Even though this course has been challenging and time consuming, it has also been stimulating and has led to a much clearer vision for me of what I can do with online teaching. I actally wish there was a "sequel" to this course, because I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of what's out there and what can be done with it.
Thanks to comments from my classmates and help from my instructor, I now have a revised final project that I'm pleased to have others read. Additionally, I'll be using it as a framework for explaining to school districts how and why I want to add online components to my ITV course, Multicultural Literature.
The link to my left will take you to my revised final.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Moule 7 Final Project
Please visit my wiki (Find the link in the sidebar to your left!) to view my final project focusing on four assessment tools I selected for use in my ITV Multicultural Literature course.
Please use the "Back" button to navigate through the project's pages, rather than the "Home" button.
_______________________
One note regarding grading software. This was a problem for me last year because my school district uses a computerized grade program which is not used by the other districts whose students are enrolled in my course. I have experimented with several free online grading systems but will probably use Excel as most students will be able to open and use this software. I see now, having observed its use in this class, that it is applicable for me. I like the idea of students completing self-assessments periodically throughout the course, so that is another selling point for Excel.
Please use the "Back" button to navigate through the project's pages, rather than the "Home" button.
_______________________
One note regarding grading software. This was a problem for me last year because my school district uses a computerized grade program which is not used by the other districts whose students are enrolled in my course. I have experimented with several free online grading systems but will probably use Excel as most students will be able to open and use this software. I see now, having observed its use in this class, that it is applicable for me. I like the idea of students completing self-assessments periodically throughout the course, so that is another selling point for Excel.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Cybercoaching Module Reflections
My plans for the hybridized Multicultural Literature course are beginning to take a more concrete shape. Actually, one of the most valuable pieces of information for me this week was Dr. Datta Kaur Khalsa's response to a question posed by one of my classmates.
She gave this advice:
1) Write learning objectives
2) Develop activities needed to accomplish the learning objectives
3) Decide on what evidence I will need to be assured that the learning has occurred
4) Decide which assessment tool would help to acquire this evidence
This sequence of planning seems like a simple thing, but seeing it pared to such clear and basic form was helpful for me.
In addition to completing the readings for this course, I am also avidly devouring literature for possible use in my class. I have a good collection of somewhat older works by Hispanic, Native American, and African American writers; now I'm searching for and finding contemporary literature more reflective of the experiences of younger generations of Americans, who struggle with an entirely different set of cultural and identity issues. A fantastic collection of essays I'm reading this week is "Border Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass and Cultural Shifting", edited by Robyn Moreno and Michelle Herrera Mulligan.
This week's reading helped me fill in some gaps that I had regarding how to assess students in terms of helping them develop their skills in responding to literature. My goal is to offer a great deal of formative assessment, moving them toward the ability to set their own goals and self-assess. I appreciated the ribrics in the CyberCoaching paper and will use them as a guide for developing my own in the next several weeks.
As well, I'm preparing for "selling" this hybridized course to my principal. I'm putting together a PowerPoint presentation incorporating a great deal of the information I've obtained through my readings for this course, specifically justifying a constructivist, "cybercoaching" approach. I'm so excited about how online components could energize and deepen the class experience for my students and for me.
I'm going to try to upload "A National Primer on K-12 Online Learning" from the North American Council for Online Learning." It contains some excellent information about online learning, which I will use as well to support my quest for online components in this ITV Course.
----
I wasn't able to upload the Primer, but it can easily be accessed on the NACOL website, which is a rich resource for educators:
http://www.nacol.org/
She gave this advice:
1) Write learning objectives
2) Develop activities needed to accomplish the learning objectives
3) Decide on what evidence I will need to be assured that the learning has occurred
4) Decide which assessment tool would help to acquire this evidence
This sequence of planning seems like a simple thing, but seeing it pared to such clear and basic form was helpful for me.
In addition to completing the readings for this course, I am also avidly devouring literature for possible use in my class. I have a good collection of somewhat older works by Hispanic, Native American, and African American writers; now I'm searching for and finding contemporary literature more reflective of the experiences of younger generations of Americans, who struggle with an entirely different set of cultural and identity issues. A fantastic collection of essays I'm reading this week is "Border Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass and Cultural Shifting", edited by Robyn Moreno and Michelle Herrera Mulligan.
This week's reading helped me fill in some gaps that I had regarding how to assess students in terms of helping them develop their skills in responding to literature. My goal is to offer a great deal of formative assessment, moving them toward the ability to set their own goals and self-assess. I appreciated the ribrics in the CyberCoaching paper and will use them as a guide for developing my own in the next several weeks.
