Final blog...

My interview is located in the drop box due to the nature of where it was done...thanks!

"Audio/Video / Podcast: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners."

This week’s blogging assignment (and our last) is to identify the pros and cons that you think the integration of audio/video/podcast into our lesson plans may bring to our adult students?  While there are both pros and cons to utilizing audio, video and podcasts into our lesson plans, it is my belief that there are more pros than cons.  King and Knox state,  “Digital media such as podcasting offer the capability for students to use their popular media and be critical thinkers and creators of knowledge across disciplines rather than sitting in the background as passive spectators to their own education” (2011, p.33).  I think this statement resounds through additional means of technology such as the use of audio and video as well.

Our lives seem to change every time a new piece of technology hits the market.  This is not only for every day consumers but for students and educators as well.  It is not only limited to the younger generation as well.  This was apparent in this week’s podcast assignment produced by Stan Alcorn of NPR.  This podcast showed the power of technology and podcasts with senior citizens and their experience with such technology and their preconceived notions about using it.  With that said, the following are what I believe are the pros and cons of podcasts. 

Cons:

Advertisements: Most podcasts have advertisements that distract from the learning experience and put the viewer/listener on edge or distract them from the content of the podcast.  Users may think that the podcast in some shape or form may be associated with the advertisement and make them biased.

Users access: Some students/users may not have the access or means to view podcasts.

Users attitude: Some students may not want to watch a podcast because they feel as though they cannot ask questions and or get answers right away about the content of the podcast. 

Pros:

User access: users can access the podcast at their convenience or leisure.

User attitudes: Students/users may want to see a podcast about a particular subject, with a subject matter expert than listening to their instructor lecture. 

Technology integration:  Students/users can utilize their technology to access and view a podcast, which will allow them feel as though they have a say in their learning experience or that feel comfortable with. 

King, K. and Cox, T. (2011). The Professor’s Guide to Taming

Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Alcorn, S. (Producer). (2012, July 12). New Online Users Have A

Longer Timeline [Podcast]. Retrieved from

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/07/12/15663200

8/new-online-users-have-a-longer-timeline.  

Blog Assignment #3

This week we are designing a lesson plan incorporating Wikis.  The following lesson plan outlines a lesson plan for veteran Project Officers to create wikis that can be utilized by their reliefs once it is their time to rotate to their next duty position.

Project Officer Job Aid Wiki

Refer to the following Authorities: USC 14.1004, 14.1032 & 14.1012

Title: Project Officer Job Aid Wiki

Target Audience:

The target audiences for this lesson are officers assigned as Project Officers that have been at the command for over 2 years or that have previous project officer experience within the last three years.

Prospective Project Officers objectives include but are not limited to:

1.    Create a Wiki for each region that will allow newly arrived Project Officers to utilize Wikis to perform their jobs.

2.    Be able to explain the Commands Strategies

3.    Be able to explain the roles and responsibilities of Project Officers.

4.    Be able to explain the authorities for the programs for which Project Officers are responsible.

5.    Be able to explain financial procurement for all projects.

6.    Be able to explain construction projects process.

Materials Needed, Including Handouts:

Unit instructions, Unit policies, Authorities guidelines and current and previous project officer books.

Advance Preparation Needed:

Read applicable unit instructions and the current years project officer book.

Class Outline:

Week 1: 

Command and Project Officers introductions

General course overview

Week 2:

Command Strategies

Roles and responsibilities of Project Officers.

Week 3:

Project Officer Authorities

Financial procurements

Week 4:

Construction projects

Special Projects

Week 5:

Basic course overview and Wiki basics

Wiki design and required content

Week 6:

Develop indivdual Wikis

Incorperate regional links

 Week 7:

Wiki critique and functionality tests with classmates

Week 8:

Final Wiki presntation to Operations Section Chief

Interactive Component:

During Week 7 Project Officers will critique each others Wikis and conduct functionality tests on all Wiki content and links/videos.

Evaluation

Evaluations will be done with rubric outlined in Unit instruction 14.10001.54.  Evaluations will be completed by peers during Week 7 and upon completion of final brief to Operations Section Chief.  Upon approval by the Operations Section Chief and instruction to new Project Officers, evaluations will be conducted again on the new Project Officers.

Comments/Other:

Lesson Plan Written By: _______________________________________

Lesson Plan Approved By: ________________________ Date: ________

References: http://www.kansaswic.org/nutrition_education/lesson_plans.html

Blog Assignment #2

Wikis: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners

Just as we have done in previous weeks with discerning between discussion boards and Blogs, this week we will look at the pros and cons of Wikis for Adult Learners.  I think before we go into breaking down the pros and cons, we must first understand what a Wiki is and the right use for them.  Once that has been established, the pros and cons will have proper context I believe to identify them.  

West & West define a Wiki simply as “an online collaborative writing tool” (2009).  They also go on to state, “ Wikis are best suited for collaborative activities, especially those that are dynamic and nonlinear in construction and will result in a shared product or outcome” (2009).

Pros:

·      Is a social process in which learning takes place even with participants with different skill levels (King & Cox, 2011).

·      In most educational settings is free.

·      Ownership by all participants.

·      User friendly

·      Collaboration

·      Technical experience helps (reduces time to build Wiki).

Cons:

·      Some technical experience is needed.

·      The number of individuals collaborating on the Wiki.

·      Designing and facilitating is often difficult for new users (West & West, 2009, p.19).

·      Security and anyone can make changes or additions within the group.

There are many pros and cons for using Wikis for adult learners, but it is my opinion that the pros out weight the cons.  The collaborative nature of Wikis make them great learning tools and ultimately maximize the learning of all involved no matter what their experience is.

West, J., & West, M. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

King, K., & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Blog Assignment #1

Hello everyone! I’m currently taking a course that required me to start my first blog site and post.  Its actually kind of funny that I’m doing this because if I were not taking this course, I would have never done it. So here’s to new things…

For our first blogging exercise we were posed the question: Is blogging the same as discussion board activity? Based on the week’s readings, discuss the difference between blogging and discussion board activity and the pros and cons blogging brings to adult learners.

Just as in last week’s assignments on discussion boards in adult education, there are pros and cons to blogging.  Below are some of the pros and cons of blogging:

Cons:

Initially for me, as King and Cox state in Chapter 6, learning how to blog and setting up the site was “techno-hell” for me.  Throughout my Adult education classes, I have used the same discussion board for over a year now and feel really comfortable with it.  Learning a new system and actually going “live” where everyone can see and respond is new territory for me.  I know that most views will be from classmates, but what about the rest? Am I ready to hear from anyone with a computer? While I’m apprehensive, I welcome the new experience. 

You are not sheltered by an academic firewall setting and the information you post could compromise you anonymity and your personal life.

You might be push things to the extreme as you are not in an academic environment.

Pros:

The most notable pro for me is that you are outside the walls of an educational setting and get a more diverse perspective that may be more beneficial from that in an educational setting with those reading and droning through the same course work.  I guess it would be a fresh perspective free of yours as well as your classmate’s previous educational bias.

Writing a blog beats the mundane assignments of writing in journals in an academic setting and is more acceptable by younger generations. This question was posed in Wittle’s article “What was it about posting personal writing on an online blog that was so different from the writing in my class- room?”

You might be push things to the extreme as you are not in an academic environment.

King, K. P., & Cox, T. D. (2011). The professor's guide to taming technology: Leveraging digital

media, Web 2.0, and more for learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.

Wittle, S.  (2007). That's online writing, not boring school writing: Writing with blogs and the          
            Talkback Project. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(2), 92-96.