Group items tagged

I was helping a colleague with an online statistics course this semester. The instructor did not know how to explain or help students other than telling them to reread the text or what she had already written. I did not see if they were using moodle or blackboard,

I agree that both (content and technology) knowledges need to be pretty sharp. Students are at all different parts of the spectrum on their own knowledge of the subject and need to have the resources from the instructor to help them succeed.

I strongly agree that the instructor needs to know the content of the subject and also needs to know how to teach it as well as have adequate resources to do so. I believe the success of the students depends on the confidence and knowledge of the instructor. I took several online courses in college and without the resources from the instructor or without the instructor knowing how to navigate through the course I would have felt lost! I know several other students in the class that struggled but with a knowledgable instructor they were able to get back on track. I think this is something that can be hard even in face-to-face instruction!...I've had several teachers that weren't sure HOW to teach, while I've had others that were creative and found many ways! This is a vital part of the standards!

With students in our school going 1:1 next fall will help some of them. They will have more access to resources from the internet and the ability to access those resources. I also feel that the teacher needs to be available for the students to ask questions, when they still do not understand for the internet resources.

I taught a course using ISU's WebCT system and found that I was so busy troubleshooting the program with learners some days that the content was lost---I think this standard re-emphasizes that the point of using technology is to enhance content learning...so it's important to not let the technology usability get in the way of the content....

Moodle should make this easier to use different learning styles

Absolutely! What are tech strategies to maximize differentation to make learning more engaging for the student?

I think this area could be boosted a bit. From a special education teaching perspective there need to be a few changes before students with special needs are able to navigate the system easier. I have taught students with visual and hearing impairments, therefore, I am thinking of the print needing to be larger, possible sign language interpretation video links, etc. I hope these are things that are being worked on or that are already in the works that I haven't seen.

It is important that teachers be exposed to different technologies so they cannot only find ones that will or will not work for them, but also know what is available. The problem is finding time to investigate/explore and then implementing them into the classroom.

Before starting this class, I had no idea of the tools that are available. It seems that when I go to investigate one, it leads to looking at another and another. This is a time intensive search process. I would love to see videos of how many of our classmates are already using these technologies.

Agreed. Finding time to keep up on what is out there is important--that's what I like about communities of learning where people can share what works/doesn't work, etc. It helps when people share what they use/like.

This might be something that teachers might find overwhelming. You have 4 section of American History. Each with 30 students and now they are all sending you questions, posting to forums and other activities that you need to check. How much time is this going to take? When will your teaching day end? When you post to a forum, it does not post until after 30 minutes.

This stuck out to me because again it is something that is important in both face-to-face and virutal classrooms! If any of these are missing students will feel disconnected to the course and probably will not do as well. If you are positive, interactive, etc your students will also take action to do these things!

I would like to see more professional development in these areas. In our school we were offered the chance to take this class by an email being sent out by our superintendent, which was great, but unfortunately not many of our staff members took this opportunity. I believe if there were more of a "push" to take these courses or to enhance our learning in technology there would be more advancement in this. I am not much of a "techy" (if that's the way it's spelled) and I've found myself fretting over how to complete many of the activities or if it's done right. If I were expected to teach a course online my lack of confidence would lead to my students lacking confidence as well.

You are so right! What do you think would have motivated your colleagues to take an course?

This is so important, since we all know how quickly technology changes! Staying current is a must!

I have really been struggling with the technology of this Moodle class. Our instructor has been very prompt with her helps and that has kept me going. I am concerned that many of our adult learners (teachers) may be intimidated like me by the technology of this type of learning and therefore not use it. It will be very important to have adequate staff development available in order to make all of the wonderful class content that will soon be available accessible to everyone.

Every class must have collaboration and interaction among all people involved teachers and students. Some students are going have no problems communication via a computer class. Other students not going to be as comfortable communicating via a computer class. Some students will not follow proper etiquette communicating. This concerns me.

My students really enjoy learning when they are doing it collaboratively! All students are putting forth effort because they all want to be using the computers to learn. I need to work more on the student-content part of this standard.

