EDTECH 521 Reflective Journal

Reflective Journal Anna-Marie Robertson Week Quotes/Tasks/Activities 2

“An instructor in the online learning community needs to consider a few aspects of online education that may be unique to the online situation. It needs to be decided whether or not communication will occur in real time or asynchronously.” From Andrea Ebert Discussion

1/28/2010 Tried the Voice Thread link http://voicethread.com/#home

Edu Tools http://www.edutools.info/ static.jsp?pj=4&page=HOME

http://www.scriblink.com/

http://www.dabbleboard.com/

http://www.scribblar.com/

Thoughts/Learning/Questions I liked this quote because it is important to note that not all online schools subscribe to the thought that synchronous is best for the students involved. The communication must be left up to the relevant situation at hand. Also, not all schools agree that students need to work collaboratively.

I added to the class voice thread and I created one of my own: http://voicethread.com/share/874939/ I watched the video doodling, it is really cool. I want to create one for my students. The videos have to be very small. It won’t take a .swf file.

CMS comparison website

Online Tool - Scriblink is a free digital whiteboard that users can share online in real-time. Similar to Elluminate. Doesn’t require any kind of install.

- Online tool - Dabbleboard is an online collaboration application that’s centered around the whiteboard. It has chat and document sharing, web conferencing capabilities.

Online tool - Scribblar.com is a site similar to Elluminate. It doesn’t have quite as many features as Elluminate, but it does load much faster and doesn’t require any type of install.

I created my own room at: Account: robertsonRMCHS rmchs2cool My new room: http://www.scribblar.com/rooms/index.cfm?r=dft55v

3

Telephone Contact Form

I work for Richard McKenna Charter High School Online.

As teachers we are not required to contact students personally when they enter our courses. The reasons are many but the biggest one is because we are open enrollment and we have students entering our courses every Monday. It is not unusual to have anywhere from 10 - 40 students enter on any given Monday depending on how many students took their final the Friday before. (I can have anywhere from 50 - 100 students at one time and I have 6 courses to take care of.) There are two people in our main office -- Lynn and Bonnie -- that take care of the first contact with a student. Lynn is the school principal and also a certified school counselor. Bonnie is a certified school counselor. Since I have never performed this duty before, I called Lynn and talked to her about this. She gave me quite a list of questions she uses when she first interviews a student before they can enroll in our courses. I asked her if RMCHS has a policy for teacher communication with the student. She said no because she and Bonnie take care of it. But she did tell me that her biggest frustration is for a failing student whose teacher does not contact him or her. She said she will bring up the possibility of creating a school-wide policy for teacher communication when a student is failing in their next admin meeting. I prepared the telephone interview tool, but I think I will create another one for contacting a student when he or she is failing. This was a great exercise!!

3

Contacting student using Telephone Contact Form

I found out that I don’t need to keep the form I filled out when I called the student. There is a place in our LMS to type in my phone conversation. It keeps track of the time of the contact, course, and instructor. All I have to do is type in what was said.

What I feel I do need is a Call Log to keep track of who I have contacted. Once I submit that form in the LMS I have no way of knowing who I talked to. There is no way to track what contacts I have entered. A Call Log would help me keep track of who I have contacted and when. I don’t need to record the jist of the conversation because I can look that up on the LMS as long as I have their name.

I can create a Call Log in Excel.

As I talked to the student I found out her MSN information and we talked about using it to contact me when in the middle of a problem that she needs help with. I explained that I am only a click away.

I also found out that she loves Government and anything to do with history. She has a hard time with English because all the reading on the Internet makes her very tired (I can relate to that! ). This confirms my commitment to convert all of my lessons to multi-media so there is a lot less reading and more participation.

She likes to clean house and lift weights for fun. She lives with her mom. She gets up around 9 am and lets her dogs out, then starts her day. She says she works on her three classes until about 9pm. She only has two more classes after these to graduate!

3

Contacting Students

Later that same day, this same student actually contacted me through the instant messenger. It was a good thing I called her this morning. She need help this afternoon and she knew exactly how to get it. While we were talking I asked her to help me try out my new webcam so she was able to see me on my webcam and we could both talk to each other using voice. (she has a microphone). This was great!

