Hilgartner Open Learning

Collaborative Training Course Development System: Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 01:31:00 +0000

Certainly, you have heard of training, that's the mode of teaching and learning where adults learn what is immediately beneficial for them (and by extension others) in some practical context, such as work, home or play. It aims primarily at improving skills to fill some gap and to meet some prioritized need. To be effective, this training does not occur outside the practical context. It requires regular feedback and reinforcement with supports. Progress needs to be measured, maintained and pushed forward.

So when I write that a training course should be developed, you might already see the irony. Courses do not often sit in the practical context. They kind of just happen. Someone receives a paper saying they survived it and have shown skills improvement. Once the course is done, so is the learning and measuring. Certainly, there is no pushing forward. The training course actually seems counter-intuitive to the act of training and its intentions.

Equally, if you managed to read the title of this post and series, you should be commended as it is a mouthful. You will also notice it has that word collaborative, which may have so many squirm in their seat. We know that collaboration, when not done right, can actually cause more grief than it is worth. Friends have been won and lost over many a collaboration project. Why? Collaborating itself is a skill, often not directly taught, measured or applied, and yet it is summoned at a whim as if it were some magic spell to make stuff happen. So building training that requires training in collaborating should be a real doozer, right?

Do not close this article just yet. It has worse news yet to report. The article is going to talk about a system. The article is going to propose how to make training (that should not be in a course and will never be built by more than one) should be perpetuated with procedures and resources, making creating nonsense more efficiently and effectively.

So I ask you to read on. This series is like that disaster movie, where even though it's a superficial B movie, you have to watch it until the end just to see who survives.

In the next post, I will discuss this whole idea of having a system, as having and developing a system is the first critical step in developing training courses collaboratively.

More Berries and Less Ice in the Blender, Please

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 20:22:00 +0000

This week I have been working the instructional blender at full tilt. I have been keeping it whirring throwing in different learning activities, quizzes, videos and polite conversations to make some potent, knock-you-out-of-your-socks learning concoctions. Everyone at the course counter, orders their own flavour and kick according to the dryness in their throat and the cravings on their tongue tips. "More math and less poetry with a twist of online, please."

As the cocktail mixer per jour, I have been pulling out all stops to make some solid recipes. The hope is that with the right recipe the students will leave happy and come back for more. In my GED Prep evening face-to-face class, I have made the bold move to deliver the course almost entirely on iPads in the classroom. This ingredient has met with alarming success. Students are completing the quizzes in class. As they do, I can come up and provide coaching or assistance as needed. Sitting in assigned pairs, they actively discuss each question and make decisions together about answers. Immediately, they receive feedback, and become intoxicated with this online delivery. One student came to see me at the desk to tell me unsolicited how he preferred the online option inside and outside of class. He appreciated knowing what he did wrong so he could fix it and focus his studies on those items. Hallelujah! A student with an active learning plan that works. You can tell people and even put the neon sign over the bar counter, and they may still not absorb it. However, like this student, when they come across it on their own, the principle sticks. Certainly, others share this enthusiasm. The evening GED Prep students complete more readily and regularly the same online activities and exercises than most of their online counterparts. As a group, they chug down any quizzes or videos posted. My suspicion is that they like the taste. They can feel it working, too.

Pouring educational draughts night after night for these folks, conversations start up about the tools themselves. Making an estimate, less than one tenth of the students accessed on their own their NorQuest myMail account despite the fact that it is the primary channel of communication with the instructor and the college. Even more so, the myMail is a Google Apps account which can be used in the course to complete and manage assignments. Of the remainder, over eighty percent of them could not figure out how to login with multiple user accounts or how to set up the myMail on their personal devices. Having observed this directly, I made the next class, happy hour, serving up deals on technical support a la carte. I walked to every student to make sure they could login to their Moodle and their myMail on the iPad. I prompted those successful to help their peer. I then assisted each of them with setup of myMail on their personal devices. With anyone who was successful, I politely demanded that they call the computer commons area to have their issue resolved, or to send the commons an email if after hours. The results came pouring in. Students, having received the daily specials menu, were eager to go ahead and preview the day's material in advance. Many expressed gratitude on knowing what they needed to complete to stay abreast of all the fun and excitement. Many were intrigued by access to Google Docs and the course YouTube channel and have considered using these apps in this course and other courses.

After the instructional taps run out and the learners depart, I am left polishing the glasses and ruminating about the day. If these students have so many obstacles to full engagement, what are my online GED students experiencing? I am certain they have the same issues if not even more so. In confirmation, I remember a conversation I had with one of those GED Online students. I had sent out a mass email to all my GED student's myMail accounts about real-time online workshops offered as a strong learning support. Only one online student responded. As irony rolls along, she did not have a Norquest myMail account due to some error. She had received the email about the workshops in her personal email on her phone. She was excited about the opportunity. We started an email conversation about the workshops and the course. This all happened because the message met her where she already was. Now that we have had this conversation, she has begun work on the online course.

As I open the bar the next day, I will know to bring that same strong mix of learning opportunities. However, I will make sure that I put glasses in hand, provide access to taxi service, and talk about the various sundry of each student leaving my assumptions behind the bar. Drinks on the house.

Moodling with Exams

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 17:10:00 +0000

With the aim of creating adaptive learning, as an instructional designer, developer and facilitator, you need to create test items and plenty of them. With Moodle as your LMS, you need to find an efficient way to do so, some rapid development best practice, so you can maintain quality and stay alive.

In such a scenario, I have been working on General Education Development courses with mathematics, reading and writing content at a grade 10 level creating exercises, quizzes, practice tests, pre-tests, and post-tests using the Moodle Question Bank. I have been taking scanned and OCR (optical character recognition) processed texts, with copyright permissions, and importing them into the Question Bank. With each quiz or test, there is a fair bit of work to be done, but the import still beats re-entering or re-creating these hundreds of items in terms of time and energy.

The first step is to open the PDF version of the text and begin copying the text to a Notepad file. To do so in Acrobat Reader, you use the pointer tool and drag across the text. If the questions are in columns, you may have to drag up from the bottom or only drag down until you start selecting from the other column. The goal is to grab as many items as you can to keep this efficient.

You then switch to Notepad and CTRL+V (paste) in the contents. Immediately you will notice unnecessary line breaks and absent images. With math tests, you will also spot gobbledygook fractions and scrambled equations. Don't worry. We will fix those soon enough. Now you begin to strip the text. Using the Replace command and dialog, you will remove all the distractor numbering and its proceeding space: for example (1) and (2). You will remove the item numbering and its following spaces by double-clicking on the number and then pressing the DEL button. Next, you will march through the item and distractor stems to remove those line breaks, with your thumb on the space bar and your index on the DEL button while your other hand drives to the end of each new line with the mouse. Clickety click. Baba trick. While clicking through, you will make sure there is one blank line between each item but no blank lines between the stem or distractors. Lastly, for math exams you have to fix the fractions, exponents and equations. For fractions and equations, you start with Tex, a math notation system. This notation system makes the best route as the LMS will store the expressions as text and render them with MathJax as opposed to a multitude of images required to load and stay in memory. For a fraction, you enter the start tag, the fraction command, the numerator and denominator, and the end tag. To enter one quarter, you would type \(\frac{1}{4}\) into the item. You then copy and paste this Tex format to reuse throughout. To fix exponents, you use the html tags with the exponent value in the middle. Lastly, you need to enter the answers. Answers are marked with an asterix at the front of the stem with no spaces. You can also attach "-com-" and then a solution for each item to provide rich feedback. Now everything is pretty.

Having done this work, you sit back and take a sip of your coffee. Hopefully, you are still a believer, realizing that for every item you have had to tweak on a fifty item test, you have been saved typing over two thousand words. Thus relieved, you push on to creating the GIFT file.

The GIFT file is a universal import structure which involves extremely accessible text files and a much needed easy format. To transform the test text file into a GIFT format text file, you use CTRL + A and CTRL+C to copy the contents and then CTRL+V paste into the large text area box on the Moodle Test Creator web page, publicly available (http://text2gift.atwebpages.com/Text2GiftConverter.html). Firstly, be sure to enter in a code to identify where these questions came from in the Exam Identifier text box as this code will be used to generate the names of each of the items on Moodle. I use the course code, a unit code, and a publisher code: for example, I use "GED U6 CAMB" for unit six of the GED Course taken from the Cambridge GED text. Although this code does not work as the best naming convention for an item bank, it will work well for importing as it will become onerous to do much tracking once you have entered in over five hundred items. Secondly, enter in a file name in the appropriate text box so you can distinguish the various GIFT text files you create. As the character length is limited, use a short code. For example, I use "GED U6 CAMB GFT". Lastly, click on the Send button. The file will be downloaded to your Downloads directory. Once downloaded, CTRL+X cut the file and paste it into your exam import directory that you will have created. The conversion is fairly quick.

