Ok now do I have your attention. I do not know about you but there are times when I try something new or read about some study and just sit back and think, "that totally makes sense and is so simple and yeah that will make my class so much better and why didn't I think of that on my own" or some similar run on internal voice sentence that expresses the idea. During this course I have hand that particular run on sentence internal conversation many times. That one is helpful the others I have had are
"How in the world am I supposed to be able to do that?"
"There is not enough time in the Day for what I do now!"
"I wouldn't be such a sucky teacher if I just had more time.... Ok one more game on NCAA 10 and the badgers win the national title game dang I Lost.... 14 games later.... Ok one more game and the Badgers win the national title..... rinse and repeat...
Today's enlightenment came simply by completing our latest assignment. I took my first lesson for the upcoming Environmental science class simply organized the material and then analyzed in briefly noticed some flaws made some simple changes and upgraded the lesson immensely. The whole process only took a few hours. I usually do this right before I teach a lesson but by then there is an approaching deadline and many other things to do. So this sucky teacher will be a bit better next year .... and then better the following and so on. You know that might just work hmmm....
P.S. sorry for all the .... but just in a hmmmm.....mood.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Week 4 Collaboration and reinforcement
Of the topics discussed this week the one I struggle the most with is implementing the collaborative learning piece into my online course. I believe the way in which my classes structured make it very difficult to implement the collaborative assignments. I have a set curriculum for my AP classes and their is a small piece The Discussion Board that is collaborative. Otherwise with the amount of information and time constraints I cannot really make any changes to those classes. In My Environmental class I could implement some collaborative assignments as it is of a manageable size and has a adaptive curriculum. This is where I will be able to be the most creative and flexible. The majority of my students are in my Biology class. The difficulty here is that there I teach literally hundreds of them. With so many students all with different degrees of interest, abilities and technology skills it seems impossible to set up manageable groups etc for truly collaborative work. I have used discussion boards in the past with limited success. I can and do incorporate some short collaborative activities in my online presentations using Elluminate. All ideas are welcome.
The online environment also makes it difficult to give directed effective reinforcement. Difficulties arise when you have a large number of students that you deal with in a virtual manner. There are students that you interact with on a weekly basis and some you may never directly interact with. Even the ones I do get to know, the interaction is not the same as a face to face environment. It is important in the online world to find ways to personalize the education experience though not necessarily for all students. I guess it comes down to giving all the students the opportunities to interact, and the online environment does have an advantage in this regard. My students can have access to me many hours almost every day including most weekend and evenings. So for some of my students the reinforcement happens but with many the most effective tool I have is a timely emial.
The online environment also makes it difficult to give directed effective reinforcement. Difficulties arise when you have a large number of students that you deal with in a virtual manner. There are students that you interact with on a weekly basis and some you may never directly interact with. Even the ones I do get to know, the interaction is not the same as a face to face environment. It is important in the online world to find ways to personalize the education experience though not necessarily for all students. I guess it comes down to giving all the students the opportunities to interact, and the online environment does have an advantage in this regard. My students can have access to me many hours almost every day including most weekend and evenings. So for some of my students the reinforcement happens but with many the most effective tool I have is a timely emial.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Week Three
This week was spent exploring the graphic organizers listed. I had used inspiration with my children on projects they completed for the middle school and found it easy to use, colorful and useful in organizing their work. I felt the use of inspiration increased their understanding of the material covered.
Bubbl.Us
Is a brainstorming web application. It is quick and easy to use. It is free and you can easily create simple bubble graphic organizers. I believe this would be a simple application for the students to use as well.
The Cmap tool could not be down loaded onto my work laptop and so had to wait.
Education Oasis
Seemed to be helpful though not opened ended as the others still an instructor may find some very useful preformed organizers. This site was also free.
Exploratree
Was also a free online application. It used thinking guides which are tools or frameworks for thinking through an issue. You had the freedom to create you own or use a ready made thinking guide. They seemed to be pretty well organized and easy to use. I viewed several of the ready made guides and found them apperanty useful, though they each contained a category that confused me. I created a link to a thinking guide I used to critiue or evaluate the exploratree site. http://www.exploratree.org.uk/c/?x=father710223803u993horse
Hope it works, let me know what you think.
* bubbl.us brainstorming web application
* creates bubbles in a graphic organizer
* very easy to use
* limited to bubbles and colors but quick and dirty
Cmap tools needed to be downloaded to my computer which I cannot due on my laptop
Downloaded to my desk top easily enough. Found it much less intuitive than the others though that may be because it is more powerful. Yet to be determined. I could not gain access to the public Cmaps which was frustrating. So overall I would have to give the Cmap an incomplete though it is lacking in convenience and ease of use.
Inspiration used in the past bubbl.us seemed to be the same at its basic level
Education Oasis graphic organizers
* seemed to be helpful though not opened ended as the others still an instructor may find some very useful preformed organizers.
Exploratree
Use thinking Guides tools or framework for thinking through an issue.
you can create from scratch or you can use a ready made thinking guide, pretty flexible and free, can work collaboratively but only one at a time hmmmm.
I have used power point in the past to produce flow charts or graphic organizers I could see how each of these tools would aid in their production.
Bubbl.Us
Is a brainstorming web application. It is quick and easy to use. It is free and you can easily create simple bubble graphic organizers. I believe this would be a simple application for the students to use as well.
The Cmap tool could not be down loaded onto my work laptop and so had to wait.
Education Oasis
Seemed to be helpful though not opened ended as the others still an instructor may find some very useful preformed organizers. This site was also free.
