Creating a Small Focused Learning Module

What a challenge this week was. I was the one praying for the ice and snow. As a result, I had the whole week off to create my presentation. The first thing I had to do was to decide on a topic. I had one for an earlier module; but I decided it would not lend itself to the module I was creating. The course I have begun to create is called, New Ideas Regarding: Aging and Retirement in America. Since I did not have access to a Learning Management System, I had to think how I could present this course without one. It started out as a Microsoft document. After emailing Sam, it quickly turned into a Power Point presentation. I have never used Power Point before! Sam…how you have challenged me, I am absolutely certain I will be divorced by the time this course is over…okay not really. But I know I am aging faster than I was before this course. I think my intimate other has heard some interesting and creative combinations of obscenities this week.

Once I moved the text from a Word document to a Power Point, I had to search for the video and blogs, etc, to present in the module. I knew the module would need an introduction to the course Module. So, after driving Norma crazy with my emails, while her power was out during the “Deep Freeze,” I realized I would need to somehow get this presentation on Elluminate. While I was at my niece’s house trying to enjoy Thanksgiving, my mind was on how to get an Elluminate session I could use to put my presentation on. While everyone else in the house was fast asleep, I was on the computer reading about Elluminate and how to work it. Their cat, barred from entering our sleeping area, sat in the door frame first thing the next morning while I was on the computer turning his head from side to side and slyly looking at me like I had lost my mind. I suddenly remembered why I wasn’t fond of cats.

On Friday, after the cat let me know what he thought of me, I knew I had to get home to write all this up and place it into Elluminate. Even though my niece’s ex-husband was a WA State Trooper, I made it home in record time…under an hour from Bonney Lake to Redmond never once realizing I was probably driving above the required speed limit on the interstate. Taking the time to warm our house from 55 degrees to 68, I sat down at the computer and read Rob’s entries into Wiki Space on our discussion page.

Thinking to myself, if he can do this, I can…I set out to put my course information into the Wiki. To my dismay, I actually accomplished that task and managed to get one usable recorded session in Elluminate, after five tries. Then, looking into my course mail, I saw Sam was setting up a session in something called dimdim for those of us who might have questions on this assignment or were a little dimdim, which I was. After it was over, I was very glad that dimdim helped this dumdum finish with her entries into Wiki and Elluminate.

After 6 hours of sleep last night…I hope to get some down time and rest this evening and make amends to my husband for teaching him words no self-respecting person should use and for being somewhere else during Thanksgiving. Now all I have left to do this week, since somehow I managed to clean my house, is figure out a way to get rid of all this turkey and pumpkin pie inside me that seems to be sliding slowly toward my tummy and thighs. They say eating is a way one comforts oneself. I can attest to that!

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

New Ideas in eLearning Education: Storytelling and Gaming

This week was an interesting study in which direction educators are heading in.  Telling a story, especially a personal story in a digital media for public consumption is a powerful tool.  Not only can you tell a story using digital media, but gaming industries are working very hard to develop games that tell a story.  The following video is a bit long.  My suggestion is to move to the storytelling part if you find the dialogue too boring.

We all have stories to tell.  The most intriguing part of digital storytelling is the fact that finally we can tell them in a way that stimulates others to listen.  I can relate to the story told in the video, because I was a high school dropout.  I left school after my tenth grade year.  A few years later I took a GED test and received the equivalent of a high school diploma.  After two failed marriages and mothering five children, I went to a local state employment agency where I was given a series of tests.  At the end, of this skills testing program, I was told, “…you can be anything you want to be…”  There is a tremendous power in those words.  I was thirty three years old with 6 children to bring up; but I had the one thing that gave me the power to continue for the next nine years…hope.

I managed to get funding at my local college, St Cloud State University, through a government program and began my educational journey for the next nine years.  I earned my Associates Degree there.  I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and was accepted into a Sociology program at the University of Utah.  I entered the Honors Program; finally, I earned my Bachelor’s of Science degree, with scholastic honors.  After completing my sociology degree with a focus of study in Criminology, I changed my major to Political Science and two years later earned my Master of Science degree, with honors.   I applied to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was rejected for a doctoral candidacy.

I moved to Wisconsin and entered a program of personalized special studies at the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, in order to write a research paper.  It took me one year to complete my study of my research topic and to write that paper.  Once it was written, I presented it to a three professor committee at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was accepted into their doctoral program in the Political Science Department.  Unfortunately, life happened and while I completed my course work, I never finished my oral testing and doctoral thesis.  However, in spite of all that hardship and not being able to complete my studies for my doctorate, I still had one thing left…hope.  One kernel of insight and wisdom by a state educator, years ago, prompted me to continue my life seeking to be educated.  But, I had found education boring in my early years in high school…and did not want to teach.  One day I walked into a class in eLearning and found my passion.

I could not end this blog until I introduced a video on storytelling and gaming.  The gaming industry is beginning to find that storytelling in games has its purpose. Today educators can incorporate this digital media into the classroom in a new and innovative way to stimulate the minds of the digital learners of today.  I hope you enjoy these presentations.

Personal Learning Networks and Personal Learning Environments: Creating My Own & Sharing

 As some of you may know, I work as a volunteer in a Domestic Violence Program as a Crisis Line Advocate.  Every Thursday morning, I get out of bed early and drive to the secure location to listen to women in crisis, who are the victims and survivors of domestic violence (DV) on the Eastside.  Today is Veteran’s Day and it brings back the memories of the women on Ft. Lewis, Washington and Fort McCoy, Wisconsin I have worked with.  In the 1980’s there were very few shelters and even less funds available.  Yet, the women I worked for, and with, in these shelters showed me what “courage and strength” really are.  Sadly, they will never get the medals they deserve…especially the Purple Heart. What is even worse is the fact that some of them are no longer with us and never will be again.

