Sadly when I think about my own experiences with Online Learning, that I have participated in through an institution, much of it has been of the "plug and chug" variety. Do the work, submit it, and never interact with anyone else. Ever.
Like I said, sad.
But, this semester, the two courses that I have been taking has altered my opinion on that. I'm sure that part of it has to do with the fact that I am working with a group of competent adults, but all the same, it was the instructors who established the course so that I could have those experiences.
I knew that Michigan required an online learning experience, but I had not realized that it extended outside of a traditional online course, which to me is quite exciting because that means that teachers who are not ready to go "whole-hog" with online, can find the ways and means that they are comfortable with to still provide their students with the needed experiences.
As a social studies teacher, I can definitely see myself incorporating the virtual field trip into my curriculum. As budgets get tighter, the likelihood of taking students to the next city, let alone out of the state becomes more slim. With a virtual trip, the only limit is the quality of what is on the web. While not every historical place has a museum or an official website, chances are you can still find content that will allow you take students where they need to go, and see what they need to see (documents, landmarks etc.). And that's the other beauty of the virtual trip: if there is something in particular that you want students to focus on, you can easily customize the activity. For instance, instead of possibly having students go through information overload at a local Civil Rights museum, you could go on a virtual tour of only the stops of the Freedom Riders (and no one is complaining about being bus-sick). I would probably try to use jigsaw and other small group activities...because it would be too easy for students to simply get answers from each other if I had them all look at the same things and answer the same questions. Plus, I feel that jigsaw helps students to understand how different perspectives are formed, and the idea of how interconnected different people, ideas, and themes really are.
The most difficult experiences to successfully accomplish, in my opinion, are the activities like blogs, wikis, and OLMS because students must have individual computer access for an extended period of time in order for the experience to work, and often that time is outside of classroom hours. This means that students must have computer and internet access. Although schools are working towards getting students these resources, many still do not, and I believe that unless students can reasonably gain the tools to accomplish the task, then the task should not be assigned. It's not that these are bad idea, in fact they're great, but consideration of resources (including time to moderate) should be done before planning any of the online experiences.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Quickie Wiki
Ok, I realize the redundancy in the title but I couldn't resist-especially since this posting will be short.
Of all the technology that I have come across, I find the Wiki to be the least intuitive of them all. I understand what they are, and essentially, how to use them. But when it comes to formatting the page, I just keep thinking "Why can't this be more like Weebly?" Anywho, because I am not currently a teacher at any school, I went to see if there was anything that I could add to the MSU page. Reading through I realized that one of my favorite places Abrams Planetarium was missing (Best. Cheap. Date. Ever.). So I added the text with external link to the page.
Also, my wiki creation lacks any real depth to it because I again lack a reason to make one (no class). So I spent some time playing around with the different widgets. I like how it gives you options for applications to choose from, although I am not sure that all would suite classrooms very well...I suppose it would depend on the class. Here is the link if you would like to see my own "sand box": https://chamberlainclassroom.wikispaces.com/
Of all the technology that I have come across, I find the Wiki to be the least intuitive of them all. I understand what they are, and essentially, how to use them. But when it comes to formatting the page, I just keep thinking "Why can't this be more like Weebly?" Anywho, because I am not currently a teacher at any school, I went to see if there was anything that I could add to the MSU page. Reading through I realized that one of my favorite places Abrams Planetarium was missing (Best. Cheap. Date. Ever.). So I added the text with external link to the page.
Also, my wiki creation lacks any real depth to it because I again lack a reason to make one (no class). So I spent some time playing around with the different widgets. I like how it gives you options for applications to choose from, although I am not sure that all would suite classrooms very well...I suppose it would depend on the class. Here is the link if you would like to see my own "sand box": https://chamberlainclassroom.wikispaces.com/
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Learning Styles
I have always been a visual learner, but more specifically the verbal/linguistic kind....if I could read about it, I could do it. If I could write, I could tell you what I mean. This probably explains why I have done as well as I have in school, especially at the university level. This hadn't really occurred to me until just now, but I realize how true it is. I can remember a time in middle school where my social studies teacher asked us to visually represent an idea that was found in the Bill of Rights. I don't even remember what idea I was assigned, but I really struggled with that assignment. In college, I may not have liked have forty billion pages to read, but I never struggled with learning the content, especially if it was followed up with a powerpoint or lecture that involved me taking notes. Over all, if an instructor were to say something like, "Do X and just be creative about it/surprise me" I would not do well. But if teachers can give me written explanation or set of steps with a rubric, I can complete the assignment without a problem. This probably also explains why I was on the speech team, and why I continue to coach it....
