Learning Outcomes

On reflection to the outcomes that I put in my course I have taken into account

Being Specific:  I need to spell out exactly what students will be able to do after taking part in this course.

Measurable:  I need to have students learning to reflect and action their learning after their training, and be able use in their own situations.

Achievable:  I need to have the learning outcomes to be practical and realistic within the timespan and scope of the training course, and also the context to be at the correct level for the students compentency.

Timeline:   I need to specify which intended outcomes will be achievable, during the timespan of course, and which will need to be done in their own time.

Enhance and Design

I have been trying very hard to put my thoughts on the learning styles of my students, that I am constructing my course for, and with not much success, so I am going in tommorrow to get leigh to help me and show me what i am doing wrong.  I have tried also to put a link to a web site that i found most useful and that still wont work so fingers crossed.

I am going to continue on this blog about what kind of learning styles will be used in my course.  I believe that there are many styles of learning and below are some examples.

Behavourism

Demonstrator model

Action Learning

Cognitive Learning.

As my course is computer based I looked at Kolb Learning Styles and what training techniques are used best for optimal learning in computer related training.  Many training situations are designed for structure, task oriented proceedures and this is how behavour modelling methodolgy is working best. This technique can show new ways to provide students with conceptional and proceedual information, with less fustrating and higher satisfaction. 

Abstract, Using multimedia with easy flowing techniques and topics and interactivity, with pictorial and sound utilization, with the help of using text and sound and video as well as graphics can be a great learning instruction.  Using also vocal and visual explanations with multimedia can be used in independent learning, and also collaborative learning. Convergers think about things and then try out their ideas to see if they work in practice. They like to ask ‘how’ about a situation, understanding how things work in practice. They like facts and will seek to make things efficient by making small and careful changes. They prefer to work by themselves, thinking carefully and acting independently. They learn through interaction and computer-based learning is more effective with them than other methods. This is mostly how my students will learn.

Adult Learning

This is a follow on from my previous blog.

While continuing with my readings I came across Malcolm Knowles (1978, 1990)

 this i found great to read, as he is the one who brought the concept of adult education to us today. He taught that adult learning was special in a number of ways. for example:

Adult learners bring a lot of experience to their learning environment in which educators can use as a resource.

Adult expect to have a high degree of infuence on what they are to be educated for

Adults need to be able to see applications for new learning

Adult learners expect to have a high degree of infuence on how learning will be evaluated.

Adults expect their responses to be acted upon when asked for feedback on a course

Burns (1995) is quoted as saying

By adulthood people are self-directing. This is the concept that lies at the heart of andragogy, this is therefor student-centred, experienced based, problem soving and collabrorative very much in the spitit of the humanist approach to learning and education, the whole educational activity turns on the student.

So with all these thoughts my next blog will be about what are the learning outcomes for my course i am going to construct.

Design Overview

I went to my first face to face with Terry on Thursday, and that clarified a lot of questions i had about this course,  thanks Terry, so here i go.

Leigh also came and talked to us and showed us briefly how to add content onto the Wiki that Rachel had set up, as every time i tried to put something on it, it wouldnt show up.  So hopefully i will now be able to give it a go and be away racing.

Willie was great as per usual and challenged us on quite a few ideas, and it brought me back to remembering what Heather Day and Willie had taught me while doing some units in Level 5 Adult Education, and also my Moderators cause, so thank you for recharging my memory. 

Thats the great thing about learning and how valueable this course has been for me, as I thought i had forgotten some of that stuff until you start to put it into practice again and the mind is jump started into using that learning.

I have finally decided to construct my course on Excel 2007.

As earlier in my blog in my design course, I was looking at all 2007 but as this was going to be such a big project, I have decide to condense it to just new features that are available in Microsoft Office 2007 Excel.  The reason behind this is we have students who have purchased new computers and they have Microsoft Office 2007 Excel on these and as the features have changed from the 2003 version, they are asking us how to use these new features, thus bringing me to constructing  a course to help them.

My other course i learnt how to develop my plan, but now i am taking it a bit further and want to reflect on who my learners are, and how they are going to learn, and what kind of learners are they. (this will go on the wiki as well)

There are many theories of learning, and so i have decided to read up on a few, and here is how I have perceived some of these readings. 

