Personal Learning Goal -LEC

Posting for Leading Edge certification course

1.2 Reflection: Personal Learning Goal (Pass / No Pass)

I'm taking the LEC course purely for information. I'm a life long learner and I also working on distance learning projects for my work (OTAN). One of my projects involve helping teachers learn more about online teaching, and how they might incorporate it into their practice. Most teachers in adult education do not have the support of a full instructional technology team, but through collaboration, mentoring and continued support from us, we have managed to start several cadres of like-minded teachers who want to reach their students and provide instruction any time, any place, any path and any pace (with credit to Florida Virtual School - I believe they have that phrase trademarked). 

I'm really seeking to see how other organizations and teachers approach blended teaching -- although I'm most interested in how teachers teach adults, it is not likely I will get an opportunity to work with those teachers in a course like this. In the past, I have seen these courses geared to either teachers within the K12 system (and target that curriculum) or the college system. Adult educators as a whole are blessed with finding materials on both sides of this educational fence, but they must do far more work to find appropriate materials for their learners. If I can find anything that helps them meet that goal, I'll be happy. 

Additionally, I was interested in seeing another learning management system. I've heard of Haiku, but never used it. I must admit at this early date I'm a bit befuddled at all the text, all the linking and jumping from the course (at least I think its the course) to the text book (a different site) to the blog (another site) to the use of a Google site (another site). At the moment, this is NOT an environment I could see my adult education teachers using with their students. It is too complex for technical newbies. 

As for the online assessment, it could be a useful tool but I didn't see any specific recommendations to move a teacher from point A to point B in their desire to learn more about teaching online. I like this one from Penn State "Faculty Self-Assessment: Preparing for Online Teaching." What I was particularly impressed with was the feedback this tool provides teachers. By providing guidance to teachers on what they need to understand to be an effective online teacher (good communication skills, willingness to engage students outside of "class time," good file management and technology skills and much more) it can help teachers define how well prepared they are to dive into the online teaching realm. Personally, any tool that can inform someone of their strengths and weaknesses has value. Another tool that helps teachers learn more about what it takes to be a distance education teacher AND build a professional learning portfolio is available through Adult Ed Learning Online. Unfortunately,  the site is fairly dated and there are no funds to keep the professional development and research materials up to date.