This is what I stated in June and still hold to these principles today: The technology needs to be relevant, inquiry-based, simple to use, and have a seamless fit into the course content. I don't need the students to have one more thing to do if it does not enhance their learning.
My focus now is to begin school next week, continue to add content my moodles (including screencasts and voicethreads), "attend" webinars, and put a plan together for a simple action research project (is that an oxymoron?). I need to decide how much time I'll devote to my PLN weekly as I can get carried away in the virtual world.
This was a good final course in the MSSE program for me. (Although, there are a number of other courses I would like to take.) It provides a new beginning and with this course wiki and Marta's wiki there is a road to further professional development.
The course reminds me of our family excursion to ten National Parks in 22 days with a lay over in Bozeman for five of those days. My kids wanted to stay longer at each park we visited. I needed to stay longer at each new tool I used. As I told them, now you have had a short trip through __________ (fill in the blank with a National Park), you know where you might want to return. I think it's the same way with the tools we've used in this course. Now I know where I want to go back and visit for a longer stay.
Thanks to everyone in this course. You made my PLN possible. Have a great year. We'll continue the conversation.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Final Project
Thank you, Eric for your vision and all members of this class for their invaluable contributions. This has been a very resourceful class. Other courses provide useful content and tools, but this one built a new road to teaching through the personal learning network and Web 2.0 tools. This project is bittersweet as it is my last MSSE assignment.
My goal for this course was to find a web application to extend the two hours per week I have with home educated students. That goal was met and more. The virtual possibilities expand daily as the growth of online education expands exponentially.
Here is the project plan:
All my courses (see PJ Biology, PJ Chemistry, and Patti’s Sandbox) have a Moodle thanks to Tammy Moore at the Virtual Homeschool Support Group. Currently, this group is hosting the sites until I have a server. The Moodle route was chosen because it is password protected which serves two needs: 1) It is the only way my parents will accept their students putting their work online; 2) It is the only way the publisher of the textbook allows graphics and course materials to be available via the web.
Within the Moodle, a wiki will be used to display group projects such as a watershed study for biology and the results of inquiry labs for chemistry. The forum function (aka blog) will be used to discuss a question of the week, lab results, science articles and hot topics. Currently, I’m writing a grading rubric for both applications. A podcast will be uploaded for each weekly lecture so absent students may hear what they missed or for students who need to reinforce learning. Screencast will be used for additional support material I could not get to during class time. Voicethread will be used as a formative assessment and probe tool.
An area that I have not defined is what to use for an online discussion/open office hours virtual classroom. Elluminate is far and away the favorite yet pricey for my needs while DimDim has fewer features but is an open source.
My PLN includes following what is happening at Classroom 2.0, Teacher’s First, Sloan Consortium, International Association for K-12 Online Learning, and following many blogs with Google Reader. All this Web2.0 experience/content will be organized on Diigo. I plan to develop a blog for science teachers of homeschool students. This will require starting a blog, writing quality content, and networking through the many blogs this group of teachers might frequent.
These are my plans for now. It's a good start, but I know it may look different in time as my skills develop and I learn from my students.
My goal for this course was to find a web application to extend the two hours per week I have with home educated students. That goal was met and more. The virtual possibilities expand daily as the growth of online education expands exponentially.
Here is the project plan:
All my courses (see PJ Biology, PJ Chemistry, and Patti’s Sandbox) have a Moodle thanks to Tammy Moore at the Virtual Homeschool Support Group. Currently, this group is hosting the sites until I have a server. The Moodle route was chosen because it is password protected which serves two needs: 1) It is the only way my parents will accept their students putting their work online; 2) It is the only way the publisher of the textbook allows graphics and course materials to be available via the web.
Within the Moodle, a wiki will be used to display group projects such as a watershed study for biology and the results of inquiry labs for chemistry. The forum function (aka blog) will be used to discuss a question of the week, lab results, science articles and hot topics. Currently, I’m writing a grading rubric for both applications. A podcast will be uploaded for each weekly lecture so absent students may hear what they missed or for students who need to reinforce learning. Screencast will be used for additional support material I could not get to during class time. Voicethread will be used as a formative assessment and probe tool.
An area that I have not defined is what to use for an online discussion/open office hours virtual classroom. Elluminate is far and away the favorite yet pricey for my needs while DimDim has fewer features but is an open source.
My PLN includes following what is happening at Classroom 2.0, Teacher’s First, Sloan Consortium, International Association for K-12 Online Learning, and following many blogs with Google Reader. All this Web2.0 experience/content will be organized on Diigo. I plan to develop a blog for science teachers of homeschool students. This will require starting a blog, writing quality content, and networking through the many blogs this group of teachers might frequent.
These are my plans for now. It's a good start, but I know it may look different in time as my skills develop and I learn from my students.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Week 7 PLN Reflection
This week I focused on developing my class moodles and attending classes and webinars on basic tools. Classroom 2.0’s session this week on PowerPoint presentations by Alvin Trusty should be a must look in the future prior to the week six work for this class. I now want to re-do my work submitted for that week.
A moderator for Classroom 2.0 is in my online moodle course. She has generously offered to give personal instruction on Diigo for me in a LearnCentral vroom. At this point, I am starting to feel the effects of a PLN. I may not have a PLN for the science content areas of the classes I teach (yet), but I am amazed at the virtual relationships and generosity of the teachers who are willing to give their time and talent to bring others into the Web 2.0 playpen.
A moderator for Classroom 2.0 is in my online moodle course. She has generously offered to give personal instruction on Diigo for me in a LearnCentral vroom. At this point, I am starting to feel the effects of a PLN. I may not have a PLN for the science content areas of the classes I teach (yet), but I am amazed at the virtual relationships and generosity of the teachers who are willing to give their time and talent to bring others into the Web 2.0 playpen.
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