The 10 Best Things about EDUC 251

Making a Jing-cast

I felt like I was "on-stage" making a jing-cast. In the end I had to do a script that I read. Even then, I had some challenged. I used my jing-cast somewhat as a powerpoint with my glogster on one side of the screen and the pages I wanted to show "lined-up" by it. I would then click closed the pages as I referred to them. It was still a bit nerve racking.

Discussion Board Selection

I researched Google as a possible forum for my course, however, I do not like it as much diigo. Google maintains threads - via email. I like being able to have all the posts in a single place to see. So, I decided to use and set-up a diigo account to see how easy it would be and it was!

Activity 7.4 - Authentic Learning Activity

Authentic learning is a solid pedagogy approach, no matter the environment. However, two concepts of authentic learning that I feel can be particularly expanded on with the internet and etools are "hooks" and "experts". "Hooks" is what picques and keeps the student's interest and motivation in the activity. With the use of video, games, tools, etc., there are many more ways to do this. "Experts" is being able to bring in subject resources, which on the internet, makes accessibility easy.

For my course framework activity, therefore, I expanded on the colon treatment options module. For a hook, I searched YouTube for "colon cancer comedy" videos. There were quite a few actually. I added as a introduction to the module one of these videos - two singing colon surgeons - on colon surgery. For experts, I added references to the National Institute of Health and American Cancer Society on treatment options and survival statistics. I also am having the students connect directly to true cancer experts - patients, caregivers, and survivors. This puts a "face" on the disease, as well as an experience to what it means to have colon cancer.

In my online work experience as a math tutor, hooks are particularly important, as these students would not be in the program if they weren't already performing at a lower math level. Math is not a subject they enjoy. The automated lessons they take, often have "game" quizzes they take and can get immediate feedback on their answers. As an instructor, I try to utilize their life experiences. For example, I might ask them how old they are and then tell them how old I am. I then use these facts to construct subtraction and/or division questions.

Activity 6.4 - Evidence of Understanding

eLearning allows for more tools for teacher-student assessment. This includes easy to administer quizzes on-demand; collaborative projects that can occur at the students' pace; and blog capability and web searching where communication can be instanteous. The challenge for the teacher to how to use these tools to provide an appropriate learning experience, yet not overwhelm the student or teacher. The issue of plagarism is there. For very formal learning experiences, an independent, mediated resource can be set-up - such as is done when students take standardized tests for college admission like SATs, but for many courses, the assessment concept needs to be expanded. Students in the real world will have access to data and they need to learn how to "mine" the information and integrate it into practice.

The readings provided this week, recommend assessment plans for the elearning environment. Boettcher (p. 154) suggests "at least four types of experience: participation in discussion posts; automated low-stakes quizzes, individual projects, and team projects." I have updated my course framework to reflect this. Specific additions are:
- Discussion: Students participate in a class community blog (such as diigo) and must participate and post to at least one colon cancer forum (Lesson 5.)
- Quizzes: Each lesson end with a quiz on both the information for that lesson, as well as feedback on the lesson. An example of what this might look like is provided for in the Lesson 5 Wrap-up.
- Individual projects: Students are required to critical think about colon cancer, as in lesson 2 they are required to write about how colon cancer has personally effected them and how additional screening might have impacted this.
- Team projects: Two collaborative documents, using wiki, have been added as part of Lessons 3 and 4. This includes adding to the pros and cons of different screening methods and cancer treatments. The student is required to read and view other recourses to be able to effectively contribute.

Reflection - Learning Platforms - Module 5

This module was on learning platforms. The thing about platforms is that a final assessment and how well the platform works for you is based on more of what the platform does not do, than what it does. Of course, there are certain features the platform must contain, but beyond that is how the platform performs, such as the true ease of use or difficulty in maintaining, etc. This post is a reflection on learning platforms based on my personal experience both as a tutor at Knowledge Learning Corporation.