The next step in the process is to import into Moodle. Click on the Question Bank folder under the Course Administration block to open the Question Bank administration pages. On the new page, in the expanded submenu, you will see a link for Categories. One time only, you should create a category for each of the types of activities in the unit. With each category, you will need a parent category with a unit name. This pattern works well to keep items grouped according to unit and delineates their use. It will be important to reserve some items for exercises and some for post-tests. For example, I use Mathematics as a parent category for a unit and have "Exercises", "Quizzes", "Pre-Tests", "Practice Tests" and "Post-Tests" as children categories just for the Mathematics Unit. Once you have the categories, you then click on the Import link. On this page, you select the GIFT format option, pick the category from the drop-down menu, uncheck the "Get category from file" option, and drag the file into the "Choose file" box. When ready, click the Import button. A results page will appear hopefully with a preview of the questions indicating success. Click on the Continue button, and you will be taken to the Questions page with your newly imported items awaiting editing.

At this point, you have reached the final climb to the peak of the mountain. You must now add any passages or pictures to your questions. While doing so, you will also add style for clarity and consistency. To begin, you capture the images in the PDF using the snapshot tool. You select with the snapshot tool and then CTRL+V into Paint. In Paint, you hit the crop button. Then, you click on Save As to give the image a name and number and save it to an exam images directory. For future use and reuse, I use the course code, unit code, and then IMG with a number started at 10000 for sorting purposes. For example, I enter GEDP1521 U6 10004 for my fourth image. I keep the Paint window open as I continue to copy, paste, crop and save as new images from the PDF text. With pictures copied, you will go back to your Moodle Questions page, and right-click on the gears for any of the questions that refer to a shared passage or picture combination. When the menu appears, you will click on "Open in a new tab" as there will be much copying and pasting to do.

At this point, some previous rapid development support work will need to have been done. For example, I have created several separate text files with the html style code for the different types of questions: question only, question with passage, question with picture, question with passage and picture, and question with passage and document. These styles provide borders and consistency. They also create a responsive layout, important to learners with different screens and devices. For each item, you will CTRL+A and CTRL+C the appropriate style from the style text file. The CTRL+A which selects all is important as there are some necessary spaces at the end of the text that need to be captured. You will then click on the <> html view button for the question, place the cursor at the front of the question, and then CTRL+V the style in. You will jump to the end of the item and add a to finish the item. Now that you have injected the style, you will need to add the passage or document text. Switch back to the pdf and copy the text of the passage of the text or document. Paste the text into the Moodle question item between the opening and closing . You may need to insert some tags to create new paragraphs in the passages or documents. For pictures, you will then switch out of html view by clicking on the <> toggle button. Next, you click on the image, and then click on the toolbar image button. In the dialog that appears, you will choose the image file, you previously captured, enter in an image description and save image. Once the new image appears, you will enter the html view again. You select the text from the end of the style you inserted to the top of the item html. For my style text files, the selection would be from "QUESTION: " with the ending space included up to the top of the html. You will then CTRl+C and then CTRL+V this html into the html views of the remaining questions in the series in the tabs you previously opened. For each passage, image and document, you may need to change the type declared in the brief direction statement preceding, such as "article", "graph", "essay", "poem", "script", "table" or "diagram". This copy and paste will save you from re-entering passages and image descriptions.

Now here is the first snag. If your organization has set up a file system repository into which you have stored the images, your image links will work. If not, you will have to switch out of the html view for each item after pasting to re-upload a new instance of the image file. To make this the least onerous that I can, for the first item, I click on the image button in the toolbar, click on the Choose file button, and select the image. I then CTRL+C and CTRL+V for each additional item that will refer to this picture. I then select the first instance of the image and upload it. As I move to each of the next items, I select the image, click on the image toolbar upload the next instance of the image. I then click on the Save Image button without having to enter in the new description. At some point, as you are working on these items, you will be deceived by the internet. As you go to change the subsequent items, you will have pasted in the html from the first item. You will notice the correct image appears as it should. Beware. You are seeing the image because as the editor you have the rights to see the image in the link in any of the courses you teach or develop in. However, once you save this item, the link will change and the picture will not display. You need to change the picture and upload a new instance. In short, beg for a file system repository.

At this point, you may stop and ponder as to why you are copying and pasting these shared passages, documents and images into each item. Moodle's question bank does not allow you to link multiple items to a shared reference. Hopefully, other instructors, educational assistants or would-be developers will use one or several items from this set and will need to do so easily without having to chase down references. Even more so, with adaptive training, you will need Moodle to select questions at random from the question bank so you can create nearly unlimited forms of your tests, while not losing those critical references. Trust me on this one. I have lived the pain of creating and then re-doing. There is no fun in that. The quality of these items includes re-purposability.

This step of inserting styles and references is where we keep the quality in our rapid development process and should not be skipped.

At this point, you may feel daunted. However, instead you should find comfort that you have created items that will work and will last. When you set up a project system and work with others, you will notice the tremendous efficiency that results: in particular, when developers take on different roles. Your students will notice when they have a range of quality items providing rich and immediate feedback with which to adjust their learning paths.

Learning Has Been Pinned

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 01:45:00 +0000

Pinterest is the new visual learning tool.

As a budding artist, you can search up painters and their works. Then, you can curate them with your own comments of edification. As soon as you've pinned Pablo's Guernica, you see related painting pins from the abstract and cubist master and his contemporaries. You pin some of his self-portraits. You come across some water colors from Miro, and you create a new Watercolour Gone Wrong board to capture these new pins. You see some strikingly coloured flowers by O'Keefe and you LIKE them with the little heart button. In fact, you like them so much, you travel to the board of the original pinned of the flowers to find an extensive O'Keefe collection. You make some pins and you decide to follow the board. Driven by curiousity, you check out the rest of her boards. She curates modern American art, romantic comedies and graphic novels. You don't have the time to check them all out right, but you decide to follow this fellow enthusiast and plan to return later. As you close your app, glowing with what you have discovered, you receive several likes and pins of your new acquisitions and boards from fellow pinners from across the Internet-verse. Poked, you check out which pins were tacked, and you check out the selections from your new found compatriots. It turns out watercolour is popular with elementary school teachers and hobby-seeking retirees. One of the boards has an infographic on how to mix paints for various watercolour effects.

At the end of all this pinning, you see the Visual Arts textbook. Somehow it no longer seems that exciting.

Instructional Workout

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:34:00 +0000

Certainly, instructors aim to create a better world by fostering learning through instruction: a lofty mission indeed. It is more of a vision than a set of specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goals. We have strong ideas and honorable intentions. We just need an actionable plan. We need to make them happen.

By making them happen, we need to overcome challenges. We need to manage change. We need to operate in teams to make anything worthwhile. We need to be fit and healthy. We need to find a work and life balance. We need to be caring, thoughtful and creative all at the same time.

The instructional activities we need to complete include design, development, communication, assessment, presentation and advising. Although the extent of these activities vary, as instructors, we are called upon to complete for the ongoing success of our students.

As an instructor, over the years, I have come to observe that this 'action' or behaviour can be shaped by actionable plans, but it often is initiated, maintained and fuelled by healthy habits. Our conscious self makes us creative, analytic and thoughtful, yet it is our unconscious self that informs our practice and compels us to do more.

In this vein, I have created an instructional routine to foster healthy instructor habits. Using various tools, my plan is to implement these routines and develop these habits.

The first step is to complete a set of activity categories for both work and home.

At first, I did not include home in my planning, not out of an attribution of less importance, but because I did not immediately see its connection. In the end, striking a balance is one of the most critical elements of completing the 'good' work. It is essential to making promises that we keep. It is monumental in keeping us human and fixed with what is purposeful.

These work and home categories I created include: communication, planning, development, delivery, assessment, research, networking, chores, daily activity, family activity, project work, daily prep, week plan, and weekly report. These categories are broad enough to include various work and home activities. I am able to plan for what I need and love. I am able to include myself and others. With these categories, I can make a basic and fluid plan for the week and the day so I do not feel lost and I can witness accomplishment. Certainly, with these categories, I am confident that I am not missing anything. When I schedule my activities to meet the onslaught, I know what I should do. I have the flexibility to rearrange, add, edit and delete. I experience less stress, leaving me with a open mind, a healthy mind and a positive disposition.

The second step is to identify healthy habits and track your progress in developing them. This step requires time. It requires experimentation and reflection. When choosing these habits, I pick ones that give me energy, that make my activity purposeful, and allow me to do good for others. The key is to pick habits that are achievable and set a frequency per week that you know is reasonable. For my 'taking vitamins' habit, I assign a frequency of daily. For my 'chores' habit, I assign a frequency of three times a week. In addition, I pick healthy habits that replace unhealthy ones. For example, I have included the 'daily activity' habit. This habit is an attempt to break the tendency I have to forget to look after myself. As well, I refer to my categories that I created earlier for another source of habit ideas.

The third step is to plan, schedule, track, and celebrate this habit development. I use Google Calendars to put down my categories down as recurring tasks. I use the Google Calendars so that I can view them on any device just about wherever I am. On the Sunday night, I carry out my weekly plan, during which I set three small habit improvement goals, such as a perfect record for daily activity. I schedule any appointments, meetings or other fixed events. I do a final pass to simplify my calendar leaving room for 'responsivity', down-time and relaxation. Once my categories are in place, I then add notes inside the Google Calendar events to outline any routines essential to the category and its related habit. For example, under communications, I list welcome messages, study plan emails, workshop notifications, study skills tips, follow up emails, and completion survey. These lists serve as options and reminders of what I can do. I need not complete them all. I have come to apply the maxim that if I complete one important activity in a day the day has been good. If I complete three, the day has been super. (I learned that maxim from my younger daughter and our mutual struggle to manage the day in a positive way.)

