[VPAAEtal] ITDE Instructional Design Newsletter (TAMU-C) - March 10, 2008

Tue Mar 11 09:20:10 CDT 2008

 Online Learning InfoCast

Volume 1, Issue 5, March 10, 2008

Understanding Adult Learners

The design of an online course begins with an understanding of the
audience-the students. Generally, students who enroll in an online course
are adults. Adult learners are diverse in their learning styles, life
ex-periences, education, personalities, and in ways that they strategize to
learn. They seek to make their learning meaningful as they move through life
in that they want their learning to connect to their daily lives and to make
sense (Lawler, 2003).

Malcolm Knowles (1980) proposed a the-ory of adult learning, pedagogy for
adults, called Androgogy. He held that androgogy, which in Greek means
"adult-leading," should be distinguished from pedagogy that, in Greek, means
"child-leading." 

Andragogy makes four assumptions about the design of learning: 

1. Adults need to know why they need to learn something 

2. Adults need to learn experientially 

3. Adults approach learning as problem-solving

4. Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value.

These assumptions indicate that the de-sign of instruction for adults should
focus on the "process of learning." Process ac-tivities include case
studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation.

Principles of instruction supporting Knowles' theory of adult learning
include:

1. Adults need to be involved in the plan-ning and evaluation of their
instruction.

2. Experience (including mistakes) provide the basis for learning
activities.

3. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate
relevance to their job or personal life.

4. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.

The Theories of Adult Learning (CAL) model presented by K. P. Cross includes
four principles to keep in mind regarding adult learning programs:

1. Adult learning programs should capital-ize on the experience of
participants.

2. Adult learning programs should adapt to the aging limitations of the
participants.

3. Adults should be challenged to move to increasingly advanced stages of
per-sonal development.

4. Adults should have as much choice as possible in the availability and
organiza-tion of learning programs.

To read more about adult learning:

 <http://adulted.about.com/cs/learningtheory/>
http://adulted.about.com/cs/learningtheory/

<http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/ad
ults-2.htm> http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/
committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/ adults-2.htm

Knowles, M. (1980). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to
andragogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Cambridge Adult Education.

Lawler, P. (2003). Teachers as adult learners: A new perspective (New
Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 98) San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.

Kearsley, G. (2008) Theories into practice. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from
http://tip.psychology.org/

Hosts:   Dr. Steve Shwiff

             Dr. Leah Wickersham

Date:     April 8th, 10:30-12:00 a.m.

Location: Faculty Lounge

Join us for an eFaculty LIVE! session as Drs. Shwiff and Wickersham pre-sent
how they are using ClassLive Pro in their online courses.   

ClassLive Pro (CLP) is a synchronous tool which provides for faculty and
stu-dent interactions in real time. CLP fea-tures include a shared
interactive whiteboard, application sharing, live webcam video, breakout
rooms, chat, a graphing calculator, PowerPoint im-port, content import,
record and play-back features, polling, synchronized web browsing, and the
archiving of sessions.

To register for this session go to www.tamu-commerce.edu/itde. Select the
'training' link under Instructional Design on the left navigation bar.

eCollege Tips

Threaded Discussions

* Make threads read-only after a certain date. This allows students to go
back and reference threaded discussions, but they cannot add more posts
after you 'lock' them.

* Allow students to edit their posts. Sometimes students make gram-matical
errors--or perhaps they just change their minds about a state-ment made.
Threaded Discussions default to not allowing students the ability to edit,
but you can change that. Keep in mind that when stu-dents do edit a post,
the system does not retain the original post(s). The system will note,
though, that a post has been edited and the date.

Gradebook Review Date

Remember to check the grade-book review date for your exams.  These dates
over-ride any grade-book set-ting in order to protect the integrity of the
exam.  If the grade is not viewable via the grade-book, make sure to check
that this date has passed.

Edit Schedule Window

If you receive a blank page when sav-ing changes in the Edit Schedule
win-dow, you will want to check for a popup blocker on your computer or hold
down the CTRL button on you keyboard when clicking Save Changes. This will
automatically by-pass most popup blockers.

The Readiness for Education At a Distance Indicator (READI) is a web-based
tool designed to serve as an early warning device to identify students who
may be defi-cient in the skills and attributes necessary for successful
distance learning. READI indicates the degree to which an individual student
possesses attributes, skills and knowledge that contribute to success in
online learning, including: self-motivation; time-management skills;
self-discipline; reading comprehension; persistence; ability to use a
laptop, printer, software and the Internet; and typing speed and accuracy.
READI provides an immediate score and diagnostic interpretation of results
to the student and the instructor 

If you would like your online students to take advantage of the resources
provided through READI, please include this link in your online course
<http://tamuc.readi.info/> http://tamuc.readi.info/.  Students will login
with the following username/password combination: tamuc/online. Students
will be directed to create a personal login and be given access to the
as-sessment.

As instructors you may receive a summative report detailing the individual
READI scores of your students. Results are presented in easy-to-interpret
charts and graphs. The on-screen report consists of colorful charts that
indicate the participant's level of READIness in reading speed &
comprehension, technical competency, individual at-tributes, typing speed &
accuracy, and preferred learning styles. To learn more about how to access
these student reports, please e-mail  <mailto:online at tamu-commerec.edu>
online at tamu-commerce.edu. 

eCollege Training Sessions

Training sessions on specific eCollege com-ponents and instructional
software tools are available for the design and development of your online
course(s).

To find out more about each session or to register for one or more sessions,
go to www.tamu-commerce.edu/itde. Select the 'training' link under
Instructional Design on the left navigation bar.

	  IDU Staff

  Julie A. McElhany, Ed.D.

  Coordinator for Instructional Design

  Dean Aslinia, M.S.

  eLearning Support Specialist

  Alan Francis, M.B.A.

  eLearning Administrative Specialist

  Jess Lamphere, B.S.

  eLearning Support Specialist

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