4

Survey Students’ communication

I went to www.surveymonkey.com and created a survey for my students to see how they communicate with their friends and peers. I am awaiting the results. The survey will be open until this Friday. I felt this would be the most efficient (and fun) way to get these results.

Link to my survey Also, our school does not allow student to student communication within the LMS, so I asked about their communication with their friends. I have been wanting to do this for some time.

4

Survey Students’ Communication

Within one hour I had already had ten responses!! This is working great!

4

Review iNACOL Standards for Quality Online Teaching

1) Do you think they are all that different from good teaching standards in any environment? a. These standards are definitely online oriented.

But they appear as if they are modeled after good classroom teaching standards. Many of these things can be used in either environment such as: “Provides timely, constructive feedback to students about assignments and questions.”

2) Which standards stand out as most important? a. This is obviously an opinion question. I believe

Standard F is very important. The teacher has experience online learning from the perspective of a student. I think a lot of problems can be avoided if every teacher is required to be an online student first. It really opens you eyes to be on the receiving end. You suddenly see why all the other standards are so important.

3) Which standards would not apply in a traditional brick and mortar classroom? a. Standard B: The teacher has the perquisite

technology skills to teach online.

Standard F: The teacher has experienced online learning from the perspective of a student.

The rest of them could apply to a traditional classroom if you take out the words “online environment.”

4

Time Block Schedule

I read the material. I didn’t do a time block schedule because I already have an instrument that I use and it’s working for me.

I have a daily TO DO TODAY list. Each day I add things to future days that need to be done on that day. Then I prioritize it the night before. I find that if I really stick to my list, I get more done in a day. One thing that can make my time really get away from me is all the reading and checking out of websites in my grad classes. So I try to do this at the end of my day or in the evening after dinner when everything else is done. This way I am not stressed while I am reading and researching. It makes it more enjoyable.

4

Joining a Community Group

I joined Tapped In. I visited so many times this week that I didn’t keep track. The most interesting thing I found there (and it really inspired me) is that when I very first arrived as a guest to check it out, I was met by a live person who engaged me in the chat window that is always up. He got me set up with a classroom and an office and he got me schedule to take a class.

I was there with him for over two hours. When I finished I was aghast at how much time I had spent. I was so engaged that I had no idea of the time. I decided then and there that I want to do that with my students. I want to redesign my courses so that they have to “enter” a classroom right off the bat and they are greeted by me in a live chat. My rotation is coming up to redesign my courses and I am definitely going to include this feature. I can use Tapped In to do it.

5

Student to Student Communication

My Survey Monkey survey about communication closed last Friday.

Here are the results:

37 students responded to the survey

Question 1: How do you communicate with your friends? 37 students answered this question In Person 26 students, 70.3% Telephone 8 students, 21.6% Cell Phone 26 students, 70.3% Texting 25 students, 67.6% IM 13 students, 35.1% Webcam 2 students 5.4% Social Network 17 students 45.9%

Question 2: If you communicate using the IM, choose the provider you use most often? 18 students answered this question Windows Live Messenger (MSN) 9 students, 50% Google Chat 0 students, 0% Yahoo 3 students, 16.7% AIM (aol) 0 students, 0% Pidgin 0 students, 0% Trillian 0 students 0% Meebo 0 students 0% Other: please specify 6 students 33.3% Myspace: 5 students Facebook: 1 student

Question 3: If you communicate using the Webcam, choose the provider you use most often? 10 students answered this question Skype: 1 student, 10% Windows Live 4 students 40% Google Chat 0 students, 0% AIM 0 students, 0% Yahoo 3 students, 30% Other: please specify none dont got one

Question 4: If you communicate using a social network, choose the provider you use most often? 16 students answered this question Facebook 4 students, 25% Myspace 12 students, 75% Twitter 0 students, 0% Other please specify, 0 students, 0%

I found it interesting that students use the cell phone most often to communicate either by talking or texting.

This is a strong indication that we as teachers might need to use texting on our phones??

I also found it interesting that the next highest form of communication between students is chatting on My Space.

I would never have thought that.

5

Collaboration with Ruby group on Netiquette.

This was an interesting assignment and one that caused me some stress. There were three parts to this assignment: 1) Write our own definition of Netiquette and answer three questions and post to whole class discussion.

