Podcast:  Pros and Cons

A podcast is a digital audio or video file or recording, usually part of a themed series that can be downloaded from a website to a media player or computer (Dictionary.com, 2016).  Instructors can incorporate podcast to enhance or vary their students’ class experience by either pre-recording lessons, recording live face-to-face instruction, finding relative podcast that expound on a lesson topic or assigning podcast creation to their students as part of a project.  By adopting the use of podcast and changing it from an entertainment tool to a learning tool, educators are also able to personalize and humanize e-Learning by including rich media components into online courses in order to engage students in an active, meaningful learning environment (Merhi, 2015).

There are both pros and cons to integrating podcast into college curriculum.  Podcast can work with the most basic internet connections and can be saved, transferred and retrieved on portable devices such as cell phones and MP3 players (King & Cox, 2011, p. 37).  Using podcast allows instructors to tap into different learning styles of the students by providing both audio and visual content. Podcast tend to break up the monotony of just reading.  It can also benefit students with hearing or attention deficits as they can play back the recording to review sections that may have been difficult for them to understand or follow during the actual lesson (King & Cox, 2011, p. 37).  If used correctly, podcast can benefit the instructor when used to reiterate normal problem areas that students generally run into.  The recorded lessons can minimize the time spent answering these questions by giving the student the flexibility to playback the recording as many times as they may need in order to further grasp the material. 

A con is the time it may take in order to prepare the podcast to include as a part of the lesson.  Another con is that you have to continually update the recordings as information may become obsolete.   Instructors must be able to find the happy medium when using podcast or they will not be well received by their students. 

Danella

King, K. P., & Cox, T. D. (Eds.). (2011). The professor's guide to taming technology:  Leveraging digital media, Web 2.0, and more for learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Merhi, M. I. (2015).  Factors influencing higher education students to adopt podcast:  An empirical study. Computers & Education, 83, 32-43.  Retrieved October 5, 2016, from http://www.sciencedirect.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/science/article/pii/S0360131514002917

podcast. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved October 5, 2016 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/podcast

Integrating Technology Video Interview

I conducted an interview with a professor from the University of Phoenix, Dr. Leandro Worrell. This interview is to share one of his experiences as he sought to integrate technology into his curriculum. He decided to explore this option as a result of his students’ feedback after taking his class. The students were asking for hands-on application of the system versus just learning theories and writing papers.  His response to his students seems to be paying off as his students are receptive to his technological integration and are learning more in the process. 

The interview questions were sent and received via email.  The video clip is of me narrating the interview by reading the question and replying with a summation of his answer without manipulating his responses.

Danella

I thought this was a pretty interesting clip of what we may see in the near future.

Danella

8-week lesson/training plan

(1) Title of the lesson/training: 

To Breastfeeding or Not…Is the Question…

(2) Target audience:
Adult students in a Parenting 101 class

(3) Learning/Training objectives;
-Students will be able to make an informed decision when choosing how to best feed their babies
-Students will explain the benefits of breast milk when compared to infant formula.
-Students will construct an interactive, informational web site to enhancing the learning environment.

(4) Rationale for the use of wiki:
A wiki will be utilized in order to facilitate collaborative learning, knowledge construction, critical thinking, and contextual application.  The desired learning outcomes include developing reasoning skills, becoming more familiar with key issues, gaining a balanced perspective, expressing views based on evidence and research and critically evaluating opposing sides.  (West & West, 2009, p. 85)

(5) Details on how wiki is used:

The class will be broken down into four groups that will further be broken down into two sides.  The students are able to pick the side in which they would like to present.  Students are required to find resources to back up/strengthen their position on this topic.  A debatepedia wiki will be used in order to pose a structured argument.  Students will be evaluated on the presentation of the wiki so all media forms are allowed, i.e. digital, audio, etc.   

(6) Suggested wiki-related learning activities/practices/schedules:
Week One:  Class introductions> include comfort level with technological integration in a learning environment, syllabus familiarity, poll on infant feeding preference

Week Two:  Structured discussions on debate tactics

Week Three:  Structured discussions on the wiki> functions, types, pros and cons in the adult learning environment
Week Four:  Tutorial on debatepedia, hands-on practice and questions and answer forum on system
Week Five:  Start the project that runs through week 7
Week Six:  Work on project
Week Seven:  Project due and class presentation
Week Eight:  Re-poll the class on their current view after completing project- start a discussion by seeing just how many students changed their views as a result of the assignment

(7) Wiki Activity Evaluation (rubric, grading criteria, etc.):

10pts- Students contribute equally
20pts- Wiki page development> content, presentation of the page, resources used
20pts- Arguments substantiated with research that supports the viewpoint 

(8) References

West, J. A., & West, M. L. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration: The power of the read-write web. San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass.