People learn from many varieties, and i feel that it comes down to the way the course is designed and contructed, and how you teach in educational programs, and to recognise that every person has a different way of digesting information and learn in different ways. such as thinking, emotions, attitudes, motivation.

www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/theories.html

Above is a link to a website to go to, to give you some ideas on where i got my referencing from.

Burns mentions that behavioural learning as a relevant permanent change including both observational activity and internal processes, such as thinking, and attitudes examples being.

• Experimental learning
• Cognitive approach
• Action learning
• plus many more.

Expermential learning is thought by Kolb that there are four stages of learning and that this learning can begin at any one stage and that it is continuous (there is no limit to the number of cycles you can make in a learning situation.)  People learn in four ways they are:

• concrete experience
• through observation
• through abstract conceptuation
• through active experimentation

Kolb who has been exploring over the last few decades educational research and found that indivuals begin with their own style of experimental learning cycle.

Honey and Mumford http://www.ruby3.dircon.co.uk/Training%20Files/Theory%20Pages/learning%20styles.htm also identify four learning styles:

They are:

• Activist (enjoys the experience)
• Reflector (reflects a great deal)
• Theorist (connects and abstract ideas from experience)
• Pragmatist (enjoys the planning stage)

Action Learning is another approach which can be linked with the world of action through a reflective process of learning groups or Action Learning Groups (McGill & Beaty 1995) http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=author:%22McGill%22+intitle:%22Action+Learning:+a+guide+for+professional,+management+%26+…%22+&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBF_enNZ226NZ227&um=1&oi=scholarr is the aim from learning with and from each other, and said that there can be no learning without action and no action without learning.

The Wiki

well i  have been looking on the wiki that Rachel set up for us for our constructing course, and thanks rachel its great,only problem i am having now is that i have logged on and am looking for the comments i put on there the other day, and i really cant find them?  I have been talking to Terry and he has clarified a few things for me, thanks Terry,  I have been doing some readings on the Theoretical perspective of the course i am to construct, the learning outcomes, the initial task to clarify the nature of this course, how will this connect with other services, and now i am going to explore other courses to help me.

I am seriously looking at doing just an update of plain old Word or Excel for students who are just learning.  dont know yet, but do know i need to get my thinking cap on shortly as Novemeber is not too far away.

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are statements that specify what learners will know from the learning activity i am going to construct.  This will usually happen from skills, attitude and knowledge of the course.  Learning outcomes are provided by directional planning of the activity in the course.  This will serve as a guide line to instruction, the content and the evaluation of the course. Know what specifically I want my students to learn and to know what should be accomplished.

There will need to be an education need, which is what students should do for themselves, for their employment, or just for social skills.

Who is my target audience

What is their level of learning

What are the most essential parts of the course that they will need to know or do

What skills do they need to know before being able to do the course

Will they be able to follow this knowledge on in their workplace, or home situation

What do they do with this once the course is finished

“Finally”

Well I am at the end of this course and I can say I certainly have learnt a lot of very interesting and inavative ways to develop a plan.    I have learnt to categorise a reference list, teaching resources, development plan and also a weblog, on the blog site.  You can see these on my site by clicking on the link under these categorises.

I have also learnt how to navigate around the web sites and utilise different teaching resources that you can just link to, i.e. youtube and weki,  just click on the links on my blog site and this will automatically take you to that web site.

Leigh has shown me how to use different software that is available to make it compatable for everyone,i.e. screen hunter, camstudio, open office, as not every one has the opportunity to be able to use the same software.  I have had to take into account on the students that do not have access to broadband  or blackboard, but this could be accessed, by using the Community Learning Centres in their area to come in at their time to learn and use our facilities.

I have made my plan and this can be sited on my develpment of learning link. I hope to be able to use this plan for my next course on constructing a plan which starts in July.

The last thing I have to do is to complete my Self – Assessment Sheet, which I will do and post this on Blackboard in the digital drop box.

What I have learnt

On reflecting back on this course and on what I have learnt has been a very rewarding journey for me.  As I already work in the environment of flexible learning at our Commun ity Learning Centres, I have found some very  interesting ideas on how to present our courses.

