Using Online Learning Effectively

This article is called "The New Gold Rush: Establishing Effective Online Learning Policies" By Ferdi Serim and it is from September/October 2007.

The article discusses how “online learning is the fastest growing segment of educational technology, for both the best and worst of reasons." The article states how online learning delivers student centered learning. However, "the temptation to replace highly skilled professionals with scripted, mass delivered “content” as a means of reducing costs and/or maximizing profits is a contender for the worst reason." The article provides ways on how to navigate your way to improved success using online learning. First, "use research and best practices". This is important because "online learning optimally should be used in combination with face-to-face instruction by using qualified and experienced teachers who are in physical proximity to enrolled online students as teacher facilitators and instructional supervisors." The article also states to "evaluate offerings using research" because "understanding and evaluating online programs requires understanding the issues and priorities of the stakeholders." Most importantly, the article gives a great example of how to "prepare for a long journey". The article explains how "Taos Pueblo in New Mexico began its journey three years ago, as a magnet school of the Taos Municipal School District located on Pueblo land. Following the first year, when the program was located in a temporary building, students and parent’s handmade 4,000 adobe bricks and constructed a building to house their online learning program. Students who had previously been considered at risk or had dropped out found that when they were in control of the pace and direction of their education, they were able to achieve at higher levels than they (or anyone else) had anticipated. Seeing this change, parents and the community began to realize that something special was going on.

Furthermore, "Shawn Duran and Alexsis Blake have created a blended model of online and service learning experiences that set a high standard for online programs anywhere. Using what they’ve learned in their online academic studies, students have constructed four greenhouses, irrigated by solar pumps they’ve constructed; researched and obtained heirloom seeds of vegetables grown by previous generations on Taos Pueblo; and organized a weekly farmers market so that community members can enjoy fresh produce year round. The partnership between the Taos community, public schools, and NNDS has grown beyond their anticipation by making a sustained commitment, keeping an eye on emerging best practices, and making professional development a continual process rather than a single event." This example is so wonderful and it shows how important it is to use online learning, and how it can help your students learn in ways never before possible!

Overall, this article was very insightful and reminded me of the importance of using online learning in my future classroom. I know we have discussed this topic many times in class and through other blogs, but I found the example in this article to be so inspiring. I think it is amazing that students were able to construct 4 greenhouses and then from there organize a weekly farmers market! This is really a great example of hands on learning! I hope to use this concept in my class or even allow it to be used on the campus that I work at. This project could really show children about lifelong learning and how wonderful it is to work with your community!

Teachers Attend Tech Camp To Become Creative

This article is called "Tech Camp Unleashes Creativity and Collaboration" and it is by Joe Bardin from June/July 2008.

The article begins by discussing how "Rosy Escandon, a camp instructor, tells of one first grade teacher who made a movie with her students about fire safety. Kids helped write the script and participated as actors. Getting them to pay attention or give their best was no problem because they were excited about being in a movie." The article also discusses the benefits of using the program called iMovie and how "the process of creating an in-class movie exercises a range of fundamental skills: writing, public speaking, focus, teamwork, and creative collaboration." Another example from the article is that "Suzanne Hensel teaches third grade in the Tanque Verde District in Tucson. A visit to her classroom revealed a shoot in progress for a movie about geometry definitions. In the scene, a girl throws a fishing line into a pretend pond to fish for a line segment. After several takes, she gets it just right. By then, everyone has the definition of a line segment memorized. Teachers report their kids love reading on camera and seeing themselves afterwards. It gets students who would otherwise be silent talking." These examples of movie-making are so inspiring and really show what a great tool it is to include a certain lesson and incorporate the whole class.

Also, "at Tech Camp, teachers also learned to write, read, and produce their own podcasts for use in their classrooms. Podcasts can be an especially powerful tool for English Language Learners who often don’t hear themselves fully until they do a recording and then play it back. The process forces readers to slow down and enunciate properly." Another example from the article comes from "another Tech Camp grad, Cori Araza, teaches Spanish at Paradise Valley High School. She is having her Advanced Placement Spanish class work on podcast book reports." These examples of Podcasts show that once teachers learn how to use the tool, it creates another field for the students and allows their work to come alive.

Next, "at Tech Camp, Kathryn Scott demonstrated how to build a basic Web page. She noted that teachers can be intimidated when kids know more than they do about technology. 'The classroom needs to catch up with [the students’] daily lives,' says Scott, 'where technology is already in action'." This statement from the article is very powerful and it reminds teachers that they need to work to connect the student's worlds to the world of learning. In addition, "Tech Camp also got teachers thinking about how technology can exercise and enhance collaboration."

Overall, this article was so great to read and it was very insightful. I have read many articles about using different technology tools in the classroom; however I feel like this article combines every element into one and really shows what it means to be successful in using technology in the classroom. There were so many great examples from this article that I would love to use in my classroom and I learned some really great ideas. One project that I would like to try is having my students get into groups and create a book trailer, instead of a book report. This would be similar to a movie trailer, where it would highlight all the main points, characters, settings, and themes from the book. It would be done in a very creative way and I think all the students would enjoy doing this. I would make sure to have specific guidelines for my students so that they know what to include in the book trailer and I think this would be a very successful project using the program iMovie. I am really looking forward to learning more about technology tools and perhaps I could attend my own "Tech Camp" to guide me in the future.