2) Collaborate with an assigned group and come to a consensus for a definition of Netiquette and the answers for the three questions, then post to group discussion board.

3) Meet with group members in a live chat.

My group decided to meet for the chat during the week of the assignment for the Netiquette question. This would provide a better way to quickly come to a consensus without a lot of e-mails. The other three members decided to meet during a time when I was actively engaged in another BSU class in Second Life. This became kind of stressful for me to go back and forth between the two modes of communication. The fact that I have two screens attached to my computer was what ultimately saved me. It made it much easier to do this multi-tasking.

I enjoyed the live chat. It seemed like a very efficient way to get the group work done.

Coming up with the definition of Netiquette and answering the three questions was easy for me because I am actively teaching on line right now and I have my own Netiquette policy in place as part of my course rules.

6-7

Word Press Learning Log

I did as instructed and created my own learning log at WordPress.com. At first I just thought of it as another assignment.

But as I got deeper into it, I discovered the real reason for this blog.

I realize that at the end of this course, the course will be closed and I will no longer have access to the many and various resources given.

These resources, such as web links, examples, and discussions, will be lost to me at that time. If I begin now putting these things into my blog in an organized fashion, I will have them for later reflection and use. There are many things in this course that I can use later for my teaching online and I believe for future courses. I can also upload the many things I am creating and link to them from my blog, thus putting them at my fingertips no matter where I am. I also realize that this is the beginnings of my final portfolio. I don’t want to wait until the time when I have to have the portfolio to begin putting things in it. I think that will be too late and too stressful!

My Learning Log can be accessed here:

http://www.AMRobertson.wordpress.com I have decided to use Sunday afternoons for updating my blog. It’s quiet on Sunday at my house and I don’t feel the usual rush of having to get assignments done on that day.

6-7

Implementing Web 2.0 Tools

I thought I knew what 21st Century Skills were. That is until I read the material given to us in class. Specifically: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php and http://www.nacol.org/docs/NACOL_21CenturySkills.pdf This was very interesting reading. It gave me a more concrete definition and also some measureable standards for these skills.

Now I can measure myself and whether or not my courses are meeting these standards. There is a difference between knowing what something is and actually implementing it and measuring it.

In order for me to integrate some web 2.0 tools into my courses online, my school’s philosophy needs to change. Right now, the LMS we are using seems backwards to me. When a student clicks on an assignment, they are taken to the questions to be answered. These are generated by myself and are in the form of T/F, MC, Fill-in, etc.

Then the student is provided a link where they can go to get a lesson if they choose. That seems backwards to me. I think they should be given a link to the lesson and imbedded in that lesson are the links to different assessments. This is a real frustration for me. :(

6-7

PowerPoint presentation for Netiquette This is something that I do almost on a daily basis in my online teaching. I am currently in the process of creating videos for my and uploading to breeze server

Algebra 1B course using PowerPoint and I am uploading them to our school’s Breeze server. The hardest part of this assignment is taking what my group wrote and turning it into an educational presentation.

We wrote from the standpoint of one teacher talking to another teacher. This presentation needs to be created from the stand point of being able to use it in my course with my students, which I is my intended purpose.

View my presentation and scavenger hunt at my Learning Log

March 3rd

March 23

Math 2.0 Webinar

Math 2.0 Webinar

https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp? sid=lcevents&password=Webinar_Guest

located at: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/browse_thread/ thread/db5f5e4ddb948cab

I attended this webinar but it was very different from any other webinar I have ever attended. Most webinars are presented by one person who has a pre-prepared slide show with information they give you. Very little interaction happens in this kind of webinars except for what the presenter elicits from the participants. But this webinar I attended for Math 2.0 was more like a brainstorming session. There were no slides presented by the main moderator. She turned time over to each of us to address a central concern. One person used a slide show he had prepared for another purpose and used the "application sharing" feature to share it with us. I just watched and listened and read the chats. I didn't feel like I had much to contribute. I was the only teacher there. The conversation was centered around how they could more effeciently get information about using current web 2.0 tools for math into the ears of the teachers and math students. I was interested in the subject, but by no means did I feel I had anything to contribute. Then the moderator asked me to share my feelings. I timidly took the mike, worried about what I would say to this group of intellectuals. I just shared my experience as an online instructor who has been charged with putting more interaction into my lessons by my administration.

