My experience has not been from the perspective of a teacher but, that of a sales person aiding to facilitate the introduction of technology into classrooms and districts. The changes discussed will happen but, not rapidly. There are too many variables.
First and foremost, districts struggle financially to upgrade their aging technology to simply bring it up to acceptable levels. I worked with a district a school in Grosse Pointe 2 weeks ago that was still running XP on most of their computers. How can they possibly begin to think about online learning?
In situations where students are motivated and have access to outside means to achieve requirements online even when there school doesn't we cannot stand in their way. The scenarios on the class blog were very interesting. In the case of the student with leukemia, this is exactly why online learning is so wonderful. The student can keep pace in way that helps them but, doesn't exclude them because of their illness. In the case of the family that just "doesn't like" the teacher, that to me is another story. We have all had to work with individuals we did not like and that in itself is a learning experience. I do not agree with the student taking the class online because of that reason.
The change will come but, it will be slow and steady.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Virtual K-12 week 12 Post 2
I learned a wealth of things from the reading that really did surprise me. First, that in the 1930's Educational Radio was the original virtual learning tool. Next, that in the internet's humble beginnings it should not surprise me that education jumped on the band wagon. It has proven to be a vast medium and the growth potential is still exponential. This weeks readings expanded my knowledge of Virtual Learning and validated some of the things I already knew.
The Clark study revealed the fact that Virtual K-12 has been around since 1995. To me the internet still seemed pretty wild and wooly - a vast, unharnessed and uncharted place back then. My first job that involved daily computer use was in 1993. As an undergrad I was just beginning to use the internet for some of my research papers and on-line classes were something I knew nothing about.
Reviewing all the data on Michigan over the course of the studies proved to be very interesting as well. I have to say that I felt a sense of pride learning that Michigan has been a pioneer in the Virtual K-12 arena. Seeing the growth in courses offered and teachers employed, albeit part-time, but none the less, employed in the Virtual K-12 field proved to be very revealing.
I also found the "on-line class requirement" for K-12 students to be interesting. It does make perfect sense though. Students need exposure to this type of learning because it brings about a different type of critical thinking and a different type of learning experience. Reading through the myths proved a point as well. Socio economics do not necessarily mean that poorer districts do not have the same access to technology. Perhaps it is not available in the home but, many of the schools strive to provide it for the students.
Home schooling has proven successful over the years. I cannot see any reason why full time virtual K-12 schools will not experience the same success. Funding will always be an issue debated in education forever. There may not be a perfect solution. If the means used to educate children guarantee that everyone has access to the best opportunity available to them then it cannot be bad.
The Clark study revealed the fact that Virtual K-12 has been around since 1995. To me the internet still seemed pretty wild and wooly - a vast, unharnessed and uncharted place back then. My first job that involved daily computer use was in 1993. As an undergrad I was just beginning to use the internet for some of my research papers and on-line classes were something I knew nothing about.
Reviewing all the data on Michigan over the course of the studies proved to be very interesting as well. I have to say that I felt a sense of pride learning that Michigan has been a pioneer in the Virtual K-12 arena. Seeing the growth in courses offered and teachers employed, albeit part-time, but none the less, employed in the Virtual K-12 field proved to be very revealing.
I also found the "on-line class requirement" for K-12 students to be interesting. It does make perfect sense though. Students need exposure to this type of learning because it brings about a different type of critical thinking and a different type of learning experience. Reading through the myths proved a point as well. Socio economics do not necessarily mean that poorer districts do not have the same access to technology. Perhaps it is not available in the home but, many of the schools strive to provide it for the students.
Home schooling has proven successful over the years. I cannot see any reason why full time virtual K-12 schools will not experience the same success. Funding will always be an issue debated in education forever. There may not be a perfect solution. If the means used to educate children guarantee that everyone has access to the best opportunity available to them then it cannot be bad.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Virtual K-12
I am not a full time classroom teacher. The information I have gleaned from technology directors and curriculum directors is the best knowledge I have on virtual learning. It is loosely tied to my industry. With the web based BYOD technology that I have sold and supported students can participate in assessments from anywhere via the internet.