As well, I'm preparing for "selling" this hybridized course to my principal. I'm putting together a PowerPoint presentation incorporating a great deal of the information I've obtained through my readings for this course, specifically justifying a constructivist, "cybercoaching" approach. I'm so excited about how online components could energize and deepen the class experience for my students and for me.
I'm going to try to upload "A National Primer on K-12 Online Learning" from the North American Council for Online Learning." It contains some excellent information about online learning, which I will use as well to support my quest for online components in this ITV Course.
----
I wasn't able to upload the Primer, but it can easily be accessed on the NACOL website, which is a rich resource for educators:
http://www.nacol.org/
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Bloom's Taxonomy
This week’s course focus was developing activities that promote higher-order thinking skills, thus reducing the chances that students can/will plagiarize. Bloom’s Taxonomy was used as a framework for identifying the types of learning encouraged by any particular activity. Bloom’s categories, organized from lower-order to higher-order, are Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation.
For the upper-level, college-bound high school students who I will be teaching in Multicultural Literature, I think that most of the activities should fall in the Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation categories. They are capable of such thinking and, based on my experience teaching this class for the first time last year, they are more motivated when asked to think than to recall, define and identify. Additionally, one of the themes of my class is that people are shaped by both their individual and collective experiences, and I ask students to make connections between themselves and the writers, then between, for example, Hispanic and Hmong writers. Much of what I ask students to understand and appreciate requires them to analyze, synthesize and evaluate.
The Taxonomy activity will help me solidify and make more concrete my direction and learning objectives, and if I use it well, it should assist me in ensuring that I incorporate a wide range of learning categories in my course, but more heavily focus on analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
For the upper-level, college-bound high school students who I will be teaching in Multicultural Literature, I think that most of the activities should fall in the Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation categories. They are capable of such thinking and, based on my experience teaching this class for the first time last year, they are more motivated when asked to think than to recall, define and identify. Additionally, one of the themes of my class is that people are shaped by both their individual and collective experiences, and I ask students to make connections between themselves and the writers, then between, for example, Hispanic and Hmong writers. Much of what I ask students to understand and appreciate requires them to analyze, synthesize and evaluate.
The Taxonomy activity will help me solidify and make more concrete my direction and learning objectives, and if I use it well, it should assist me in ensuring that I incorporate a wide range of learning categories in my course, but more heavily focus on analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
TheWikiWorld
Aloha, and welcome to a brief wiki summary!
In the Hawaiian language, “wiki wiki ” means “quickly”, and avid users of the wiki as a collaborative tool like it because it can be, in fact, a fast and fairly efficient method of sharing and building knowledge.
This week in my UW-Stout course Assessment of Student Learning in the Online Classroom, I worked as part of a team to develop an "Assessment Toolbox", and my task was to research the wiki and it's applications in education.
In short, a wiki is a website that allows users to add or change content. Each time the text is changed, a new version is saved, but anyone can go back and see previous versions. The term “wiki” can refer to either the site created or the software that runs it. A relatively new phrase used to describe such tools as wikis, blogs, and MySpace, is “social software”—technologies that facilitate group communication.
In my research, I found many applications of the wiki both in business and education settings. Wiki “communities” vary, some having clearly-stated goals and invited members, while others are more loosely knit, both in terms of purposes and participants. Obviously, the Team 4 Assessment Toolbox is an example of the former.
As an aside, I was introduced to wikis last winter through another UW-Stout online course. I found the experience of working collaboratively frustrating because I felt that the instructions were not clear, and I found the wiki software lacking; there seemed to be no manageable way for me to format my contributions because I have no html editing knowledge. I vowed never again to use a wiki unless forced to do so! However, my needs as an educator have dictated that I find a venue for online communication with and between students, so I decided to take another look at wikis. I'm glad I did.
Not only did I find a wealth of information to share and to use, I enjoyed this project. Why? Well, first, I was able to choose my focus, and it turned out to be a tool that I will use myself. I think, in fact, that it will provide the necessary means to "hybridize" my ITV course. Once I began searching for information on wikis, I found it hard to stop. There are so many creative applications and possibilities--I'm thankful that I'm taking this class in the summer when I have time to "play."
Secondly, this Toolbox project illustrated the "Jigsaw" method of assessment, whereby a number of contributors complete individual projects which are then unified into a single document. I worked on my portion early in the week because I have commitments from this afternoon until the weekend; I haven't been able to see what my team members have come up with, but I'm eager for that opportunity. And this is another aspect of the project that I liked: the three of us on Team 4 were able to coordinate our plans early, then proceed as our schedules allowed. We didn't communicate much, but we didn't have to because we were all on the same page and seemed to have the same understanding and vision of the project from the start. I worked independently, but I feel like part of a team nonetheless.