I shared that I have had to pursue my Masters degree to get enough knowledge to do this. I shared my frustrations with my current situation at my school. My school believes that students should not have contact with each other due to excessive cheating in the past. I shared a lot more of my own situation.

Wow! It started a buzz of throwing up web apps and sites that I had never heard of. I found several there that I can use. I was totally blown away with what everyone shared with me. I like this type of "brainstorming" webinar!

Math 2.0 Community Webinar: MSP2 This was a webinar I found in my e-mail because I had joined the Math 2.0 community. It was presented by two men that each use different online tools in their classrooms (yes, brick and mortar). I took notes on the tools and also for the projects they have compeleted using these tools

http://docs.google.com/Doc? docid=0AfWYGWdUtd1JZGZmNjlrM3JfOThmZ3FxYnNnbQ &hl=en This is the link to my document with the notes from this webinar.

Week 8

Week 9

Developing Quality Online Lessons - Focus on Content

I am so excited about this portion of the class. It's what I came here to learn. My lesson overview can be found at: http://docs.google.com/Doc? docid=0AfWYGWdUtd1JZGZmNjlrM3JfNTBmbjhtc3pjOA&h l=en (Google Docs)

I am redoing a lesson that I teach now online. This is a very important lesson that introduces the students to linear equations and how they are used in everyday life. This concrete knowledge will help them better understand linear equations when they are presented in their more abstract form later in the course. Currently this lesson does a poor job of preparing the students for what's to come. I am hoping to change that.

I have a few ideas for activities, I hope to find more.

Geogebra Maybe use a Wiki for practice? I haven't used Wiki's before. I don't know if it will work. I have a lot of questions about wiki's.

Insert some intermittent quiz questions into my current slide show (for interactivity while they are watching) Interactive crossword puzzle for the vocabulary? http://www.EclipseCrossword.com http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/ crossword/ http://www.crossword-puzzles.co.uk/

I also want to try to create a podcast where I am using a webcam to record myself doing this in addition to using the slide show.

Design Considerations for Online Learning This week was fairly easy for me. I used to teach Web Desgin in Environments. my f2f class. I used these same design principles in that class. I know how to implement them. I also know how to create a slide show for a lesson.

I am a little confused with the terminology used in this class. My instructor is calling the PowerPoint slide show the "lesson" but to me it is just the Presentation of Material. The actual "lesson" is the webpage I use to deliver this presentation that has other things on it for the student to do throughout the lesson. I am hoping to add some interactivity to this lesson. I will do that through links on my webpage, not embeded in the presentation.

I want to add a Voice Thread. That won't work well in the powerpoint. I also would like to have students do a journal writing component. I have found some games for students to play to reinforce what is learned in the slide show. I am also very open to other ideas for incorporating interactivity. I am fairly new to this whole idea of interactivity. The lessons I have developed thus far over the last ten years are more like an independent study course. I want to be able to revamp them to be more like a community where the learners learn together.

This is my focus.

Week 9

Learning Styles

List 4 technologies/strategies for my learning style and 4 for a learning style different from my own.

I did several of the online Learning Styles quizzes. Mostly I wanted to evaluate each of them. I am very interested in incorporating this at the beginning of my courses. I feel that if the student understands their own learning style and what to do about it, it will go a long way to creating a feeling of security for the student.

At one of the tests I took, I was told that I am a "Tactile Learner."

This means I learn by touching and doing. This is so true. It says I should participate in activities that involve touching, building, moving, or drawing. I can't draw worth beans, but I know it's much easier for me to understand a concept if I can sketch it out.

The other test I took said that I am fairly well balanced between Active and Reflective and also between Sequential and Global.

But I was high in Visual vs Verbal and also Sensing vs Intuitive.

It says that Visual learners remember best what they see - pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations. (So true of me)

It says that Sensing learners tend to like facts, and solving problems by well-established methods. (That would be why I am a Math teacher)

This last one really hit me. I realize that I am also very much an Instructivist teacher. I like students to follow a set procedures for figuring out a math problem. I like doing the algorithims for abstract problems. This is the behaviour I am struggling to overcome. I want to be more of a constructivist teacher. It is so hard for me to "let go" of the reins and just let the students learn. So hard in fact that I have a very difficult time thinking of activities that would support both the objectives and the constructivist way of doing things. Maybe I need to change my objectives. I need a good example of a constructivist teacher teaching an online math course. Know of any?

