Reflection on the Class

This semester has passed and I’ve learned alot. Prior to this class I had never been on a blog, seen a Wiki, heard of RSS feeds, used a gator, explored virtual worlds, visited Tapped In or particiapted in a real-time chat. Immersed in all this new vocabulary and its attached expectations, at first I thought I would drown. This semester was my first foray into classes for my Ed Tech Master’s program and I got scared!! At this point, I can truly say I have learned a great deal this semester. No, I have not learned everything nor become a master in any of the things listed above – but I have learned enough that I am not intimidated to ‘poke and prod’ and try to figure out what I want to do or need to do with a particular application. Eight years ago when I returned to college to get my education degree, I did not even own a computer! To think of the things I have mastered at this point is amazing!!  And to think that the things I worked with in this class did not exist in their current form even 8 years ago is also amazing. Technology evolves quickly and what you learn must also be evolving and changing just as fluidly. the most interesting idea I encountered in this course was an idea I found in the gator (I don’t remember the specific author, but have seen various versions of the same idea over and over). Most of the jobs students I teach today will have as adults do not even exist yet! This idea is mind boggling but reality!! Kids need to know the proverbial basics, but, they have to have skills that will make them literate in the future.  If I do not use the new tools at my disposal, then I am doing my students a disservice, only partly preparing them for what their employers will expect from them.  The structure of this class has demonstrated to me that I do not have to move them to mastery in any one application, but I must allow/challenge  them to do their own ‘poking and prodding’ so that they can begin to develop these technology skills.  Yes, I think I will continue to pursue this master’s program, even though sometimes it is very challenging.  I will continue because I owe it to my students, and really I want to learn the things I’m learning for myself – I want to be literate in today’s society….I want to tackle the challenge!

Final Project Reflection

My final project was to create a blog for my peers at work.  Check it out at http://spencerseducationbox     The goal has been to create a space for teachers to share lesson plans, ideas, tips and links easily with one another. It is definitely a work in progress, but is beginning to take shape.  As I used a blog in this class, I was impressed with its flexibility.  Blogs have the potential to evolve and meet the needs of  the users.  I did encounter some reluctance of my peers to participate.  Some of the comments included “I’m too busy to blog” and “I’ve never used a blog before”.  Despite the fact that I created a flyer with explicit directions, teachers were reluctant to try it.  I admit that before this class, I had the same reservations and so could identify with the hesitation.  I plan to expand the participation by inviting members of my summer writing workshop to participate – I believe their motivation will be better, as that workshop was made up of teachers from across the region in different schools.  Not having daily access to each other, but having common interests, I hope will be more of a motivator for active particiaption.  Another event that occurred during my experience was one that happens frequently to me, I used the same blog host all semester and had become familiar and comfortable with the format of the blog and how to manage its components, the structure of the dashboard was updated, disorienting me a bit.  In the future,  I do plan on integrating blogs into my classroom practice.  I can see setting up a blog for students to use to access information, and reflect on classroom projects and events.  Student motivation and willingness to participate won’t be an issue, as they will be excited by the idea.  Also, I can see how a blog can offer students the opportunity to write and share their ideas and reflections freely (without even realizing they are writing ….the biggest issue with using blogs for my students will be ensuring equal access to all students.  I have only 5 working computers in my classroom, and only about 1/2 of my students have internet access at home.  We have a nice computer lab at school but it is scheduled for each class to have 50 minutes weekly and it is very difficult to get extra time there.  All this said, the point being that prior to this class and setting up my own blog for my final project, I would not have considered this to be a managable or even worthwhile project..com

I need some blogging advice….

On the blog I am authoring The Education Box 3-5 I am having difficulty on posting to seperate pages.  When I find  a link or info I want to include on a particular page, I always wind up making the post to the front page.  Is there a way to post on a specified pg?

Capstone Project Progress

http://spencerseducationbox.wordpress.com/ is the url for my new blog focused on sharing ideas, lesson plans, management ideas for 3-5 teachers.  So far, setting up the blog has not been too difficult – engaging others at my school to participate has been a little more difficult.  I’ve sent a personal email to my fellow teachers -I’m going to send a flyer with a how to post a comment section via e-mail and newsletter format.  I’m also adding QUALITY links as I find them – I don’t want to waste the time of reluctant bloggers with less than quality information.  I’m trying to capitalize on the push at our school to improve our open response scores by including as many pertinent links as I can find.  Take a look at the site – add any links you recommend on the appropriate page…I’ll appreciate any comments on how to improve the site or to attract more posts to it….

The Capstone Project

I’ve started the blog for 3-5 grade teachers.  I am trying to include bits of information that might start a discussion, or motivate someone to post.  Some of the subject areas remain under construction…..I did try to upload a paper that I did for an Action Research Project in math on the math page – it appeared to upload OK but I can’t find it on the page.  Does anyone know the trick to this??  I plan to publicize the existence of the blog to my colleagues through a hardcopy newsletter in their mailboxes and via mass email as well.  The process of creating the blog and pages was pretty easy – I had a lot of help from Diana and Amy.  Finding relevant engaging content is more time consuming.  I don’t want this to be a general site – I want to engage my coworkers in dialogue about what is happening at our school in our classrooms……still musing about how best to do this.  I need to find a way to motivate them – my short-term motivation is this class, but I tend to be a collabaorator at heart, so I will be thrilled I if this takes off at our shcool.  The URL to check out the site is

http://spencerseducationbox.wordpress.com/

Capstone Project

I give – my original project seems too overwheliming to complete within the time contstraints I’m working under.  I’ve decided to try to increase collaboration and communication between the 3-5 teachers at my school through the creation of a blog.  Diana Jackson is woring on the same type of blog for k-2 teachers and we are collaborating about content and design.  Maybe if collaboration is increased amongst teachers of the same content, then the larger projects like the webquest and student blog can become a shared project for them.

