CEDO 599 - Post #3

Alas, I believe I've finally reached the Emerald City! (See my second post where I was on the Yellow Brick Road...) At the beginning of 599 it felt like I could see the city in the distance but it still seemed so far away. Now here at my last post, I've come to realize how much I am able to do with technology and my classroom. Not only that, but it's helped me develop more patience and tolerance for the little issues that arrive. I was looking back over my blog from the very beginning and I sounded pretty pathetic, complaining about access and speed issues and I realize that I was using those problems as excuses as I really attempted to resist the change and shift necessary to embrace technology and all it has to offer.
Just last night, my husband came home with a flash drive that contained 3 videos of he and two co-workers getting "tasered" at a taser training. The video format wouldn't open on either the mac or pc - all we could get was the audio. A year and a half ago, I would have blamed the technology and gotten upset, but now I was able to problem solve and figure out how to change the format so that the videos were able to be viewed. My husband was pretty impressed (so was I with the fact that in a full 5 second taser blast, he didn't utter a sound!) that I could find a way around the technology "issue". So instead of coming to the Emerald City to see if the Wizard could magically fix my problems, I'm able to rely on myself for most work-arounds. I get less frustrated, knowing that there is usually a way to get around the issues rather than be stymied by them.
So with my last post, I'd like to thank the cohort and all of the instructors for sticking with it and with me to see this through to the end! The last thing I'll ask of you is to check out my teacher training site and help me spot check all of the links to be sure they're working and you have access to all of the pages and links! THANKS!!!

Screencasting Embedding and Hotlinking

To learn a little bit more about social bookmarking, please watch this short video clip or click here.

CEDO 599 - Post #2

So I've been thinking about the portfolios and last post I had asked for other tools to create websites (thanks Ryan A and Melissa!). I just had a kind of "aha" moment. I can create the tutorials I need for GoogleSites and create the training tool in GoogleSites but that doesn't have to be the tool students choose to use. I'm planning on an annotated list of great tools to use in the classroom so why can't I just give the options to the students and let them decide? I figure that the students who are least comfortable may stick with GoogleSites as a fallback but I'd bet there are many in my district who would be willing to go out on a limb and try other creation/editing tools like blogs, wikis, Weebly etc. to create their portfolio. I mean, isn't that the whole idea? Get them using the digital tools... why predetermine what they have to use? The one drawback I can see right away is the lack of formatting or templating that using the same tool could provide to the reviewers of the portfolios. It may be a bit taxing on some of those individuals who don't have the experience or comfort in the digital setting to have to search around 20 different kinds of portfolios to determine if required elements have been met- in that case, sticking with one tool may be very beneficial. Hmmmm... any one want to weigh in on this one?

CEDO 599 - Post #1

So tonight I spent some more time working on my final project. I'm working to implement e-portfolios at the high school level and needed to see how my plans correlated with a piece of software that has been adopted by the school district. The schools are using Career Crusing to manage a number of guidance related tasks like education planning, potential career evaluation and the like. A few members from the guidance department at the high school also belong to the staff development group working on the e-portfolios so it came down to me to see if the two programs could utilize the software and make it dual purpose as students can house portfolios on this site.
While investigating, I was astonished at the multitude of resources available to students. They can access and search jobs, find schools, complete career aptitude tests, keep personal journals, be assigned tasks by an advisor etc. It made me think of it as content management software on steroids because of the reference materials and ready made links and information. The only aspect of the software that I wasn't impressed by was the method for students to collect and catalog artifacts for reflection within the portfolio section. Students are provided with two options - keeping a file cabinet with artifacts or linking to external web pages. Now, while this is probably a fairly well organized system and it prevents students from uploading tons of content into Career Cruiser, it won't allow students to really get the feel for working to create a portfolio that is unique and individual to each. They will also not get the opportunity to learn, use and practice skills like creating hotlinks or embedding elements - both skills that are required by the portfolio groups' plans. Frankly, I think the portfolio portion is completely canned... which means that at a minimum students would house links and files but will more likely mean that we'll have to use some other type of software, like GoogleSites for example, that allows great flexibility in creation yet remains extremely user friendly. Can anyone give me additional resources/tools that would allow students to create their own websites? Free? Without tons of issues due to restriction of email access?

