Session 7

Session 7: Development, Media Choices and Considerations

1. Why is media selection important in eLearning?

It is important to select the right media:

• To match the instructor’s ability to access and teach the course.
• To match the student’s ability to access and complete the objectives.
• To insure there is no infringement of copyrights
• To insure the cost meets any budgetary restraints
• To allow flexibility to make adjustments when problems occur.

2. Define "new media"?

According to New Media Institute “new media” is a general term that defines all that is linked to the internet and the interaction between technology, sound, and images. Because new media is constantly evolving and new technologies created, this definition can change daily and exponentially as new uses are discovered (Socha & Eber-Schmid, 2014).

3. Choose a "new media" and explain it's strengths and weaknesses for supporting eLearning.

In today’s job market perspective accounting career seekers need to be experienced in the use of electronic spreadsheet software. One of the most popular is Microsoft Excel. It is a part of the Microsoft Office suite of desktop applications. New media training in Excel can be accomplish using previously prepared online tutorials or by self-created online tutorials.

Previously prepared online tutorials

The strength of previous prepared tutorials such as the ones made available from Microsoft Support are convenient by the fact that the course developers or instructors need only to investigate the content of the tutorial to find relevance to the subject being taught and give the student the internet link to the tutorial site. Another strength is that many of these tutorials are free. The weakness of these tutorial is that the procedure being illustrated is generalized and may not connect implicitly with course objectives.

Self-created online tutorials

New media software such as CamStudio allows the developer or instructor to record a screencast with a voice narrative on how to perform a particular task within an application such as Excel while illustrating that procedure on a computer screen. Along with also being free, the strength of self-created tutorials in that lessons can be created that are intimately connected to a lesson, objective, or an assignment. The weakness to this software is that the preparing a self-created online lesson is time consuming and needs to be uploaded to a site where students have access to view the recording and screencast.

4. Explain the term "Mobile Learning" and discuss the importance of "Mobile Learning in the current eLearning environment and in future eLearning environments.

According to our text mobile learning has two main meaning:

• Mobile learning uses new media technologies to allow student to participate in conventional form of learning including classroom learning.
• Real mobile learning utilizes objects, environment, experts and other students as student engage the real world.

(Horton, 2012, p. 501)

 

5. Explain the term "Virtual Classroom". Describe how a "Virtual Classroom" can be used in eLearning.

An online class that are organized like a standard classroom course is a virtual classroom. The curriculum contains elements such as class schedules, weekly or daily assignments, tests and quizzes. It is in the standard educational format but utilizes “new media” where the student participates in synchronous instruction. In this environment instructors can connect to and monitor the student’s progress in the class (Horton, 2012, p. 540).

A popular virtual classroom environment is the webinar. Like combining the words “smoke” and “fog” to get “smog”, “webinar” is derived by merging "web" and "seminar."  Webinars are instructional presentations of video and/or audio with slides and often used in a student to content interaction.  If a webinar is synchronous, meaning that student and instructor are online at the same time, the webinar can be employed to produce student to instructor interactions in real time (Horton, 2012, p. 540).

Another eLearning environment is the virtual-classroom course. This normally includes course content materials, homework, tests, assessments, and other tools that are outside of the standard classroom familiarity. These courses do not need synchronous events and may also include social media tools that let instructors and learners to interact through emails, chat rooms, or online discussion boards (Horton, 2012, p. 541).

6. Thinking about the class you have been designing, what are some ways you could potentially use some new media?

• Previously prepared online tutorials – used to provide student with general content information. 
• Self-created online tutorials – used to provide students with specific content and examples of solutions to computer based assignments.

• Webinars – used to provide students with general or specify content information and provide student to instructor interactions.
• Email – used as communication tool between instructor, students, a class as a whole. Uses to share files and transmit assignments and assessments.
• Discussion boards – used for class participation and group project collaboration. Can be used for discussion assignments and feedback by instructor.
• File sharing websites - used for class participation and group project collaboration.
• Online testing sites – used for student assessment of objective met by online quizzes and overall course assessment by online final exams.  

