Dr. Deborah L. Taylor Consulting

PhD in Educational Technology from the University of Kansas

dtaylor@ku.edu

This word cloud represents my teaching approach.


I enjoy working with faculty and helping them adopt new technologies for their teaching. 

Currently I'm  a faculty member and facilitator for the Online Learning Consortium and am teaching a workshop on Adaptive Learning. 

OLC Adaptive Learning Fundamentals and Courseware Exploration Workshop

I'm also offering Continuing Education courses for the Graduate School of Education at Baker University.

Using Retrieval Practice to Increase Student Engagement and Success

Adopting and Adapting STEM Learning Activities

The Right Tools

Recently I was removing wallpaper from a bathroom and was struggling with the process when I remembered that I had some old tools tucked away in the basement from the last time I removed stubborn wallpaper..  After finding the tools (which didn't take as long as I had feared) I was quickly moving along in the process when the following thought popped into my head, "Wow, it's amazing how much easier this is to do when you have the right tools!"   

After this experience I began to think of how many of my community college students struggle in their coursework.  I wondered how much easier college would be for them if they had access to the proper tools as well as the knowledge of how  and when to utilize those tools.  

The next few blogs are going to be based on my exploration of this idea.  Here are a few of the questions that I hope to address:

 1) what tools are students missing that could make learning so much easier?  
 2)  what tools do they need that they might not even know that they have?
 3)  what can I do to help them find their tools and how to use them? 

I'm sure there are many more questions and at first I thought I'd work on this over time and then share it, but now I think it might make some interesting discussions, so I'm going to publish as it is and invite anyone who reads this to add their ideas and comments.  This could be a great collaborative experience, um that is ... if anyone sees it. (grin)

The Continuation of the Adventure

I've decided it's time to get this blog moving again.  It's hard to believe it has been four months since my last post.   I've been very busy revising my online classes, they were sorely neglected while I was in grad school and so now I'm using what I learned in my classes and research to revise my courses so that they are better experiences for my students.

I also writing a couple of papers based on my research findings on improving student academic success in online courses.  Should have done this sooner, but I have had a few motivational issues and have been recovering from the intense 3 1/2 years of graduate school and dissertation work.  I'm thinking that this blog is a good way to get back in the writing groove.  I've also neglected my Twitter account - my handle is @diagonaldee and I've decided I need to get active there as well. 

I read recently that the dissertation is just the first step in research and I can see how that is the case.  There are several questions that I didn't answer in my dissertation that I want to use the data that I have to see if I can find any answers - more on that later.  I met my goal of completing my Ph.D. and am still feeling great about it!  However,  graduating in December,  but not being able to get  hooded until two weeks ago kind of made me feel that it wasn't really done yet.  But I have the pictures and saw the streaming video  http://graduate.ku.edu/doctoral-hooding-ceremony  and had a great party after the hooding (even if our air conditioning failed that day) so yes, I'm done and now am ready to continue my education exploration - I love learning and will continue to do so and will share what I learn here!

Here's a word cloud that  I created using the last paragraph of my dissertation abstrac.

My research involved using LMS tracking data from more than 200 courses and 1700 students.  I looked at student-student interaction, student-instructor interaction, and student-content interaction to see if any of these interactions promoted student academic success better than the others.  I found that student-student interaction was the best promoter of student academic success in this study, no real surprise there, but I also found that more instructor email in the course had a negative effect on student academic success.  This finding caused me to question my results until I ran across Carr's 2014 paper on engagement in which she stated, "Email frequency needs to be monitored as it can be a sign of insufficient information in the course for students or it can be a lack of content support." (p. 102)  There were a number of limitations to my study yet I think it did provide some valuable information, so stay tuned for updates!



Carr, M. (2014). The online university classroom: One perspective for effective student engagement and teaching in an online environment. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 99.
Taylor, D. L. (2014). Interactions in online courses and student academic success (Order No. 3671767). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1651237829).

Dissertation done, now what?

I'm still having a hard time realizing that I am done, done, done with my dissertation.   I even took a picture of the Proquest listing to help me realize that yes, it is real.

I am now working on a paper, had hoped to have it done sooner, but not sure which journal I want to submit to,  and need to meet with advisor to decide.  Then what after that?  I have several ideas of what I might want to do, yet not sure of the best way to go.