Thinking about the classroom from the other side of the desk, I know that I am rather guilty of being on heavy on text, reading, lecture, notes etc. When I think about approaching learning styles as an educator now, I think that perhaps the best route is one similar to UDL. We know that we can't make every adaption for every student every single time, but when we think about and plan our classroom instruction, we can take learning styles into consideration and allow for alternate ways to be made available. And I do not think that it is "wrong" to have students working in their 'weak suit' sometimes. I know that I did not like making that Bill of Rights poster, but it was probably to my benefit that I had to think and express myself in another way. And looking back now, I realize that that assignment was probably one that some students had been dying to get all semester because all we had been doing was reading and writing. Making sure that we allow all students to feel successful is too important a goal to let slip by simply because we "don't want to make extra work for ourselves".
Thinking about the classroom from the other side of the desk, I know that I am rather guilty of being on heavy on text, reading, lecture, notes etc. When I think about approaching learning styles as an educator now, I think that perhaps the best route is one similar to UDL. We know that we can't make every adaption for every student every single time, but when we think about and plan our classroom instruction, we can take learning styles into consideration and allow for alternate ways to be made available. And I do not think that it is "wrong" to have students working in their 'weak suit' sometimes. I know that I did not like making that Bill of Rights poster, but it was probably to my benefit that I had to think and express myself in another way. And looking back now, I realize that that assignment was probably one that some students had been dying to get all semester because all we had been doing was reading and writing. Making sure that we allow all students to feel successful is too important a goal to let slip by simply because we "don't want to make extra work for ourselves".
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Creative Commons Post
Photo Attribution:
Title: "Berlin Wall"
Image URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/volubis/5319992750/in/photostream/
Author: SFview
Released under an Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike License found here
I randomly chose this image, but now that I think about it again, it's rather appropriate. Digital media and the internet are breaking down barriers to knowledge and information sharing all over the place and we are no longer able to say that we are going to 'block out' ideas, images, etc. As a social studies teacher, I rely heavily on images (photos or otherwise) to help my student connect with the content and engage with content that would be awfully dry with out imagery. I am very excited to finally have an understanding of Creative Commons and Fair Use policy so that I can no longer feel guilty about my power point presentations, and I can give my students a viable (and easy!) means of being good digital citizens. Below, a pic from when I went to New Mexico in December of 2009. A few more on the picassa page here
Monday, February 14, 2011
UDL lesson reflection
UDL ChecklistThis past week in CEP 811, we have spent time learning about Universal Design, whose main goal to remove barriers to knowledge acquisition and student success by analyzing content delivery and interaction. We were then asked to evaluate the lesson we had previously posted to Merlot using a checklist. Overall my biggest strength within the lesson was that students were working in groups on computers and online so they are able to manipulate content and decide what ways they would like to contribute to the groups success. However, I realize now that, although U provide an example (early on) and a rubric, I do not provide any sort of structure or scaffolding to help students realize in what order they should take what steps to successfully complete the project. Also, any student who does not have the ability or access to tools that allow for successful computer use, would be hard pressed to complete this assignment. I have posted the link to the checklist page below:
UDL Checklist
UDL Checklist
Sunday, February 6, 2011
WebQuest...if you can find it
Fair warning: This is going to be another soapbox moment.
But it will be brief, I promise.....Really!
If you are going to post a WebQuest, or a collection of WebQuests, or anything that falls into that catagory, would please check your links on occasion to make sure that they are:
1) Still actually an existing WebQuest, If you don't want to host it anymore, just take it down
2) That all your links within the WebQuest still work (look at this Awesome picture I have!... that isn't there....oh.)
That is all.
See? Short!
But it will be brief, I promise.....Really!
If you are going to post a WebQuest, or a collection of WebQuests, or anything that falls into that catagory, would please check your links on occasion to make sure that they are:
1) Still actually an existing WebQuest, If you don't want to host it anymore, just take it down
2) That all your links within the WebQuest still work (look at this Awesome picture I have!... that isn't there....oh.)
That is all.
See? Short!
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