End of week 2

As is usual in any class, there's been a lot of reading and wrapping my brain around new ideas as well as dusting off some old knowledge.

Teaching and Learning Online. 

Since I am in the middle of  a 5 week introduction to online teaching class for new, about to be, online teachers, this is a great time to be reflecting on the established educational philosophies and re-vamping my own personal philosophy towards online education as opposed to the regular classroom.  In addition to teaching a course that was designed by someone else, I'm  also playing the role of student, thinking about best practices for designing an online class.   At the same time, I'm  designing the German curriculum for the virtual high school, realizing that it truly is an opportunity to make a difference for the students.  My goal for that course is to create an atmosphere that is conducive and motivating to learning for all students. 

Reviewing educational philosophies.  Behavioral, Cognitive, Constructivist.  I was familiar with these three theories, but the Connectivist theory was new to me, although it made perfect sense when I began reading about it.  One of my goals during this course is to explore this theory more.   

Guiding question:  What is the point of a theory/philosophy in any teaching situation?

Answers:  As a teacher, I believe that it's important to be aware that we all learn differently, depending on learning styles and experience.  An awareness of how students learn can,and should dictate, at least to a certain extent, how the classroom experience is planned.  It is also important to understand that all teachers bring their own learning styles and preferences into the classroom.  Their philosophy of learning, whether clearly understood by the teacher or not, tends to dominate the lesson planning.   A good teacher in any circumstances should be able to reach all students.

AHA moment:  Learner centered is not learning centred  (Anderson)Oh how true.  We cannot keep everybody happy and people have to take a certain amount of responsibility for their own learning, no matter what we do.  Ensuring that the courses is set up in such a way that learning can take place is not the same as ensuring that everyone learns the same thing.  We all come with different backgrounds, different learning styles and different needs.