EL7006+Training+in+an+Online+Environment


 * ** EL7006-8 ** ||  ||
 * ** Facilitating Adult Learning Online ** || ** 7 Training in an Online Environment ** ||
 * You have met the basic requirements for the activity but again you need to make your analysis more conceptual and abstract as opposed to literal and concrete. The activity calls for a response that can be interpreted very literally but it is in your interests to develop, practice and demonstrate a doctoral level approach to all topics. **
 * The professional development plan you need to work on is not as an online instructor but as a scholar and theorist in the specialized field of elearning. You need to develop these skills and aptitudes with little apparent direct guidance from the course objectives or materials which seem to be pitched at a college or undergraduate level. It is up to you to provide the interpretation of and choose the level of your response. **
 * Once again I will refer you to a document that outlines the expectations of doctoral level scholarship in the elearning field. Work out your professional development plans with these competencies in mind. **
 * Once again I will refer you to a document that outlines the expectations of doctoral level scholarship in the elearning field. Work out your professional development plans with these competencies in mind. **

=Personal Professional Development Plan = Dedicated professional online instructors continually seek to improve their skills, human interactions, and personal growth. In order to accomplish these goals it is necessary to establish an action plan based upon reflection, self-awareness, and a personal desire to grow and develop as a better person and teacher. Reflection constitutes taking time to review comments on classroom evaluations regarding teaching strengths and weakness, assessing and contemplating research and findings regarding new instructing techniques and methods, and pondering interactions and reactions from and to my students, colleagues, and management. Self-awareness is the internal knowing of self; what satisfies and interests, dissatisfies and disinterests, motivates or demotivates. Through analyzing aspects of teaching and working with students and becoming aware of which activities increase satisfaction, interest, and motivation a professional instructor learns which elements to include and emphasize in their classes and interactions with others. Creativity and resourcefulness spring from awareness. Awareness brings clarity regarding who the teacher is, what he or she wants, and why he or she wants it; empowering the teacher to set specific goals to make those wants reality. The purpose of a personal professional development plan is to identify areas of both strength and improvement. Reflection and self-awareness flows from a personal desire to grow and develop as a person, and as an educator. With the rapid growth of technology, the loss of well-defined career ladders, diminished job security, and the need for current and pertinent knowledge, it is essential for all employees, but especially educators, to continually upgrade their skills to remain current and competitive. In the spirit of self-reflection, my desire for personal growth, and the need to meet the requirements of this assignment, I utilized Knowles (1981) Core Competency and Diagnostic and Planning Guide to analyze my knowledge and skill strengths and requirements regarding teaching online. In conjunction with an associate who has experienced my teaching skill set, I reflected on my teaching competencies. We determined that program developer and administrative skills have no relevance to my current position as an online instructor, but that there are areas in administration that I would like to develop in the future. Regarding my skills as a learning facilitator, all of the competency groups are germane, some more than others. I am strongest in the skills that “help learners become self-directing” and in “selecting methods, techniques, and materials” ( Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2005, p. 275 ), while I am weakest overall in the skills of “designing and implementing learning experiences” ( Knowles et al., 2005, p. 274 ). Based on these competencies and evaluation I have chosen the personal strengths and challenges to express below.

Personal Strengths
One of my greatest strengths in the online classroom is being in control without being controlling; gaining rapport and understanding how learners are being affected by outside forces, and utilizing these factors to encourage learning. By engaging the students and providing immediate feedback to questions and needs, I guide them through the provided curriculum while exemplifying self-directed behavior and encouraging individual pursuit of knowledge. Another major strength of my teaching style is the ability to expand or contract explanations of the material, while varying my delivery techniques or methods to match the needs, abilities, and current motivation of my students to optimize learning. In my current teaching environment these skills are essential to ensure that the most important concepts are inculcated by students without getting bogged down with trivia.

Personal Challenges
As we worked through the diagnostic and planning guide I determined that there were a couple of skills that would add additional vigor and engagement to my teaching style. In one case my current teaching position does not call for the exercise of the skill, but I felt a desire to develop it anyway. In the other, I discovered a skill that I had not thought much about, if at all.

