Culminating Experience - CEDO 599 FINAL POST

     So here we are..the final post.  It really doesn't seem like 2 years has passed by, which I guess is a good sign because that means that it was perhaps enjoyable.  Looking back on the blog posts over these last 2 years was pretty amazing but before I rattle off some of the great things that I have been exposed to in this program I will rewind to the "Laurence of Technology Past".  The main reason I stumbled across this program was because my school district (the Archdiocese) was making all of their Computer/Technology teachers that didn't have the Computer Science 405 license go back and get it.  My degree in computer programming and the 14 years teaching computer skills weren't good enough - teachers HAD to have this license or they were forcing schools to take action to potentially replace these employees.  After many hours of calling and internet research I was finding out that no institutions were offering programs for students to even achieve this license anymore.  This fact, coupled with the whole idea of paying for classes to obtain a license that I considered as "backtracking" in my career motivated me to look elsewhere.  And then I talked to someone at Stritch and the light bulb went on when they recommended looking into the Master's programs instead of backtracking.  Long story, short - I enrolled in this online cohort and it counted as satisfying the licensing requirement of the Arch.  So the journey began.
     "Laurence of Technology Past" had several goals at this time in his career.  Up until now, I hadn't thought very much about the future...Yes, I teach technology skills etc., but I hadn't given any thought to where things were going with the future of my position or my role in my school.  I was teaching a stand-alone class (called Technology) where classroom teachers would drop of their kids to my classroom, leave, and then come back.  Over the last several years I had tried to collaborate as much as possible but it was often times clumsy and mistimed.  I still felt that technology was removed from the whole educational experience of the students but didn't know what to do about it.  Then I started noticing some of the changes in other schools and how they started treating technology.  New Berlin Public Schools got rid of the Tech teacher all together and put the technology education burden on the shoulders of their Library Media Specialist.  In other schools, the technology class was becoming a thing of the past.  Technology was not being taught during one class period but being integrated into every subject area throughout the course of the day.  This was the future of my position.  I started seeing job postings for such titles as "Technology Integrator", "Technology Coach", and "Integration Specialists".  So it was clear that times were a changin'.  My goals quickly became:

• To transform my role and responsibilities at my current school from classroom teacher to Technology Integrator - part of this transformation would need to include a shift from the stand-alone technology class to a more unstructured, free lance style when it comes to my teaching responsibilities
• To achieve at least 90% integration where I would be teaching 90% of the technology-related skills while incorporating it into a core content area project/assignment.  There are still a few topics that need to stay in the Technology-only curriculum like common language/vocabulary and Digital Citizenship so that is why I left the 10% flex range.
• To take on more of an administrative role when it came to technology and it's use in the school.  Additionally,  I wanted to be involved in the decision-making process concerning future initiatives concerning technology.

With the help of this program, I have achieved or nearly achieved all of these goals.  I think the biggest thing for me was that this program forced me to explore things that had been on my to-do list for years.  Lots of times I would run across great ideas and see fascinating technology tools and think to myself "I should really try that out" and then I would just make excuses for myself and keep doing what I was comfortable with.  When these things are part of a class that I'm paying lots of money for however...that's a different story.  I also think of all of the new tools and concepts that I was introduced to.  I've never heard of a Pecha Kucha. I never thought about placing pictures strategically on slides to create a powerful presentation experience for the viewer.  I barely knew what the CIPA was and what it covered.  There are many more examples.  So like I said, this has been a great opportunity for me to experiment with those things that I had always intended on checking out (Edmodo, Moodle, Google Sites) and being exposed to things that I never knew about (Google Alerts).  Last, but certainly not least, has been the collaborative nature of this class.  Even though I may not have all of the faces to go with my classmates' names, I felt a growing camaraderie with them as we explored many different topics in many different ways.  I learned so many wonderful ideas from my fellow cohorts that I'd really like to stay in touch with my colleagues in some way, shape, or form.

Culminating Experience - CEDO 599 Week 1

"And now, the end is near..." -Frank Sinatra

Well, we've started the last class of this Masters program.  The idea behind this last class is to come up with an idea for a culminating project and put it into practice.  We spent a few weeks in the Portfolio Experience class (CEDO 555) coming up with an idea for the project and some of us went further by planning it out.  For my project, I am going to try and implement and manage a Learning Management System (LMS) with an assignment.  A secondary goal is that I'm hoping to make it a collaborate assignment where I can help integrate technology into the lesson.  Here is a little back-story...Last year I had spent some time showing teachers different ways to facilitate electronic assignment submission.  It was a fairly successful endeavor but the problem became a matter of uniformity.  There are many different tools out there that will accomplish the electronic submission goals but it can get confusing to the students, staff, and parents if every teacher is using something different.  To achieve the highest efficiency and, ultimately, proficiency - I feel standardization is necessary.

