What I learned about visualization and graphics

What a great lesson! I answered the quiz questions correctly, but I needed to return to Bonnie's prezi to find the answers to the question:


Identify 3 functions of visuals goals in lesson content

I learned many things during this lesson and was introduced to many new ideas. I am excited about trying the Prezi software and the Xtranormal website that Ericka introduced.

I think the key piece of information I learned in this lesson was the fact that there is a process for creating a graphic for educational purposes. I am excited about developing graphics in the future and working through the process. I've gained new tools for helping students learn.  Thank you, Bonnie and Ericka!!


 

Analyzing My Writing Style

My writing style - Cynde Larsen

                My tone when writing is primarily analytical and curious.  When reviewing my posts, I noticed that I wrote “I wonder” frequently.                     

My own pattern of response?

I feel that my pattern of response is one in which I “focus on conceptual tensions” (Collison, Elbaum, Haavind, & Tinker , 2000, p.106).  This is evidenced in my June 24 response in which I debated the use of the concept of distance to describe the relationship between online moderator and online student. My experience has been that a community must be in agreement on a core of fundamental concepts that guide activity within the group. Without such understanding, it is difficult for the group to “pull together” toward a common goal.

I have not yet functioned in the role of moderator, but I imagine that I will be most like the generative guide, striving to “lay out a spectrum of current or possible positions taken to indicate avenues of questioning that have remained overlooked or unexplored”.  This is the way in which I like to approach problems currently, in the face-to-face environment.  It seems that in the face-to-face environment, this line of moderating is not always well accepted, at least in the manner that I do it.  I sometimes feel that colleagues want me to take a position and seem frustrated when I discuss a couple of different lines of thinking.  They seem to want me to take a stand, rather than to ask them to share their own thoughts and ideas.  I am looking forward to using this technique in the online environment and assessing the effect on learning.  I hope this voice will prove a useful tool for learning.

How does your writing style and patterns of response affect how you interact/communicate online?

                I can be very serious and this is evident in my formal writing.  I recognize that I need to add more nurturing, humorous, and whimsical tones to my online moderating in order to help the learners to feel less stress and more comfort – I want to inspire them! (Collison, et al., p. 123).

What kind of impact might my pattern have on my group and on my online community?

                A balance of styles is important in promoting learning and decreasing boredom for learners and for me.  For example, to much use of the conceptual facilitator role can shut down communication by creating a “sage on the stage” atmosphere that transfers responsibility for learning and communication from the learner to the teacher.

What is my comfort level with each of the voices?

                I feel comfortable with the role of generative guide.  I like to think about all of the possibilities open to me and enjoy generating conversation regarding options with others.

                I am nervous that I could overuse the role of conceptual facilitator because of my years as a teacher and as a nursing administrator.  Before I began teaching in 2004, I thought that teaching meant talking and learning meant listening.  I have learned a lot since that time, but am cautious that the conceptual facilitator role not become my dominant voice.

                The reflective guide voice seems very similar to the generative guide voice, though it uses the voices of the class participants to “clarify or extend points” (Collison, et al., p. 111).  My greatest challenge with this voice may be to simply slow down and allow the thoughts of the participants to form a structure from which I can help the participants to explore further. I think I could be helped with the voice by creating some simple graphic organizers that would allow me to organize the participants individual responses.  This is something I would create for myself to help me to derive the “big picture”.  The use of such an organizer seems particularly important for me in a course with many participants.  When I moderated an online course of approximately 25 students last spring, I had difficulty forming a place in my mind for each of the participant’s responses. I know that a graphic organizer of some sort is a must for me when moderating an online course.

                I like the voice of the personal muse as it seems like a non-threatening manner of steering the dialogue in the direction of deeper learning.  Using this voice, I can explore issues the students may be having with the material in a manner that lets them know that these topics often are not simple.  We all must think things through to gain deeper understanding.

                I am able to use the mediator role in the class room and can successfully suspend judgment, though this can be challenging in nursing, where there is such emphasis on evidence-based practice (empiricism can run amuck with individual thought, at times).  There are many controversial subjects in the health care field and the mediator role is a great strategy for stimulating affective learning.

                Finally, I am comfortable with role play in the face-to-face environment and am hopeful I will be able to transfer this comfort to the online environment.  I enjoy reading a large variety of material and find that some of the most widely disparate information can be used for role playing purposes (this also helps me to rationalize time spent reading a Harry Potter book or a chronicle of the history of Constantinople J ).

How does knowing the different voices and tones help me develop moderating skills?

