Julie Bey

This was an interesting module, in how a simple exercise, like asking your students to close their eyes and write down what comes to mind when given the word, "apple."  It is fascinating how subtle clues can be indicators of learning styles, if we only know to look for them! 

As educators, we need to recognize our students' learning style. I felt I identified with the "Nattie" student, as I like a temperate room with decent lighting. But I also related to the rapper who likes a backdrop of music playing throughout life. Perhaps it is up to us to cover all the bases, so our students have the best chance at accomplishing the learning objectives. 

This is such an important topic for educators in ensuring each student has the adequate resources to reach the intended goal. I feel like I have moved through varying degrees of the personalities profiled: The Jabber, The Integer, Touchy, and Loner. However, I have typically been the loner, though it has not been a detriment in my career. As the text suggested, once you learn your craft, you do not want someone "hovering" over you. 

Identifying these individual characteristics will be of HUGE service to the students entrusting us in our care. And, if we are unsure, perhaps giving examples… >>>

After earning my BS and MS online, I appreciate the myriads of ways I was required to submit work, ideas, and the interactions with my long-distance students was quite valuable. I am excited to seek out some interesting, engaging subjects on media platforms to enhance and engage my students. I learned it is also important to identify the online students' capabilities with technology and adjust accordingly. We can easily overlook a student located off the grid. 

As a new instructor, I found these topics interesting and applicable. For example, the five (5) varying types of online lecture made me take pause and reflect on ways I can implement these practices into my own teaching format. And I appreciated the breakdown of evaluation methods, such as quizzes, as "self-checks" that can be retaken until they score 100%, tests that measure what the student does NOT know, and exams, where the score contributes to final grade which cannot be retaken.  

It is important to use different questioning methods (open-ended, leading, yes/no etc.) to engage students and utilizing guest speakers and hyperlinks can aid retention. Discussion boards can be synchronous (class gathers at one time) or asynchronous (students can participate at their leisure).

With distance learning on the rise, educators need to inject various methods of teaching online students of varying backgrounds. For example, including media, animations, quality discussion boards, etc. to include the varied ways students learn and retain information.