CEDO565 - Final Blog

How has your definition of leadership altered or been reinforced? Your definition of teacher leadership?
My definition of leadership for the most part has really been reinforced by the text and class discussions. I've always believed that anyone can step up to the plate and take charge in some respects and with my involvement in the Leadership Team for the district and the high school quite a few of us (this year we sent 15 staff and 5 administrators) have begun to assert ourselves more in the planning and implementation of ideas.
Has your opinion of your leadership potential changed?
I think that my leadership potential has changed in that I am more able to take a step back from what is occurring in the school and district in order to better accomplish our goals and initiatives. The systems change game really gave me great insight and I've already been scratching out a preliminary social network for the high school staff so I can think about who to approach strategically when I'd like to start talking about implementation of the eportfolio project.
Do you agree with our textbook's assertion about "improving education from within"? If so, what will you do to help?
I do believe that it is within my power (and everyone else's for that matter) to improve education in their own classroom, department, school and district. I think that if we attempt to change the world in one fell swoop, you're bound for disappointment but if we look at small steps and small changes, then the change will help to improve education from within.

CEDO565 - Session Five

So I've spent my last two days and this morning in Madison at the Wisconsin School Leadership Academy and although I'm not wishing summer away, I am recharged for this upcoming fall and really implementing some new initiatives both in my classroom and throughout the high school and district. As I mentioned last post, the change game we've been playing has really opened my eyes to the necessity of paying attention to the political realms when attempting to make change in schools. The conference reinforced many of the topics and ideas that we've been talking about in class lately but first I want to chat about this amazing presenter this morning!
David Warlick presented on the 21st Century classroom and how the millennial as a student must force a change in how we deal with information and that it's more than just using technology. What I loved about his seminar is that he practiced what he was about to preach. The first things he did were to show us how to "KnitterChat" (much like tweeting - its called backchanneling, I'd post the link to our actual transcript but it's not posted yet) about the seminar while he was presenting, then he directed us to his blog, his wiki, and his second life file cabinet before using two Prezis to really begin his talk. This was the second half:

Cracking the 'Native' Information Experience on Prezi

I was shocked at first because he started out showing us the half a dozen ways that we could get "off task" during his presentation. He truly was a facilitator of information and did not require his audience to be staring up at him with their eyes glued as he delivered content to us for 2 hours. Not only that, all through his talk, he showed and demonstrated many tools to illustrate the difference in how students access information in the digital age. DoodleBuzz was one of my favs and he also explained the QR codes that can be printed anywhere so that individuals with smart phones can point the phone at the barcode and automatically receive downloads of the materials - his was linked to all of his presentation handouts. As you can see there was tons of great info and materials.
So how do I apply this information to my instruction? My leadership? First and foremost, I've already begun a discussion with my principal about allowing students to use their cell phones in my classroom. The discussion is necessary as this goes against current school policy, although last fall the policy about digital devices was modified, phones are banned from the classroom. A close colleague and I also began revamping our grading structure and brainstorming new methods for classroom instruction in addition to planning for writing some new curriculum. (See why I can't have the summer go too fast - I've got way too much to do!) I really plan to use some of the strategies from the changes game we played - most notably talking to key individuals and getting them on board for the changes I'd like to see implemented with my portfolio project in the high school. Previously I would have had everything ready for the great "reveal" and then become frustrated when teachers didn't jump at the chance to use something that was all set and ready to go. I've realized it's much more than that - all of the talk about teacher buy-in has started getting through my thick skull. This also lead my colleague and I to want to set up some very informal professional development mini-seminars for any interested teachers to begin a culture of sharing classroom ideas among all high school teachers in a very non-threatening way and without the push of a condescending this-is-the-way-it-should-be mentality. Rather, we'd like to present tools of the trade and allow teachers to pick and choose things they'd like to see, try, modify and steal.
I just figure that I'll need to work 40 hours a week this summer on all of my ideas in order to have them ready to go by September 1st. Hmmmm..... not likely so I'd better get to prioritizing!

CEDO565 - Session Four

So I have to say that after playing the game on Tuesday and completing the Analysis of Change task, I've been reflecting on how difficult change can come about. At the same time, we had our last staff meeting where a new proposal for one of our programs was presented and discussed and I began looking at the process in a very different light. One of the teachers that often sinks ideas he doesn't like, thought that the proposal was a great idea and I thought about the game and how the social interactions play such a lead role.
This has prompted me to rethink how I'm going to work on my culminated experience as it is yet another difference for the teachers to become accustomed to. I'm now planning to spend some additional time polling the teachers and talking to them one on one (especially the key players) so that I can get some support ahead of time before we roll out the trainings during the next school year. Hopefully I can really apply some of the strategies from this class to make the transition easier for the rest of the staff if they experience more buy-in.
I'm also feeling better up to the challenge of continuing the game this coming Tuesday - I have a few strategies I'd like to see if my group would like to try!

