The adult distance education programs and business conferencing capabilities have shown that the technology exists for delivery of K-12 education classes online. The questions that still need to be addressed are how to effectively deliver the education for the students that will choose this modality. There is a diversity of students that will choose this modality from students that are home schooled, students that are disconnected from standard delivery models, professional athletes, students that need to work, etc. The challenge for the stake holders is to determine how to deliver the education in ways that will meet the needs of all of the students.
Previous studies have shown that the critical components that determine the success of online education are not the technology but the knowledge of the instructor, the types of students, and the delivery of the instruction. The instructor must be able to create a safe community for the students where the students know and feel that the instructor truly cares for them. This may have been a missing component of students that did not fit into the stereotypes in the traditional school environments. The students must also find a connection to the other students in order to have the sense of belonging as well as have an effective discussion of ideas beyond the instructor. The students will come with different levels of motivation towards their classes. Some may be looking for credit retrieval while others may be looking for accelerated instruction opportunities. A challenge for the instructor will be to allow for the flexibility in pacing of the assignments. The technology does exist to make it easier for students to develop an online community and a sense of belonging through chat sessions, blogs, and document cameras. All of this technology should be utilitized to connect the students into a cohesive learning community.
Some studies have argued for the use of a readiness survey or online boot camp to prepare the students for the demands of an online education. The studies are unclear about the exact student attributes that are needed in order to be successful. There is a need to follow up with more focused research studies to determine what attributes are needed, in the students in order to be successful. Is there a difference for students that have an external or internal locus of control? How does the maturity of the student affect their ability to be successful? Which instructional methods does the instructor need to employ in order to keep the students engaged and motivated to succeed? Traditional classroom teachers must think about all of the above issues when managing their classrooms and instructional methods. The additional component for the online instructor is to use the mix of technology available to deliver instruction in both asynchronous and synchronous methods. This would allow for the different schedules the students need while also fitting into a realistic, although non-traditional schedule for the instructor.
Kerry Lynn Rice (2006). A Comprehensive Look at Distance Education in the K-12 Context. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 425-448. Retrieved December 13, 2008, from ProQuest Education Journals database. (Document ID: 1054012791).
Tammy Ronsisvalle, Ryan Watkins. (2005). STUDENT SUCCESS IN ONLINE K-12 EDUCATION. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(2), 117-124,184. Retrieved December 13, 2008, from ProQuest Education Journals database. (Document ID: 975609501).
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Online Assessment Site
pearsonsuccessnet is a website provided with the math curriculum that I am currently using. Teachers are able to setup each of their classes and assign the appropriate books to each class. They can then access supplemental worksheets and create online quizzes/tests. The quizzes can be multiple choice, true/false, or short answer to be graded automatically by the website or graded by the teacher. I was able to create a quiz that was specific to the material that I am currently covering in class on graphing linear equations, finding the slope of a line, and solving one and two step linear equations. This will be a good tool for my math lab students to be familiar with and I am interested to see how well it works for them.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Netiquette and Cyberbullying
Netiquette is etiquette for the internet. A list of suggested rules to follow in order to maintain positive relationships with people online. I found it interesting that while flaming is a long held tradition on the internet that a point is made that unnecessary continuation of flaming is frowned upon.
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/
The above link has 10 rules for netiquette taken from Virginia Shea's book. Included on the website is a netiquette quiz that would be good a pretest/posttest with students to measure the understanding of netiquette.
For parents with teens the site listed below is a great resource for both the parent and teen on netiquette and internet safety. http://staff.howard.k12.md.us/~gwynethj/internetsafety/internetsafety.html
The definition of cyberbullying according to stopcyberbullying.org is " is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor."
The forms of harassment that many teens used to go through only at school has now extended to the home environment as well with the proliferation of internet accessible devices. No longer is home guaranteed to be a safe environment. It means that it is that much more important for parents to be actively involved in monitering internet access of their kids.
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/index2.html
Since the harassment is often occuring outside of school hours and off of school property it is legally difficult for schools to discipline the cyberbully. Some schools have been sued when they have attempted to intervene. Parents need to be involved and communicate with the school to work in partnership to stop all forms for cyberbullying.
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/
The above link has 10 rules for netiquette taken from Virginia Shea's book. Included on the website is a netiquette quiz that would be good a pretest/posttest with students to measure the understanding of netiquette.