My first exposure to the virtual classroom was in 2009. Smaller school districts in the thumb area needed to offer foreign language classes to their high school students. The population did not support a full time teacher at any of the area high schools. Through a virtual option the schools offered the classes to these students. They took place in the school and were taught by a certified instructor through the company K12 in a virtual environment. The students attended via the computer lab at the school.
My next exposure was in 2010. A school district in greater Detroit was offering credit recovery options to their high school students. The students were able to take the classes from home. The tech director shared that this was to decrease the drop out rate by offering this alternative.
My niece and nephews, who are home schooled in Maryland, have taken virtual classes in order to meet the requirements set forth by the state in order to graduate. They are able to take more advanced classes that the homeschooling group are not able to support as well.
Here in Oakland county there has been heavy television and direct mail advertising for virtual schools and academies. It is my understanding that there are no limits to the variety of classes being offered. The companies I am aware of that offer virtual schooling have certified teachers in the instructor role.
After attending ASCD March 15th through the 17th it became very apparent that all that is virtual is the future. ASCD was as much a technology conference as it was curriculum. Everyone seems to be able to provide everything virtually.
My first exposure to the virtual classroom was in 2009. Smaller school districts in the thumb area needed to offer foreign language classes to their high school students. The population did not support a full time teacher at any of the area high schools. Through a virtual option the schools offered the classes to these students. They took place in the school and were taught by a certified instructor through the company K12 in a virtual environment. The students attended via the computer lab at the school.
My next exposure was in 2010. A school district in greater Detroit was offering credit recovery options to their high school students. The students were able to take the classes from home. The tech director shared that this was to decrease the drop out rate by offering this alternative.
My niece and nephews, who are home schooled in Maryland, have taken virtual classes in order to meet the requirements set forth by the state in order to graduate. They are able to take more advanced classes that the homeschooling group are not able to support as well.
Here in Oakland county there has been heavy television and direct mail advertising for virtual schools and academies. It is my understanding that there are no limits to the variety of classes being offered. The companies I am aware of that offer virtual schooling have certified teachers in the instructor role.
After attending ASCD March 15th through the 17th it became very apparent that all that is virtual is the future. ASCD was as much a technology conference as it was curriculum. Everyone seems to be able to provide everything virtually.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Wikis and You Tube
The best thing about Wikis and You Tube is the endless amount of information available on literally every topic. The worst thing about Wikis and You Tube however, is the exact same thing, endless amounts of information. The key is how you parse though it. If these 2 existed in the early days of my undergrad life would have been both simpler and more complex.
I found both to offer very credible information on topics. In the case of Wikis, I generally use them as starting points to go deeper into a topic. To me it is like an onion with hundreds of skins. Peeling back the right one to get to what you want and following that path. There is definitely extraneous information at every Wiki but, again, narrowing the field of a particular and following that path leads to great research opportunities. I never start and end at a Wiki. I use the wiki to give me more food for thought.
I use You Tube for similar research. During my Elementary Literature course at times I found it very helpful to research a book and find a video of someone reading the book. It gave me a great deal of help in understanding the appropriate cadence and inflection when reading the book to students.
I use You Tube a great deal in my professional and personal life as well.
Professionally I can nearly always find videos on how competing technologies are used in a classroom. This helps me prepare a features and benefits presentation of the products I represent and a better understanding of how we measure up to other products.
Personally You Tube is a go to for me for all sorts of things like creating a blind hem on a sewing machine or learning a particular cooking technique. It is all out there, you just have to be patient when researching the content.
I found both to offer very credible information on topics. In the case of Wikis, I generally use them as starting points to go deeper into a topic. To me it is like an onion with hundreds of skins. Peeling back the right one to get to what you want and following that path. There is definitely extraneous information at every Wiki but, again, narrowing the field of a particular and following that path leads to great research opportunities. I never start and end at a Wiki. I use the wiki to give me more food for thought.
I use You Tube for similar research. During my Elementary Literature course at times I found it very helpful to research a book and find a video of someone reading the book. It gave me a great deal of help in understanding the appropriate cadence and inflection when reading the book to students.
I use You Tube a great deal in my professional and personal life as well.
