First Blog 555

Maybe it is just me, but it seems that I am the only one who has not dealt with portfolios prior to this class, but I asked by very helpful group who seemed to be seamlessly handling all assignments if I were the only one who did not have experience with portfolios and they all told me I am not the only one. I still find that hard to believe as I listened to their conversation and checked out their exemplar portfolio examples. Mine were a hodgepodge of different portfolio examples while theirs were useful actually examples that I would be proud to produce.
Ryan and Kara supplied very helpful examples I will add here.
Ryan example
Kara example

Though I had no Ideas what kind of rubric to put together until I saw examples provided by John and compared my production to that of my teammates it was a very helpful exercise as it made this totally fuzzy far off vision of what the heck a portfolios is a bit clearer, not crystal clear but kind of like when you blink and your contact moves or rotates and everything is slightly out of focus but you can recognize them.
So I think I have got it. I am going to have to put together a online representation of myself as a professional teacher.

So thanks for all the patience and assistance from my cohorts, take care.

550 week 6 reflective blog

• I will use what I learned in this course over the next 30 days by . . .
I use the elluminate online synchronous application tool daily in my work. I have learned some valuable strategies that I can apply to my synchronous teaching. I have also been exposed to some helpful strategies for successful asynchronous strategies that I can use in my course when giving feedback for my discussion boards.
• I will use what I learned in over the next year by . . .
I will be using the techniques learned in this class when putting together the online curriculum for next years and the following years curriculum as we change to criteria based system and gain more control over our curriculum. I will particularly work to improve my student instructions working to make them clear concise and uniform throughout my class and across the science department were possible.
• After completing this course I would like to learn more about . .
Criterion based grading and teaching practices.

Week 5 reflection 550

My experience with online communities has been . . .
A great learning experience. I teach online and learn online and I have benefited in both arenas.
Almost every online interactions while teaching is working with a student who is reaching out for assistance or actively participating in synchronous or asynchronous activities. There is very little arm twisting or "baby sitting" which for me are real gumption traps. I have energy to make the learning environment better for my students.

The online learning environment has been flexible and very efficient use of my time and energy and the learning has been directly related to what I am doing for my career.
I believe the biggest benefit of collaborative groups is . . .
The bar is usually set higher for the collective than for the individual and peer interaction leads to more understanding for all.
I believe the greatest challenge of collaborative groups is/would be . . .
The greatest challenge that has shown up for me while working in our cohorts collaboratively has been the scheduling of time to work in a synchronous manner.
My thoughts regarding the social development and socialization issues are . . .
The online environment is a very good option for some students and some online socialization is recommended for all students as a skill needed in the future.
With that said the ability and ease of communicating will only increase so the online interactive skills set may be more important for all students in the future not just the online learners.

Most folks who use the internet are using as a learning tool or a communication tool as is.