Proposed Online Teaching Standards
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online1: Iowa Online Teaching Standards - 10 views
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Many of these standards would be good for teachers who are not teaching "online" but using technology in their classrooms. I wonder if there will be a push for all teachers in 1:1 schools to know these and have some skill with them.
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Good point, Valerie. It seems that online instructional approaches are a subset of practices in which students operate sometimes independently and sometimes with feedback from and interaction with peers and teacher interaction and feedback that is not necessarily immediate.
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How long will it take for administrators/principals to be trained on these? While these should apply to any course (online or classroom) I would assume very few teachers have seen something like this before.
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Knows and aligns instruction to the achievement goals of the local agency and the state, such as with the Iowa Core
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I would agree that knowing and aligning the instruction with the learning goal is a key piece. I have seen numerous occasions where things are done because 1. That is what has always been done. 2. Someone found a neat toy to use. or 3. There is a new catch phrase going around. With little or no thought given to what the intended goal of the instruction is and what we would like the learner to know and be able to do. I think it is always important to revisit the question of what is the goal and what is the best way to help the learn get to that goal. The design of the learning expereience on-line or not should address this consideration. So, intended or not, I am glad to see this here and at the top of the list.
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Agreed, r kleinow. Well said. I've heard that our new Governor has decided to abandon the Iowa Core all together. Any thoughts?
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Understands and uses data from assessments to guide instruction
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I am a believer that the single most improtant thing a teacher needs to know is what the learner already knows. I beleive the saying goes "find that out then instruct accordingly". I have always been challenged to find effieceint methods of doing this, but I think there are number of technology tools that can help to facilitate this process.
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This is a big part of the course we are developiing using CTS. Using the Keeley probes helps with finding out about what a learner understands. The challenge is to use or create the right probe that can give the teacher the feedback they need to differentiate the instruction
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Without understanding the learner's starting point or needs, instruction is just a "dump and pray they understand it" proposition. If instruction builds on the learner's prior knowledge, then the new information has something to attach to and has more of a chance of being understood and retained.
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• Demonstrates techniques for dealing with issues arising from inappropriate student technological use (SREB E.7)
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We are on our second year of one-one laptops in our school. We had a intense training for dealing with appropriate use of technology. That training dealt with plagerism, social networking and consequences. We as staff were also trained in this area. It is a part of our student handbook as well.
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Demonstrating responsible use of technology is equivalent to learning manners while eating, listening while someone else is speaking, and other etiquette skills we are all taught at appropriate ages. Dealing with inappropriate use of technology is absolutely necessary to ensure its continued safe use for all learners.
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Is there a "standard" acceptable use policy across the state or does it vary from school to school?
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Understands the differences between teaching online and teaching face-to-face (SREB C.1, Varvel V)
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Knows the content of the subject to be taught and understands how to teach the content to students (SREB A.3, Varvel II.A, ITS 2.a)
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Who would be responsible for deciding if a teacher has the content knowledge and best practice skills to teach that content?
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A structural limitation of many systems is that when leaders (expert consultants, administrators) are chosen, they immediately stop practicing what they were good at and what made them good choices to be leaders. Wise use of online communities may help provide support to teachers in content and best practice as both change rapidly. Deciding if a teacher has skills - well, that's another matter.
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This is very important to both classroom and online learning. The more we become experts in our subject it becomes easier to lead student learning.
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Tailors instruction to meet the different needs of students, including different learning styles, different interests and backgrounds, and students with special needs or whom are language learners (SREB C.7, Varvel V.H, ITS 4.c)
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I am curious how an instructor can ascertain learning styles of students. There are some tools that I have used with students in the classroom to uncover this. I suppose using those tools online wouldn't be that hard
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I too,am curious about this in an on-line environment. Just as all teachers have different strength and teaching styles, students do too. I am not quite sure how you would figure that out in an on-line environment or how youw ould tailor instruction to meet those differnt learnign styles.
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UDL (universal design for learning) promotes providing all students with multiple means of learning, multiple means of demonstrating learning and multiple means of engagement. A pretty good trick face-to-face and a greater challenge online: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html
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Sometime this can be as easy as embedding a video of the teacher explaining a lesson. Just the student being able to stop and review it as many times as they need will help. As long as I have been in instructional technology it is always easier for me to be able to stop and go over a section of a tutorial as I am trying to create with that technology.
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• Understands student motivation and uses techniques to engage students (Varvel V.D, ITS 4.d)
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I feel that if a person was going from face-to-face instruction to partial or totally online instruction there would be a total change of how you motivate learners. Maybe I'm wrong on that or I'm still thinking of the way I was taught and how I learn. I know that today's students are electronically gift no matter what their test taking abilities are.
