What made me think "that’s so neat?" Electronic Training Jackets is a fascinating concept. The thought of being able to track and maintain someone’s progress and training with an ETJ is exceptional. I wonder how long before someone thinks of applying this to the civilian education system, if they haven’t already. How incredibly helpful it would be to have an electronic file on students that would follow him or her throughout their educational career.
When concepts and objectives are mastered it could be registered in some form on the ETC. The possibilities are boundless. I guess my concern comes with how much control will be the educators be able to maintain over instruction. I can see many pros and cons to ETJ’s; I wonder whether the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages.
My favorite activity of the semester was building the wiki. I enjoyed working with the other people in my group. It actually made the work interesting when working and collaborating with others. It also helped me to visualize what my students might go through if I used this as part of a project.
After being introduced to wikis, I started making a few of my own to help organize a couple of my classes and update my students as to where there should be in the assignment schedule. I have spent a good amount of time working on these. I have quite a few pages created consisting of assignment pages, handout pages, and link pages for several units. I have a number of students that have been utilizing these wikis because they have difficulty getting to class. Another feature I like with wikis is the discussion page. I can have students answer journal questions and respond to each others. Also, if they have questions, they can post them from home if they won’t be in for few days/weeks. It is a great communication tool for my students to utilize.
Also, a couple of teachers saw me working on them when I first started making them. I ended giving a presentation during one of our professional development days on wikis and using them in the classroom for a variety of purposes. One of the teachers I work, who was not able to attend the presentation because she was giving one at the same time, asked me to get her started. I helped her set up her account and gave her a quick overview. We worked on them together, periodically, if she had any questions. She now has five wikis set up for her classes, and her students love using them. She says they have made her life so much easier.
I haven’t reached that point yet because I don’t have a great deal of computer access in my classroom–but I’m working on it. I also plan on tweeking my existing wikis and creating more for other classes over the summer. I want to incorporate a more productive way of introducing them to students and teaching them how they can be used as a tool that will help them.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Week 13 - Reflection/Activity
Chapter 30 addresses concepts to help students with cognition and learning. I believe it is important for teachers to utilize a variety of instructional styles to improve students’ ability to learn and comprehend information presented. Students learn in a variety of styles; therefore, it is crucial that we, as teachers, provide them with a variety of activities to help them access and gain the knowledge they need to know. Some techniques I enjoy using in my lessons include small group and partner work, hands-on projects, partner dramatization analyzing, webquests, video, and music.
Another concept that can be applied to learning is repetition. When I refer to repetition, I don’t mean rote memorization, but students’ exposure to the same information in repeated episodes. The more interaction they have with repeated information, then the more likely students are to remember and comprehend what is being taught.
Regarding the online applications that I reviewed for this week, I examined Google Documents, Ajax, and Zoho office suites. I use the different tools for Google quite frequently. Google Documents I find to be useful at times, however, it does change my formatting–something I am working on overcoming. It is handy because I don’t have to worry about pulling out my jump drive all of the time–and then possibly forgetting to take it to work. The comparison between Ajax and Zoho was an easy choice for me. I like Zoho much better. It appears to be more user friendly and can be easily maneuvered. Ajax seemed to be cumbersome and required me to download programs, whereas with Zoho, I could use them through online access. I also like the ability to be able to work with the last handful of documents even though I might be offline. While reviewing Zoho, I also found some of the features that appealed to my husband. He is a salesman in the truss industry and keeping track of appointments and jobs can be interesting at times for him. He liked the idea of being able to access information easily.
Another concept that can be applied to learning is repetition. When I refer to repetition, I don’t mean rote memorization, but students’ exposure to the same information in repeated episodes. The more interaction they have with repeated information, then the more likely students are to remember and comprehend what is being taught.
Regarding the online applications that I reviewed for this week, I examined Google Documents, Ajax, and Zoho office suites. I use the different tools for Google quite frequently. Google Documents I find to be useful at times, however, it does change my formatting–something I am working on overcoming. It is handy because I don’t have to worry about pulling out my jump drive all of the time–and then possibly forgetting to take it to work. The comparison between Ajax and Zoho was an easy choice for me. I like Zoho much better. It appears to be more user friendly and can be easily maneuvered. Ajax seemed to be cumbersome and required me to download programs, whereas with Zoho, I could use them through online access. I also like the ability to be able to work with the last handful of documents even though I might be offline. While reviewing Zoho, I also found some of the features that appealed to my husband. He is a salesman in the truss industry and keeping track of appointments and jobs can be interesting at times for him. He liked the idea of being able to access information easily.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Google site - Week 12 Activity
The activity that I created with my Google site is a webquest, or at least the beginning of a webquest. Students will be using this webquest to create a powerpoint or website on one of The Canterbury Tales. They will have one partner that they can work with on this project. The webquest will provide them the parameters for the project, and they can also use the site to conduct research for their project. The pages I have added so far include Home, Introduction, Task, Process, and Links. I am going to add pages that include Evaluation, Conclusion, and Teacher Information.
