week 7 and some parting thoughts

      I was surprised by some of the self discovery in this course. I didn't know if I could perform all the tasks asked of me. However, I have completed each of the assignments with varying levels of quality. This wasn't without struggle, but the class was well structured, and a few of my late submissions were pardoned. I also had peers who were supportive, professional,and necessarily understanding. Some of them had the same concerns as me. There were some different ability levels, but that didn't matter much. They worked it out with me until we all knew what we needed.

     My teaching style was student centered in some ways. I expected that I would find a was a very traditional teacher. I actually had some tendencies that were more student centered. I do like to interact with my students, but I still need some work on how I structure those activities to achieve individual learning outcomes.
     Some lesson ideas or strategies that might be especially suitable for live meetings are group discussions, polling to see inclinations/assess, collaborative creations, critical analysis, presentations, and interventions.
    
      As I have gone through this course I have noticed my confidence in using technology improve, and I have been very impressed with my change in pedagogy. I can see how to engage my students better, with or without technology. I am glad I enrolled and I am considering a change in my master's Degree. Thank you for the class.

Reflection of asnchronous lesson
Needs additional learning and resource components
Needs lesson plan available with post.
Needs assessment feedback for students.
Needs additional accessibility components

Has assessments tied directly to objectives
Has Engagement


So I think that this is a great way to improve my work. I followed the rubric and feel like I could have scored highly but I also was able to quickly find areas where I could improve in significant (for the students) ways.I am excited to present my finished work this week.

Wk5

My learning style, brainstorm 4 technologies and/or strategies for my style. 4 technologies and/or strategies for the visual style.

Well I have discovered that I am a bit of a mix on my own learning style. I find the preference leans towards good visual examples and the reading and writing of VARK. Some of the ideas suggested weren’t revelations, but I was intrigued with the ideas suggested for study because I use that set when I am being successful. I especially use putting concepts in my own words and list format. The first technology that comes to mind is a text document. These are easily organized and sectioned well with clear headings blocked units and straightforward section. Second is power-point, the list format, short segments in one slice, and quick design elements for unity and contrast. Third is a forum. It offers strings, sub sections, threads to keep content organized and deconstructable. Fourth is a dictionary and accordingly a strategy of indicating unique ways you are using words. This can be italics quotes bold letters and so on. Gestures are an effective teaching strategy for the additional meaning and context that a concept should hold. One great place to do this would be a video. Seeing your teacher could have tremendous benefit. A technology that is helpful for a visual learner is a power-point(or similar) this is because of the variety of visual alterations that can be done to the content. A content map can also aid as both an input tool and an output. These maps can be developed and edited as the learning changes to reflect different levels of understanding.

text chats ·         Advantages ·         Disadvantages ·         Issues collaborative activities ·         Advantages ·         Disadvantages ·         Issues

Well last week’s activity made me aware of the quick convenient nature of text chats and the fact that a structured activity can guide students away from mistakes (like well defined roles/task to accomplish). Similarly it doesn’t require the same level of computing power or software compatibility. It is kind of slow, when you’re reading through all the comments. You have to stay focused on what each individual said because one person can interrupt another person’s topic of conversation. Christina handled this by putting in each comment the name of the person her comment was addressed to. You can also hit send way too quickly and not have a fully developed thought. This has no visual, audio, or other communicative support. It makes it difficult to interpret ambiguities. Evaluations of contributions to chat are likely to be very biased, or very informal. A detailed rubric for what you must do in a chat session must still promote engagement and interaction. Collaboration improves individuals and promotes high quality learning and engagement. Having a project based learning component increases the desire to learn new tasks and presentation formats. You can give detailed projects, rubrics, and feedback. You can have an end result of learning that is better for all participants than an individual piece of work. Interaction and community learning also help learners understand how to communicate with audiences better. NONE – not really but I will try. The disadvantages could include role alignment and growth tolerance. By role alignment, I mean that you can’t have many masters. Individuals must accept each peer as a legitimate contributor of equal value. In many cases you will need someone to take charge. Therefore, there may be some tolerance of subpar work for inclusion purposes. Also, there is a presentational component that makes some individuals nervous. They may only comply strategically for a score instead of authentic engagement. The big issue to me is that the activity must be structured in a way to engage each person and support students in new learning challenges. For individual contributors – there are some dangerous behaviors. “Pit-callers” (Harvard lecturer nickname). Some people are quite clever at putting in a small amount of text that motivates everyone else to lead out. They don’t actually contribute a great deal. This can be confused with someone who is not a natural leader that is stepping into the role to help the group succeed. “Dominators”. They know it all, and they are always right. “Critical not creative” – point out flaws, without offering suggestions. “Underprepared” – they don’t know the material. “Chatty/Complimentary” – lots of talk, not work.