(9) Lesson/Training plan examples you've found useful but not listed below.

Dr.Kang’s syllabus

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy Quick Flip Questions

Pros and Cons of the Wiki

What is a wiki?  A wiki is a website that allows anyone to add, delete, or revise content by using a web browser (Dictionary.com, 2016).  Wikis are generally used in the educational realm to enhance the collaborative learning environment.  The overall purpose of a wiki is to support the team’s needs for building a shared understanding of a topic, goal, or objective; to support team processes such as planning, research, and problem solving; and to create team outcomes through a  shared document or set of documents (West & West, 2009, p.5).  A wiki eliminates the need to have several copies of the same document floating around as it allows individuals the freedom to update, edit or delete material at the same time.  This aspect of the document in my opinion is the most prominent feature. 

Wikis can be very useful in educational settings, but the limitation of this tool is that it can be edited by any individual who may post inappropriate or irrelevant content to the wiki, which in turn may take away from the focus of the wiki (King & Cox, 2011, p.123). Wikis are posted in the public domain, the internet, however there is a password protect and notify feature which allows the author to monitor the information that is being added or deleted from one’s page; this helps to ensure the validity of site.  Other concerns for using a wiki are they are viewable by anyone with access to the web and the views can be seen as bias since the research could be drawn from a one-sided approach. 

From an instructor’s standpoint wikis can be incorporated in both the classroom and online learning environments.  It is on the instructor to find or decide on the right wiki that would best suit the required end state according to project requirements.  Wikis are a great tool that allows the instructor to see just how much individuals within groups are participating or contributing to the assigned group activities. Despite the potential benefits of using Wikis for course assignments, grading of Wiki assignments can pose a challenge to instructors (Hazari, North, & Moreland, 2009).  In these cases it is imperative to provide students with a rubric to ensure all parties know just what to expect.

Hazari, S., North, A. & Moreland, D. (2009). Investigating pedagogical value of wiki technology. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 187-198.

King, K. P., & Cox, T. D. (Eds.). (2011). The professor's guide to taming technology:  Leveraging digital media, Web 2.0, and more for learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

West, J. A., & West, M. L. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration: The power of the read-write web. San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Wiki. (n.d.). Dictionary.com unabridged. Retrieved September 14, 2016 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/wiki

Blogging: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners

Is blogging the same as discussion board activity? Discuss the differences.

     Blogs and discussion boards are similar in that they are both on the internet and are places where students can go to collaborate with one another.  They are used to post and express one's  knowledge, thoughts or ideas on a particular subject.  Discussion boards are located on a controlled server, i.e., the college's blackboard interface, and allows for asynchronous discussion to occur on a particular topic usually provided by the instructor.  Blogs, however, are located on the open-web where anyone can access them.  A blog is a frequently updated Web site characterized by a reverse chronological listing of entries that can be searched, archived, and categorized according to labels, called tags, assigned by the author (King & Cox, 2011).  The ability to embed hyperlinks on blogs are a prominent feature.    
    
     Blogs entries can only be initiated by the author while discussion boards differ a little as anyone of the students with access to the board can initiate a thread. Blogs tend to be more personal as discussion threads can be seen as formal, in comparison.  By personal I mean, people using blogs are more apt to linking their personal experience to whatever the discussion topic may be.  Learning communities are formed in this type of learning environment.  Clarke and Kinne’s (2012) research indicates that threaded discussions are missing the element of community amongst its participants, resulting in decreased perception of engagement and empowerment.
    
     The online learning environment can offer educators new opportunities for adapting learning and teaching, and offers students a richer learning experience (Matheson, Wilkinson, & Gilhooly, 2012).  The key is finding the right mix and implementing/introducing it in a way that encourages positive interaction/participation.  


Clarke, L, & Kinne, L. (2012). Asynchronous discussions as threaded discussions or blogs. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 29, 4-13.


King, K. P., & Cox, T. D. (Eds.). (2011). The professor's guide to taming technology:  Leveraging digital media, Web 2.0, and more for learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. 


Matheson, R., Wilkinson, S., & Gilhooly, E. (2012). Promoting critical thinking and collaborative working through assessment: combining patchwork text and online discussion boards. Innovations In Education & Teaching International, 49(3), 257-267