The Assignment
The assignment required us to choose an article based on the first two units we were studying in 601; 1) Foundations of Distance Education, 2) Research and Evaluation in Distance Education. Using the AU digital library, along side our textbook readings, search to find more information on our selected topic of interest.
The second part of this assignment was to critically review the article and analyze it to identify its strengths and weaknesses in terms of the following criteria;
- effective writing and organization;
- importance of the topic or issue;
- supportive evidence;
- relevance to the field of distance education
With this criteria in mind I was able to structure the paper I was writing around these points. I thought that was a good way to organize my paper. As you will see there were many things that I thought I was good at before starting this course that turned out to be untrue and forced me to move forward and change my mindset, as well as, my learning environment at home.
Article
My Ever Changing Environment
This course showed me that my environment and mindset needed to change in order to be successful with the courses I was taking. I had a support system in place and was encouraged daily, all I needed was to get my life organized to include this new and exciting adventure I was starting (6.5).
How my brain felt while note taking
Article Selection Process
I spent a couple days trying to figure out how to use the keywords within the search engine database to find articles that would relate to our first two units. I started with writing sentences into the search engine and found that I was unable to find articles that were relevant as there was too many words within my search criteria. I emailed my professor to voice my concern and she suggested that I use keywords in the search and that fewer would be more effective. I explained to her how I was feeling and she suggested a couple of different article search terms I could use. This was very helpful and I found I was more successful in finding articles using words like; Distance Learning Foundations, Research in Distance Education and finally I came across the article by Moore (2014) that talked about how students feel secluded when learning online and how the course can combat that with simple changes to their course schedules and how the professor requires the students to interact with each other. I was immediately drawn to it and knew it was the article I needed to use for my paper.
Moore, R., (2014). Importance of Developing Community in Distance Education Courses. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 58(2), 20-24.
Why This Article Stood Out To Me
I chose to write on this particular article because I was unsure of how I felt about learning online and thought that I was going to miss out on all the opportunities to interact with my peers and professors that a F-2-F learning environment automatically came with. I was terrified that I would be bored and have no motivation to continue learning because of the lack of relationships I would build by learning through a distance platform. This article talked about my fears and explained how Forum postings and interacting through chat rooms linked to the Moodle pages would be one of many ways to enhance the DE learning environment. After reading the article I found myself exploring the forums and chat rooms provided by the site and through this made many lasting friendships that I kept through the entire M.Ed program, providing me with support and sounding boards through the rest of my classes(4.5), and will continue to keep into the future.
The Feeling That At Any Moment It Could All Come Crashing Down
Note Taking
When I started this course I was very set in looking through paper copies of articles and textbooks. The university sent out textbooks for each course and then I would print off the articles so that I could flag and highlight the areas that I was wanting to address in the course assignments. This was a tedious process and I spent a lot of time searching for the quotes with in the articles as I was writing my papers. As my masters program evolved I found that I was printing hundreds of pages for each course and this made it very difficult to find areas that I wanted to use in my papers (1.1). A peer suggested that I use OneNote to organize any of my digital articles, this was much easier to find the references in because I could search for keywords using the search function on my computer minimizing the time I needed to spend finding the exact pages I wished to reference (1.4).
Time Management
I was mostly worried, as I said, about the paper writing but also about time management/motivation. I was now in my third year of teaching and had a solid course structure in place for my Film and Fashion Studies classes so I knew that I would have time to read but would the motivation be there for me. I was very busy in my personal life volunteering with Big Brothers and Sisters of Calgary as a Big sister which required an hour a week of time to spend with my Little sister, I was involved with my church supporting their pioneer club for youth, running a fashion club at school once a week and coaching basketball and volleyball at school (seasons were not at the same time thankfully). So time management and life structure was going to have to come before the worry of writing papers (6.5).
Time management with my DE course was scary at first, especially with all the extracurricular activities that I had going on, but my professor was very supportive and gave us all many tips in the first week as to how we should go about learning online and in a Masters level course. First she said to structure time into the week as if we were in a F-2-F classroom because that would ensure that there was a block set aside for each course. She suggested that three hours be allotted for every course we were enrolled in per week so we could have enough time to do readings and post in the course forums. This did not include time for paper writing which she suggested there be an hour every day for the week leading up to the paper being due to review and edit the completed paper so it would be up to the standards of a Master's level paper. With this in mind I gathered my schedule, including time for sleep and winding down, all onto one calendar for the first time to see exactly where I was going to fit in three hours a week for this course. For the first time I saw how busy my life was and how little time I really had for personal growth in my professional life which was my main goal for taking a Masters Degree.
