Activity+11


 * Assignment 11 Design of Collaborative Activities **
 * Design four different collaborative activities for a course of your choice. Submit the following: (a) a description of the course, including course goals and objectives (b) grade/age/learning level of the learners in the course (c) background information on the learners (Are students new to online learning? Are they experienced online learners? Is the group a mixture of the two?) (d) a clear description of each type of activity and why it is considered a collaborative activity (e) a detailed description of the activity itself: directions for the activity, objectives, timeline, process for submission, and assessment. If citations are used, be sure to cite quotations and paraphrases with references in APA format and style. Save the file in RTF with the correct course code and information in the header. Upload the completed assignment in the Activities area of the course ELT7008. **

A summary of the background information regarding each section of activities with the four courses will be provided. The goal of designing these on-line courses is to encourage a greater level of communication for on-line learners. The development of ice breaker activities helps the learners to develop a better relationship with each other as well as the ability to understand that although we all have various educational backgrounds; we have many common threads in which we connect with each other. One of my first designs for an introductory icebreaker for students who will be working together on an online activity was found in the book entitled //75 e-Learning activities: Making online learning interactive// (Watkins, 2005). The author, Watkins, shows us the key ways to draw in learners. The title of this activity is “Worth a thousand words.” With the application of an introduction/ice breaker, an instructor can make a transition of the initial online challenges of starting an online course by introducing themselves. Better communication is important for a smooth start with online courses. By implementing an asynchronous introductory/ice breaker activity, the learners, and teaching faculty develop a greater understanding of the communication style and the skill set of the presenter. Also icebreaking strategies allow for a greater development of team work. In addition, the //Worth a Thousand Words// icebreaking activity allows the presenters an opportunity to present their technology skills to their peers in a non-competitive way. In designing this online course activity, I realized the importance of including a collaborative team building activity. As a teacher using current research models, I discovered a consistent theme with all team building activities (Palloff & Pratt, 2007). In order for teams to complete the task, a spirit of cooperation is essential. The consistent team building activity which I have observed was to see team members’ step up to the plate, take the lead and take on roles of responsibility and accountability. This activity when exercised properly creates a healthy relationship. Healthy relationships are needed to create a unified team which completes the task at hand. One such activity is a team building activity which I used is entitled //Group Norms.//
 * In this assignment I will design four different collaborative online courses . For this design, I will need to summarize background information about the course. There will be a selection of one introductory activity/ ice breaker activity, one collaborative activity, one content activity, and one interactive course activity which I designed. A reflection on my experience on designing the activities will also be written. This collaborative plan will include procedures, evaluations, goals and objectives. These activities will be designed for Middle school students, grades 6th-8th who are in the introductory stages of the online learning activities.

This online course will also have a content related feature. One of the online content activities which I will design is taken from the book entitled //75 e-Learning activities: Making online learning interactive//. The title of this activity is “Class Memoir.” I will want to give proper credit to Steve Sugar who collaborated in the development of this activity. (Watkins, 2005).This particular activity also has a reflection piece. This content related activity will be modeled from the activities presented in the readings from this course outline. It is my plan to make sure that this content related activity will be reflective in nature. The content design activities will include procedures, evaluations, goals and objectives. These activities will be designed for Middle school students, grades 6th-8th introductory level. As part of this online design, I have also added an interactive course activity. It is my plan to make sure that at least one of the interactive course activities will utilize technology in the form of a group blog. The interactive course activities will include procedures, evaluations, goals and objectives. One of the online interactive course activities which I will design is taken from the book entitled 75 e-Learning activities: Making online learning interactive. The author, Watkins, tells us that an online blog is similar to a journal or diary .The blog format is able to capture important events and activities of learning. As mentioned before one of my designs for an introductory icebreaker for students who will be working together on an online activity which was found in the book entitled //75 e-Learning activities: Making online learning interactive// (Watkins, 2005). The title of this activity is “Worth a thousand words.” The objectives of these activities are to: (a) have learners show internet websites to illustrate their interests, (b) learners will understand that there is more than just one way to communicate, and (c) learners will build skills for interacting online with others. This activity is asynchronous meaning it is independent of time. This activity will take between one to two days of learner’s participation. In addition the activity requires that both learner and instructor have access to an online discussion board as well as email. The learner will of course have access to the World Wide Web. The goal for this particular