Once scheduled, you need an easy way to track your progress. This part can be the hardest. The initial problem for me was to set the time aside and find the right tools. I quickly learned that the time I spend tracking my progress and setting goals actually saved me hours lost in confusion and disheartenment. I use the LoseIt app available on my PC and devices to track my exercise and diet. I can participate in challenges with people from across the world and tweet my successes however small. I use the Coach Me app to track my habits overall establishing my weekly frequency. I can ask questions. Moreover, I can solicit coaching where needed. At this point, I must explain two trends: the first being that making habits social creates a motive and a personal accountability to move forward. This intrinsic and extrinsic reward is often the booster shot or the salve to keep us moving. The second pattern can be seen in the lifestyle nature of these habits. These habits are applicable to all aspects of our life from home to work to family. These habits are meaningful regardless of context. They are embedded in the places where we live and work. They are tied inextricably to the people we work with and the ones we love.

Once you begin tracking, you need to set aside time to reflect. You then need to reward your accomplishments and accept your stumbles. I begin my week knowing that developing habits will mean I will fall. I do not make this realization an excuse or rationalization; however, I try not to punish myself. I also end my week focusing on the positive. I find hope through looking at my accomplishments however small. I try to make my rewards positive ones that fit my habits. I go for a coffee or a walk with a friend or family member. I make sure I do not go eat fast food. Lastly, I go forth with humility trying to share this approach with colleagues, students, friends and family in what I say and do. I do so that others may benefit and so that I do not give up.

I must note there is an irony here. We are instructors. We teach people knowledge, skills and attitudes. We demonstrate, we detail and we guide learners. We assess and coach them. At the moment that the learner can do it independently or interdependently, when he or she can perform the task without extensive conscious thought and out of habit, we pronounce that they have learned. However, when we examine our behaviour, we often forget this same principle.

Valid, Reliable and Pretty: The Exam Blueprint

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 17:14:00 +0000

Tests remain the cornerstone of summative development in most formal instructional programs. They are accused of not being authentic or comprehensive. The dangers of incorrect interpretation have made some of us learning practitioners cautious if not skeptical.

Certainly, no instructional designer would make the claim that tests should stand on their own as the whole solution; however, most know that a valid and reliable exam can tell so much about student performance and instructional effectiveness to serve as firm starting ground for making planning and evaluation decisions. When interpreted correctly, learners, teachers, instructional designers, developers and managers can carry out meaningful conversations with quantifiable evidence from which to plan and improve learning experiences: the curriculum.

Even more so, learning practitioners realize the practical nature of exam development. Firstly, multitudes of students and teachers use them extensively gaining strong familiarity with their application. The learning curve is small. Although test-taking skills can confuscate subject-matter skills, effective tests can minimize this effect. Secondly, tools, applied research and best practices exist and shape the field. Practitioners can develop within an existing and evolving community of practice. Given the constraints of formal education and its expanding and changing mandate, practical means it can be done.

In the end, we can do tests. They can be a part of summative assessment. They can work with alternative assessments as mirrors to each other. The lesson noted is that we must do tests correctly or not at all. To do them correctly, we need to ensure that the exams we create are valid, reliable and pretty. They measure what is intended without bias. They promote confidence in their results over time and applications. They are professional creating ownership. With these goals in mind, we must select the right tools, recruit and develop capable people and we must establish a responsive process. In short, we must apply the principles and practices of collaborative, rapid development.

In the world of development, the investment up front expands the room within which we can build success. Analysis and design gives power to the development work to be done. With exam development, creating a blueprint, the crux of analysis and design, forms the first strong step and the primary deliverable. This exam blueprint establishes the objectives to be measured and the standards of performance as evaluation criteria.

An exam blueprint simplifies development clearly communicating what items should be included. It clarifies what the items should look like. It makes item development more the immediate focus than exam development. It sets up item classification necessary for item analysis after exams have been administered and graded. In this matter, the blueprint sets up evergreening with revision and renewal. More importantly, the blueprint makes additional forms and versions possible increasing exam security and eliminating bias. This blueprint is essential for rapid development allowing practitioners to focus on exams and items and not be stuck figuring out development processes. Templates can be made, deadlines met, and budgets preserved. It can be started and repeated without the typical turmoil and anxiety. Deliverables can be produced, evaluated and maintained. Iterative design and development processes can be executed to ensure quality. A kanban project model can be incorporated to keep workflow moving by tracking progress and determining needs and priorities.

Moreover, the exam blueprint invites all parties to the table. Item writers and reviewers have a shared map. Instructional designers bring evaluation best practices to the table. Managers and development leads gain assurance in results, being able to see the consistency and well-thought out plans for exams. Subject-matter experts and teachers can have confidence in what is being assessed matching what has been taught. Students, although they may not directly access blueprints, will experience clearer communications about what they will be assessed on and to what level. These blueprints invite collaboration. Working together will create teams and take full advantage of leadership and social energy.

"What does this mythical creature called the exam blueprint look like and how do I make one?", you may ask. The exam blueprint in its basic format is a table that lists the learning objectives to be measured in rows and the categories of difficulty in columns. The cells contain item numbers, tallies and percentages for each objective and difficulty. Moreover, the blueprint states the distribution of items based on objective weighting and required difficulty spread.

In a collaborative and rapid development context, these tables can be easily created and augmented in Google Sheets. This tool, Google Sheets, as a cloud-computing application, allows for multiple users to work in real-time with multiple devices in a variety of contexts. As a spreadsheet, Sheets offers the conditional formatting, filtering, sorting, calculation and analysis tools to make data entry, analysis and interpretation easier.

Typically, the exam blueprint contains several sheets to organize the master and forms. The first sheet, the master, outlines the objectives and standards to be used in developing the exam. This distribution is the ideal against all the forms will be measured. The following sheets outline the actual distribution of the items based on objectives and standards. On these sheets, conditional formatting provides a check against the Master sheet specifications. Using this check, instructional designers can edit or request new items to make the blueprint work.

Sample Unit Exam Template - Master sheet

Interdependent Learners with Study Skills

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 18:41:00 +0000

Over the past term, I have been working with colleagues in a student support centre called the Lighthouse, where students can come for help, connect with services, or hangout with friends. In short, this room and this time is theirs and they can feel they belong and are safe.

In this role, I have had the chance to introduce flash cards as a study skill tool for learning and review. Students and teachers responded positively to the brief introduction. At the end, we handed out blank cards to everyone. Who can resist the colours and the simplicity of index cards?

From there, the Lighthouse group has decided to make study skills in general a regular feature of the Lighthouse. Study skills presentations will be made available. A study skills cove is being constructed. With all of this momentum, I have taken time to reflect on my encounters with study skills.

Over a decade ago, I was working as instructional assistant in a learning centre in a diploma challenge program I was hired to tutor adult students in math and language arts in course blocks between their classes. It became apparent that most of these students did not have practice studying and had developed few learning strategies. I approached an instructor in the program, Roger Moore, who would become a mentor, about this dilemma and he introduced me to learning strategies. He introduced me to flash cards, the very study skill I first presented in the Lighthouse. And having returned to the same college after a decade elsewhere, he and I both are in the Lighthouse discussing learning strategies.

The reception in the diploma challenge learning centre was astronomical. Students started making and exchanging flash cards, replete with colours and doodles. Teachers came to speak to Roger and I to incorporate flash cards in their courses. I remember vividly standing in the learning centre just watching flash card junkies teaching other students how to make and use them. At that moment, I knew that flash cards and the process they entail works, making students competent and confident.

I want to stress the importance of confidence. For many adult students returning to school, confidence may be hard to dig up. Many have had difficult experiences. Many did not complete or have the option to attend. For many, funding or the chance to find a better job was based on successful completion of these courses. They were studying while working and tending to families.

They were my heroes fighting what seemed daunting. A mark of 40% on an exam brought this one lady to tears. Being much younger, having successfully completed school, with all supports in place, I did not immediately understand. She explained that she was doing this coursework to support her two children, that she was hiding from an abusive husband, that she was working two jobs, and that she was studying whenever and wherever she could. It was the truth. She did not think she could continue. I coached her as best as I could to continue. I made it my mission to teach her learning strategies while teaching her subject-matter in the learning centre. I remember distinctly her holding her flash cards celebrating her passing science mark in the learning centre.

This confidence boost is what study skills do. They allow students to see that learning, despite its challenges can be done. They see other students doing it. They have a success using them. I am not suggesting that flash cards or other study skills are some magical solution, but they are often the perfect ingredient to add to this learning mix. Many of these students are motivated and capable. Consider what many of them accomplish in a day. They just need that first step. And then they start to do it on their own. Lastly, they start doing it with others.

