CEdO 550 - Week 6 - Teaching Online

As part of the last two weeks I have completed the synchronous and asynchronous facilitation for the group.  This was an enlightening experience.  Both challenged me in ways that I had not considered.  The synchronous presentation was fun, but it was also hard to come up with a good prompt that would cause discussion in the group.  Once the discussion started it was also hard to keep everyone focused on the points that I wonted to bring out.  There certainly were some other good ideas brought out, but they were not necessarily the ones that needed to be covered from the article that I covered.  In the end I was able to keep the class on track by  asking leading questions that steered the conversation back to the points I wanted to cover.

For the asynchronous discussion I was better able to moderate the discussion, but here too there were some surprises.  The responses I got were not as specific as I hoped.  My biggest take away is that it is important to be very specific in your questions in the rubric.  Overall this class was a great experience, and I am looking forward to taking these skills into my first real online teaching experience as my company develops the new software training.

CEdO 550 - Week 5 - Collaboration

This week was all about collaboration in online learning.  I think this is a necessary part of the online learning experience, as it gives students a way to connect with others.  Especially for those students who might be struggling, a collaborative group will give them a way to get help outside of going to the instructor.  Some students might not be willing to speak up in a large group setting, but will be more willing to do so in a small group.  Also by requiring online discussions they will have more people to share ideas with, and to explain concepts that might be confusing.

Two lessons that I have learned about using these groups through this program.  First the instructor should assign the groups.  If left up to the students you may end up with groups of uneven size, and some people may be left out.  The people left out are the ones who most likely will need the help.  Also groups should be set up early so they have adequate time to set up a meeting.  Second the expectations for the group should be clear and should involve significant leeway for discussion.  The group should be able to work together to arrive at an answer, preferably one that will require all members of the group to contribute.

CEdO 550 - Week 4 - Meeting Students Needs

This week we had to rework one of our existing class lessons and make it more student centered.  Student centered learning involves the students teaching each other, and learning though experiences, more than the teacher lecturing from the front of the room.  It certainly has some great results, although you do have to think about creative ways to present the lessons.  Really abstract concepts are harder to convert, but it can still be done.

Another really interesting part of this lesson was the concept of Authentic Assessments.  Rather than test someone's ability to guess the best multiple choice answer,  they would apply the skills from the lesson in a real world scenario, or at real as possible.  In my case I would like my students to use their knowledge of electronics to pick out the best device in a category from an actual ad.  This skill will help them anytime they want to buy a new electronic device, and give them real world skills that they can apply in the future.  This si the best demonstration that they have mastered a concept.

CEdO 550 - Week 3 - Putting It Into Practice

For the next three weeks students in the class will be called on to facilitate both a synchronous and an asynchronous discussion.  In my case I chose a topic that I will be able to use in the future, namely how to start and manage an online learning program.  I hope to use the lessons from this topic as I start working to create an online learning program for my company's new software roll out.

The hardest part about selecting the topic for discussion was finding an aspect of the original article that could both provide a basis for the discussion, yet still reinforce the ideas from the text.  The synchronous discussion will be about the different characteristics of online programs and how they will affect the management of the program.  It will specifically address the 6 characteristics of an online program.  The asynchronous discussion will continue this then by asking the students talk about which of the 6 characteristics is the most important.  By talking through both of these topics we can reinforce the key aspects of the article, while still allowing freedom for the students to build on those ideas.

CEdO 550 - Week 3 - Online Education

This week we had to choose

Week 2 CEdO 550 - Synchronous vs Asynchronous

Given that my background is based in IT, I was already familiar with the concept of synchronous vs asynchronous communication.  These two terms appear often in IT, usually referring how to computer programs talk over a network.  It is interesting to see how the same problems apply to teaching as to making these programs work.

The biggest problem with Asynchronous communication is making sure that a message does not get lost.  Because the feedback is not instantaneous, you might not be sure if your message was even received, much less processed.  In online learning, this is like sending an email and not getting a reply.  Did the instructor even read my message?  The key here is to make sure that recipients get prompt feedback, or at least set some expectations about how quickly you will reply to emails.

The biggest problem in Synchronous communication is having too many messages coming at once.  This is like having too many transactions to process on a computer, or having everyone talk at once in class.  Here again the key is to set rules up front.  Let the class know that they should raise their hands, and limit open discussions to very small groups.

Both Synchronous and Asynchronous are needed in order to have a successful learning experience.

CEdO 550 - Week 1 - Creating Online Lessons

I think my biggest take away from this first week is the need for instant and frequent feedback when creating online learning programs.  Just as the assessments need to be varied and adapted to a wide variety of learners, the feedback also has to take many forms.  First of all, the online lessons should be short (10-20 minutes each), and there should be a quick quiz at the end to give the students some instant reward.  If possible this quiz should include real world examples or problems.  Once that is done, then there should also be a larger assessment at the end of a unit, and grades for these should be made available as soon as possible.  Finally. there should also be frequent interaction with the instructor, either in regular weekly sessions, or by email.  Instructors may need to initiate this for the more introverted students in the class.

Online instruction can really isolate a student, especially since there is no face to face interaction.  By providing frequent and varied feedback, instructors can help students stay engaged in a class.

Week 6 of 535 - The Big Finish

Over the last 6 weeks I have been posting about the ideas that I have gotten from this class, and how they might be applied to the problem of rolling out a new software product for our company.  For this last entry, we are to provide specifics of what we might to to begin translating these ideas into actions.  In my case there might be some delay, as we are still finalizing the selection of the software product that we will buy, so until that decision is made it will be hard to design the training program.

However for next steps I think the key will be to share my ideas with others who are involved with the project.  I have created a Wiki that collects these ideas and asks for more ideas and feedback from others on the team. (softwaretraining.pbworks.com)  This site will serve as the brainstorming playground for many people.  My plan is to share this site each time someone joins the project.  The new person and contribute their ideas, and comment or build on the ideas of others.  I will have this site in place by the end of November, so that we can start collecting ideas in December.  The actual rollout of the software will begin in January, so training will probably happen in the second half of 2012.  This will be a very exciting project, and I am looking forward to applying these ideas in the real world.

CEdO 535 - Week 5: Other apps

This class has come at exactly the right time for me.  As I have referenced several time before, our company is embarking on a change to our most critical piece of software, and the ramifications from this will touch everyone in the company.  It will create a great need to manage the organizational change, and will require a training program that can address the many different jobs and levels of experience in the company.