activity is to have students who are working with one another develop a better understanding about who they will be working with and the talents and abilities that each team member will possess to complete the task. In summary of this ice breaker activity, I believe that the students who participate with these activities will react in a favorable way. I believe that there are various reasons for the selection of these icebreaker activities. One of the reasons for selecting icebreaker activity one is that it is my desire to encourage learners to avoid the fear of introducing one’s self to peers and instructor when starting an online course. Often many starting out make the mistake of feeling that they are not competent enough to start an online course. I have come to the conclusion that no one has all the wisdom and knowledge about distance learning. The collaboration of knowledge should be shared for student growth. For example, The first icebreaking activity gives the learner the opportunity to share websites that the learner uses often or can relate to. I can support this activity for effectiveness by taking an assessment of learner’s selected sites. After this assignment is complete, I, as instructor can continue with assignment number two, which could be to encourage learners to come up with at least three sites which they found interesting in relationship to their personality type. Students are able to select websites which interest them. I believe that a great content of information about the learner will be generated when the topic is about something that interests the learner. In addition, this particular activity lends itself to online real world engagement (Reeves, Herrington, and Oliver, 2004). The rationale as to why the “Worth a thousand words “ice breaker activity is the most appropriate for this course is that learners and instructor can make a transition of the initial online challenges of starting an online course by introducing themselves with the use of websites of interest, PowerPoint presentations, and sharing their technology skills. Better communication is important for a smooth start with online courses. This ice breaker activity helps presenters and teaching faculty develop a greater understanding of the communication style and the skill set of the presenter. These initial challenges of communication can be overcome and the icebreaking activities brings back the “face to face” aspect of the traditional classroom to the online class which is very effective. The above icebreaking strategies also allows for a greater development of team work. The icebreaking activities also allow the presenters an opportunity to present their technology skills to their peers. The collaborative team building activity which I selected is taken from the book entitled //75 e-Learning activities: Making online learning interactive// (Watkins, 2005). The title of this activity is //Group Norms.// The summary of this team building activity is important to the design of this online course. The next step is to provide the objective and goal of this activity. The objective of this team building activity is to be able to establish the roles and responsibilities of one’s team after reviewing the team building assignment. The goals are to have the learners understand the responsibilities of online communication, learners will be able to establish the responsibilities that they will have with each other, and learners will be effective online users with regards to the discussion board. Some of these activities will be synchronous and some will be asynchronous. Procedures should be established as well. The procedures provide direction for the team. Make sure that there is a chat room or discussion board on which to post discussions. The first discussion assignment should be available for discussion with a time established to complete this task. Make sure that each member has had an opportunity to post their response. Also allow feedback regarding responses from each member based on the post. In other words, the members are responding at least twice to each assigned post. The procedure will be to respond once for the answer to the post and a second time to respond to one of the members responses. A rubric should be provided in order for the members to understand if their responses are on target. The posted assignment for the team to respond to will be on the topic of team responsibility and the roles of team members. The way in which this activity will be evaluated is through the use of a questionnaire used as the processes of the activities are completed The questionnaire will have such questions as who are your members and what role do they play? What were some of your successes? What were some of your challenges? How were challenges handled? How have you grown as a result of this activity? (Each member will answer this question individually) The other part of the evaluation will be in the form of a rubric so that team members understand what grade they will receive after completing their project. The rubric will provide 70 % of the project based on the content of the activity and 30% on the presentation of the project. The percentage is calculated by dividing the actual points earned by the total number of points possible for an activity or project. The resulting percentage will determine the letter grade for the activity or project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The design of the activities that I will present to the students enrolled in the course will be in detail. First we will have a brief introduction about the benefits of group membership responsibilities and a discussion of real life experiences of group members working together. I will ask the students to tell me the benefits and potential shortcomings of team building. Next the goals of this activity, which is to establish group member responsibilities, will be discussed. The goals are the following: identify main responsibilities, and develop the responsibilities that each member should have inside the groups. The collaborative groups will be between 4 and 6 learners. The team pair ups will be based on both the experience and learning styles of the learner. The mode of deliver will be synchronous for most of the lesson. The discussions will be