How will I build community and inspire discourse? What are the Non-LMS tools that will help me and how? Community – Edmodo – This tool allows teachers to create assignments, place them on a calendar, and have their students submit their assignments electronically all in one place. Alerts can also be sent to students to remind them of assignments that are coming due or past due. Teachers can also create quizzes and poll their students. What I like about this tool is that it offers easy-to-use apps that personalize learning for every student, as well as the option to create badges to award students. Discussion – VoiceThread – This tool is a cloud application that is used to upload, share and discuss documents, presentations, images and audio/video files. There are five options for making comments made on VT slides: microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio file upload. VT can be private, shared with specific individuals or with the world. What I like about this tool is that it offers a way of sharing ideas that isn’t often used. Usually online learning involves a lot of text and this opens the door to share using our voices, but can also be replayed at a convenient time to listen. Communication – Skype – This tool allows users to communicate with peers by voice using microphone, webcam and instant messaging over the internet. Phone calls can be placed to the recipient on the traditional telephone networks. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free of charge. Skype is a powerful educational tool that connects students to each other, to their teachers and to communities throughout the world. What I like about this tool is that it is widely known about and familiar for most students to use. There is little to no learning curve and students can focus on their task at hand rather than having to figure out a new communication tool before even starting to communicate with their peers, teachers or community members. Collaboration – KidBlog - Kidblog was designed for teachers to use with students. It is aimed at every student from K-12. Each student is able to create their own personal blog space and publish posts in a secure academic classroom environment. Teachers have control over student blogs and user accounts. What I like about this tool is that it is a safe environment for my students to post their thoughts as I have control over comments and the users admitted to the learning space. I know my students would love to create a space that is their own to house their work and then give peer feedback and collaborate on projects through comments. I also like that this tool would be a fantastic host for an e-portfolio! How will you provide content, interactivity with content, and organization? What are the Non-LMS tools that will help you and how? Dashboard – Google Sites – This tool has a great deal of flexibility and is familiar to a wide range of users. It’s easy to edit, invite users to the side and alter permissions, and privacy settings are simple to set. What I like about this tool is that it has a number of tools within it and it is easy to edit and make unique to the course being created. Content/Lessons/Presentations – Weebly - This tool offers a free online website creator. It uses a simplistic widget-based site builder that operates in the web browser. All of Weebly’s site elements are drag and drop. What I like about this tool is that it is familiar and very user friendly. I know colleagues that have used this site with their students and it was very easy for them to navigate on their own. File Sharing – Google Drive – This tool is a service to share text, video, images and audio files. It offers 5 GB of free storage. Google Drive is useful for collaborating on documents as all group members have access to the document at any given time and can work together in real time making changes that appear in assigned colours. What I like about this tool is that it is well known, and it is most likely students have some sort of experience with it already. Calendar – Google Calendar – This tool is simple and straightforward. It is cloud based and can be shared/synched with others. It allows for easy entry and deletion and fulfills the duty of a calendar. What I like about this tool is that is so simple to use. I don’t feel a calendar needs to be flashy; it is serving the purpose of time management and reminders. How will I handle assessment as, for and of learning? e-Portfolio – Weebly - This tool offers a free online website creator. It uses a simplistic widget-based site builder that operates in the web browser. All of Weebly’s site elements are drag and drop. This tool is that it is familiar and very user friendly. I know colleagues that have used this site with their students and it was very easy for them to navigate on their own. What I like about this tool is that it is a great host for an e-Portfolio and since it is easy for students to navigate on their own they can get started on the content of their e-Portfolio straight away without a very steep learning curve regarding the tool their using to create it. Here is a link to my e-Portfolio in Weebly: Tracy’s e-Portfolio. Reflection/Journals – Weebly - This tool offers a free online website creator. It uses a simplistic widget-based site builder that operates in the web browser. All of Weebly’s site elements are drag and drop. This tool is that it is familiar and very user friendly. I know colleagues that have used this site with their students and it was very easy for them to navigate on their own. Again I have chosen Weebly for another aspect of my