Amelia Robinson

Use the four Os, Origin, Organization, Orchestration, and Outcomes assessment when considering how to convert a live course to a virtual one. Engagement is critical and can be provided by the social presence of the instructor, welcoming students to the course, communicating frequently, and sending a wrap-up message at the end of the course. Online learning units must support the learning objectives, get the student's attention early on, be easy to navigate, and include only one or two main points or concepts.

Facilitation of virtual courses may be authoritative, instructor-centered, or student-centered. These three approaches describe how much is exposited and how much students take responsibility for their own learning in a constructivist environment. The student-centered approach is recommended. In the student-centered approach, the instructor acts as a facilitator, engaging and motivating students, encouraging social relationships, providing direction and support and managing discussion boards. Strong leadership, technology assistance, and prompt informative feedback are key to providing the communication needed under this approach. 

Virtual learning may use synchronous methods, where instructor and students are online at the same time, or asynchronous methods, where students work "any time, any place" to complete learning modules, assignments or discussions. Either of these may be suitable depending on the needs of the specific course. (Most courses today are a blend of synchronous and asynchronous.) Especially in asynchronous learning, communication is key. Objectives, requirements and assignments must be clear and forums must be created for questions and answers, submitting completed assignments and obtaining feedback, and assessing performance.

There are many tools to aid in virtual learning, including virtual classes using audio/video-enabled two-way communication, blogs and wikis where students can share documents and learning products, podcasts that can be used to disseminate lectures, and e-portfolios where students can post work or projects. All of these technologies must be carefully evaluated before use to ensure they actually meet the needs of the students, require technology that is readily available to students, and facilitate interaction between students and the content, students with the instructor, and students with other students.

Asynchronous coursework can be a great advantage for two types of students: those that cannot attend a synchronous course at a particular time and location, and those who are introverted or take longer to participate in class discussions. Asynchronous online learners must be comfortable working alone, self-directed and self-motivated, and have good time management skills, among other characteristics. The use of assessments, such as those provided by True Colors or VARK can analyze the learning preferences of students to determine whether they are a good candidate for asynchronous courses. Asynchronous courses must provide clear direction and well-defined content-related tasks.

Engagement is created through student-to-student annd student-to-student interaction, adherence to social learning and other motivational theories, explicating relevance, and providing methods of active interaction with the content and the group.

Several game metrics can be used to assess learing and skill acquisition. These may include time spent on an item, navigation for reference, decisions, number of attempts, or even biometric data. Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) is effective at measuring  the competency trajectory using the first four of these items. Biometric data can be collected through electronic collection of changes in the face, skin, heat, and brain. 

Both of these measures seem to be somewhat beyond the abilities of most small instructional design operations, although e-learning development applications and LMSs may be able to provide reporting on scores, attempts, and screens… >>>

I learned that games motivate learners based on Flow theory, which concerns managing challenge, control, performance criteria and feedback. There are six elements that can be manipulated to achieve this, includiing world design, system design, content design, game writing, level design, and user interface design. The more immersive a game, the more likely it is to engage learners. There are free and low cost applications available to create games and immersive worlds. Collaborative games must have controls in place to ensure teams members participate equally or according to their roles or skills. 

Some important aspects of serious games are allowing the user the right aount of control to navigate, change views or access learning notes. Social presence is particularly important, and can be added to the game through synchronous participation, chat rooms, or avatars who respond with non-verbal communication cues as well as verbal or textual feedback. Virtual worlds may be the best way to achieve this, as users actually compete against each other.

I have learned many chaaracterisitcs of gaming and simulations, their similarities and differences. I've learned it is probably better to call it an immersive environment to get it authorized and take advantage of the practice opportunity, increased engagement, and therefore increased retention that games provide. However, in my own practice, I seldom use them because of the time constraints of developing them. For instance, a siimple branching scenario game requires extensive wireframing of responses, feedback and navigation before even going to a developer, who programs extensively. Setting up the environment can be very media-intensive. I find it most helpful to… >>>