So, I come away from this Midterm satisfied that I thoroughly explored the "Wiki World". I have a substantial collection of resources to bolster my development of a course wiki. More importantly, I have resources that detail the sound pedagogy of wiki use as constructivist learning so necessary to the building of knowledge--this will help me "sell" wiki use to administrators in the school districts from which my students originate.
Please check out the sidebar for links to my research and the Team 4 Assessment Toolbox.
In the Hawaiian language, “wiki wiki ” means “quickly”, and avid users of the wiki as a collaborative tool like it because it can be, in fact, a fast and fairly efficient method of sharing and building knowledge.
This week in my UW-Stout course Assessment of Student Learning in the Online Classroom, I worked as part of a team to develop an "Assessment Toolbox", and my task was to research the wiki and it's applications in education.
In short, a wiki is a website that allows users to add or change content. Each time the text is changed, a new version is saved, but anyone can go back and see previous versions. The term “wiki” can refer to either the site created or the software that runs it. A relatively new phrase used to describe such tools as wikis, blogs, and MySpace, is “social software”—technologies that facilitate group communication.
In my research, I found many applications of the wiki both in business and education settings. Wiki “communities” vary, some having clearly-stated goals and invited members, while others are more loosely knit, both in terms of purposes and participants. Obviously, the Team 4 Assessment Toolbox is an example of the former.
As an aside, I was introduced to wikis last winter through another UW-Stout online course. I found the experience of working collaboratively frustrating because I felt that the instructions were not clear, and I found the wiki software lacking; there seemed to be no manageable way for me to format my contributions because I have no html editing knowledge. I vowed never again to use a wiki unless forced to do so! However, my needs as an educator have dictated that I find a venue for online communication with and between students, so I decided to take another look at wikis. I'm glad I did.
Not only did I find a wealth of information to share and to use, I enjoyed this project. Why? Well, first, I was able to choose my focus, and it turned out to be a tool that I will use myself. I think, in fact, that it will provide the necessary means to "hybridize" my ITV course. Once I began searching for information on wikis, I found it hard to stop. There are so many creative applications and possibilities--I'm thankful that I'm taking this class in the summer when I have time to "play."
Secondly, this Toolbox project illustrated the "Jigsaw" method of assessment, whereby a number of contributors complete individual projects which are then unified into a single document. I worked on my portion early in the week because I have commitments from this afternoon until the weekend; I haven't been able to see what my team members have come up with, but I'm eager for that opportunity. And this is another aspect of the project that I liked: the three of us on Team 4 were able to coordinate our plans early, then proceed as our schedules allowed. We didn't communicate much, but we didn't have to because we were all on the same page and seemed to have the same understanding and vision of the project from the start. I worked independently, but I feel like part of a team nonetheless.
So, I come away from this Midterm satisfied that I thoroughly explored the "Wiki World". I have a substantial collection of resources to bolster my development of a course wiki. More importantly, I have resources that detail the sound pedagogy of wiki use as constructivist learning so necessary to the building of knowledge--this will help me "sell" wiki use to administrators in the school districts from which my students originate.
Please check out the sidebar for links to my research and the Team 4 Assessment Toolbox.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Module 3 Reflections
Module 3 Reflection:
New cool tool: Inspiration mapping/outlining software.
This week’s focus was on concept mapping, something I haven’t had much experience with prior to this course. I had thought of it as brainstorming and heard students refer to it as “webbing,” and I hadn’t actually thought that it would be valuable for me. But I found that I was wrong, particularly after trying Inspiration software. What a great tool. To recap my initial thoughts about how I can use it:
1. Study tool for students at the end of a unit. It would be a visual method of review and would help them identify gaps in understanding.
2. As a first step toward student collaboration, students could individually prepare a concept map, then combine efforts in small groups to compare perceptions and form a collective map. This idea came to me when reading the Naidu/Blanchard article, which pointed out that “one person’s focal concept may not be his/her, or another person’s focal concept in another map of the same material.” Such variations could add richness to the consideration of a concept.
3. As an initial activity in Multicultural Literature, I could ask students to form a concept map for each ethnic group represented, noting and linking things they know or think they know about each. The maps could be used for a number of activities, including discussion of stereotypes. After reading selections by writers of each ethnic group, students could either revise their initial maps or create new maps as a method of showing new learning.