course tool-kit because it is so user friendly and familiar. There isn’t a lot of fuss with building a webspace/blog through Weebly and therefore the majority of a student’s time can be spent on the task at hand, in this case their learning reflections/journals. Grade Book – LearnBoost – This tool is a free grade book that allows users to create and share lessons, track attendance and input grades, which are updated instantly. Parent and student access means no surprises come report card time and stats can be put into various graphs to chart progress, identify strengths and weaknesses. LearnBoost allows teachers to customize grade scales, allow for weighting of assignments, set up classes and assignments quickly and easily and create seating charts based on student strengths and weaknesses. What I like about this tool is that it is free and offers several “extras” besides simply hosting and organizing student’s grades. Presenting – Soometa – This tool is very simple, easy and a quick way to develop a presentation. Information can be downloaded from Youtube, Google, or your computer straight onto each slide. Sound tracks can be included and the backgrounds are interchangeable. The ease of navigation with this tool is apparent and will serve students well. What I like about this tool is that it is user friendly and something new besides the standard PowerPoint presentation. Assignments – Edmodo – This tool allows teachers to create assignments, place them on a calendar, and have their students submit their assignments electronically all in one place. Alerts can also be sent to students to remind them of assignments that are coming due or past due. Teachers can then also return assignments to students with feedback attached. What I like about this tool is that it offers both a place for students to submit work and also for the teachers to return marked assignments with feedback attached. Feedback – Edmodo – This tool allows teachers to create assignments, place them on a calendar, and have their students submit their assignments electronically all in one place. Alerts can also be sent to students to remind them of assignments that are coming due or past due. Teachers can then also return assignments to students with feedback attached. What I like about this tool is that it offers both a place for students to submit work and also for the teachers to return marked assignments with feedback attached. OR Feeback – Google Drive – This tool is a service to share text, video, images and audio files. It offers 5 GB of free storage. Google Drive is useful for collaborating on documents as all group members have access to the document at any given time and can work together in real time making changes that appear in assigned colours. This tool can also be used to provide feedback to students when they share their work with their teacher. This may be a useful tool for works in progress so that teacher feedback can be given before a final project is submitted through Edmodo. What I like about this tool is that it is well known, and it is most likely students have some sort of experience with it already. Self-evaluation/Peer-evaluations – Hot Potatoes – This tool includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the Web. Hot potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded, non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web. What I like about this tool is that it allows students to work independently at their own speed with the opportunity to revisit. Quizzing – Google Forms – This tool allows students to answer multiple choice or multiple select, true/false, scale and other forms of questions. The instructor can then go to the spreadsheet created by the form to evaluate the student quizzes all in one place. What I like about this tool is that it fits nicely with the other Google tools I have chosen and will be familiar territory those using Google for it’s many tools. This week I have been looking into Non-LMS tools for use in a future Non-LMS course build. I was searching for tools to promote/host collaboration among teachers and students as well as just the students. I came across 4 that I thought were different from one another, but all enhanced the sharing component in online learning. I was able to connect with a particular reading this week by Ali Jafar, Patricia McGee and Colleen Carmean called “Managing Courses, Defining Learning: What Faculty, Students, and Administrators Want. They had written a section pertaining to collaboration tools and I think it was worth highlighting and reflecting on. “Faculty and students want more technology options built into the course experience: audio, video, easy-to-use IM and SMS (Short Message Service) tools. The incorporation of collaborative tools like Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, de.lic.ious, and wikis is an attractive feature. Poorly implemented synchronous communication tools (whiteboard, chat, group surfing) were often mentioned as the reality of the current L/CMS and were not used by students. At the same time, some students were hesitant about using tools such as MySpace and Facebook in the course experience: “You wouldn’t want to look at what we’re writing and doing in there.” I think it’s interesting that students shared that they don’t want to use Facebook as a means of communicating in an online course. I think Facebook has it’s pros and cons in the learning environment, but that’s a whole different blog post. For now I will say I think after researching collaborative tools for use in the online learning environment there are plenty of