References

Horton, W. (2012). E-leaning by design, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Socha, B., & Eber-Schmid, B. (2014). What is new media? Retrieved from New Media Institute: http://www.newmedia.org/what-is-new-media.html

Session 6

Session 6: Development Process Overview

 According to our text student learn by completing learning activities. The usual types of activities are:

1.      The student absorbs the knowledge by reading, listening, or seeing information on the subject.

2.      The student does hand on or practice activities.

3.      The student connects with the subject with real personal or work environment.

(Horton, 2012, p. 9)

In this session our assignment was to select a learning objective from our course plan and describe an activity for each learning activity type: “Absorb”, “Do”, and “Connect”.

I chose to describe what I would do given the same objective for each activity type.

Objective: Upon completion of this course student will be able to define the three types of business ownership structures.

 

1. Describe an "Absorb" type activity for one of the objectives in your course plan.

I intend to use a slide presentation allowing the student to “absorb” the information on the three types of business ownership structures. The presentation would include a voice over narrative corresponding to each slide.
 

2. Describe a "Do" type activity for one of the objectives in your course plan.

In intend to use a game in the “Jeopardy” style that allows the student to “Do” a review the content presented in the previous PowerPoint presentation. The game will engaging and cover all the material presented.
 

3. Describe a "Connect" type activity for one of the objectives in your course plan.

I intend to use a writing assignment asking students to respond in their own words to questions such as:  

·       What are the advantages to each business ownership structures?

·       How a sole proprietorship does differs from a partnership?

·       What are limited partners?

Their answers will be shared with the rest of the class on a discussion board where comments from fellow classmates will be solicited.

 

4. Choose one of the above activities and discuss the process you would use to create this presentation. For this task assume that you have no additional assistance other than the instructor who would be able to write content as you describe it and perform for a recording as needed.

For the activity I described in item one, the goal is to create a slide presentation from the content provided from a designated instructor.

a.       Confer with instructor to write the content narrative needed to communicate the elements of the presentation.

b.      Create a storyboard of each slide describing text, animation, and images to support the narrative.

c.       Write an audio script to match each slide in the presentation. To comply with ADA requirements, this audio script will be available with a text description of any slides that need further explanation.

d.      Select a slide presentation software. Although there are a number of free presentation software I would probably use Office Mix, an add-on to PowerPoint, which allows the user to create, record and publish engaging slide presentations.   An introduction to this add-on is available at: https://mix.office.com/watch/7o6kt118pguk .

e.      I would prepare the PowerPoint slide presentation using the storyboard and record the presentation and voiceover using the narrative script with Office Mix. For the voice recording I would use a BlueParrott® B250-XT headset.

f.        I usually save files with as complete as file name as I can. An example for the file name presentation would be Intro_to_accntng_ownrtype.pptx. I would store this in a special folder on my personal computer and on a special external hard drive.

5. Discuss how your approach, for the above task, would be different if you were directing the development efforts of a team that included a graphic designer, a video editor and a web programmer along with all of the tools that such a team would typically use.

When doing a project where you perform all the tasks, you have all the control along with all the responsibility.  When heading a project team you can delegate tasks but you cannot delegate responsibilities. It is necessary that you insure tasks are completed and are on time.  In addition, when working alone you have to rely on your own knowledge and resource. However, working in a team greatly expands the resources that can be utilized. 

a.       Meet with development team to discuss presentation elements of concept, content, software and media. Items to accomplish in this meeting may be:

1)      Create a timeline and assign area of responsibility to each team member for the following.

·  Creation of storyboard and audio script.

·  Selection of slide presentation software

·  Preparation slide presentation

·  Create or Select online environment

2)      Develop file naming and back-up procedures

3)      Discuss requirement needed to comply with ADA.

b.      Meet periodically development team to status of each task

c.       Review presentation and make adjustments

d.      Submit final presentation for publication.

 6. The text presents test types and presents a list of common types of test questions. In light of these, describe a test that would be appropriate for the class your team planned in the previous session

Test questions can either be objective or subjective. Subjective questions require human judgment to evaluate the answer while objective questions have a clear standard for correctness and can offer a choice for the learner (Horton, 2012). Since I wanted a computer, not a human, to evaluate the correctness of the responses and receive immediate feedback, I choose objective test questions such as the following:

Example 1) True of False

Stockholders of a corporation share unlimited liability for debts of the corporation.  True or False

Example 2) Multiple Choice

A corporation is owned by: a) two or more partners, b) stockholders, c) a single individual, d) one or more government agencies, e) auditors

 

References:

Horton, W. (2012). E-leaning by design, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Newberry, D. B. (n.d.). Producing eLearning Resources [Recorded by D. B. Newberry].