Additionally, I tried using Inspiration for outlining a course that I’m working to improve. First I mapped it, then I transferred the map to an outline. It was really an effective way to develop a snapshot of the units I want; then I started gradually developing objectives, content and assessments for each. I plan to buy a license for this software.
New cool tool: Inspiration mapping/outlining software.
This week’s focus was on concept mapping, something I haven’t had much experience with prior to this course. I had thought of it as brainstorming and heard students refer to it as “webbing,” and I hadn’t actually thought that it would be valuable for me. But I found that I was wrong, particularly after trying Inspiration software. What a great tool. To recap my initial thoughts about how I can use it:
1. Study tool for students at the end of a unit. It would be a visual method of review and would help them identify gaps in understanding.
2. As a first step toward student collaboration, students could individually prepare a concept map, then combine efforts in small groups to compare perceptions and form a collective map. This idea came to me when reading the Naidu/Blanchard article, which pointed out that “one person’s focal concept may not be his/her, or another person’s focal concept in another map of the same material.” Such variations could add richness to the consideration of a concept.
3. As an initial activity in Multicultural Literature, I could ask students to form a concept map for each ethnic group represented, noting and linking things they know or think they know about each. The maps could be used for a number of activities, including discussion of stereotypes. After reading selections by writers of each ethnic group, students could either revise their initial maps or create new maps as a method of showing new learning.
Additionally, I tried using Inspiration for outlining a course that I’m working to improve. First I mapped it, then I transferred the map to an outline. It was really an effective way to develop a snapshot of the units I want; then I started gradually developing objectives, content and assessments for each. I plan to buy a license for this software.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Module 2 Reflections
I'm thinking a lot about the possibilities of either blogs or wikis to "hybridize" my instructional television course. I like the blog for its ease of use. Blogger.com makes it simple and fun, and I know my students would enjoy both personalizing their blogs and responding to class prompts in this forum. My only problem, as I see it, is with web filters at the schools where I teach.
A wiki might hold more possibility in terms of not being filtered, but they seem more difficult to build; I can't ask students to do anything too complex or frustrating. I need to try more wikis, to see what else is out there.
One disadvantage of teaching via ITV is that my students don't get to know each other very well; they don't have an opportunity to interact and find out about each other to the degree that studnets do in face-to-face courses. A blog would be the perfect "vehicle" for students to personalize, to show who they are, which, in my experience, they desperately want to do.
Reminder to self:
1) Get the list of schools where my course will be offered next year
2) Draft communication explaining my plan and justification for "hybridizing" the ITV course
3) Meet with my principal regarding this plan
3) Make appointments to personally visit the schools to answer questions and establish protocol
In conclusion, I'm very optimistic that a blog or wiki would fulfill my need for:
1) a more efficient method of obtaining student assignments (than the postal service!), thus allowing for me to provide more frequent formative assessment.
2) a forum for student discussion, where all students have a more equal opportunity to participate than they do in the ITV venue
3) a way to build "community" in the class, which I found so very difficult to do in the ITV room.
Thanks, Dr. Datta Kaur Khalsa, for allowing this weekly reflection to be a place for summative thoughts and planning. I so appreciate its usefulness.
A wiki might hold more possibility in terms of not being filtered, but they seem more difficult to build; I can't ask students to do anything too complex or frustrating. I need to try more wikis, to see what else is out there.
One disadvantage of teaching via ITV is that my students don't get to know each other very well; they don't have an opportunity to interact and find out about each other to the degree that studnets do in face-to-face courses. A blog would be the perfect "vehicle" for students to personalize, to show who they are, which, in my experience, they desperately want to do.
Reminder to self:
1) Get the list of schools where my course will be offered next year
2) Draft communication explaining my plan and justification for "hybridizing" the ITV course
3) Meet with my principal regarding this plan
3) Make appointments to personally visit the schools to answer questions and establish protocol
In conclusion, I'm very optimistic that a blog or wiki would fulfill my need for:
1) a more efficient method of obtaining student assignments (than the postal service!), thus allowing for me to provide more frequent formative assessment.
2) a forum for student discussion, where all students have a more equal opportunity to participate than they do in the ITV venue
3) a way to build "community" in the class, which I found so very difficult to do in the ITV room.
Thanks, Dr. Datta Kaur Khalsa, for allowing this weekly reflection to be a place for summative thoughts and planning. I so appreciate its usefulness.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Mod 2 Reading Interactive Inventory
Assessment: Teacher-centered or Learner-centered?
