EDUC 7108 - Module 6

Module 6

As a leader in educational technology I must have an open mind to emerging technologies and be non-biased until I fully understand the potential of the technology. Student, faculty, and parents need to be aware of emerging technologies that could have an effect on their lives or lives of their children. Graduating students are in a global battle for jobs and many if not all of these jobs have to do with some sort of technology. Students need to understand this fact and be fully educated about how technology is used in a potential employer’s workplace. To be educated on these technologies and how to use them stems from educators and/or adults pushing these students beyond their current understanding of the world and current technology usage. Both genders need to be able to understand and use technology to their fullest capabilities. Since we are dealing with global competition the idea of how technology fits into all cultures needs to be understood as well. The socioeconomic sensitivity might be the hardest aspect to overcome depending on which side of the sensitivity one falls. Technology can be expensive so those who cannot afford the technology could be left behind in this global society or just left out of those opportunities that could arise to others of more fortune. As an educator we must look beyond all these aspects and teach the student to our utmost ability.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) was created to help accomplish the following objectives: eliminate poverty, stimulate national economics, improve health, and encourage environmental responsibility and social justice. This organization is helping to level the playing field and have all understand the importance of technology.
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac227/ac222/society/socioeconomic_development_programs/global_education.html

Interesting article - This article looks at the socioeconomic status and the effect on academic performance.
http://www.editlib.org/p/27315

Shiny or bandwidth

EDUC 7108 – Module 5

During module 4 I had to obtain a video and my original thought was to go to Blockbuster. However, since it is an early 80’s movie I thought they might not have it at all stores and I would have to call and/or drive around to find the movie. Before I called Blockbuster I asked some friends and was going to post a question on my Facebook page to see if anyone owned the video. Luckily a friend had a copy of the Minority Report and it worked just fine considering there were a few scratches on the DVD.

The current competition between DVDs and video on demand I believe is more of an example of a red queen than increasing returns. The idea behind the red queen is two competitors basically destroy the rest of the competition and drive other companies out of that business. However, with DVDs and videos I believe there are 3 companies that are in competition with each other. These companies include Blockbuster, Netflix, and On Demand. Each company occupies a specific niche in this world of DVDs and videos. Blockbuster has been around forever and their slogan “Make it a Blockbuster night” rings in all our ears since we were able to rent VHS or DVDs. I know if I want the latest release I need to get to Blockbuster early on Tuesday before all their copies are gone. There is something to say about something that is tangible. Netflix is also great and can be a bit cheaper per video - $8.99/month (How much, 2010) compared to $4.99 per video at Blockbuster. Also with Netflix if you have an internet connection along with a Netflix ready device you can watch DVDs online instantly and as often as you like (How much, 2010). On Demand is similar to Netflix, but most expensive and costs between $2.99 to $4.99 per movie and can be viewed for 24 hours via your cable box.

I believe DVDs and videos on demand are in the closure/obsolescence stage in McLuhan’s Laws of Media (Thornburg, 2008) because I do believe DVDs are starting to become obsolete while videos on demand are increasing in sensibility and number of users. Humans and especially Americans are trying to downsize and what a way to start that with small packages containing disks of information that can be stored and sent via a wireless connection. The cost associated with companies like Blockbuster to just be a hold center for all these DVDs must cost them a small fortune which in turn is passed onto the consumer. We have seen the number of stores of Blockbuster dwindle in the past couple of years due to the increase in competition from places like Netflix and On Demand. I still think we are seeing the disappearance of the DVD and trading it for increase in bandwidth.

Links of interest:
1. Netflix vs. U-Verse & Cable. Interesting thoughts concerning how to rent movies and also watch TV shows. http://ezinearticles.com/?Netflix-Vs-U-Verse-and-Cable&id=3825162
2. DVD verse On Demand. The initial thought spurred many interesting comments about price per gigabyte and storage capacity. http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2005/05/dvd_vs_videoond.html

References:

Thornburg, D. D. (2008). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

How much does it cost? (2010). Retrieved August 10, 2010, from http://www.netflix.com/HowItWorks.