 

Session 5

Session 5 - Instructional Design For Online Learning - Part 2

I am working independently and based on Dr. Newberry's suggestion that I reduce the scope of my project, I decided to revisit my course content. Fortunately, I had already been invited to attend a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting at a local college for the school’s vocational accounting program. It was held on Wednesday, May 5, 2015.

Program Analysis

The purpose of the PAC, made up of local professionals and instructors in the accounting field, is to communicate to the school the vocation training and skills needed for students to find employment and be successful at a career in accounting.  The PAC reviews curriculum and equipment used in the classroom and offers suggestions for improvements.

Determining Need

The (PAC) also reviews the program's completion/employment performance and offers suggestions for improvements. The accounting program completion rate was less than 25% well below forecast standards. Student exit interviews indicated that student were not aware prior to starting the program of the work involved with the accounting.

Results of Analysis

One suggestion of the PAC was that the program needed an introductory course that provided information to about a career in accounting prior to student committing to a two to four year program. The course would introduce students to accounting with exposure to accounting basics, and careers available in this field.

Determining Objectives:

I decided to develop an online course that might meet this criteria. The following is an outline of the contents for such an online course. In consists of five sessions, with the objectives and a list of interactions types for each.

 

Course Title: Introduction to Accounting
Session	Session Objectives	Interaction
One	Describe the purpose of accounting	Student - Content: Online Presentation, Online Text, Podcast Student - Instructor: Email, Skype, Webinar Student - Student: Email, Discussion
Two	Describe the accounting process	Student - Content: Online Presentation, Online Text, Podcast Student - Instructor: Email, Skype, Webinar Student - Student: Email, Discussion
Three	Define the three types of business ownership structures	Student - Content: Online Presentation, Online Text, Podcast Student - Instructor: Email, Skype, Webinar Student - Student: Email, Discussion
Four	Classify different types of business transactions	Student - Content: Online Presentation, Online Text, Podcast Student - Instructor: Email, Skype, Webinar Student - Student: Email, Discussion
Five	Identify career opportunities in accounting	Student - Content: Online Presentation, Online Text, Podcast Student - Instructor: Email, Skype, Webinar Student - Student: Email, Discussion

Session 4

Session 4 - Instructional Design For Online Learning

In this set of activities we were to work either individually or in a small team of our choice to conduct an analysis for developing an online class. This would be a quasi-simulation in which we were to develop a course plan using the 11 instructional design steps presented in chapter 1 of the text (Design Quickly and Reliably).*

*11 step instructional design process as presented in the text

 Response:

For this process I decided to work individually and attend the synchronous planning session with the Dr. Newberry via Skype. I have designed and taught a face-to-face courses in accounting in the past and was planning to use this material as a resource for this assignment. However, during the planning session I realized that the content of the courses I developed was usually based on a textbook given to me by the educational institution’s administration. I decided that a better learning tool for me was to start from scratch and prepare a development plan for a vocational accounting course using the 11 instructional design steps presented in chapter 1 of our text E-Leaning By Design by William Horton.  However, this same plan could be used for many vocational training courses. Page 8 of the text provided us with the following institutional design aid to be used as a guide through this process.

 

Figure 1: Instructional Design Aid

 1.       Identify your underlying goal: My process is to reviews goals of educational institution to define the educational philosophy of the program and/or I am developing. Since it will most likely will be a career and technical program, I would expect these goals to be similar to the following:  To prepare students to effectively compete for occupations in an ever-changing work force environment. Train students in crucial skills and abilities resulting in successful vocations.

2.       Analyze learners' needs and abilities: Through surveys focused on potential students and interviews with other similar educational institutions, determine what type of student is more likely to enroll at this institution, traditional or nontraditional students. Determine what learning skills they already possess and the likelihood of student’s success in an online course. Faculty should have on-hand experience in the vocational field in which they are teaching. They should also be able to add exhilaration and enthusiasm to the course.