Challenge One
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">In my current teaching environment the curriculum is provided by my employer and I am expected to teach all of it to my students in a specified period of time. Although my students’ employer may be requiring attendance in my class, most of them are there voluntarily to learn particular skills or technologies. One of my major strengths is in engaging each student and engendering rapport with them. I have rarely used that rapport to facilitate learning by tying the skills or concepts to each student’s individual situation; to “formulat[e] objectives that are meaningful to them” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Knowles et al., 2005, p. 274 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Challenge one plan.** To develop this skill I will immediately implement the following actions into each class that I teach. Before the class I send an e-mail to each student informing them of my expectations for them and required materials. In this e-mail I will now add three questions to better determine what he or she expects to get out of the class, the precipitating cause for taking the class now, and the immediacy of the need for the skills and knowledge to be gained in the class. With this information I will prepare prior to the class to link the specific expectations, purposes, and needs with subjects and themes in the class, making the topics more meaningful to the students, and engendering increased interest and motivation to learn. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Challenge one accomplishment benefits.** By creating this bridge of dialog with my students prior to the class and facilitating the discovery of information and skills directly pertinent to their needs in the class, the teaching experience will be fuller, and the learning of the students more complete and memorable. Through this more intimate interaction and relationship with my students and interest in them and their needs from the class, a reciprocal interest will be stimulated in each student and his or her desire to learn. It is this interest that is the trigger for greater motivation and learning ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Watts, 2012 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). By increasing and enriching the relationship between student and facilitator, as implementing this skill will do, research demonstrates that students are likely to be more motivated ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Allen, Crosky, McAlpine, Hoffman, & Munroe, 2009; Omar, Kalulu, & Belmasrour, 2011 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">) and receive optimal learning outcomes ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Abrami, Bernard, Bures, Borokhovski, & Tamim, 2010; Boling, Hough, Krinsky, Saleem, & Stevens, 2011; Jackson, Jones, & Rodriguez, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Challenge Two
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A major reason for pursuing a doctoral degree is for advancement within my current organization. Several of the learning programs offered by Oracle do not provide an optimized learning environment. I would like to utilize research findings, and best practices in online learning to formulate a business plan for implementing a better online program. Although this skill is not applicable to my current position, gaining experience and expertise in this skill is vital to my future plans. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Challenge two plan.** To cultivate this skill I will need to take several specific continuing actions. Firstly, I will collaborate with my immediate manager and director to determine the current and future requirements of my department related to online learning. Current programs offered by Oracle include self-paced learning initiatives, as well as teacher-led live virtual classes. The demand for self-paced offerings is not what management wanted or expected it to be. Based on my research the full utilization of self-paced programs is limited because a majority of adult students are not self-regulated enough to sustain motivation to complete a program without intervention, usually from a teacher ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Abela, 2009; Ruey, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">). Secondly, I will continue to pursue a doctorate of education with a specialization in e-learning focusing on techniques, methods, models, and theories designed to promote the growth, development, and motivation of the adult online learner. Through advancing my knowledge in this area I am better able to enhance or replace the current programs with programs that are more research based, student friendly, and in accordance with the latest best practices in the field. Finally, I must incubate the knowledge gained through my degree program, as well as the feedback from management, to implement and test the techniques, methods, models, and theories that I have learned in the specific context of Oracle. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Challenge two accomplishment benefits.** Through gaining experience and expertise in this skill I expect to improve the education offerings of Oracle and be promoted. Through this promotion I expect to head research and development of all online training and report to the Vice President of Global Operations. In this position I will be able to focus my knowledge and efforts and those of my team into creating innovative and cutting-edge educational and professional development programs that will propel Oracle and Oracle University as the standard-bearer for adult online technical education and training. =<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Conclusion = <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Through a personal desire for growth and development to become a better person and teacher, and through honest self-reflection and increasing self-awareness personal strengths and weaknesses can be identified and an action plan developed to emphasize the strengths and bolster and augment the weaknesses. In this personal professional development plan I identified several teaching strengths and two specific skills that I want to develop in the future, along with a plan for learning and developing those skills and the benefits that will accrue from that development. Through the development of these skills I will be a better facilitator of online learning, while preparing to accomplish future professional goals.


 * = References ||
 * * Abela, J. (2009). Adult learning theories and medical education: A review. //Malta Medical Journal, 21//(1), 11-18. Retrieved from http://www.um.edu.mt/umms/mmj/PDF/234.pdf
 * Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Bures, E. M., Borokhovski, E., & Tamim, R. (2010, July). Interaction in distance education and online learning: Using evidence and theory to improve practice. //The Evolution from Distance Education to Distributed Learning//. Symposium conducted at Memorial Union Biddle Hotel, Bloomington, IN. doi:10.1007/s12528-011-9043-x
 * Allen, B., Crosky, A., McAlpine, I., Hoffman, M., & Munroe, P. (2009). A blended approach to collaborative learning: Making large group teaching more student-centred. //The International Journal of Engineering Education, 25//(3), 569-576. Retrieved from http://www.ijee.ie/
 * Boling, E. C., Hough, M., Krinsky, H., Saleem, H., & Stevens, M. (2011). Cutting the distance in distance education: Perspectives on what promotes positive, online learning experiences. //Internet and Higher Education//. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.11.006
 * Educause. (2011). //Creating a professional development plan.// Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/section_params/mentoring/M06_%20PDP.pdf
 * Jackson, L. C., Jones, S. J., & Rodriguez, R. C. (2010). Faculty actions that result in student satisfaction in online courses. //Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 14//(4), 78-96. Retrieved from http://jaln.sloanconsortium.org/index.php/jaln
 * Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F. III, & Swanson, R. A. (2005). //The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development// (6th ed.). New York, NY: Elsevier.
 * Omar, A., Kalulu, D., & Belmasrour, R. (2011). Enhanced instruction: The future of e-learning. //International Journal of Education Research, 6//(1), 21-37. Retrieved from http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-educational-research/
 * Ruey, S. (2010). A case study of constructivist instructional strategies for adult online learning. //British Journal of Educational Technology, 41//(5), 706-720. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00965.x
 * Watts, S. W. (2012). //Motivation and the Adult Online Learner//. Unpublished manuscript, Northcentral University, Department of Education, Northcentral University, Prescott Valley, AZ. Retrieved from http://stevesncujourney.wikispaces.com/file/view/WattsSEL7006-8-3Graded.docx ||