Ko & Rossen, Chapter 13: Teaching Web Enhanced and Blended Classes ↓

I like this section about the blended classes on how to set up a good strategy between teaching on site and applying online activities at the same time.  It is so important, as stated in that chapter, not to give too many activities online rather acquiring the right set up to ensure a good balance between activities face-to-face and choosing the right online assignments to give to students outside the “physical” classroom. I particularly liked the following idea: “Consider what is best reserved for face-to-face delivery and be able to explain your rationale.” Rationale is the important word here: basically making sense when facing the students on the 1st day of class. Explaining your expectations  and knowing as well the students’ expectations so there is a flowing experience between the two.

I found the last part of the book being a good series of advice to the future online teacher and it can be summarized briefly: making sure that, as teachers, we especially need to do our homework also by staying afloat with the latest technological trends so we keep improving our skills just like students need to learn about their chosen discipline(s) at school, on site or online.

The new DREAM for teaching online to new teachers can be achieved and is certainly an important skill to keep well nurtured and which is on demand more and more. Last weekend, San  Diego Union Tribune had an article about this mentioning that pretty much all schools in the US have growing numbers of students registering to take online classes. As Ko & Rossen say: Lifelong learning is for everyone. It sounds good to me.

I read the Wikipedia definitions on Instructional Design and Educational Technology. In general, I am not a fan of Wikipedia and I don’t rely on this Internet source for anything because it can be edited by just anyone. For some reason, I wonder if the updating mode is always correct. I think Wikipedia is especially used by students because it is very easy to get basic general information without checking the intricate details. But in regards to the definitions above, I think it is pretty well explained with enough details and it does correlate with the reading we had to do (some parts) this week.

But…

I rather like listening to the video presentation given by Jim Julius! I found this part of the video very educative because it is simple, basic and it says it all on Understanding by Design:

I viewed Rick Schwier‘s viewpoint on the History of Educational Technology: I did not focus on this part of our “assignment” as much this week but I did appreciate all the details put forward to explain that technology has obviously an impact on our lives.

Definitely a contrasting view with Jaron Lanier with ” Does the Digital Classroom Enfeeble the Mind?” ↓

This article is so well written and I especially liked the paragraph below about our brain and the machines (computers) guiding us to a specific path but we don’t really quite know at the present time: our brain. We know certain things but not everything. It still remains a mystery somewhat, namely the secrecy of our brain:

The deeper concern, for me, is the philosophy conveyed by a technological design. Some of the top digital designs of the moment, both in school and in the rest of life, embed the underlying message that we understand the brain and its workings. That is false. We don’t know how information is represented in the brain. We don’t know how reason is accomplished by neurons. There are some vaguely cool ideas floating around, and we might know a lot more about these things any moment now, but at this moment, we don’t.

You could spend all day reading literature about educational technology without being reminded that this frontier of ignorance lies before us. We are tempted by the demons of commercial and professional ambition to pretend we know more than we do. This hypnotic idea of omniscience could kill the magic of teaching, because of the intimacy with which we let computers guide our brains.

So let’s not loose the magic of teaching by simply keeping our human touch and using what we need from technology but keeping some frontiers so we are not overwhelmed by it in order to make teaching a better and more fruitful experience for our students.

Post

I did some reading outside the articles we had to read and they basically all say the same about education technology but one article mentioned a few precise examples I like very much, which gave me some insights on how I could use some ideas for my own classes. For instance, taken from a site on educational technology below and following an excerpt in italics:

One school installed a virtual learning environment in which students used multiple content areas to solve complex problems. For example, in a realistic simulation, students had to plan ways to rescue survivors of a volcanic eruption by applying skills from their Geometry, English, Social Studies, and Science classes. One school had students observe the anniversary of September 11, 2001 by interviewing a survivor of the World Trade Center through Skype, and another took a virtual fieldtrip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in conjunction with a novel they were reading. One high school history teacher creates podcasts to introduce each unit by creating stories about the events and individuals involved; she reports students now approach the units with enthusiasm and questions rather than with indifference. Other high schools are experimenting with flipping their curriculum by having students view or listen to pre-recorded lectures and doing problem sets at home so that class time is reserved for discussions, group work, individual help, and consultation with teachers about projects.

