Module 7 ~

The most important/interesting/challenging thing I learned in

Module Seven is to write extenders and redirections for the discussion
board. This pre-thinking how to encourage students to dig deeper will not
only save time, but more importantly, be better constructed. Leaving the
extenders and or redirections for spur of the moment creation risks that
they will not be crafted well and may not extend deeper critical thinking.
And if the students are not directed into deeper critical thinking, then the
discussion is just busy work. Students dont want to be doing pointless busy
work and as an instructor, I dont want to be commenting on or grading busy
work. Time is too precious and there is much to learn to waste the
opportunity given!
Describe or analyze the experience of both getting and giving peer
feedback, and how that informs your methods of facilitation One of
the (many) things I love about this course is getting to see my work from
someone elses eyes. The feedback has been most informative. We have
built up trust all throughout the course and I was not at all intimidated by
receiving feedback from my peers. I find that I actually look forward to
feedback. As far as giving feedback, I did find that my first reading of my
peers assignments I would initially think that all was perfect! But then I
would re-read the assignment with a more critical thought process and find
something to propose to my peers. This process reinforced my
understanding of what I was learning! (Aha moment!)
Other reflective thoughts I did enjoy getting to see and hear my
classmates in the synchronous chat! I know that one of the benefits of
online learning is the anonymity of the class and that helps prevent biases.
Butfor what its worth, I did enjoy meeting everyone!

Module ~ 6
The most important tip for me from the Time Management Tips for Online
Teaching was Handle it once! I am notorious for looking at emails,
assignments, and discussion boards multiple times. It is not efficient and it
puts me behind in work and in life. The course work can seem to permeate
all corners of my life when I dont handle it efficiently. The most practical tip
I will take away from this reading is to have a grade sheet or spread sheet
out when I am reading the discussion threads. This way I can make note of
important contributions as they happen. The second most important tip

for me from this reading was to not put any dates within the course
content/modules. To use the online course calendar instead. I spend a lot of
time updating the course each semester with new due dates. I can cut the
time in half by adapting this simple solution!
Other reflective thoughts I look forward to the discussion each week,
knowing that I will be challenged in some new way. My colleagues have
shared new perspectives on learning and also many important resources
during this course. Yes...there is more than one way to present learning
activities! So the learner-learner interactions are working well!
Module 5 ~
In what ways will the 70/30 rule impact your online facilitation?
When it comes to personality types, I confess to being a bit of a Type B. So
sometimes looming deadlines are an important nudge for me. I recall the
first time I taught an online course, I was literally just one week ahead of the
students. Needless to say, I was stressed the entire semester! Never again,
I said to myself! And fortunately, I am able to learn from my mistakesand I
have been better prepared since then. So it was fascinating to read the
whys and wherefores of the window (Lehmann, K. and Chamberlin L., 2009,
chapter 11). I found that I can improve some of my pre-course
communications. I do send an introductory email, but I dont have the
students reply to me. I like that it gets the student involved in an easy way
with facilitator-learner interaction. Another idea that I will use is having a Tab
titled FAQs. I know some students are hesitant to ask questions and are also
hesitant to use a Q & A discussion board. And encouraging students to look
to respond to other students who have few or no replies on the discussion
board is something that I will now include in my directions.
Other reflective thoughts Communication is key and is a must! The
examples (in our text) of replies to inappropriate postings were quite helpful.
Positivity from the facilitator is an art and must be utilized to keep the
learning community engaged and progressing.
Module 4 ~
The biggest aha! moment that I have had thus far, happened during
the discussion this week. Four weeks ago I was taking a class at UW-Stout.
It serves a purpose, its leading to a goal to teach in an online degree
completion program. This week its obvious that Im part of a community of
learning. Somewhere in the last 4 weeks the transformation occurred. I