using the chat room. In some cases I will encourage e-mail for students who are not clear of the posted assignments. The time requirement for this activity will be one to two hours during the first few days of the course. There will be reminders from time to time after the few days about the importance of the roles and what concepts were developed from applying your new roles. I will explain that the materials will be to have access to email to communicate with the facilitator and learners. In addition there will be a need for an online synchronous chat room or discussion board for communication. It will be clear how to use the chat room and or discussion board because the procedures for online communication will be set from the beginning. One procedure should be to communicate in a professional manner. The posted responses will be to answer the question as well as respond at least once to each other per week. The main responses will have between 300 to 400 words. It will be encouraged to have citations as well as references from the American Psychological Association (APA) format. Discussions will be pasted from a word document to the online discussion window. In advanced preparation of the course, students will review the expectations of the facilitator and the rules which will govern the online course. There will be the activity of student team building; each individual will be given responsibilities such as team record keeper, team leader, team encourager, and team time keeper. These roles will be voted on by the members. Each person that wishes to hold this position will have an opportunity to present a one hundred word description about themselves and their level of experience for this position. Part of the verbal and signed agreement of the team will be to hold others accountable for the responsibility of helping each other, contributing to the group, completing the tasks agreed upon, establishing deadlines for dates and times of events, finally communicate consistently and professionally. The basic procedures will be to: (a) post responses to tasks given on the discussion board, (b) respond to each other as members about the posts, and (c) provide feedback from discussions and posts. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the introductory posts will be to have learners write about their experience working as a team. What were some of the positive aspects of team work? Are there any negative aspects of team work? If you were working on a team, what role would you see yourself play and why? The learners will post their response on the discussion board. The response will be 100-200 words. In addition, students will respond to each other with short comments on their responses to the posted question. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">There will also be an evaluation piece assigned to make sure that students understand the assignment. The evaluation piece that I will use is a questionnaire. The questions will be posted in the beginning, middle end of the assignment for each week of the course. Learners will simply provide a short response to a few questions. The questionnaire will have such questions as who are your members and what role do they play? What were some of your successes? What were some of your challenges? How were challenges handled? How have you grown as a result of this activity? (Each member will answer this question individually) The second part of the evaluation will be the use of a rubric in order for the team members to understand what grade they will receive after completing their project. The rubric will provide 70 % of the project based on the content of the activity and 30% on the presentation of the project. The percentage is calculated by dividing the actual points earned by the total number of points possible for an activity or project. The resulting percentage will determine the letter grade for the activity or project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">My reflection of this team building activity is that it will provide positive feedback from the team. This activity is a relationship builder. It encourages members to work as a team to complete a task. Each member will depend on each other and at the same time hold each other accountable. The reasons why I selected this activity is due to first understanding that when learners work cooperatively, they need a team building activity such as establishing roles of responsibility in order for the team to be successful with the assigned tasks. Another reason for the selection of this activity is that it provides the members an opportunity to see the talents, abilities and skills of each member providing confidence and a positive start for team activities. The support for my reasoning which reveals the effectiveness of team building can be found in a fourth edition book with many experienced authors entitled: //Team Building: Proved Strategies for Improving Team Performance// (Dyer, W.G., Dyer, W.G., Jr. & Dyer, J.H, 2007). This particular book helped me to appreciate that applying team building activities will encourage strong cohesiveness of teams. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The third collaborative team activity for students enrolled in my online course will be the establishment of group norms. When I first began the role of Instructional Math Coach, instruction was provided on how to conduct meetings between Coach and teacher. The basic concept was peer to peer communication. We were not in the role of administration but viewed as teachers teaching teachers. As Coaches we were always encouraged to establish norms before conducting our meetings. By establishing norms in the beginning a non threatening relationship is established which encourages a free flow of ideas and thoughts (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Each member will play a pivotal role in assisting the norms to be adhered to. A team of four should be established with a time keeper, team leader, team encourager and team recorder. The team time keep will have the responsibility of maintaining an agreed upon schedule of the team. The team leader will be responsible for final decisions based upon the majority of the team. The team encourager should be the thread that will cohesively hold the team together in a unified way. The team recorder will be able to not only take notes but provide an updated calendar of events and a printed list of assignments including the deadlines of assignments. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The objective will be for learners to develop agreed upon and followed norms within their team for smooth transitions of tasks after a few days of collaboration and discussion. The goals of the group will be to identify effective online group norms, by negotiating and professional communication using an online asynchronous discussion board. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The procedures which will be used to develop group norms will be to provide clear cut directions for the group task. It is essential that there is a way to communicate among team as well as facilitator. This can be taken care of using e-mail, chat rooms and discussion boards. All members will need to participate in this activity which is to develop norms for the team. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">As said before roles will need to be established, timelines need to be set and professional communication should exist. Questions such as: Who will make the final decisions? How will the assignments be divided? What will be done when norms are not followed? These questions must be answered in order to have a smooth and effective running team. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The next step is to ensure that there will be a way of evaluating the team’s accomplishments. The way in which this activity will be evaluated is through the use of an online survey used during the processes of the activities. The survey will have such questions as who are your members and what role do they play? What were some of your successes? What were some of your challenges? How were challenges handled? How have you grown as a result of this activity? (Each member will answer this question individually) The other part of the evaluation will be in the form of a rubric so that team members understand what grade they will receive after completing their project. The rubric will provide 70 % of the project based on the content of the activity and 30% on the presentation of the project. The percentage is calculated by dividing the actual points earned by the total number of points possible for an activity or project. The resulting percentage will determine the letter grade for the activity or project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The design of the activities that I will present to the students enrolled in the course will be in the form a lesson plan. First there will be a brief introduction about the benefits of establishing norms for teams and a discussion of real life experiences of group members establishing norms. Next there will be a “Do Now” activity about the definition of norms as a warm up to the main lesson. Current research indicates that the constructivist concept of building learning step by step will be utilized (Marlowe, & Pafe, 1998). A “Do Now” for learners for the second day task will be to think of a time in which they played a game. Perhaps you understood the rules of this game in a certain way. Your opponent whom you may be challenging sees the game rules differently. What do you think the results of this game will be? The goal behind this “Do Now” activity is to show the need and benefit of having agreed upon rules, or norms if you will, that all in the team can agree to. Next the goals of this activity, which is to establish group norms, will be discussed. The goals are the following: identify effective group norms, develop online negotiating skills, and develop communication skills among the group. The collaborative groups will be between 4 and 6 learners. Team pair ups will be based on both experience and learning styles. The mode of deliver will be asynchronous and synchronous at times. The time requirement for this activity will be one to three days and a reviewed at the beginning of each assignment session from time to time. The materials will be to have email access to the facilitator and learner as well as an online synchronous chat room or discussion boards. In preparation of the course, students can review the expectations of the facilitator and the rules which will govern the online course. There will be responsibilities of each group member such as keeping records of what has been agreed upon, holding others accountable for the responsibility of helping others, contributing to the group, completing the tasks agreed upon, establishing deadlines for dates and times of events, finally communicate consistently and professionally. More specifically, these roles will be voted on by the members. Each person that wishes to hold one of the four positions will have an opportunity to present a one hundred word description about themselves and their level of experience for this position. Part of the verbal and signed agreement of the team will be to hold others accountable for the responsibility of helping each other, contributing to the group, completing the tasks agreed upon, establishing deadlines for dates and times of events, finally communicate consistently and professionally. The basic procedures will be to: (a) post responses to tasks given on the discussion board, (b) respond to each other as members about the posts, and (c) provide feedback from discussions and posts. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The basic procedures will be to: (a) establish timelines, (b) respond to each other as members about the posts, and (c) provide feedback from discussions and posts, (d) dividing team assignments, and (e) enforcing norms. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The next step is to ensure that there will be a way of evaluating the team’s accomplishments. The way in which this activity will be evaluated is through the use of an online survey used during the processes of the activities. The survey will have such questions as who are your members and what role do they play? What were some of your successes? What were some of your challenges? How were challenges handled? How have you grown as a result of this activity? (Each member will answer this question individually) The other part of the evaluation will be in the form of a rubric so that team members understand what grade they will receive after completing their project. The rubric will provide 70 % of the project based on the content of the activity and 30% on the presentation of the project. The percentage is calculated by dividing the actual points earned by the total number of points possible for an activity or project. The resulting percentage will determine the letter grade for the activity or project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The rationale as to why this team building activity entitled //Establishing Norms// was the most appropriate for this course is that it will provide positive feedback from the team. This activity is a relationship builder which will take patients and dedication from the entire team. It encourages members to work as a team to complete a task. Each member will depend on each other and at the same time hold each other accountable to complete the task. The reasons why I selected this activity of establishing norms is due to my understanding that when learners work cooperatively, they need a set of norms or procedures to work by in order to have an effective team that accomplish tasks. Another reason for the selection of this activity is that effective norms provide the smooth completion of team meetings with a greater sense of accomplishment. The support for my reasoning which reveals the effectiveness of developing team norms can be found in the research about norm developing research (Jennings, & Ritchie-Reviewer, 2007). This particular article helped me to see how essential the applications of norms were to a team. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The content related activity is a design which is taken from the book entitled //75 e-Learning activities: Making online learning interactive//. The title of this activity is “Class Memoir.” A clear summary of this activity is provided. The next step is to provide the objective and goal of this activity. The objective of this content related activity is to create a class memoir that is effective for both the team effort as well as the learners. The second part of this objective is to develop a journal of experiences.The goals arefor learners to reflect on their learning experiences, develop a journal of experiences and develop online communication skills.The mode of delivery of this activity is asynchronous <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Procedures should be established as well. The procedures provide direction for the activity.It is important to make sure that all learners contribute to the class memoir forum. This can be accomplished by means of creating team building activities which encourages leadership roles. For example, the role of encourager can keep a positive attitude going among the group in order to encourage continued entries in journals throughout the online course.The journal entries will be broken down into five types of topics to write and reflect on. The topics of interest can be categorized in the following way: (a) details of course activities, (b) various assignments, (c) online discussions, (d) supplemental reading from the online text, (e) and any other additional special event. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the activities will be for the learners to express in their journals the experiences that they are having with the online experience. For example, one question can be: “How are the online learning experiences different from the traditional ways that you have learned?” As part of our technology literacy class, I will assign “Do Now” activities to be recorded in the student’s journals. One of the planned online assignments will be to log on to a search engine such as [|www.ask.com]. Write the definition of PowerPoint and tell me in a few sentences your skills and knowledge of PowerPoint presentations. The instructor will review each entry, and record a positive comment on the entry. There will also be weekly reviews of some of the Microsoft Office products we would have applied throughout the school year. For, example if we spent weeks using Microsoft Excel, I will give a weekly review. Instead of using basic questions about what Excel is and what it is not, students will write about that the Excel lesson means to you. What about the Excel lesson is still a concern to you? What about the Excel lesson do you agree with? Another part of the process is that students will have the opportunity to write reflections on the online course with regards to discussions that we have online. Often when these discussions, such as the topic of Excel, take place the learner is able to write about any new concept that was discussed. A key opportunity for the learner to show what they learned and also a chance for the instructor to discover if the objectives of the lesson were obtained. With this online lesson it is important to consider the current topics which are happening inside the field of learning. This is true especially of the subject matter of the online course. A bi-weekly assignment will be given to keep abreast of the current technology available to the public. I will encourage the learners to read technology articles or journals and share a 75 word essay on the topic. Some of the questions will be:”What is the new concept, idea? Do you feel it is practical, or will the use of this new technology have a negative effect on the human experience? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">It is important to remind the learners of the importance of viewing, reviewing and commenting on the discussion board about the entries of others as well as the instructor’s concerns. The final piece of the online course will include the reflection. The reflection piece will require the learners to write about any new visions, concepts or ideas which they may have experienced since taking the course. In a three month course there will be three required reflections. I will make sure that each member has had an opportunity to post their response. Also allow feedback regarding responses from each member based on the post. The members are responding at least twice to each assigned post. The procedure will be to respond once for the answer to the post and a second time to respond to one of the members responses. A rubric should be provided in order for the members to understand if their responses are on target. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The way in which this activity will be evaluated is through the use of a questionnaire used as the processes of the activities are completed. The questionnaire will have such questions as who are your members and what role do they play? What were some of your successes? What were some of your challenges? How were challenges handled? How have you grown as a result of this activity? (Each member will answer this question individually) The other part of the evaluation will be in the form of a rubric so that team members understand what grade they will receive after completing their project. The rubric will provide 70 % of the project based on the content of the activity and 30% on the presentation of the project. The percentage is calculated by dividing the actual points earned by the total number of points possible for an activity or project. The resulting percentage will determine the letter grade for the activity or project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">My reflection of this design entitled: “Class Memoir”, which was developed in collaboration with Steve Sugar, will provide a good online relationship with the learners and instructor as well as the community of learners who work together as a team. These activities are a fine relationship builder which will produce a class memoir that records and journals the learning process for this online course. It encourages members to freely express their concerns and learning experiences with each other. In addition to the learner’s growth, the instructor will develop instructional skills as well. The instructor’s feedback from the reflective piece of the course will allow for a better understanding of the student’s progress and teacher instruction skills set. Of course, just as in the case of traditional institutes of learning, learners are encouraged to evaluate the instructor. The feedback from the students provides a good sounding tool on how an instructor can fine tune instructional skills (Morrison, & Lowther, 2002). The reasons why I selected this activity of creating class memoirs are to provide an avenue of learner’s experiences with documented challenges and growth. The memoirs provide an opportunity for learners to reflect on their online journey. This document is also available for all who seek to learn about online activities from a learners view. Another reason for the selection of this activity is that learners develop effective online communication and leadership skills with each other as well as the instructor. The support for my reasoning which reveals the effectiveness of developing better online communicators and leaders can be found in the research about helping learners become more independent (Meichenbaum &, Biemiller, 1998). This particular book helped me to see how essential developing the learner’s skills are to the online process. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The one interactive course activity that I designed was the activity entitled: //Group Blogs.// The author, Watkins, tells us that an online blog is similar to a journal or diary The blog format is able to capture important events and activities of learning. These important activities can be viewed and used in the form of a student guide.”The next step is to provide the objective and goal of this activity. The objective of this interactive course activity is to create collaborative blogs among a team of 8 to 15 learners.The goals arefor learners to reflect on their learning experiences, learners will develop an online blog of course experiences, and develop online communication skills with their peers.The mode of delivery of this activity is asynchronous <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Procedures should be established as well. The procedures provide direction for the activity.It is important to make sure that all learners contribute to the class memoir forum. This can be accomplished by means of creating team building activities which encourages leadership roles. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the first procedures which an instructor can do is to provide instructions for the group blog. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In addition the names of learners will be provided in terms of what group will work together. Group learners will have contributed an entry at least once a day. The blog entries can be about insights, opinions, challenges or learning situation that the learner is experiencing. The team recorder will have the responsibility to assign a team collaborative group assignment that each team member can respond to. The final procedure will be to have the learners involved in an evaluation piece. Learners will summarize that they have learned after reviewing the completed blog at the end of the course. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the activities will be for the learners to express in their blog the experiences that they are having with the online experience. For example, one question can be: “How are the online learning experiences different from the traditional ways that you have learned?” The instructor will review each entry, and record a positive comment on the entry. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The way in which this activity will be evaluated is through the use of a questionnaire used as the processes of the activities are completed. The questionnaire will have such questions as who are your members and what role do they play? What were some of your successes? What were some of your challenges? How were challenges handled? How have you grown as a result of this activity? (Each member will answer this question individually) The other part of the evaluation will be in the form of a rubric so that team members understand what grade they will receive after completing their project. The rubric will provide 70 % of the project based on the content of the activity and 30% on the presentation of the project. The percentage is calculated by dividing the actual points earned by the total number of points possible for an activity or project. The resulting percentage will determine the letter grade