Thursday, March 17, 2011
The process
I have been reflecting on the performance of CUTL and MHed students on the storyboarding assignment and I have been wondering what has been going through your minds as you worked on these storyboards. They were all so different and some people obviously put so much thought into it that I am actually looking forwarding to seeing the end products. I am hoping that the process allowed you to really examine your courses and focus on outcomes. Generally, I am hoping that you actually enjoyed the experience and feel empowered by the process.
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I guess that is the beauty of people. We are all different. I am sure that you really don't want to know what was going my mind. You might get lost! Ha ha! It sure does allow me to re-examine by course a lot. At least it gives me a better idea what I can and can't do with my online course that I have to build within the next few weeks. Enjoyed the experience at time, yes but empower, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI want to use a storyboard in parallel with a course outline and solicit student feedback on the effectiveness and attractiveness of using a storyboard versus a course outline to represent an Energy course. I am very happy to learn a new way of communicating without compromise. I must admit, at first I thought the storyboard to be a colourful, fun activity but it has reinforced the need to package education attractively for motivating student learning.
ReplyDeleteI looked at the samples of the storyboard templates on the DUTL 5106 myElearning course site and I also searched the Internet for others. I knew what I was going to put in the first seven blocks, and also the last one, of my storyboard. (In your feedback you gave me a suggestion, so when I actually complete my test course, Dr. Dianne, I’ll instead put the Review as the penultimate section and the Student Evaluation of the Course as the last.)
ReplyDeleteHowever, the other eight blocks took more thought as regards activities to be assigned and appropriate technologies to be used; so, I let the objectives for the modules / lessons guide me in my decision.
Having been accustomed putting up my courses on myElearning for the past three years without first doing any storyboarding – as I said in the face-to-face CUTL session, I didn’t know that such a thing could or should be done before putting my courses online – it felt as though I was working backwards and it was a little challenging trying to determine in advance what I wanted in some of those content blocks. Normally, I’d upload material onto the course site just before the semester / classes began and continue doing so as the semester progressed. So, really it’s a conceptual shift to sit and plan way in advance not only the what but also the how of the course site – how the course site will appear structurally, and aesthetically I daresay. The modular structure, sequencing, labeling, choice of activities, etc, are all to be taken into consideration.
This particular CUTL course on technology in teaching/learning has made me realize my errors of omission and the mistakes I have been making on my course sites; how to use more facilities and resources provided on myElearning; and how important my course outlines are to the planning and management of my course sites and not just of my face-to-face sessions.
As I’d also indicated in the CUTL class, even though when I was a secondary school teacher I’d given my Form Three Literature class a storyboard assignment and even though I had done a storyboard for an art history assignment when I was an undergraduate student, this was a different kind of exercise – it was a first for me – and I didn’t take it for granted. Even when I’d completed and submitted it, I was somewhat unsure as to whether I’d done it as Dr. Dianne wanted.
While I was doing it, though, there was that enjoyment that one derives when one is intently focusing on a task and realizing that certain ideas are coming to the fore as the work is being done.
I see now that there is not just one important document that I need when I am preparing my courses, but there are instead two important documents: my course outline and my storyboard.
I certainly enjoyed doing the storyboard exercise. It made me review a lot about what I do as a new teacher, and how I do it. I certainly learnt a lot not only about storyboarding but actually about teaching as a whole. Initially I was not sure what was required of me. Everything was new to me. I read the handouts, went on the internet, read and read some more. Each time I would find something new and go to my draft storyboard and add it on, or remove something. I also emailed Dr D (and got very prompt responses!).
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problems I was hoping to address with the online components were the very big class sizes, very limited course time with lots of content to be covered in a very short period of time, And with very limited resources. The storyboard experience allowed me to improve on my creativity. I am certainly looking forward to putting the big product together. I will probably still have to read some more and ask more questions as I do that too!
I can say that I enjoyed the experience and strangely enough, I feel that I can in fact proceed with my online course shell using my storyboard as the guide. After having gone through the process, I can see the importance of having this step before the next. It allowed me to explore, experiment and think about how to get the course online. I actually tried out some of the online segments while making creating the storyboard to see if it could work. I am excited to see the end product myself.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really enjoyed about the storyboard process was that it allowed me to re-create certain aspects of my course while still focusing on my learning outcomes. I was able to incorporate the use of wikis and discussion forums for my case studies which I felt would be very interesting, engaging and also encourage much more student participation. Definitely a worthwhile process!
ReplyDeleteI could certainly say whatever I learned here is readily useful for my regular teaching activity for the present and future, and I already started practicing some of the new stuff. I'll continue to do so. But still I could see the real fruit of it only in the coming semesters. I would certainly share my reflections in the near future about how these things work in my field.
ReplyDelete-Jaya