Week 8 Thoughts

I gave my students an opportunity for peer review - group project and F2F interview. The experience was both positive and negative despite guidelines that were provided to the entire class. Some students were very good at offering constructive criticism. Others used this as an opportunity to "get back" or "gang-up" on another student which really surprised me for junior college level students.

The students did a better job critiquing a F2F interview than working together on a group project for a grade. What I learned from this experience:
1. Not every student will feel that this process is fair and good guidelines need to be in place and reinforced by the instructor.
2. How much weight the project carried made a difference in the students' stress level in performing well and I believe it affected their assessment.
3. When situations arose, students didn't know how to react in a professional manner requiring a lot of instructor intervention.
4. Students didn't feel comfortable working as a group online and many met F2F at times of their own choosing. Cell phone communication was also heavily used.
5. Many of my students met F2F for other courses on campus. I don't know if their personal interactions away from the online environment had any effect on how they viewed my peer assessment activities.

Clarice 2/28/08 Tokyo

"Peggy" (Margaret) post a note to me on the DB which I found very interesting. It really got me thinking which is such a wonderful way to start my day.

Here's my reply to Peggy.
Thanks for you post, it got me thinking.In hindsight, this are my thoughts on how I would try to ease my students into the peer review process:

Here's my Fast Food Project Idea
1. Individual project - I would have students start with an assessment of online websites based on a rubric. In this way they are not targeting individuals, just what they see online.
2. Individual project - Many established businesses in Hawaii post their corporate goals somewhere within their establishment or online if they have a website. I would have my students elect one establishment (a fast food chain), then I would ask them to build a rubric based on these guidelines as well as other aspects of the industry they feel is important to them.
3. Group project - After they have gained some experience creating a rubric on their own, I would have them form groups of 2 or 3 and come up with a single rubric.
4. Group project - Each individual would go to McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King, etc. near their home and do a visual assessment and rate the establishment based on their group rubric.
5. Group project - I would have the group summarize their findings and critique themselves this project (I would provide them with a rubric for this).I'm typing this as I'm thinking, so please pardon me.

As for my students being aggressive - I have to always remember that the majority come from the public housing area...times have changed in my area. I should appreciate the fact that they are in school at, which is an accomplishment on their part for starters. Secondly, they will bring their social and economic backgrounds into the classroom whether it's F2F or online. Confrontation is survival of the fittest in their world and as an educator I feel I need to show them a different side to life so when they do graduate they will be able to succeed in the world that I know.

Clarice Tokyo

I just finished reviewing final draft for group paper. I think we wrote a good paper, but the experience I had with this team was excellent. I also enjoyed this week's DB topic as much as last week. Having to work on final project has kept me from the DB but I hope to catch-up starting tomorrow.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/1/08)

I am sad that these are my last two courses for this program. I have learned so much and I feel that I'm just beginning to learn some new things...like peer assessment.

My hesitation about offering peer assessment is cultural. It is very difficult to critique my peers, very un-Japanese and not the way I was brought up. Yet I am OK with receiving peer review for myself. This week's assignment in completing a peer review for another person is a difficult task for me to complete.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/2/08)

* * * * * * * Summary for Week 8 * * * * * * *

I overhead a conversation between a Japanese student and an American student over coffee. The American student was trying to explain that open discussion, opposing viewpoints, debates, etc. were OK and acceptable in American culture. I did not mean that we (Americans, American couples) don't like the person to whom we are speaking. It was just our way of sharing differing viewpoints, trying to understand new perspectives, reach a mutual conclusion and learning from this process. Very interesting coffee conversation.

I feel that I will require more training or information to feel comfortable applying peer assessment into my online course. Coming from a mixed cultural background, even I am uncomfortable discussing others actions, but I'm OK with receiving critique from others.

I am hoping the CSU MS OTL program will offer graduates workshops to brush-up on these skills sometime in the future. It is also a good way to keep our connections going.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/3/08)

Week 7 Thoughts

For my contribution to the group final paper, my responsibility is to prepare the first draft by this coming Friday, Feb. 22nd. I am nervous because I want to produce a good first draft. I am also the first to write a conclusion to the paper.

