Final Blog Post

It appears that virtual schooling will be beneficial in many situations, such as a sick student who needs to complete coursework from home, or offering students the opportunity to take classes that they might not otherwise have been able to. There are also some challenges presented with virtual schooling that include, possibly having inconsistent standards with students who come from cyberschools, or students may want to avoid a certain teacher and elect to take a virtual course instead.

I am not teaching, but from my experience in student teaching, the school I was at was probably not quite yet equipped to deal with the changes that are coming. I believe that although things are changing quickly, I think the changes will be implemented in schools gradually. In the school where I completed my student teaching, students in the 5th grade would probably have the opportunity to take virtual courses. I know the teachers were using technology in their lessons, but virtual schooling changes still need to be implemented gradually.

Week 13 Second Blog Post

One of the myths listed that surprised me slightly was "virtual schools are about technology". I think it was initially surprising because I tend to think about all of the various technology tools I have been using in my own online classes and the focus that I put on technology. After giving this idea more consideration, it does make sense that technology is just the delivery system for the content and not the actual focus of the content for many online courses. 

I don't believe I posted anything that was a myth in my initial post. There was another myth that I initially surprised me a little and that was "a student is more likely to cheat online". I don't think that students take online courses to cheat, but I think it would be more likely if there was a test offered online for a student to use their text book or the internet to find answers. I suppose this concern could be reduced by structuring tests to have time limits (with the hope that students wouldn't have time to look for answers in other places) or not having traditional, multiple choice tests and having projects instead. There are ways to structure an any online class in a way that will reduce the myths that may be believed about online courses.

I'm sure I have a lot to learn about virtual schooling. My understanding of virtual schooling is that courses are offered and students can enroll in these for credit in their district. I believe in some states students can take the courses for free, but in other states they must pay tuition. There are teachers who facilitate the courses and students take them in an entirely online format. I think that any students can enroll in online courses, such as Math and English, and I think that there may be many students enrolled for purposes of credit recovery. Students who are not struggling can also enroll, but I believe many are students who need to make up credits. Overall, virtual schooling offers flexibility to students and teachers who are facilitating the courses.

Wikis

I understand that Wikipedia and YouTube can be touchy sources to use in the classroom. I have had professors and teachers who have specifically said that Wikipedia cannot be considered a reliable source, and while I agree that that unreliable information can be posed on both Wikipedia and YouTube, I find myself going to these sites frequently to find answers to questions I may have. Often, I can find some piece of information on Wikipedia that I can then use to search for more reliable sites. I also look at the sources that are posted at the end of Wikipedia articles and then use those to try and determine if what I've read is credible.

I would let students use Wikipedia and YouTube as longs as they are able to find other sources that support what is on both of these sites. I think that both can be beneficial and as long as the information has been verified across multiple sources. YouTube can be especially helpful if someone is trying to learn how to do something, and needs to see a video or tutorial. In my eyes, both sites are useful as long as you are cautious of the information contained on them.

Blogs of Interest

While searching for blogs of interest on Technorati, I came across quite a few that would be informative to read. I selected the following blogs:

1. Gizmag Emerging Technology  - I selected this blog because it is important and entertaining to read up about upcoming technologies, both for teaching and personal reasons.
2. Curriculum Matters - This blog highlights curriculum issues from many different states, which is beneficial to read up about to be aware of happenings all over.
3. Teacher Beat - This blog features various policies and politics relating to teachers. It will be informative to read about things going on across the U.S. related to teaching.

Teachers:

1. Kevin Clark - A teacher on Twitter who uses technology in education.
2. Craig Steenstra - An Educational Technology Consultant. 
3. Brad Wilson - An EdTech Consultant.
4. Kimberly Powell - An Educational Technology Consultant who was previously a 4th grade teacher.
5. Stacey Schuh - An IT Consultant.

I've not used Twitter or Feedly much this semester outside of class assignments, but I am excited to use both of them a little more. I think currently, Feedly would be useful in my job to search for things related to the IRB, as well as for educational things. I previously did not have much interest in Twitter, but it is growing on me. I think it will be good to see the updates from the teacher I just started following and read up on the information they have to share.

Web 2.0 Tools

Greetings!

My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon in Tennessee. We did see some snow a couple of days we were down there, but yesterday it was sunny and nearly 60 degrees! I am longing for that weather now, but onto this week’s blog post…

Currently, I am not teaching. I work at WSU in the IRB Administration Office. I can think of several instances in which web 2.0 tools could be used to help those who are submitting research for review, however in my job, I do not typically meet with these people or answer most of their questions. In my office, we have a person who is responsible for meeting with people in order to help them fill out forms and who fields a lot of common questions. 

I could try the following tools using the SAMR Model:

Substitution – I have made a lunch choice order form (in Word) and printed it out for our members to fill out for upcoming meetings. They fill out the form and then I pass on the lunch order information to the person who does the ordering. I could possibly alert the members to fill out this form via Twitter instead of printing it and handing it to them.

Augmentation – For this phase (using the same example of the lunch choice ordering), I could create a Google document and ask the members to fill in their lunch choices on that, or if I am not giving everyone lunch choices, I could pick a few selections and then send that in a Survey Monkey poll to see which choice to order for the group at the next meeting.

Modification – Currently, new members are emailed an instructional sheet on how to access files on Blackboard. It may be helpful to members to access a step by step slide show (or video) in order to learn how to use Blackboard for those who aren’t familiar. I could possibly create this in Prezi or Picsviewr. 

Redefinition – Currently, if I field any questions, I do so via email or telephone. Often, it would be nice to be able to physically look at what the person is calling or emailing about. It would be helpful to use a Google Hangout (or maybe share info on Yugma) to help conference with someone who has questions, that way there would be face to face interaction and help both of us. 

There are a lot of tools available that could potentially enhance many areas in my office.

Unit 1 Blog Post

Hello!

While reading the articles this week, I considered some of the characteristics of students today. Other than completing my student teaching 3 years ago, I have not taught in a school environment, but I have helped teach a class of 7^th to 12^th grade girls at my church for several years. When I first began teaching the girls at my church, I was 18, and I was only a few months older than some of the oldest girls in the group. I did not feel as though there were many differences between myself and the older girls, since we were nearly the same age. As I continued teaching (and I got older) as the younger girls moved up into my group, I could see more differences in many areas. 

I am part of the Millennial Generation and all of the girls in the class now are part of the Edge Generation (born after 1995). These girls are very comfortable with technology and as Prensky discusses “Digital Natives”, these girls have grown up using technology all the time. It is a part of their everyday lives. I have found that they are more engaged in lessons that involve using technology as opposed to just having them read text from a page. Even while doing my student teaching it was apparent that the students were more interested in doing projects that allowed them to use the school Mac books, or playing computer games, or watching videos and were easily disinterested in reading from a text book. 

I believe that there are generational differences that exist and are apparent in the Edge Generation students of today, but with all of the technology advances that have been made in schools and tools that are available to teachers today, students can still be engaged. I think that technology has become such a large part of everyone’s daily life, that it can be integrated into lessons with a little effort and actively engage and interest students.