For parents with teens the site listed below is a great resource for both the parent and teen on netiquette and internet safety. http://staff.howard.k12.md.us/~gwynethj/internetsafety/internetsafety.html
The definition of cyberbullying according to stopcyberbullying.org is " is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor."
The forms of harassment that many teens used to go through only at school has now extended to the home environment as well with the proliferation of internet accessible devices. No longer is home guaranteed to be a safe environment. It means that it is that much more important for parents to be actively involved in monitering internet access of their kids.
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/index2.html
Since the harassment is often occuring outside of school hours and off of school property it is legally difficult for schools to discipline the cyberbully. Some schools have been sued when they have attempted to intervene. Parents need to be involved and communicate with the school to work in partnership to stop all forms for cyberbullying.
Digital Storytelling
Most of the examples I found revolved around the students telling stories about their lives or exploring a social studies concepts. Through using google advanced search I was able to narrow my search to story telling that made some mention of math.
I found a great website that provided a description of a math minute project where the students create a 2-3 minute movie demostrating the use of math in the real world. Additional links were provided for imovie and math online.
It was great to see a method where math could be applied. I could see this as a great end of the year project.
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=180
I found a great website that provided a description of a math minute project where the students create a 2-3 minute movie demostrating the use of math in the real world. Additional links were provided for imovie and math online.
It was great to see a method where math could be applied. I could see this as a great end of the year project.
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=180
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The CityU tech musings of Brian Arnot: Blogs in Education
The CityU tech musings of Brian Arnot: Blogs in Education
http://weblogg-ed.com - great blog discussion on a variety of eductional topics
http://awd.cl.uh.edu/blog/ - Blog resources
http://fletch3836-learningasyougo.blogspot.com/ - a blog from a middle school math/science teacher which demonstrates how blogs can be used in non traditional environments.
http://weblogg-ed.com - great blog discussion on a variety of eductional topics
http://awd.cl.uh.edu/blog/ - Blog resources
http://fletch3836-learningasyougo.blogspot.com/ - a blog from a middle school math/science teacher which demonstrates how blogs can be used in non traditional environments.
Blogs in Education
Blogging is taking many different forms in education. There are many blogs dedicated to discussions around education policy. Many of these blogs are moderated by writers from established newspapers and magazines. These blogs allow the public to argue about current policy decisions in education and attempt to spread the message of new trends in education.
There are many blogs being used by teachers. They may be using them to share their experiences in the classroom and reflect upon their own teaching/learning. Blogs can also be used as a classroom communication device. Sharing updates on current assignments, classroom policies, and providing a dialog space on current happenings in the classroom. These sites allow parents to ask questions, clarify assignments, or provide feedback.
Blogs can also be used to extend the classroom learning environment outside of the traditional building. A teacher can pose questions for students to respond directly to that may have them searching the web for additional resources to comment on. The dialog that can occur between students outside the constraints of the time in class may provide for deeper conversations and learning. Students also have the ability to post and get comments from adults in the working world. This can help students connect their learning to the real world and motivate them to become more effective communicators.
The challenge with classroom blogs that students participate in is the need for additional education on internet safety. Students need to learn not to put information in their blog posts that will identify them outside of the classroom community. To this end students need to use aliases that are identified for the teacher. Teachers can also provide safety by ensuring that comments to blogs have to be approved by the teacher before posting. However, requiring this may over burden the instuctor and slow down the educational process.
There are many blogs being used by teachers. They may be using them to share their experiences in the classroom and reflect upon their own teaching/learning. Blogs can also be used as a classroom communication device. Sharing updates on current assignments, classroom policies, and providing a dialog space on current happenings in the classroom. These sites allow parents to ask questions, clarify assignments, or provide feedback.
Blogs can also be used to extend the classroom learning environment outside of the traditional building. A teacher can pose questions for students to respond directly to that may have them searching the web for additional resources to comment on. The dialog that can occur between students outside the constraints of the time in class may provide for deeper conversations and learning. Students also have the ability to post and get comments from adults in the working world. This can help students connect their learning to the real world and motivate them to become more effective communicators.