After meeting with the instructor (Louie), it became evident that I should narrow my focus and edit the timeline a bit.  Instead of trying to give the assignment, allow time for the students to work on it, and then grade and return the assignment...the altered goal will be to find and use a LMS, collaboratively create the assignment with the classroom teacher and have everything in place for the implementation and electronic reception of the assignment.  Louie and I felt it was a necessary adjustment because it allowed for a much more realistic timetable.

CEDO 565 - Leadership - Week 6 (Final)

OK, final week.  We were to answer a few questions posed to us.  My definition of leadership has changed in the respect that leadership can come in many forms and through many styles.  One leadership style is not necessarily better or worse than another...just different.  A lot of it can be situational but the best leaders try to incorporate a lot of different management styles and motivational methods.  The best leaders also learn as they go instead of trying to force their style upon people no matter what.  Leadership can be situational.  In certain situations it is good to have a leadership style of a calming, level-headed person.  In other situations it might be better to have a leadership style of an active, creative, assertive, and inspirational personality type.  The leaders that can adjust to different situations and adapt their management styles offer the best chance for success.

CEDO 565 - Leadership - Week 5

This week we continued "The Game".  It was supposed to emulate Years 2-3 in the planning process of accomplishing some bigger picture items in a school district.  Even though we had learned a lot from playing the game in the prior class, we still ran into some unforeseen problems.  We still had issues with the sequence of the planning process.  Just when we thought we were prepared for something, the game would make us go back and revisit something we had already done.  We also noticed that the people with a negative attitude pretty much stayed that way and it was more of a pain than it was worth to include them in any of the big decisions.  The consensus was that we keep moving without them and they will either hop on board, or leave.  The choice was theirs.  It was a little frustrating to have to keep going back and talking to people before allowing us to advance but perhaps that was the point that the game was trying to make.  The bigger a school district is, the more and more red tape you'll have to go through.  The more committees and planning groups you may have, the longer it will take to gather information and get decisions done.  There is no perfect answer, just some hints for effective practices and putting the right people in the right places to accomplish goals in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

CEDO 565 - Leadership - Week 4

So this week we started "The Game".  It is an engaging leadership exercise in which you emulate the process of getting things accomplished in a school district structure.  I will admit that at first I was thoroughly confused by all of the charts, history of the players involved, and how the game was to be played.  My group quickly adapted, however, and we learned as we went along.  After a short time it became clear that this game was extremely deep and had many complex layers that made up the dynamics of how it was played.  Some things we learned after this initial "year":

• Include the Superintendent (Al) in everything - things will not advance unless he is on board
• Talk to the constituents and stakeholders a few times and gather information before forming any plans
• When performing events that ask for a group of people, try to include a diverse population of individuals making sure to cover the various categories (Admin, teachers, parents, students)
• Be aware of influential people, who they may influence, and what type of influence they provide
• You can't please everybody and sometimes it is best to just move ahead with plans once acquiring a majority of approval

We are looking forward to continuing the game next class with our newly found knowledge.

CEDO 565 - Leadership - Week 3

Change, change, and more change.  This week's activities all revolved around change.  I liked it when my group member, Zac, said "Change is the only constant".  It's not a new concept but it was a good reminder.  As technology directors, trainers, or integrators we are after times the harbingers of change.  As we all should know from prior experience in our own lives, people fear change.  As the bringers of change (technology) we need to be cognizant of those feelings in the people we are bringing the change upon.  Understanding and empathizing with those feelings will allow for a much smoother transition.  During in-service days I was able to sit in on a presentation by Ian Jukes and he had an interesting underlying theme when referring to educators.  He used the acronym TTWWADI and it stands for That's The Way We've Always Done It.  That phrase seems to be all too familiar when we look at what's currently being done in education.  I walked into many classrooms last year at my school where we would politely ask the question of "Why?", as in why were they doing something. The answer often times included a lot of hemming and hawing and then something to the effect of "Well, I've been doing it that way for the last 22 years and it works just fine".  What those teachers don't realize is that for every year that they keep employing an outdated teaching method or curricular piece, they are creating more and more of a disconnect between themselves and the students.  The world keeps evolving and so should the way that students are taught.

CEDO 565 - Leadership - Week 2

Well, I got a new job since my last post so some of these next assignments will be a little more challenging.  I used to know pretty much everything about my former school in the technology department after teaching there for 10 years and now I am transitioning into an entirely different school and environment.  Exciting for sure, but it'll make these last 2 classes of this degree program interesting.  Well, enough about that since I'm playing catch up here...

I'm still struggling through the Data Retreat paper because I was going to write it from the point of view of my old school, but it is a Catholic School and therefore difficult to get a hold of test scores or any other meaningful data.  So then I started  to write it from the perspective of my new position since it is a WI public school and their data is available on the WINSS website.  I was running into problems when it came to some of the deeper questions, though, because I am not familiar with procedures and processes yet.  I may end up writing it using both situations but we'll see.