All of my answers were "correct" except "Assessment is used to monitor learning." I disagree that this is only specific to a "teacher-centered" paradigm. There are formative types of assessment that can provide a teacher helpful information to use in assessing what teaching strategies or activities are productive for students. A student-centered teacher assesses herself or himself, and by monitoring student learning, an instructor is also indirectly monitoring himself or herself.
All of my answers were "correct" except "Assessment is used to monitor learning." I disagree that this is only specific to a "teacher-centered" paradigm. There are formative types of assessment that can provide a teacher helpful information to use in assessing what teaching strategies or activities are productive for students. A student-centered teacher assesses herself or himself, and by monitoring student learning, an instructor is also indirectly monitoring himself or herself.
Introducing my Classmate--Prantik Bordoloi
It is my pleasure to introduce Prantik Bordoloi, who joins our class from Bangkok, where he is e-Learning Platform Administrator at the School of Management, Asian Institute of Technology. The institute's impressive website can be viewed at www.som.ait.ac.th
Prantik helps faculty incorporate e-learning components into courses and also works in development of corporate programs in the fields of general management and leadership.
Although he completed his MBA in Thailand, Prantik is originally from the state of Assam in northeast India, which he told me makes him an ethnic Assamese. His parents still live there, as does his sister, who is completing her undergraduate studies in medicine.
Prantik is taking Assessment in E-Learning because he would like to become an online course designer, and he recognizes that assessment is a primary issue for teachers of e-classes.
Thank you for sharing your interesting background, Prantik. I look forward to learning with you during the upcoming weeks.
Prantik helps faculty incorporate e-learning components into courses and also works in development of corporate programs in the fields of general management and leadership.
Although he completed his MBA in Thailand, Prantik is originally from the state of Assam in northeast India, which he told me makes him an ethnic Assamese. His parents still live there, as does his sister, who is completing her undergraduate studies in medicine.
Prantik is taking Assessment in E-Learning because he would like to become an online course designer, and he recognizes that assessment is a primary issue for teachers of e-classes.
Thank you for sharing your interesting background, Prantik. I look forward to learning with you during the upcoming weeks.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
First, I need to say that I have been a blog fan for years; I regularly “tune in” and contribute to several of a very personal nature focused on topics of interest to me.
My goal in learning about online teaching is to “hybridize” the Multicultural Literature course that I teach to students in 4 high schools through the Northern Lights Instructional Television Network. Discussion, cooperative learning—these don’t work well for me in the ITV setting, particularly when I have just one or two students at one site, and 12 at another, when bell schedules and calendars differ.
Prior to reading this Module’s assignments I had wondered how an edublog could be an assessment tool, but this became clear when I got to the “Formative and Summative” segment in the Lee and Allen article. I believe so much in providing formative feedback to students, and this is really difficult in an ITV class, where individual written assignments are mailed to me or transported on the CESA van. The time lag is not conducive to helping students learn and improve.
The quote that I highlighted and will use as a kind of justification for developing course blogs is this: “Students have the opportunity to review other’s postings and responses to subject matter, to compare their knowledge and comprehension level, and to benefit from the shared strategy uses they and their peers employ.”
For me, the challenges of developing and using blogs will be:
-constraints imposed by web filters at each of the school districts enrolled in my course
-whether I can “mandate” that students create and use blogs
-whether blogging should be done strictly as a kind of “homework” or whether I can build time into the class period for online discussion and reflection.
My goal in learning about online teaching is to “hybridize” the Multicultural Literature course that I teach to students in 4 high schools through the Northern Lights Instructional Television Network. Discussion, cooperative learning—these don’t work well for me in the ITV setting, particularly when I have just one or two students at one site, and 12 at another, when bell schedules and calendars differ.
Prior to reading this Module’s assignments I had wondered how an edublog could be an assessment tool, but this became clear when I got to the “Formative and Summative” segment in the Lee and Allen article. I believe so much in providing formative feedback to students, and this is really difficult in an ITV class, where individual written assignments are mailed to me or transported on the CESA van. The time lag is not conducive to helping students learn and improve.
The quote that I highlighted and will use as a kind of justification for developing course blogs is this: “Students have the opportunity to review other’s postings and responses to subject matter, to compare their knowledge and comprehension level, and to benefit from the shared strategy uses they and their peers employ.”
For me, the challenges of developing and using blogs will be:
-constraints imposed by web filters at each of the school districts enrolled in my course
-whether I can “mandate” that students create and use blogs
-whether blogging should be done strictly as a kind of “homework” or whether I can build time into the class period for online discussion and reflection.
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