This is one of the better ones for k-12 skills and they are creating a community as they go.

This is a glogster of seven of the ten best practices for the course "Everything you always wanted to know about colon cancer". At the bottom of the glogster, you can click to see a jingcast of the glogster. There is an animated icon indicating this. You may want to expand the window for seeing the entire jingcast or if you don't go through the glog, the link is: http://www.screencast.com/users/astephens33/folders/Default/media/f42c4438-4715-4ccb-928a-7c8b7d4bb6a7. Thanks.

Thanks Joy. It realize that the production element of the course is an added dimension one needs to consider in on-line learning that I hadn't fully appreciated.

First part of the 10 Best Things, but because of posting limitations used a topic post to list all 10. 1. Judith's Boettcher's - The Online Teaching Survival Guide - is a good organization and explanation of eLearning. 2. Wiggins Model of Understanding - enduring understanding, important to know, worth being familiar with - is a good framework for helping properly focus the course. 3. The jing tool has become my new "snip" tool. Being able to capture and make a screen video is extremely useful. 4. Providing additional time in the first lesson - in this case 2 weeks, rather than 1 - to allow students a transition to the platform and tools is a best practice for me for on-line courses. 5. The weekly instructor availability during class hours is another best practice, as students know there is a time they can get information and questions answered in an interactive manner.

The themes/information presented in this video are ones we are all familiar with - what the video terms exponential evolution of how things fast are moving and the sheer numbers of people using the internet. The fact that this is now part of a technology shareholder meeting was very interesting, with the final message that they don't know what it all means, but it is definitely changing the world.

This is a jing.video of a 10 Best Practice Assessment for the on-line tutoring class I am teaching. I decided on this portfolio activity because: 1. I wanted experience with jing. Jennifer indicated she uses it all the time for screen capture and I agree with her - an awesome tool! (I felt like I was "on-stage" making a jing-case, knowing everything I was saying and doing on the screen was being recorded.) 2. I wanted to understand Best Practices better by applying them to a good yardstick. 3. I wanted to share my experience as an on-line teacher. As a note, I found jing, easy to install and use, although there were a few "operator" issues - like finding the sun/icon on my desktop. I did not do the tutorials they offered, but it was easy to figure everything out. Also, after you save the jing, to have others be able to view it, you need to save it on screencast. (I downloaded it my computer and then uploaded it to screencast.)

Because people do have different information styles (I prefer the written word), I decided to do a glog highlighting the points of my Best Practice assessment. In addition, I am planning to do a jingcast of the glog, where I add an audio commentary and can illustrate the best practices by showing them on my computer screen and capturing them. (A glog is a electronic poster that you can add text to and integrate video or audio.) Here are a couple of examples of glogs: - http://astephens3.glogster.com/the-colonoscopy-experience-5301/ - a collection of youtubes on the colonoscopy experience - http://astephens3.glogster.com/colon-resources/ - a collection of links to colon cancer information websites

Well, yes, colonoscopies are a pain in butt, but for those unintiated - they give you drugs so you are out during the whole process.

Thanks for the kind words. I was introduced to this tool in the first course we took - EDUC281: Tools - and find it fun and easy to use. Also, Jennifer's introduction to jing was really worth it.

As part of the lesson 8 readings (Boettcher, Page 146), there is a description of the characteristics of quality on discussion postings. This outline is helpful and an extremely important element of eLearning course design that I had not previously thought about so succiently. Analogously, the link above - lists the guidelines - one should consider for good job postings. I think the underlying messge is to post a depth of detail (like salary range) which with all the information we have to consider is probably quite helpful.

The author of this study is Penny Ralstom-Berg, a Senior Instruction Designer at University of Wisconsin, where a survey of what makes a good course from a student perspective was conducted. The summary of the study starts on slide 20. The top 10 desires is consistent with what we've been focusing on in this class, however the bottom top is somewhat at odds and seems, to be, counter-intuitive to what I would have expected. Top 10: Assessments are appropriately timed, varied and appropriate; Instructions on how to access resources are sufficient and easy to understand; Course components are web-based or easily downloaded for use offline; Requirements for interaction are clearly explained; Opportunity to speak with instructor, classmates through email, bulletin boards, any time / any place; Technologies required are readily available - provided or easily downloaded; Clear instructions tell me how to get started and to find course components; Criteria for how I will be evaluated is descriptive and specific; Navigation is logical, consistent, and efficient; The grading policy is clearly stated Bottom 10: I find course-related content and share it with the instructor and classmates; I use wikis, shared documents, or other online collaborative tools to complete group work; I am asked to introduce myself to the class; I coach other students and help answer their questions; Opportunity to speak with my instructor and classmates through… same time, same place technology; Instructor does not participate in class discussions Course contains interactive games or simulations; I author / create course-related content and share it with instructor and classmates; I work in groups with other students; Course contains audio and video content