Knowing this, as a co-lead for study skills with Roger, I have proposed flash cards, mind maps, and cornell study notes as the big three study skills tools to make available to students. They match learning theory principles. They are visual. They require speaking and listening to maximize effectiveness. They work best when shared or presented. For adult students, they are easy and affordable. Paper, cards, markers and coloured pencils are common student tools and can be provided easily by schools. Teachers can adopt them in their courses to give this study skills push propulsion. Moreover, research, examples and support for these learning strategies is widely available. Moreover, learners and teachers use them extensively all over the world. At the same time, they require chunking and promote overlearning, techniques essential for encoding, recognition and recall. These tools allow students to construct their own meaning. Their mind maps, cards and notes make the deepest sense to them. In short, they work the way learners and teachers work.

Most importantly, they are fun and engaging. They provide opportunities to be creative, to share and to collaborate.

Adapting Learning with Entry Tests

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 21:52:00 +0000

Over the course of the term, I have been working to focus the work of my students, narrowing what they need to study to prepare for the Official GED Examinations. I have been using entry tests provided in the online course to create study plans. The first step is to examine the results for lessons where the student was not successful. Using performance analysis charts provided, we create a list of these lessons. Then we enter these lessons onto a 12 week chart to create a plan.

With the first group of students, we completed this task, from marking to lesson listing to study planning, using the textbook and a blank study plan. I sat down with each (or discussed on the phone) their results using the provided performance analysis charts. First, we looked at the overall score to determine to what extent they would need to focus on the unit based on the cut score provided. Next we examined each item. We found the Writing Unit Entry Test straightforward with the chart pointing to the lesson the item centred on. However, we soon discovered several lessons were not addressed by the entry test as the entry test was to be completed in half the time of the Official GED Examination. The approach for the moment became to complete the lessons identified. As well, the student would complete lesson sets (already identified) for which they had at least a couple of lessons already identified as needing work. In a couple of instances, I added related lessons that have typically posed difficulty for students in the course and the Official GED Exams in the past.

When we moved to the Reading Unit Entry Test, we had more fun. the items pointed to large lesson sets rather than lessons. The Reading Unit focuses on reading skills applied across various genres. The performance analysis chart referenced the genres as rows and a cognitive taxonomy scale as columns. No reference to the skills or particular lessons are made. At this point, I started creating my own performance charts in an Excel spreadsheet. I went through the questions and connected them with the lessons. As with the Writing Unit Entry Test, many lessons were not covered.

Custom Performance Analysis Chart in Excel

From this point, I needed to automate the process to make it easier for students to take the tests and make study plans. Without this ease of use, several students opted not to create the study plans attempting all 116 lessons. To this task, I put the entry tests online in the learning management system. Upon completion, I pulled the results into the same spreadsheet with the custom performance analysis charts.

Results

The next step was to make a report with these results comparing them with the custom performance analysis charts. Using Excel formulae no human being should ever have to write, I created a summary sheet. On this sheet, a score was calculated for each lesson based on the number of correct responses compared to the number of items for that lesson. For example, if two items applied to a lesson and the student scored correct on one, the score was 50%. This lesson then would be one to be added to the study plan.

Summary

Several things started to happen. More students completed the entry tests. Many without any prompting. More study plans were created. I was spending less time working on creating study plans. Students were more easily able to list them on the study plan sheet. A large amount of judgement and guess work was eliminated.

The next step will be to filter lessons in learning management system. However, before this can happen, the entry tests will need to be rounded out. Items for each lesson will need to be made. Multiple lessons per item would work well. An adaptive testing delivery, coming next, would allow the test to have more items and keep the exam time and length reasonable. More work will need to be capturing objectives tied to the skills and lessons identified in text and materials. Items related to objective would be better inform instructional activities in terms of scope and sequence.

My hope is to replace the spreadsheets to further automate the process. This database would be able to print individual student study plans for students. This database would also be able to provide statistics for item analysis of these entry exams. Post tests would then spin from here and be added to the assessment discussion.

I can see so many points of extension and collaboration.

Teaching Essay Composition through Trial and Error

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 02:20:00 +0000

The path to essay composition requires trial and error.

In the GED Exam Preparation and English Preparation courses, students come with varied skills and experiences with essay composition. Over three-quarters of the adult students I have worked with this term have never written an essay. Of the quarter that have, only one understands the basic essay format and its intention.

The textbooks provide lessons and practices on what an essay should like. They offer advice on each step of the writing process. They offer practice at each of these steps. I have created an essay format video and handout to support these lessons but it is not enough. Yet, the majority of students in an asynchronous and independent online learning program either leave these lessons and practices for last or do not attempt them at all. Those small few that do often complete the essay compositions at once and submit them at once not taking the opportunity to receive and learn from feedback. The challenge then becomes doubled since it is the essay on the official GED Exams and the English Prep final exam that most students struggle with or fail.

Certainly, these students have expressed anxiety over writing essays. Over the phone, many admit defeat labelling themselves incapable of writing an essay. They lament that they never learned it the first time. They have not been in school for a long time. For those I do connect with, I am able to coach them into some confidence by breaking the tasks down into steps, telling them that most other students in the course have the same difficulty, and that no student in the course that has met me halfway has failed the essay composition.

For some students, they question the use of essay writing in their future academic life and career. To be authentic, I tell them that they may not be writing academic essays, but that they will likely doing reports, speeches, presentations and compositions that can benefit from the essay process and format. I tell them that essayer means to make an attempt. In the case of the essay, the attempt is to convince the reader of your main idea. Many of these students are pursuing careers in sales, realty, or medicine. I tell them that they can use the logic and the communication techniques formalized in an essay to make that pitch or proposal or argument. They need to see the relevance or we cannot begin learning together.

Next, I try to have them write a first draft. In both courses, an entry test in essay writing is required so that their competency level can be determined. I grade the essay in green pen (as red can be seen as violent) making positive comments, pointing out repeating errors and leaving writing suggestions. At the end of the essay, I make up to three recommendations for the next essay. If the draft is salvageable, I ask them to do a re-write, with the explanation that quality writing often comes from re-writing. Even thought they will not be able to re-write their essay exam, they will be able to revise and avoid the larger mistakes. This revision is like a re-write of the essay in their head before it hits the page. I then make sure that I call them. I reassure them that this essay is their first. If they have gaps, now we know what they are: the first step to improving. They will not spend their time "spinning their wheels" with no direction. They must give themselves permission to fail with the knowledge that it is needed for us to succeed. We know what steps to take, Students in these courses are required to have study plans. I have students then fill in these gaps as lessons to be covered in their study plan.

Now, that the students are at the table, I invite them for a synchronous workshop on essay writing. I have completed these workshops with three students in Collaborate. The students had to learn how to operate inside Collaborate, but they are motivated by the real-time connection it provides. They start writing and scribbling on the whiteboard main and supporting ideas. They start to compose thesis statements, topic sentences and closing sentences. I pull up their first essays and we discuss my comments in full and answer their questions. I have started collecting exemplars which I hope to use in breakout rooms once my synchronous workshop numbers increase. On one occasion, I worked face-to-face with a student on similar work. He needed the face-to-face to be reassured that his teacher was indeed real and human. He needed the connection to feel competent and confident. He calls me every day now and we have made some real progress. My next step will be to do a workout composition in Google Docs real-time with one or more students. We will talk on the phone or through Collaborate as we work on the composition. This direct hands-on approach is what these students need to see that this essay composition stuff is possible.

Constructive, regular and meaningful feedback is key. I have created a template with a full rubric in Word which I combine with the student's essay in a PDF file. I use a stamp of the rubric to put in at the end of the PDF. I use the comment tools and pen to make comments, point errors and direct improvement. These pdfs which I post back inside the grade for their assignment serves as the start of the dialogue. I know that dialogue is central to teaching and learning among all of the strategies. As educators, we must have and take the time to talk with our students.

Course Gap Analysis: Improving Access

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 16:33:00 +0000

Course Gap Analysis

I originally started this post with the plan to reflect on course evaluation as I set about to improve my online courses in terms of engagement and completion rates. However, I came to notice that the majority of the work I was doing was taking existing content and designs and adjusting or revamping. I noticed too that I was doing so in phases.

In particular, I have been working on assessment which in my courses largely means exams, which are a good starting point or foundation for summative and formative assessment opportunities. I observed several stages, the first being improving access.

Improving Access

For exams, I started off working on moving exams and items online. I took book pdfs with the questions and then I converted them to text. From there, I stripped the questions and ran them through a GIFT format converter. I then upload the GIFT files quickly into the Moodle course question banks. I created a text file with an HTML template for formatting resources, such as readings, to be included with individual items as Moodle does not have a function for grouping questions around a single resource. To be organized, I created categories in the question bank to match units and lessons identified in the text. I was not able to assigne items to outcomes so I will have to use an external exam bank tool. I assigned each question an item code using a naming convention. I have tried to do work that could be duplicated by others.

Certainly, this method does not lend itself to widespread use by teachers or developers; however, I was able to quickly put up usable items. Students online have already started completing the entry tests.

Giving Learners a Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 20:43:00 +0000

This week I have set myself to bolster my online course offerings. I am hoping to engage students from diverse distances and backgrounds so that they participate and complete the learning activities needed to be successful on certification exams or enter college programs.