3.       Identify what to teach: Determine what skills and knowledge do potential employers expect student process prior to employment. Create a Program Advisory Committee made up of potential employers and professionals in the vocational field to provide input on curriculum development and what skills graduates need to be successful on the job. Members are not subject-matter experts but individuals who are active members of the vocation being considered. This committee meets periodically to discuss any chances curriculum might need to emulate changes in the vocational field. Since the vocation course I have choose to design for online learning is accounting, members may include private accountants working internally for a company or public accountants working independently.

4.       Set learning objectives: Based on information supplied by the Program Advisory Committee as to skills needed to be successful in the chosen vocation, set what student will be able to do once the course is completed. Learning objectives will initially be based on vocational entry level skills and what will be needed to maintain and advance within the chosen vocation. For accounting objectives may be, 1) Perform steps to analysis business transaction, 2) Prepare journal entries, or 3) Reconcile general cash accounts.

5.       Identify prerequisites: There are going to be initial skills and knowledge student will need to navigate through the course. These would be basic reading and writing skills, the ability to work in groups, and comfortable with computers. For an accounting course it may be that students need to be able to have some math skills. Basic skill testing of students is advised before starting class to determine if student has the ability to succeed and benefit from the instruction.

6.       Pick the approach to meet each objective: Depending on the vocation that a course represents, objectives and interaction will vary. Objectives will always include an understanding of the terms use within the vocation. Objectives that includes the development of skills, hands-on projects may be required with hands-on interaction such as the preparation of journal entries and recording them in a general journal.

7.       Decide the teaching sequence of your objectives: As stated above in #6 an understanding of terms use in a vocational field is a good place to start. Each objective lesson thereafter will build on what was learned in the previous lesson.

8.       Create objects to accomplish objectives: There are a number of sources available to support accounting objectives on the internet and through textbook support pages. I plan to create a number of learning objects using PowerPoint, and online demonstration such as CamStudio http://camstudio.org/.

9.       Create tests: As objectives increase in complexity, each one building on the previous objective, tests will become more complex. Earlier tests on understating accounting terms will be identification consisting of matching and multiple choice questions.

10.   Select learning activities: Learning activity will be designed to promote the absorption, understanding, and application of the material presented. This will be accomplished through a sequence of projects each one become more intricate as the course and the student skills progress.

11.   Choose Media: Sometimes the media selected is based on what the educational institution has made available.  There may be budget or policy issues that regulate what an instructor can or cannot use. If instruction is required to be on a private network there may be restriction of what can be accessed on the internet directly. There also may be a restriction of what hardware and software a student can access. These are at least issues that need investigating. The accounting course media can be completed with a system as simple as free email, such as Goggle Mail, not unlike the by mail correspondence course or asynchronous or it can also be a face-to-face course using Skype or a webinar platform.

 

 

 

 

 

Session 3

Session 3 - Interactions

A. Download the interactionsmatrix.doc file. Note that this is a table listing the three types of interactions at the top, with some sample activities on the left. Place an X in the cells to indicate which activities correspond to which interactions. Add some additional activities of your own and mark the cells appropriate to the types of interactions each represents.

Response: 

B. Discuss of the types of interactions that are most often used in the content area for which you expect to design instruction. Be sure to explain the content area, the types of students and types of objectives with which you will be working.

Response:

My intention is to design a basic accounting course. The type of interactions most often used in an accounting course varies. Video presentation, PowerPoint presentation, and eBooks are used to present students with content that include definitions of accounting terms along with explanations and demonstrations of the preparation of the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and the Statement of Owner’s Equity. Games and online quizzes are used to support the content material with immediate feedback to the student on areas to review.

Ideal students are those that are motivated to work in accounting or business. They are familiar with computers and communication software enough so that they are confident in accessing online presentations and working with little supervision.

Instructors should be well acquainted will the principals of accounting and also the use of spreadsheet applications use as Excel.