I really enjoy working with other faculty and helping them set up their online classes, and I could do that on the one-by-one basis.  I am also thinking that I've never taken a sabbatical (deadline is Feb. 17) but that would mean committing myself to stay where I am for two more years - not sure I want to tie myself down.  I have several ideas for projects so it would not be hard to fill the time, but honestly I was so busy going to grad school and working, that I could continue teaching and still do much of what I want.

I know that I am fortunate to be in a tenured position teaching physiology, which I love, but after 25 years, perhaps a change is needed. 

I'm hoping to get my blogging up to speed now that I am done, so this is the first installation of the second phase of my education exploration.

BlendKit 2014 Week 5 Thoughts

Wow, it's hard to believe how quickly these 5 weeks have passed.  It certainly has been a busy time for me.  I'm finishing up the DIY projects and plan to submit them this week for the "Becoming a Blended Learning Designer certificate  http://www.ce.ucf.edu/Program/3501/Blendkit2014-Becoming-a-Blended-Learning-Designer/.  I think it's a valuable exercise and has certainly made me really think though the construction of my class.

This week's reading really hit home, too.  As a peer reviewer on Quality Matters, I've often thought the same thing about poking around inside an unpopulated course, I agree, it's kind of like looking at a house that has just been built, but that doesn't have any furniture in it.  The rooms are there and you can visualize how they might be arranged, but until you have the furniture (the students and the instructor and the interactions that occur) you really don't know how it is going to work out.  All the great whistles and bells of design don't mean a darn thing if the instructor and students are  not engaged with one another and with the content.  I also agree that student evaluations are somewhat helpful, but they are not the be-all, do-all that administrators like to use (at least at my school) to evaluate a course.  I understand the FERPA concerns, but really they shouldn't be considered.  A nice "visitation" to the online classroom could open up a great opportunity to see how the class is "really" working.  I'm sure this is something that a lot of folks are concerned about - for sure at my institution, but I'd love the ability to open up my classes to "visitors" - instructors who are planning on creating an online learning environment and see how it can work.

Well, I need to get back to work on my DIY's and I've got a book on multivariate statistics calling my name, so good-bye BlendKit 2014 and "hello" to spending more time blogging about my research.

Blendkit 2014 - week 4 reflections on the reading

I've been waffling as to whether I'm going to actually finish this course.  I had really hoped to get the Blended Certificate from the University of Central Florida, but I'm trying to write up my results and conclusions for my dissertation on online learning and I'm in a time crunch.   Another factor in my decision is that I also am planning on teaching a blended course this fall  and am finding that everything I do for Blendkit 2014 is something that needs to be done for that class.  Anyway, I just can't stay away from here, so I guess I'm going to "go for it" and hope it doesn't stall my dissertation too much.  I am very excited about offering a blended class and the readings for week four support why I want to do this. 

While reading the materials for this week, I found the quote from Dee Fink's article to be particularly important, 

A uniform approach to presenting the units of study not only makes sense, but helps reinforce learning. A common mode of organization is a hierarchical module—sections—lessons—supportive activities approach. Within each learning activity, uniformity also helps to guide students through the content (p. 205).

This is exactly how I organize my online courses and  see that online portion of the blended course should be organized similarly. 

Since I don't think students know what they should be doing to prepare for class, I plan to have very specific instructions in the online component.    I know - we say "read chapter 3" or some portion thereof, but I don't think this really is enough.  So for my class I'm using a flipped approach with the students reading a bit, and doing homework in an online site that compliments our book.    Each of the out of class (online) assignment is designed to prepare the students for the F2F meetings.  I'm working to make sure that each of the online activities take about an hour to an hour and a half, so that I'm not offering two classes but one real blended course (remember the old rule - for every hour in class, plan to spend two hours outside of class studying and preparing).  I'm hoping that my directed activities will teach students HOW to prepare for classes so that they can carry those skills on to their other classes.   I've so often said "reading isn't studying", it's a preparation for studying and have recently come across two articles that support my statement.  The first is on testing to improve learning  and is titled "The Power of Testing Memory"  (Roediger III & Karpicke, 2006) - here's the link http://pps.sagepub.com/content/1/3/181.abstract  and along with it I've found several other articles that pertain to teaching physiology (the course I'm blending).  