CEDO565 - Session Three

While all of the activities for session three have made lots of sense to me and I can see utilizing pieces of information here and there, the piece that resonated the strongest was Gabriel's insight and idea in Chapter 4. Just last year, I joined the Leadership Team - a group of teachers from all levels and discipline in the district - and although anyone can "join", this past fall we were characterized as administration's puppets. Members were told that we were put in place to do administration's bidding. It has taken all of my power not to engage in the quarrel as that's where all of the energy will end up going rather than on making things better for students. I feel that I will be able to start applying some of these practices and suggestions to garner more respect as a teacher leader in my building.For example, Gabriel's suggestions of redirecting questions of the dissenters and giving them other tasks to engage their time will help immensely as we plan other initiatives for the high school in particular.
And while I've been previously aware of the generational gaps in education, it had always been presented to me in terms of Millenials as students and now as parents rather than as peers, colleagues or coworkers. The Tune In article presented the information in regards to what it means to schools which was a new perspective to me. I can apply this information as a look at the mentoring program in the school district and how teachers interact with each other.

CEDO565 Session Two

Wow, I've been hearing for ages now, "data driven decisions" and how important they are to our field. What I rarely heard was how to get ahold of that data and how to use it. In lecture this week, it was brought up that a mountain of data without any analysis and application is still just a mountain of data. I feel that way all the time - like I can get my hands on good data but I simply don't know how to put it all together in a meaningful way in order to make better decisions both in leadership for the school/district and in my classroom. I feel like I can navigate pretty well around WINNS and will be able to pull the data together and I'm anxious for the group session we're having on Sunday to talk about how to put the data to use. I've never been on a data retreat and so am a bit anxious to begin the virtual one and to see how that relates.
With all of the talk of what I haven't done with data, I do need to mention that I do use informal data collection to drive decisions in my classroom all the time whether it be a quick survey on student expectations or a reflective evaluation geared towards the staff to gain feedback of the implementation of a particular program or event.

CEDO565 - Session One

So, as I was going through some of the leadership profiles and assessments, I couldn't help but think back to college and completing the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. My organized persona loves filling out the assessments, tabulating the answers and then arriving at an "answer", reading the descriptions and thinking to myself, "Hmm.... very interesting." The other thought that struck me immediately was how different my husband and I would be reflected in the leadership qualities and virtues. Sure enough - after all I did make him do the profiles too - where ever his abilities were high, mine were low and vice versa. I must admit, it did take a bit of figuring out as the qualities and virtues assessments from ASCD didn't explain the results, rather they just gave a label. I did go to google books and was able to read excerpts from the text the assessments came from and that helped a great deal.
Ultimately, the profiles didn't really tell me anything I didn't know about myself, but they did change my view of the qualities and abilities that I showed strength and weakness in. For example, I already knew that I was organized, pretty creative and always have more ideas than I can possibly follow through on, but looking at it through the lens of educational leadership gave me new perspective. It helps to explain why I struggle with getting my peers on board with ideas because I'm not terribly strong at building/maintaining personal relationships with my peers in general as I have only a very small group of individuals with whom I share that personal relationship. The Balanced Leadership Profile was extremely helpful at getting me to view the characteristics in a leadership light as it allowed me to answer questions with a specific initiative in mind and the 7-4-3 report was the one that really turned on the light bulb for me!
As far as the text is concerned, I initially was wondering how big the schools are to have teacher leaders to fill all of the descriptions mentioned and then I took a step back and realized that's not the premise (thank god!). I understand that the groundwork is being laid in the text to set up the reader for the "thriving as a leader" part, but I can't help but want to flip forward in the book and get to the good stuff... I think if I spend some time discussing with my group on the roles and qualities presented in chapter one then I'll be able to get a better handle. (Right now it's a bit dry and not very dynamic compared to other texts we've used like Digital Storytelling and Presentation Zen :)
I currently act as a leader in my school by actively participating on the district leadership team. This group has been building in an effort to take more ownership in school and district events. I am a representative for the high school and we work to plan staff development opportunities as well as set building and district goals. It's the third year since the team was developed and it will be my second year. I really like the team because the membership is dynamic and growing every year. I'm also a member a number of committees like our Alumni Hall of Fame, Technology Committee and Building Improvement committee. All of these require my time and energy to get players to the table to discuss initiatives and improvements.
I think that reflecting back on my weaknesses, one of my favorite leadership roles was to engage the entire high school staff in a secret addition to the homecoming talent competition. I organized and helped to teach the choreography of the "Evolution of Dance" to the staff and we performed in front of the school. It was probably my best example of connecting to my peers in a manner unrelated to the "regular" school business.