WEEK 3
Today, I am describing our recent "elluminate" consensus building activty.
It was neat to participate with a new tool. I am used to adapting to new tools.
I still feel some anxiety about it, but I just ignore it and focus on the task at hand.
I was glad we used a "synchronous" tool to help us collaborate on the other
assignment. I had some details that I couldn't combine very effectively with the group.
Once we started talking, it came together quickly. I wasn't waiting for a post to finish one little thought about one little detail. Instead, we started topics and ended them shortly after.
My group worked effectively. I think another bonus was that with google documents you can see the edits simultaneously.

I had to come up with pretty polished ideas. While my group was kind, I didn't want
 to waste their time with incomplete thoughts. Occassionally, I could present an idea as a question instead of a statement which gave my partners a chance to give their perspective without feeling like they were contradicting me...I hope. I think that my students might feel like they can hit send too fast but this activity made me want to wait a little longer.

My group really worked well, and now I have some new tools that I can use.

Source:	Quotes, readings, tasks, activities	Learning, questions, thoughts
Week 2 Create a telephone Interview Tool Readings this week – not directly used. 1.Rice - Making the Move to K-12 Online Teaching, Chapters 4, 5, 9.  2.Conrad and Donaldson - Learning in an Online Environment, Chapter 1.	Reflection  Some suggested topics for reflection:  ◦Did the interview questions help the parent or responsible adult open up to the conversation?  ◦Were the things you learned about the student and family important information for you to consider while working with them this year?  ◦Was it difficult to keep the conversation on track? Why or why not?  ◦Do you feel this was a valuable exercise to complete before starting the school year? Why or why not?	Yes. They actually were a little surprised by my interview (probably more that I had deviated from the usual o take an interest in them)we ended up talking a lot more then I had planned. I had to keep bringing the interview back to the next question. They had some descriptions of their background that surprised me. The educational background seemed particularly relevant. It was natural to transition into learning goals. I don’t have a complete answer for their individual goals, but I feel it can be accomplished partially through what is taught. Yes and no. We went into additional information and moved away from the specific interview questions. I felt that this added to what I know about my future student. This probably happened because the questions weren’t a simple “yes/no” and it wasn’t done on paper. I think it was a great activity for developing understanding of your students and what they need to learn. I think it might not be extremely time consuming using some simple technology tools. There are individual goals for each student that really bear on their participation in the course. I’m not sure how to adjust, but knowing what to adjust for is half of the battle.

Source:	Quotes, readings, tasks, activites	Learning. Questions. Thoughts.
Week 1 Kerry Rice – making the move to online Chapter 1 table p.28,29 Chapter 2 Engaging the online learner Ch.5 Ch.7	What is distant learning? What is online learning? Types of online programs: table page 5. Who takes courses? Who teaches online? It takes a village How effective is online? Are there standards or guidelines? Page13 Quality online programs: Learner centered: Active participation : Community and collaboration: Authentic assessments: Acquisition of skills: Considerations for strategies: Qualities of successful teachers: Key skills of online teachers: Do you have what it takes? Online icebreakers:ideas table5.2 Characteristics of an ice breaker: Reflective activities   characteristics	Student and instructor separate. One way. Teacher centered. Interaction, communicating, skill and knowledge progression. Independent learners.  Promote modern tech skills. Full virtual school, blended enhanced, single course. One-time enrollment/Continuous enrollment. Self paced. Facilitated cohort.  Trends suggest k-12 is major potential. I agree. Dr. dove from home and hospitals. Generally – good teaching is good teaching, be qualified and it is harder than face to face at first. –great. Growth of online learning is increasing support positions necessary. Not the medium, but facilitation of learner acts. Associations –iNACOL(2), NEA(2), SREB(4), ISTE (3) Quality online courses, quality online teaching, guide to online high school, guide to teach online,quality courses, quality teaching, evaluating online, evaluation tool, nets student, nets teacher, Not different from traditional quality components. Consider access and support. Construction of learner goals. Project based learning, collaborate/up-to-date Can connect, group and individual access, creation and construction tools. Data archives, self-progress monitoring, feedback. Literacy, strategic thinking, adaptation to modern tools, leadership, cooperation, responsibility, and initiative promoted. Overwhelming/frustrating feelings- collaborating means scheduling, group moderation –task engagement, wasted time getting on track, more time on prep. Prior to class. Awareness. Environment. Scaffolding. Managing. Help, engage, clarify, communicate, design, and test. Yes, but it needs trial. Basically informal greetings to set a positive learning environment and begin communication. Nonthreatening?Personal?interact?Share similar? Genuine?responses? Connect behaviors decisions plans to operations. Synthesize learning? Share experiences? feedback? Open?honest?genuine?insightful?duration?