Thus far, I have imported entry test questions into the question bank to create entry tests that will identify for students what lessons they need to study to be successful so they can build a study plan. The plan is to personalize their learning and increase the focus on filling in gaps. Of the students who have taken the study plan approach, 2 to date, they both have completed, with one successfully reporting back a pass back on the official certification exam. Certainly, those students engaged participating in the study plan were more active, asking questions and attending virtual workshops. To further engage, I have created custom badges for successful completion of key activities to show progress: the indication of which de-stresses students when they can see clearly what they have done and what they need to do. And who doesn't like a badge.

Over the last few days, I have found even more inspiration learning about new engagement strategies.

At the English Language Arts Conference, I attended Valerie McClement's practical session on using Twitter and Google+ student projects to engage students in literature. While reading Shakespeare, students were asked to complete profiles for minor characters on the play, complete with descriptions, photos, events and posts. For the assignment, they were asked to respond after every scene from the point of view of the minor character. Students were asked to respond to posts and share with other minor characters. As Valerie relayed, students were talking about English in math class for the first time. She noted that students were doing research about their characters and the time period, largely unprompted, to make their profiles come alive. With Twitter, the students were asked to tweet open-ended questions to an assigned hashtag after each reading, these questions becoming the source of discussion in class the next day. When asked, Valerie explained that sometimes the discussions based on these questions could take up most of the class, as she found that the questions often provided ample opportunity to cover what was required, with guidance. This assignment was requested by students who had participated in Google+ projects in the previous grade. The uptake matched because students had chosen this option. The key piece out of both of these strategies was that students were empowered to create their own "voice" as Valerie indicated. They were engaged by being allowed a voice. As an instructor, she was meeting her students where they already were.

More importantly, I was able to connect with instructors from a variety of locations and contexts making English Language Arts learning possible.

I met one gentleman from a northern community school. As he conversed, he described the challenges and the importance of the work being done. The turnover is high. He declared himself a veteran having been there two years. He was hopeful of moving forward as they had the largest amount of returning staff. His school had reached a population high of about 240 students: the challenge remaining that about 150 might be at the school on any given day. He relayed that on one occasion whale hunters had returned with their catch. The school closed as they all went to learn about what the hunters did to strip down the whale for use in the village. As for native languages, very few students from this generation knew or spoke the languages. Continuity being a problem, he explained that they could not hold assemblies. No one had been there long enough to show the students how. For parents, the primary question was "Is my child safe and are you treating him well" as opposed to a pressing concern for marks. From his remarks, you could tell that his work was important. He was working to help them find their voice.

Equally, I was fortunate to meet an instructor from a colony school. She explained how challenging was to instruct in this context. She explained how two instructors came to teach Alberta Education curriculum in the one-room school house. When needed, counselors from the district came to provide additional supports. Televisions were banned. The colonists and the students speak a older German in a similarly old script not easily connected with modern German causing further isolation. She explained with great conviction the need to work with these students to keep us all connected. She was meeting them where they were and trying to engage them in an authentic way.

Next, I was able to attend the BlendEd conference. I learned much about various perspectives on blended learning from the sessions and the people with which I connected.

At the session on blended learning and communities of inquiry, Laurel Beaton discussed how the community of inquiry model developed at the University of Athabasca was being applied to professional development for teachers. As a result, teachers were being called to change their work and their roles. They were being called upon to complete applied research in their fields. They were being expected to acquire strategies and best practices to attend to the cognitive and social presences of learners in their work. This framework provides a clear structure to engaging students and giving them a voice.

Later, I attended Neela Bell's session on using gamification to personalize learning. I was quickly impressed on her use of Moodle to show learner progress and provide badges. She offered gamification tips that made creating this engagement strategy simple. In particular, she showed how to add a narrative structure to a course to make the course more engaging connecting to memory and learning. Talking to her afterwards, I learned about the parallel work she was doing with at-risk students at the Argyll Centre using these techniques to engage them in learning activities. Her students want to learn because she knows them as they want to be known in an authentic and not ingratiating manner.

Oustide of the session, I connected with an instructor and administrator from a rural Alberta school. They had come to the conference to learn more about blended learning as they were formulating a solution to engage their learners. Believing in the value of what they do, they wanted to attract and connect with students. They had created online resources and content to offer students in their regular classrooms. Now, they were looking on how to achieve further blended learning. They wanted to meet the students where they already are.

After these events, I am grateful for the people I have met and the opportunities to learn that I have been given. In response, I will be turning to my own practices. I will be working on strategies to personalize learning for my students. I will create learner pathways to allow students to progress according to interest, ability and commitment. I will be incorporating badges and gaming elements. To do so, I will be calling on my new connections to collaborate and push forward. I will add social media elements to give students peer-to-peer connections to boost learning outside the teacher-learner context. Currently, I am reading Teaching in Blended Learning Environments: Creating and Sustaining Communities of Inquiry by Norman Vaughn et al. from AU Press. I will be sure to post a review as I work to incorporate this framework into course design and professional practice.

With these people and resources, student engagement now seems possible. It now is imperative.

Online Learning Is Being Shipped to the Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 19:29:00 +0000

I read an earnest and well-written article "5 Reasons Why Online Learning Is The Future of Education" by AJ Agrawal, the CEO of Alumnify. I agree with the statement made in the article. The reasons provided are sound and cannot be ignored. However, I would take the statement one step further. Online learning is today, and the term will soon belong to yesterday.

I was marking an essay with a student half way across the province using the whiteboard and chat in a virtual classroom. We were able to discuss strengths and weaknesses. She was able to type in a new paragraph to show what she learned from the feedback. She received direct instruction not possible where she was.

This week, I delivered a webinar to colleagues from across the province. I used application sharing to show them how to use PowerPoint to storyboard. I opened four whiteboards to let them write objectives in groups. I opened the mic to group leaders to explain their choices, drawing on their expertise and experience. I encouraged feedback in the chat from their peers. I finished with a poll on the use of outcomes and let them discuss. I was able to paraphrase what they had come up with and wrap up the ideas into general categories. I let go of the learning.

Several months ago, I was teaching art with over forty students in a large art lab room. I had created Google Drive folders so that the lead instructor could drag and drop his presentations and rubrics in. When he or I edited, we could see the final product without an email exchange. At the projector, I was able to pull up his presentations from drive to show the students. When done, I posted them online in the LMS course. As I walked around helping students with their art and their research, I pulled up art and artists on Pinterest on my iPad so that we could discuss. With some aspiring artists, I created with them video interviews to display in the course that they could use as part of their portfolio. With their own Google Apps for Education accounts, they were able to produce and share presentations and documents online as well. They were able to collaborate in real-time. They had become active learners with the tools available anywhere and anytime.

Online learning has been an option or an independent delivery. No more. The application and the data are online. The interaction and collaboration breaches distances. Research and extended learning opportunities abound seamlessly. Learners perform online learning every day without necessarily being aware that they are doing it.

Meaningful Work

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 22:11:00 +0000

I have often questioned the work that I do and its meaning. When I am gone, will my teaching have been a fruitless effort?

I became a teacher to do meaningful work and to have a positive impact on the world around me. In my efforts, I have gone on to make a career of supporting teachers in this 'good' work. At its heights, this work has given me hope. However, I have seen its depths. I have seen 'great' teachers crushed. I have seen 'amazing' students neglected. I have seen 'strong' work washed away like so much triviality. I have seen education pushed aside and beaten down by politics and economics. At these times, I doubt if what we do as educators (that term including everyone who teaches and learns) is doing anything.

At these moments, I have clung to the maxim that if you put a 'good' teacher in front of students with as little as a piece of chalk and a board and learning will occur. The statement has given me hope. It has been a security blanket that I pull across myself (and others) as I try to hold onto the warmth of belief and trust.

Today, I am challenged. I look at the blanket. It is worn. It has holes. It has thinned out and does not give me the same comfort. No one appears in a rush to share it with me at the moment.

So here I am. Like everyone, I have the option to accept that I have been living a lie and choose a new vocation. I can accommodate the notion that the 'good' teacher is not enough. I can adapt and do what 'good' I can when I can. Or I can reject my doubts altogether and forge on.

I have always been particularly stubborn, even as a child. I do not like being told that I cannot do something. I was told I had asthma so I took up running. I was told I was too shy so I took up acting. I have no choice I will forge on. I will put this maxim to the test.

Diverse Worker

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 20:42:00 +0000

To move forward as a society and humanity, we need to strive for diversity in the workplace (and not at the exclusion of other places). As we meet challenges and strive for goals together, we need to share language, culture, experience and abilities. We need to hire and engage others who see the world differently to broaden our perspectives. We need to be different and broaden the perspective of others.

As you can read, I have read the postcard and I remain a diversity advocate. I am pleased to meet new people and learn about the world while sharing mine. However, I reminisce with deep feelings of nostalgia of a time when as a society we valued diversity within and not just among individuals. In short, being capable at many things does not make you a huckster or a con (although they lurk at every corner); it makes you extra-capable.