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I think one of the ways that can motivate them is by giving immediate feedback. Students like to see how they do on things and if they take a quiz, assignment or test online they can see right away how they did instead of having to wait on the teacher to grade them. Now this would motivate all of them and it wouldn't work on all tests, quizzes or assignments, but it may be one way to motivate the students.
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For our reading curriculum, we have our students take the tests online and they have immediate feedback and are able to see their average score from taking all of the tests. I agree that the immediate feedback is what students want. It's easier for students to create goals based on their achievement on these tests. They are also able to go back to see what questions they got wrong right away and are able to look and make sense of what the correct answer is, etc.
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Motivation comes from internal needs. It does not need to be (and if fact is better) if it is intrinsic, not extrinsic. Learners are motivated by correct learning and understanding. The more immediate the feedback on that, the more the motivation. I have a quote in my office that says, "Motivation is not enough. If you motivate an idiot, all you have is a motivated idiot." Knowledge is power and knowledge is motivating.
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Kelsey, I would be intersted in how you do your reading tests on-line. If I remember correctly, you are an elementary teacher. This is something I would definitely like to explore.......because like you say immediate feedback is so important.
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Assists students with technology used in the course
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I think it is important to make sure the material is whats important and not overwelm the students with technology. I really like when technology tutorials are added with the assignment or lesson. This helps me focus more on the material and worry less about if I can figure out the technology.
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And I think a lot of the students these days could probably figure out the technology quicker than a lot of us teachers, but mastering the content is what we are all after.
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Like this course it is good to have tutorials or lessons on the technology we have the students use. That way it is available to the student if they need it. This would be a great advantage in online learning because the student would be embarrassed if they did not know how to use the technology.
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I really like this bullet in the standard because it is so important that a teacher continuously evaluates the data in order to determine whether or not their strategies are effective to their students. I know that us teachers at Norwalk are always having to evaluate our data and determining what is working and what we need to change in order to target those students that our instructional strategies are not hitting. This is key to becoming and staying an effective teacher and keeping up with our student body as they are changing yearly with different materials and strategies coming out to enhance learning.
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Creates a learning community that encourages collaboration and interaction, including student-teacher, student-student, and student-content
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If they're talking about the 21st century skills that these students need to know and what not in order to become a successful worker in today's world, then I strongly feel that interaction and collaboration is a huge key component of our students' success. It's vital that others understand the thought process of other individuals; yet, still explaining their thoughts and working together with their peers/teachers/content on a project at hand. It teaches kids social skills that they need to become successful in the outside world. It's always nice to learn from one another and to teach someone something new :)
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I think this is the powerful part of an online community; that is the sense that they are a learning community.
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Continuously uses data to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of instructional strategies
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I really like this bullet in the standard because it is so important that a teacher continuously evaluates the data in order to determine whether or not their strategies are effective to their students. I know that us teachers at Norwalk are always having to evaluate our data and determining what is working and what we need to change in order to target those students that our instructional strategies are not hitting. This is key to becoming and staying an effective teacher and keeping up with our student body as they are changing yearly with different materials and strategies coming out to enhance learning.
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I totally agree with using data to evaluate our teaching practices and students learning. If my first graders are not doing well in something I have taught, the first thing I look at is what could I do different to make them more successful. This would be true wheter it is on-line instruction or face-to-face instruction.
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Demonstrates growth in technology knowledge and skills in order to stay current with emerging technologies
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Growth will be so much easier to assess in a digital world. Our digitial thumb print can easily be accessed adn evaluated over time. Paper and ver bal instruction is so very hard to document growth.
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To be honest, I think I'm scared by "emerging technologies". In terms of what is already out there, and trying to think about what is yet to be invented, I'm worried that I will just start to "master" something when the replacement technology will take over. Though I have to believe that adequate training will be offered to us teachers who are apprehensive.
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learning theory appropriate to online learning,
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I tagged a website which provides a brief definition of constructivism, behaviorism, and cognitivism. They are very brief definitions, but allow for a gateway of further research by identifying authors of the theories. I would be interested in learning if anyone has other resources for online learning theories.
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Is knowledgeable and has the ability to use computer programs required in online education to improve learning and teaching, including course management software (CMS) and synchronous/asynchronous communication tools (chat, email, web 2.0, videoconferencing, webinar, whiteboard, etc.) (SREB B.3, Varvel III.B)
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• Selects and uses technologies appropriate to the content that enhance learning (SREB M.3, Varvel IV.D, ITS 3.e, ITS 4.f)
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I believe students learn better through the use of technology. Using technology to the content will help students stay involved with learning the content being taught.
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Although I agree, Kenny, I also believe that it is important that the technology does not overtake the content that is to be explored and learned. Sometimes it seems that the technology ends up being the focus and the content gets lost. To me, the words "enhance learning" are very important in this bullet statement.
