Blogs in Teacher Education

This chapter examines the content of written blog postings of students enrolled in a face-to-face course focusing on literacy assessment methods and practice for Pre-Service Teachers (PST) seeking elementary teaching certification. The purpose of the study was to examine the transcription of the students' postings and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) to look for the three types of elements that comprise the Community of Inquiry according to as well as the examination of broader themes and trends across the data (Corbin & Strauss, 1990). Data included blog posts from a 15-week semester with a total of 702 combined posts and comments from a total of 40 undergraduate students. Data were analyzed using the constant-comparative method () and the framework of the Community of Inquiry Model (). Students engaged in various levels of cognitive stages of inquiry while also building on and developing social presence throughout the course. Teacher presence also guided the social construction of knowledge throughout the course. Examination of the teacher presence suggests that the instructor needed to provide more scaffolding in modeling evidence-based practice and problem-solving on the blog as students did not always connect their practice to evidence-based or text-based support.

Serving Nontraditional Students

The role of technology and educational media in supporting nontraditional adult learners is growing. One key area in which more research and development is needed is the improvement of writing, especially writing that is related to formal education. This chapter presents findings related to the use of online writing modules developed to support English as a Second Language and nontraditional English speaking college students. Participants reported improved content-specific writing skills, transfer of writing skills to other content areas, and increased self-efficacy in writing. Differences continued to be noted by key student characteristics. The study has implications for continued development and use of digitally supported writing tutorials for nontraditional adult learners.

Utilizing Learning Management System (LMS) Tools to Achieve Differentiated Instruction

Students bring their own knowledge, experiences, and personal interests to brick-and-mortar and virtual classrooms. When instructional strategies and learning activities are developed based on prior knowledge, experiences, and personal interests, the instruction is a form of differentiation. This chapter discusses how Learning Management Systems (LMSs) can help teachers and instructors achieve differentiated instruction that meets individual needs. There are two important implications of differentiated instruction: (a) lessons are tailored to meet individual and diverse student needs, and (b) lessons cannot be planned without knowledge about who the learners are. When taking into consideration that teaching is tailored to meet individual needs, it becomes apparent that differentiated instruction means more work for the teacher or instructor. It also means the teacher or instructor has to continually change learning activities and is not able to use handy pre-designed ones because student progress or lack of progress informs teaching strategies. This chapter argues that differentiated instruction is worth the time and effort because it responds to individual needs, and responsive teaching maximizes each student's success.

Learning through Web-Based Authoring Tools

The Web-based authoring tools are great additions to online education and training programs. This chapter provides a portrait of roles and impacts of Web-based authoring tools in online learning environments. With all the unique functions and options that are available in Web-based authoring tools, it is not required for instructors and trainers to be Web development experts to create quality online learning instructions that meet the needs of the multi-generational learners (i.e., traditionalist, baby boomer, generation X, and generation Y). In addition, the Web-based authoring tools enable instructors and trainers to create media-rich learning instructions and transform dry Web content into engaging and exciting learning content. Besides recreating and transforming Web content, Web-based authoring tools also play an important role in expanding learners' attention spans and their readiness to learn.

Student Outcomes and Retention in Online Academic and Training Programs

The purpose of this chapter is to examine online education in order to understand how to improve student outcomes and retention. On the surface, although it might appear that the term “online education” only applies to academic institutions, in this chapter, the use of this term also applies to online training programs in business and other organizational settings. Additionally, this chapter offers six specific recommendations that faculty, students, administrators, management, and support staff can undertake to assure that students and faculty will have the resources to successfully complete an online academic or training program. These recommendations are to improve students' abilities to direct their own learning, to facilitate practices that keep students on track, to increase students' abilities to identify with their groups; to enable student groups to achieve goals, to create opportunities for faculty to share best practices, and to implement a management system that tracks the effectiveness of the other recommendations and monitors retention rates.

A Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL)

Online teaching is considerably different from face-to-face teaching. With the continued growth of online teaching, all teachers should be prepared to teach an online course. Since the overarching difference between face-to-face and online instruction is communication, it is imperative for online instruction to be delivered using a social constructivist model to make up for the lack of social interaction in the classroom. Delivering instruction using the Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL) model has the potential to remove communication barriers and draw more students into the social aspect of instruction, and therefore truly engage them as lifelong learners. The REAL model is explored in this chapter.

Blended for Student Engagement and Retention

Facetiously described as the “third generation” of distance learning, blended learning is now the new kid on the block in the deployment of technology to support teaching and learning. Its versatility as a pedagogical strategy for creating learner-centered instruction lies in the capacity to exploit the potentials of both the traditional face-to-face instruction and online learning modality in order to provide students with multiple pathways of learning. Yet, developing a blended course to take advantage of these duo capabilities is a monumental challenge for faculty. This chapter presents an analysis of approaches and models employed by faculty at Northern Arizona University to develop and deliver two blended courses as part of the institution's strategy of using technology to enhance undergraduate student engagement and retention. The analysis shows that a multimodal approach that infuses technologies and media and a proactive institutional policy in favor of blended learning, coupled with strategic faculty development, provides the best pathway to developing robust blended courses that are truly learner-centered.

Using Technology to Enhance Teacher Preparation Field Experiences

This chapter describes a field director's revision of a field experience placement system and model for a teacher education program at a two-year institution. In this case study, the field director documented the conversion from a paper system to using a learning management system to support the field experience process of 324 students. Results from this case study indicate a positive correlation between the components of the process and the features of the learning management system. In addition, findings from the case study reveal that the learning management system provides additional benefits for program assessment. The conversion of a paper system to a learning management system is documented as well as the implications for other aspects of teacher education assessment.

Blending in the Humanities

Does technology de-place opportunities for meaningful engagement? Is the reduction of face-to-face time in a blended course a loss to students? And if so, what students are most affected by this shift? Can a blended course only work in disciplines that rely on teaching “facts” or can the recent emergence of digital humanities serve as a framework and provide disciplinary-specific insights for the use of teaching technology in the humanities? This chapter explores the use of learning technology and blended design in an introductory humanities course. Further, the chapter presents a blended course model, assessment data, and ideas for contextual reflection about how change in higher education paradigms is affecting the humanities in order to address them in a cooperative, non-disruptive way. Finally, the unique context, assumptions, and causes for resistance to change in the humanities with regard to technology and blended pedagogy are discussed. This chapter is intended to help readers anticipate and address particular disciplinary perceptions of blended learning.

Active Learning Strategies for Online and Blended Learning Environments

Students must be engaged in active learning opportunities that allow them to feel connected to the class and not just a passive spectator. However, that may require the instructor to learn and try different methods of teaching and learning that are more student-centered and less faculty-centered. The purpose of this chapter is to assist faculty in developing active learning strategies that will advance their personal skill sets to better embrace learner-centered instruction with the use of technology tools for online and blended environments.