In answering the forum questions I used the test data from WINSS for my new school, Bayside Middle School.  I chose to use the disparity in scores among the different ethnicity groups as a point of discussion.  The "White Not Hispanic" ethnic group were the most successful group when looking at the test scores and I tagged that as an area that my school needs to improve.  Some suggestions that I provided were:

1. Evaluate the curriculum. Look for any content or methods that might have a slantedness towards one ethnicity or another.
2. Evaluate the staff. Look to see that they are truly identifying with each child and being aware of background or cultural differences.
3. Evaluate the tests. Do they have a history of being skewed or providing biased results.
4. Research the students' backgrounds whose test scores are suffering. Try to identify a common thread that might provide insight and use this information to find innovative ways to reach these students.

CEDO 565 - Leadership - Week 1

     So we got underway this first week by doing a lot of self-assessing and talking about qualities, virtues and traits of leaders.  We also studied a Framework Approach to Leadership by Bolman and Deal consisting of 4 Frames: Structural, Human Resource, Political and Symbolic.
     I'll start with the self-assessments.  While I didn't really get any surprises in the results of my self-assessments, it made me think about my leadership qualities a little differently.  All of my results reflected my strong interpersonal relationship skills so that was nothing I didn't know already.  I also, not surprisingly, ranked low in creativeness and vision.  The thing I really started to think about though, was that these were self-assessments and the results were essentially reflections of how I viewed myself.  If I was ever going to mature as a leader and become proficient in vision and planning roles, the place I needed to start was my self-perception of my abilities concerning those roles.  I am receiving training.  I am becoming more confident.  I am showing more assertiveness in presenting ideas.  All of those things are leading me to become a better leader, especially in my former weaker areas.  Now I just have to start believing in my abilities and the growth that I have made in order to be perceived as the balanced, effective leader that I am striving to be.
     I thought the framework approach was interesting but it was often hard to distinguish between situations where Human Resource and Political frameworks applied.  My group made the observation that name "Human Resource" has certain connotations that go with it and it would have been easier to keep it separate from Political if it had been named something different.  The labeling exercise was pretty difficult because we felt that a lot of times you have to use skills from several frameworks to achieve the best possible result.
     As far as my leadership role at my school goes, it is really an intriguing situation to try and analyze.  In one respect, my position of Technology Coordinator/Integrator has many of the characteristics of being "one of the gang" of regular classroom teachers.  I work with them hand in hand on collaborative projects, we interact with the same students in similar ways and I have similar teaching, grading, etc responsibilities.  On the other hand, I am charged with other responsibilities that would fall under the category of leader or administrator responsibilities.  For example, I run a portion of the staff meetings where I address the direction of the school concerning technology.  I also run and administer training sessions where I try to introduce ways that I think the teachers could incorporate technology into their classrooms.  I try not to make the teachers feel like they are being forced to give my ideas a try, but there is a certain expectation from myself and the administrator that they will make an effort to use what I have taught them.  I have also recently been running informational parent meetings where we communicate the school's future initiatives.  Each year it seems that my position transforms a little more into an administrative/leadership role.  I welcome the changes and feel that I am prepared for the shift.

CEDO 555 - Portfolio Experience Final Blog Post

Well it took me right to the wire to get all of the finishing touches completed on my online portfolio but it's finally done.  Thank Goodness!!

Going through the courses on Angel Learning and sifting through the weekly lessons really reminded me of how far I've come since the start of the program.  I had already been on board with Google and their many free offerings but even with my prior knowledge I was still able to become more comfortable with the inner workings of several of the Google Tools like Sites, Reader, and Trends.  Another valuable aspect of this Master's program was introducing some different topics that I wouldn't normally have explored on my own.  This program took me out of my comfort zone when it came to exploring different Operating Systems, for example.  I was also forced to analyze some tools that I never would've thought to analyze.  Even though tools like Twitter and Facebook would not be tools that I would promote or use in the classroom or personal use, at least I can say that I tried using them for a trial period to see what they were really about.  There are several tools like Google Reader and VoiceThread that I possibly wouldn't have stumbled upon if it hadn't been for our coursework,  however.

Discovering the tools and working collaboratively with colleagues in the same field was an excellent experience but I think perhaps the most valuable skill that I am taking out of this program is that I now feel that I have the courage and confidence to be a more outspoken leader in my school dynamic.  I feel more along the lines of an administrator with a specialized skill, yet I still have the teaching experiences that my colleagues will appreciate and respect when I approach them with integration ideas.  This program has really been a driving force behind my emergence into this new role as Technology Integrator at my school and hopefully it will be a springboard into an even more encompassing position either at my current school or another opportunity.