I have learnt how to use camstudio, camstasia, skype, screenhunter,  also how to add powerpoint to Youtube, and my own demo’s to Youtube.

I have read a lot of interesting articles both on other DFLP blogs and on Weki resources.

Please check out my different categoriesI have added on my blog

Development Learning Plan

Reference List

Teaching Resource

Weblog

My New Plan

Project Title and Department: Microsoft Office 2007 

Project Leader:   Jacquie Hayes

EDC Project Leader:  Leigh Blackall

Project Goals To introduce students to Microsoft Office 2007

I feel there is a need for this as we have students coming into our venue’s daily to asking us if we can teach them micosoft office 2007.  These students are mostly new ones or are people who have just brought a new computer with 2007 on it and dont know how to navigate the new features.  As we only have 2002 on our computers we find this difficult to be able to help them, thus they are going else where to learn or losing interest in their computer.

Background Project:

 I think I will use  laboratory/workshop method that is when a studentis hand on and can learn a practice new skills on the computer.  This is a visual style and i thought that I would use audio and  also a PDF file for students who dont like learning off  a screan so they can print this off and can read off it. (Reflective learners).  This content will relate to the learning objectives of the course.

The content will be in small incremental steps and logicale to read and understand, on the audio this will need to be clear and not too fast, not garbled, and understandable.

The links to other web sites i.e. youtube or weki need to be linked correctly.

 Students learning outcome will need to be written, letting the student know what is expected of them at the completion of there course. And a induction with student should be necessary for find the students skill level.

Resourses

A tutor manual would needed to be written, and made available so they can help the student and prompt them in the right direction of the course.

I will use camtasia to do the video and audio and screan hunter to do the screen shots for PDF and handouts, also for the quizzes.

I will also use web connections like wekipedia microsoft office 2007  to show examples as well.

There is not alot of resourse information available for micorsoft office 2007, but I have linked to a web site on books available in September this year.

Considerations 

 To look at  if we can put this on line it would be a huge project and I would need to approach Business Admin to see if they have courses as well, and maybe talking with Dave Bremer and the IT department.

Other considerations would be how our computers would run micorsoft office 2007 along side other office versions i.e. 2002/2003, and how many would be available to each suite and to the number of  students.

The Outline

Would be working with David  Bremer, and the IT dept including  quizzes and excercise sheets, with questions and anwers and maybe a small assessment at the end.

Project Scope:

Jacquie would be invloved in stting up this course with David Bremer/Leigh/Bronwyn

David Bremer may oversee this project.

Time / Costs

The time and cost of this project would have to be calculated at a later time if the project was accepted.

Catch Up

I have just been thinking about our face to face meeting with the Team of DFLP Tutors and reflecting back on that afternoon.

It was great to catch up with the Team from Central and throw some ideas around and catch up with how they are  getting on with their course.

We discussed different learning styles and we watched a audio demo that Terry had put together, which I found real interesting on the different technologies available, I have a real passion to learn this technology and put it into practice, so I can share the knowledge with my students. I got some great ideas and how we can put a lot of our courses on screan/video and so students can learn visually and audioably, there were some good ideas on easy simple steps i.e. powerpoint display and using window’s movie maker and using external links to other webpages to save the problem with copyright.

Great ideas on adding quizzes and tasks and also putting files as aPDF for students who dont want to read off the computer.

I haved planed that i will use these techniques in my plan for my course as this will help most students with different learning styles.

I enjoyed Bronwyn’s talk about Blackboard, but i wonder how long Blackboard will last? With technology growing so fast and new technology taking its place, it brings to mind to me like we had just got videos in and then it was DVD’s now its Ipods (goodness I am showing my age! and sounding like my MOTHER!!) so with Wekipedia the new technology, my mind boggles on how and what equipment is going to be the best for the future.

It feels like a technology race, but my thinking is which ever one is used, the main thoughts are that my students are understanding what they are learning, enjoying what they are learning, and being confident of what they have learnt to put it into practice somewhere, sometime in their life time, and maybe share with others what they have learnt.

I think I have missed my proffession, I should have been a preacher!!

Lyn’s Blog

I have been looking at lyns bl0g and look forward to see her plan.  have  a look at her site. I love Lyn’s new photo of Dunedin.