EDUC 7108 - Module 4

EDUC 7108 - Module 4

Second Life is a disruptive technology because it competes with the real world. Thornburg (n.d.) talks about a disruptive technology being a ‘wild card’ and Second Life creates a new idea that is efficient in creating a world in which the impossible is possible. So therefore Second Life challenges the real world and allows anything to happen via a virtual world. The technology that Second Life replaces are blogs and also tangible conversations can be eliminated too. Blogs are replaced by this technology because conversations can take place in real time and face to face via an avatar. Also conversations with people whether it is face to face or on Skype can be replaced with Second Life. I think Second Life will not necessarily be replaced, but will increase in size. Each year the ‘space’ of Second Life increases 5% (Rosedale, 2008). So this world will continue to grow in size, but I think perhaps how the people communicate might change. Talking takes place by entering text and then there is a computer generated voice – perhaps part of the future of this technology will have the actual voice of the person being talked through their avatar. Or perhaps the voices can be altered and one can add an accent or continue to have a computer voice. The graphics will continue to become better (Rosedale, 2008) which will entice more the video gamers to perhaps sign up. The social benefits associated with Second Life can be quite vast in the educational realm. Classes can meet in a virtual environment where students can chose their own avatar during a time when they are still trying to understanding who they are as a person. Students can understand real life experiences in the virtual world. For instance one can make money in Second Life and then this money can be used to purchase virtual things such as land or homes or also experiences can be bought such as being pregnant (Rosedale, 2008). Also students of different classrooms can meet in a virtual setting to discuss projects and/or collaborate real-time in a virtual world (Nuthall, 2008).

Personally I cannot really grasp the idea of Second Life and why it is so appealing – just to be honest here. I have talked with friends about Second Life and their thoughts and opinions and many had similar thoughts to mine – for once! I like to have tangible conversations or see people’s actual faces instead of a made up avatar. The average age of the users of Second Life is 32, but there are more people in the range from 32-60 then there are younger persons (Rosedale, 2008) so I guess once career and life choices have been made this is a way of seeing what could have happened if I did this instead. So with that thought in mind I can see where there is appeal someone to have an avatar in Second Life. I do have an avatar in Second Life I created about 6 months ago, but I am still on the initial island you go to when you are created…well at least that is where I left her.

Links –
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080117162121373

References:

Nuthall, Keith. US: A disruptive technology arrives. Retrieved July 23, 2010, from

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080117162121373.

Rosedale, Philip. (2008, May). Philip Rosedale on Second Life. Retrieved July 23, 2010, from

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html.

Thornburg, D. (n.d.). Disruptive Technologies. Retrieved July 20, 2010, from

http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199715&Survey=1&47=5863341

&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.

EDUC 7108 - Module 3

Module 3
A rhyme of history that current technology brings back to life is face to face conversations via Skype and web cameras. This technology takes place via Voice over IP (VoIP) (Voice, 2010) or peer-to-peer (P2P) (Peer, 2010). Obviously Alexander Gram Bell’s invention of the telephone allowed people to have conversations over long distance but without the personal touch of actually interacting and seeing the person’s facial expressions. Many conversations can be misinterpreted without seeing someone’s facial expressions considering the humor of some conversations via audio or word like in texting or emails. With conversations where there are auditory as well as visual cues the persons in communication will not have an issue with any misinterpretations.

Many people were excited about this type of technology because it would decrease one bill each month – the home phone. Since this technology takes places via the web or internet an internet connection, computer, microphone (maybe internal in the computer), and web camera. There is no ‘central infrastructure’ needed for the computer to connect with one another compared to the telephone system (Escarlate, 2004). Also this type of communication is very cost efficient – free! Compared to prices for long distant calling or international calls Skype is a great alternative and offers pretty clear voice and audio (Humeid, 2005). Skype also brings to the table a new aspect of sharing information – collaboration. LotusLive integrates Skype into this new program that allows many people to collaborate over distance. This collaboration integrates the video and voice calling aspects of Skype which allows business to take place anywhere and at anytime (Skype, 2009).

One last aspect that I wanted to mention – did you know Skype was owned by EBay? I don’t know why I found this interesting, but thought I would share :)

Interesting websites:
1. http://www.tuaw.com/2004/09/09/my-gripe-with-the-hype-around-skype-and-five-good-reasons-why/
2. http://www.360east.com/?p=111
3. http://about.skype.com/2009/01/skype_and_ibm_collaborate_on_l.html

References:

Escarlate, A. (2004, September 9). My gripe with the hype around Skype and five good reasons why you shouldn’t cancel your other phone services just yet. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://www.tuaw.com/2004/09/09/my-gripe-with-the-hype-around-skype-and-five-good-reasons-why/.