One of the biggest challenges that we have been able to identify is the different groups that our training will need to address.  We have many young workers who are familiar with technology and who will have no problem picking up the software, but we also have many people who have been working at the company for 20 or more years, and have been using the old software system for that entire time.  These people will have a harder time adjusting to the change, and providing them with training and support will be critical to the success of the project.  I was thinking of this issue when I read a statistic from Chapter 9 of the book.  The fastest growing segment of Facebook users are people over 55.  Chances are a good percentage of our older workers are already familiar with Facebook and Social Networking.  If we can just find a way to provide them with a similar resource within our company, then that could be the basis for an organizational change and training program.  Security rules mean that we will probably not be able to use Facebook itself, but we might be able to leverage an internal social networking site.

The social networking site would also serve as a portal to many of the other training materials, including blogs, video blogs, screen casts that demonstrate common business functions of the software, and a host of other possibilities.  We could also use it as a way to link to the more formal training materials, including PowerPoint presentations, video recording of training sessions, and other documentation.

The biggest takeaway I have from this week is the wide variety of Web 2.0 applications that are out there.  As part of our assignments we had to discover and evaluate another Web 2.0 app.  I chose WeToKu, which is an online video broadcasting app.  It also allows interviews, where two users are sharing a face to face conversation (via webcam) and broadcasting the result to a wide audience.  This looks like a useful tool, but the bigger lesson is that there are many tools available.  As the web grows and changes, some companies will come and go, and a tool that you might have used will no longer be available.  We have already seen that in this program, as some of the websites we used a year ago are no longer around.  However there will usually be new and better services available, and teachers will need to be prepared to look for the other possibilities.

CEdO 535 - Week 5: Other apps

This class has come at exactly the right time for me.  As I have referenced several time before, our company is embarking on a change to our most critical piece of software, and the ramifications from this will touch everyone in the company.  It will create a great need to manage the organizational change, and will require a training program that can address the many different jobs and levels of experience in the company.

One of the biggest challenges that we have been able to identify is the different groups that our training will need to address.  We have many young workers who are familiar with technology and who will have no problem picking up the software, but we also have many people who have been working at the company for 20 or more years, and have been using the old software system for that entire time.  These people will have a harder time adjusting to the change, and providing them with training and support will be critical to the success of the project.  I was thinking of this issue when I read a statistic from Chapter 9 of the book.  The fastest growing segment of Facebook users are people over 55.  Chances are a good percentage of our older workers are already familiar with Facebook and Social Networking.  If we can just find a way to provide them with a similar resource within our company, then that could be the basis for an organizational change and training program.  Security rules mean that we will probably not be able to use Facebook itself, but we might be able to leverage an internal social networking site.

The social networking site would also serve as a portal to many of the other training materials, including blogs, video blogs, screen casts that demonstrate common business functions of the software, and a host of other possibilities.  We could also use it as a way to link to the more formal training materials, including PowerPoint presentations, video recording of training sessions, and other documentation.

The biggest takeaway I have from this week is the wide variety of Web 2.0 applications that are out there.  As part of our assignments we had to discover and evaluate another Web 2.0 app.  I chose WeToKu, which is an online video broadcasting app.  It also allows interviews, where two users are sharing a face to face conversation (via webcam) and broadcasting the result to a wide audience.  This looks like a useful tool, but the bigger lesson is that there are many tools available.  As the web grows and changes, some companies will come and go, and a tool that you might have used will no longer be available.  We have already seen that in this program, as some of the websites we used a year ago are no longer around.  However there will usually be new and better services available, and teachers will need to be prepared to look for the other possibilities.

CEdO535 Week 4 - Podcasting, Screencasting, and Social Learning

This class has certainly given me many ideas that I can apply to my current job.  As I have mentioned several times before, we are looking at a major overhaul of our corporate software.  All of the technologies that we have talked about in this class could be directly applied to the training program that this software will require.  What I like best is that it will allows us to capture the knowledge of the individuals themselves as they are using the software.

For example, this week I especially like the idea of screencasting.  As we install the new software we will have several early adopters.  These will be people who work with the software who are experts in their particular area of the business.  Rather than creating a long, pre-packaged training presentation for everyone, we can have these early adopters create a screen cast that shows how they perform individual functions of the software.  These will be especially powerful if they can be tied to common tasks or procedures that the users will be performing.  The early adopters will then publish their screen cast in a blog or Wiki, and will make it available to the rest of the company.  Other users can search for the particular procedure or task that the screen cast illustrates.  They will receive their training in short video segments, instead of one long class.

I also like the idea of using blogs to record the thoughts of the early adopters as they learn about the software.  This can help smooth the transition as others begin to use it.

CEdO535 Week 3 - RSS and Photo Sharing

We covered two main tools this week - RSS feeds and photo sharing.

I definitely can see uses for RSS feeds in my current job. They will be most useful as a way to keep up with current trends in education and training.  As my company begins to roll out a new software package, we will have to retrain everyone in the company.  Some of these people have never used any other software package.  I will use the RSS feeds to keep up on the latest training techniques to help with this.  I will also investigate creating our own RSS feed within the company, so as developments occur people in the company will be notified automatically.  We could post training update about the new software and they would receive the information automatically.

This use of RSS feeds would also support social media as a training platform.  As students begin to get familiar with the software they could record video blogs talking about their experience.  We could then post these stories to a central site, which would in turn update an RSS feed that others could subscribe to.

As for photo sharing, I can not think of as many uses for this at my job.  It might be possible to use it as a further training tool, by allowing people to upload screenshots of the work they are doing on the new software.  I did create a Flickr account however, and the photos I uploaded can be seen below:

CEdO535 Week 2 - Social Media as a Learning Platform

This week we started talking about Wikis and other social media that could be used as a way to delivering training material. I also had an opportunity to attend a 1 day workshop in Chicago called We-Learn. These two experiences gave me a lot of good ideas that I can apply to our company and some upcoming training challenges. We are getting ready to replace the main software that runs our company. This is a huge undertaking and the project is expected to last at least 3 years. In the course of this we are going to have to change the way everyone in the company works. Making it even more challenging, we are going to have to train some people who have been working there for 30 or more years, and who have never used any other software than the one we are replacing, and who will expect formal training. Then we also have younger Gen Y employees who are used to learning new software, and who like to find their training and information on their own. The workshop and this class both have stressed the use of other means for delivering training, especially ways that will allow people to find information at the moment they need it, rather than sitting in a class and passively receiving it. The workshop recommended the following ratio: - 10% Classroom Training - 20% Peer to Peer Interaction and Simulation - 30% On the Job/Experiential Training with Support It is this last category that has the most applications for the software we are talking about. Some of the ideas include: - Having early adopters create video blogs of their experiences with the new software - Letting early users create tips and tricks - Recording short videos that show a single function or work process with the new software - Having experts available by chat to answer questions - Making all of this searchable so people can find the answers they need, when they need them Also I would recommend creating cohorts of learners, so they can support each other through this change. There is certainly a lot to be done, but using these ideas we should be able to get through this change smoothly.