other options to choose from that will accomplish what Facebook would be accomplishing among a group of learners. There are plenty of ways to interact as a group and in real time as well as on our own time. I’m hoping that through this week’s group assignment of building a repertoire of tools to choose from to build a non-LMS tool kit it will provide a variety of options to build into the course experience and give everyone involved in the online learning environment just what they are wanting. Read the entire article here. The act of creating a course had me quite intrigued as I am someone who prefers to be hands on (in this case, hands on keyboard). However, after starting the process of building the required parts of a course this week I am a bit deflated. I feel rushed, even though I still have a few days to tinker with what I have created. I want to really spice up what I have, but the time I’ve already put in is taking away my desire to invest more time at this particular moment. I am also frustrated with the “error” messages I keep getting and not knowing if I have actually created what I was asked to create. It is my hope to create a course online for my final Masters project. This small snippet of creating course content has me a little freaked out! There is so much more to add than what I have just done. I have merely added a skeleton. I would want to link course content and outcomes and really watch the flow of material as well as make my lessons incredibly more meaningful. I could see this turning into a very daunting project and an evolving one. This is a huge undertaking for just one person. I wonder how many people create and build the courses that are bought by school districts for their distributed learning programs? It is my goal to flip a paper-based Planning 10 course into a fully online course. I started to build a project plan for this idea in OLTD 502, however after watching Claudia Dornbusch’s video showing the steps she takes before the creative process of building an online course it made me realize I missed a few key points in my original plan. She suggested having a voice over for the content of the course. This made me think that would be a very helpful tool for the students that this course will be serving as it will be used at an alternate high school where a high percentage of students are reading far below grade levels. Having the option to listen to the questions instead of reading and focusing on comprehension the students could then focus more on the content of the material. This is something I will be adding to my project plan. Another suggestion Claudia made that I will be implementing in the development of my online Planning 10 course is gathering graphics and colour scheme information. This made me pause for a moment as I will need to find copyright free graphics or create my own graphics for use in this course. This was not something I had considered and will need to include in my management plan. I’m sure there will be plenty of items like this that will come up unexpectedly and I will have to find ways to properly execute them. The video Claudia has shared was most informative and I would recommend it to anyone in the planning stages of an online course. Click the Project Management Stages image to view Claudia's video. “Tony Bates is President and CEO of Tony Bates Associates Ltd, a private company specializing in consultancy and training in the planning and management of e-learning and distance education. The company was started in 2003, and since then has served over 40 clients in 25 countries.” If you would like to know more about him and his work you can check out his story at Tony Bate’s website. Tony has posted his “Outlook for online learning in 2013: online learning comes of age” and his predictions seem very encouraging. He has made ten key predictions starting with online learning moving from “being an interesting sidebar, operating on the fringes of an institution’s core, to becoming central to an institution’s operation. His next prediction is that it won’t be MOOCs that drive this shift but rather hybrid learning, meaning “the re-design of courses to integrate the best of online and campus-based teaching” and learning. He also expects to see institutions create strategic plans to incorporate hybrid and/or flexible learning. Of all his predictions the growth of tablet use in educational institutions is the one he is most uncertain about. While we are aware of their positive uses there are negatives such as the cost to students to purchase one, lack of courses designed for tablets, and lack of institutional strategy for blended and online learning. And his last prediction is to “expect the unexpected” as some major “Internet players (Apple, google, Facebook, or Amazon) jump into the online learning market, perhaps in partnership with some elite universities, and take a major share of the for-credit online market, because of lower costs, quality content, and accreditation from elite universities.” While Tony notes that “most of [his] forecasts are a continuation of existing developments rather than startling new advances in online learning” he is positive that “online learning will come of age, will become a central, core activity in most universities, will be strategically planned and managed, pedagogy will become more important, and learning as a result will become deeper, richer and more flexibly accessible.” If you would like to read all of Tony’s predictions for Online Learning in 2013 you can read it here. I leave you with these questions to ponder: Do you agree or disagree