Navigate Reflection

Answer: How has the Navigate module prepared you to meet each standard listed? What strategies will you take away from the Navigate module and apply to your teaching?  What lessons were most beneficial for you?

Standard B: The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of technologies, both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and engagement in the online environment.

Standard I: The online teacher demonstrates competency in using data from assessments and other data sources to modify content and to guide student learning.

Standard K: The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.

The first section of lessons on Online Delivery Methods has helped me prepare me to meet iNacol Standard B. Studying open source vs commercial technologies has opened my eyes to a whole world of emerging and evolving technology tools that certainly have advantages in an ever-changing world of teaching and technology. See that post here.

Exploring synchronous and synchronous learning options, I have developed a better understanding of these two types of learning experiences that are essential to online learning. In the process, I learned more about a few tools existing tools that I've already been using to support struggling students. An example of this is using screencasting to be my own co-teacher. I believe the screencasting example also demonstrates my ability to arrange media and content in a way to guide student learning, iNacol Standard K. This is also something that was addressed in my post on LMS Tool Categories, found here.

I believe that the latter portion of this module has been helpful in preparing me to use student data to inform instruction as described in iNacol Standard I. My reflections on LMS data reporting summarize what I have learned about gathering data from assessments shared within an LMS, as well as other reports such as student usage.

The navigate module has had some really helpful lessons and a few really trying ones as well. Through the experience of building a course shell in Moodle, I have seen firsthand the pros and the cons of working with open source software. But through my reading on synchronous and synchronous learning and the different types of data a reporting, I believe I have developed a more comprehensive plan for instruction and assessment.

There are a few strategies I hope to implement in my blended classroom going forward.

1. Inclusion of more synchronous learning experiences in addition to the asynchronous ones I'm currently providing.
2. A more inclusive set of assessment data that includes more than assessment scores:
• Better tracking of time learners spend interacting with my online content.
• More emphasis on tracking students' mastery of learning objectives or "competencies."
• Closer attention give to student participation, communication, and interaction with myself and with other students.