Video Streaming That Doesn't Cost Too Much

The article that I read for this week is called "Using Video Streaming: Setting up a Cheap System for Distributing Information to Teachers and Students" and it is by Thomas McNeal Jr. and Landon Kearns from 2005.

The article discusses that video streaming can be a very useful tool for educators and it also explains how it is possible "to create a streaming server with tools that are available in many classrooms.” The article also states how to create a "video streamer using free software, older computers, and borrowed hardware. The system works remarkably well, and the only cost is the time involved in building the unit." The main goal of this program was to "investigate the use of videoconferencing and streaming video as a means of delivering information about new ideas in the field of deaf education". This project is very interesting because it established a network of deaf-education educators. Also, "the project has awarded more than 80 Polycom ViaVideos and approximately five ViewStations to deaf and hearing educators and teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing across the United States. Recipients are using these systems to communicate with both speech and sign language over video." Most importantly, "the project group decided to use IP videoconferencing because of its portability, ease of set-up, and affordability." I also found it amazing that "deaf-education educators in the project have used this feature to videoconference and share slide shows and documents at the same time." Next, the project decided to look at the question of "is it possible to share this information with a larger group of deaf-education students and educators?" After much research, "they confirmed that a system could be created from tools and equipment located on campus." They found that "the computer is a reconditioned 733 MHZ Pentium III, and the video card and scan converter are borrowed. The encoding software and information such as system requirements are freely available at Microsoft’s Website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/series/encoder/sysreq.aspx."

Lastly, the article concludes with some interesting information about the results of this program and video streaming that will be helpful for me in my future classroom. It states that "videoconferencing and streaming may reduce the isolation of students and instructors and give preservice students the ability to observe some of the best teachers in their classroom. Educators can collaborate with their colleagues or students from across the country. Preservice students can observe a teacher at work from many miles away. Hundreds of students and instructors can participate in videoconferences at the same time over the Internet. Although our example is set in a university environment, it can easily be used in a K–12 school setting. Challenges and problems still remain, but streaming video is proving to be an affordable and effective educational tool." These findings encourage me to learn ways to cut costs so that I can provide wonderful technology tools like video streaming in my classroom and for my students. I can see the benefits that it brings- like allowing students to observe the teacher from miles away and also allowing teachers to interact with other teachers as well. I could develop a project where the students must communicate through videoconferences and act as a certain historical figure from the time period that we are studying. This idea would be fun for the students and it also seems like it could be a possibility because there are ways to spend less and make this tool cheap for schools.

"Bringing Everyone Together"

This article is called "All Aboard!" and it is by David and Margaret Carpenter from December/January 2008-2009. The overall message of this article is about how a new curriculum-development review process brought teachers, administrators, and learning specialists to the table and resulted in some innovative uses of technology.

According to the article "at Hong Kong International School (HKIS), technology instruction gained traction when it was addressed alongside several curriculum initiatives." The article explains how it worked when "teachers, learning specialists, and administrators comprised the Collaboration Team based on the idea that everyone should participate and “own” the curriculum." This set-up allowed teachers to be in charge of the process. The article also talked about the benefit of having so many different people apart of the process. It stated that "having so many perspectives helped eliminate redundancies as well as build upon students’ skills sequentially." Another important thing to note about these meetings was that "by giving teachers classroom coverage for the half- and full-day meetings, the school principal validated the process while avoiding the usual rushed through after-school meetings." Also, "a second driver for ICL integration involved the use of a versatile online curriculum-mapping tool that contained a unit-planning template. That template is structured to prompt users to add specific instructional strategies and assessments enhanced by technology use." Most importantly, "in their annual review of the process, collaboration teams base their discussions on the success of past assessments (Did students learn what we intended for them to learn?) and comment on how the essential questions, instructional strategies, and assessments often needed further refinement and crafting." On example from the article is of a 4th grade class and how "for their nutrition unit, fourth graders shared and compared recordings of their eating habits by adding daily to a class wiki in their Moodle course sites. The development of library lessons on asking good research questions, note taking, using subscription databases, and citing sources tied directly to the fourth grade’s essential questions." The idea of the curriculum-development review process is very interesting as many of us will one day be in that situation and it is vital to understand how to work with different people and how to develop a curriculum that matters and that is necessary for your students.

After reading about the different examples from the article, I can see how this could work in my future classroom and how I can adapt my lessons. One idea from the article was to use the program Audacity to create podcasts for the student's assessments. For example, I could have the students record reflections from their writing conferences. I would prompt my students to record their thoughts about how they are improving their use of the writing process, what they are working on as writers and the next steps they plan to take. This would provide me with instant feedback as I could listen to the sound files from the writing conferences. Through this article, I am able to see the benefits of working with a staff of people to create a stronger curriculum as well as learn new ways to adapt my lessons for my future class.