The challenge with classroom blogs that students participate in is the need for additional education on internet safety. Students need to learn not to put information in their blog posts that will identify them outside of the classroom community. To this end students need to use aliases that are identified for the teacher. Teachers can also provide safety by ensuring that comments to blogs have to be approved by the teacher before posting. However, requiring this may over burden the instuctor and slow down the educational process.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Educational Journals
I have two journals that I subscribe to one in print and the other as a blog. In print I subscribe to NCTM Middle School Mathematics journal. This is great resource for current topics in mathematics that affect middle school students and teachers.
The blog that I use is the Association of Curriculum Development (ASCD) that has an blog about current issues in curriculum development and technical issues. The blog has subtopics to focus your interest and access to an archive of posts. The technical thread is recently discussing replacing current student desks with desks with computers integrated into them. The touch screens nicknamed "Star Trek" after the scifi tv show that had touch control screens for the computer system would project to a common teacher station. http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/
The blog that I use is the Association of Curriculum Development (ASCD) that has an blog about current issues in curriculum development and technical issues. The blog has subtopics to focus your interest and access to an archive of posts. The technical thread is recently discussing replacing current student desks with desks with computers integrated into them. The touch screens nicknamed "Star Trek" after the scifi tv show that had touch control screens for the computer system would project to a common teacher station. http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/
PPT as an Educational Tool
In our district students start using ppt as an educational tool during elementary school where they create simple presentations. As they progress into middle school they use them in their LA/SS classes and in the tech elective. I do not use powerpoint in my class as I have an interactive whiteboard and use the flipchart software that is more interactive for the students than powerpoint allows. In flipchart you can write on the pages during the presentation and choose to save the work or not depending on if you need the information.
The teachers that are effectively using powerpoint with their students are adding the use of voice overs in appropriate places. They also are incorporating the use of powerpoint as an alternative summative evaluation tool to unit tests.
As we build towards the future and need to reach to students outside of our classroom their may be a need to develop more of the classroom presentations in powerpoint or other similar presentation software. This would provide students the ability to observe the classroom lesson on their schedule.
Additional web resources that teachers new to powerpoint might find helpful can be found at:
PowerPoint -- Creating Classroom Presentations http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech013.shtml
PowerPoint uses to extend educational reach
http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/Education.htm
The teachers that are effectively using powerpoint with their students are adding the use of voice overs in appropriate places. They also are incorporating the use of powerpoint as an alternative summative evaluation tool to unit tests.
As we build towards the future and need to reach to students outside of our classroom their may be a need to develop more of the classroom presentations in powerpoint or other similar presentation software. This would provide students the ability to observe the classroom lesson on their schedule.
Additional web resources that teachers new to powerpoint might find helpful can be found at:
PowerPoint -- Creating Classroom Presentations http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech013.shtml
PowerPoint uses to extend educational reach
http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/Education.htm
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives
The students we deal with in middle school are definitely digital natives. One of the downsides of this is a struggle to think in depth and write effectively. Students are multitasking so much with texting, im, chat, listening to music, and doing hw that they don't attend to any one thing with depth. In the classroom it creates challenges when you want them to analyze and describe things in detail. It also creates challenges for the teacher in keeping your classroom lessons interactive and engaging enough to keep them engaged. I am a mix of both as I had access to computers earlier than many of my peers with my parents being programmers.
Natives do need to learn to unplug and engage in some lessons in the old way. Math curriculum can be updated to make it more problem solving based but the base skills still need to be taught in a sequential manner as math builds on the understanding of previous concepts in order to use more advanced ideas.
Immigrants also need to be able to learn new methods of approaching subjects as curriculum may only be created digitally instead of on paper. Without accessing this immigrants may be left behind on new ideas and concepts that will be more interactive.
Natives do need to learn to unplug and engage in some lessons in the old way. Math curriculum can be updated to make it more problem solving based but the base skills still need to be taught in a sequential manner as math builds on the understanding of previous concepts in order to use more advanced ideas.
Immigrants also need to be able to learn new methods of approaching subjects as curriculum may only be created digitally instead of on paper. Without accessing this immigrants may be left behind on new ideas and concepts that will be more interactive.
First Day
I teach 8th grade math a Pine Lake Middle School in the Issaquah School District. I spent 10 years in the tech industry before becoming a teacher 4 years ago. In my classroom I use a promethean interactive white board for all of my lessons and occassionally use voters. I can figure out most Microsoft apps having spent 5 years as a contractor around Microsoft.
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