Google site: http://sites.google.com/site/nwcpenglish12canterburytales/Home
Google site: http://sites.google.com/site/nwcpenglish12canterburytales/Home
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Week 12 - Reflection
Areas that I believe are strengths for me professionally are planning instructional methods and materials and stimulating and sustaining learner motivation. My ability to plan instructional methods and materials for courses I teach has changed dramatically this year. Switching from middle school to alternative high school was a huge change for me. My idea of teaching had to be adapted completely. My days of teaching in a traditional form have vanished. I had to change how I present material and my expectations for completion, understanding, and ability of student levels for achievement. I feel I have learned how to plan more appropriate lessons and allow my students the flexibility they need to achieve success in my classroom. I have adapted my instruction methods but also the materials I provide students to learn the objectives set forth. I have found materials that they can relate to and/or understand more readily. I still have work to do in this competency, but I feel the changes I have made are substantial.
Along with changing my ideas for planning instructional methods and materials, I have adapted how I motivate students. My students respond to extrinsic rewards – snag them with the reward and get them hooked on getting a good grade. Well, it works with some of them. I admit it, I am not above bribery. However, the motivation does not always need to be food; sometimes, I use a game for review–they love this–or they may get to help create questions for a test. I am learning that doing work on the two computers in my class is a reward in itself. Helping students to become self-motivated is more difficult and requires more consideration on my part. Usually, this amounts to a great deal of one-to-one conversations with a student; multiply this by 80 students, that’s a lot of time. I usually pick the ones that I think are ready to move on and grasp part of their future. Some students are just looking for someone to lend them a hand in the right direction.
Areas that I would like to continue developing include using media and technology to enhance learning and performance, communicating effectively, and promoting transfer of knowledge and skills. I have come a long way this year in utilizing media and technology; however, I would love to be able to apply a lot of what we have learned during this class in my classroom. For my students, technology can be a great link for them achieving understanding of objectives. I have started using wikis with two of my classes, and quite a few of my students are using them because they cannot make it to class for a variety of reasons. Fantastic! I also have teachers who are asking me for help with their own wikis because somehow I have become the resident wiki professional.
Communicating effectively to my students is key for their ability to achieve success. I am still at the point where I can explain/model something, review it, ask for questions to clarify–then, one or two students will ask me what are we supposed to be doing. Great! Then, repeat the process. As I float around the room, I still need to clarify and reexplain what they need to do.
What a great competency! Promoting transfer of knowledge and skills is what all teachers do. I want all of my students to be able to apply what they learn in my classes to other classes or in their lives. It is important to me that my students realize they don’t attend my class just for the grade and that’s it. They attend my class to learn skills that will help them in other parts of their lives. To put it simply, I love helping students learn and making technology a part of this learning process is a bonus.
Along with changing my ideas for planning instructional methods and materials, I have adapted how I motivate students. My students respond to extrinsic rewards – snag them with the reward and get them hooked on getting a good grade. Well, it works with some of them. I admit it, I am not above bribery. However, the motivation does not always need to be food; sometimes, I use a game for review–they love this–or they may get to help create questions for a test. I am learning that doing work on the two computers in my class is a reward in itself. Helping students to become self-motivated is more difficult and requires more consideration on my part. Usually, this amounts to a great deal of one-to-one conversations with a student; multiply this by 80 students, that’s a lot of time. I usually pick the ones that I think are ready to move on and grasp part of their future. Some students are just looking for someone to lend them a hand in the right direction.
Areas that I would like to continue developing include using media and technology to enhance learning and performance, communicating effectively, and promoting transfer of knowledge and skills. I have come a long way this year in utilizing media and technology; however, I would love to be able to apply a lot of what we have learned during this class in my classroom. For my students, technology can be a great link for them achieving understanding of objectives. I have started using wikis with two of my classes, and quite a few of my students are using them because they cannot make it to class for a variety of reasons. Fantastic! I also have teachers who are asking me for help with their own wikis because somehow I have become the resident wiki professional.
Communicating effectively to my students is key for their ability to achieve success. I am still at the point where I can explain/model something, review it, ask for questions to clarify–then, one or two students will ask me what are we supposed to be doing. Great! Then, repeat the process. As I float around the room, I still need to clarify and reexplain what they need to do.
What a great competency! Promoting transfer of knowledge and skills is what all teachers do. I want all of my students to be able to apply what they learn in my classes to other classes or in their lives. It is important to me that my students realize they don’t attend my class just for the grade and that’s it. They attend my class to learn skills that will help them in other parts of their lives. To put it simply, I love helping students learn and making technology a part of this learning process is a bonus.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Screencasting
I finally got my screen cast to work. My computer has been on the blink lately because of a Windows Service Pack update.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Screencasting
The screencast I have designed will be for students to learn how to post a journal to the class psychology wikispace at psychology-schoenborn.wikispaces.com. I actually created a screencast, but I was unable to post it to both Google and Youtube. For whatever reason, my computer/internet will not allow it to happen.
