Working with my FIT’s group was a wonderful experience. Each of us are very intelligent strong dynamic leaders. We started the activity by writing our observations and proposed changes to the online course. We all rather touched on many of the same recommendations. For example, we all thought that there was a need for some type of FIT’s evaluation criteria for students, and FIT’s. We all thought that there needs to be more meaningful dialogue between FIT’s and students.
We further felt that using blogs or skype may possibly help students build social presence. Finally, we though that the instructor (IT 6135) needs to communicate more with students. Students need prompt feedback in order to be successful. Moreover, FIT’s need the same feedback in order to be successful as well. It was very interesting to read some of my colleges comments on their FIT’s experiences.
It was great that we were able to share many times; I thought I was not asking the right questions or on the right track. Therefore, it was helpful to know that others were having the same issues. Sharing ideas and information allowed FIT’s to open-up more to the process of learning more about online environments.
The 5-stage model by (Salmon, 2006) really is a key to online teaching and learning. Many of my team members observed many technical issues by students and while I did not observe that, I was able to go back and look at previous post by students and saw where some of the students were lost, even during the Mid-point of the semester. Having a team helped me to put this experience together.
In the future, I think that FIT’s should be placed into groups during the first few weeks and then work as a team to accomplish goals, that way, FIT’s can get prompt feedback from each other and check in from time-to-time to see if their on the right track.