I am not sure if I can do this in my language class knowing that we only meet 5 hours a week and we have to follow a specific teaching textbook but perhaps such technological “event” could be implemented a few times during any month while incorporating what is supposed to be learned. But I just have to get my neurons engaged and see what I can do next semester.

Another thought I share from the same site:

………However, it is important to recognise that it takes more than dedicated teachers to really implement change in any educational environment – it takes everyone working to achieve the same vision – technology-enhanced teaching and learning to prepare students for work and life in the 21st century.

This is complementary to week 19 : we all have to share what we know with the learning community. Dedicated teachers who know the technology will have to make sure that their students will embrace the same knowledge as them with passion and a desire for learning more and keep up with the new technology.

Finally, if we want to bring some changes to make our education system better (online, blended classes) with the latest technological tools, we also need to care about what students say about their teachers’ method of teaching:

http://educationtechnologysolutions.com.au/2012/09/03/electronic-teaching-evalation-student-perceptions-and-teacher-responses/ → A new appreciative inquiry culture needs to be fostered by teaching and learning champions to begin the conversation with the elements of curriculum and pedagogy that went well, moving to points for consideration and then ideas for improvement, and deciding how we are going to support teachers to implement the ideas, including those offered by students.

We also learn from the learners after all.

 

Ko & Rossen, Chapter 13: Teaching Web Enhanced and Blended Classes ↓

Some of the facts discussed in chapter 13 have already been mentioned throughout the book as put forward by the authors themselves but the specifics of blended classes are met here.

I don’t quite put myself in the category of teachers using a “little bit ” of the Web but I do use several Web features. There are some neat things I would like to try out in my classes this semester but considering the weekly time we have to teach our classes based on the departmental program, that we have to follow, I sometimes find myself limited as to use everything I see online as being interesting, fun and educational for a blended class.

But and as a matter of fact after discovering Personal Brain and Mindmeister just recently, I would like to suggest to my students to use either one for their next cultural assignment. So far, written and oral presentations have been done by my students using Prezi and the classical Power Point but I think that Personal Brain, Meindmeister and Map42 are great assets to be be explored by students.

♦Note: Even though we are in the XXIst century with what this implies in regards to technology, many students still shy away from the Web and rather stick to more conventional features such as Power Point because it seems safer.

I have a blog for my class and this semester no one is looking at it even for getting extra pts. So next semester, I will make it mandatory to bring some discussions forward. The subjects are based on cultural comparisons. I showed them some videos from the blog and ask them to present their viewpoints but the interest is lacking even if the videos are attractive, fun, colorful, etc. But it has not always been the case, though: some semesters were fantastic and the exchange of conversations was optimum.

In regards to lecturing, there is some of it, if we can call this lecturing: I do explain the grammatical points in class by using the digital book provided for the classes and sometimes the Power Point slides from the digital version. I really provide a mix of features for my onsite class: online quizzes through various Websites providing the answers, goanimate.com for creating short cartoons, exercises on paper done in groups and individually as well and discussing the answers together afterwards. Viewing of videos for oral comprehension oral assignments with the help of Power Point and Prezi.

Office hours as stated by Ko & Rossen are practically the office hours for invisible people: hardly anyone shows up except the students who need to make up a test…

Group projects are done in my classes also:  some tests, cultural assignments via Turnitin in Blackboard, skits in class as oral presentations, Voice Boards or Wimba via Blackboard also. Their favorite are the group tests and usually the grades are higher when students do those kind of tests together. Sharing the information and giving the answers to specific questions make them happier for some reason! Time well spent.

R. Graham, J. Hilton, P. Rich, D. Wiley, Using Online Technologies to Extend a Classroom to Learners at a Distance ↓

Michael Wesch’s Digital Ethnography ↓

I very much liked the Youtube video on Digital Ethnography: perfect background music and typing away the words telling us about our connection to the Web because we, people, are the Web. I thought that this diagram below is also a good example of what is portrayed on the Web because we are making all those connections everyday on a keyboard, phone or computer. At least for those of us who are using the Internet every day. I was amazed at the speed following the cursor on this video showing us all the facts put together with the tags, the RSS feeds, the blog creation, etc. to ultimately tell us that we are the big Creators of all of this. Very good entrance to WWW.