The platforms for KLC consist of:
- Ning. A focused website that is used as a "teacher's only" forum. The company posts basic information - such as resources, telephone numbers, and self-paced courses (such as on how the system works or how to do basic questioning with students.) There are tutor and company intiated blogs, which I often use to ask other tutors on their experiences and get suggestions. A recent blog was how do you handle students when they ask you personal information. I find this website to be invaluable, but the front page of the site is confusing. Everytime some posts - such as an introduction - the list of blog topics changes to the most recent. Finding a blog you want to reference often takes a search, but the search is very sensitive. Also, when I am in the middle of a teaching session and I want to access a resource, it takes too many pages/strokes to get there quickly.
- GlobalScholar. This is a focused website that is used to track the tutor's students, their progress, and results in the lessons. This is similiar to Vista, where the students grades and classes are. There is not a posting capability, like in Vista, however. I think this system is very complete. GlobalScholar is a good platform. It maintains a list of all students I have ever taught, however, and rather than the current students I am teaching listed when I first enter, it is the first students - a year back or so - that comes up.
- Whiteboard. This is accessed through Global Scholar and is only available when the student is actually in the tutoring session. If you read the features of the whiteboard (which I suppose is part of the GlobalScholar platform), it looks perfect for our application. However, it is quite frustrating in daily operation and KLC is assessing making a change. The way the platform works, makes it very sensitive to bandwidth considerations. Many students logged on using it as the same time, often freezes things. When it is operationally working, the main feature I would change is the ability to have a student re-take an automated lesson. (The student takes a a self-paced, 10 minutes lesson after which a short 4-question practice is administered. After this I interact with the student to go over their work and pass them. If I feel the skill is not successfully mastered, my only choice is to personally continue working with the student - of which I have 3 others at the same time and is, therefore, not always feasible - or pass them.)

Porfolio: "Teacher Presence" - Activity 5.4

As an analogy to "social presence", I have termed how a teacher interacts in the eLearning environment, as the "teacher presence". In reviewing the ten best practices for Teaching Online (Boettcher, p 37), half of the practices were about teacher presence: be present; supportive online community; set expectations and how you will communicate; informal feedback; and discussion posts. Boettcher (p. 196) also indicates (and is consistent my own personal learning experience) "the most difficult part of many learning tasks is getting started."

I, therefore, decided to create an Voicethread introduction for my course framework, to introduce myself to the student and also set the expectation and outline how communication will occur. I chose the Voicethread tool, so the students would have a place to add their voice and introduce themselves. You may also read the script of this Voicethread. These links have been integrated into the Course Framework page of my blog.

Virtual Office Hour - Feb 3

Although I did not have a specific question, I decided to join Jennifer's elimunate virtual office hours. Bruce, who teaches on-line courses, was the primary participant. Jennifer talked about how she manages information - she doesn't bookmark things. She says there is always more information out there. She also said that studies indicate we can keep up with about 150 people in a social network. She indicated she often purges her twitter account, but more always want to join. It was interesting to me to see how integrated in the internet is in Jennifer's professional life and how it seems to come naturally to her. She is a generation younger, so it goes to the previous discussions that this might be in our DNA.

Portfolio: Course Framework - Activity 4.4

This activity - both in terms of purpose and expectation - was initially unclear. My first thought on a framework topic was to teach how to tell time with an analog clock. This is a module in my on-line tutoring class that the students have difficulty with. As I tried to develop this course and decide on the different curriculum priorities and the approaches I might take, I felt the topic was too narrow to be representative of the pedagogy I am learning.

I decided to do a course on colon cancer based on my knowledge and work (founding president of a non-profit whose goal it is to eradicate colon cancer by early detection). It was a challenge to clarify and focus my knowledge. I felt like I sometimes do when I research things on the internet; I had lots of information, but how do I focus it in something cohesive? I found, by using, the Wiggins&McTigue Model of a Framework for Establishing Curricular Priorities, I was able to sift and sort through the information.

I also chose to create a focused page in my blog of my Course Framework. I will udpate this page as the course progresses. I find it easier when I have a centralized place for my work. It had been suggested we could use other communication tools - such as audio and/or video - to indicate our thinking and/or Framework product. I feel more comfortable with the page concept - as I can insert updates quickly and in a organized way.