CEdO535 - Blogs, Blogs, and more Blogs

There is something strange writing about blogs in a blog. It is like you have created a loop in the time space continuum and the universe will cease to exist. OK maybe that is being over dramatic, but it still feels like it violates one of the basic rules of English class - Never use the word you are trying to define in the definition itself. However when we were asked to come up with one idea from class that we could use, Blogs were the first thing that popped into my mind. We have started using blogs at work as a way for people to share ideas, especially as they relate to a big project or program. They are a great way to get people's opinions about something, or to share an idea with an audience. People can read them at their leisure, take time to think about the response, and post what they are truly thinking. Multiple ideas can be combined from posts in a single thread, and anyone can go back and reference the information at any time, making it a great reference. The biggest problem with blogs is also contained in the sentence above, namely that people may take a long time to come up with ideas and post, or may not reply at all. That is why it helps to have some kind of expectation that people will read and respond to blogs. In this class it is part of our grade. In a work environment you have to be more creative, such as giving a small reward to the person who responds with the best idea. And although blogs are a good way to collect information and ideas over time, there are still many occasions when you need to have a face to face meeting to decide something right away. Those kinds of conversation are not suited to blogs. Fortunately we have Skype and other instant communication methods for those conversations.

CEdO 540 Week 5 - Summary Report and Sources of Data

Our Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings survey uncovered 3 very interesting trends:
- Women preferred Harry Potter 2 to 1, while men preferred Lord of the Rings 2 to 1.
- People below the median age of 34 tend to prefer Harry Potter, while Lord of the Rings fans had a more even age distribution.
- Older readers are more likely to differentiate between aspects of the series, while younger readers tend to like all or nothing from either series.

It is hard to draw any great conclusions from this, but the broad age appeal of the Lord of the Rings means it might have a greater effect on literature in the long run, while Harry Potter will be more of a fad. It would be interesting to repeat this survey every 5-10 years and see if Harry Potter fans retain their preference. The fact that the last Harry Potter movie came out at the same time we are giving this survey may have also affected the results. Lord of the Rings still had a strong showing even though the last movie release was 6 years ago.

Our other assignment was to look for sources of statistical information on the internet. The best site I found was fedstats.gov. This site contains an index to all other federal sites that publish statistics, and has several search tools embedded in it.

CEdO 540 Week 4 - Survey Results and the final report

Our group has come up with a very unique idea for a survey. Most of the idea we came up with at first revolve around the political situation in the state. Given the prevalence of TV commercials around the recall elections this is not surprising. However after talking about it we all wanted to do something less obvious (maybe we were all just tied of the political fighting). In the end we came up with a survey around which is better, Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings. Although this seems like a frivolous topic, it is actually one which might have a big impact in the classroom. These two series have been some of the biggest grossing movies in the past decade. Understanding the preferences of a group might help a teacher to make a class more interesting. It might also give some insight into what people value more, characters or plot, and show some differences by age or gender.

We developed the questions for our survey in the group, making sure to keep them as unbiased as possible. We then created the survey in Google Docs and distributed the link to as many people as possible. We have received a total of 41 responses, and we found some very interesting trends in the data. The next step will be to compile a report that summarizes the findings.

Week 3 of 540 - Survey

This week we are starting to plan a survey where we can analyze the results. As mentioned last week, the hardest part will be in designing questions that do not bias the answers. We will need to select a question that will be interesting to the people that we can get to participate. Once we have that topic, we will need to design neutral questions that do not cause the participants to select one answer over another. Once we have the topic and questions, we then will need to administer the survey and analyze the results. This is where the real math begins, and where we can start using the science of statistics to interpret the answers.

WE also did more work this week to look at the differences between mean, median, and mode. Our homework really drove home the point that two data sets might have the same mean (average) but may in fact be completely different. One might have a very closely grouped set of data, and the other may have a huge range that happens to balance out to the same average. Usually you want more consistent results, although of course that depends on the questions you are trying to answer.

CEdO540 - Week 2, Samples

This week we really started looking at the ways to evaluate a sample of numbers using statistics. WE evaluated several samples using the common ways of measuring central tendencies, Mead, Median, and Mode. It was interesting to learn that the Mean is not always the best way to evaluate a sample, as it could be thrown off by a single outlying value. You should also look at the median and the Mode, as they might help you find out is the data being affected by one or more values on the ends, or if the data is closely grouped around the center.

Comparing the central tendencies to each other can also give you a lot of information, for example if the mean is to the right or left of the median, then that can tell you something about the data. It is obvious that we will need to do a lot more evaluation and comparison of the central tendencies, as well as look at the data sample as a whole, in order to get the best picture of the results.

In the future we will be looking at how to collect data for evaluation. I can see that designing a survey that will not bias the results is going to be a challenge.

CEdO540 - Statistics

Due to a schedule change we are jumping right into CEdO540 and we will be taking 535 in September. 540 is all about Statistics. I have never actually had a formal statistics class before, so much of this subject will be new to me. I have had enough science and other classes though so I think I will be able to keep up fairly well.

I have used statistics many times in my job, including calculating the reliability of computer systems, figuring out the capacity of a system and projecting it into the future so we know when we will have to upgrade, and of course figuring out budgets. However I will need to spend some time learning all of the formal terms around it, such as mean, median, mode, and of course standard deviation. My biggest problem is just keeping all of the "m" words straight. Hopefully I won't confuse them. I think this will be a good course however. As they said in the video, statistics can help describe any part of your job or life. You just need to figure out what you want to measure, and how best to collect that data, whether it is grades, class performance, research, or anything else. This class will help to do those things.

Week 5 - Putting it all together

This week we had to bring together all of the ideas about storytelling and publishing that we have encountered during the previous 5 weeks. We had several assignments that summarized the learning so far, including creating a multimedia rubric, creating a Pecha Kucha, and evaluating several other multimedia sites.

The rubric was not too difficult, as we had already been given several different ideas on how to compose an effective multimedia presentation. This was really just a chance to collect those ideas and decide how we would measure them in a real class assignment. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to make an assignment that connects to the students personal environment. This has been a theme in several classes. The best technology assignment is no good if it is not applicable to the student's world. The best assignments will allow them to express something that is personally relevant.

The multimedia evaluation was also fairly straight forward, and again the most important part was connecting it to the student's environment.