                Knowing the different voices helps me to begin to develop a strategy for online moderating.  Without knowledge of the voices, the function of moderating would be more of a “trial and error” process – one in which I might fail or succeed without knowledge of the nature of the problem or the success.  I am excited about trying the various voices and tones.  I will probably use the graphic organizer in my online moderation next year in order to attempt to analyze the use of the voices and tones.  

References

Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S., & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating online learning: Effective strategies for moderating.  Madison, WI: Atwood Press.

Balance in Online Communication

 I found this second blog to be challenging because of difficulty in choosing a topic.  With an opportunity to blog about any topic relating to online education, many ideas came to mind. I considered investigating the research regarding the use of didactic or active learning approaches relative to the expertise of the learner.  Regarding my own learning, I prefer didactic teaching when learning new information in my areas of expertise.  When learning information with which I am not familiar, however, active learning techniques help me to learn best. Using Google Scholar, I was unable to locate information regarding this topic. I need to do further searches to determine is this topic has been addressed in the literature.

I next considered a problem discussed in Collison, Elbaum, Haavind, and Tinker (2000) – how can an online learning facilitator best balance private communication and public discussion in an online course?

This is a question I have dealt with first hand and which can be very challenging for an online instructor. Collison et al. offer some important ideas such as encouraging students to use the official school email address, rather than a personal email address when corresponding with the instructor.  Many semesters, a student will approach me and say “I don’t use my school email, so please send my email to ________@gmail.com . When I was a new teacher, I would take the little slip of paper containing the student’s alternative email address, say “thank you” and then struggle through the semester every time that I sent an announcement regarding the course.  If I did not remember to send a separate email to the students who had odd email addresses, those students would not receive needed information.

My experience is consistent with the advice of Collison et al. – It is helpful to inform the students they  need to use the school’s email address when communication for their course as doing so will decrease the likelyhood (disclaimer: I forget to follow my own advise with this point occasionally.

Collison et al. describe the advantage of using the discussion board application to post and save the majority of the course communication. As they mention, storing most course communication in one location decreases confusion and saves time when older communications must be located and read by the instructor. I have learned to create a folder in my email inbox for each new class that I teach so I can easily locate pertinent information .

Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind,S., & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating online learning: Effective strategies for moderators. Madison, WI: Atwood Press.

Don't fear online education - Blog about it!

When you enter or reenter a nursing program, you may have the pleasure of taking an online course.  If you are truly fortunate, you will work with a professor who establishes authentic learning activities – activities that promote deep learning and the acquisition of practical skills.

I had such an opportunity when professor Heidi Schweizer from Marquette University asked students to create a blog.  My prior exposure to  blogging was limited to a viewing of Julie and Julia which, while certainly entertaining, left me woefully underprepared for authorship.

After locating and reading a few nursing blogs I proceeded to blogspot.com . Happily, the task of creating the blog foundation was straightforward.  A working blog appeared in less than an hour.  Subscribing to and reading the comments made by my classmates was interesting.  I learned more about each of them and the practice of engaging in the blogging helped me to understand the activity more completely.  I spent a great deal of time in reflection as I prepared my  post and responded  to those made by my classmates,

If a problem existed with this learning activity, it might be the feeling of exposure I experience as I publicly posted in the new blog. It was a feeling of receiving a never-before-read sheet of music and being asked to sing the song aloud in front of a room full of opera critics.

Our professor requested feedback in the form of an improvement for the blog activity and the related coursework.  I think my feelings of stage fright could be assuaged if we were given a short list of well-done blogs.  Perhaps students could be asked to find two blogs related to their professional field and to critique those blogs using predetermined criteria for high-quality communication.

So, blog on, fellow nurses and future teachers.  Find your own voice and begin to share it with others. Your patients and your colleagues need to hear from you!

The Journey

Nursing is an amazing profession. You may wish to deepen your impact on patients and on the profession by preparing for a position as a nursing instructor. I took the long way around - from a Baccalaureate degree, to a Masters degree, and now am a PhD nursing student.

Do you have a similar dream?  Are you already on your journey? Or have you successfully made the leap from nurse to nurse scholar?

In 2004, I was a director of nursing in a skilled nursing facility and was interviewing registered nurse candidates at a job fair.  I was pleased to greet a candidate whom I knew well - a person who had worked as a certified nursing assistant at our facility.  She happily shared her future plans - to complete her Baccalaureate degree, obtain her Masters degree and become a teacher of nursing.

That evening, I thought about that meeting and the candidates well-thought-out plans. Her dream was my dream. If she could return to the classroom so fearlessly, then I believed I could do so, as well. This simple interaction provided the impetus I needed to return to university, a place I had last frequented 17 years earlier.

What will it take for you to make the leap?  What or who moved you to take the first step?