 

George Siemen’s post on theory and MOOCs:

This is a very good video showing the principles of connected learning: I really liked the use of paper drawings in black and white; simple and very effective with the vocal explanation. The example (the paper student) just showed that by using everything available on the Web makes you smarter. You become a “learning sponge” so to speak. To become a XXIst century role student model (same for the teacher), you have to follow the flow and share what you know so you can learn from others and they learn from you. Connection to the world community on the Web. An infinite loop. The way to go.

I like the following comment from the article: “Learners need to create and share stuff – blogs, articles, images, videos, artifacts, etc. The maker movement embodies the “create stuff” attitude.” It is not just the teacher who is working but the student learner creates and shares his knowledge with all of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

→Ko & Rossen, Chapter 11: Classroom Management and Facilitation ↓

There is a section I am familiar with for a past onsite class in reference to “The division of labor model” in chapter 11: One teacher split the Summer class with me and I took the other remaining weeks. Overall, it just did not work out very well because some parts of the textbook were not covered by the other teacher + the pace and the method were each very different compared to my way of teaching. Also the grading system did not match mine and other details. I do admit that we were not very well prepared besides agreeing on splitting the amount of work and I eventually had to do some catching up with the students so we could keep up with the Summer program. Good lesson for the future: be well prepared before taking on the “adventure” of teaching to avoid any drama and personality conflict.

Chapter 12: the section on “The belligerent student on the attack” sounds familiar too when I had a similar problem with an onsite class. It ended well thanks to the intervention from the disciplinary person on campus who greatly helped me in controlling the student. After being insulted (words and inappropriate gesture), I received the apologies from the student but that student never came back to class.

→Lisa M Lane, Insidious Pedagogy:

Lisa said: “This is because most college instructors do not work or play much on the Web, and thus utilize Web–based systems primarily at their basic level.: That’s true, most instructors know the very basics of a few Web tools to use for their classes. It takes more work to know about the entire technology of how software programs work and I am not sure if most instructors would be willing to find the time or even the interest to know the in-and-out of the Web. Blackboard, for instance, is catered for instructors at large and it does not take too “much brain” (I am not trying to be mean here as I am also among the instructors, who sometimes need help in case of problems)  to figure out how it works and when problems arise, you can always talk to the Blackboard specialist on campus to help you out. The default Blackboard buttons, mentioned by Lisa Lane,  are certainly very easy to use and you can always rename them to your preference.

Blackboard is technology at the “minor level” as I call it: it takes a few workshop or even just one to figure out how it works.

→Jennifer Demski, Rebuilding the LMS for the 21st Century:

After reading the entire article, I thought that this last sentence was very revealing of our present world: “A phrase we use a lot on our campus is that we feel it is our responsibility to train our students for the world they’re going to inherit, not the world they live in now, and certainly not the world we grew up in.” All this to say since it is an open conclusion is that as instructors, we have to stay very up to date with the new technology even more so when one teaches an online class. The key is to find the essential elements within that technology to stay interactive so we just don’t rely only on high tech tools to teach a distance learning class. The right balance is therefore to know about the students:

1) Who they are, their needs, their personality.

And

2) Making the Web tools available to them.

And

3) Making the personal contact a real opportunity through live chats, FaceTime, Live collaboration, voice e-mails, etc.

I also think (and mentioned in this article from J. Demski) that Google Apps is a very good tool for education purposes. After looking at the Google site, I see these apps with more “open doors” to interact with students than Blackboard, for instance. Many more options to make it so interactive. Better format. Nice layout. If Blackboard was not the required the CMS tool on campus, I think I would choose Google apps to teach.

→ Joyce Seitzinger’s Moodle Tool Guide, an example of an LMS critique based on pedagogical goals:

I like the chart. Perhaps, a bit overwhelming to my taste but certainly (if studied in details) a good way to make a decision as to use Moodle or not according to your teaching goals. A lot of details won’t hurt. Not enough details, will so I give a good grade to that chart!

Views on using a CMS/LMS

→ CMS with Blackboard↓

I was looking at quite a few different sites supporting CMS and LMS on the Web and I now start to understand the difference between the two because at first, I had no idea what these two terms meant. After browsing around the Web, I see (I think) that LMS and CMS do not replace each other because of the types of activities that they each feature.

One site I briefly looked at said the following: “It is necessary to understand that education is gaining long term knowledge while training is gaining knowledge for immediate application. CMS supports long term classroom sessions, while an LMS supports a number of short training events.”