 

C. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the Horton text discuss three categories of activities: Absorb, Do, and Connect. After reading these chapters you are to locate one or more online classes and identify one Absorb, one Do and one Connect activity. Present your findings using this format:

URL:

Course Content:
Intended Students/Probable Student Characteristics:
Instructor Characteristics:
Identify the Type of Activity: Absorb - Do - Connect
Identify and Discuss the Interactions in the Activity:

Response:

Accounting Coach

URL: http://www.accountingcoach.com/accounting-basics/explanation

Course Content: Accounting: This Basic of Accounting course contains an introduction to accounting basics with definitions of accounting terms, explanations and demonstration of the preparation of the Income Statement, Balance Sheet – Assets, Balance Sheet – Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity, and Statement of Cash Flows. It explains the double entry system and journal entry preparation and posting.

Intended Students/Probable Student Characteristics: Student must be comfortable with reading online presentations and taking quizzes at the end of each part of the lecture.

Instructor Characteristics: Instructors need not to be well versed in the topic nor have experience in the field of accounting.

Identify the Type of Activity: Accounting Coach: Basic Accounting is an Absorb-type activity. This lecture activity consists of several chapters explaining accounting basics.

Identify and Discuss the Interactions in the Activity: Accounting Coach: Basic Accounting is an online story of a small business startup. As the business purchases assets, incurs expensing, and generates revenue the story explains the why and how to record each business activity. Student can take an online quiz and complete an online crossword puzzle to measure what they have retain of the subject matter.  

Bean Counter Bookkeeping Games.

URL: http://www.dwmbeancounter.com/tutorial/Games/Games.html#games

Course Content: Accounting: Basic accounting concepts including the effect of debits and credit transactions on different types of accounts, definition of journal and financial statements, definitions of assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity.

Intended Students/Probable Student Characteristics: Student have become familiar with accounting terms and basic concepts. They are not discouraged by losing a game but motivated to keep playing until they win.

Instructor Characteristics: Instructor must have knowledge of the subject matter. Accounting subjects can be boring and instructors need to be aware that learning while having fun is still learning.

Identify the Type of Activity: Bean Counter Bookkeeping Games is a Do-type activity  

Identify and Discuss the Interactions in the Activity: Several games are available where the solutions are based on accounting terms and basic accounting concepts. At first they seem somewhat childish but the questions and solutions are moderately difficult where students need to be knowledgeable to be successful.

 

Excel Income Statement - Simple #1

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kd_lQ-emxc

Course Content: Electronic Spreadsheets: This demonstrations on how to create an income statement using Microsoft Excel.

Intended Students/Probable Student Characteristics: Student must have some basic experience with Excel and be able to acquire additional skills through demonstration. 

Instructor Characteristics: Instructor must be have knowledge of the subject matter and be able to comfortable maneuvering through Excel.

Identify the Type of Activity: Excel Income Statement - Simple #1 is a Connect-type activity.

Identify and Discuss the Interactions in the Activity: Although this activity does not address accounting concept directly, Excel and other spreadsheet programs are useful job tools in accounting. Student learn how to create financial statements in Excel utilizing the accounting concepts they learned previously.

 

 

Session 2

Session 2 - Content, Instructor and Student Characteristics
 

Our blog post assignment this week was to address each of the following three scenarios in light of the information presented in the podcast and then discuss our instructional design process described in chapter 1 of our text. Then we were asked to reflect on a development project of our own and identify the steps in an instructional design process presented in the text.

1. Scenarios

To address these scenarios, identify the major characteristics or issues that would impact or influence the design of the described online class. Be sure to indicate which of the characteristics you identify would be your prime concern. Also be sure to indicate how each of the major issues you identify would influence your design of the online class.

You have been asked to lead the team that is developing a series of courses for an online University. Explain some design decisions or issues that you would have to deal with for each class given the characteristics of the content, instructors and students as presented. Note: Pick the most salient characteristics and issues and explain why the ones you have chosen are key. Don’t try to cover every possible issue in each scenario!

Course A

Content: This course will cover beginning college algebra.

Instructor(s): This course is taught by various adjunct and full time professors who are very familiar with the content who have differing degrees of tech skills and online teaching experience. The same class has to serve for all instructors.

Students: All students in this course are college freshman and sophomores with good technology skills and each has successfully taken an online orientation to online learning course.