Professionally I can nearly always find videos on how competing technologies are used in a classroom. This helps me prepare a features and benefits presentation of the products I represent and a better understanding of how we measure up to other products.
Personally You Tube is a go to for me for all sorts of things like creating a blind hem on a sewing machine or learning a particular cooking technique. It is all out there, you just have to be patient when researching the content.
PLN
When it comes to blogs and twitter I really do not get as much out of them as I could. Incorporating them into the fabric of my daily work responsibilities does help me to stay abreast of industry trends and ideas that are new on the horizon. For those things I rely on Edsurge.
https://www.edsurge.com/
I have been reading Edsurge for a few years and find it tremendously helpful when incorporating trends into discovery meetings with schools. Edsurge has a twitter feed as well but, I prefer the news letter.
As a substitute teacher I always attempted to strive for something new that could help fill a void. Even the best of lesson plans left me with empty space because I was never as prepared or fluid as the teacher who taught the class full time. I relied on a number of current event type sites and like the children's Book A Day Almanac
http://childrensbookalmanac.com/
I knew in advance the grade I was teaching and could reference a new book or author and share with the students or bring up the website if I had access to the technology and discuss new books with the students.
In my K-12 studies as an undergrad I majored in social studies and always found maps to be fascinating. I hoped to share my love of maps and how interesting they could be and stumbled upon this site from Wired Science
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/maplab/
It goes beyond the traditional map and provides opportunities to explore.
My twitter usage and feeds really reflect industry technology trends in K-12 and eLearning and revolve around MACUL and ISTE. The content is impactful for my day to day tracking of industry trends and who's who.
https://www.edsurge.com/
I have been reading Edsurge for a few years and find it tremendously helpful when incorporating trends into discovery meetings with schools. Edsurge has a twitter feed as well but, I prefer the news letter.
As a substitute teacher I always attempted to strive for something new that could help fill a void. Even the best of lesson plans left me with empty space because I was never as prepared or fluid as the teacher who taught the class full time. I relied on a number of current event type sites and like the children's Book A Day Almanac
http://childrensbookalmanac.com/
I knew in advance the grade I was teaching and could reference a new book or author and share with the students or bring up the website if I had access to the technology and discuss new books with the students.
In my K-12 studies as an undergrad I majored in social studies and always found maps to be fascinating. I hoped to share my love of maps and how interesting they could be and stumbled upon this site from Wired Science
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/maplab/
It goes beyond the traditional map and provides opportunities to explore.
My twitter usage and feeds really reflect industry technology trends in K-12 and eLearning and revolve around MACUL and ISTE. The content is impactful for my day to day tracking of industry trends and who's who.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
SAMR
I am a sales professional in the Interactive Classroom Technology space and have represented products that include interactive white boards (IWB), clickers and the like. I have the opportunity to work with faculty from all grade levels in orientation and training pertaining to the technology the school has adopted.
One of the examples I have used in orientation for the IWB is a traditional worksheet. In the case of substitution, rather than handing out individual sheets the worksheet is shown on the IWB. The worksheet can now be annotated over, notes and other pieces of information can be written on it and the entire image can be saved. The saved image can be emailed to students or saved as a PDF to be printed later.
Common classroom activities, such as quizzes, can be augmented with basic clicker/responder technology. The quiz can be distributed to the students either on paper or projected on the board. The students take the quiz and respond via their clickers/responders. The answers roll directly into the software and are scored via the teacher's key that is built into the software when the teacher creates the quiz. Valuable time is saved for the teachers and depending on how the feature is set up the students can receive their scores immediately or the teacher can choose to provide them at a later time.
With virtual library collections becoming more available in the K-8 community new options for comprehension and vocabulary become available and leads to my idea on modification. The company Star Walk provides the opportunity for the entire class to check out the identical book. Readers progress is stored and can be accessed by the teacher. The reader can virtually high light passages, words, phrases and any content they have questions about. This content can be revisited by the student.
I am citing an example that was shared with me by a physics teacher at Ludington High School for redefinition. He used Edmodo extensively in his classroom. Edmodo is a "social learning platform" website for teachers, students, and parents. It is often referred to as the Facebook for schools. He would share videos or video tape science experiments for his class and the students would view them at Edmodo and collaborate and interact with one another identifying what was happening in the videos. He cited that often precious resources for experiments were not always available and posting these videos expanded the experience for his students.
