In EDU 652 I learned about creating a solid instructional design to create effective e-Learning.

A learning activity I had to create was a DO Activity. To accomplish learning objectives the instructor needs to provide three types of activities so that learning can take place: Absorb, Do, and Connect. My do activity was to have my first graders complete a story structure using the web links provided by the teacher through a blog. The do activity lets learners do something with what they are learning (Horton, 2012, p. 51). In this activity the first graders explored through reading a text of their choice and created a story structure. They also gave the definition of a story structure in their own words. According to Dabbagh (2006), The Learner is viewed as an active participant in the learning process. Using a blog, I have improved this activity by creating an entire lesson that leads up to this do activity. Program Learning Outcome 1: Demonstrate knowledge and skills related to learning using technology The activities in the blog will focus on how learners remember, retrieve, and store information in memory (Dabbagh, 2006). Students will get a feel for this publishing tool by exploring creative writing through use of the blog. This blog is safe place where the students can chronicle their learning about writing (Richardson, 2010). The blog is designed with emphasis on structuring, organizing and sequencing information to facilitate optimal processing of the objectives in the topic being studied (Dabbagh, 2006). When teachers allow students to share online it gives the students the opportunity to connect in ways never done inside a classroom before. Program Learning Outcome 2: Demonstrate knowledge and skills in current and emerging instructional technologies Using the blog to teach creative writing gets the students use to the feel to communicate information online. The students are able to share each others ideas, hence learning results when information is stored in their memory in an organized, meaningful way (Dabbagh, 2006). As stated by Dabbagh (2006), Teachers are responsible for assisting learners in organizing information in an optimal way so that it can be readily assimilated. The blog provides carefully structured instructions that allow students to have access to all the materials that is needed to complete the activities and assignments. The multimedia lesson that was created now has activities that will enable the learners to complete the lessons objectives. Once the learner understands the task at hand and independently completes the task, then the teachers can measure understanding and see if the objective have been met (Dabbagh, 2006). This is the assignment section of the blog. All activities that precede this assignment will assist students to complete this assignment independently. Please click on the blog link below and take a look at the creative writing lesson. http://bullwritingclass.wordpress.com/help/

References: Dabbagh, N. (2006). Instructional design knowledge base. Retrieved from classweb.gmu.edu: http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/resources/IDKB/models_theories.htm Horton, W. (2012). E-Learning by Design (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley. Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.