Humeid, Ahmad. (2005, January 28). Skype: the good, the bad and the ugly. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://www.360east.com/?p=111.
Peer-to-peer. (2010, July 5). Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer.

Skype and IBM collaborate on LotusLive integration for the enterprise. (2009, January 19). Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://about.skype.com/2009/01/skype_and_ibm_collaborate_on_l.html.

Voice over IP. (2010, July 6) Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP.

EDUC 7108 - Module 2

EDUC 7108
Module 2
6/30/2010





• Enhances: What does this technology do that is new?
This technology takes away the stress or attention needed to drive an automobile. The driver can multi-task without the chance of causing an accident.
• Obsoletes: What does this technology replace?
Technology replaces accidents caused by driver who are multi-tasking and/or teenage drivers who are still understanding how to deal with the all the stimuli associated with driving a car – i.e. other cars/drivers, radio, cell phone. Also this technology could reduce the need for police officers whose main duty is to catch those drivers who are speeding or those drivers how drive under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
• Retrieves/rekindles: What does this technology bring to mind (or retrieve) from the past?
This technology is a step toward a safer driving experience which could increase the idea of public transportation or carpooling. If one does not have to worry about accidents they might cause due to driving this might increase carpooling. Also with increases in automotive technology advances, engineers will be more inclined to continue to work toward future advances that increase the safety of driving an automobile.
• Reverses: What might replace this technology in the future, or what might it cause to occur?
This technology might make public officials rethink the idea of transportation within metropolitan areas. If all cars drive the same speed and there is no chance of speeding why not create high speed rail systems around metropolitan areas and across the country like European countries. An additional energy source that is reliable could be determined with further technological research and experimentation.

EDUC 7108 - Module 1

EDUC 7108
Module 1 – Identify an emerged technology

A current technology that has recently emerged is the netbooks. With the idea of trying to get every child behind a computer in the classroom the technology in the netbook presents a whole new world where this original idea might become reality. Thornburg (2009) briefly explains according to the global idea of “going green” why the netbooks are more environmentally friendly then a laptop or a desktop computer. The netbook uses a mere 10 watts or less compared to the desktop which uses 150 watts and the laptop which consumes 30 watts of power (Thornburg, 2009). Recently my principle sent out an email stating that only necessary refrigerators would be allowed in the building and also all floor lamps were to be removed from the classroom. The county is looking at reducing the energy consumption in our schools which should save money and ultimately jobs. The lights and air condition/heating will be turned off in the evenings and also come on later in the mornings to try and conserve power consumption.

Some challenges associated with this technology are the size, storage capacity, and keyboard (Arrington, 2008). The size of the netbook can be an asset, but also have many drawbacks as well. The size of the screen is typically around 7 inches (Arrington, 2008) which is quite small and does not allow for entire webpages to be displayed at one time. However, there are larger netbooks now that have screens as large as 10 inches which helps to offset this previous negative. The storage on netbooks is also very small which is how the technology is kept tiny itself. Storage capacity range from 256 MB to 1GB (Arrington, 2008) which is not a great deal of storage and if programs that require a good amount of space on the hard drive are downloaded well then there goes a large chunk of memory and operating space. Finally the keyboard is roughly 80% of the regular size (Arrington, 2008) which will make it tough for any adult to type with this keyboard.

The societal need that netbooks are meeting is the demand for small, portable technology at a reasonable price. Cell phones are still part of this demand, but netbooks are more functional for students that are K-12 and higher education, use less energy, and are becoming more cost efficient. Netbooks are still considered small laptops (Bajarin, 2010) so the price of this portable technology is one of the main reasons behind this technology booming. Netbooks are competing in the same realm as laptops and PCs simply because of the cost.

This technology has already seen its rise and will soon see its fall. The netbook like previously mentioned is a smaller version of the laptop and many drastic changes have been made to take the current technology and basically shrink it. However, data and trends show that netbook consumption will peak this year (Bajarin, 2010) because of the introduction of the tablet pc. However what one buys will depend on how much creation or storage capacity is needed. For instance if you merely want to browse the web, check email, and watch videos then the tablet pc is ideal, but if you wish to create word documents or powerpoints in addition to the previously mentioned tasks while still having a small and light weight technology then the netbook is geared for you (Bajarin, 2010).