My biggest struggle this week was the Pecha Kucha. Although I think I have a pretty good idea for a subject, I can not seem to get the results that I really want. I have compared the Pecha Kucha to Haiku before, and I think it applies in this case as well. It is not hard to collect 20 slides, and then to speak about them for 20 seconds. But to have that presentation convey a really meaningful thought you need to work and re-work the presentation. I feel like if I kept revising this for a few weeks it might be closer to what I envisioned. Just like Haiku the simple format takes lots of practice to really find the best meaning.

CEdO 530 Week 4 - Prezi and the free flow of information

One of the big themes from this class is that PowerPoint has locked us into only one way of delivering information.  Endless slides with bullet point after bullet point and more words than the audience could ever absorb.  Studies have shown that people retain less when they are told the information and shown the same information at the same time.  By just using PowerPoint as a way to download information to your audience, you are actually making it more likely that they will miss your overall point.

The best way to think of a presentation is that you are telling a story.  I spoke last week about the need to set your story board and control the timing of the presentation.  This week we actually started creating the story boards for our Pecha Kucha assignments.  This is an interesting task because of the very limited nature of the Pecha Kucha format.  It reminds me of having to write a Haiku when I was back in school.  However just like the Haiku once you start investigating the possibilities you can come up with some very creative ideas in the limited space.  The storyboard is a necessity because it allows you to refine you ideas and make sure they are building to a point.

Our other assignment this week was to create a Prezi.  This assignment had multiple levels of creativity.  First of all you had to select you 6 best pictures from the 28 or more that you had taken in the last few days.  Then you had to use them to create a presentation that demonstrates what you think makes a good picture.  Here too I started with a pile of pictures, and then used Prezi to create the story board, grouping similar images and using them to build to a point.  Once I got the hang of the tool, it was actually very easy to do, and I can see that this would be a good tool for students to develop and deliver reports.  My Prezi is below:

Storyboarding and Pacing

As I read this week's assignments, I realized there was a common theme.  In the first weeks of this course we were exploring storytelling concepts and gathering raw materials for our stories.  This week we really started building our own stories, both for re-working a previous presentation, and for creating a new story in the form of a Pecha Kucha.  In both of these, I found myself with ideas, but no good way of combining them into a single unified whole that makes a point.  This is where storyboarding comes in.

The Digi Tales book has a great storyboarding template that I am using for both my Pecha Kucha and my re-formed presentation.  In both cases the storyboard is making me think of the key elements or points that I want to cover, then making me arrange them in a logical fashion.  This is not a step that I have always done, and I think many of my past presentations have suffered because of it.  It is too easy to end up with a series of disjointed slides that do not build to a point.  This lack of cohesion is one of the key elements of the "Death by PowerPoint" concept.  Individual slides that go on and on without really reinforcing a central theme.  We go so wrapped up in the bullet points on a particular slide that we do not see the whole.  This can even be true of a picture based presentation.  If the pictures do not flow, then the point is still lost.


Storyboarding forces you to look at the whole, to see the forest AND the trees.  Also important, storyboarding will help with the pacing of my presentations.  By creating the proper timing for the images, you can be sure that they build to a point at the proper moment, not too soon or too late.  Following the story arc concept that I learned in high school, the presentation should build towards it key theme for 2/3 or 3/4 of the presentation.  Then it should reach the climax and allow time for resolution, or in the case of a presentation, for the audience to digest and absorb you key points.  This is just a guideline of course, but the concept applies.  There are so many possibilities with images, quotes, video, graphs and other elements that you could add to a presentation, that a storyboard is almost a necessity to make sure that the audience will remember the "forest" of your presentation.  I have a great idea for a Pecha Kucha, but I will definitely need to storyboard it to see how I can deliver the point.

Improving My Digital Stories, or Finding the Photographer's Eye

AS we have continued with the assignment of posting a picture a day, I have found myself having a problem with finding material for the shots.  It seems strange.  Even though I see people and things everyday, I find myself having a hard time picking out those things that would make a good picture.  I have been struggling to find the photographer's eye, that ability to pick out an ordinary scene and see something extraordinary in it.  However I have also realized that the more I make myself do this, the better I am getting.  I have started to see more detail in everyday situations.  I see patterns, color, and shapes that might make an interesting picture.  I like to think of this as finding my photographer's eye, the ability to see a picture in an ordinary situation.

I think a similar process will happen in my presentations.  I need to start applying some of the principles from the Presentation Zen book, which will in turn make me a better story teller.  Just as there are great pictures hidden in the scenes that we encounter every day, there are also stories hidden in the standard presentations that I have to give on a regular basis.  By simplifying my presentations, and using pictures to tell the story, I can improve the impact that the slide show will have on the audience.  And just as with the pictures, the more I practice at it, the better will get.  I will need to keep making new presentations that use the principles from the Presentation Zen book, and eventually I will become a better storyteller and presenter.

I have made regular presentations for classes that I have taught at work, but I also hope to employ many of the same techniques when giving other presentations at work.  Whether it is a project status meeting, or a team update, I can use picture based presentations to tell the story that I need to convey to the group.

CEdO530 - Digital Storytelling

Over a year ago, when I was first deciding whether to enroll in this Master's program, I reviewed the list of courses to see what sorts of topics were covered.  The title of this course intrigued me even then.  For most of human history teachers were only story tellers, and knowledge was past down through an oral tradition of stories and lessons that were told and re-told to each new generation.  Only since the invention of the printing press, a mere 500 years ago, has the notion of the printed story taken the place of a spoken one.

I think at their heart all teachers have some of that original desire to be a story teller, to be a performer.  They want to excite their students and give them the joy of learning.  How better to do this than to engage them in a compelling narrative that they can become a part of?

In this class I hope to improve my story telling, which will in turn allow me to draw more students in to the classes that I teach.  Rather than just reciting facts, I want to make the knowledge a living and breathing narrative that the students are a part of.  This will make the classes personal to them, and further build their love of learning.

CEdO525 Summary

This has been one of the most interesting classes so far the the program.  We did not spend so much time on learning new technological tools, but really on how to apply the tools we have learned about so far.  The most useful exercise was the final project where we had to take and existing class plan and re-work it to incorporate some of the websites and applications that we have used in class.

As we have gone through the class I have often had ideas of how to use technologies in my work, but because the focus was on getting to know the tools themselves I never really had time to take those tools and try to implement my ideas.  We were busy completing the assignments that gave us a background in technology, and gave us practice with the tools and technologies.  As with many things you need to understand the tool and how to use it before it really starts adding value.  We are now to the stage where we are beginning to use the tools to improve our results, in this case the classes we teach.

