Topic 5: What do you feel are the most significant trends in online learning? Why are
these important?
 
According to Pelvia et al (2018), The number of people enrolled in online courses has been growing 14 years in a row. They also said that the number of face-to-face only students had been declining. This is important because it shows Online Education is getting stronger and therefore where we should focus our attention.
What I am seeing is people are creating blogs, podcasts, and online courses on topics they have talent in and, giving them away to people free. They get the benefits of an audience that might buy something later and that also creates a network that knows them. This is important because it puts a lot of useful information available online for free greatly reducing barriers for education in formal and personal study.
A trend I’m seeing most significant right now is that students that have the time or location restraints are joining online classes that would not have been able to otherwise.  For me it allows me to study from the comfort of home and take care of my child while fulfilling my needs and interests in education. The design of the courses online and the platforms are getting sufficiently organized and strong enough to support student learning. That is why I joined Liberty University because I saw that it was sufficiently ready for supporting my professional learning.
In augmented reality, you can see virtual objects for learning like the human brain. An example is “the JigSpace app [which] features a variety of virtual objects that can be overlapped and viewed from different angles. As students move around the object, they see different views” (Siegle, 2019). This is very important and helpful to teach students about complex objects, especially in engineering, biology, and Chimistry.
Simonson et al (2015) briefly describe how “more than half of students not are being honest on their homework at some point and that some companies have seen this as an opportunity to sell anti-plagiarism software to help detect them” (p. 160).  This is important because it will become more transparent who can be trusted professionally and if people get caught for not being honest then they will be forced to do their own work to continue their development.  

 
References
 
Siegle, D. (2019). Seeing Is Believing: Using virtual and augmented reality to enhance student learning. Gifted Child Today, 42(1), 46-52. doi: 10.1177/1076217518804854
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. (6th ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Palvia, S., Aeron, P., Gupta, P., Mahapatra, D., Parida, R., Rosner, R., & Sindhi, S. (2018). Online Education: Worldwide Status, Challenges, Trends, and Implications. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 21(4), 233-241. doi:10.1080/1097198x.2018.1542262

​Scenario 1: Carol Johnson wishes to begin teaching her high school algebra class online. She has decided that she needs to consider meeting with the students at the beginning of the experience, as they've had no opportunities to work in an online environment before. What are some of the organizational factors that Carol must consider when preparing to teach at a distance?
Some of the organizational factors that Ms. Johnson must consider when preparing to teach at a distance are based on my studies as an online student are:
First, To Identify what kind of platforms she could use… (Moodle, schoology, Kancademy etc.) What kind of technology will be the setting (e.g., it places, or time shifted). Time shifted allows any students to access the class at any time, like us here in liberty.  She needs to Know what kinds of technology she will use and be familiar with. Simonson et al (2015) argued: “The instructor must become familiar with the hardware and the nuance of the technology to use them effectively” (p.137). Ms. Johnson needs to understand and to know the technology she will use to start teaching her high school algebra class online, exactly as she knows math.
Ms. Johnson must have goals set for her online class, Dr. Holder (2019) claimed that an online instructor must set “clear goals and objectives, clear expectations, focus on effectiveness, not efficiency, and instructor’s contact information” (slide 8).
Second, to keep in mind that each learner has his/her own style, and the best learning programs accommodate learning styles and preferences”. (Rice et al, (2011).
Third, she should think the way to organize the course, maybe it be better to organize it chronologically, “to organize their course chronologically, not only because it is practical, but also because the tools lend themselves to the sequential presentation of material. Once they have their basic structure in place, they then add Resources and Activities”. (Rice et al, (2011).
Furthermore, She need to learn how to bust the student Self- Efficacy, and use techniques to help them keep  their desire to learn online,  because “ Students with High Self-efficacy perform better and understand that their efforts can result in better learning” ( Fisher, Frey & Hattie, 2016, p.27).

​Things to consider in an online course table.1

Table 1

References
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2016). Teaching literacy in the visible learning classroom: K-12 classroom companion to Visible learning for literacy. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, a SAGE company.
Holder, D. (2019). EDUC 631: Foundations and theory of distance education 
[powerpointslides]. Retrieved from https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-28430817
 
Rice, William., & Nash, Susan Smith. Moodle 1.9 (2011). Teaching Techniques Creative Ways to Build Powerful and Effective Online Courses. Birmingham, U.K: Pack Pub.
 
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and     
 learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. (6th ed.) Boston, MA:
 Allyn & Bacon.
 