For example, as an instructor, I am often asked directly what do you teach by potential employers and colleagues. Inner me wants to scream, "Take out a pen. It's a long list." I have been an instructor for over 20+ years and I "have been to the rodeo". I have taught elementary, junior high, high school, and adult education. I have taught mathematics, English language arts, English language learning, health, religion, social studies, programming, interactive media, desktop applications, drama, art, college prep, memory skills and learning strategies, media development, exam development, leadership, online learning and more. (I told you it was a list.) I am not bragging. Everyone has a list although they might not have written it down. I am aware of my strengths and proud of what I can offer.

Obviously, I don't scream, so I pick two subjects that they might hold interest in. I might say English language arts and mathematics. I usually see a quizzical look on my listener's face so I quickly follow up by saying that I have a university background and teaching experience in both. If still interested, I might add that I value subject-matter expertise but I know teaching and learning are the true skills. These conversations usually do no go much further and the listener cannot be blamed. However, by stating that I am good at two subjects at least sends a truer message that diversity is a key.

Let's turn to the listener, that employee, colleague or friend. He or she lives in the same world in which academia and the workforce have pushed for streaming and specialization. These principles and strategies are not new but every once and awhile they receive an emphasis that goes beyond what is needed or healthy. They do solve the problems of finding a place for everyone and making sure that future employees are work-ready but they often do not see the individual as the dynamic and diverse person they are. Streaming and specialization are necessary aspects in a world of practical constraints but they need not be so limiting. Yet, at these times, the listener hears the hue and cry for sorting and selecting into narrow slots for the welfare of society. (I, too, have the purple streaming and mauve specialization tshirt in my closet.)

Upon self-examination (not always a regular practice), the listener will too realize that she has multiple talents. She plays pickle ball; she fixes cars; she writes instructional manuals for building furniture; she shingles roofs; and she paints abstract images. She is more than just the day-time accountant. She has learned so much from others and from her experiences. She keeps a journal and a blog. She writes thank you cards to former teachers and has coffee with her mentors. She reads non-fiction historical narratives and watches the occasional nature documentary. With all this knowledge and wisdom, she is engaged in the world around her. She participates in discussions and meetings. She makes informed decisions.

Certainly, she has been streamed. At moments, she has specialized. She took accounting and even specialized in IT Audits. The skills and knowledge needed to do this work did not arrive on her lap because she pressed a button. She worked hard and made sacrifices for long-term reward. She lived in the one-room apartment on the 17th floor with the hot plate and mini-fridge. She showed the determination, will power and courage to complete the task.

However, at no point did she stop reading or give up on pickle ball. She even fixed
cars to earn some money to pay for her university. More importantly, she stayed connected with friends and family. She worked to find new friends and colleagues. She found the love her life, married, and had three children. (Let me tell you she really then started learning.) Along this journey, she continued to learn but also teach. She showed her children how to brush their teeth and make their beds. She demonstrated to a fellow accountant how to use the IT audit accounting software system. She painted an abstract image while in the mountains with a friend (only because realism was beyond her scope of painting skills). She modeled patience, humility and forgiveness to all of those she encountered.

While drinking cappuccino on her front porch in the sun, she will have her epiphany: she is a diverse and dynamic superhero after all. She will return to work and employ her creativity. She will take some of her technology skills and serve on the new technology steering committee. She will learn Spanish, because . . . she just wants to.

And she will meet with her employees and find out more. She will examine how they are different from each other, but now she will also inquire about the variety of interests, abilities and commitments they bring to the workplace. (Her husband and kids will become annoyed because she will do the same at home.) She will find opportunities and resources to make enable the diversity within these fellow human beings. She will make "diversity within" part of her plans. She will write the new post card.

When I see her again, I know she will ask, "Is there anything you cannot teach?"

P.S. It's dodgeball.

Carey Hilgartner is a learning development specialist with Hilgartner Open Learning. Follow more bites of wisdom @hilopenlearn.

The Trailblazer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 17:38:00 +0000

Over the course of my life, I have been blessed to meet innovators and creative people on a mission to pursue good. I have had the further gift, set forth by these same people, to share my gifts and partake of the gifts of others to pursue this same good. These people carried the banners of faith, hope and love in whatever they did, without apology, despite backlash, because they could not live in a world without passion.

Every morning, I pass under the following statement, above the art room door, pressed in blue stickers above:

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail...

I have returned to teach and learn once again to a school I helped open with a visionary team of trailblazers. Today, I have come from a professional development meeting, abuzz with creative ideas and visions for the future. And I take pause to notice that the "e" is missing from the statement above the door. I have seen it missing before but now I feel its absence.

When I started here, I was an energetic, passionate, and younger man driven to help learners and support instructors in lofty aims to improve education. I had found a trailblazer who was lit with passion and vision. I joined him and others on this trail we were forging in this new forerunner high school.

On this trail, we planned the structures for student choice and student support. We made collaborative curriculum development the accepted norm. We opened the school with transparency. Professional development was driven by and for each other. Educational technology freed teachers and students to engage more fully and broadly in learning. All of us took on roles of accountability and responsibility.

All stakeholders were invited to the table, where open and honest dialogue ensued. We were challenged with creative freedom and responsibilities to do more and to do it together. We did our research. We experimented. We engaged our students in the planning.

We built a whole school for everyone. We supported fervently and without bias academics, arts, workplace, athletics, leadership, and religious studies. We struggled and we celebrated as teams. We took on a mantra based on Einstein's observation that insanity was doing the same thing and expecting different results - so we must see and do differently to achieve genuine education. We took what we had learned and went on to discover more about ourselves and others.

On this path, we must continue. We must find the courage and find purpose.

Curriculum

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 May 2015 17:40:00 +0000

Curriculum, understand from its Latin origins, serves as a 'race course'. On this course, often as learners, the racers, we encounter a sequence of prescribed learning activities to dash through on our way to the finish line of improved skills, knowledge and attitudes. Our coach, the trainer, gives us advice and feedback. Our family and friends cheer us on. Our peers take the starting blocks along side us. The whistle blows. We race like mad. We turn the corners, our eyes aimed straight ahead. We sweep across the tape. Finally, At the end, we take our hard-earned place on the podium with our admission to the prestigious college or our new high-paying job at that major company. We have run the race. It was clear what we had to do, so we did it. On we go to the next race, the next staring line.

This curriculum race approach offers many benefits for developers, trainers, and learners. The course or program scope and sequence, the race track, are clearly identifiable.

Distributed Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 May 2015 17:37:00 +0000

Distributed learning, often used as a buzz-word, is more of a paradigm-shift forcing educators and learners to re-examine learning and act differently. From an educator's point of view, distributed learning means providing the same level of educational resources and services to learners regardless of their individual "distances". For learners, distributed learning means access to what, where, when and how they need to learn. Fellow professional educators, beware: there are more learners than there are educators. We need to listen. We need to go where the learners already are as opposed to driving them to us. We need to be learners ourselves.

Teaching and Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 May 2015 17:37:00 +0000

Teaching is both an art and a science. It calls upon us to be good. It summons us to be kind as an act of giving. It requires us to know the subject-matter, our students and ourselves. It has models and trends. It cannot be done without ever vigilant learning. It is an action that pulls and pushes us. It consumes us and fills us up.

In teaching, we can shape learning but we cannot control it. Learning will happen whether we are there or not. Yet often, it cannot seem to take place without us. When we teach, we start with objectives. Students tow along working to choose and pursue their own learning goals and interests. Learning can be vast and at the same time small.It is an act both formalized and institutionalized. It happens at work among colleagues and at home with family and friends. Despite our attempts to organize it, learning is innately social, and very human. It occurs over distances and everywhere two people can be found.

Leadership Academy: Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Kinnear Centre - Banff Centre

I enjoyed the Leadership Academy at Banff but I am glad to be back among colleagues and friends at Bow Valley College. I am even more glad to be back with my family. I have come back with a renewed passion for the work I do and I would like the opportunity to share with you this renewed passion in hopes that you too may feel inspired. Over the next few weeks, I will share some interesting ideas I gleaned from the Academy in building an informal leadership academy of our own. I do so because I believe we are all leaders and the need for us to lead in what we do has never been greater.

At Banff, I certainly was fortunate to look out some beautiful windows at the most extraordinary landscape in the universe. Yet, the most revealing window I looked through was my own shared view of the world. The Leadership Academy quickly started off with an awareness exercise, the Johari Window, as a precursor to thinking about leadership. I will admit I did not see the connection. We answered the twenty question exercise, unawares of the intent of the exercise, totalled our scores in two unlabelled categories, and then plotted our results on a diagram in the shape of a window. We drew one vertical line at the score for the first category and a horizontal line for the second category in the middle of this window.

Once complete, we reconvened as a large group of 60 to learn what the window and our results meant. The Johari Window divides into four quadrants based on the intersection of our own personal horizontal and vertical line. The upper-left quadrant was our OPEN window pane indicating how much is known to our self and to others. The upper-right quadrant was our BLIND spot indicating how much others know about us that we do not likely know about ourselves. The bottom-left quadrant reveals what is HIDDEN, what we knew about ourselves but have not disclosed to others. The bottom-right quadrant reflected the UNKNOWN, what we and others did know about our personal selves.