Your characterization is right-on. I was thinking that perhaps this reflects how maybe college students are - which is to get through the courses to get a degree and not always on the what they can learn component. What I personally find more challenging on internet courses is finding who I really resonate with. There is a delay in the dialog and reading something is different than inflection.

animoto.com is a tool that allows one to take pictures and create a slide show, adding text and music. It is a free tool, however, for a modest amount you can have additional features that allow you to do professional editting. I chose this activity as a way to connect with everyone and can really match faces with names. If you do see any mistakes, please let me know and I can easily update the slide show. I feel it goes to the discussion about creating community and having a presence that is more dimensional than just our names in a list. One could request and easily add other photos or snips.

Bandwidth is always a problem. I like the idea of "individualized" animotos that can be combined. The more advanced tool does allow for adding video. http://animoto.com/play/ye7XT0nzKSJvOWK8XGTh0A - this is an example of how I used in a personal way. My family and friends were more responsive to seeing this in this form and its an easy way for me to sort out pictures I want to focus on from all the hundreds I seem to take with the digital camera these days.

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. The course framework activity: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HZKsjzymKk1Bn2gXDt1LOp5gqEsUvOqXE4m-72b8WYw/edit?hl=en#) 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.

Your feedback is always appreciated!

This is an online community for people dealing with colon cancer. It is part of my course framework to have my students participate in the community, as a way to have a personal experience with the disease, as well as obtaining additional infomration. This forum is moderated, for filtering of non-topic posts, such as posts that are really advertisement hooks. You can participate as a guest or by signing-in. As someone who participates/has participated in on-line and in-person support group, both are important for providing support and information at a peer level. One interesting difference, though, based on my observation only, is that anger venting seems more prevalent in the on-line groups. My belief is that this is because when people post they are by themselves and can be more reflective rather than reactive to what is immediately being communicated.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gYhiSs1Ys7993MD9VnKg-c-Jv75gosaQm8mnlQ4J1ko/edit?hl=en - I started a collaborative document on guidelines and considerations in selecting and participating in online communities. I hadn't thought about applying standards, but its a good idea. It helps reason out what one would want and need. As for this forum - www.colonclub.com, it is a very active one and considered one of the mainstays in colon cancer support. I'm not sure the about the size and how relevant that is in this situation, but there are definitely enough participants to provide diversity.

Great additions! I particularly like the introduction.

A blog summarizing updates to my course framework on how the course would be assessed.

I received the following from Norma Whitacre and thought I'd pass it along. Our focus this week in EDUC251 is on this and is appropriate introduction to this course. from Norma: The third class in the series is offered spring quarter. It is Assessment in eLearning, EDCU 252. I hired Robin Jeffers, an assessment expert, to teach it, and she is great. Class begins the second week of the quarter and meets on campus two days only: Tuesdays. April 12 and June 7, 4:30-6:20, item 2239. A full class description is attached. (bookmarked above) We are also offering EDUC 250, the Introductory class if you know anyone who wants it.

Jennifer, it would AWESOME to have to in the class and have another voice to help reason through and learn about assessment. Please do take it!!!!

This week the focus is on assessment and evidence of understanding. The emphasis is, of course, on how we assess our students. However, eteachers can be more easily observed, so I thought the community might find it interesting as to how I, as an eteacher, am assessed. (The students do an automated self-paced lesson and then take a practice quiz. If they have questions during the lesson or in order to go the next one, we interact. Based on the quiz and other questions/discussions we have, I pass them to the next lesson. I have up to 4 students in one session.) Once a month, my supervisor listens to one of the recorded sessions and writes up an assessment. What I find interesting that is unique to elearning, is that my use of the technology environment goes into my assessment. I need to be logged in on time, I need to effectively switch among my students, etc. Also, if an area is weak, a request by my supervisor to re-take an automated class I have taken before - such as effective questioning - might be assigned.