One of the examples I have used in orientation for the IWB is a traditional worksheet. In the case of substitution, rather than handing out individual sheets the worksheet is shown on the IWB. The worksheet can now be annotated over, notes and other pieces of information can be written on it and the entire image can be saved. The saved image can be emailed to students or saved as a PDF to be printed later.
Common classroom activities, such as quizzes, can be augmented with basic clicker/responder technology. The quiz can be distributed to the students either on paper or projected on the board. The students take the quiz and respond via their clickers/responders. The answers roll directly into the software and are scored via the teacher's key that is built into the software when the teacher creates the quiz. Valuable time is saved for the teachers and depending on how the feature is set up the students can receive their scores immediately or the teacher can choose to provide them at a later time.
With virtual library collections becoming more available in the K-8 community new options for comprehension and vocabulary become available and leads to my idea on modification. The company Star Walk provides the opportunity for the entire class to check out the identical book. Readers progress is stored and can be accessed by the teacher. The reader can virtually high light passages, words, phrases and any content they have questions about. This content can be revisited by the student.
I am citing an example that was shared with me by a physics teacher at Ludington High School for redefinition. He used Edmodo extensively in his classroom. Edmodo is a "social learning platform" website for teachers, students, and parents. It is often referred to as the Facebook for schools. He would share videos or video tape science experiments for his class and the students would view them at Edmodo and collaborate and interact with one another identifying what was happening in the videos. He cited that often precious resources for experiments were not always available and posting these videos expanded the experience for his students.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Unit 2 Week 3
This week's articles were thought provoking. The scope of each and the date they were written was very telling in terms of the content. Mazer's article on Facebook showed the exponential growth and direction that has taken the social media site from a college campus hangout to a global phenomena.
I do agree with some of Mazer's points. As students we are curious about who our instructors are beyond the classroom and perhaps it makes them more human. That glimpse into their life that students got in 2007 via Facebook was very new. Fast forward 7 years and according to the video from the college in last week's content Facebook is a diversion that keeps students from engaging in classroom rigors. Does having access to your proff's Facebook page today make you a more affective learner? I doubt it. When much of what we hear about Facebook and school age children and young adults is negative and sensationalized I cannot imagine this is what Zuckerberg had in mind.
The Barrett K-12 observations on Google drive and collaboration was interesting in that it opened the door for multiple types of learning. Learning the content, learning social skills of collaboration and learning the technology. At some point everyone needs team skills and these early forays can be helpful. Not being a full time classroom study I would like to learn what some of my fellow classmates who are have experienced when using technology and collaborative exercises in their classes.
Worley's article on global learning projects was fascinating. The resources cited in the article seem valuable as well for educators to source these opportunities. Taking teams of students from around the globe to pursue research and local sentiments on subjects is a definite plus. You never know how similar you may be until you explore a subject that is deeply interesting to both groups.
I do agree with some of Mazer's points. As students we are curious about who our instructors are beyond the classroom and perhaps it makes them more human. That glimpse into their life that students got in 2007 via Facebook was very new. Fast forward 7 years and according to the video from the college in last week's content Facebook is a diversion that keeps students from engaging in classroom rigors. Does having access to your proff's Facebook page today make you a more affective learner? I doubt it. When much of what we hear about Facebook and school age children and young adults is negative and sensationalized I cannot imagine this is what Zuckerberg had in mind.
The Barrett K-12 observations on Google drive and collaboration was interesting in that it opened the door for multiple types of learning. Learning the content, learning social skills of collaboration and learning the technology. At some point everyone needs team skills and these early forays can be helpful. Not being a full time classroom study I would like to learn what some of my fellow classmates who are have experienced when using technology and collaborative exercises in their classes.
Worley's article on global learning projects was fascinating. The resources cited in the article seem valuable as well for educators to source these opportunities. Taking teams of students from around the globe to pursue research and local sentiments on subjects is a definite plus. You never know how similar you may be until you explore a subject that is deeply interesting to both groups.
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