I've lost track of what week this is....

Well, things have been crazy in my life - just busy. It all means the end of the semester is near.

For this blog, I read chapters 8 and 9 in Bonk and Zhang. These discuss phase four of the R2D2 model, hands on learners. Phase four is the phase where learning is made active. The learner is now responsible for applying the theories and concepts that were taught during the previous lessons and demonstrating their knowledge base. As we have learned throughout this course, online learning has become the way of the future. The author of the text points out that an important component of phase four is simulations. Using simulations allows the student to participate in as close to a real life scenario as possible without actually being situated in that scenario. These are useful when providing practice for events such as performing life saving measures or demonstrating critical thinking in emergent situations. Simulations are becoming widely used not only in the medical field, but also in the education, business and military training communities.

Another valid point made in the text speaks of the importance of using wiki's for combined group projects. I thought it was very interesting that it has been referred to as the acronym for "what I know is..". Truly a wiki can become a place where one can post what they have researched and learned on these sites.

Chapter nine gives 25 examples of activies that are hands on learning styles. These include crosswords, monopoly games, virtual encounters up to designing ones own course web site. Within the pages are many ideas and suggestions that will facilitate learning as we develop our own online courses and further endevor to educate the students entrusted into our care.