Final Project

Final Project:

 What:  I want to develop a web quest that explores human and environmental interaction.  I am specifically looking at our carbon footprint and how that applies to the individual student.

Why/Who:  I want to incorporate the content I am teaching to my fourth grade students.  I want to increase student engagement with the content and promote integration of math and science content into a real life context.  I also want to ‘push the envelope’ a bit within my school environment for providing meaningful, challenging, engaging material that meets academic expectations of the core content.  I believe that my students are capable of critical thinking and I want to give them the opportunity to do so.

How:

 1. Design a web quest that explores the issues and provides students with basic information.

2. Create a classroom blog where students can reflect on their experiences and observations about our school and their home environments in relationship to energy consumption.

Assessment:

1.        Teacher observation of student comments on the classroom blog – particularly are they synthesizing the information they are learning?

2.       Multiple open-ended responses to the web quest (i.e. letter to senator, principal, parent sharing what they have learned and encouraging change in existing practice; poster or visual to educate peers in the school community about issue; speech (perhaps using 4-H speech contest as a venue); or a student chosen, approved project.

Concerns:

1.       This is an ambitious project for me as I am rather novice in implementing technology.  I feel like to do this well, I might need an entire semester just to create a quality web quest.  Is it too much to attempt?  Can it be broken down into more manageable segments?  Is there a better way to approach this?

2.        How much of this project must be completed by the end of the semester?  Due to pre-existing curriculum requirements this is going to be an enrichment project and will take some time for students to complete.

Topic For Further Research – Investment of Time into Online Instruction

I would like to investigate the amount of time involved in developing a unit of study compared to developing the same unit for traditional instruction.  I would like to follow the time investment over the course of several semesters.  I would also like to explore whether there is recognition at the administrative level for the different level of engagement in development of such units.  I suspect that initially the investment of time is intensive – but moderates somewhat?????  I do not think that administators consider the load on educators who are agressively developing such instruction.

Does the global nature of the web have an effect on evaluation…..

Does the global nature of the web have an effect on evaluation…..

Most crucially, blogging can provide an environment in which to explore the relationship between theoretical knowledge acquired in lectures and other life and learning experiences. It is through the power of such dialogues that learners gain a clearer vision, not only of the immediate demands of the curriculum, but even potentially of their future career paths. The curriculum can also be enriched by the outcomes of learners’ enquiries and reflections….

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/effectivepracticeeportfolios.pdf

Learning through reflection

School of Health, University of Wolverhampton

 

When thinking about online assessment and evaluation of learning, there are many considerations.  The above article explores in depth the students response to self evaluation, peer evaluation and evolutionary learning experiences (building semester to semester links, and measuring growth along this linear path).  In reality this is how true useful learning is assessed.  In teaching, I am daily challenged to synthesize everything I’ve learned over the course of my career and training to effect the best outcome possible.  The same holds true for other careers, I think.  The ability to grow and assimilate new understanding into an existing schema is the true hallmark of learning.

 

The question is  ‘Does the global nature of the web have an effect on evaluation?’  In the sense of this collaborative, cumulative  assessment of learning the answer is yes.  Given this broad body of knowledge of a students progress and development as a learner, evaluators will be expected not only to evaluate whether or not a student has met course objectives, but also how much growth has occurred for a particular student.  This puts in jeopardy the traditional pass/fail type of assessment and lends itself much more to evaluations such as beginning, progressing and mastery.  The particular article does not address how long the process should exist, nor how to deal with people who do not progress to mastery at the expected rate.  It does suggest that students who achieve mastery should be able to move on to new learning rather than being forced to participate in redundant learning experiences. 

Also, learning is a subjective process.  Knowing something is not equivalent to being able to use that something to create a new product or solution to existing problem.  Assessment of the application of knowledge is an ongoing process and can only be truly assessed as new situations occur.

Goals and Objectives

Goals originate from two sources: What does the learner need/want to accomplish and what does the instructor intend to be accomplished from the course.  Goals need to be examined from both perspectives when designing an online course.  Students engaged in online learning are likely to have pre-existing goals when taking a course and these need to be addressed when setting course goals. 
The instructor is also obligated to achieve predetermined goals to meet the specs of the course, and must be considered when developing online courses as well.

Objectives are specific steps taken to reach the overarching goal.  Objectives of on-line courses need to be incremental and managable (not really different than other courses).  Students in on-line learning situations need immediate feedback as they move through the objectives to assure success in the meeting the existing goals of the class.  It is desirable fo the objectives to be stacked easier to more difficult to build student confidence and promote success.

The design and utilization of goals and objectives does not really differ in different types of courses.  They are required in traditional and online courses.  The major difference is the existence of goals in the learner at the onset of the course.  The course specific goals and objectives must be in synch with these pre-existing goals to assure student success.