My Family Culture

Think:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you.

 You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

I would do the following:

·         A description of the three items you would choose

1.     My Bible – that contains important facts and a bit of family history

2.    Paper/Pen

3.    Small photo album with key family members

·         How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you

1.    My Bible – My faith, and guidebook for no matter where I live

2.    Paper/Pen – to write and journal my new experiences

3.    Small photo album with key family members- If asked where did I come from it gives a small history lesson about my-self

·         Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you

• My Bible it would keep me going and a reference in tough situations

·         Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise.

• My faith is what grounds me in tough situations. 
• The exercise has made me think our culture is not made up of so many external items but internally what makes us

How would you as a reader respond and what is the single item you would take?

MY SUPPORTS

Support is all around us if we only tap into it. 

I have a demanding job, I'm a wife and mother of two.  My husband it here, my church, extended family and even my 11-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter help out.  I think we have to ask for what we need.  

I had my second child and was about to crack.  My husband sat me down and said he couldn't read my mind and needed me to say what I needed.  I learned from that to ask for what you need in all aspects of your life.    

In work, you have support departments.

At home you have cookbooks, and devices to support our life to make it easier'

Here at Walden, I have taped into departments to update my resume and tips on writing.  

Support is all around us why do other not tap into them.  

My Connections to Play

When I was younger the adults in my life allowed me to be a child.  They protected you from the adult issues of the world.  They sent us outside to play and out of rooms for adult conversations.  My weekends, summers and holidays were spent playing with my siblings and other children.  At the end of the day, success was your feet being dirty, your hands being a mess, and my eyes sparkling. 

As an adult and early childhood professional, I understand how important play was to me as a child.  Dolls and outdoors was my playground. It did not include fancy playgrounds and sandboxes with sand toys selected meticulously for my growth and development.  Now I know almost all creativity involves purposeful play. 

 My imagination and the great outdoors was my discovery area. The friends and neighbors were where I learned so many lessons and rules of life.  Fred Donaldson said it best “Children learn as they play.  More importantly, in play, children learn how to learn. “You wonder now as an adult how much you learned in school but what about those lessons you learned in play.  

Relationship Reflection

Importance of Relationships

"Human relationships and the effects of relationships on relationships are the building blocks of healthy development" (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 4).

Relationships are key to success.  As the old saying goes nobody makes it alone in this world.  I am a daughter, sister, aunt, wife, mother cousin, college, supervisor the list can go on and on.  I serve in so many roles and all require me to build relationships for my own growth development and success. 

These relationships require a give and take.  They require building and cultivation.  Most of all they require time.  Relationships are not developed overnight.

All these relationships are not without issues.  Problems arise mainly when efforts are not made to maintain these relationships.  In addition to time communication is critical.  Most of all I must make sure that I’m ok and have cultivated my own physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing.  Self-preservation is number one.  

Take care of yourself so you can take care of others. 

Preparation is Everything

As an Instructional Designer preparing for the class takes on a new meaning then in traditional learning environments.  Best practices can combine a number of learning principles.  Instructors need to identify the core concepts to be learned in a course, the performance goals and learning outcomes and then guide and mentor learners through a set of increasingly complex, personalized; and customized learning activities to help learners apply these core concepts and develop their own knowledge structures. 

In practical terms for online courses, it means designing options and choices within learning experiences, assignments, and special projects.

For this week discussion develop 2 performance goals and learning outcomes.  After you have developed the goals and outcomes focus on the best tools and techniques to present the content.  Discuss the rationale for selecting these tools and technique.

Wednesday:

Post your  goals and objectives.. Propose two tools and techniques to present the content.  Be sure to cite information from the Learning Resources to support your thinking.

By Sunday:

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings. As you read their responses, note those to which you would like to respond with advice, questions, comments, and/or encouragement.

Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ postings in any of the following ways:

·         Build on something your colleague said.

·         Explain why and how you see things differently.

·         Ask a probing or clarifying question.

·         Share an insight from having read your colleague's posting.

·         Offer and support an opinions

·         Validate an idea with your own experience.

·         Expand on your colleague's posting.

·         Ask for evidence that supports the posting.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Reflect on what you learned in this activity and/or insights you gained this week.

Resources

·         Article: Fish, W. W., & Wickersham, L. E. (2009). Best practices for online instructors: Reminders. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 10(3), 279-284.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

·          

Article: The New Media Consortium. (2009). The horizon report: 2009 edition. Retrieved from the EDUCASE Learning Initiative website:http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD5612.pdf


Please see the Discussion Rubric below.