have a responsibility to the community and my community of learning is

impacting me. Im curious to see if others think it is because of our small
class size or if its attainable in larger on line courses. Personally, I believe
the smaller size of our class has led to a deeper level of connection.
Another aha is that it is more difficult to facilitate a discussion when social
constructivism guides the learning community. I am used to having the
discussion board pointed towards the end result (content) that I have
prescribed for my learners. Of course, it was no surprise that the emerging
discussions though were really rich. I am quite impressed (and challenged)
by my classmates.
Module 3 ~
The most intriguing thing I learned in Module 3 was planning for
argumentative dialogue. It should not be left to chance, it should happen in
a thoughtfully placed discussion prompt. I dont teach an Ethics course or
the Nursing Management course, but opportunities for argumentative
dialogue still present themselves in most nursing related content.
I will use this newfound knowledge as an online facilitator
by purposely placing discussion prompts that will require students to defend
their answers. An example could be: Do the benefits of treatment outweigh
the risks in the pharmaceutical treatment XYZ? Why or why not? Defend
your answer.
Other reflective thoughts I need to pay attention to my Personal
Learning Environment! I need to be proactive not reactive! The PLE
assignment has brought to my attention that my Learning Environment is
a little small. I have relied on conferences and memberships in professional
organizations, but the learning is limited in time and passive in nature. I
need to cultivate an active learning environment. This will keep me up to
date in regards to not only nursing, but nursing and online learning in
particular. My goal is to eventually teach in a degree completion program
(RN to BSN program). These programs are offered almost entirely online. If I
am to do that, I will need to be better connected and interacting with my
own personal learning environment. I saw that one of the Nursing Education
experts has a twitter account, so I attempted to sign up for twitter.only to
find out that I already had an account! Oh my! I had forgotten that I had
signed up for a twitter account when I was at a conference in Madison for
distance learning about 2 years ago. When I got back in, I found I had a few

resources that I could use. Imagine that!

Module 2 ~
The most important thing I learned during Module Two was Nursing
education is moving away from the instructivist philosophy to a constructivist
approach. When I read about pedagogy I was struck by this quote by
Knowles et al., describing pedagogy in regards to school-aged children The
pedagogical model assigns to the teacher full responsibility for making all
decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be
learned, and if it has been learned Making the Move to ELearning, Putting
your Course Online (Lehmann, K. and Chamberlin L. 2009 pg 62). This
describes nursing education in 2014 also. Why? Nurse educators are under
tremendous pressure from the college to improve retention. Many enter, but
not all complete the program. However, every nursing program also answers
to their respective State Board of Nursing regarding percentage of students
who pass the licensure test on the first attempt. The State Board of Nursing
has the power to suspend or shut down nursing programs. Nurse educators
are constantly battling the they (the students) must know this and they
must know that phenomena of a content heavy curriculum. I was able to
find a few nursing articles on this subject. All noted that nursing education
must actively move away from a teacher-centered pedagogy in favor of a
student-centered pedagogy, but it has been slow to happen in the actual
practice of educating future nurses.
This learning will benefit me as an online facilitator bybeing
intentional in my facilitation in embracing adult learning theory and social
constructivist theory. My online facilitation will need to ensure that the
student is in the center and that the content is problem based, involving
students inquiry and also project based so that students can learn from each
other. Well-designed courses will allow students to be actively involved in
their learning, motivated and responsible, and most importantly able to think
critically and problem solve. These are the skills necessary for nurses in the
21st century.
Other reflective thoughts...I am just so impressed with my classmates.
So many interesting discussions this week. I had to really reflect before I
discussed. Even the discussion regarding how to best assign groups in an
online class had me thinking and then rethinking the possibilities.

Module 1 ~ The new knowledge and skills I gained in Module 1

were: In this past module, Differentiated Instruction was the focus of my
posting as it is noted to be a hallmark of good teaching practices (Lehmann,
K. and Chamberlin L., 2009). I have been contemplating the fact that I have
fallen into a bit of a routine with the learning activities that I use in my
courses. I dont ever want to be satisfied with the status quo. If I want to
inspire my students to be the best nurse they can be, I must stay inspired
myself with being the best teacher I can be. I asked my peers what
resources they were using. I was overwhelmed with new ideas.
The knowledge and skills will benefit me as an online facilitator by:
I will use these new resources to challenge myself to see if I am really
providing learning experiences for all types of learners including students
with disabilities. This is something I have not considered before as I
prepared my courses. I think my first action step will be to contact one of
the Disability Support Counselors on the campus and discuss the class that I
will be teaching in the Fall to get their opinion on how to include these
learners.
Other reflective thoughts: Week one already has my head spinning with
new ideas. This is going to be a challenging 8 weeks!