Regarding my continuing experience in Japan - Weekend Event:

My husband told me in very brief details about a bank employee to took 1.5 million dollars from his bank over a period of years. He confessed and explained exactly how he did this to his superiors. The bank officials did not call the police nor did they file any paperwork. They released the employee to the custory of the parents and they just waited. Within a few days they received word that the employee coimmitted suicide. This employee did the honorable thing. No need to follow-up, case closed.

How would this cultural behavior impact online learning when so many of us are consious about our grade and performance within a group setting? How would you handle cheating? How would you deter fear of failure in the online environment? How do you explain that ostrasizing one's peer for poor performan is not acceptable?

Clarice 2/20/Tokyo

I was able to finish my group's first draft and I posted it to group wiki. I wanted to finish this early so my team could provide input as to where we might need more research data, etc. I offered to work on this until I hand it off to Mark on Friday. Also, I had a difficult time writing the conclusion. Marsha is a good team leader. She already sent me an email that she will review my draft sometime today.

Still need to work on my mid-term report. I've been talking to my husband and watching the Japanese as I drink coffee every morning, trying to pull my thoughts together for a re-write.

Clarice 2/21/08 Tokyo

I'm glad that I submitted by draft early. Marsha had many suggestions which I think is great. I was just struggling with the conclusion. Since the outline for the paper was created by Mark and three of us on the team didn't know that we were slightly off-task in our research until just a few short days ago, I think we did well. We're all working hard to keep-up with the established time frame.

My research work was not wasted. I gave me a foundation for my mid-term report since there is very little research done on Japanese and the online learning environment. Many research titles say, Asia (except Japan) which I thought was quite odd but interesting.

Clarice 2/22/08 Tokyo

I continue to work on my report despite my wanting to post to the DB for Week 7 because I have a lot of ideas jumping around in my head right now. This was one of the best topics, on the DB and I can't wait to go through the DB.

Regaridng my mid-term, it's not so much that I don't know what I want to write, so much as how I write it, and that it is accurate as possible from a "Japanese" perspective. I've drank coffee and talked to my husband everyday this week, just to get it right....then he says his secretary should review it...I would need a whole semester for this!

I finally turned in my re-written paper. This re-write is very different from my earlier submission and I think it is better organized. The conclusion was a bit weak and not as strong of an ending that I would like. Thank goodness bad weather prevailed today and I was able to stay at home and spend more time on the conclusion.

I'm actually looking forward to submitting my mid-term report for posting when it is approved.

In hindsight, I think if I stuck to a subject that I was much more familiar with, I wouldn't have struggled so much. The learning curve and preparation required in order to write this mid-term report was much more than I had anticipated.

Clarice 2/23/08 Tokyo

* * * * * * Summary Week 7

This week as a long but rewarding week. I spent much of my time on the re-write and I am glad that my group project is going well. Everyone in my group is very on-time or ahead of time with our project paper. With this type of shared commitment, this group process has work-out very well. Maybe the Japanese, with their group mentality, has something going for them in their favor.

My former department chair has been emailing me off an on asking for my opinion about program matters. Though I am far away, I try to keep up with what's going on in the health care industry in the US. I have also found being in Japan offers so much more worldly information. I learn about education and health care in other countries here-and-there and it's wonderful. I'm starting to save these articles for a future online library. I find much of what the Japanese write stays in Japan. Not everything is put online for outside viewing which was a surprise to me.

I have also enjoyed this weeks DB quite a bit, though I have yet to do much catching-up to do. This is a good group of students.

Clarice 2/27/08 Tokyo

Week 6 Thoughts

I had dinner with an instructor who taught with me while I was in Hawaii. She is still not convinced about online learning for the rural community and for vocational certificate programs. She is my friend and I didn't want to bring up anything unpleasant over a wonderful dinner. I would like to develop a set of online modular courses and write a grant to pilot the 'open learning' concept. It might have some real potential for those women who are housed in shelters, etc.

Carice, Honolulu 2/13/08

I received my mid-term report and I got a good grade but, I didn't realise that I had missed two major areas that I needed to cover. I thought I read all of the requirements for this paper and now I'm a bit confused and will ask my instructor for clarification. I want to get it right because I love the topic I chose.