Exploratree
Was also a free online application. It used thinking guides which are tools or frameworks for thinking through an issue. You had the freedom to create you own or use a ready made thinking guide. They seemed to be pretty well organized and easy to use. I viewed several of the ready made guides and found them apperanty useful, though they each contained a category that confused me. I created a link to a thinking guide I used to critiue or evaluate the exploratree site. http://www.exploratree.org.uk/c/?x=father710223803u993horse
Hope it works, let me know what you think.
* bubbl.us brainstorming web application
* creates bubbles in a graphic organizer
* very easy to use
* limited to bubbles and colors but quick and dirty
Cmap tools needed to be downloaded to my computer which I cannot due on my laptop
Downloaded to my desk top easily enough. Found it much less intuitive than the others though that may be because it is more powerful. Yet to be determined. I could not gain access to the public Cmaps which was frustrating. So overall I would have to give the Cmap an incomplete though it is lacking in convenience and ease of use.
Inspiration used in the past bubbl.us seemed to be the same at its basic level
Education Oasis graphic organizers
* seemed to be helpful though not opened ended as the others still an instructor may find some very useful preformed organizers.
Exploratree
Use thinking Guides tools or framework for thinking through an issue.
you can create from scratch or you can use a ready made thinking guide, pretty flexible and free, can work collaboratively but only one at a time hmmmm.
I have used power point in the past to produce flow charts or graphic organizers I could see how each of these tools would aid in their production.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Week 2 class 525
online environment feed back can be difficult as interaction is limited, example.
"Good work on the project, you did not answer # 15 correctly check out page 459 in your book."
"Ok, but you did not answer most of the questions, please contact me so we can discuss how to improve this grade and I can assist you on the project."
"This work is incomplete, please re-due." poor feedback
Examples of possible feed back. One, only effective if the student reads the comments, two only effective if the students care what the comment say. Also those students online that turn in incomplete work rarely (never in my experience) contact me or resubmit the work. That does not mean meaningful feedback is not important as many of the efforting and motivated students gain better understanding and increased motivation by proper feedback.
The article reminds us that descriptive feedback which relates to the skills being learned and accessed is the most beneficial.
Erased snarky comment about time and number of students and amount of feed back in effective feedback example.
Most of the time I do not have as much time as I would like in order to produce the most effective feedback. It is not really a question of understanding what is effective feedback, most teachers I would argue have learned what is effective though it is helpful to be reminded. The limiting factor on effectiveness for me personally is the number of students and time available for individual feedback.
I do believe rubrics can be helpful for both the student instructor as they are a effective way to let students know what is expected of them. Using and referencing a rubric can be time consuming when grading many different types of assignments as I do online but it can also be a time saver when grading many of the same types of assignments. Rubistar was an application that allows for building of basic quick and dirty rubrics. It may be slightly useful in a onetime manner for a science teacher.
Quia is not a free service it costs $49 a year. It would be a nice resource for students. It would allow for diverse practice with immediate feedback.
online practice quizzes auto graded
IQ Academy of the school District of Waukesha uses Blackboard. This allows for several types of feedback.
1. Automatic grading of certain types of questions for immediate feed back.
2. Areas for comments on essay or short answer questions including automatic generated responses. Ex. Refer to page 524 figure 5 on photosynthesis.
3. Word processing or spread sheet documents are turned in electronically. The instructor can then grade and comment on the assignment and make it accessible by Students.
Use Elluminate for synchronous presentations were group work presentations praise etc. can be used.
"Good work on the project, you did not answer # 15 correctly check out page 459 in your book."
"Ok, but you did not answer most of the questions, please contact me so we can discuss how to improve this grade and I can assist you on the project."
"This work is incomplete, please re-due." poor feedback
Examples of possible feed back. One, only effective if the student reads the comments, two only effective if the students care what the comment say. Also those students online that turn in incomplete work rarely (never in my experience) contact me or resubmit the work. That does not mean meaningful feedback is not important as many of the efforting and motivated students gain better understanding and increased motivation by proper feedback.
The article reminds us that descriptive feedback which relates to the skills being learned and accessed is the most beneficial.
Erased snarky comment about time and number of students and amount of feed back in effective feedback example.
Most of the time I do not have as much time as I would like in order to produce the most effective feedback. It is not really a question of understanding what is effective feedback, most teachers I would argue have learned what is effective though it is helpful to be reminded. The limiting factor on effectiveness for me personally is the number of students and time available for individual feedback.
I do believe rubrics can be helpful for both the student instructor as they are a effective way to let students know what is expected of them. Using and referencing a rubric can be time consuming when grading many different types of assignments as I do online but it can also be a time saver when grading many of the same types of assignments. Rubistar was an application that allows for building of basic quick and dirty rubrics. It may be slightly useful in a onetime manner for a science teacher.
Quia is not a free service it costs $49 a year. It would be a nice resource for students. It would allow for diverse practice with immediate feedback.
online practice quizzes auto graded
IQ Academy of the school District of Waukesha uses Blackboard. This allows for several types of feedback.
1. Automatic grading of certain types of questions for immediate feed back.
2. Areas for comments on essay or short answer questions including automatic generated responses. Ex. Refer to page 524 figure 5 on photosynthesis.
3. Word processing or spread sheet documents are turned in electronically. The instructor can then grade and comment on the assignment and make it accessible by Students.
Use Elluminate for synchronous presentations were group work presentations praise etc. can be used.
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