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I agree with both of you. I've been reluctant to use technology because I haven't felt confident that I would be enhancing or extending the learning. Classes such as this are building my confience though, enabling me to see how much more I could be doing... I just need the time to explore and design. Isn't that always the case with this teaching gig?
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Creates or selects multiple assessment instruments that are appropriate for online learning (SREB H.1, Varvel VI.C)
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Demonstrates ability to enhance academic performance and support for the agency's student achievement goals
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Aligns assessment with course objectives
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Utilizes a course evaluation and student feedback data to improve the course
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Has experienced online learning from the perspective of a student
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I think it would be very challenging to teach an online class without ever being a student in one. In fact, I think teaching online presents challenges even after being a student in multiple online courses! :)
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I remember the difference of looking at a online course first as a learner and then facilitating the course. I realized how much content there was to digest and how quickly the course was moving.
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Communicates with students effectively and consistently
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Online office hours? I suppose it just becomes a built in part of your schedule.
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That is the heart of the work for a facilitator of an online course. The student needs the sense first that there is an instructor presence somewhere in the background. As the group begins to respond to each others' thoughts then the facilitator can move from the foreground to more of the background.
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Has knowledge of and informs student of their rights to privacy and the conditions under which their work may be shared with other
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Provides and communicates evidence of learning and course data to students and colleagues
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In providing professional development to AEA staff on special education issues, I have often relied on "compliance to mandates" as a means to judge the success of the training. Of late, I have become much more interested in measuring staff's "learning" to a standard as one key measure of the effectiveness of training (i.e., teaching).
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Demonstrates effective instructional strategies and techniques, appropriate for online education, that align with course objectives and assessment
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Providing appropriate strategies to enhance the learning experience online that align with the objectives and assessments within the context of professional development is a big challenge. I realize it is the same challenge that the Iowa Core and CEI puts forward for every teacher. I have been the recipient of many professional development opportunities over the last 30 years and many of them have not come close to meeting this standard. I think things are changing for the better lately and I really believe courses like this have helped.
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Designs the structure of the course and the presentation of the content to best enhance student learning,
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fair use
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Promotes learning through online collaboration
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online1: Iowa Online Course Standards - 10 views
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What information do we have about this group? Looks like the research is very new - http://www.inacol.org/research/reports.php Makes it sound like deep undercover reporting, but I was just curious. I had never heard of INACOL. :-)
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iNACOL was originally NACOL (they went "international" in 2008). They have been around about 8 years now, and are recognized as the national leader in organizations build around quality online learning. They are analogous to an ASCD. In Iowa, Gwen Nagel from Iowa Learning Online is a member and contributor, as is Marcel Kielkucki, director of Kirkwood Community College's High School Distance Learning Program. Marcel and Gwen presented last November at iNACOL's conference on the current setup of online learning in Iowa. You are going to find that most research in online learning is extremely new. The reseach du jour is comparing online to F2F, in which case there are many (many!) studies that have come out. None of the studies are older than 2006, and most have come in the last 18 months.
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The course instruction includes activities that engage students in active learning. • Instruction provides students with multiple learning paths to master the content, addressing individual student needs, learning styles and preferences.
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Engagement at a level you would expect in a traditional classroom is key. Online instruction has to be differentiated, and not a "dump" of information.
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Online instruction might more readily provide an environment in which students can take different paths for learning.I am thinking it might be easier to incorporate UDL (Universal Design for Learning) in this environment.
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The course makes maximum appropriate use of online tools outside of the CMS (including email, web 2.0, chat, videoconferencing, and whiteboard) to enhance learning
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Moodle certainly has a number of built in tools for the course developer to to use. There is an internal blog and wiki available, but perhaps, wikis and blogs that are available outside of Moodle will better serve the needs of the participants. We need to choose what is most appropriate to meet the objectives of our course. What will best enhance the learning experience for our students? In order to do that of course, we'll need to have an awareness and also a certain amount of expertise to have students utilize these tools.
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I agree--we need a certain amount of expertise. It's so discouraging to participants when the tools we're trying to use don't work as expected.
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Just as in a face-to-face classroom, there are techniques for engaging learning. Those techniques need to be mastered in order to be effective. The same with online tools - they must be mastered and understood in order to effective. The great news with any learning is that it is quite collaborative - students learn from teachers as much as teachers learn from students. I think this is certainly true in the online environment.
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The added challenge is that there are new tools constantly available. Keeping up on the new tools and their uses worries me!
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Proposed Online Course Standards
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Evan, are these the standards that will be used to vet proposed courses for the statewide moodle through Heartland? At AEA 267 we were discussing how course proposals would be evaluated and approved.
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Yes and no. The standards will be used for instructional designers/instructors as they build courses, and by evaluators as they review courses. But they are not formally part of the course proposal process.