Response

Content: Algebra is a branch of mathematic that describes the relationship between numbers or patterns. Its course content is normally convergent, meaning that there are defined methods and solutions to algebraic expressions.  For a course content that is convergent, topics can be presented in a sound progressive structure starting and at beginning topic such as ‘Defining Real Numbers to advance topics such as ‘Factoring’. The use of prepared forms and templates would work well in lesson plans.

Instructors: As the same class serves for all instructors we want to make sure that learning and using the instructional technology matches the capabilities of all the instructors. The instructors seem to have adequate technical skills the introduction of new technologies should not be an issue.

Students: Since the students have good technology skills the introduction of new technologies should not be an issue. The students have past involvement with online classes and to keep their experience consistent, we may want to review what technologies were used in these previous courses and borrow from those.

Course B

Content: The course is a philosophy of leadership class.

Instructor(s): The instructor is an experienced face-to-face instructor with good tech skills and prior online teaching experience. This instructor prefers lecture and discussion classes.

Students: Graduate students who are well motivated and with a broad range of technology skills, from average to very advanced.

Response

Content: Since the answers to philosophy questions can vary and can have no wrong answers the content would be divergent. This is where a logical presentation of topics may not be successful. In this course a strict structure including, forms and template, could reduce the creative abilities the students possess.

Instructor: Since the instructor is skilled at face-to-face presentation of the subject matter and has previously online teaching experience, there should be an attempt to capitalize on this experience. Media technology should be made available to allow the instructor to create visual of voice lectures. Additional technology should be available allowing students to communicate with each other and the rest of the class to promote class discussion.

Students – Since these graduate students are well enthused and have with a comprehensive assortment of technology skills, introduction of new or advanced technologies would work well for them in this course. Addition communication technology such as Skype and Google Docs can be utilized to assist students with group projects.

Course C

Content: This course is an introduction to college success. It teaches study skills, communication skills, and tries to help students learn how to fit into the college community.

Instructor(s): This course will be taught by various instructors all with good tech skills and prior online teaching experience but who have never taught this content before.

Students: Students are incoming freshman who have been identified by advisors as high risk for drop out.

Response

Content: The content of this course could be defined as divergent since there are many paths that a student can take to succeed at college. However, this course offers information on what to expect in the community college environment along with technics in studying, time management, and finding academic and personal support.  The presentation of topics should be structured and in a logical order similar to a convergent content.

Instructors: The fixed structure of topic presentations supports teaching although instructors may not have prior exposure to the subject matter. They need to be able to interact with students fielding a variety of questions.

Students: Since students are identified as high risk, lesson plans must be developed to generate an environment that increases the desire of students to participate in classroom activity. Group activities and peer support can be an excellent method to increase student success.

 

2. Now, think about an online learning experience that you might someday create. Describe in detail the content, instructor and student characteristics. What are the design issues or features that these suggest? Explain your answers.

Response
 

Having twenty years of experience in accounting and financial management the online experience that I might create someday would be a series of online courses teaching the principle of accounting.

Content: For a principles of accounting course the content is convergent presenting topics in a sound progressive structure. Student start with introduction to accounting learning the basic definition of assets, liabilities and equity. Students then progress to journalizing various financial transactions. Since the subject of accounting is vast, a series of three course would be offered on the accounting methods for three type of businesses - service, merchandising, and corporations. Although manufacturing business may be discussed this business in better taught in a cost accounting course.

Instructors: Instructors need to be well versed in the topic and if possible have experience in the field of accounting. They must be experienced with various accounting software and since the content can be very detail the ability to respond to student question in a timely manner is vital. Because at times the content may be confusing to students instructors must be able to interact with students and give then real-life examples.

Students: The typical student needs to be highly motivated and have confidence with using various technologies. An advantage to success is to have goals focused on a career in one the business disciplines.

 

 

3. List the 11 instructional design steps presented in Chapter 1 of the text (Design Quickly and Reliably).

Response

1)     Identify your underline goals

2)     Analyze learner’ needs and abilities

3)     Identity what to teach

4)     Set learning objective

5)     Identify prerequisites

6)     Pick the approach to meet each objective

7)     Decide the teaching sequence of your objectives

8)     Create objects to accomplish objectives

9)     Create tests

10)  Select learning activities

11)  Choose media