The online environment provides for easy capture of the session. The requirement for teaching include having a degree and a background check, but not a teaching certificate. I feel the monitoring is an extra check and balance on both how we are teaching and our online presence. We go through training and have guidelines on what we can and cannot discuss with the students - such as sharing emails, contacts outside of class, etc. Recently this has come into focus, as the regular school teachers at the school I am tutoring with (we are a scheduled once a week class during the school year) encouraged the students to ask where we live, etc., to feel more connected. On our teacher platform, the teachers and our supervisor were able to post and share with each other on how they were and should be handling this. It is a balance - just as in a regular classroom - to be connected, yet have privacy. I do not find what information I should and should share or ask to be a problem for me, but the time focus is. The students are used to texting all the time and feel comofrtable with using the time that way. I have now developed my own transitions - from the explicit: "we've chatted enough for right now, please go on with your lesson" to a softer transition by using the information in our dialog to set-up a problem: You got so much snow! So if you had eight snowballs and split them evenly....".

As an optional resource, a youtube introduction to MOOCs ((Massive, Open Online Courses) is given. As I understand it, MOOCs the "term" basically describing a collaborative "blog" on a topic. The concept is that courses can be offered with everyone who wants to to participate and/or take the course. The above link, I think is a good example of a MOOC and it is on eLearning. Similiar to EDU251 there is content proferred, as well as ways to comments and connect to other relavent websites. You can explore the site, but liked the definition of elearning: Elearning is the use of any type of technology in improving learning. At it's most basic level, it is email...at it's most advanced, it is an online course (or simulation, or virtual reality, or...well, you get the point)

This was in today's LA Times, indicating how a person's disability benefits were promptly stopped after the insurer saw posts on Facebook. The unintended consquences of information further our discussions regarding privacy.

Joy, my father used to say - The true measure of a man (or woman) is what they would do if no one would ever find out. To your point - just do the right thing!

Feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Please take the survey and provide your thoughts and experience with Module 4. Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words. Next week-end we have out-of-town guests, so that's one of the reasons for my early focus. Your directions were fine and helped the logistical process. I prefer this to a screencast, but that might be reflective of my technology knowledge and learning style. Two things, though, that took me a while to figure out were: 1. Sharing. It might be a default setting, but new documents I create have a privacy share indicated. You have to specifically change the setting (the share button is on the top of the screen) for people to be able to access it. 2. Editting. When you go back into Google docs, I got an excel spreadsheet. To actually update the form, you have to go to the form button and select "edit" in the pulldown screen.

Jennifer's email to us was a catalyst for this post to inquire about your digital prescence experience. I, like Jennifer, have aliases that I use on social networks. It is a challenge, though, to manage multiple presences and even when I do, often have a feeling of unease about the information. For example, in this course a suggestion was for us to update our profile. Although I don't feel secrative that I am taking a course at Bellevue College, the email/signature I use for this course is also the one I use for some other professional endeavors (such a technology consulting). I is not something that is a "need to know" by everyone. I chose, in this situation, not to update my general profile. When we are conscious of what/how we are posting and putting up, is one thing. Often though, I get on a mailing list, that I have no idea how I was included, as I probably forgot to check a "do not include me" box on something I have bought on line. This article was particularly interesting to me, as it talks about a survey that 23% of children get a digital presence even before they are born - having a lasting imprint.

I agree that there is a benefit to on-line blogs and support groups. The question for me is how do I get that benefit from the people I am targetting it to? So, for instance, I have used online support groups for a medical challenge I went through. It was helpful and beneficial to both them and me. However, that is different from having a digital footprint of the interaction. Maybe an employer or someone who would use the information judgementally, for example. So to Howard's example, did he realize that people that only tangentially are even aware of him, now know something intimate about his life. He probably doesn't care on one level, but it is the "unconsciousness" of this footprint that I think about.

I do separate my profiles by having different email aliases. There is overhead in having multiple ones, however, so not ideal.

Challenges I found when developing this blog included: 1. Organization. Deciding on the organization of the blog is the most challenging, as is often the situation when organizing a new project. One isn't quite sure what "envelopes" (in this case pages) you want. 2. Privacy. The issue of privacy is very much an issue for me, as I am not sure what I want to have public and/or permanent (as even though you delete something, it still remains somewhere.) 3. Spelling/editting. Proper spelling and grammar I feel is a reflection of who I am and needs to be accurate. Spell checking allows you to find misspellings, but not the use of miswords.

1. I will try the post-its. I'm thinking it is an especially good way to keep thoughts/ideas, which I can return to and then see if they really "stick" and I want to explore/use them. 2. Privacy. The interesting thing is that there is so much information out there, the volume almost acts as a gate. I agree with you about not real privacy.