Right now as I am creating my own moodle course I am having a difficult time deciding what materials would be best used online and which would be better used in a face-to-face class. Knowing which materials to use and how to present those materials is very important. On-going professional training in this area would be great. We need to remember that learning online is not going to best for all students.

I wonder how this is operationalized? What do you all think is "evidence" of this standard?

Keeping the integrity in the assignment is always important and respectful to the students. Keeping students' integrity and respect intact is also part of the teacher's responsibility.

I have always been a heavy reader to keep up with research and knowledge in my professional growth but I have just learned through this course of resources like Diigo that will be such a help in connecting with other professionals and what they are also learning.

I think getting to understand individual student motivation through online classes will be difficult unless time is given to getting to know your students. Motivation can be such an individual thing.

It's difficult to appropriately use on-line learning since there is such a wide range of learning abilities and levels of computer knowledge in a classroom. For a student who doesn't know English, for example, this can be even more challenging than a "regular" classroom experience.

The ability of being able to acomplish this is difficult in this area due to the wide-range if the abilities of students just in computer knowledge. In one project I assigned last year that took additional two days because I had to teach the students how to make a power point presentation. Something they should of already known how to do. Those student that still don't have internent at home were at a disadvantage.

I think technology allows students to really effectively interact with each other to create a project. I have my students make and edit videos in iMovie. I have never had such a collaborative and high quality product that we can view and evaluate as a class.

The ability to create and edit a project on-line gives the students a chance to work togeather without having to be in the same room.

Knowing how to evaluate materials and make sure that they are enhancing learning and not just providing "busy work" makes the lesson respectable and meaningful to our students.

It is my wish that this class will help me to assist my students with technology as we move to 1:1 school, next year.

Paloma, Does 1:1 mean that every student will have a laptop or some other form of technology available for every class period?

I would also like to be more technology literate after this course.  While I will not be teaching an online course, I will be enhancing my classroom courses with online resources. 

I am thinking about the importance of collaboration with other teachers and the help of the school's IT Department to help us growing technologically.

I think collaboration is very important. I'm the only social studies teacher in the middle school level at my school. I love getting together with other middle school social studies teachers and pitching around ideas of what we're using tech wise in class.

I wanted to say THANK YOU! to Nancy for doing a great job communicating with all of us, effectively and consistently. Great example in teaching us how to create a community of learners.

Yes, Paloma. Nancy is a great example. I took another course with her and was very encouraged when I communicated my frustration.

I believe one key to student success in any course is getting them off to a good start. A good overview/orientation is essential so that students know what they will be learning and what will be required of them.

I agree, Charmaine. I found the "Topic 1 Pacing Chart" to be especially helpful last week. I printed it and used check marks to keep track of my progress.

Having one place with all assignments listed by due date was a feature of all my classes. I would continue thta in this context.

This is a must with the population that I teach. We have a high ELL group (many children of first generation immigrants). Have detailed explainitions, not only at the beginning, but throughout any activity or class is needed.

I think that understanding these differences is essential. What works in one environment may not work in the other. Taking our face-to-face course work and merely putting it online may not be effective nor desirable.

As a newcomer to online learning, I believe the directions need to be incredibly explicit because the students don't necessarily "see" what the instructor sees, and the instructor isn't standing in the same room as the learner with the ability to just point at the concept that is causing the confusion.

Yes, and I had a glitch that prevented me from seeing these notes earlier, and that was very frustrating. Have to allow for tech issues.

Being a student in this class gives me an opportunity to experience what my students may encounter. I am presently working from three different computers and each one works (or doesn't) a little differently.

From my perspective, I feel that you need to be an online student yourself first before you can design and guide an online class. Being a student gives you the understanding and need to predict student needs when designing online instructions that are different and more challenging than face-to-face instruction. It initially takes more time to design online instruction than face-to-face

This is definitely something to think about. Some things would be similar, but others would be very different. I've taught face-to-face classes with adults, but never online

I agree with you Mari. I believe it is very beneficial to be an online student first before you design your own course. I have worked on a course this year, but am learning so many different ways to present information and engage students by taking this course. I think this will make the course I have been working on more rigorous and engaging to the course participants.