In small groups at round tables, we shared our windows and we then discussed, quite actively, how this related to leadership. We observed that everyone's Johari Window was quite different, as it should be. We concluded that growing as leaders meant seeking feedback to expand our OPEN window pane and shrink our BLIND area, and learn about ourselves. We also noted that we may need to disclose more about ourselves in terms of behavioural styles or expectations, but not fully reveal all of our "self" as somethings must remain private. The Unknown area should shrink but will never disappear. And as it shrinks we can enter into meetings and group projects with a healthier, stronger and lasting approach. Conflicts need not be about a lack of understanding.

Having done the exercise with the group, I reflected that as a participant I expected to grow in leadership so should everyone, especially the people with which I work. That does not mean the Johari Window is the solution, but everyone should seek further awareness of themselves and others as growing leaders, but why not give it a try if only to start thinking about awareness and how to encourage it in others.

Thinking about Johari Windows, I came to work today on the bus. As we were nearing the college bus stop, I was standing by the bus driver, and we started a conversation. She had been flustered by this being a new route and having just returned to work. We had a few laughs. She shared that she was hoping for nice fall this year so she could do more fishing. As I stepped off the bus, I thanked her for the ride, wished her a good long weekend and a pleasant fall. And as I walked to the college doors, I thought that it was amazing how much I learned about her in such a brief conversation that wasn't about much and did not have an agenda. I learned how much I like those conversations. My OPEN window expanded even if only by a small degree.

Leadership Academy: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:28:00 +0000

At the end of day 4 of the Leadership Academy, I find myself thoughtful, tired, challenged and inspired. We looked at effective team development yesterday and strategic planning and I find myself trying to sort this all out.

As for what I have learned, as program or service leaders, we read and actively discussed how clearly defined role in meetings or work groups are essential. We watched a segment of the movie "12 Angry Men" and made observations of how the jury, which became dysfunctional, was made functional again through the facilitation by one juror who forced the group to discuss and put aside agendas and personal feelings. Next, members of the group performed a role play of a department meeting regarding student issues, the audience unaware that each had been assigned a dysfunctional role. Two of the role players dominated the discussion. A couple were interrupted or ignored. The facilitator did a good job at reining the meeting in towards its goals, despite the difficult roles. Lastly, we had to solve a murder mystery in small groups, given a story and a suspects profiles data sheet. The trick was that the several of the story handouts had slightly different information, which we discovered halfway through the exercise. Certainly, we could see how teams work and how they fall apart, and not just imagine it.

This group approach to learning about effective groups was quite effective. For one, the exercises often disarmed us of our personal intents as we were focused on the exercise and it caught us by surprise. It shocked us into challenging our assumptions about our own practices in how we work in groups as individuals. At the end of the day, I told a fellow camp member that I had never worked with such a cooperative group at a professional development event ever: we all have some experience, we all have done some thinking about leadership and we are so willing to share and listen. We were teams, however functional or dysfunctional, much like the ones we were talking about, as if were part of our own social experiment.

So, today, I was eager to continue and learn about strategic planning. We were given a brief outline of the steps. Then, we were given a case study of a fictional post-secondary institution. In the case study, we read the college's strategic plan with its goals and we read the department's issues. From this, we were asked to create a mission statement and conduct a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for a training department strategic plan. And our team of eight was sent off to another room and given 60 minutes to complete. Given the group we have at the academy, this task should be reasonable given the information and the leadership work we had done so far.

So we assigned roles. Actually, four people were quick to volunteer. One person volunteered to be timekeeper. Then, another person quickly claimed the role of recorder. And then, I volunteered to be facilitator, because this strategic planning reminded me so much of work in Academic Foundations at Bow Valley College. I see these types of meetings to be a challenge to facilitate and I consider it a personal growth area.

The timekeeper announced we should read for the next five minutes. And so we did. When asked how to proceed, I offered that we consider goals and initiatives from the college plan and the issues on the fictional department information page before writing the values. Someone rejected the idea in favour of moving onto the values assessment and we could refer back to the plan as we went. We all acquiesced as the timekeeper mentioned we had used up our time for the first activity already.

We then moved onto values and their associated behaviours. At this point, three people started blurting out values. The recorder was writing them down in her own words trying to catch them all. I tried to remind the group that the values had to come from the case study and not from their own organization or life experiences; however, we proceeded. Voices were being slightly animated. Their was violin music playing overhead that seemed to be reaching a crescendo.

Next, we tried to list behaviours to match these values. The three people who listed most of the values then started listing behaviours that sounded more like values. I tried to gently make that point but the list proceeded. I tried to invite others to offer behaviours but they were ignored or their ideas were not recorded. The timekeeper reminded us that we only had 20 minutes to complete the mission statement. In haste, the vocal group, of which I include myself, were offering suggestions about the phrasing of the statement. As we were discussing the statement, the recorder was making a chart as we could not reach consensus. Time ran out and we returned to the central room having not accomplished much in terms of a strategic plan.

I felt challenged as a facilitator and a group member. We were not certain about the exercise. Our roles blurred. A couple of people dominated quite actively. A couple said nothing. And a couple others were engaged only when invited. We had disengaged and maybe even took this "exercise" a little too seriously as if we had something to prove. I talked with another couple of the group members over lunch about what happened. We all felt a little diminished. All of the eight people in our group were smart, capable and nice people, and yet this had been so hard. We had all discussed and observed effective and dysfunctional team, yet when we became a team with a specific challenge and a deadline, we fell apart. There were no troublemakers or turkeys in this group.

Somebody not from our group said her group had a similar experience. She brought up that people had forgotten that this was an exercise. She was right. At times we act as if world peace is on the line. One gentleman from the group who did not say too much during the exercise found the task too complicated within the time allowed. He disengaged himself shortly after we started listing values as he could see that there was not going to be any real progress. I went back to my room and thought some more. We did not succeed because we did not have firm team roles. We did not have a team procedure to ensure consensus or to resolve conflict. We could not prepare or reflect. The small team of eight was not well-matched in terms of behaviour style and planning expertise. I did not even know what SWOT stood for moments before we began the exercise. We could not succeed and that was probably the central point of the exercise.

I now see how groups at work go awry. Even if you have good and capable people in the room, meetings can easily go awry. So much goes into facilitating an effective meeting.

Tomorrow, we will debrief with our team of eight on how things went. And the debrief will be brief. I will apologize for my poor facilitation and for stepping on any toes. Then, I will ask if we can start fresh when we compete part 2 of the case study.

Leadership Academy: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 17:27:00 +0000

I just finished the first session of the Leadership Academy held at the Banff Centre. I saw an elk, navigated through a high speed bike race and found my way inside the Kinnear Centre for Creativity and Innovation.

Certainly, you could not find a more beautiful place in the world, with the fresh air, the looming mountains and the rolling river. An excellent place to relax and think.

And the participants, from Alberta, British Columbia and even Indiannapolis, are friendly and eager to share. Everyone has checked their agendas and issues at the door, so people are free to speak. Over the half of the group is from SAIT, and many of them were meeting their colleagues for the first time.

The focus of the academy will be to tap the current experiences and knowledge from this group to be "transformative" through this "learner-centred approach". They have already us fill out three surveys and an learning styles inventory. They have had us moving about the room according to our self-ascribed perspective of ourselves. And most of all they have us all talking. The best part are the stories people share.

As the week progresses, I will share further updates on leadership and the academy. Did I mention that the food is really good?

Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:42:00 +0000

This year's Anytime Online goals have leadership at their core. Leadership is an appropriate goal for our team, because we are ready. We already lead in so many ways, from instructor presence, subject-matter expertise to course development. We have been working hard to move down the track and over the hill to improve our courses and reach our students. We have learned enough about how, we have set the pace, and we have become the example for the college and the province. We need to solidify this achievement. We need our accomplishments to last, not for us, but for our students, for adult upgrading in this college and province, so that we do not get lost: so that as a important service we are not diminished.

So what does it mean to lead? As a supervisor for Anytime Online, I have been ruminating about what it does and doesn't mean. I say leadership but what does that mean beyond vague associations.

Tom Wilkinson (left)

I turn to people I admire as leaders for examples. Immediately, several sports figures come to mind. Yet, I have always had a personal interest in the underdog hero. When I was growing up, Tom Wilkinson was the quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos. He was too short to see over the offensive lineman. He could not outrun the defensive pass rush. He could not throw the hail mary; in fact, he was known for jumping while throwing laterally. Despite this, he took the hits. He made the play happen. He lead his team to win the Grey Cup. Warren Moon, the man with all the skills, who replaced him as the new superstar, mentored under Tom, and acknowledge his role in helping him see the field and developing personal strength. Most vividly, I remember Warren going to the sidelines, and Tom stepping in. Whereas the other team had Warren's number, Tom was a whole new game. He stepped in and rallied the team to the comeback.

