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Laura Howard
OMDE 610 9040
REVISED (for editing 3-24-16) Journal Entry 9 (Module 3)
3/20/16

Reviewing the objectives of this module as indicated in the course content and syllabus
(University of Maryland University College, 2016):
One of the objectives that I enjoyed focusing on the most in this module was finding and

exploring social media technology for collaborative purposes. It is just amazing to see so many
media applications available and most are ones I have never heard of or tried. Using specialized
social communication features and abilities seems like the primary premise of all this type of
media. It is especially useful and wonderful to know that many of these can be used efficiently
for educational purposes. The communication features and components in social media are what
is ideal in achieving learning for the Constructivist and OCL Theories (Harasim, 2012a;
Harasim, 2012b; Harasim, 2012c). I have learned about many social media type applications
since I have enrolled in UMUC, which probably would not have happened to me without the
help of the Masters program.
Harasim (2012a; 2012b; 2012c) really explains the Constructivist and OCL theory
information well and I am pleased to be using her book chapters for the class. The Constructivist
or OCL type of environment essentially uses social components to supply the capability for
learning to be achieved (Harasim, 2012a; Harasim, 2012b; Harasim, 2012c). Learning is
developed and achieved through communication between, classmates, the instructor and/or other
participants on a topic (Harasim, 2012a; Harasim, 2012b; Harasim, 2012c). Learning about the

theories from Harasims (2012a; 2012b; 2012c) book chapters really helps me to understand the
theories more in-depth and are a great reference guide.

Questions remaining for this module and what would be the resolution(s)? (University of
Maryland University College, 2016):
I work in higher education for a Continuing Education area. I have been impressed with

and interested in wanting to provide more online courses, along with some of my colleagues. A
lot of the courses we offer are one session type classes, so there usually is a limited amount of
time to learn (sometimes, just a few hours). Referring to a particular situation, I work with a
department coordinator who wanted to offer an in-house online (probably more informative type
information) course for a couple of hours. This can be difficult to offer as online in our
circumstances due to the requirements of needing the students to be properly registered and
acquiring the necessary access to the course, before the class starts. We tried to figure out ideas
for the approach to offer an online course for just a few hours, but due to the limitations I
described, it has been a challenge without going either going through a vendor or offering for
more than 1 session. We also offer some more informative or self-study type courses (or least we
used to, I dont know in-depth what they would be considered now). I am now curious to know
how affective those are from a learning point of view. Thinking about both situations in this case,
since the importance of collaboration and social components is prevalent in the constructivist and
OCL theories (Harasim, 2012a; Harasim, 2012b; Harasim, 2012c) are informative or self-study
type classes, really ineffective? I guess to find this answer I would have to do research on the
evaluations and make comparisons and analysis.

References
Harasim, L. (2012a). Introduction to learning theory and technology. Learning theory and online
technologies. (pp. 1-14). New York & United Kingdom: Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Group.
Harasim, L. (2012b). Constructivist theory. Learning theory and online technologies. (pp. 5978). New York & United Kingdom: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Harasim, L. (2012c). OCL theory. Learning theory and online technologies. (pp. 79-108). New
York & United Kingdom: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
University of Maryland University College. (2016). OMDE 610 9040 Teaching and learning in
online distance education (2162) OMDE-610 [Course syllabus]. OMDE 610-9040,
Spring 2016, [Teaching and learning in online distance education (2162) OMDE-610].
Master of Distance Education and E-learning, University of Maryland University
College, Retrieved from
https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/124340/viewContent/5442289/View

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