Now I need to find some online technologies and strategies for my learning style, which is TACTILE LEARNER:

Voice Thread I really like this one because it has the ability to allow students to write on the screen when they are recording their comments. It also has the ability to upload a movie, not just a picture.

Geogebra This one allows students to create their own graphs.

You can even upload pictures into it. It needs to be downloaded, which is a downside. I like the things I use in a class to be webbased. Less hassle that way. But this one is so good, I might

make an exception.

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives This is a huge repository of interactive applets and games all grouped by subject and grade level. I linked to the Algebra strand.

Twiddla This is a web-based whiteboard students can use to discuss their projects together using a visual representation. It allows them to draw, type, and upload their own documents and pictures. There is a sandbox for use so you don't have to log in.

This is a free tool.

Now for tools and strategies that a VERBAL LEARNER might enjoy:

Blogger This is a good tool for blogging. A verbal likes the written word and would enjoy writing down their thoughts. I like this tool because it is easy to use without a lot of bells and whistles.

Wikipedia Verbal learners will enjoy looking things up and reading about them.

GoAnimate They would like this one because they can create their own characters and make them talk and move. This is a good way for a verbal learner to express themselves. I could also use this as a teacher to get the verbal learner's attention in a fun way.

Wordle This a Web 2.0 tools for generating "word clouds" from text that you provide. A verbal learner would enjoy this because they like expressing themselves with the written word.

I decided to try Wordle. This is a tool I never thought I would use, because I am a math teacher. I am going to try putting numbers in it. Haha, didn't work. Guess I will use text.

Week 10 School's Acceptable Use Policy

Week 11 SPRING BREAK!!

Week 12 Delivered Online Lesson

I used the words from the Verbal Learning Style definition.

I teach for Richard McKenna Charter High School Online www.rmckenna.org We don't have an AUP. All students work independently at home on their own computers and we leave the AUP up to the individual family's discretion. I don't believe there are any implications for the school here because each student is using their own computer at their own place of learning whether that be their home, a library (which would have its own AUP) or a friend's house.

Monday I delivered my lesson in 521 Online Teaching in the K12 Environment. I learned a valuable lesson about Adobe Acrobat I didn’t know before. My lesson is a self-contained, asynchronous lesson with sound and a quiz. I learned that if all the participants in the Connect meeting are presenters or higher, then they each must click the play button to see the lesson. Lesson learned – when I show a self-contained lesson in a synchronous meeting, everyone must be a participant in order to see when I start and stop the lesson.

I also created an optional Additional Assessments tool to go with this lesson.

Week 13 This week, begin creating a list of lesson I am in the process of redoing my Algebra 1A course. ideas that might be especially suitable I have started a live binder and I am collecting resources to help for both Breeze Presenter and Breeze me with this project. Instead of listing ideas for lessons, I am Meeting. going to insert a link to my live binder.

I LOVE!! LiveBinders --> http://www.livebinders.com

Course Development Live Binder Week 14 This week practice working in all modes Tracie Bassetti and I created a meeting in Adobe Connect for us of Breeze Live Meeting, both as a host and to practice in. We took turns being the host. I had her go first so as an attendee. Have one person email me I could learn from her. She is experienced at using this medium. the link to the recording indicating who I have used it before, but only the whiteboard component. It participated in the meeting. was interesting to see it from the participant view. Now I know what the student sees. She taught me how to do a poll and I tried one with her as the participant. It was so easy I was surprised!

This was a good way to explore the workings of a live meeting without being in front of a live audience.

Week 15 Provide evidence of conducting a live I recorded a homework help session with one of my students. facilitated meeting with a student, a parent, I do these homework help sessions all the time, but I never a classmate, or me in the form of a link to thought about recording them. I recorded it, then when I went an archived recording of the meeting or back to view it, it had no audio. I will have to figure out what I part of the meeting. did wrong and fix that so it will record the audio the next time. http://breeze.rmckenna.org/p91329090/ This is the link to my recorded session.