CEDO 555 - Portfolio Week 3 - Reflecting on Creative Commons

     Earlier in this program we were introduced to Creative Commons and I have to be totally honest when I say that I had never heard of it before.  I was not alone it turned out as most people in this cohort were not aware of it either.  None of the teachers at my school were familiar with it either, including our Librarian.  My opinion at the time was that it was a noble concept but if it had not gained enough steam to make itself known to Tech Coordinators and tech savvy teachers then it probably wasn't going to catch on.  I decided to incorporate CC into my unit on Internet Safety etc anyways this school year and as I introduced it to students we were able to find more and more examples of digital media with Creative Commons licenses on them.  I have been trying to spread the word to as many professionals as I can but it still seems like I am revealing some mysterious concept to them when I tell them about CC.  Word of mouth is doing OK so far in promoting awareness but I can't help but feel there needs to be some larger push for its use.  Not sure what the answer is but something on a grander scale would help jump-start its popularity and use.
     As for incorporating its use in the classroom my plan was to have students create something of their own and then posting it to the web and going through the process of putting a Creative Commons license on it.  This year I had students search for digital media sites that housed material with CC licenses on them and then comment on the various types and give some thoughts on it but I don't think it was very effective.  I doubt those students will have much recollection of Creative Commons when we go over it again this coming year. I figure by going through the process of creating their own license on something of their own they will understand it better and have a better appreciation for people's work/property when it comes to being a responsible digital citizen.

CEDO 555 - Portfolio Week 2

This week we refined our Mission and Vision statements and chose our set of Standards.
     With the Mission statement I tried to keep it short because I've read numerous Mission statements and the lengthy ones that tend to ramble don't make as much of an impact. the long, complicated ones are hard to internalize and just end up being forgotten, even if you say it every day.
     The Vision statement needed a little more in depth analysis. This needs to provide some insight into the future direction of the individual. Writing statements like these is not a skill of mine but I felt confident that the statements that I wrote were pretty solid.
     The standards I chose were originally the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards but over the years I have adopted the NETS by ISTE. They are more current and much more encompassing than the standards from the DPI. Sometimes I wonder if the DPI just kept pushing back any major changes with the knowledge that the adoption of Common Core Standards was looming on the horizon.
     The article about Web Based Portfolios(WBPs) was interesting. I definitely agree that it would be an excellent benefit to students to take ownership of their learning in the form of an online portflio. The author makes many valid points. The one thing we disagree about is having students take complete ownership of the blog. UNLESS this student-owned portfolio is another way to showcase the students' progress in addition to other ways. I mean, what kind of examples of their own learning are you going to get from a 3rd grader? Even if a 3rd grader totally grasps the concept of a blog, its structure, and its purpose - the idea of documenting artifacts to show one's own academic progress is going to be extremely difficult to understand. I don't see a fully student-owned blog portfolio working except for maybe an extremely advanced student who has been extensively trained in its use.

CEDO 555 - Portflio Experience Week 1

     The main brunt of work during these past two weeks has really just been internalizing everything we've done in this Masters Program over the last year and a half.  The goal of this class is to create an attractive Online Portfolio in the efforts to showcase what our skills are and to gain employment(or a better job) in some of our cases.  In order to do that I've been going back through the Angel Learning System looking at some of the prior classes and highlighting the knowledge, ideas, and artifacts that might be useful when constructing my online portfolio.  We mentioned in our group meeting that it would have been beneficial if we would have been required to compile this information as an ongoing project so that we would have been better prepared for this class.
     Our first activity was to look for and review portfolios that were already on the Internet.  I was fairly surprised by what I saw.  Lots and lots of old, outdated content.  I was able to find several current portfolios with sharing capabilities and some of the more current features built in so I have a few good examples for what I want mine to look like.  I'll have to change the pink template at some point, too, haha.
     We will be using Google Sites  to create these, which works great for me because my teacher website is created using Google Sites but I can't help but wonder if there will be any guidance when it comes to web design.  There are a lot of "little" things to keep in mind when designing a website to make the experience better for the person browsing it and it is really important to work out those kinks so the prospective employer is thinking less about a poorly designed site and more about the content.

CEDO 550 - Online Learning Final Post

A common saying that I think applies here is "You talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?".  We have been talking and talking about online learning, virtual schools, flipping the classroom and many other variations of distance education.  Well this class forced us to "walk the walk" as we were asked to sit behind the wheel of Blackboard Collaborate and emulate a walk through of an online lesson.  Even though I felt the first 4 weeks of this program prepared me for the role reversal...it didn't.  There is no better way of learning how to do something than just doing it.  I'm not saying it wasn't a positive experience, because it was.  I'm just saying that it felt more like a Chris Berman announced segment where a big lineman picks up the football and he says "Rumblin, Bumblin, Stumblin!!".  Even though I felt prepared it turns out that the shared whiteboard within BC didn't accept JPG pictures and that threw me for a loop.  When I make a mistake in the regular classroom I have several options that make it have less of a negative impact on the lesson.  When you make a mistake in a live online lesson it creates that awkward silence where 10 seconds seems like an eternity of embarrassment.  I am fully confident that it would get easier with more practice but it was an eye opening experience.  It makes me feel sorry for the online teachers we have had when no one talks or raises their hand. :-)

A year ago I would've said that the mixed classroom was on the horizon but we had a ways to go.  Over the past year I think things have progressed with such a sense of urgency to change the structure of the classroom that I would say online learning is here...spread the word.