What I learned from this experience***
Despite my shortfall in meeting the paper requirements, my instructor recognized the effort I put into this short piece and I appreciate the grade I received from her. Even though I have to work on it to bring it up to an acceptable level, I am not discouraged. In fact I am encouraged. Though she is online and I can't see her face, she makes me want to improve and do better. I know that she's out there for me. It makes me feel like she cares. This is the kind of online instructor I want to be. I want to learn how to convey this to my own students. Maybe it all started with her wonderful and personal website or the short notes she writes about the allowance for extensions on her announcement board...

I have to run off to my Aunt's funeral and my son is nagging me that we're already going to be late and Grandma will gives us *?#!...but I just had to right this before leaving the house.
Clarice 2/15/08 Hawaii

* * * * * * * * * * Summary for Week 6

This has been a very tough week for my personally. My Dad is not well and it is so hard to be so far away from home. I just don't know how my grandparents (immigrants) managed to live in a new land without their family to support them. I have a computer, cell phone, iChat...but I already miss my morning coffee with Dad.

Question for the week -
What would I like my readers to get out of my mid-term report? I have an opportunity to refine my thinking regarding my initial topc as I plan to rewrite it. Focus of paper - I'd like my report to showcase the importance of understanding culture at it might impact online learning, specificially communicating online. I don't quite know how I'm going to write it just yet, but I believe this a much better start.


What I learned this week -
My first mid-term report focused on the cutural aspects of the Japanese and I didn't tie it in well with online learning. What I did learn is that you have to understand the cultural to some degree before you can understand how this might impact the online environment. I learned a lot about Japanese culture that I would not have otherwise.

Clarice 2/18/08 Tokyo

Summary Week 5

I've enjoyed working on my mid-term report. It has benefited me so much. I can understand and empathise with my husband when he comes home just exhausted from a day's work in the corporate office. The stress he feels when he has to deal with both Japanese and foreign clients. How he anguishes over how to smooth things out in order to make business happen. This was one of the most rewarding personal projects that I've worked on.

Clarice 2/8/08 Tokyo

* * * * * * * * * *
Summary for Week 5

I'm in Hawaii right now and it's great to be able to log onto Bb and continue where I left off. Though my parents can't understand why I have to sit at home on the computer so much. I tried to explain to them that I use my computer in a lot of different ways to help me complete my assignments for the courses that I'm enrolled in. It's just easier to go to church with them and sit for coffee and log-on to Bb when they're too tired to drag me along (I feel like a 7-year-old again).

While in Japan I have travelled to many different Asian countries and I've read so much about the efforts being made in Asia with eLearning. When I came back to Hawaii yesterday, after talking with my family and friends, I am hearing about the problems local people are having right here in my own state. The "houseless" (not homeless anymore) problem, mult-cultural issues in the classroom, neighbor island access to educational opportunities, etc. We have many unresolved problems in our own backyard.

Is online open learning an option for Hawaii's poor? How can you convernt skills and knowledge learned in the online open environemnt and turn them into recognized course credits that community colleges will recognize? Who would fund an open online course moduels...state agencies?

It seems that academic institutions have guidelines they need to maintain for accreditation purposes which still seems to be one of the major stumbling blocks in providing learning options for the poor. Maybe you could create online modules that a communty college could censor if they choose too and approve hours of learning and covert them into credit hours.

Clarice

Week 5 Thoughts

I have been very busy working on my mid-term report and working with my individual group in order to finalizing our group project. This has kept me very busy and I have not started on my weekly readings as yet.

Coordinating our group project has taken some time to gel but I think we are on track. Everyone is very cooperative, considerate and flexible. They would make a great Japanese team, meaning a U.S. team that can work with Japanese.

Sadly, I got another email from yet another team member asking for advice. They are struggling to pull their project together as I write this. I provided her with a very brief outline of our overall focus, individual research topics, and timeline. I hope this is helpful to them.

With such difficulties involving group projects, this class is unique. I have also found that when group cooperation is difficult, it seems to make all other work in this class a bit more difficult even though my group if fine. I feel for my classmates.
Clarice 2/7/08 Tokyo