Advantages of eTeaching

Today, while I was online tutoring, the students were engaged in the interactive portion of their lesson. When they complete a task or need me, the platform we use has the name of each student that flashes. So I can easily get up from the computer and still monitor their progress. When I got up to make a cup of coffee, I was reflecting on how nice it was to be able to do that. Although I know when I am a student in a classroom, I have less conflicting physical distractions, as a teacher I am always "on". It is a nice benefit of eteaching.

Economics of Grades and eLearning

I find it interesting how motivated I and it seems my fellow eLearners are motivated by the economics of the course - in this case grades. Those items that we receive points on (you accumulate points for completing tasks in the course, which go into your grades) seem to get the focus and action. For example, a discussion forum has been established that is for students only and the instructor has indicated she will not monitor, so there has only been one post. This is opposed to the diigo discussion board that the instructor participated in regularly, where everyone posts. I realize that even minimal incentive helps focus and this is a particularly useful concept/tool for eLearning, where there are lots of individual tasks to be worked on.

Virtual Office Hours

A best practice I am taking from this course if the idea of having virtual office hours. The instructor is on-line, via audio and whiteboard, every Thursday, for one hour. I connected this past Thursday and found it to be helpful, both for question I had and to feel more connected with the learning process. For example, we talked about the course framework assginment and although I could have my questions answered via postings/email, I realized I wasn't really sure what my question was. Orginally, I had wanted more background on what was expected, but the conversation evolved into my focus for taking the class and reaffirmed my learning objectives.

Blog Organization

I began this blog when I first started the course and am still evoling the organization of the blog. This includes what pages I want and what things I want to be public and which are private. There are quite a few postings on diigo that I found thought provoking, but not sure what I want to keep. I want this blog to the be the single place I go for all my information on the course.

Computer Environment

Rather than having a big screen monitor, I am using my laptop right now for this class, as I am having some equipment challenges. Although I teach with this smaller screen, the white board function we use is primarily the main screen I need for most of th class. For this online class that I am taking as a student, though, I am finding I would like a bigger screen, as I often have different windows up - my blog, the discussion room, and readings. Its something I will consider - but may not be able to do anything about - when I think about developing a course.

Lesson 1

I had some computer challenges during the past week and am just now able to login and get reconnected with the on-line portion of the class. All assignment were due on Monday and so this evening - Sunday, Jan 16 - I am catching up. I did get a copy of the Online Teaching Survival Guide and did have a chance to read it earlier.

I feel I am the most behind in organizing this blog. I want to have it be a repository of information, as well as my thoughts an experiences.

I must admit that this "blip" in the technology, has been thinking about how I would "grade" my students when they have challenges. In this case, Jennifer was clear about allowing extra time so she wouldn't have to be responsible for handling "excuses", so her planning for events like this was good.

I'm sorry, though, I missed the interactive "office hour" session this past week.

This Blog

I just set-up this blog to track/be a diary/ePortfolio for this class. The organization and learning curve of getting things like this set-up can be exhilerating and frustrating at the same time. I find that once things are set-up and/or I am engaged, it is fun to try different options. However, there are often too many options.

What is particularly frustrating to me is figuring out how I want to organize the blog. I have an overview knowledge of the course, but don't really understand what I want to keep and how I want to keep it.

First Class

Our first class was January 6. It was in-person at Bellevue College. I participated via an electronic conferencing link. I was initially sorry I had to miss being there in person, as there is something about seeing people and sharing. Over the internet I could hear the voices and see some faces, but there was often a delay.

As the course continued, however, I realized it was a good experience in how technology has entered our classroom. When the audio was clear, it was fine. When I couldn't hear someone's voice well, I found I would be distracted more by other things in my immediate environment.

I had a question a few times and typed them into a chat box. The response was prompt, but not as quick as when I was in person. Also, the writing, rather than typing of the question impacted the meaning. I could not embellish my meaning. (The audio was working both ways, but the feedback and noise made it more comfortable to type.)

I also found I enjoyed "listening". I could hear people and view the action, but not really be a part of it. It allowed me to be more observational and take in context more. We did introductions and that part was not as engaging as the intellectual discussions or information exchange.