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.