The key lessons that we received in this class (which were also brought out in previous classes) are that technology is only good if it reinforces learning principles.  The technology should make the class more collaborative, not individual.  It should allow the class to help each other learn, not isolate the individual members.  It should allow multiple ways of presenting and processing data, including images, video, and other visual media.  It should put the students in charge of producing the output, so they are actively using the learning.  It should be fun, as positive emotions will also help retention.

For my final project I tried bringing the nine strategies from the class, along with the principles above, to a class that I had previously taught on Technology in Insurance.  The class was previously very much "Set and Get", meaning lecture with few pictures.  With the help of these principles I have made the class much more interactive.  I am looking forward to the next time I can teach it so I can try out these new principles. I will also use the 9 Strategies that we have discussed to modify other classes in the future.

Identifying Similarities and Differences, Homework and Practice, and Generating and Testing Hypotheses

This weeks learning strategies revolve around three topics:   Identifying Similarities and Differences, Homework and Practice, and Generating and Testing Hypotheses.  The most basic of these is Homework and Practice, and that is probably the one that I am most familiar with.  One of the most basic concepts in teaching is that Practice Makes Perfect.  The key new idea that I have picked up from the reading is that whenever possible this practice should involve the application of the knowledge learned, not just repetition.  If you can make the practice about using the knowledge, then students are much more likely to retain it, and to be able to apply it in the future.  Technology can help this by creating simulations or other opportunities for students to use the knowledge in real world situations.

Identifying Similarities and Differences is also an important skill for students, and it can be used to demonstrate an understanding of the lesson concepts.  If a student can classify items based on the knowledge, then they have definitely learned the concepts.  This also give a chance for the kind of application assignment that is described above.  For example creating a homework assignment that asks students to identify whether animals are reptiles or mammals requires them to know the characteristics of each, and to be able to identify the similarities and differences for both.  Technology can help with this by using web tools to create matching activities or spreadsheets that track the similarities and differences between groups.

The last concept for the week, Generating and Testing Hypothesis, is the one that I have used the least in my classes, but it is perhaps the most powerful.  This requires students to apply the knowledge they have gained and use it to predict an outcome.  Once they have done so, they will need to develop and execute a test to see if their prediction is correct.  This is the basis for the modern scientific method.  Here technology can also help, as students can record their predictions in spreadsheets or word documents.  Testing can be done using pre-arranged simulations, or real world experiences.  Test results can then be captured in the same documents as the prediction.  Students can interpret the results with graphs, pictures, presentations, and a number of other creative possibilities.  Most importantly, they can gain confidence by correctly predicting the outcome of an experiment.  This will reinforce their efforts and give them motivation to try further experiments. 

I will change my lessons to add more activities that will allow for more Identification and Prediction exercises.

Collaboration, Cooperation, and Effort

Our reading and discussions this week all revolved around the ideas of collaboration, cooperation, and effort. They started with us watching another video from TED.  I was curious what TED stood for, so I did some extra research.  Originally called Technology, Entertainment, Design conferences and started in 1984, these meetings bring together people with ideas in many different fields, some of which happen to involve education.  These conferences are definitely something that I would like to attend at some point in the future.

The first video that I watched was a presentation by Clay Shirky at a 2005 TED conference.   The video discussed the idea of Institutions and Collaboration.  Among the ideas that caught my attention was an actual mathematical model of the 80/20 rule.  It turns out that this rule is also known as the Pareto principle, or the power law.  I found this concept fascinating, because it finally explained a concept that has been built into the internet since it's inception.  Through out the life of the internet we have heard that is would change the world by allowing individuals to take action where previously only a corporation of government would have that kind of reach.  We have seen examples of this in many ways, from the decline of CDs and rise of music sharing and online stores, to the success of open source software like Firefox and Linux, to the current political turmoil in the middle east which is being fueled by personal tweets and Facebook pages.  All of these are examples of the contributions of individuals that would not have been considered in the past.  The other idea that I found most fascinating is the concept that this change will cause the same kind of disruption that the printing press did in Europe, and that in his prediction it will cause 50 years of chaos.  Although he made his prediction 5 years ago, the current revolts in Libya and elsewhere certainly support Clay's assertion.  The real challenge will be to predict what these changes mean for the realm of education, and how we react to it.  Currently most educational models involve more standardized testing, and more generic measures of success.  One key change will be the need to allow other forms of testing, for those learners who might have other talents but are not successful with standardized tests.  Another idea will be to have more interactive learning, and allow for several exercises that will demonstrate retention of the topics.  For educators at least, the old saying holds true: "May you live in interesting times". (On a side note, no one has ever been able to prove it is Chinese.)

The second portion of our assignment this week was to reflect on strategies that we have used to enhance cooperation and reinforce effort.  Since I often work with adults, one lesson that I have learned is to use the power of small groups to create cooperation.  It is very effective to take people from different backgrounds and put them together.  It is also helpful to define some initial roles for the group, such as moderator, note taker, researcher, historian, etc.  For each role you should suggest some activities, and some minimum results that the role will need to bring to the group.  This creates a minimum level of input from each member.  As the group discussion progress, the instructor should monitor to make sure that all members are participating, and that the roles are each adding some value to the discussion.  You should also allow the groups the flexibility to change the roles however, or to take the discussion and activities in a direction that you did not foresee.  This is one of the most exciting moments in teaching, when the students surprise the teacher with original ideas.

The other topic for the week was reinforcing effort.  Because I work with adults this is not an area that I am as familiar with.  Most of the adults are in my classes voluntarily, and they all have some specific goal or outcome that they want to achieve.   Where I have had to reinforce effort is usually in class discussions.  If a student is particularly quiet I will acknowledge the contributions that the student makes.  I will thank them for their input if they speak up, which will hopefully encourage them to speak more.  This should not be done to excess, as it will appear the instructor is playing favorites.

Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers; Nonlinguistic Representation; Summarizing and Notetaking

This week in class we covered three additional strategies that will help students learn:  Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers; Nonlinguistic Representation; Summarizing and Notetaking.  All three of these are designed to help students absorb more information in class, specifically by presenting that in different ways.  People learn through different methods, and teachers can improve their class results by helping students to look at the same information in a different format.

The first strategy involves enhancing student's ability to use text to organize and use information about a topic.  Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers all allow students to drill into ideas and arrange that information so that they will remember more and be able to apply that information better.  Although I have used all of these strategies, I am most familiar with the use of Advance Organizers in the classes that I have taught.  Because I usually teach adults, I like to try and leverage the experiences of the class.  One activity that works very well is a Post-It note brainstorm.  I will post a topic on the board and distribute Post-It notes to the class.  Students can then write their ideas on the notes and stick them under the topic.  We will then organize the notes into like categories, and talk about the themes that emerge from these groupings.  It is a great way to get different perspectives from the class, and it allows all students to contribute ideas , even those who might not speak up during a discussion.