I realized quickly, though not quickly enough to help my first paper, that for me one day a week, even with three hours blocked off, would not be enough for me to wrap my head around all the readings and be successful with writing papers. I submitted my first paper and was feeling pretty pleased with how I had made the cover page standout. I thought I had used proper citations and referencing according the APA style requirements. As this was an area that I struggled with through my life I had spent less time focusing on the referencing part and more time focusing on adding in information to support my position. I was unorganized in my collection of references and this made it even harder to go back and create a reference page and to cite within the paper itself. I spent some time with the referencing at the end of the week, just before the paper was due, and this turned out to be a mistake. I am one of those people who like to have papers done a week before they are due just so I know it is completed and I have time to review or have others read it and because of all the time I spent trying to find sources and sadly not keeping all my references written down, I had to spend more time finding where my citations came from than I would have liked which made my time left for finalizing, editing and reference checks, to be rushed. I submitted my paper on time and was surprised at the low mark I received on it being that I had, or so I thought, followed all the required steps for citations and referencing. I was all of a sudden back in the same position I was in through high school trying to pick up the pieces of my paper and with the opportunity to rewrite I really had to push myself to take extra time for APA referencing, which was the reason I needed to rewrite.
Ever Changing Schedule
Calendar Before Adding in my Masters Course
3 hours a week
Calendar with the allotted time for one course (3 hours a week)
What my life really looked like
Calendar with how much time I actually spent on my course at the beginning
Recording System
At first I used sticky notes on all the pages followed by highlighted paragraphs to mark the citations in the books and articles, however, I did not number the sticky notes to record the order I was using them in the paper. This recording system was not very effective and caused a lot of time wasting when I had to go back and cite the sources or add in the quotations (1.1). This paper taught me that I needed a better recording system and so I asked my colleagues and peers how they were able to keep track of their references. My colleague suggested using word because it would keep track of the references as they were added and would keep a bank for later use in later classes. This affected my paper writing in the future because I was able to use articles that I had read in the past and add them seamlessly to other papers and word would automatically add them to my references page leaving only slight formatting for me to do at the end (1.5,1.10,4.1).
What Changed
My professor gave me a lot of feedback on this paper, mostly to do with organizing my thoughts and citations. She wrote suggestions as to how I could improve the paper so it was more cohesive and followed the APA formatting required at the masters level. I was shocked with how much green highlights were present on my paper at first but as I read through her comments I realized that she was giving more suggestions than corrections which made me feel better. She suggested articles that could help with reinforcing my points and how to rearrange my sentences to make the paper flow easier for the reader. She suggested that I take a couple of weeks to read through her comments and then rewrite the paper taking in to account all her suggestions and making the necessary changes to enhance the paper itself.
At the time I was overwhelmed with the direction that I had to take in-order to become a better writer and that not only was it important that I really focus on the small details with in the paper but also to focus on how I referenced within the paper. I struggled at first as I read through the comments and felt as though I was going to have to start over completely, in the end I was able to keep the majority of my information and with my professors guidance change the paper to it accurately described the article, as well as, followed a consistent line of thought followed by evidence from the article.
Through the entire program I found myself coming back to this first paper to double check that I had not repeated any of the mistakes and that I had a paper that was worthy of a M.Ed student. I was able to go forward with this advice to change my marks from the C I received on this paper to be consistently receiving A- and A's on all my future papers.
What my textbooks and articles looked like
First Paper Of My Journey
Cover Page Then
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Candace
27 January 2018, 11:15 AM
This picture is to show how I was wanting to be creative in my cover pages.
How I Felt When Searching For Quotes
Paper At The End Of The Course
Cover Page Now
Final Thoughts
Over the last three years I have gown as teacher, student and person, I truly believe that the experience I had in this MDDE 601 class, specifically with this assignment, made me a better writer which has allowed me to further my education through the entire M.Ed program. I was not perfect at writing papers, time management or note taking by the end of this course but I was definitely on my way to becoming proficient. It took me a couple more semesters to figure out how to be proficient in almost all the areas. Every course taught me more about my writing and even though I was never an A+ average on papers I feel that bringing my mark in this course from an unacceptable C to a passing grade of a B was enough of a push to self-motivate me through the rest of the M.Ed program. I am so grateful for the professor and the students who were in my course as their support, along that of my family, was what pushed me to persevere through the hard times and celebrate the successes along the way. The skills I have taken away from this artifact have changed how I manage my time to this day and will continue to influence my writing as I learn and grow in my career.