CEDO 550 - Week 5 "Prediction Time"

The future of online learning...hmmm.

Here's what I think will happen:  more and more schools from the elementary level through college will start to incorporate online class offerings, or at the very least, an online component to their instructional strategy.  Things will go well in the beginning with schools seeing an increased enrollment in these types of online formats.  Students with specific needs outside the capabilities of the physical classroom in their particular geographic location will be afforded opportunities that they would not otherwise have.  Riding this early success, schools will start to slowly convert more and more of their class offerings to the online format to attract additional students from other cities, other states, and even other nations.  Eventually schools will be daring enough to shift to completely virtual course offerings and the brick and mortar schools filled with 30 desks of students will be a minority.  Enough time will pass where we will see the products of these classrooms entering the workforce and somewhere along the line a study will show that having students attend completely virtual schools is a detriment to their social growth and makes them a pain in the arse to deal with in the workplace.  Now let me say that the workplace may have drastically changed by then and these former students might fit right in because there won't be as much need for social interaction anymore depending on the nature of the job but I'm hoping that's not the case.  The final conclusion will be that there needs to be a balance between the physical classroom experience and the online methods to create the most well-rounded individual.

CEDO 550 - Week 4 Formative Assessment

Tuttle’s Stages of Formative Assessment

I think Tuttle takes issue with those teachers that throw eClickers into student hands, ask for some responses, and then call it formative assessment.  Tuttle states the same sentiments concerning cell phones and Twitter.  So let’s take a look at Tuttle’s stages above and see where he is coming from.  With eClickers, Twitter, and cell phone responses it usually happens real-time so the format of the question(s) needs to be simple enough so that immediate analysis can occur.  A teacher should also limit the number of questions in these instances.  Sometimes teachers create elaborate surveys or questionnaires and try to administer them using eClckers, etc and then make the claim that they are giving formative assessment.  In reality, they are only going as far as Step 2 on the above graphic.  Surface analysis could occur but not enough where the teacher would reach the next levels of completing the formative assessment.

The tool that I like to use for formative assessment is Google Forms.  I’d like to qualify the use of Google Forms by explaining that I create formulas on the Google Spreadsheet where the output is created to assist with the diagnosis.  Without creating formulas for analysis/diagnosis, the use of Google Forms would not get you much farther than Step 2 of Tuttle’s stages.  A quick analysis of my Google Spreadsheet provides me with specific information about each student and the class as a whole.  For example, I could see which concepts need more attention as a whole, and by looking at the individual responses I can steer each student in the appropriate direction.  This feedback can be shared with the class and with individual students who, in turn, can use that to correct any misunderstandings.

CEDO 550 - Week 3 The 4 Roles of Online Teachers

First let's establish the 4 different roles. They are: Instructor, Social Director, Program Manager and Technical Assistant. I'm doing this blog on an iPad so creating a table inside of this blog will be near impossible so I'll just lay it out nicely and hopefully that will suffice.

     Instructor - "consultant, guide, and resource provider" hmmm...I'll agree with that description only in certain circumstances. If it a group of highly motivated advanced students, then yes. If it is a group of students taking a class for the 3rd time over the summer because they struggled with it during regular school hours within the walls of the traditional classroom, then no. Those struggling kids need more than just a gentle nudge towards the right resources. Either way, the shift from providing detailed explanations of the content to one of a consultant who stands by only helping when needed would be a big one for me. I will need to strip my lessons of most of the lecture format and find resources that allow the students to discover the content on their own with less guidance.
     Social Director - This will probably be the role that I need the most work on. I've tried to do a lot more projects this year with the regular classroom teachers to help incorporate technology into their content areas so that project-based approach will help me with an online classroom structure. That said, I would still need a lot more experience working with students in a colllaborative setting. I don't usually think to put students in groups, teams, pairs or anything else. I usually just tag along with whatever structure a regular classroom teacher has setup for the students. I will have to seek out collaborative opportunities and use a more project-based approach to be effective in the role of social director.
     Program Manager - This role covers structuring the learning process. Planning the online sessions, timetables, study guides, rubrics, etc are all part of this role. As the years have passed I have become better at judging time needed for various items in the educational process. I have learned how to create effective study guides and similar tools for students to use when outside the confines of the classroom. My weak area would have to be using rubrics. It usually takes me several versions before I get a final copy of a rubric that I really like. I guess I just don't like making them or at least not the really detailed ones that contain a lot of verbage. I know they are useful to both teacher and student and have seen their effectiveness in action but it hasn't really motivated me any more. I would have to overcome the bad taste that rubrics leave in my mouth as I feel they are an integral part of the online learning experience.
     Technical Assistant - This would be the easiest role for me. I am a technology coordinator at my school so I am the one that is responsible for technical assistance on many, many things on a daily basis. I even administer most of my lessons using classroom management software called SmartSync. This software has many similarities to online class management systems. There are technical problems that arise on a weekly basis with it and I have learned to think quickly and always have a backup plan (or two). If there was one area that I could improve on in this role it would have to be staying patient. Normally I am pretty accommodating when it comes to someone not understanding the technology side of things but sometimes I get irritated if it is a concept that seems simple to me.