for the activity or project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The rationale as to why this activity is most appropriate for this course is that it provides a good online relationship with the learners and instructor as well as the community of learners who view the blog. This activity is a fine way to have learners express their understandings of concepts, share ideas and grow in the area of online learning. It encourages members to freely express their concerns and learning experiences with each other. In addition to the learner’s growth, the instructor will develop instructional skills as well. The feedback from the student’s Blog provides a good sounding tool on how an instructor can improve instructional skills (Morrison, & Lowther, 2002). The reasons why I selected this activity of creating Group Blogs are to provide an avenue of learner’s experiences with documented challenges and growth. The blog provide an opportunity for learners to reflect on their online journey. This document is also available for all who seek to learn about online activities from a learners view. Another reason for the selection of this activity is that learners develop effective online communication and leadership skills with each other as well as the instructor. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The support for my reasoning which reveals the effectiveness of developing better online communicators and leaders can be found in the research about helping learners become more independent (Meichenbaum &, Biemiller, 1998). This particular book helped me to see how essential developing the learner’s skills are to the online process. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">It is also essential to include a reflection about my experiences in designing these activities for this online course. After completing this online course, I discovered that there are big differences in designing this course in comparison to a traditional course. My reflection of the ice breaker activity entitled “Worth a thousand words” was very important in order to establish better communication (Bellanca, & Stirling, 2011)**//.//** This ice breaker activity also has the feature of encouraging those with leadership skills to take the lead in collaboration. For example, there will be some who will be good at encouraging the team to continue with the task. Other members of the team are good at recording information and keeping the team on track. There are those that are natural leaders and they play an important role for the team’s success in accomplishing the assignment goals. It is my recommendation that these positions be voted on by the team members based on the qualifications of that member who wants to take the lead. The benefits that I believe students will gain from this ice breaking/introductory activity is the following: (a) learners will gain skills on how to interact with peers online, and (b) learners will be able to communicate online using pictures, images and graphics. The pros of this ice/ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">breaker activities are the following: (a) the activity provides the on looker with websites and pictures that tell a story about the presenter, and (b) learners are able to build experiences when working with their online peers. I can think of only one con of the //Worth a Thousand Words// ice breaker/activity which is that the presenter’s use of images instead of words may lead to an improper interpretation of the presenter’s presentation. The pros of the use of an ice breaker activity such as this is that the designer can use creative ways of expression such as pictures, imagines and graphics to express information about who this person is without the use of words. In addition, I believe that the express which is often used is true. A picture is worth a thousand words. The use of images to project one’s persona as opposed to words permits the viewer to think more creatively about what the designer of the ice breaking activity is trying to convey. The con of this ice breaker activity is that the images that the designer has laid out in the ice breaker activity maybe misinterpreted by the view due to the lack of words and thus the true concept behind the activity may be lost. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The next feature of an online course is the team building activity. My reflection of this activity is that it allows for the smooth running of the team. The title of this activity is //Group Norms.// Members that have good communication skills should be able to accomplish tasks in a successful way. Members of the team can communicate a brief description of themselves and their technology abilities. Once the team members understand their roles and the abilities that each member has the successful completion of the activity will occur (Wolfe, & Sparkman, 2009)//.// The benefits that I believe students will gain from this team building activity is the following: (a) learners will develop the needed online norms to ensure good group communication, (b) learners will gain online communication skills, and (c) learners will learn how to agree upon main norms among working groups. The pros of this team building activity are the following: (a) the activity requires the establishment of group norms which are important to the smooth flow of the activity, and (b) learners are able to build greater communication skills when working with their online peers with this team building activity. I can think of only one con of the //Group Norms// team building activity which is that when group norms are established caution must be used in terms of the flexibility of the norms. There are times in which the norms must be adjusted within the group for the free flow of the meeting. A good facilitator will realized that the team may need to revisit the norms and see if they are counterproductive or not to the new assignments which need to be completed by the group. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The feature that compliments the team building activity is the content related activity which is a design taken from the book entitled //75 e-Learning activities: Making online learning interactive//. The title of this fourth activity is “Class Memoir.”My reflection of this activity is that this section provides an opportunity for teams to develop a journal that documents the experiences of the course (Horton, 2006). This document can be very useful to a new online learner who wants to gather information about online learning. The benefits that I believe students will gain from this content related activity is the following: (a) the opportunity for learners to reflect on their experiences, (b) learners will develop a journal of online experiences, and (c) learners will develop skills for online communication. The pros of this content activity are that the contributors of this document are allowed to express their feelings about their true online experience. Rather than having an instructor driven course of action which may focus on the content of curriculum, the designer will be able to focus on their learning experience which only they can personally express. The other pro of this activity is that it provides a chronicled document of the views, suggestions and beliefs of that team within this particular time frame. One of the cons of this content activity is that the memoirs are limited to the time period in which the conclusion of the course is done. In other words, a future viewer will not be able to use this journal as a current research document in that the concepts, views and opinions express may no longer be factual. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The last section of this course is the interactive course activity. My reflection of this activity entitled Group Blogs is that this activity documents the learning process of the online learners as they go through the various assignments in this course. The learners who created the Blog as well as those interested in learning more about online learning can benefit by reading the Blog which is full of experiences and educational activities of the course (Handley, & Chapman, 2011). In the Blog a reader of it will discover ideas, concepts and recommendations from a team of experienced and new online learners. The learners will understand that the Blog entries are not confidential and as a result entries must be professional in nature. The benefits that I believe students will gain from these interactive activities are as follows: (a) the collaboration of group members, (b) the creation of an online blog of experience, and (c) members of the team will gain greater skills for interacting with their peers. The pros of the blog interactive course activity is that viewers will be enriched with a deeper appreciation of <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">online learning. The good feature of this activity is also that the designers can use the blog to showcase to potential employers or people of interest the abilities of the designer with reference to technology. The con of this activity is that the designer must acknowledge that the information in which they published will not be confidential but opened to the World Wide Web. Thus the expression printed must be accepted as the designers own point of view. Opinions of course can be changed, however the writer who publishes in a blog must understand that these views our now made public. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">References <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Ask.com. (2011). In Ask.com online search engine. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Bellanca, J.A., & Stirling T. (2011). //Classrooms without borders//. New York, NY: Teacher College Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. (2004). //Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for// //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">creative instruction. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Dyer,W.G.,Dyer,W.G,Jr. & Dyer,J. (2007). //Team building: Proven strategies for improving team// //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Performance. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Hoboken: Jossey-Bass. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Handley, A., & Chapman, C. (2011). //Content rules: How to create killer blogs, podcasts, videos,// //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">ebooks, webinars (and more) that engage customers and Ignite your business. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Hoboken, NJ: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">John Wiley & Sons, Inc. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Horton, W. (2006). //E-Learning by design//. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Jennings, M., & Ritchie-Reviewer, G. (2007). Leading effective meetings, teams, and work groups <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">in districts and schools. ASCD, 188. Retrieved from http://www.teacherleader.org/node/1010 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Marlowe, B. A., & Pafe, M.L. (1998). //Creating and sustaining the constructivist classroom.// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Meichenbaum, D., & Biemiller, A. (1998). //Nurturing independent learners: Helping students take// //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">charge of their learning //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Morrison, G.R., & Lowther, D.L. (2002). //Integrating computer technology into the classroom//. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2007). //Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for//

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> the virtual classroom. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Reeves, T., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2004). Authentic activities and online learning <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">HERSA. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Retrieved from: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Watkins, R. (2004) //Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction.// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Wolfe, B.D., & Sparkman, C.P. (2009). //Team-building activities for the digital age: Using technology// //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">to develop effective groups. Champaign, I //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">L: Humankinetics. ||