References:

Arrington, M. (2008, November 29). Three reasons why netbooks just aren’t good enough. Retrieved June 10, 2010, from http://techcrunch.com/2008/11/29/three-reasons-why-netbooks-just-arent-good-enough/.

Bajarin, T. (2010, May 31). Netbooks vs. tablets: How to decide. Retrieved June 16, 2010, from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364302,00.asp.

Samson, T. (2010, June 16). Hacker: Apple iPad simply not a safe platform. Retrieved June 16, 2010, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/198986/hacker_apple_ipad_simply_not_a_safe_platform.html.
Thornburg, D. D. (2009). Current trends in educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

EDUC 7105 - Module 5

My high school has money for what are called local technology grants. This is money set as specifically for teacher to ask for technology in their classroom. In a meeting with other biology teachers we discussed the many uses of a Class Performance System (CPS). A CPS basically is a handheld device that allows a teacher to know in real-time what the student knows. Verbal questions can be given at the present or the CPS units can be used with a paper test and the answers plugged in to the software prior to the test being given and the teacher can monitor progress of each individual student. Item analysis can be run according to any criteria. This technology really is a cool and very useful for the teacher for goals and data. Someone else was going to write the grant and the teachers would basically have to do no work and get free technology. Well some complained they needed a workshop to learn the technology (they already knew how it worked) and additional money set aside to get paid to create PowerPoint with integrated questions.

According to Keller’s ARCS model (Driscoll, 2005) in the presentation we needed to create a sense of curiosity for the teachers who would be using the new technology (gaining and sustaining attention). Also we needed to relate the technology’s purposes to personal goals of the teachers (enhancing relevance) (Driscoll, 2005). For instance the CPS units will save the school money by reducing the use of scantron sheets and also save the teacher time with real-time grading. There is some up-front time needed to set up the test, but it would take more time waiting for all the scantrons to run through the machine to be graded. If saving time is a goal then this can be played up to the teachers along with the CPS can generate many pieces of data that will be useful to show trends of learning or how each student did in mastering specific content areas (building confidence) (Driscoll, 2005). Lastly if the teachers will take the time and build the PowerPoint and test banks now this will save time for years to come and all the teachers can share with each other to reduce the workload (generating satisfaction) (Driscoll, 2005).

Here is website that lists the top 25 ways to motivate teachers
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin289.shtml

Here is another article about how to recognize teachers
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin308.shtml

This is a teacher’s perspective on how to motivate other teachers
http://www.newteacheruniversity.com/resources/teacher-articles/continued/how-to-motivate-a-negative-teacher/

Reference:
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson

Education, Inc.

EDUC 7105 - Module 4

EDUC 7105 – Module 4
With the networks created in my life whether it is for educational purposes or everyday life I have almost immediate access to information. This information I am learning can be educational or it can be about someone individually. I am constantly checking my Gmail for blog postings for my students and other information from friends. Facebook has been a way for me to reconnect with friends from high school and college that either provides a social and/or knowledge connection. I also check Facebook feeds daily to keep up with the players on my soccer team. I can be aware of tests, personal situations or just make comments on their page to say hello. This digital contact with my soccer players has helped them make better personal decisions that will reflect not only themselves as a person, but the team and myself as the coach.

The tool that I feel helps me learn the most would be the Walden classroom discussions and the teacher blogs that I access on a daily or weekly basis depending on time constraints. I learn and am aware of so many different aspects of not only technology, but how technology can be utilized in the classroom via asynchronous learning. With the Walden classes the topics are specific to the classes we are taking, but the ideas presented by my classmates help me to think outside of my tangible world. These new ideas can help to reshape my thinking and thus a new collaboration process of my thoughts takes place in these classes. The teacher blogs also present a different way of looking at similar situations in the classroom. These teachers have the same or similar challenges as I do and can help to provide answers to situations that arise in my classroom. Many of these teachers utilize more technology in their classroom so it provides a guide for me to continually stretch my understanding of how the students learn bests.
Teaching associations that are bases in educational technology will provide research articles that again will stretch my way of thinking and alter my personal teaching in the classroom to help guide the learners in this digital age. There are also conferences associated with these learning communities where tangible connections can be made for further collaboration with that person and also possibly their students with my students. These situations will be a win-win for all parties involved once the connections have been made.