The second strategy involves the use of Non-Linguistic Representation.  I am particularly interested in this strategy as I am a visual learner.  I would much rather see a graph, picture, or diagram than a long page of text.  This is also an important strategy for students who might not have English as their primary language.  The exercise that I mentioned above can also serve as a method of Non-Linguistic Representation.  Once all of the students have posted their ideas and they have been grouped into themes, there will usually be several that have many posts, and several that have very few.  By looking at the size of the groupings, the instructor can illustrate to the class which points are most important.  The instructor can also use the smallest groupings as discussion points.  "Why do you think this topic received the fewest posts?"  The visual of the different sized groups of ideas will teach as much as the ideas themselves.  There is more about Non-linguistic Representation below where I compare and contrast several tools.

The final strategy for this week involves Note Taking and Summarization.  This is a skill that is not always developed.  In fact in our study group only half the people had actual formal training in note taking; the rest of us learned it through practice.  We all agreed that providing a method of note taking to the class will improve overall results, as everyone will be able to work using the same methods and at the same pace.  Summarization skills will also teach the students how to glean the most critical pieces of information from a lesson, without getting lost in less important details.  Since most of my teaching is for adults, I have not used these strategies much in my classroom.  However I definitely can see that providing summarization tools could help the class.  This could include distributing worksheets that have the some concept headings filled in, then ask the students to list the key ideas under each concept.

Compare and Contrast Three Graphical Organizers

For the last part of this week's blog entry we were asked to compare and contrast three different tools, specifically looking at functionality and ease of use.  Since I am a visual learner, I focused on three graphical organizers that will help to present concepts using a picture or diagram.  To this end I even created a Comparison diagram, based on a template from one of the sites:  https://docs.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/drawings/edit?id=1E9r9bS1TlSMo2hv4pfv3c_18o90A7N7vgPkJUdRsPh0&hl=en&authkey=CITZpkc

The first site I looked at was Exploratree.  This site has a number of graphical organizers that can be completed on-line.  This was one of the best features of the site.  Students can pull up one of these templates and immediately start adding their thoughts by typing directly on the diagram.  The site was also very easy to use because the templates are broken out by the type of activity that the student need to to, such as Map Your Ideas or Solve Problems.  One other interesting feature of this site was that it provided templates in Welsh, although perhaps this should not be surprising since the site is based in the United Kingdom.

The second site I looked at was the Education Oasis.  This site was similar in that it also provided a large number of templates for graphical organizers.  I actually liked this site better because it has a much larger selection of templates, and the categories are more aligned to content type, such as Cause and Effect, Character and Story, and Compare and Contrast.  This is the site where I found the template that I used above to compare these tools, and this type of categorization will make it easier for teachers to find a template that works for their lesson.  The biggest drawback to this site is that the templates are all PDF files that must be printed and filled in by hand.  They can be edited using Adobe Acrobat, but this will still be more difficult than the templates available at Exploratree.

The final site that I looked at was CMap, short for Concept Map.  I am familiar with the idea of concept mapping.  In fact the Post-It note activity that I referenced above can be used as the starting point for a concept map.  Once the class ideas are grouped by theme, the different concepts that emerge can be identified, and the relationships between those concepts can be defined.  The CMap site allows teachers to do this same activity electronically, by creating a concept map that identifies key entities and the relationships between them.  Of all the tolls this seems like it would be the hardest to use, as the software might need to be installed on a local server.  Once installed there will be a learning curve until teachers and students can quickly and efficiently capture their ideas.  It might be easier to just use a Smart Board or drawing program to achieve the same goal.  Once some is familiar with CMap however, this toll could be incredibly powerful as the class will be able to link numerous concept maps and look for patterns across many elements.

Graphical Organizers

https://docs.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/drawings/edit?id=1E9r9bS1TlSMo2hv4pfv3c_18o90A7N7vgPkJUdRsPh0&hl=en&authkey=CITZpkc

Objectives, Feedback, and Recognition

This week's reading deals with three related topics.  All of these work together to give students a road-map of their learning.  Objectives let the students know where they are going, feedback lets them know if they are getting closer to the goal, and recognition rewards those who have done well on the journey.

Objectives should start with the learning benchmarks and goals that you need to achieve.  These will include the basic concepts and skills that the students should master.  But there are other learning objectives that can be incorporated into lesson plans.  We have brought up 21st century learning skills a number of times in this course.  Problem solving, creative thinking, and collaboration are all secondary skills that need to be incorporated into objectives in addition to the pure sharing of facts.  The classes that I have designed and taught are for adults.  It is very important to get adult learners involved in the instruction, so I always make sure to create objectives that speak to that, such as "Students will be able to use the knowledge of X to classify and differentiate Y".  It is in these areas that technology can help the most, but it can also hinder.  We need to be sure not to lock students into simple question and response type exercises, but to allow them the freedom to come up with new ways of answering an assignment.

Feedback is an especially critical component when dealing with adult learners.  There are two major differences in the classes that I typically teach.  First of all, there is usually not a grade awarded at the end of the class.  They are designed to provide knowledge and impart ideas, but not explicitly measure the retention of those ideas.  Secondly because I work with adults feedback has to be handled with extra care. With students there is an expectation that the teacher is the leader and the class will follow, although of course it doesn't always work that way.  With adults however the class will bring a range of experiences and expectations.  They will look at the instructor as service provider, and will expect good service as part of the instruction.  If feedback is not presented in a positive and constructive manner, and bad feedback can color their experiences for the whole course.  The ideas in the article Feedback that Fits are doubly important.  I have found it best to present feedback as a question, such as "What do you think about this conclusion?"  I also like to have the class reflect on each other's assignments.

Recognition is the capstone of the process.  When a student has completed a major milestone in the class, or has done exceptional work on an assignment, it is important to reward that achievement.  I am also a strong proponent of the praise in public concept.  It is important to show the class that good work will be appreciated, and to use that work as an example for others.  I do not subscribe to the idea that everyone must be rewarded, but I do look for opportunities to spread the recognition to as many class members as possible, once they have demonstrated some achievement.

The last part of our blog assignment is to reflect on Electronic Student Response technologies.  This is an area where I have had very little experience.  Although I am familiar with the concepts, I have never had the opportunity to design a class that would use these tools.  They certainly would provide a good way of getting immediate feedback on the learning of the class.  I look forward to being able to incorporate them into the future.