The screencast begins with students gettin onto Internet Explorer. Secondly, students will go to psychology-schoenborn.wikispaces.com. Once this page loads the home page, students will click on Unit 1 - The Mind at Work on the Navigation Bar. When the Unit 1 page loads, students will click on the discussion tab at the top of the this page. Students will then sign in using their school username and password. Finally, students will be able to click on Journal 1 and type their journal entry in the reply section of this page. The last step will be for students to click Post. Students will be using the journaling feature in class to participate in discussions that will take place. This will also hold them accountable for this portion of the class grade.
The screencast begins with students gettin onto Internet Explorer. Secondly, students will go to psychology-schoenborn.wikispaces.com. Once this page loads the home page, students will click on Unit 1 - The Mind at Work on the Navigation Bar. When the Unit 1 page loads, students will click on the discussion tab at the top of the this page. Students will then sign in using their school username and password. Finally, students will be able to click on Journal 1 and type their journal entry in the reply section of this page. The last step will be for students to click Post. Students will be using the journaling feature in class to participate in discussions that will take place. This will also hold them accountable for this portion of the class grade.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Week 11 Reflection
In Chapter 14, Human Performance Improvement was discussed as systemic change to increase the performance of organizations. HPI is something that all businesses, educational or industrial, should include in their system plan. It is important that all employees work toward improving their skills, training, and work input and output. We are always looking for ways to make things work better and more smoothly.
When considering HPI for the P-12 educational systems, it is important that people in these organizations work together to improve the quality of education that we provide for our student population. I have been in many professional development meetings and workshops where people are not interested because they do not believe in the basis of what is being covered. They are set against the project before it even begins. This attitude makes it difficult to encourage systemic change because for this to occur, we need everyone to grasp the changing policies in order for them to be successful.
In Chapter 22, Reiser and Dempsey presented essays from a variety of people who work in higher education. I found this chapter to be very interesting and actually enjoyed reading how these people spend their days, the frustrations they deal with, and the aspects of their positions that are fulfilling. Instructional design in this setting sets an example for p-12 education systems to model after. The professors that discussed helping other personnel create and organize the technology aspect of their programs or classes was enlightening. They ask and take into consideration the needs and desires of how the people want their classes to work and then provide suggestions and/or solutions that will help the classes to run as smoothly as possible.
The P-12 educational systems need to take direction from the example that higher education has set forth for instructional design, system design and implementation, in general. It is important that school boards and administrations consider the needs that teachers and support staff recognize within the school systems. Schools should consider these needs to implement change on a holistic level.
Both HPI and the higher education designs approach the changes from a systemic viewpoint. It is extremely important that more p-12 school districts get on board with the systemic change and discover ways to implement change that will have a lasting effect. One of the technology changes my school district has been pushing are computerized classes. The gist of these courses, at present, involve the students staring at computer screens, taking notes, and answering questions. I realize there is a real need for online courses, but these classes are not interactive, and most of the students realize very little growth in learning from these courses. It appears to be a way to get them quick credit and get them out of school. I believe it would be more important to have online courses set up more in line with the type of course we are currently involved in with this class. One were students are interacting with other students and the instructor. Also a course where students are producing output where they can apply their learning and put it into practice.
When considering HPI for the P-12 educational systems, it is important that people in these organizations work together to improve the quality of education that we provide for our student population. I have been in many professional development meetings and workshops where people are not interested because they do not believe in the basis of what is being covered. They are set against the project before it even begins. This attitude makes it difficult to encourage systemic change because for this to occur, we need everyone to grasp the changing policies in order for them to be successful.
In Chapter 22, Reiser and Dempsey presented essays from a variety of people who work in higher education. I found this chapter to be very interesting and actually enjoyed reading how these people spend their days, the frustrations they deal with, and the aspects of their positions that are fulfilling. Instructional design in this setting sets an example for p-12 education systems to model after. The professors that discussed helping other personnel create and organize the technology aspect of their programs or classes was enlightening. They ask and take into consideration the needs and desires of how the people want their classes to work and then provide suggestions and/or solutions that will help the classes to run as smoothly as possible.
The P-12 educational systems need to take direction from the example that higher education has set forth for instructional design, system design and implementation, in general. It is important that school boards and administrations consider the needs that teachers and support staff recognize within the school systems. Schools should consider these needs to implement change on a holistic level.
Both HPI and the higher education designs approach the changes from a systemic viewpoint. It is extremely important that more p-12 school districts get on board with the systemic change and discover ways to implement change that will have a lasting effect. One of the technology changes my school district has been pushing are computerized classes. The gist of these courses, at present, involve the students staring at computer screens, taking notes, and answering questions. I realize there is a real need for online courses, but these classes are not interactive, and most of the students realize very little growth in learning from these courses. It appears to be a way to get them quick credit and get them out of school. I believe it would be more important to have online courses set up more in line with the type of course we are currently involved in with this class. One were students are interacting with other students and the instructor. Also a course where students are producing output where they can apply their learning and put it into practice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
