EDU 625: The Journey so Far (Integrating Technology into Learning)

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In my EDU 625: Integrating Technology into Learning course, we have reviewed some amazing resources for technology in the online learning classroom. I thus far have narrowed my studies in this course to social media and online learning, online data gathering, and data analysis. I am absolutely thrilled with this course and the phenomenal resources that we have been introduced to. I would like to reflect upon my experience thus far, and share some of what I learned and experienced over the past three weeks.

Social Media and Online Learning:

When we reviewed our content regarding social media and online learning, we were asked to define our own personal philosophy of learning as a means to help orient us as educators towards our goals with technology and online learning. My philosophy of education is that learning should be engaging. We can help engage learners by mixing content up, changing assignment types, and introduce gamify elements to engage and entice learners. There is no one-size-fits-all approach in learning – curriculum should be based on the characteristics of the learners first and foremost (ADDIE Model, n.d.). And according to Barrett & Woods (2012), to help students maintain interest and retain information in the classroom, we must engage students in critical thinking activities that involve application which is why learning needs to be dynamic.

Read, write, read, write, over and over verbatim is a surefire way to disengage learners as content retention drops with zero application (Horton, 2012). Give learners choices! Represent content in various mediums, give assignment choices, guide learners as needed. I am a firm believer in the universal design for learning (UDL) approach to education and learning. With UDL principles, educators attempt to determine as many possible barriers that can arise, and have the content represented in a way that will empower the student, not hinder them. If you are unfamiliar with UDL and want to learn a bit more, feel free to check out the video below.

Social media and learning was a big topic of discussion in this class, and I honestly could not get behind social media and learning. While it is true that modern social media as we know it today (Facebook) was created specifically by college students for college students to empower and connect college students, the world is very different in 2021 than it was in 2004 when Facebook was first launched. I do not feel that social media is an appropriate medium for students and educators as social media breaks down walls between private life and professional life. Additionally, many students and educators opt not to use social media specifically for privacy reasons. Numerous educational institutions do not even allow for social media connections between students and faculty for safety and security purposes.

Social media can be excellent networking and information tools, however. Utilizing social media platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn, have been invaluable to me personally when looking for instructional design resources, with Reddit's /r/instructionaldesign being my go-to-choice. But I would not require or encourage social media use in today’s learning environments as part of any learning exercise, as many students and faculty alike would not feel comfortable using social media.

Online Data Gathering:

We reviewed a lot of content regarding online data collection and data organization. I very much enjoyed learning about mind maps when reviewing such content. I am actually creating a project in this course (more to come at a later time) that incorporates mind mapping into the project. We touched base on Bloom’s Taxonomy as well. As a person that works in curricular assessment, I am familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy and always enjoy seeing Bloom’s Taxonomy referenced in my courses.

My focus and emphasis on this topic was data gathering. I love conducting research and gathering data, so for an assignment in this course I utilized SurveyMonkey to gauge feedback among my immediate social circle to determine how my social circle feel about online learning. Below is a screenshot showing my social networking sentiments towards online learning. I unfortunately only got eight responses – I was hoping for more – but eight responses did give me something to work with. I have used SurveyMonkey many times and SurveyMonkey is my go-to-choice when conducting research.

We also covered the importance of data integrity. We can easily manipulate perceptions of data by saying things like “80% of survey respondents loved this new product!” when only five people responded, omitting the small sample size detail – which basically tells a company very little when looking to roll out a project with such a small sample. Omitting certain aspects of the data that are important, and also representing data in ways that emphasize significance, can really skew perceptions. Such bias is unethical, and according to Phillips, Aaron & Phillips (2013), unethical behaviors with data analysis are a violation of various Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines. Unethical behavior such as data manipulation is a surefire way to a bad grade as a student, or termination as an employee, or worse for both.

Data Analysis:

This topic was by far my favorite topic to date in this course. As I noted prior, I do enjoy conducting research because gathering data and then analyzing data is a passion of mine. My role at my place of employment is three-faceted; as noted prior I do curricular assessment, but I am also a data analyst for my team, and an instructional designer. As a data analyst, it only makes sense that I love to gather and review data. Data is the lifeblood of any organization (D. Noonan, personal communication, November, 2013.) To me data is an artist’s canvas, and the way I represent my data findings is my painting. We use data for so many important reasons in life, it is critical that students learn how to effectively gather data so learners can make data-informed decisions in and out of the classroom. To me, this is an important life skill.

And the resources I learned about were absolutely amazing. There are so many credible resources students can be empowered to utilize online. Some of my favorites were the Hubble Space Telescope, Earth and Moon viewer, live animal cams, and live ocean information resources. There are resources where people can even request/schedule custom satellite images with NASA for free! Students have live information at their fingertips, information the students themselves can gather. Students are practically in the field with these resources, such resources are all but primary artifacts at this point.

Applying the material to content, I created a guided analysis assignment for students in high school or undergrad college. In guided analysis, the learner follows a procedure to gather and analyze data (Horton, 2012). The learners for my assignment are required to make discoveries that are possibly revealed from data. I provided guidance by giving specific assignment criteria, while allowing the student to choose where and how the student obtains data from a predetermined source. Click to check out my ocean temperature data analysis assignment.

For now, that wraps things up. Be sure to check back in approximately two weeks from the date of this entry for my next blog post!


References:

ADDIE Model. (n.d.). InststructionalDesign.org. https://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/addie/

Barrett, B. S., & Woods, J. E. (2012). Using the Amazing atmosphere to Foster Student Learning and Interest in Meteorology. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society93(3), 315–323. https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-11-00020.1

Horton, W. (2012). E-Learning by Design: Vol. 2nd ed. Pfeiffer.

Phillips, P. P., Aaron, B. C., & Phillips, J. J. (2013). Survey Basics. American Society for Training & Development.

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