In this post, I will discuss the following items:
- Take a look back through your previous posts and apply the ‘Showcase’ category to your best work.
- Write a few words about why you think that post or those posts stand out.
- If you would like, add a widget to your sidebar or footer to display posts in the ‘Showcase’ category.
- What are 2-3 of the most important ideas that you have studied during this course?
- What are 2-3 questions that you have as a result of this course? Identify ways that you can begin to answer those questions.
- Identify 2-3 specific goals that you would like to achieve in light of what you have learned about cognitive presence, approaches to learning, and feedback;
- identify strategies you intend to use in order to meet your goals.
Part 1:
The one post of mine that I think it will showcase my teaching philosophy best is otl-post 4. In this post, I have discussed my practical experience in using a series of formative assessments in my classrooms. My teaching style is based on a philosophy that believes learning is a journey, and is more than rote memorization and dry application with many challenges for students. By providing constructive assessments to my students, I try to act as a motivating force to students to be engaged in every moment of their learning journey. In addition, students are challenged constantly to create, collaboratively where possible, and provide written reflections based on their understandings.
Parts 2 & 3:
The two most import ideas that I liked during this course are the concept of Community of Inquiry (CoI) and the value of feed up and feed forward along with feedback. I think that unlike face-to-face setting, where the responsibilities are ranked with emphasis on teaching then learning, for the online courses the emphasis is on learning then teaching.
CoI model of learning and teaching appears to be a suitable platform for today’s online and blended education. From my experience in both settings, I have realized that for online courses students and teacher are partners in the learning process. Partnership makes the success faster, less expensive, and easier to achieve. CoI is a great model in presenting this concept of shared responsibilities between learners and teachers. There is great opportunity in putting this concept into the hands of teachers and supporting their change in thinking with exposure to excellent mentoring. Therefore the contents of the CoI model are not only useful to teachers, but also to students as community members without any separation.
I believe in providing continual feedback to students on their performance using various strategies. As a result of this course, my attention was also drawn to providing feed up and feed forward. Feedback focuses on current performance and challenges; feed forward, on the other hand, looks ahead to the next tasks and offers constructive guidance on how to improve. A combination of feedback and feed forward ensures that assessments have an effective developmental impact on learning. These new concepts in providing learning support to students tell me the importance and role of teaching presence and the distinction between facilitation and direction. I think a perfect teacher must consider the dual role of both facilitating and shaping the direction as both seem essential for a successful community of inquiry.
Last part:
I would like to share two goals that I am going to achieve in light of what I have learned in this course. Firstly, in order to improve my feedback to students, I will focus at least half of my comments both on correction and giving direction by December 2016. My second goal is to improve my teaching skills by completing these three learning and teaching modules by the end of August 2016 leading to more students evaluating quality of instruction as excellent on the overall rating.
For the online courses that I am teaching, I am dedicated to ensuring that I am fully accessible to students. This includes encouraging students to be in touch with me and being readily available by email and phone. From my teaching experiences I have become a skilled educator, however, I always endeavor to continually improve my abilities by incorporating new techniques and personal competencies into my teaching practice.