CEDO555 Blog Post Three

Oh my, has it been a week! I barely got my artifacts aligned to my standards and in the meantime have been thinking a lot about my project proposal but not actually writing anything down yet, so I really need to tie myself to the computer and not let up until my proposal is done. On a personal note, this weekend was my seven year old daughter's dance recital - so much fun but a big time commitment. My mother came up as well and we were having a great time outlining my proposal as I could bounce ideas off of her. The interesting part was being able to show her some of the tools I'm talking about. For example, I was thinking about how to complete and keep the project information organized and I was debating whether or not I wanted a Ning type network (you all did hear that Ning is going completely pay-for-use right? If you've got info on a Ning, you need to pull the content before it gets dumped...) or a website based tool like Google Sites. So at 11pm Friday night, we're online and I'm showing her these tools and others that we've been using. She wants to be included in the outcome of my project as it will include Web 2.0 tools and how to use them for the "general public". Lots of fun and at 1am we decided to call it a night.
The other part of the class that I'm still working on is the alignment of artifacts to the different classes we took. I have chosen at least one assignment from each of the classes but need to do the footwork and document my reflections and get the links made active. A lot to do, but most of the groundwork is laid and I just need to follow through and see it to the end.

Just for Fun - Sharing How to Embed

This is a little video I created with Animoto to show my students how easy and how much fun it is - now I'm showing them how to embed an artifact! Enjoy...

CEDO555 Blog Post 2

So I've been listening to comments and reflecting some more about the project proposals and I think I've decided on creating all of the training information and support materials in order to phase in e-portfolios and senior exit interviews. So many of our teachers will (hopefully) be excited to see the implementation and use of the myriad of technology tools available. What has influenced my decision is partly because I can see that I may have to do this anyways for the district professional development (I'm the only "teacher" on the committee - the rest are involved in additional projects) but moreover I see this as a way of impacting the most. Not only will this be something the students use, but the teachers will also get a taste of it. I hope that with the appropriate trainings that the teachers will not feel pressured to "do" anything, rather, they can play with the tools and become familiar with helping students use the tools to create. What do you think?
In other areas, I have to say that I really struggled writing my mission and vision but I'm very pleased with the outcome. Then when I was searching for standards that I wanted to use, I discovered that the NETS*T were perfect for accomplishing my mission (gee - maybe this stuff is really sinking in after all!) I feel that I'm on the right track because I feel passionate about what's in my portfolio so far. Now I'm in the midst of organizing all of the artifacts created in the various classes and making sure I have working links. Most of this has been done in my binder with all of my classwork, so my portfolio hasn't seen many changes in the past week but I hope to get that going next week!

CED0555 - Blog Post 1

It seems hard to believe that we're in the home stretch of our MEIT program - but here we are. I was looking back at some of the earliest blogs and I smile thinking of how little I knew at the time. Funny thing is that I feel like there is so much more to learn about the application of technology to my classroom. After our class Tuesday night, I starting giving some serious consideration to what I want to accomplish for my culminating experience. Here are some of the ideas... let me know what you think!
1. I would like to update all of my presentations to "Presentation Zen" status. This would require taking my own stock photos or using creative commons photos - a little tricky with some of the science content - and creating all of the supporting materials. In addition, I would have to pull more stories to illustrate concepts instead of just lecturing the "material". This task would be a major overhaul but I fear I'd get burned out taking on all of my presentations and that this venture would be best undertaken a bit at a time...
2. I want to expand the Ning I created for our science department and create opportunities for my department to get involved in it's evolution by contributing to it. We currently email each other links, notes, etc. that may be appropriate for each others' classes. I envision taking those items and "training" my science colleagues to post them in our Ning, so that no matter who teaches what, we all have the same access to these resources.
3. As part of my district initiated professional development, I have been working with a small team to investigate the use of portfolios and exit interviews for seniors. At our last meeting, we gained approval from the principal to plan to implement the portfolios over the next two years. 2010-2011 would be a year of training and providing resources to the staff of the high school and we would begin implementation and creation of the portfolios in 2011-2012. For my culminating experience, I could plan the training sessions (f2f and online tutorials) to familiarize the staff with a number of technology tools that are available.
4. Finally, our district utilizes our distance learning lab for both inbound and outbound classes as well as software like Odyssey Ware for some of our students who need courses not offered or to fill holes in their schedules. We do also offer summer school on a limited basis but I'd like to start building an online option for biology in our district. Currently, students taking classes in one of these three venues lack the laboratory component. I'd like to build a class that utilizes models and demonstrations online as well as providing material "kits" for students to check out to complete labs at home. This may be in addition to offering lab days in a face to face environment as well.