 

​Forum 4 DB EDUC 631
Scenario 1: Carol Johnson wishes to begin teaching her high school algebra class online. She has decided that she needs to consider meeting with the students at the beginning of the experience, as they've had no opportunities to work in an online environment before. What are some of the organizational factors that Carol must consider when preparing to teach at a distance?
Some of the organizational factors that Ms. Johnson must consider when preparing to teach at a distance are based on my studies as an online student are: First, To Identify what kind of platforms she could use… (Moodle, schoology, Kancademy etc.) What kind of technology will be the setting (e.g., it places, or time shifted). Time shifted allows any students to access the class at any time, like us here in liberty.  She needs to Know what kinds of technology she will use and be familiar with. Simonson et al (2015) argued: “The instructor must become familiar with the hardware and the nuance of the technology to use them effectively” (p.137). Ms. Johnson needs to understand and to know the technology she will use to start teaching her high school algebra class online, exactly as she knows math.

Ms. Johnson must have goals set for her online class, Dr. Holder (2019) claimed that an online instructor must set “clear goals and objectives, clear expectations, focus on effectiveness, not efficiency, and instructor’s contact information” (slide 8).

Second, to keep in mind that each learner has his/her own style, and the best learning programs accommodate learning styles and preferences”. (Rice et al, (2011).
Third, she should think the way to organize the course, maybe it be better to organize it chronologically, “to organize their course chronologically, not only because it is practical, but also because the tools lend themselves to the sequential presentation of material. Once they have their basic structure in place, they then add Resources and Activities”. (Rice et al, (2011).
Things to consider in an online course table.1


A source of information for students to access and deepen their knowledge.
The students will develop social learning, Opportunity to practice in communities.
Students will be able to share ideas and collaborate for the growth of their classmates.
The Teacher will identify if the student understood the content, the student will practice remembering what they have been learning.
To give the student the social practice, communities of practice.
Give the student Social practice and experiential learning and to build social responsibility

Timetable

To organize the course to help the learner keep track of their time and responsibility and help the student have success in the course.

 
Furthermore, She need to learn how to bust the student Self- Efficacy, and use techniques to help them keep  their desire to learn online,  because “ Students with High Self-efficacy perform better and understand that their efforts can result in better learning” ( Fisher, Frey & Hattie, 2016, p.27).
 
References
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2016). Teaching literacy in the visible learning classroom: K-12 classroom companion to Visible learning for literacy. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, a SAGE company.
Holder, D. (2019). EDUC 631: Foundations and theory of distance education    
        [powerpointslides]. Retrieved from
https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-28430817
 
Rice, William., & Nash, Susan Smith. Moodle 1.9 (2011). Teaching Techniques Creative Ways to Build Powerful and Effective Online Courses. Birmingham, U.K: Pack Pub.
 
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and     
 learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. (6th ed.) Boston, MA:
 Allyn & Bacon.

Video Discussion Board 3:
Topic: After reading chapter 5 in Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, describe one of the effects as discussed in Cognitive Load Theory.  Specifically, have you observed this effect either personally or in your classroom?
   Cognitive Load Theory (CLT).  Spector et al explain about The Cognitive Load Theory addressing a model of human cognitive architecture that helps predict and describe the distribution of working memory resources, and the communication between the working memory as well the long-term memory (Spector, Merrill, Elen, Bishop, 2014, p. 57).
   There are three parts of the human memory which are: intrinsic, extraneous and germane.
Dr. Holder in the liberty power point makes an explanation about the CLT, He addresses that CLT “How working memory is affected by the instruction process” (Dr. Holder, Liberty University, 2018). There are several researchers working and developing strategies with the objective to help and understand how learning occurs how students process the information, how many of them stick with the information inside their memory, and how to understand the role of memory, is very important to us as educators involved in the process of teaching  and learning. “Cognitive neurosciences provide tools that may prove useful in advancing the measurement of CLT. Talking about the neuroscience of learning Slavin and Schunk (2017) stated, “brain research shows that much academic content is processed primarily in the left hemisphere, but that right hemisphere processes context” (p.40). Using both sides of the brain helps the student keep in memory what they have been learning.
   As a second language teacher I have been learning the importance of this information in my classroom, and in my life as an English as a second language learner, so when I am teaching the Portuguese language I tried to focus on the content and the context. With this idea in mind, I take the responsibility to incorporate context as much as possible in my teaching style. I have seen that when I am teaching vocabulary and I give my students real-world situations with those words. With this technique they learn better than when I give them a list of vocabulary to memorizes.
   Additionally, thinking about CLT, I learned that when I am reading a book with my students, I see that when reading the book over and over and they ask questions it allows them to pick up the sentence that answers their question and keep the book in their memory. So, I know that the learning occurred.

​References
 
Holder, D. (2019). EDUC 631: Foundations and theory of distance education [powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/EDUC631_B03_201920/EDUC%20631/ Wk%203%20Instructional%20Design%20%28LMS%29/res/html5.html
Slavin and Schunk (2018). Learning Theories Educ 500 Print Offer New York, NY: Pearson Education
Spector, M., Merrill M., Elen J., & Bishop M. (2014). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology. (4th ed.) New York, NY. Springer.