CEDO 550 - Week 2

I used Creately to do my Venn diagram comparing Synchronous and Asynchronous online learning.  The tool set looks phenomenal and it is free as long as you only want to do one drawing at a time.  Not sure why it looks blurry when inserted in the blog.  If you click on it, it looks just fine.

CEDO 550 - Week 1

After seeing some of the sample courses and packages that are being offered in today's online learning "game" I have to admit that I am pretty impressed. I spent some time on the discussion boards saying how I thought that online learning was more geared towards advanced, self-motivated, organized students but now that I have seen actual sample lessons (K12 website) I think that there is much more hope that these online programs can help struggling kids as well. The GUI is impressive and caters to visual learners and there is enough variety among the ways that material is presented and evaluated that I think a wide range of students could have an excellent chance at success when finding failure in traditional classroom settings. The main topic of discussion during our web conference (group work) was how we thought that self-motivation was key to the success of an online learning program with students. We were leery of its potential effectiveness with unmotivated students but after seeing how attractive the online schools and their programs look it has given me reason to believe that there might be hope. I have seen unmotivated students at my school turn over a new leaf with opportunities provided by technology. Case in point, 12 out of the 14 struggling students given iPads have shown marked improvement in the areas of motivation, organization, and creativity over a 3 month period. Technology has that positive effect more often than not on today's youth. It is not always able to be explained but we can certainly take advantage of that allure to reach students in ways that we couldn't reach them before. Online learning is a perfect example.

CEDO 540 Stats - week 5

This week we covered some interesting statistics sites like the CDC, NCES, and WINSS.  I haven't been to most of those sites so it was interesting to explore them a little more in depth.  I also thought it was interesting because I was exploring the sites from a statistical analysis viewpoint.  One of the statistical sites that I chose on my own was the Mapping Service provided by the City of Greenfield.  I love GIS/Mapping and there are similar services provided for almost any decent sized city or county.  It is so interesting to look at the different layers of information that encompass a parcel of land.

Another tool we looked at was Google Trends.  It was interesting to see how certain hot topics or search terms fluctuated in popularity in relation to events that might have happened.  It was also interesting to see how certain search terms compared to each other in popularity over certain periods of time.  I am hoping that the social studies teacher will find some way to incorporate Google Trends into their current events assignments.  I could also see other teachers using this with students to show them how interest in certain topics is influenced by major events in politics, sports, Hollywood or even the world.

CEDO 540 Stats - week 4

This week we worked some more with standard scores (or z-scores) in the guided practice.  I have to be honest that it seemed a lot harder this week.  Our instructor gave us some sample problems that helped but analyzing the data using this method is pretty tough.  I'm guessing it gets easier with practice but I'm pretty turned off by it right now.  At this point, if I ever ran across a situation where I needed/wanted to analyze some data sets and show the implications of the z-score I'd be very likely to find someone who could do it more painlessly.  Or even better, I'd find a piece of software or an application that could do it for me.  Don't get me wrong, the data is extremely valuable...the path to getting that final data is the painful part.

Our survey group assignment is finally finished except for the final analysis part.  We decided to use Google Forms to administer the survey because of the ease in creating a survey and the ease in sharing the resulting spreadsheet among the group members but I almost wish we had tried something else.  Gathering the raw data through the Google Form is not an issue at all.  It is manipulating the data that causes some minor headaches.  I am pretty good with MS Excel so writing some of the formulas came pretty easy but Google spreadsheets are not nearly as smart as Excel when it comes to auto-fill and dragging your formulas around.  I knew what I was getting into with Google Forms - I just wish we had tried something else that did the reporting for you.

Finally the Bill Tancer video.  It is not surprising to me what kind of data is being mined by ISPs and the such but it is the mystery of where that data is going and how it might be used that is scary.  Internet privacy, or lack thereof is one of those things that you try not to think about.  I remember putting together an advertisement on Facebook when I was working for a Social Sports League and the detailed specifics when it came to choosing what demographic we wanted it to hit was amazing.  We could specify an age range, geographic area, salary range, people interested in sports, and the list goes on.  Its not going to get any less invasive either.  Not sure what can be done besides "unplugging yourself from the grid" and that is not going to happen anytime soon for me lol.