Considering my struggles with the technology to this point, anything I create would be heavily modified during pr after it's first use.

Using technology in a classroom is only appropriate if it is beneficial to the learning process for students. Sometimes I believe it is easy to think that using technology is in itself helping students learn, because this generation tends to focus more when on the computer or with a video game type learning device. I imagine this can make it easy to implement technology without a true educational benefit for students and teachers must stay away from that.

I think this standard is closely related to a standard in ITS 4 which brings up the fact that online learning is different than face-to-face learning. That is very true and because of that online instructors must strive to make their course understandable and beneficial through the presentation of the content and the use of various tools to enhance understanding.

I am part of our school's Biology Data Team. We are beginning to implement Data Director to collect data to analyze our student's progress.

I provide pretest and post test data to my students. I work collaboratively with another teacher to improve instruction. We always discuss methods and analyze our student data.

These are very important for the same reason as what I posted above.  Because students can be more bold online, it is important to make sure that they are being appropriate in their communications...and that the discussions and work stay on task.

I would be interested to know how other teachers do this.  I am new to doing things online for my courses, but I would like to know how other teachers tailor their online material to fit the different needs of students.

Sometimes I follow the forum discussions and from these discussions, I ask more guiding questions that seem to follow student interests or other sites that may support their topics for further research

I have found that students are more open to communication via online tools than they are in class.  Discussions tend to go much deeper when they are online than in the classroom.  I have had students ask me some rather profound questions that I don't think they would have face to face.

I would agree with that. From my experience, online communication tends to break down some barriers for some students. It seems less threatening to them somehow, but this does not always apply for all students.

This is, of course, good for the teacher to be able to do, but I have found that as rapidly as technology changes, often times it is the students who are able to help me!

I agree!  When I get lost, I turn to our children or another student to help me.  

It could be difficult to use the data from assessments to guide instruction in a current course because often the online course is already established and changes cannot be made. However, data from assessments could be used for future classes.

Google+ and Twitter and my go-to places to network with teachers online, so these would be my starting points for looking to meet this standard. The majority of online teachers seem to have some kind of presence on at least one of these networks.

The interactive, collaboration and learning community of #5 is important as we move into the online learning arena.

The interactive, collaboration and learning community of #5 is important as we move into the online learning arena.

Tamela is able to respond to notes already posted but not able to post original thread.  I am logged in and can see everyone's notes.  I have changed the dropdown menu to Ollie_Iowa.  What am I doing wrong?

I think it finally worked.  I am not sure what I did differently!  This brings me to #7...it is so important to experience online learning from the perspective of a student :)

Just like face to face learning, online teachers need to remember to provide opportunities that enable student self-assessment.

It is important we select and use technology appropriately with the content and not get caught up in the bells and whistles.  I have been to classes where they used Power Point and had every icon flying in with a different sound...annoying.

It's also important to be available to help students.  They will not be learning any of the important content if they are lost in "online never-never-land".

By Jan Brosnahan -- Sometimes I thinks it's hard to stay current with all the new technology out there.  That's why classes like this are helpful to bring people together with ideas that can help other teachers.

Insuring that students feel safe and included is of extreme importance when we are all learning in isolation, particularly when you can't rely on visual clues like in face to face education. Also written communication can so easily be misunderstood.

#7 is extremely important. Technology changes so quickly that you have to be constantly exposing yourself to new learning, and then you have to utilize it.

I am a firm believer in this benchmark of standard 7. I feel as if I'm falling behind when I'm not taking classes to expand my horizon. Which explains my interest in learning about moodle, etc.

You will probably be able to tell my age .... but I've been going to school for 50 years!  If I don't keep taking classes on technology that can help my students, I feel like I'm not preparing them for their next step.

This can be difficult and what I find most challenging with online courses.

Asked this one the on the course standards as well. Are these standards subject to change with the coming of the Iowa Core.

This one hits home with me being a science teacher. We need more scientists. We need students graduating and heading to college and majoring in the sciences. One way to capture attentiion and make science intruiging is through technology. I have found that using things like LoggerPro with Vernier Software and Hardware get students that hands-on experience that facilitate learning when they don't know they're learning.