If I have a question I can acquire new knowledge by texting someone who I think would know the answer, emailing colleagues or friends, or posting a question on my blog or wiki. If I need the information at that moment and none of my friends I texted knew the answer, I would search the web for the answer or a search teacher blogs and compile information. The tags created when someone posts a topic to the web have helped to search for information so quickly. This information might not be exactly what I am looking for, but there will also be additional websites to visit that could answer my question.

These are websites that I have posted in my mindmap and are extremely helpful for using technology in the classroom –
http://adifference.blogspot.com/
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://divergentlearner.com/blog/
http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/
http://blog.benwildeboer.com/
http://franksblog.edublogs.org/ - off of this site are also many other blogs of teachers who use technology in their classroom and can provide additional ideas.

EDUC 7105 - Module 3

EDUC 7105 - Module 3
I somewhat agree with Rheingold’s (2005) theory that people want to collaborate and work as a group. He brings up very valid arguments concerning collaborating within our species to expand our current knowledge. However, there is still the carnal instinct in humans to win at all costs as well. Look at Fortune 500 companies – they earned this distinction by out competing their competitors. I understand their thinking, but I am also extremely grateful to my fellow teachers who share with me lessons that have worked well in their classroom – free of charge. Rheingold (2005) brings up multiple scenarios where human nature is weary of that evil streak that is in us all. These games include: prisoner’s dilemma, insurance game, and the ultimatum game. All of these scenarios pose risk and reward for all decision made in a business exchange.

Great examples of collaboration include Wikipedia, creating supercomputers, desktops being part of a network, etc, anything where humans or their possessions will work together to build upon knowledge and/or technology to bring about a higher order. The constructivist principles as associated with the learner basically uses prior knowledge and the environment whether it be an instructor, peers, events, or sociocultural (Driscoll, 2005) all contribute when a person learns something new. They use their previous schemas and try to associate new knowledge into these schemas for personal understanding. Technology can be the medium in which students can collaborate with each other, the teacher, or other professionals to build new knowledge.

There is a program called DyKnow that allows a laptop classroom to become a collaboration classroom. Students can take notes on a teacher’s PowerPoint, broadcast a student’s laptop screen so others can learn from a specific student, and create a collaboration screen where students can interact with each other from their seats (Dyknow, 2009). These notes can be saved on a server and the students can access these files outside of the classroom for further review. Pretty cool technology! There is a private school not far from my public school which is using this software next year – I hope to be able to be able to observe this technology first hand!!
Blogs: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2588793/dyknow_review_of_the_classroom_collaboration.html

There is another website which is “for teachers and students interested in global education” (Gray, 2010). This website is pretty interesting and provides an online meeting area to ask questions, give recommendations, provide examples of projects, etc and all of this information is free to those who wish to utilize the information.
http://globaleducation.ning.com/

References:
Dyknow. (2009). Retrieved April 9, 2010, from http://www.dyknow.com/.

Gray, L. (2010). The global education collaborative. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from http://globaleducation.ning.com/.

Rheingold, H. (2005, February). New-way collaboration. Retrieved April 9, 2010, from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html.

EDUC 7105 - Module 2

I would agree completely with Karl Kapp (2007) comments concerning the different –isms in education. Kapp (2007) suggested the behavioral approach to learning happens at a younger age to learn information and then switches to cognitivism to allow for a more procedural approach and finally use the constructivist approach for problem-solving areas. I don’t feel there is one single method in which to teach every individual. Classroom teachers are faced with this issue on a daily basis and have to use different methods of teaching to try and reach every child in that specific classroom. However, with the lack of parental support to ensure that the behavioral approach of drill and practice are happening outside the classroom is creating a constant battle for teachers. Just like with any sport repetition is necessary to learn the technique at an early age. The stages of memory as outlined by Driscoll (2005) are sensory, working, and finally long-term memory. The sensory memory is the visual or auditory stimulus which can trigger the working memory which is also known as the short-term memory (Discoll, 2005). If you constantly think about something then that is in your subconscious which is associated with your working memory and with the proper coding can be placed into long-term memory and retrieved at a later time (Driscoll, 2005). The saying “it’s just like a riding a bike” meaning once you have learned a specific task or learned information your mind should be able to retrieve that information when needed. So which learning theory is best for all students – I don’t think there is a specific answer to that question. Each child is different in their learning ability so a variety of strategies must be incorporated into all grade levels to ensure information is learned and stored correctly for later use.