I also really liked the information in Table 1 - it was a great way to help visualize what should be going on in the classroom (both F2F and online).  I've been finding and utilizing scenario based online activities and when I'm done with my dissertation, I hope to create some of these.  My students absolutely love them and I know that they are learning as they do them.  A great one, albeit a bit challenging is HHMI's Cardiology Lab   http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/cardiology/index.html
My students are told to do the lab, and they share their experience of the lab in the discussion area - with specific directions to NOT tell what the diagnosis is, but to report their diagnosis and how they came to that conclusion in the dropbox area (I'm the only one that can see what they post).

 Since my Ph.D. will be in Educational Technology and one of my goals is to use technology to enhance teaching, the reading this week was particularly important to me.  I thought it was great that many tools for incorporating technology were included in the reading.  In the future I hope to develop many of my own resources, I've created and found some free resources, but with my time limitations, I'm using commercial content, at least for a couple more semesters.   

Okay, I've talked myself into it -  I'm continuing the DIY portion and I guess I need to sign up for the certification... heck I have to do all that stuff anyway, why not make it count?

Blendkit2014 ...Testing...testing...testing?

I'm really enjoying the work in this MOOC - it is so well organized and directed now - I can see exactly how I'm going to set up my course as for what components will be utilized.  My course is not a "true" blended course in that we will still meet the normal amount of time for a F2F course, BUT what we do in there will be quite different.  The in-class time will be spend doing active learning projects, explorations, etc. and the online time will be spend watching my mini-lectures, reading the book, and doing the online learning activities BEFORE we meet as a group.  Using the Carnegie Rule of "for every one hour in class, you should plan to spend two to three hours outside of class preparing and studying",  I've been designing the course so that the students' "out of class" time is guided for them.  Most students will be able to complete the activities easily in two hours, those more challenged students will need three hours to master (I hope) the material.  I find that many students typically do not follow this guideline because they really don't know what they should do.   I'm going to tell them exactly what they need to do (don't they always ask that?).

The concept of scaffolding has been foremost in my mind since I teach mostly online right now and try to make sure that my online classes are designed for student success.   Yet as I think about the F2F classes, I know that I have given little to no scaffolding to those students in the past.  Yes, reading assignments were given and even review sheets for exams, but I was  not a presence in their lives except when we were in the actual classroom.  Having a course site and activities beyond the F2F time can be used for all classes and can provide scaffolding for all students.

This is where I see the benefit of technology for all students, not just those taking online or "blended" classes.  Scaffolding can be there for those who need it, and those who don't can just go on their merry way. 

As I read the material for this week the topic of testing really got my attention.   I struggled with this last week  when I was putting together my syllabus.  I teach physiology which is a critical content issue for health care students, they HAVE to know the content and will pull on this content in later classes.  So I feel that I do have to test and that multiple choice works best.

For right now I  will continue to give exams.  Which then brings up the question, online or F2F?  This triggered a memory of a  class that I taught a few semesters ago. It was called a web-enhanced  class - meaning that there was a course shell and that most of the lecture material was available to the students online.   I also decided to administer the exams online - so that I could - get this - have more lecture time!  (grin)  "How did that go you might ask?"  Not so well, these were not online students and several didn't understand (because I didn't tell them everything I told my online students) the testing environment.  Needless to say there was a great deal of confusion (and I think cheating).   So now for  my blended class  I am thinking about having them take the tests during class time.  There are pros and cons to this approach.  When a test is delivered online, the instructor can provide a comfortable window in which the student can access the test, when the test is given in the F2F classroom, it is at a specific time, and then you have to deal with students who missed the test.  This is a major issue in many community college classes, students work, they have families, etc. and even when they have made their schooling a high priority , as I say to them "life gets in the way".  Online tests are easier to grade AND students can get immediate feedback, not so in the F2F environment.

Still working on the syllabus, etc. for week 2 - I'm sure glad that Kelvin mentioned the "flexible" deadlines.  I was stressing royally about trying to finish up last night and knew I had been spending much of my "dissertation writing" time working on this course.  So, I hope to finish (mostly) tomorrow the assignments for week two (they are nearly done), and I've attended the webinar and read most of the material for week 3.  I'm still thinking about exams - I have them set up to be 50% of the course grade and am interested in hearing how other instructors - especially in biology structure their grades.