Two Articles on Improving Student Outcomes with Technology

A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning With Technology on Student Outcomes

In reading this article, I was stuck by their assertion that education has previously been a "soft science".  It never occurred to me that much of education practice is based in theories and techniques that are used just because they are familiar, rather than those that have been reviewed and proved by scientific methods.  I think the practice of analyzing and summarizing various studies is a great way to collect some common themes and check education practices against against them.  The most significant finding of the studies was that the application of technology was significant in improving the learning outcome of students.  Many people might have an opinion of how effective computers are in learning;  many people probably consider them more of a distraction.  These studies verified that students will remain on task longer, and that the transition from a teacher centric to a student centric learning environment will improve their ability to retain information.

My other conclusion from this article is that I need more background in statistical analysis.

Principles for Teaching and Learning

This article was much more applicable than the first one.  The 7 learning and 7 teaching principles listed in these articles are definitely items to keep in mind when designing technology based classes.  For the 7 learning strategies, the one theme that seemed to exist in most for the strategies was that students must be involved in the learning for it to truly be successful.  Student's prior knowledge, organizational skills, and motivations will all determine how well they can learn.  Also their ability to set goals and monitor their own progress against those goals will provide additional motivation to learn.

The teaching strategies also had several elements that involve understanding the students, and especially their motivations.  They also stress that teachers will need to change the role that they play in class, depending on the reactions of the students, and that teachers will need to keep refining their classes as they learn more from different groups of students.

Tracking our Tools - Technology and Classroom Instruction that Works

We have started a new course this week, called Enhancing Learning Materials Through Technology.  What I am most excited about with this class (so far) is the textbook, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.  All of our previous classes have introduced a wide variety of tools and technologies that could be used to enhance the classroom experience, and to help students learn more.  This textbook has finally given us a good framework that can be used to organize the tools we have used.  Based on that material, I have created two spreadsheets that I intend to use through out the rest of this program.  The first is just a slight variation of one of the charts from the book.  It lists the 9 instructional strategies that can be enhanced with technology, and the types of software that are best able to do so.  I have added the specific recommendations that are presented in each chapter, so this spreadsheet is a one stop reference for the key ideas of the text: https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/ccc?key=0Auyl8fgWt9e5dEgtcGJEWmNiS3dodk9pWUNjbVJjR2c&hl=en&authkey=CLiw6bkH

However the text also gave me another idea.  One issue that I have been struggling with is how to keep track of all of the tools that we have used.  By using the seven categories of software identified in the text, I was able to go back through the lesson plans from the previous classes and group the tools into those categories where they will add the most value:  https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/ccc?key=0Auyl8fgWt9e5dE5XNm50eEwwRWtrSHFkSXNFNE11YkE&hl=en&authkey=CM2gtfAI

This will be a reference that I keep growing as we go through the rest of the program.

Internet Learning Resources Part 4

For the last week of this class, we addressed some of the darker issues involving the use of the Internet as a learning resource, namely copyright, privacy, and child protection issues.  The internet has always carried with it risks, and as with any new technology, some of the early adopters are people who see a way to use it to further their illegal activities.  From pornography to identity theft, part of our role as educators will be to protect our students from these risks, while still using the tolls of the internet to provide the best possible education experience.

The key in this case will be to plan in advance what internet resources will be used in class, and make sure they are safe for the students.  We have already talked about ways to use custom search engines that will only return desired results, or ways to filter results based on reading level and age group.  Teachers can also direct the class to specific research sites, rather than just letting the students search blindly and stumble across possibly hazardous sites.

We have talked in earlier classes about the need for educators to plan the resources they are going to use in advance, not just to assume that students can find appropriate information.  The risks of the Internet make this doubly important.

Internet Learning Resources Part 3

My first experience this week underscores the usefulness of distance learning.  I am submitting this blog from Taos, NM.  My wife had a business trip, and I accompanied her to visit the town.  Even though I am remote I can still continue to work on assignments and team meetings.  The only issue is winter weather.  I am not sure when we will make it back due to the storm that is hitting the Midwest.

This week's assignment was to work as a group and review a number of sites that educators might find useful.  Some of these sites have shown up in previous classes, but many of them are new to this class.  Some of the highlights for me were the Google for Educators site.  This is a group of links that cover all subject areas, but that all have some connection to using technology for education.  This will be a great resource, and a constant source of new ideas for teachers.  Another tool that we have used before is Google Sites.  This allows a user to quickly create a web page that links other Google documents or information.  It will be a great way for classes to organize data while still making it available online.

The one other tool that we were to review was tokbox.  We have used this in previous classes as well, but recently we got a note saying that the service will be discontinued as of April 5th.  This demonstrates one of the dangers of Internet Learning Resources.  All of these tools are run by companies who may or may not succeed.  When a company goes under, a tool that may have been extremely useful to your class might suddenly not be available.  Teachers should always stay up on the current events that affect the resources they use most.  They should also have other ways of achieving the same results.  The good news is there are many tools available on the Internet, and it is almost always possible to find another option that provides a similar service.

Internet Learning Resources Part 3

My first experience this week underscores the usefulness of distance learning.  I am submitting this blog from Taos, NM.  My wife had a business trip, and I accompanied her to visit the town.  Even though I am remote I can still continue to work on assignments and team meetings.  The only issue is winter weather.  I am not sure when we will make it back due to the storm that is hitting the Midwest.

This week's

Internet Learning Resources Part 2

This week we continued our exploration of Internet Learning Resources by trying some more websites that could be useful in classroom lesson plans.  My favorite of the week was a site called Noodle Tools: http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html
This site had an amazing collection of links, but more importantly it also grouped the links by the type of information that they contained.  Do you need facts?  Opinions?  Media?  This site helps to organize the wealth of information that is on the internet.

That is the theme for the week, based on a quote from Tom March.  Although the internet is a great source of information, there is so much out there that an instructor will need to spend significant time to select the right resources from the pile, and to incorporate them into a lesson plan.  Other tools that we explored this week include Google Alerts and the characteristics of search engines.  Both of these are to help understand how internet search results are presented, and how to know when those results change.  These are two more strategies for finding the right information on the internet.  In short, too much information is almost as bad as no information at all.  Instructors will need to keep refining their searches, looking for new tools, and revising their lesson plans to make sure they get the most out of the information that is available on the internet.

Internet Learning Resources

Our latest class, CeDO520, is all about Internet  Learning Resources.  Considering that our first three classes have already introduced us to numerous tools and websites that could be used in a classroom setting, I was curious about the type of new resources we would encounter.  The class started right away with a tool that we have yet to use, namely a Wiki.

