of as problems before suddenly became glaring issues, that we could have dealt with if we had just known they were there.

I suppose I’ll never know the answers for this particular group.  I do think I will enter future groups with a whole new perspective.    I will be thinking about how I am contributing to problems or how to have difficult conversations; etc. right from the start of my groups, rather than at the end.

Our group has certainly evolved over the course of this semester.  Although I think there is probably still some room to perfect our interactions and group processes, I think we managed to develop into a great team!

Early on, our team struggled with our communication and processes.  Irene & I had known each other for almost a year and see each other every day.  We were basically our own team right from the start.  Integrating an outsider into our team was not easy.  Irene and I struggled to determine what we could do for our group together as just the 2 of us.  At times we tried to stop discussing our projects in order to include Molly.  Other times we went ahead without her.  It took time and discussion between the three of us to create norms for how much Irene and I should and would do together at work vs when we needed to include Molly in our discussions and work.  We failed at using our unique situation to our benefit for the paper.  However, by the time we were working on our final presentation, I felt that we used it to our benefit.

A large issue we struggled with as a team was our use of technology.  I work with “distance challenged” groups often and have become comfortable using technology to communicate and complete projects.  So I initially promoted (and everyone agreed) our using email/google documents/wiki/wiggio.  We encountered several technology related problems and miss-communication which lead to a poor paper.  When we met after turning in our paper, we easily came to the conclusion that we needed a different means of communicating with each other and working together.  We changed to meeting in-person at the library, because both Irene and I are already there.  We met in person when we needed to all discuss and make important decisions together.  In-between these meetings we were able to work together using googldocs.  We found this strategy to be much more effective and it became our norm.

Although we changed our norms and processes, we never actually updated our charter.  I know some other groups have apparently mentioned how useful their charter was and how they followed it.  I really don’t think we did.  When we wrote it we still didn’t know each other well and hadn’t worked together at all.  I think if we had written it after our first assignment, we would have created a very different document and we probably would have followed it.  I wonder if other groups ended up editing theirs or if they truly were able to follow it?

I have noticed that I have a tendency to become frustrated with time-management in groups.  I think it primarily has to do with the fact that my life is extremely busy right now, although I know I have always been a somewhat impatient person. When I am working with a group I often become frustrated when members can’t come to a decision and continue to go back and forth on a decision without making any progress.  I often end up intervening and doing whatever I can to make a decision and move on.

While I think that groups need a person who can help members negotiate through a disagreement, I don’t think I always approach the problem in the best way.  My frustration shows thru and I try to force a decision.

Realizing this, I want to try to improve.  I can remember that everyone needs to be heard and understood and that it takes time to come to an agreement.  And when I do try to facilitate a decision, I will do so more gently and with respect.  I think this will not only help my group in class work better, but will be beneficial for discussions and groupwork in my career.

I’ve been meaning to write about our group the Triglycerides for some time now.  Part of the reason I have put it off is because I have been incredibly busy in my work and personal life and so I kept forgetting to do it.  Another part is that I have been rather frustrated with our situation and work thus far.  Honestly a great deal of my frustration is simply spilling over from my personal life.

From the start I expected our group to be…’interesting’.  As the only group with only 3 people we are already at a disadvantage.  We have fewer people to draw from and when there is a conflict it seems to be very obvious.  To add to that, Irene and I work together and are good friends.  Thus, we have gone through many of the various stages of group formation (forming, norming, storming, etc.).  We see each other every day and even spend time together outside of work.  Thus, we are very comfortable with each other.  Molly on the other hand had never met us before and has encountered some technological issues that have hindered communications between the group.

These problems greatly contributed to our sub-par first paper.  Our discussion after we took the survey and received our papers back, has hopefully cleared up some issues.  We confronted the fact that Irene and I will discuss our projects and make decisions without Molly simply because we are in contact so much.  Although, it is impossible for us to stop discussing class and projects, we all recognize that and are ok with it now. We also recognized that it will be important in the future to meet in-person to discuss projects.

We shall see how the next project goes…

Earlier this week I met for the first time with a new group I have been asked to work with at work.  Our group has been asked to oversee the implementation of a new product the Library will be using.  There are 3 of us on the group.  I represent the health science library, another member represents the main library, and the third the technology department for the library.  We each represent and bring to the group our departments needs and ideals.  In our first meeting we were incredibly productive and communicated very well.  After the meeting, as I rode the bus back to my office, I couldn’t help thinking about what we have been reading and discussing in class and comparing my work group to groups I’ve worked on in classes before.  In thinking, I realized that in my experience most of the group work I have done for classes has been strained (even when I worked with friends).  No matter how well the instructor tried to support ‘forming’ and other group processes it always feels forced.  However, in most of the groups I’ve worked in at work the opposite is true.  A few reasons I thought of for this are the following:

At work members usually already know each other, so we don’t need to spend as much time forming.  Additionally, at work our roles are usually well defined because someone outside the group assigned everyone and/or your role within the organization dictates in some way what your role will be in the group.  Finally, the work of the group is usually very well defined and understood by its members. In contrast, groups for classes are often random or chosen for convenience.  Often members don’t know each other and certainly don’t have a clear understanding of why they are all together and what role each person should have.  Although we may designate roles, they are often chosen for no particular reason other than we were told to do so.  Additionally, the goals and objectives are not always well defined for classes.  Projects assigned to groups in class usually don’t make sense until later in the semester when we have covered more material in class and had more direction from the professor.

I’m not sure if there is any way to make class groups seem more cohesive, or if that is even necessary.  Like the jurors in 12 Angry Men, classmates may never see each other again, so it might be only necessary to figure out how to work together well enough to get the job done for a few months and then disband.

Ok, that was a lot of writing…Sorry!

I enjoyed this class, particularly the discussions we had in class as a whole and in small groups.  Although the book was at times difficult to get through, I was able to clarify what I had read in class during our discussions.  It was always interesting to see other perspectives on the topics we covered.  Our class had people from a variety of backgrounds which I think made it even more interesting.  For myself, I could see how some theories easily applied to my work as an instruction librarian.  However, other theories were not as obvious.  Hearing what others thought about them and how they used them helped to expand my view.  In particular, I did not originally see transformative learning as being especially useful for my instruction.  After talking about it in class I realized that though I might not have it as a specific goal of my instructional work, it is something I should be mindful of.

This class has already stirred up many ideas for my work.  I hope to begin using some of the strategies I wrote about in my final paper, when I teach.  Overall, I think I have a broader view of teaching and learning in general.  The reflection required for this course has helped me understand myself and I think that will help me be a better teacher.

I remember working with a faculty member to teach a Freshman level course on critical thinking.  Some of the students picked up the skills we taught very quickly while others found it very difficult.  Students who struggled wanted step-by-step instructions for completing their assignments.  With the purpose of developing critical thinking skills, most of the assignments had few if any specific steps involved that would guarantee a ‘correct’ answer.  The ambiguity was something they hadn’t dealt with before and struggled to comprehend and overcome.

The faculty member I was working with had been teaching the class for several years.  We discussed the students who had trouble grasping the concepts we taught in the class. She was very insightful in realizing that most of the students with problems came from rural high schools with fewer resources, classes, technology, etc.  Knowing these students came into the class at a disadvantage she worked hard to provide personalized feedback to each student and to guide each of them through learning critical thinking skills.

It is easy to assume that students are equal and far easier to teach if it was true.  However, for a variety of factors including race, ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, etc., student’s come to the classroom with varying capabilities.  It is important that as an instructor, one recognizes this and teaches to it.