Greetings all! My name is Derek Grimes and I have been a teacher for 7 years. I currently teach math and video production at Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, TN which is about 30 miles southeast of Nashville. I was brought to Oakland to start the video production program as I have owned a video production business for over 8 years.
I am taking this class because I love multimedia. Not only would I like to better incorporate it into my class, but I would also like to "step up my game" in my company. For my classes, multimedia is a big part, but I have learned the importance of good multimedia. I can create some really slick looking materials but without the educational principles applied, there may not be much learning taking place. Also, I really like and appreciate exposure to new forms of technology. The voicethread was very useful tool and I am looking forward to incorporating it in my production class very soon. This will allow students from different classes work together on projects.
For my business, I am always looking for an advantage. One aspect of my business is corporate video production. Currently, I just produce the video, but I would really like to add consulting as a service I offer. I have produced so many training videos which were terrible (the content, not the production ;-) ).
I have very high expectations for this class and I look forward to working with others in this class.
Two aspects really struck me from this weeks reading. First, from the course textbook, I was interested in the "which is better" question (traditional or e-learning). As I had read and researched previously, it's not about the delivery method, it is about the quality and content of the material. You can have all kinds of "whizbang" with not content and vice-versa. Quality e-learning comes from a balance of each. This was contrary to what I wanted to believe - that online learning was much better than traditional face-to-face learning because it involved technology. I am learning the advantage to online learning is not that it is better than traditional learning, but that it is just as good and offers some different kinds of perks (appeals to different learners and personalities, asynchronous, move at the students own pace, etc).
I was also interested in the amount of planning that must take place before even starting to design the class. The paper "Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning" really highlighted this. For me, a traditional teacher, my first thought was " to create an online class all I need to do is recreate what I do in the classroom." Well, I am learning it is not that simple. First, the decision needs to be made, as the paper suggest, that you determine what the e-learning is to be used for - replacing or supplementing traditional teaching. When I turn my focus to that line of thinking, it becomes very different. In my math classes, if I am supplementing my face to face teaching with the online material, it will look very different that if I were going to create an e-learning class to replace me in the classroom. I would have to be much more detailed in the explanation process.
The first learned lesson from this class is plan, plan, plan. Know the purpose and target audience before ever starting. Shooting from the hip and trying to just recreate the material just as you would in a face to face environment could be disastrous.
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