Using Technology in F2F is possible too

I joined Diigo in 2010 and I have now 384 bookmarks. I used to share the links of websites and videos I visited during my classes when I taught at a private elementary school. Parents were scared of what I was going to show their children when the school bought a projector for every classroom (you know, Latina, from South America… dangerous). The principal wanted us to show only videos from her list. No one of them was in Spanish or had anything to do with what I wanted to teach (culture or language). Then, I made public lists in Diigo for every grade and sent the link to the parents. I told them that everything we see in class will be saved in the classroom list. Many kids really appreciated because they could go home and re-watch videos they liked and share them with their parents. The principal also could that way see whatever I showed in class (although she never did) and everybody was happy! I love Diigo, Diigolet and all about it! The exercise we did this week of highlighting an article and make sticky notes is an excellent way to make students read, comprehend and share. I can definitely use this with a Spanish article or newspaper.

I couldn’t find any pitfalls for Diigo; however I did find Second Life challenging for the students and also very easy to get distracted and deviate focus from the learning objective. I do not think I would use Second Life in my online class; but I did enjoy playing with it and seeing myself beautiful and traveling to gorgeous places!

So here I am playing with the tools POTCERT introduced this week. First I tried to hangout in Google + with a group of colleagues from this class. I found Pilar, Lisa, Todd, Daniele, Helen, Jean and Jo but nobody was there to hangout with me 🙁

While I was waiting, I started playing with all the gadgets I could find. As you see in this picture, I did not waist my time waiting! What I loved here was the apps you can share while you are hanging out. You can share documents with Google Drive; you can play a video or make a list of favorites together in YouTube and even keep talking over the video that is playing. Another great thing is that you can record the entire session. This is AMAZING and super easy to use!

With no luck in Google Plus I decided to explore Voicethread. I have used this tool before with no success. My students did not like it. The truth is that we cannot expect too much when we are not an online class. Some students like to do extra online, some hate to do it. This was years ago. I think Voicethread is now more accessible and easy (maybe it is just me getting more comfy with technology). I took a screen picture of me recording a comment. Please, do not think I have nothing to do…

Since I do not teach online yet, I am going to talk (or write) about what I do to create a nice learning environment for my classes. I made a list of tasks I like to do in my face-to-face classes and I created a column with what I think one would be able to do in the online environment  Some of the items have a question mark with the hope of getting some answers from my POTCERT classmates 🙂

I have to admit that although I do not teach online yet, I am a tech “addict” and I have learned all this goodies just for my face-to-face classes and for my own delight. I am constantly looking for fun stuff to learn.

First I took the test and I got one incorrect answer (the open source one). Then, I read and saved Dave’s page. Html is not something  you learn from reading one time! I took many classes on html and I still need help because, like piano, if you do not practice it frequently you forget it all 🙁  When I need html I use Kompozer;  Notepad, or if I am at a Miracosta campus I use Dreamweaver, and time to time you find out that knowing a little of html saves you a lot of time.

I use Google Reader and I added Pedagogy First ‘s Blog feed now. I am a fanatic of Google. I use: Google Drive, voice, reader, sites, blogger, chat, plus, picasa… and anything else you propose!

And for the video, I learned a new way to embed it. It is simple and easy. I chose this video that talks about teachers using WordPress Blog for their classes. I like WordPress and since Miracosta Provides it, I think I will consider start blogging soon for my F2F classes, at least.

Here it is, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INpaScF5mvo

Laura

Creating an Effective Online Syllabus

A good syllabus was always for me an essential part of planning my classes. My department gives us a well-designed syllabus that we must follow. There is little room for changes; however, I add my own projects and grading criteria and calendar. Looking at Ko & Rossen’s checklist looks like the department got it all! For an online class all it needs is to have more links and technical support and explanations. I really like Pilar’s idea of posting Wimba Voice Authoring giving them a little explanation of every project. That is something that I will definitely have.

With my 25 years of experience I can say that writing the syllabus is not the most important part of the course. The most important part is for them to read it and understand it! Every semester I get over and over emails asking questions which answers are very clear in the syllabus. This semester, I decided to try something different, it looks like it worked! (I did not receive any questions yet). I published my syllabus and calendar in two public Google Docs (or Drive now). I posted the PDFs in Blackboard but I did not print 70 copies of the 5 pages documents. Instead, I printed a few documents with the link (shorted by tiny.cc) and the QR code. I passed the pages around and I made students with smart phone to save the website in their phones. That way, that did not have the excuse that they could not get to Bb. The rest of the students had to write the tiny url on their agendas or notebooks. Less than half of the class had smart phones or new how to scan a QR code. Nevertheless, they appreciated and liked this format. I also made a required test on blackboard with 10 questions about the syllabus.