Plagiarism Detection and Prevention ---- A few Questions to Help Instructors

v  What is plagiarism?

Ø  Plagiarism is one type of violation of academic integrity. The Council of Writing Program Administrators states that “Plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) materials without acknowledging its source” (as cited in Quinn, 2006).

v    What plagiarism detection software is available to online instructors?

Ø  There are various plagiarism software available to instructors and students.  Below is a list of  a few of my favorites( 1-4 Higher Ed Assessment):

§   Google as checker:
http://www.google.com
Place quotation marks around a phrase and enter that into the search window. For best results, use key phrases rather than complete sentences.

§   The Plagiarism Checker:
http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/
Straightforward application that utilizes Google API for the same results as searching through Google, but with an interface far less cluttered than a search page. Instructions are written with the teacher in mind.

§   Plagiarism Detect:
http://www.plagiarismdetect.com/
Instructions are written with the student in mind. The check can be made on text copy/pasted into a search box or on an uploaded file (.txt or .doc). Options for search areas are the web, PDFs, blogs, and books. Finally, the site offers "deep analysis" or "light analysis." The results include a percentage score (66.7% on my sample, which was a real case of student plagiarism) and a list of the sources found by the checker. By check-marking the sources, you can further identify the percentage by location. This site requires registration and log-in.

§   Copyscape addressing plagiarism from the other direction:
http://www.copyscape.com
Enter a URL and the checker will pull up other web pages that have the same text. Presumably, you would run the check if you think your own copyrighted material on the web is being plagiarized.

§   Turnitin

Leading academic plagiarism checker technology for teacher’ and students.  Online plagiarism detection, grammar check, grading tools and so much more.

v  How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?

Ø  The expectation of academic dishonesty must be up front as an unacceptable practice that will not me tolerated.

v  What facilitation strategies do you propose to use as a current or future online instructor?

Ø  As a current and for future online instruction staying actively involved in the class is key.   Responding and following up with students in a timely and ongoing feedback.

v  What additional considerations for online teaching should be made to help detect or prevent cheating and plagiarism?

Ø  Instructors must be involved and active in their classes and discussion groups.  Luckily just as the internet grows and the draw to plagiarize on cheat so does the tools at the instructors hands such those listed above.  No longer is it left up to the teacher alone to detect these details. Today, increased Internet use makes it both easier for students to copy-and-paste from online materials and for instructors to detect infractions (Braumoeller and Gaines, 2001; Tenbusch, 2002). Free online search engines such as Google allow instructors to track down copied phrases, while commercially available plagiarism detection software and online services (e.g., EVE; Turnitin.com) compare individual student papers to Web documents and/or to essay databases to find and report instances of matching text(Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006).

Resources

o   Higher Ed Assessment Blog retrieve June 13, 2013 from: http://higheredassessment.blogspot.com/2009/01/free-anti-plagiarism-checkers.html

o   Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1-15.

o   Quinn, M. J. (2006). Ethics for the Information Age. Boston, MA.: Pearson.

Impact of Technology and Multimedia

Key questions to ask

What impact does technology and multimedia have on online learning environments?

·         Technology and media is the online environment.  Everything in the online learning environment uses technology.  To meet the needs of students and the different ways they learn multiple forms of media must be used to construct and convey a variety of messages.

What are the most important considerations an online instructor should make before implementing technology?

·         The most important point I want you to remember as it relates to technology is to Keep It Simple(KIS).  Focus on the essential tools, and build you first course around the tools.  You can branch out later as you teach the course a second or third time and gain experience, confidence, and sense of exploration(Boettcher,& Conrad, 2010).

What implications do usability and accessibility of technology tools have for online teaching?

·         More is not always better in some cases.  Having a lot of technology tools that you are your students can not use are not helpful.  There are many tools out there to choose from focus on a few for each course. The primary tool that you will need to become familiar with is the course management system (CMS) that your institution uses(Boettcher,& Conrad, 2010).

What technology tools are most appealing to you for online teaching as you move forward in your career in instructional design? Some of my favorite tools include but is not limited to:

·         Course management system – this is the course foundation it is the key to success

·           Turn it in – This is a great site with software to detect plagiarism.  It is great for both the student and the instructor. 

·           E-mail, announcements, and discussion forums – sounds obvious but it is essential in the online environment.

·           Blogs – This is a helpful place for students to share and others to comment.  It may require some intermediate technology skills but it is worth it.

·           Wiki - These types of sites are great for project for collaboration. This may also require some intermediate technology skills.

Resource

·         Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.