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STUDENT ASSESSMENT
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This is one that I'm finding somewhat challenging. If I am asking teachers to implement, how do I provide sufficient feedback? Reading a lesson plan is not the same as seeing them implement. I'm wondering if AEA consultants around the state might cooperate in some observations.
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Here's an idea: digital video of the teacher in the classroom that could be submitted/uploaded to the course site (i.e. the ever-popular Flip video). Feedback could be given by using an audio overlay of the video (almost like the audio commentary track on a DVD) or posting comments to a forum (if it was group feedback).
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I have actually used that technique as a student in a online course. We (class members) were able to provide feedback to each other on the submitted videos. We posted comments to a discussion board, we did not have the technology at that time to use an audio overlay. It was very effective and quite entertaining to get lots of different perspectives on our experiences.
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Linda- Were you given a rubric or other reference to compare other students' work against? I wonder if without something like that, if students would give the "nice job" and "great" feedback instead of something more constructive and meaningful. How do you guard against that?
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students to engage in higher-order thinking, critical-reasoning activities and thinking in increasingly complex ways.
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In science, we are always looking for ways to engage students in higher-order thinking skills. I'm sure it provides different challenges when you are teaching online.
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I would agree that engagement with online is a challenge when I compare it to engagement in an inquiry based lesson where there is active interaction between students working with hands on materials.
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clear, complete course overview and syllabus
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Because you are not face-to-face (or if you are teaching a blended/hybrid course and have limited face-to-face interaction), you need to make sure your course overview and syllabus are clear and complete.
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Right, Peggy. I think in the classroom I have relied on students' questions as a way to help me describe what I am thinking/asking for. In an online environment, this doesn't work. It would be a lot more pressure for me as the teacher.
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timely and frequent feedback about student progress based on the learning targets.
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How important is this! Probably even more important today when students are accustomed to instant feedback whenever they access technology.
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Feedback along the way is so important especially when one is not sure they are on the right path to meeting a targeted goal
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It is also important to not only give instant feedback along the way, but MEANINGFUL feedback. Students don't get anything out of a "good job!" or "nicely done!" I always have to put myself in the students' shoes and think of what meaningful feedback I would like and make it specific towards that individual student and his/her work.
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I agree, Kelsey, it is important to give meaningful feedback. It is so difficult to keep up with students when the numbers reach 175-180, as they are beginning to in my district.
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(CP) • The course provider offers the course teacher, school coordinator assistance with technical support and course management.
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21st century skills
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21st Century Skills has become something of a hollow buzz word to me, I'm afraid. Is it just a matter of aligning traditional thinking with new technology? Or is there something "new" here that I'm missing? And how much direction do you think students need with technology itself? How much of this in intuitive with them?
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Our 21st C. Iowa Core Skills include more than technology skills. They also include concepts and skills in civic literacy, health literacy, employability, and financial literacy. Do the additional areas make 21st. C Skills seem less hollow?
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I suppose. I get the concept, and I want to believe, but I feel like these are things they've always needed to know. Are we just re-naming what we're already doing?
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And how much will these change in the next 10 years? It seems like we need to teach more about being flexible in regards to technology.
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instructor-student and student-student interaction to foster mastery and application of the material and a plan for monitoring that interaction.
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Ongoing and frequent assessments are conducted to verify each student’s readiness for the next lesson.
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It seems that the ongoing and frequent assessment process is critical and I believe actually a bit easier in the online environment. The ease comes from the direct nature of the interaction between instructor-student and student-student interactions. Sometimes in a crowded F2F classroom, this can be more challenging.
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In a classroom setting, formative assessment would inform the classroom teachers thinking about instruction for the next part of the unit. How will that look in an online asynchronous learning environment?
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The course is organized into units and lessons.
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Assessment strategies and tools, such as "self-check" or practice assignments, make the student continuously aware of his/her progress in class and mastery of the content beyond letter grades.
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The course instructions articulate or link to a clear description of the technical support offered.
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This is really important! My work has been with adult learners rather than school-age students, and I think adults are more tentative and less comfortable just "trying things out" with technology that is new to them. Whether adult or school-age, learners need to know that there is technical support available when needed and how to get that help.
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Instructions to students on how to meet the learning objectives are adequate and stated clearly.
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The course is easy and logical to navigate, including self-describing links
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Most students that take an online course will have no problem nagivating through it but there will be times when it is a students first time with online learning or have to take the course online out of necessity and if the technology aspect of the learning is difficult the learning outcomes probably won't be very good.
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This is a key piece to online instruction. If you just dump all your materials online, this is not effective online teaching.
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"instructor-student and student-student interaction to foster mastery and application of the material and a plan for monitoring that interaction. "
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"instructor-student and student-student interaction to foster mastery and application of the material and a plan for monitoring that interaction. "
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