In the 1980’s when shelters were just beginning to get the support they needed, I wrote letters to local, state and federal representatives and worked the crisis lines for a Domestic Violence Shelter and the Suicide Crisis Line (they were located together then) in the state of Wisconsin.  Because I was a military family member, I worked for the rights of abused survivors of DV, because many of them were military family members too.  While the military had programs to handle the problem of abusive soldiers, commanding officers did not take these cases seriously and often did not apply the sanctions the military required.  I had the experience of seeing this happen on Fort Lewis, now Joint Base Lewis and McCord, when I worked on the fort and was a volunteer at the YWCA shelter in Tacoma, in the 80s as well.

I would like to share a poem I ran across in a blog today.  It speaks volumes about what I see and hear every Thursday.  Unfortunately, I did not know when I took it off the blog it was copyrighted by the author in 1991.  The poem is as follows (any additions, deletions, mistakes or paraphrases are mine) :

I Got Flowers Today

It wasn’t my birthday or any other special day.  We had our first argument [fight] last night, and he said a lot of cruel things that really hurt me.  I know he’s sorry and didn’t mean the things he said, because he sent me flowers today.  It wasn’t our anniversary or any other special day.

Last night he threw me into a wall and started to choke me.  It seemed like a nightmare.  I couldn’t believe it was real.  I woke up this morning bruised and sore all over.  I know he must be sorry because, he sent me flowers today and it wasn’t Mother’s Day or any special day.

Last night he beat me up again, and it was much worse than all the other times.  If I leave him what will I do?  How will I take care of my kids?  What about money?  I am afraid of him and scared to leave [he gets really angry when I think about it].  But I know he must be sorry, because he sent me flowers today.  I got flowers today…

Today was a very special day.  It was the day of my funeral.  Last night he finally killed me.  He beat me to death.  If only I had gathered the courage and strength to leave him.  I would not have gotten flowers today [I know he’s not sorry, because I got flowers today]. 

                                                       By  Allen W. Dowdell, Copyright 1991

The following facts were taken from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence web site.  Most cases of DV go unreported.  In the US, less than one fifth of DV victims/survivors reported injuries suffered at the hands of their intimate partners and/or sought medical treatment.  Annually, there are circa 16,800 DV homicides; and 2.2 million DV victim/survivors sought medical treatment at a cost of 37 billion dollars.  Forty to forty-five percent of sexual assault occurs in DV relationships.  Most cases of DV are never reported.   Children witnessing DV are more likely to" transmit violent behavior to the next generation."  

The city of Seattle has proposed a circa 1 million dollar cut in funds to DV shelters and Rape Victim Programs.  Our shelter and program will lose circa 160,000 thousand dollars.  In Seattle of the 1-6 thousand homeless people in the city, 80% are victims/survivors of DV and their children.

The following video was taken from YouTube.  There is some controversy as to whether Allen W. Dowdell was the Author of this poem.  I have included the above video as a link. 

Learning Management Systems

Our challenge for this week’s module was Learning Management Systems (LMS).  At first I wondered where I might run to get away from this assignment.  I started a list of excuses like I developed a case of hives or broke a body part and would have to take an incomplete until they cleared up and/or healed.  Then I realized I was working as the campus switchboard operator and this excuse would never work.  After toying with the thought a bit longer, I decided it was time to take the “the bull by the horns” and do the darned assignment.  I found that I had to choose a LMS to work with.  Well as luck would have it, all Minnesota Universities (Minnesota is  my home state, until the liquid in my eyes froze on campus going from building to building one winter and I moved) use Desire2Learn Learning System (D2L).  I am linking the introduction on the features and how to use this LMS, since it is the next best thing to using it yourself as a student or instructor.

One of the questions we were supposed to answer was what the function of a LMS is.  It is an on line classroom.  It is where the course materials are posted, course content is contained, interactions and communications between students and the instructor happen and grades are posted, all within cyberspace parameters. The most important function of a LMS is to bring elearning material and people together in a learning environment that stimulates academic growth and creatively.  The tools that help student and instructors get the course materials presented, learned and internalized are: asynchronous and synchronous discussion boards; chat rooms; voice threads; blog sites or capabilities; instant messaging devices; and email capabilities that direct messages to one person or to a whole group working on project. Also, message notifications draw attention to messages received and unread.

Probably one of the best features of D2L is its ability to allow access with mobile devices.  This tool brings the LMS to every place the student and instructor are located in the real world and enables them to communicate with one another in new and more complete way.  For example have you ever had an idea, when you were sitting in a park watching the autumn leaves fall around you, and found yourself without paper and pen or cell phone to record the brilliant pearl of wisdom you want to share with your fellow students or your students?  Making mobile gadgets that are compatible with D2L resolves that problem.  In our highly mobile world, our gadgets and cell phones connect us to each other in a new and innovative way.  With D2L we are not just using our cell phone for business or a medium for social networking; we can now do our homework and respond to chats and discussion groups from anywhere.

So, we ask have we finally arrived at the perfect LMS site.  Judging from what my fellow students have said in our discussions, LMS systems are still cumbersome, slower than desired and difficult to learn and navigate, compared to some social media sites: Facebook; My Space; and the list goes on.  The most useful tools are places that allow us to communicate and work on group projects.  While I am not knowledgeable enough to know much about assessment, I think it is difficult to create a system that actually measures what is learned in a meaningful and thorough way.  This may be something that is missing and needs further study and research.  Or as Michael Feldstein wrote in Desire 2 Learn Competencies and Rubrics: Part 1”…what are the most important outcomes of an education?”  Can we competently assess what students are learning?  How useful is an LMS system, even with all the bells and whistles and gadgets LMS systems have today, when it comes to assessing learning outcomes and student needs?