Week 6: The Benefits of Bolt for a Nut Like Me

Bolt 101 has been good for me.  On the one hand it has confirmed what I thought I already knew - I don't think I would enjoy teaching a fully online course.  But on the other hand I have learned a great deal about good teaching practice (classroom or online) and have been forced to explore some technologies/methods that I will use to enhance my classroom based courses.  There never seems to be enough time for everything I would like to do in my engineering courses and making use of a few screencasts or videos might be a great way to give students additional exposure to challenging topics without taking valuable class time to do it.  The challenge is somewhat different in my CORE 222 class where  I often have a broad range of age (freshman to senior) and science/math ability to engage.  I see lots of potential Bolt 101 application here both in terms of giving those that struggle an opportunity to review tough concepts multiple times but also in engaging students in the material by turning them loose to generate topic based screencasts or whatever.

So, Bolt 101 didn't turn me into an online teacher but I am confident that it has made me a better classroom teacher. 

Thanks Mr. Mulder! (That is his name in our household.  We still hear Mr. Mulder grade school stories from time-to-time. :-)  No worries there all good!)

Week 5: Addicted to Chunky Style

I found the relatively short discussion on brain processing in this weeks reading (pg 75-79 in Conquering the Content) to be very useful for my teaching in general as well as online.  In this section the author briefly summarizes current understanding of how the brain processes new information.  It is ironic (and tragic perhaps) that college faculty are not required to take any courses in "How to Teach" before being turned loose in the classroom.  My approach to teaching by default has been to try to make the topic interesting by giving the students lots of different ways of understanding/connecting with the material.  This weeks reading suggests that less can be more.  That too much embellishment might overwhelm the brain's ability to process it, negatively impacting the student's ability to grasp the essential concepts.  The reading also highlighted the importance of developing a structure (outline) for content so that the student is better equipped to organize and connect the new content with things they already know.

So, while the readings stressed the importance of chunking the content for online courses, I see also tremendous value in using the same approach for my classroom based courses!

Week 4: Course Presence - No Frosting Here!

This week in Bolt 101 at least a couple of the readings where dealing with the importance of the instructor establishing a "Presence" in the an online (but also f2f) course.  It is interesting to me how Christian perspective can make such a difference even when talking about the mechanics of student engagement with the instructor.  The readings suggest that teaching (online or f2f) is so much more effective if your students have a connection with you as an instructor.  What strikes me is that the reader is left to conclude that the reason to connect with your students is because it works - so utilitarian.  In contrast, at Dordt, the relational aspect of education is at the heart of what we do.  It needs to be if you are in the business of growing in Christ together.  To not acknowledge this important part of true teaching/learning is to make "engagement" a superficial exercise that happens to get good results.  It reminds me of employers that ask for input from their employees so that the employee feels like they are cared about and therefore will be more productive...yuk!  How wonderful that we have the freedom here at Dordt to love our students and to admit it!

Week 3 The Flowering of Bloom's Taxonomy

I have rarely referred to Bloom's Taxonomy while writing or revising my course objectives.  I appreciated being forced to place one of my existing syllabi next to Bloom's structure.  It became immediately obvious that I could improve the "verb-age" (sorry :-)) of  many of my objectives by making them more active and measurable.  It was also very helpful to see a list of verbs presented for each of the levels.  I got excited as I started to think about what it might look like to engage each of Bloom's levels in each of the 4-coordinates....it seems like one might stumble upon some insights while working this out, as some of the coordinates might predispose you to particular Bloom categories.  For example in engineering Creational Structure seems to point to the lower levels of Bloom's hierarchy but wouldn't necessarily have to, and I might argue that it shouldn't.  I think it would also be interesting (I would be surprised if someone hasn't done this) to consider Bloom in light of the modal aspects which describes ways of being and ways of knowing.

I was also struck by what Bloom was missing as I compared my objectives to the pyramid.  There doesn't seem to be a category that contains the development of serviceable insight and other formative endeavors.  Perhaps Bloom is missing a level or two? Remembering, Understanding,...Creating, "Loving," "Serving," "Stewarding," "Responding."  Or perhaps these would better serve as the context for Bloom rather than as separate categories - the Motive?

Work to be done here!

Week 1

In Chapter 1 of Conquering the Content I came across one of the concerns I have with teaching a fully online course.  The author is talking about how online learning is different than classroom learning.  His point is that without the benefit of non-verbal feedback and face-to-face group dynamics, students need a lot of verbal feedback to encourage and motivate them.  My concern with teaching such a course is that I derive much enjoyment and motivation out of interacting with the students in real time.  On occasion I'll have a group of students that, for whatever reason, isn't very engaged.  It can be tough on my motivation and excitement for the course.  Anyway, thinking about getting little or no feedback from students, makes me wonder if I would enjoy teaching an online course?  I also wonder if a person needs to enjoy the technology side of teaching online.  Not that it is all about the technology but it seems like an underlying interest in the tech side would be beneficial from an motivational/enjoyment standpoint.