Mahatma Ghandi

Certainly, beyond the world of sports, I draw inspiration from world leaders. Ghandi was an unconventional leader who shook the world. He moved an empire and united the diverse peoples of his true homeland. He did not do it with money or force. I remember watching the movie and being compelled, seeing him standing in front of the gates of some factory, alongside others, resisting with non-violence, taking abuse from British and Indian police. And he did not return hate. Instead, he called upon the leaders of the various political and religious sects to not retaliate but to continue resistance. He went on a hunger strike while imprisoned. He was a successful lawyer in Britain, and he sacrificed it all for the good of all his peoples. Where others were set to divide, driven by a caste system, he sought to unite. He encouraged his people to help themselves, making their own clothing, instead of buying clothes made from the raw materials taken from their own country: the spinning wheel became the emblem for their flag when they achieved independence, both politically and culturally. He made his own clothes. He lived what he preached. He died for what he believed in. He was killed by those who were set to keep things divided, but in his death, he connected people beyond what he even did in life. He connected India to itself and to the world.

Most often though, I turn to the people in my life. Mrs. Gloria Olchowy-Rozebaum was my favourite high school teacher. She taught me English Language Arts. She pushed me to act in high school plays, when I was so shy as to believe playing Willy Loman was unthinkable. She encouraged me to write two one-act plays, which our club produced under her direction at local and provincial festivals. I even built the sets. She taught us philosophy class, and showed us great meaning and challenged us to think big thoughts. She never treated us as kids but young, aspiring adults. She genuinely saw the value in our imaginations and was enthusiastic about it. I remember her directing a play, "Juvie", and I remember her giving lighting directions to make prison bars appear with the main actor on stage. And I remember it because she saw things that others did not. She did not have limits imposed on her thinking. She could be of great seriousness and laugh heartily, all in an afternoon. I remembered that she marked all of our papers, with flowing comments, in green pen. Red was too violent, but green meant growth.

Every March, I remember my grandmother, Anne Howard. Her birthday was March 2 and my daughter, who bears her name as her middle name, was born on March 3. She worked tirelessly all of her life right up until she passed away. And she did so without complaint. She did so with a love of life and a smile. She did so with pride in important things like her family. She knew all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren by name. She bought them all small birthday and Christmas gifts with what little money she made. She raised five children. She worked in the fields. She made and delivered meals all day long for family, farm hands, neighbours and visitors. She worked as a nurse and volunteered in the Catholic Women's League. She went to the hospice to provide comfort and company. She helped others. She was most pleased when people came to her house to share a meal. She made the best lemon meringue pie and bought us all sweaters. I am quite certain that she is the only person that thought I was skinny and needed to eat more. She made us all peel potatoes and pull weeds, not by command, but through a respect well-earned. I remember her telling me once, when I was quite distressed having not succeeded at my first year of engineering, "The world needs doctors and lawyers, but it also needs waiters and taxi drivers." To her the most important thing was to be a good person and she was.

So I write another meeting agenda. I go to another team meeting, but I bring these people, and a number of others with me. I am not them, and I will not likely ever match their accomplishments. But that does not matter, as we are called to lead in our own way. To be a beacon in a fog, leading ships safe to harbour. To stand at the gates for what we believe in, even if it means sacrifice, and to do so humbly. To imagine and see the world in a new light, to see beauty where others see ugliness, and paint a new scene. To give our fellow person a hand up because we can and we should. To offer them some pie. To be good.

Curriculum Online

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:46:00 +0000

Curriculum and online - I cannot think of two terms more purposefully vague.

What does curriculum include? Better question - what does it not include? Tests, unit plans, texts, videos, assignments, and lessons. But doesn't it also include the outcomes, declared or hidden. Could not the classroom event or the online chat be a learning activity that would fall under far reaching tendrils of the massive curriculum umbrella?

How does one manage curriculum? I am not wholly sure, at given moments. (If you have an idea, please let me know.) Do you choose a model or does it choose you? Oh, yes, there are models. In fact, there are categories of models, and as many books and online articles as there are models. In the end, does it manage itself, like some unwieldy beast, with the students and teacher locked arm-in-arm, armed only with their curiosity and fool-hardiness.

And then, there is online - the second half of my job. I coordinate an online learning program, even though I am sure that I mostly keep it falling over the edge, mitigating disasters. In fact, my colleagues and I do more learning than even many of our students. Every morning, I strap on the headsets and launch off into this brave new world, knowing full well that if we don't catch up, we will be left behind. I push through Word, Powerpoint, Google Docs, GMAil, Outlook, iTunesU, YouTube, iGoogle, Tweeter, Facebook and 100 other apps trying to develop courses that are navigable, simple, colourful, meaningful, engaging, concise and clear for students. In fact, it becomes an obsession.

In the end, there is a curriculum online. Or is it an online curriculum. Not sure. I'll get back to you on that one.

mLearnCon 2012: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Greetings from beautiful San Diego.

Yes, it is possible to learn and have fun, just as it is possible to learn from fun and have fun while learning. I know it's hard to believe. I count myself among the long-time doubters. However, I have experienced it here at the mLearnCon conference here in San Diego.

San Diego is beautiful, clean, warm and friendly. Maria, my wife and best friend, came down with me and we had a romantic night, visiting Sea World, listening to a reggae band (yes mon, we were on island time, mon), and drinking strawberry daiquiries by the hotel outdoor pool under the palm trees. Sadly, she has gone home but we had one of the most splendid nights together. In short, San Diego is surreal.

Certainly, it has been a week for firsts. This is the first time I have ever been abroad, and the first that I have ever been at a conference on this scale. But the biggest first would have to be the earthquake tremor. I can scratch that one of my bucket list.

Oh, yes. The conference. I spent the next day at a pre-conference session on how to develop content for the iPhone. The session took the entire day but passed by quickly. To my fellow Upgrading Online colleagues: it can and should be done. The session was exhilarating and I did not want it to end.

Day 2 saw the opening of the conference. In the conference hall, I met several interesting people while waiting for the conference. In fact (and Michael Gaschnitz, if you are reading this, you will appreciate this the most) , the first person I met was a publisher rep from Pearson who is working hard on moving into the mLearning world with its products. The odds?

The keynote speaker talked about mLearning as the replacement for elearning. He showed a graph indicating the increase in the use of the internet alongside the number of pc's and mobile devices, and clearly the increase of the internet was more heavily supported by the exponential growth in the use of mobile phone. He pointed out that at 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions, more people have mobile phones than toothbrushes or running water. That is a lot of phones. In the developing world, the mobile phone is the only mass media. If we are to meet our students, as advised by Jeff Jarvis in his book What Would Google Do?, we need to deliver mobile learning. The second big idea that came out of his presentation was that SMS is used far more heavily throughout the world than instant messaging, facebook or any other social media. He went on to give examples from around the world, where people were relying on SMS to buy parking, where governments issued emergency warnings via SMS, and where a lady taken hostage on a plane by terrorists was able to text using her cell while it was hidden in her pocket. Needless to say, there was much more to the presentation: it was eye-opening.

There were three other sessions that I attended and I will share more as the week progresses. But I am tired from too much fun and too much learning. Time for a siesta.

I miss my colleagues at work, especially the Upgrading Online crew. I wish you all were here. I was able to meet Carmen Taran in person, along with a host of others that we have heard speak at the Online Forums that they watch. I have never seen so many iphones and ipads in one place.

Mostly, despite the fun, I miss my wife and kids. Ironically, the wifi at the conference did not work well as there were just two many users. Phoning from San Diego should be easier than it is. My iphone due to obscene roaming charges will be gi-normous. So connecting back home has not been easy, but if you are reading this, Jacob, Kaelyn, Christina, James and especially Maria, I love you much and I will be home soon.

mLearnCon 2012: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:48:00 +0000

The sessions are intensive. The ground they cover is formidable. The people I have met come from all kinds of backgrounds: from Canadian Military to CIA to publisher reps to LMS vendors.

For the afternoon sessions, I am so tired I go back to my room for a 10 minute power nap during breaks so that I don't fall apart. Of course, to remedy the situation, I eat some seafood, float in the pool, and bake in the sauna. In the end all is well.

At the end of all this hard work, some things about mobile learning and how it would apply to us back at Bow Valley College has become clear. There are so many devices out there that building native apps for each of these devices would be exhaustive, even using cross-platform kits: secy but exhaustive. If we are to build apps, they should be web apps.

These web apps can be created using current web technologies, such as dreamweaver which comes with spry and html 5 extensions. Google has tapped into this idea and has moved all of its mobile apps back to the cloud as web apps. And best of all, these apps would not have to be distributed through the iTunes store or the Android marketplace.

And before we even think about web apps, we need to think about works well for us in the mobile realm. Really, mLearning for us would mean the delivery of content, such as vodcasts, through platforms, like YouTube, readily available on most smartphones.

The accessibility of SMS is formidable. Most of our students might have SMS as their only access. SMS texting and tweets are so comparable. BVC should explore the possibilities of integrating the two for the purposes of communication.

If there is one thing that I have come to realize after attending all these sessions and meeting all these people from various organizations, in the end, no matter how we try to control it, mLearning remains a personal and intimate media and our audiences will control their experiences. At best we can provide opportunities and meet the students where they are. We will have to learn how to incorporate some level of social media (and the mere term sends shivers down my spine) into our practices.

P.S. I thought I was one of the few Canadians down here. Not so. In fact, I even met someone from NorQuest during the last session. So we are not the only ones making a foray into this area.