I also now know that Blackboard I use everyday is all about CMS because CMS allows me  to create a course website, where my documents are uploaded in formats such as Word, Power Point, Prezi, etc. without having to convert them into HTML coding. And Blackboard does not require very specialized skills: it is easy to use by instructors.

Example of an excerpt from my Blackboard ↓

I never used Blackboard for an online class so far but knowing that it features a reliable discussion board, I can see the advantage of distance learning having this option. You post your course that leads students to several learning activities, so as the instructor, you are able to supervise any discussions through the discussion board.

→ CMS / LMS ↓

CMS but also LMS with the popular Moodle, which seems to be the best for educators. Although, some might not say so. I have not used Moodle. On my shopping list also besides Google apps.

I also look at a Moodle French class via Slideshare. It looks interesting and complete:

→

 

I was also looking at other LMS sites and there are quite a few on the market. Moodle is not the only LMS available, of course:

Docebo / eFront Dokeos / Claroline ATutor / ILIAS  / OLAT / Sakai LRN / openelms / Ganesha in French.

My little conclusion:

After all the reading and the web browsing, there are several LMS sites I have not explored yet but Moodle and Google apps are the attractive ones to me so far.

 

I read Lisa Lane’s blog post (the seven points!): I like the way it was outlined with the short and concise paragraphs. Straight to the point. The section about getting a blog not connected with a college made good sense. I can see the advantage in regards to having possibly (and hopefully) less technical problems. Last week my WordPress blog was rather frustrating for me and I am hoping that this week 17 will be like it used to be: to be inserted correctly into Pedagogy first! 

The section on the HTML code is very good also. Rachèle de Méo was mentioning the site Quackit. I used it in the past but now I don’t recall how I came upon this site. Quite some time ago. Very good reference , though. Merci, Rachèle!

And Lisa also talked about the learning techniques of grouping students, clustering assignments, and using templates. That is what I am doing even more this semester: group tests using templates, group assignments based on research, which result in the following:

• Less time correcting (I am very happy now!) because less pages.
• The students are very happy and they are still learning.

And I listened to the recording from Louisa Moon. She gave some very good insight on how to manage the rubrics and finding the proper way to respond to students. I like the fact that she said that teachers have a life too so you don’t have to spend countless hours on the computer responding to everyone and doing certain tasks, which can be done the right way if you are organized. Everything is a matter of organization in life. The same goes with running a business and “running” your thoughts in your head the right way also to avoid panic but staying calm.

Also this confirms my thoughts about being very technology oriented: Louisa was mentioning that the best teacher online is not necessarily the one who puts forward the high tech aspect of teaching online. Some of my students agree and they don’t like too much technology (some of it) rather the human part but I am only teaching an hybrid class for now so it is a bit different. I just know that I try to balance out the technology in class on the computer with my physical presence, talking to students, etc. The best of both worlds, I think.

And they are still students who have a hard time with Blackboard (quite a few never look at it) not knowing where to go even after showing them several times the sections, the documents, asking questions to make it easier for them, etc. So after this Spring break, I will have to show Blackboard again.

Another note → my back up after sending the e-mails for the assignments is in three sections within Blackboard: Messages + Tasks  and the Calendar so this way, they cannot say that they did know…BUT some students still never check their e-mails so what can I tell you…Those would never take an online class.

Ko & Rossen chapter 11 → I like the section on the online participation: it has to be graded to make sure that the students did do the assignments, not just opening the documents for some time and not doing anything. The higher the % is for a grade , the more commitment you should ideally get from the student’s involvement if the latter really cares. The group assignment is the guarantee that the students is involved by making comments in the shared discussion room.  The individual work has “to exist,” of course but a team work involves even more commitment because you have to focus, study and put your thoughts together to come up with your own comments.

Post on facilitation: two ways of looking at it  and one way to listen to it with Audioboo. Much simpler and especially quicker than Audacity a few weeks ago↓

 →  JPG image:

Ko & Rossen: chapter 10, Teaching online

 