I feel like every week I am more and more enthusiastic about the idea of teaching online!

This week I thought a lot about the design of my course. From the readings of the book and the article and videos I watched, I have put together these elements I am thinking in incorporating to my online class:

1. Set objectives and goals aligned with the department SLOs
2. Follow the textbook order regarding activities and content
3. Use Lisa’s charts to outline the course
4. Use table 3.2 p.63 in Ko & Rossen to plan weekly activities
5. My design is going to be clean and easy to navigate. I would love to copy Pilar’s idea of having a main default page where the main content is in the center of the page week by week.  In the menu, I will make sure I only have the most important information.
6. I will try my best in create a syllabus that includes and respect all learning abilities or “diverse talents”
7. Regarding communication with my students I thought in giving them a google voice phone number where they can leave a message for me from their phones.

I would like to have an outline completed for my class before we start with all the tech tools we could use in the class so I can organize every activity. I realized this week that I will not just upload my PPs but I will have to make them all again since they will not be any longer a visual aid but instead they will be an entire lesson.

Also, the article IMPLEMENTING THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES made me think a lot in my face to face course. I am thinking now in diverse ways to increase communication and feedback with my students and I am putting more attention in making lessons accessible to all my students and their learning capabilities.

This week I really enjoyed reading the book; reviewing Lisa’s charts; and watching the model videos of online instructors. I asked in the Facebook Group Discussion a question that was very well responded for several of my colleagues and clarify my thoughts. I was trying to fill Lisa’s charts following the departmental SLOs and the pedagogical goals and I found myself not knowing if I could make any type of synchronous communication with my students. I felt the need to know this in order to fulfill my objective of evaluate the verbal communication of my students. The Fb conversation was very diverse; but in the end I think it was clear to me that if I decide to make synchronous oral evaluations I need to communicate this very well at the beginning of the class and set at least two time-options (one AM and other PM) for them to sign in.

I am not sure if I am ready to design an online course yet; but definitely this week got me very excited about it and made me feel good to know that being an experienced teacher and knowing the mechanical aspect of the online environment will help me decide which instructional activities I will do aligned with the learning outcomes.

I also want to thank all the POT instructors and my mentor this week. Besides the responses I got in Fb; I had to email them with problems with my blog and they responded to me and solve the problem almost immediately! I know at least one instructor personally and I know she is a mother, a wife and a full time instructor… HOW DOES SHE DO IT!! I can only hope to be as good and as dedicated as they are.

Gracias!

Laura

:-8

Well, I must tell you… that is how I feel!

I had a terrible week in the personal aspect; but I managed to survive fine. I had the head back yesterday and I used the entire day to read, do the questionnaire and watch all the videos.

Did you say 4 hours a week? Uhmm… I must be very slow!

Anyway; I would like to start with the book. It was interesting, although it felt a little repetitive and obvious some times. We know that when we teach online we can teach from anywhere! However, I loved the part where it says that to teach online you have to be a people person. That is something I always thought; you can actually have more one on one contact with a student via online than in a class with 35 students. Looking at the screencast videos of the instructors I saw how some of them have a chat window open in their CMS. I loved that idea, and I agree, if you are not a people person, you would not like to chat or answer questions one on one.

As I said before, I do not teach online yet; but I would love to do it one day. I use many resources I learn from this type of courses as much as I can on my class Blackboard. My questionnaire result number was 10; I truly believe that students should construct their own knowledge and that instructors should be open and pay attention to the students needs and learning styles. It is difficult; I am not saying I do it; but certainly, at least I try.

As for the Getting Started Chart; I think it is an excellent starting point. Thank you POT team, this week material and the questionnaire are truly an excellent starting point for our future online classes. Can’t wait to start planing one!

Have a great weekend and see you next week,

Laura

 Hola! I am Laura Carlsson. Yes! I am from Argentina… but; no, I am not the girl in the picture 🙁

I teach Spanish as an associate faculty at MiraCosta College. I do not teach online (yet) but I always wanted to utilize all the available technology in the classroom to make it fun (for the students and for me!) and for that reason I am ready to start this challenge and learn MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO!

The cute picture you see in the blog header are two of my 5 grandchildren. The little one on the right is the son of my daughter and her Brazilian husband. They are leaving next week to try a better life in Brazil. I brought my kids here 16 years ago for better opportunities. We passed through a lot to get our American citizenship and a decent life… and now they go other places with better possibilities. Isn’t that sad?

Well in a much happier note in these next pictures you see me (the real one) with my two daughters, Analia and Cecilia (the one leaving) and my son Lucas with our dog Fred (Alfredo). Hopefully, you can guess who is who 🙂

I have a lot to tell you about me, but I am guessing this is not the last opportunity we will have to get to know each other.

Thank you Lisa and Jim!