As part of the CTL Blended Learning Fellowship each of us have been asked to keep a blog tracking our experiences while developing our blended learning courses. Since this is my first blog on the topic it seems that a recap of who I am, my skills and experience, and what course I am developing seems to be in order. My name is John Coliton, and my picture is posted to the left of this entry. My skills include technology and pedagogy (more on those later) and I am always looking for ways to combine the two in new and effective ways. The course I am developing is CA120 - Introduction to Computer Applications, which is a course that focuses on how to use Microsoft Office.
I have been teaching for almost 20 years at a series of community colleges around Baltimore and here at Montgomery College. Along about 1991 I started teaching non-credit courses in computer programs like Word Perfect, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase, DOS and PageMaker. After several years teaching short courses (5 - 15 hours each) I started teaching credit courses in various computer technologies including Office, Computer Operating Systems, and data communications. Over the years I have also taught courses in Business, Computer Programming, and Student Success. While spending years teaching, I also took a couple of years and tried my hand at directing a department (the CTL) and found I really missed spending time in the classroom with students.
In addition to spending a lot of time in front of the class, I have also spent some time as a class member. My Bachelor's degree was a dual degree in Business Administration and Theatre (I wanted to be a producer!). Within a year my folks convinced me to go to grad school and earn an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from The University of Baltimore. In the mid 1990's that same university offered a series of courses as part of a professional development program for the college where I used to teach. After taking some courses I was hooked and stayed long enough to get a second Master's degree, this time an MA in Publication Design with a concentration in web development and design. Once that degree was complete I was offered a chance to apply for the university's Doctoral program in communication design while being part of a fellowship that paid for my tuition. The fellowship was limited to faculty at local community colleges, and once accepted it covered my tuition for the entire program. In 2006 I was awarded a Doctor of Communications Design (DCD) from the University of Baltimore, and my final work as titled "Designing Virtual Learning Environments for Adult Digital Immigrants."
With this combination of work and education I am hoping to develop a blended learning section of the course Introduction to Computer Applications. This course is designed to introduce our students at MC to the "power tools" used by information workers - Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. The common feature of all of these programs is the ability to collect, analyze, and present information - which is the role of the information worker in today's society. We look at the strengths and weaknesses of each program and how it can enhance an information workers ability to add value to any tasks to which they are assigned. On the first day of the class we watch a video called "Did You Know" which talks about the impact of technology and globalization. We discuss why just knowing the software is not enough (there are students in China and India who are also being taught the software) and that we need to add value to our jobs USING the software.
That's about it for now. In future posts I plan to identify what I am doing to develop the course, decisions relating to both pedagogy and technology as I learn more about what WebCT can do (and can't) here at MC.
John
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