This chapter made so much sense to me. It focuses on the obvious point that switching from an onsite class to an online course for the first time as a student is not that easy simply because it does require a good amount of self-discipline to be able to learn alone following directions from an online course. Everything is on a screen. The human interraction is not “physical” anymore (not quite real except for (somewhat) a video recording done by the instructor introducing himself/ herself at first or with Face Time on a Mac, for instance)  because you only have to rely on forums, discussion boards and  Skype if the instructor uses this tool. As noted in this chapter, the facial expressions, the hand delivered test won’t have their place anymore on an online class. There is also the technical part hoping that students will know how to manage with new software for some of them. Of course, the same goes for the instructor, perhaps new to this technology, who will have to know what he/she is doing by being beforehand well organized and knowing how to navigate between several different sofware tools. It seems to me that teaching online, if you are a novice and being a new student online as well, is a question of becoming  “a new YOU:” you have to re-train your brain into a new system of communication with others: understanding how to communicate in a new fashion if you are used to see and talk to people in person , knowing how to become interractive “digitally” with other students and your teacher and especially make sure that you know how specific online tools work. But again, it all depends on the teacher, who will have to prepare the “terrain:” make himself/herself available to students on a regular basis, have a clear, inviting and organized format online class, know how online tools work by explaining how this “new world” works to students  . As Ko & Rossen say it so well: the initial efforts for a well-organized online class have to come from a friendly  teacher who needs to set the tone from the very beginning.

 Nielsen Norman Group

Jakob Nielsen, College Students on the Web (2010): I did like this article a lot in reference to multitasks because it exactly relates to my 14 year old daughter: as I am typing away in this POTCERT blog right now quietly in the kitchen next to my dog sleeping at my feet (no TV, no noise except for the refrigerator) , she is doing her homework upstairs (both online and on paper) while being multitasked:  on Facebook, listening to loud music on Pandora  (or iTunes sometimes), text messaging to her friends (they are probably doing the same thing too tonight) and checking her e-mail on Yahoo. These activities are all done at the same time meaning that her brain needs to be split in different directions. I find it “impressive:” to be able to be “serious” (doing the homework) while having fun by doing what she wants to do and listen to. And that is after a day of volleyball practice and going to bed late the night before  (sleep-over with a girlfriend). I do not encourage this behavior but it seems to be a need for some teeangers to behave this way. The various attractions exist: social media, iPhone, etc., and the homework to be done is just another feature somewhere in between.

For the READING section in the article, it mentions that most teenagers are poor readers. We cannot generalize because some teenagers do read but perhaps and mainly because it is a requirement for school but again, there are exceptions to the rule. It might also depend on the parents: if children see their parents read instead of spending time watching TV. several hours a day, it will send a better signal to children, who would then be more inclined to read.

Richtel (NYTimes), Growing up Digital, Wired for Distraction (2010): I liked the Nielsen Group article being more of a survey but the one from the NYTimes is my favorite one because it gives specific examples so true to life.   What I was saying about my daughter does fit perfectly with this subject again: distraction and trying to work because you cannot do your homework without having fun at the same time. The serious side of life as a teenager in school has to mix with the fun part of life : being cool means to know what is going on around you via the social medias and still give some time to the homework but the latter is not the prime thing to do because teenagers think that there is always time to do the homework later so you wait until the last minute to do it. I could not agree more with this article: there is a real danger of being consistantly attracted by the Web when you spend so much time on it on a daily basis. You just cannot focus on one thing well because you are always tempted to switch back to other “fun” things instead of doing one thing at a time well and in less amount of time. I like this sentence in this article, which basically summarizes everything when Mr. Diesel asserts about teenager students that “It’s in their DNA to look at screens.” So true. The Web is ok when you know how to use it but the main important thing is not losing your “deep analytical thought” (Mr. Reilly, p.6).

• ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information  Technology (2010): My actual experience is based on my students’ connection to the Web on a daily basis: they use (most of them)  Skype and their smart phones (but not all of them) to do their homework online on Blackboard. Such a small screen but they are ok with that, I guess. A question of habit. But I have several students who have their laptop in my classes while I teach so they can access the same sites as me when I show them in class on a big screen. To them, it is easier to see because they are closer to their eyes and at the same time they often  check other websites at the same time to see if what I show has the same content on similar websites. A few students have iPads but most of them prefer a MacBookPro or a PC laptop. Text messaging during class time is still a problem and they frankly don’t care when reminded not to use their phone. They stop to please you but do it again 10 minutes later. Not every student behaves this way but quite a few do. And in regards to homework, there is still a good number of students who rather like doing their homework the old fashioned way on paper rather than online. But there are, of course, students who like doing their work online too so this new technology is definitely an option to those who prefer a screen instead of a hardcover workbook.

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