Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Sharing Blogger

Hi Everyone,

I am sharing the blogger I created for an online course I started. I never really finished the course because I started my PhD but you get an idea of what you can use this for.

Coleen

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Collaboration in Learning

This week I have heard many views on team projects/learning. I am attending Baker College Faculty Conference this week and engaging with many experienced instructors with diverse views on the subject. Is it wrong to have courses with only team-based assignments? Why...when collaboration is a necessity in the corporate world? How do we prepare students to function in a team driven environment if they don't experience it in class?

Monday, May 28, 2012

Dedicated Education Unit

This week's focus is on developing a collaborative biography. I chose to contribute an article about an innovative model for clinical practice; the dedicated educated unit. I have had the opportunity to work as a clinical instructor on a dedicated education unit for the past year. Clinical preceptors work as bedside instructors while clinical faculty focus on linking classroom content to the bedside, stimulating critical thinking in nursing students. I utilized an I-pad to help facilitate this process. When students were unsure of the implications of certain disease processes, I would have them explore disease processes on the internet and then teach me about what they had learned.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Theoretical Literature as a Reflective Lens

Brookfield's final reflective lens explores scholarly literature as a "mirror to hold up against our every- day teaching practices." The literature I chose to explore and apply to my teaching practices is "Using Technology to Foster Reflection in Higher Education" by Katrina Strampel and Ron Oliver. These authors portend that that, although reflection is a complex process, it can be encouraged in the right context. Instructors will know students are reaching high levels of reflection if they produce critically evaluated work and can apply and transfer their knowledge to various situations. The real issue standing in the way of tertiary students becoming autonomous reflective thinkers, then, appears to be the lack of opportunity in the classroom. With this mind providing the opportunity for students to become reflective thinker is in my hands. I can individually make a difference by creating an environment that encourages reflective thinking. What would that look like...?

Friday, May 25, 2012

Collaboration With Colleagues

Brookfield's third lens focuses attention on having meaningful dialogue with colleagues in order to check, reframe or broaden our perspectives. Since I have been teaching online, I miss comparing ideas and approaches to create and present "learner friendly" content. When I was teaching in corporate healthcare, as a Staff Development Educator, I always had an interested colleague to bounce ideas off of and share successes and failures.  I am looking forward to working closer with my colleagues at the university as I pick up more courses.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Reflective Learning: through the learners eyes

Seeing our reflection through the learners eyes is invaluable. The whole point of teaching is to facilitate the learning of others; constructive feedback allows us to see our blind-spots and grow personally and professionally. However, getting this kind of feedback is often difficult. To decipher through personality issues and student insecurities and to get to the "real issues" requires getting past our own insecurities and asking the tough questions. I want to hear positive feedback but I need to hear constructive feedback in order to grow.

Reflective Learning

This week in First Steps Into Teaching and Learning we are examining reflective learning.  As I was reading and reflecting, I was drawn to Brookfield's reflective lens one; autobiographical experiences in learning. My understanding of this "lens" is that we must understand ourselves and our learning experiences because they influence our behaviors as a teacher either positively or negatively. To understand myself as a learner, I need to reflect on my own personal journey; where I came from, where I am at currently and where I would like to be. The importance I place on learning overshadows my entire life...to learn is to live a life of abundance. I have been in "the school of life" over 50 years and look at each day as a new learning adventure. I believe formal learning is only part of the bigger picture.  I also believe that I am in charge of my own learning and development;  I love to challenge myself by engaging in meaningful learning. This is one of the reasons I was drawn to this MOOC.