http://www.pnas.org/content/97/23/12403.full.pdf+html
This is an interesting study concerning song birds and their songs they sing during mating season. How do these birds learn their species song – is it innate or are their environmental factors that will affect their learning. We can relate this to human learning and memory. Do children of parents who are both doctors have a higher cognitive ability at birth compared to parents who are less educated? Understanding the brain and the neurotransmitters and synapses associated with learning need to be studied more, but how do you conduct these types of studies?

http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2008/01/02/working-memory-vs-routine-activity.aspx
This blog looks at working memory verse routine activity and how these can help you understand and code information for later use. Working memory is the short term memory which is stored in the frontal cortex of the brain, but has limited holding capacity. Repetition of an event like studying information for a test will push this knowledge into the basal ganglia which is then stored in long-term memory. Sometimes it is hard for us to remember a few specific things to accomplish and this is why lists are important because you are not trying to encode this information, but rather it is just needed for the present time.

References:

Ini, Cetak. (2007, November 28). Retrieved March 28, 2010, from http://rizky-

fryansyah.blogspot.com/2007/11/early-childhood-education.html.

Kapp, Karl. (2007, January 02). Retrieved March 28, 2010, from

http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational.html.

Meiser, J.D. (2008, January 2). Working memory verse routine memory. Retrieved March 28,

2010, from http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2008/01/02/working-memory-vs-

routine-activity.aspx.

Okano, H., Hirano, T., & Balaban, E. (2000, November 7). Learning and memory. Proceeding of

the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, 97(23), 12403–

12404. Retrieved March 28, 2010, from

http://www.pnas.org/content/97/23/12403.full.pdf+html

EDUC 7105 - Module 1

Sarah Crawford - Module #1 - Choice #3
Siemens (2008) presents different analogies to represent the possible roles educators could play within a learning environment. The digital classroom is presents different challenges for the instructor. This metaphor of a master artist is ultimately what an instructor in a digital setting would strive to create. “Students are not limited to learning based solely on the expertise of the instructor” (Siemens, 2008, p. 15) within this analogy. To create a higher order of thinking a student must have the ability and challenge to thinking for themselves while the instructor provides encouragement along with different perspectives in which to challenge each student. However, the network administrator (Siemens, 2008) helps to guide the networking aspect of learning. This aspect of creating a network is rarely taught, but extremely important. This network will not only help with job opportunities, but it will also bring fresh and different ideas into your idea pool. I would consider the educator as a concierge similar to that of the master artist. The concierge provides “’soft’ guidance” (Siemens, 2008, p. 16) to students to push students to explore different ideas which they might not explore without some guidance. However, out of all of these roles I believe the curator approach would benefit the student the most. I personally want an expert to guide me with their knowledge, but then give me freedom to explore the ideas and facts to further make discoveries.

As an online instructor the class would determine the mindset taken by the instructor. I would think at first the instructor would act more as a master artist to see where the students will guide themselves. Some student might need more guidance so the instructor would take on the role as a curator until the students are willing to think on their own.

I think Siemens (2008) did a fantastic job in creating analogies of educators to classroom monitoring systems. I don’t know if I personally would have thought of those analogies off the top of my head, but Siemens (2008) did a fantastic job in describing their roles as well.

Thomas Stone (2009) talks about predicting the changing of the guards in his blog and poses the question of will traditional classrooms will be replaced by digital classrooms in the near future? He also talks about the changing roles of the instructor because of budget cuts. This article makes you think. If an instructor is in charge of multiple online classes then how will they provide the knowledge and feedback that is essential to the learning environment?

Zane Burg (2006) outlines pedagogical, social, managerial, and technical recommendations for instructors in an online setting. Creating a welcoming environment in an online class where student feel willing to share their thoughts and experience to further learn from each is possibly the hardest task for any online instructor.

References:
Berg, Z. (2006). The role of the online instructor/facilitator. Retrieved March 17, 2010, from

http://www.emoderators.com/moderators/teach_online.html.

Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for

educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from

http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper105/Siemens.pdf.

Stone, T. (2009, December 3). New roles for instructors, instructional designers, and subject

matter experts. Retrieved March 17, 2010, from

http://blog.elementk.com/element_k_blog/2009/12/new-roles-for-

instructors-instructional-designers-and-subject-matter-experts.html.

Mini Lecturettes

Here is one of my mini-lecturettes from class.