Any ideas?

CED0550 - Week Six

Final Reflections...

I will use what I learned in this course over the next 30 days by using Elluminate (Three for Free) to correspond with students that are taking extended spring vacations and will be missing class. I plan on offering opportunities a few times to take the alternative online classes.

I will use what I learned in over the next year by hopefully being the first to incorporate at least some blended online offerings in conjunction with our Personal Learning Plan Coordinator.

After completing this course I would like to learn more about getting my school district to purchase a subscription to Elluminate to facilitate the use of online curriculum in our schools.

CED0550 - Week Five

My experience with online communities has been limited to the experiences I've had in the MEIT program. And even as I write the word "limited" I chuckle thinking back to recent conversations I've had with colleagues who can barely fathom what we've accomplished so far. These experiences have been so eye opening and have really challenged my perceptions and views of technology in the classroom and online learning.

I believe the biggest benefit of collaborative groups is learning from peers that may have different perspectives and insights as well as varied strengths.

I believe the greatest challenge of collaborative groups is/would be creating opportunities in which all members of the group participate and contribute equally in a timely manner.

My thoughts regarding the social development and socialization issues are changing on a daily basis. I can remember early on in this course thinking that full time online students are missing out on so much as far as socialization and there are things that can't possibly translate from the traditional classroom to the online one. Now I'm developing new attitudes and insights that the reverse is also true. There are things that can be accomplished and done online that can't be replicated in the classroom and because of this, it will be so important for our students to experience both whenever possible.

CED0550 - Week Four

*In reflecting on my teaching experiences to date, I would say that the proportion of teacher centered versus student centered lessons has been different overall in my teaching and when I compare my first 5 years to the past 4 or 5. In the first half of my teaching career I can easily say that the teacher centered lessons comprised about 90-95% of my curriculum. At that time, I started taking some other classes and really was challenging how I approached the classroom. Ever since then I have been incorporating more student centered lessons and I’d love to say that I’ve completely flipped the 90% to student centered but unfortunately I’m not there yet. I would guess that at least 35-40% of my lessons now are student centered.

*I was able to identify more than one authentic assessment to measure mastery of a single concept lesson when I changed the lesson to reflect being student centered as well as when I incorporated more differentiation into the lesson. For every alternative activity there are a multiple of various assessments that can be envisioned.

*The rubric I created for my lesson clearly defined expectations and scoring for the lesson so that my students could start the project with a definite goal in mind. The rubric could be used somewhat like a checklist to work through each section so that the expectations are indicated as objectives to meet before the lesson even begins.

*While working on this module I had difficulty while narrowing down my lesson. I tend to think and teach in big concepts and units with activities spanning multiple days and sometimes even units. For example, the lesson I chose involved the prerequisite knowledge of construction and use of a dichotomous key. I originally didn’t explain that as a class, we would have already done the lessons on classification, key use and key construction so that the students would be drawing upon those experiences to help them create the key for this lesson. So my issue was keeping the topic narrow enough without throwing out all of the related activities that would help make the students successful. On the topic of keeping things broad and sweeping, I also have issues with really zeroing in on targeted differentiation - I tend to start brainstorming ideas and then ramble on and on.