with Tony’s predictions? Why or why not? Where do you see online learning going in 2013? ***Tracy scored 50 points in Avi's OLTD 504 class*** My Online Learning philosophy has been formed based on the Constructivist Theory. The Constructivist approach emphasizes active participation from the learners in a social manner. Charles Wedemeyer’s vision for Online Learning is for the learners to have, “freedom of choice” (Gunawardena, 1981). He created his theory in a time when Online Learning was at a beginning stage in regards to technology and yet he could foresee a greater learning model in the form of personalized learning online. Wedemeyer put more learning responsibility on the learners so that they would feel a sense of pride and ownership in their learning. I agree with Wedemeyer’s theory and have drawn on his learning approach to create my own. When implementing a “’learner-centered’ or ‘student-centered’ design” I may face such issues as time constraints and lack of resources (Downes 2005).The very thing that makes 'student centered' learning such an intriguing way to learn may also be the biggest downfall for the teacher. If I as a teacher have to create an individual education plan for each student based on their needs and interests that will inevitably cut into my time that would have otherwise been spent guiding them in their learning. Depending on how involved this individual plan has to be I may also need the input of school specialists. Being that the idea of 'personalized learning' is a new concept it is still unclear what the protocols around such learning will be. Simon shares the point that “if each child is unique, and each requires a specific pedagogical approach appropriate to him or her and to no other, the construction of an all embracing pedagogy or general principles of teaching become an impossibility” (Simon 1999). Student centered online learning is “more than just adapting for different learning styles or allowing the user to change the font size and background colour; it is the placing of the control of learning itself into the hands of the learner" (Downes 2005). I whole-heartedly want to give my students freedom of choice in their learning and embrace this new concept of personalized learning, however I still struggle with how the implementation of it will occur. Another challenge that I may face is the time it will take to guide my students in the area of 'student centered' learning. If they have never experienced this type of learning they will first need to be educated on what it entails. This in itself will take some time and I will have to allow for an adjustment period at the beginning of the course for both my students and myself. It will be a learning experience for all involved. However, on the positive side, I see endless learning opportunities through the use of my teaching philosophy! Being in charge of your learning can open up so many avenues for learning opportunities to occur. Students learn in different ways and also “like to learn different things and hence any offer should involve a reasonable amount of choice” (Attard 2010). It is important to recognize that “students have different pedagogical needs [and] some learn better through trial and error, others through practical experience” (Attard 2010). Some students may learn “by reading literature, [while] others need to debate and discuss theory in order to understand it” (Attard 2010). Students that are usually disengaged in a face-to-face class will have an opportunity to excel and show their understanding in a way that makes sense to them and interests them. Students have diverse interests and they should be encouraged to explore them, as it is well known that students are more successful if they are able to relate to their learning. There are more opportunities for students to be engaged in their learning if they are the ones choosing their learning path. With guidance from their teacher and collaboration from peers they can feel they own their learning and they are in control. This makes their learning have much more meaning and I believe that reflects positively on their learning and understanding. References Attard, Angele, Emma Di lorio, & Koen Geven. October 2010. Student-Centred Learning. Toolkit for students, staff and higher education institutions. Retrieved March 4, 2014 from the World Wide Web:http://download.ei- ie.org/SiteDirectory/hersc/Documents/2010%20T4SCL%20Stakeholders%20Forum%20Leuven%20-%20Student- Centred%20Learning%20Toolkit.pdf Gunawardena, Charlotte (1981). Distance Education. Retrieved January 8, 2013 from the World Wide Web: http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/file.php/118/Week10/Gunawardena-McIsaac-distance-ed.pdf Simon, B. (1999). Why no pedagogy in England? In J. Leach and B. Moon (Eds.), Learners and Pedagogy. London: Sage Publications. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from the World Wide Web: http://www.aishe.org/readings/2005-1/oneill-mcmahon-Tues_19th_Oct_SCL.html |
AuthorTracy is a teacher in School District 79 (Cowichan Valley) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She graduated from Vancouver Island University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education and English as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Education. She is currently completing an Online Learning and Teaching Diploma and a Masters in Leadership. Archives
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Here you will find a blog of my learning that is happening in the OLTD program at VIU.
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