I believe in trying new things and I'm not afraid to jump out there along with the students. This year, we tried two new projects in class involving two different software programs. One of which, I had zero experience with and the other, minimal technical practice. One was Google Sketchup and the other was Audacity. With Sketchup, the students were highly skeptical, but became extremely more than proficient. Some got really good. When we went to Audacity, it jsut took a reminder that they can do anything they put their mind to. Students are highly adaptable when it comes to technology.

I agree. We need to have various ways to assess online learning. We need to do quick screens to get an indication of where students are at, but we must also do ongoing observations. There is value in both formal and informal types of assessment.

I think reflective teaching, while very important in a standard classroom, is even more critical for an online class.  With ever changing technology, lessons will need to be continually modified

I work with many learners who insist that they cannot connect online the same way they do in person. It's my goal to win over some of these reluctant learners, but I think I need to provide them with many options for interaction.

That isn't surprising. Its new and could feel threatening.

I wonder if when initially doing self-assessment if some students would almost feel guilty about assessing themselves too positively....even if they feel they did a really fantastic job. That's where rubrics come in, right?

I think that's why self-assessment really needs to be explained what it is and how it is going to be used. As students use this more, they will become more confident about assessing their progress.

My personal opinion: I don't feel this can take place in one class. This is a cultural norm that has to be set up over many years in school.

This is the life-long skill to develop!

Looking objectively at your own work isn't always easy. Sometimes the more work you put into it the more your think it becomes great and/or the more you struggle with it the more you think it isn't great. Sometimes how objective you are is subjective.

True. It is hard to separate the quality of the work itself, and the effort you put into the work.

These last sentences summarize the article.  Self-assessment does not have to equate with grading.  We need to teach people how to evaluate their own work so that they can make changes for improvement of their work. I feel that at times people are just after the grade.....pleasing the professor....not about learning. 

It's important to have a "predetermined list of criteria" that has been identified by the teacher. Followed by a practice peer assessment being completed as a group for practice. This will serve as a guide to the student(s) as they begin the peer assessment process for each other.

Developing good judgement skills of a student takes practice and time. Small group work of 4-5 members on a couple of sample assignments will help in learning how to identify and offer good peer assessment.

The idea of using some sample assignments as a way to help identify good peer assessment is a good recommendation. I don't think students are naturally good assessers, and this requires practice (and scaffolding).

I can see peer grading being low stakes in the beginning. However, as students start to become more proficient in their skills the teacher might consider giving them the opportunity to work on a high stakes assignment as well.

Interesting how the students see the value of the self assessment and prior to this class didn't put as much thought into their work.

I agree, I find when I include self-assessment regularly my students are more thoughtful about what they produce.  It is also helpful for me because self-assessment allows students to verbalize their processes.  

I agree that if a student knows how to effectively complete a self evaluation of their work then chances are they will be able to work more collaboratively in a group situation.

I think I agree here. I have found that for the most part students are usually honest in a self-reflection, especially if they have to provide specific evidence to support their claims rather than just a number. If the self-evaluation is just a number it is often inflated. 

Key elements of self-assessment to keep in mind.  

This sets the tone for the class and helps to avoid some of the disadvantages discussed above.  

I think that the steps given in this paragraph are crucial for this process to work.  It is teaching what is expected and guidance how to measure.

I have a lot of questions about his process.  Did he provide students with a rubric for grading? Were comments expected?  Maybe students didn't know what to comment on (organization, subject, editing, etc.)  There are a lot of variations that need to be considered.  Also, is this expectation set out at the beginning of the course?  

These are valid questions. The context could paint an entirely different picture. Hypothetically, though, I can see situations where he would be correct. Commenting can often be lacking, regardless of the strength of the guidelines, given a student's perceptions around how they should critique fellow students.

Depending on the type of class, peer feedback might not be an expectation of some learners.  For example, in an art course peer feedback is critical, but I wouldn't necessarily want (or expect to give) peer feedback in other courses I have taken.  

This is very true. Not only subject areas, but different contexts as well. It is harder to be critical when you are simply a classmate; much easier when you are a teammate on a Mock Trial team or a Basketball team, for example.