CED0550 - Week Three

• What is the greatest challenge that I have encountered as an online teacher/facilitator and how did I manage it? (If you have not yet taught online what do you think would be the greatest challenge for online teachers/facilitators?). I think the greatest challenge would be to get into the swing of things for the very first classes. I remember my first week in teaching and the nausea I felt going in each day dreading the unknown. After a while, I began to get more comfortable and felt like I could handle any of the little issues that would arise. I imagine the same uneasiness starting to teach online as I question how I would handle technology issues, facilitating, keeping track of all elements in the online environment, and/or questions I may not have an answer to at my fingertips.
• Some things that I feel are really important to consider about synchronous and asynchronous facilitation as I prepare to facilitate my threaded and web conference discussions are not to confuse the two and to keep the activities and discussions linked but not redundant. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done an exercise in an asynchronous format and in the synchronous session, the facilitator reiterates the same content, nearly word for word without adding anything new to the discussion. That was one of the main motivators for my adding different, but related, activities in the synchronous discussion. The asynchronous portion will be revisited, but with the addition of applying the examples from discussion to the appropriate federal and state mandates, thereby extending the knowledge. For this to work, it was important that the asynchronous discussion came first. This also allows me to add into the synchronous conversation major items that were missed or skimmed over in the earlier discussions. On a side note, another item that I wanted to consider was that one of the participants currently teaches virtually and has a much different perspective to bring to the table than the ‘brick and mortar’ teachers.
• I choose my particular discussion topic because the issue of technological access is close to my heart living in the northwoods of Wisconsin. I struggled with internet access at home for 7 of the 13 months we’ve been in the MEIT program. Just recently, I’ve been able to enjoy taking classes from home and not having to travel to the local motel (8 miles down the road) in the middle of January so that I could attend class. This one aspect has made me think of the many issues with access as well as equity and how in the public school system we are required to provide for all students.
• One thing that I thought about when developing rubrics for the 2 different discussions is how to create them for dual functioning, that is how to make them easy to use on the instructors part as well as how to make them easy to read, understand and follow on the part of the students/participants.

CED0550 - Week Two

Identify at least two synchronous and two asynchronous online learning tools that would be appropriate for your targeted online learners.
Two synchronous learning tools that would be appropriate for my online learners would be a classroom program like Elluminate or WizIQ and some other communication tool like Skype or ToxBox. Asynchronous tools that I could use would be to set up my classes in Moodle or some other LMS and I would probably also choose to have students either start a their own blog or website to keep track of their accomplishments and learning.

List four different types of activities that you might use with your targeted online learners and identify an appropriate online tool to use in implementing that activity.
e-portfolio: I would have my students maintain a website using a tool like Weebly for the duration of the class to document in an e-portfolio their assignments and projects.
reflection: A link to a blogging site like Blogger would enhance the site and could be utilized as a place for students to reflect upon their work and progress.
discussion: In order to get a better grasp on the activities and tasks, I would have students participate in class discussions and would therefore use a discussion board to accomplish this. Utilizing forums in Moodle or the discussion section in a Ning would facilitate this activity so I would use the tool I am presenting to the class as our LMS.
collaboration: In addition to the individual work, I would expect my students to work collaboratively on some activities and so I would use a shared document editing program like GoogleDocs or etherPad. While doing the work, students would need to communicate and so I would suggest Skype to my students.

Is my initial contact warm and inviting? Are there things I did particularly well or could do better in the future?
I think my initial contact is inviting, but I’m not to sure about the warm part - it seems slightly clinical and like a laundry list of items to accomplish. I do really like the format as I think the information is readily available and easy to find but I could improve on making it more reflective of my personality.

Is my initial contact clear and concise and yet user friendly? What are some strategies that help to format your contacts to make them as clear and concise as possible?
I do believe my initial contact is clear and concise while remaining user friendly. I would take another suggestion (it came after I had already revised and submitted on Saturday) to include the list of programs that should be installed on the user’s computer. Strategies to format the contacts would be to create and use a banner headline for all contacts and possibly making use of visual cues in each contact. For example, if I used the “ducks in a row” graphic on all contacts where students had a list of items to accomplish, they may grow accustomed to looking in the same place for that information in all future contacts.