Wiki's have been around for many years, and I have used them previously at work.  They are especially good for collecting knowledge of a group of people, in our case, programmers and engineers who understand our computer systems.  We have used Wikis to collect the knowledge of some of our key computer systems.  By creating a page for each system or component, we can then make links to all of the systems that are related to the original.  Since this knowledge is shared among many people, each person can edit the page that relates to their particular systems.  By collecting and linking this knowledge, we ended up with a single web location for all information.  

Similarly we are creating a Wiki for our class.  As we go through the content, we will be able to build and link the different ideas that we encounter.  Two of our first points:  That we need to teach students to be discerning about the web sites that they view, and that we can help this process by creating a form to evaluate websites.  We will keep adding to these lessons, and linking in more pages to the class Wiki.

Internet Learning Resources

Our latest class, CeDO520, is all about Internet  Learning Resources.  Considering that our first three classes have already introduced us to numerous tools and websites that could be used in a classroom setting, I was curious about the type of new resources we would encounter.  The class started right away with a tool that we have yet to use, namely a Wiki.  Wiki's have been around for many years, and I have used them previously at work.  They are especially good for collecting knowledge of a group of people, in our case, programmers and engineers who understand our computer systems.  We have used Wikis to collect the knowledge of some of our key computer systems.  By creating a page for each system or component, we can then make links to all of the systems that are related to the original.  Sonce

Applying Technology to Learning

This class has certainly given me a lot to think about, and there are many take aways that I can use in the future.  However for me I think it really came down to 4 key lessons:

1. Use what is available - There are so many great free programs out there.  Teachers do not need to spend a lot of money to add technology to their lesson plans.  From free documents to free graphics to readily available search engines, teachers can do a lot not very little cost.
2. Allow time for planning - Because there are so many options, teachers will need time to figure out the best way to add them to a lesson plan.  This includes on thinking about how the technology might distract students instead of helping them.
3. Don't do it all at once - There are so many options, and technology changes so fast, that teachers might feel overwhelmed and not be able to keep up.  Instead they should just add one new technology based activity to each class.  As they get more experience and learn more, then they can add more in the future.
4. Be flexible - Just as technology is constantly changing, teachers need to be ready to always re-think their plans to better use that technology.  It doesn't have to be a big change, but even small additions can help students and improve the overall learning environment.

Above all NEVER STOP LEARNING.  We live interesting times, and we will need to change with them.

Putting It All Together

I found the title for this week's lesson very interesting, as it has helped me to collect my thoughts about both this class and this program.  We have covered a lot of material in this class, and have been exposed to many new technology tools.  We have looked at graphics and presentations, spreadsheets, word processors, and online calendars.  We have also read a very interesting book called Supporting Learning with Technology  which has talked about the ways technology can both help and inspire students, or limit them if it is used the wrong way.  One of the key points of the book is that educators must plan in advance to truly take advantage of technology.  It can not just be an activity that is added to an existing plan.  Teachers must think about the goals for a lesson, and then incorporate technology that truly supports those goals.  It should allow the students an opportunity for creativity, and if possible allow them to choose their output, rather than forcing them into a one size fits all solution.

For me personally one of the big lessons for this class has been the power of Google Sites to summarize, collect, and present a number of different types of information.  Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, calendars, and many other types of information can all be collected and displayed in a related hierarchy.  More importantly students and learners could use this type of technology to create original responses to homework assignments.  I will be using this technology myself to collect and summarize all of the work that I do for the rest of the Masters program, so that I will have easy access to it at the end of the session.  Here is my personal site that will contain most of this information:  https://sites.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/cedo515-site-lyons/home.  I hope that in the future having all of this information in one place will help me come up with more creative and unique ways of teaching students.

In Time Video and Teaching with Technology

As part of our lessons on production this week, we were asked to look at the In Time video site.  Production implies asking students to produce a project based on a problem or activity.  The students must design their output, learn the technology tools that can create it, then actually create the output using the tool.

In Time Video has a very good search tool that will allow teachers to search for videos based on content area, teaching level, and several other criteria.  Then they can look at videos that match their interests and get ideas of how to incorporate technology tools into their classroom experience.

Although I found the site very interesting, at this point I encountered a problem.  Not being a teacher, I had a hard time finding a video lesson that was specifically related to my job.  I hope to apply my experiences in this program to adult learning opportunities surrounding my career.  However I was able to find a video lesson that was related to a specific interest of mine, namely cycling.

The lesson that I reviewed was called Le Tour de France.  This lesson showed students in a high school French class using the internet to research the cities and towns that the the Tour de France would be visiting that year.  They then had to research these areas using the internet, and prepare a PowerPoint presentation and a brochure as if they were a travel agent selling a trip to that town.  In the last step, the students were asked to present their projects to the class, and the winning presentation was also presented over the internet to another class in a different school. This gave me several ideas of how to apply this technique to the technology classes that I am likely to teach in my job.  Although the classes that I teach are more likely to be about networking and computers, I could still have my classes create presentation explaining their specific subject.  They could also then present these to the group to demonstrate their mastery of the subject.  I also like the idea of having them produce a brochure as if they were trying to sell the component or tool that they are learning about.  This would require them to have a strong mastery of the features or benefits of the item, and would still allow them the ability to use creativity in their expression.  This will help improve overall retention of the material, in addition to being a lot of fun.

Spreadsheets and Education

This week's assignment has been around spreadsheets and how they might be used in an educational setting.  I have been using spreadsheets for many years.  Although I can't claim to have used VisiCalc, the first PC spreadsheet, I did use the early versions of Lotus 123.  Lotus was the IBM PC version of VisiCalc, and as the PC took off Lotus 123 replaced VisiCalc as the most common spreadsheet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_123

Since then I have continued to use spreadsheets for all parts of my job.  Although we don't often think about it in this manner, a well crafted spreadsheet can actually be a very insightful tool.  It can help you organize your thoughts, compare pieces of data that might otherwise not be viewed together, and can help you reach conclusions.  Spreadsheets are a very common tool in scientific work, and the most interesting times are the ones where the numbers on the spreadsheet lead you to a totally different conclusion that what you were expecting.

The Google Docs spreadsheet also brings another aspect to this traditional data tool, namely collaboration.  Suddenly you can share your spreadsheet in real time with many other people, and compare the data together.    This would be a great tool for classroom discussions about what the data from a particular science experiment might mean, or how a family might be able to trim their budget to fit into their available income.  It also has the added functionality of Forms.  This allows you to create a survey, distribute it via email or a webpage, and then collect the results automatically in a spreadsheet.  I can think of many uses for this, including providing foundational information for a class discussion, or to compare information from classrooms around the country.

Spreadsheets can be a very powerful tool, and one that all educators should keep in mind as they develop their lesson plans.