Reflection #1

1. What two or three characteristics of effective online learning communities are most important to you, and why?

Higher order thinking and community building are two characteristics that I find most important to me.

CTY students are gifted and talented and are enrolling in CTY's online courses in the hopes that the content will be engaging and that they can walk away with a certain depth of knowledge on the subject matter. Since the gifted child is also among other gifted children, the tendency at first is to assess the online environment. They do so by finding other classmates with shared interests or talents in the discussion forums and then they attempt to break the ice. Higher order thinking that is embedded in course activities and projects can also aid in creating a safe and comfortable environment for the gifted child. Community building works hand in hand with higher order thinking. When the child gains exposure to new technology, a new way of thinking about a problem, or partakes in idea sharing, the child contributes the building the online community. Students can challenge other students to apply, analyze and evaluate new information. The students at CTY can build elaborate webs of ideas. Students learn from each other but ultimately it is the instructor that helps channel their ideas into creative projects and innovative solutions. For this reason I find higher order thinking and community building two key components in CTY's success with online courses.

2. What do you think are the most significant challenges when teaching in an online environment, and what kinds of tools or strategies might you use to overcome them? Consider what happens in a community of learners where there is not a strong instructor presence.

Determining a child's suitability for online instruction is a significant challenge. Placement tests and readiness surveys do provide insight however I have found that some students may not have the basic more overlooked computer skills that are necessary. Tasks such as importing files into an application, compressing files, or saving files into a particular format and working on different platforms (MAC versus PC) may be a hindrance to some students. Sometimes the child is skilled on the the computer but not as versatile in working with multiple applications on the Moodle platform. They respond in frustration and disinterest when faced with new technology until they realize other students are using the tools with ease and then they show greater interest. Sometimes there is also a language barrier. These are hard to predict beforehand. The discussion forum help tremendously with a smooth transition into the online course. Also I do encourage my students to do their personal best through weekly progress reports and constructive feedback in their online grade book. I try to create a safe, and comfortable environment conducive for learning. Most students at CTY are usually

just in need of peer inspiration.

Age may also be a significant challenge. For younger students (2nd graders) I utilize Voki to read out step by step instructions for assignments that tend to be too wordy. This way they do not get overwhelmed. I find that the Voki has helped tremendously in easing up the parents who would spend time reading assignments to their younger children. When Voki is combined with a video on how the assignment should look, this combination also gives the child a certain level of independence in completing tasks. These strategies work well for online computer science courses.

Another significant challenge is in building an online community among students in a self-paced course especially among international and local students with different time zones. This makes is difficult to engage in team work or project collaboration synchronously. The instructor should serve as the stabilizing force and mentor to help keep the course participants engaged. When there is not a strong instructor presence, sometimes students can get overwhelmed and lose interest. They also seem hesitant to ask for help.