CEDO550 - Week One

So, I've really been intrigued this week with the discussion revolving around the debate as to whether or not online education is for everyone. It reminds me of the debate about using stem cells for research - the issue is so more complex than all or nothing and I fear that the asynchronous discussions about online education is fostering some slight misunderstandings as clarifications and explanations are minimal. I plan on taking this into consideration when asking students to participate in forums and discussions, noting that they cannot replace the need for synchronous opportunities to revisit some of those discussions.
As for the interchange regarding online education, I believe that any educator worth their salt is already incorporating online components into their classrooms. I really think that so many educators are using tools, lessons and interactives in the classroom, making us teachers that informally qualify as "blended" ed teachers. This isn't to say that the incorporation is utilized on a regular basis much less always as a best practice. I'll be the first to admit that I've used activities like this for my sub plans occasionally instead of worksheets. The activities are directly related to my curriculum, but I'm not sure that they're being utilized at their best potential.
This brings me to the point that I've found running through so many of my previous blog posts - there just doesn't seem to be enough time to complete and set up units of curriculum that are stellar - and that's what I think educators should strive for or we may be doing a disservice to our students. I mean - I'm still trying to get my "death by powerpoint" lectures and presentations cleaned up. I really think that if given a dedicated block of time every day (prep doesn't count!) where I was expected to do some of this work, I'd really be able to pull together all of these elements together so that I'd be able to teach in an online or distance learning venue in the near future.

CEDO540 - Session Five / CEDO550 - Week Zero

Time to wrap up another class. I'm a bit overwhelmed with the Week 5 materials for 540 and the Week 0 materials for 550 overlapping in conjunction with final exam week and starting a new semester (we're on block schedule so I have all new classes of students!) Whew, with that out of the way, I have to say that I still don't see the direct link between the tools available with GoogleTrends and my teaching. I mean I now know where tons of data can be found after completing my annotated list of sites for this week but I'm not sure how I, or if I would ever be using that in my classroom. I do however see that advantage for future use in graduate studies and I guess I could use some of the data from the WI-DPI web site as it directly relates to the student body that I work with. As far as GoogleTrends and GoogleInsight, I found those tools to be fun. One application I can think of is to check out common search terms for my family's business in Door County to see what terms and keywords people are using and comparing those to the words we advertise with. Again however, this "data" as far as I see myself using it is somewhat anecdotal.
Considering the beginning of CEDO550, I loved the modules that prepped for the online experience - I hope that some of these materials can be utilized earlier in the program for future MEIT cohorts as I found the resources exceedingly helpful and well organized. I did have a few issues with broken links but managed to find the information presented to me elsewhere. I'm hoping to create similar documents for "netiquette" to be used in my school - I think that the students and staff would benefit greatly from this information if it's formatted and ready to use and share.

CEDO540 - Session Four

So I understand the use of this competitive intelligence in data gathering and how it relates to statistics however I'm struggling with it's application to the educational field. I feel that post-secondary education may have more stake in that type of data analysis as there are ever more options for students and it would be interesting to see what keywords and search terms are resulting in hits to a big name school - say UW Madison for instance. Other schools both in and out of Wisconsin could use that type of information to gear their websites to garner more of the market.
However, I still have issue when it comes to applying this weeks material to my position in the educational field. The potential for applying this type of mainstream data analysis would no doubt prove useful in a world where the new mantra is "making data driven decisions" but until the platform exists - HitWise for education per se - this weeks exercises proved interesting but not really applicable.

CEd0540 - Session Three

Ahhhh, the return to work after the lovely vacation. I have to tell you that I really did enjoy working on the survey. Some of my perceptions about teachers and technology were supported and I'm really considering a follow-up to delve a little deeper. Who was it that said "The answer to one question only poses more questions?" OK, that was a really bad revision, but you catch my meaning - I really am wondering how to bridge the gap between great classroom instruction (utilizing technology) and just getting by with what the school requires.
I think about our technology inservice in the fall of the year and it's more about the nuts and bolts of how to get back online if you forgot your passwords over the summer or some new feature of a tool that we've previously used. Our district does offer some great trainings coupled with the time to begin implementation but topics are limited in scope again to what the district/school determines is beneficial. We have a new host for our web site that allows individual access to editing teacher or groups pages and our district currently uses Moodle so those trainings abound.
The problem is, we lack the visionary "look to the horizon" approach to see what's coming (or just recently arrived) so we can gather the energy and excitement. I can talk all I want about Prezi or Animoto and how great they are, but until educators have the opportunity to sit down and create with plenty of time, they won't learn how cool those apps are. (BTW - I did make one teacher sit down and create an Animoto to play behind her as she talked to the high school students about scheduling classes for next year...her first attempt at Animoto!)
But until we can get broad trainings and support for all teachers, then we're limited to an educational field with pockets and islands were great things happen in the realm of technology rather than an ocean of success.