CEDO 540 Stats - week 3

The new term we added this week that interested me was standard scores or Z-scores.  Here is a link to a good explanation of Z-Score , how it is calculated and how it can provide a meaningful way to compare data and understand how defective a process is.


Our group assignment will take a few weeks but I am eager to get started.  The assignment is to create a survey, administer it, collect the data, and then provide an analysis of the data using various statistical averages, calculations, and charts or graphs.  My group was deciding between using Survey Monkey and Google Forms.  Ultimately we decided to use Google Forms because of it's ability to share the collected data easily, we are all familiar with it and it is not limited to 10 questions like Survey Monkey.  Our topic will be Internet Safety and our targeted student groups will be grades 4 through 8.  We are expecting to see a difference between the knowledge of grades 4/5 and grades 6/7/8.  I will start administering the survey on Monday with my classes so we'll see what happens.

CEDO 540 - week 2

This week we talked about some more terminology and topics.  We talked about terms like census, sampling, opinion, marketing research, quantitative research, paid survey, and questionnaire.  It turns out that my memory was a little hazy when it came to defining these terms.  I had some basic understanding but there were some missing connections that I neglected to make.  It was good to review them.  I have to admit that I am still a little confused about skew.  I understand the creation of the "tail" when taking sets of numbers and deciding how the typical bell curve would look but I don't quite understand how to decide if its skewed to the left or right.


One of the main focuses this week was the survey.  We took a look at a website called Capterra that listed good survey resources, both online and offline software packages.  It might have a slight bias towards their "featured" survey tools but it still would be a good place to start when looking for survey options.  We were asked to review both free and paid survey services and analyze 3 of each.  We found that almost every online survey tool had a certain level of free features and then an option to upgrade by paying for some of the more powerful features.  Survey Monkey, Adobe FormsCentral, and Google Forms were my favorites.

CEDO 540 - Week 1 Stats and beyond

I really love stats.  From looking at sports stats and figuring out trends to analyzing the results of surveys I have really enjoyed working with statistics.  This first week was kind of an introduction to some basic terminology and we were to analyze a few scenarios as a group and then document the different situations and identify how stats were used.  I am very eager to delve deeper into the world of stats and come up with ways that I can use them to improve my teaching, training and even make improvements to my school.  There is a small part of me that is a little scared because I remember having a Stats class in high school that got really in-depth and I didn't do so well.  Hopefully I can handle it if we get that involved.

CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Final Post

S Specific - I was trying to choose from two different goals for this final post.  Goal #1 is to get students blogging in the true sense where they are not just responding to a prompt but exploring a topic beyond the original prompt and using each other's responses as a resource.  Goal #2 is to integrate using an RSS reader into my daily or weekly routine so that it may help my professional development.  I know that I will achieve the first goal since I already have things in place for it to happen in the next week or two so I will choose to focus on Goal #2: Using the RSS Reader.  My goal will be to setup and check Google reader on a weekly basis.  If I can manage the weekly monitoring of the RSS reader I may try checking it more frequently.

M Measurable - Proving that I am checking my Google reader is kind of tricky since it is a personal goal and not one that I can show a resulting product as if I were to do something with students.  The only thing that I can think of that will keep me honest is if I tell myself that I will forward at least 1-2 articles from the RSS Reader to colleagues on a weekly basis.

A Attainable - Figuring out how to set it up is not the issue.  It is already setup in my Google account.  I've also found 15-20 good blogs and other informational sources to follow.  I even think that making time for it won't really pose a problem.  The main deterrent for me right now is remembering to check it.  That is why I am going to configure an iGoogle page logged into my account as my home page in my web browsers.  I plan on putting the Google Reader feed as part of the iGoogle page so that as soon as I open up my browser I am smacked in the face with it.

R Realistic - I thought about being realistic when I chose the terms of the goal.  I was tempted to make the frequency of the goal checking it every day but I figured I would start smaller scale by making myself responsible for checking it on a weekly basis.  I thought that was much more realistic and I can always adjust the frequency if I find I need the information more often.

T Timely - Last Friday was the end of the 2nd quarter at my school so I will set the timeline for this to be accomplished for the end of the 3rd quarter which falls on March 28th.  That essentially gives me 8 weeks to achieve this goal.  After the 8 weeks are up I will evaluate whether I met the requirements of the goal and take it from there.

CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Week 5

     This week we were supposed to finish creating a Google site or Wiki, create an EyeJot and give some thoughts about Web 2.0 tools and their impact on us and explore a Web 2.0 application that we hadn't explored in class.
     The Google Site was the easy part for me since I already use a Google site for my classroom website.  I put assignments on there, upload important files, provide screen casts, allow students to submit assignments electronically through a form (JotForm), provide links to web resources, and link Google forms for quizzes and surveys.  It is essentially just like a Wiki when you think about how Google Sites are setup.  All you really need to do is share the site with others and give them editing rights and now you have multiple users all capable of adding content.
     The Eyejot was a babbling mess.  I had ideas written down but whenever that camera starts recording I turn into a stuttering fool.  I hope at least some of it made sense. Web 2.0 EyeJot
     Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this week was finding a Web 2.0 app called Pearltrees.  It is basically a hybrid of an idea mapper and a social bookmarking site.  The collaboration aspect works great as you are allowed to search other people's "pearl trees" for information and web resources.

CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 4

This week we take a look at Social Bookmarking, Twitter, Screencasting/podcasting, Google Sites and dabbled a little with Google+. 
     I've said my piece on Twitter in forums, last week's blog, and a paper that was due this week but here it is again:  Twitter is good for getting LOTS of links to ideas from people and companies you normally wouldn't have exposure to but it is too invasive and has too many annoying components for me to use it religiously.  I'm choosing to go the route of the RSS Reader instead.  I think one thing that I have really embraced by being immersed in the stream of information coming from the RSS Reader and Twitter these last 2 weeks is my transformation from strictly a consumer of the information to a collaborative sharer of the information.  In my role as tech coordinator (or whatever title they give me next year) I think I've always been a good source of info for my staff but it has normally been up to them to come to me with questions.  As I have been receiving all of these great sources of info about various topics I have made it a point to pass it on.  That is key.
     That leads me to the Social Bookmarking.  I had started my Diigo account when learning about it in an earlier class and I have used it off and on as I ran across good sites.  I took it a step further at the end of last year and gave each teacher an account, created a Group, and then shared it with them.  I then installed the Diigolet or Toolbar on their classroom computers, gave them a training session and away we went.  It was fairly slow going at first and some teachers were complaining that they were getting too many email updates when people would save sites to the Group.  Yep, complaining about people sharing resources with them without them having to do any of the work!!  Anyways, I showed them how to adjust the settings and we kept going.  Eventually summer came and the Diigo use died and has been dead ever since.  Chapter 6 opened my eyes to the additional uses of Social Bookmarking and how it can intertwine with an RSS Reader.  Time to get out the defibrillator and bring social bookmarking back to life.
     I already use a Google Site for my classroom website and it has been awesome.  Here is the LINK.  All of the teachers at my school use Google Sites.  I created a template for them to use and we made the switch at the beginning of this school year.  It is really easy to use once you become familiar with the menus.
     I haven't done any screencasting related to to my classes thus far but I have used Jing Project before.  I do use a student management software in my classroom called SynchronEyes by SMART Technologies (now called SMART Sync).  It allows me to broadcast my computer screen onto theirs and that is how I teach a LOT of my lessons.  It is essentially a walk-through for them in the same sense as a screencast.  The big drawback is that it is only available to them while they are sitting there in class.  Another negative is that they only get to see it once.  If they miss something the first time they risk the possibility of irking the teacher by asking to see it again. (haha - JK)  Posting a video screencast on a teacher website could solve both of those problems.  They'd have access to it anywhere they have Internet access and they can play it over and over again at their own leisure.  I wouldn't want to make screencasts of everything for fear that they would become too reliant on them but it makes sense to have some screencasts for the tougher concepts.

CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 3

     This week we talked about Blogs, but more specifically RSS Readers.  I have several ideas for incorporating blogging in the classroom(s) which I talked about in last week's post but combining some of those ideas with the use of an RSS Reader makes them much more powerful.  The obvious way to incorporate RSS Readers would be to use them to help monitor multiple information sources effectively.  There have been many cool things that I have given up because of how much time they take up.  I can't imagine trying to keep up with more than like 5 blogs at a time by trying to remember to visit them every day or even every week.  It just isn't feasible and even if you were able to incorporate it into your routine it wouldn't be an effective use of time.  By using an RSS Reader you can read more content from more sources in a fraction of the time.  By simply scanning or skimming the headlines or first few sentences of each blog you subscribe to, you can quickly determine what might be useful reading.  It is like having an electronic personal assistant that presents you with informational choices that you can pick and choose from.  You can also mark things as something you'd like to read at a later time.
     One idea that I really liked was the concept of having students use an RSS Reader to do research on certain topics.  This strategy would direct students to resources that they may never have been exposed to by doing your good ole Google search.  If the topic is a current event or recent hot topic then this strategy becomes even more advantageous.  Not only will the research be current but the information flow will be ongoing.  You wouldn't find that type of research any other way.
     The last idea that really stuck with me was the suggestion that a teacher could use an RSS Reader as an effective way to monitor individual student blogs.  Up until now I have been racking my brain on how (and who) would be responsible for such a task when we establish individual student blogs.  I was planning on making the classroom teacher (Literature teacher, for example) responsible for administering the blogs but I was dreading telling them about the micro-management part.  Having the teacher use an RSS Reader to accomplish this will make the teacher hate me a little bit less.  I hope.