reflections....

This final week has really given me an opportunity to revisit my own style as an online instructor. The idea of having a voice as well as being a cybercoach sort of has me really excited. This is a chance to look at my best qualities as a f2f instructor and really examine available tools for ways to translate those strengths into an online environment. It's also giving me the chance to examine my own educational bias and stereotypes in terms of learning styles and modalities. It's strange that as an honor student in high school I could be so effective teaching learning disabled students. I don't think that this dichotomy of opposites holds true for me in terms of learning style and multiple intelligences. As a verbal learner I have a very difficult time adjusting for the kinesthetic mode. I also have a difficult time including the more physical level of multiple intelligences and so probably don't balance my own lessons as much as is needed by my students. It gives me a lot to think about.

Ongoing projects...

This week has been very informative. The opportunity to see a wide array of applications of different tools is really invaluable for any teacher. You do not always have the time to fully explore a tool and examine all of its unique potential for your classroom situation and consequently might overlook using a particular tool. This exploration of other students' outlines has given me an opportunity to see how certain tools not only fit certain functions but could also be adapted so that I could use them. A second benefit to this week's work on the course outline has been that I receieved authentic feedback to help guide me in creting my own plan. The questions asked by my fellow classmates really made me stop and analyze the elements in my porject again. I am thankful to have the chance to see my work through someone else's eyes. Things that seem obvious to me may have been muddy and unclear to others and this preliminary work has provided a new chance for peer editing in a virtual environment. Now that I connect those points, a little light bulb has gone off in my head:) This same technique could be used in a virtual classroom to teach and practice the skill of peer editing within the writing workshop model. I can transfer the model we are practicing with very easily into a classs I could teach. Practical, applicable, and enlighteninging all at the same time!!

Cybercoaching

In thinking about the model of cybercoaching, with its emphasis on guidance and support for individual efforts, I am remindered of a concept that I knew more than 30 years ago. Teaching is an ART and not a SCIENCE. We have all had teachers who were considered world class experts in the subject area. They may, however, have been horrible teachers. Just because you are erudite in a particular area of expertise does not automatically mean that you can transmit that knowledge and those competencies to others. Hence teaching becomes an art. If it were a science anyone could merely follow a recipe and be a great teacher. This is not the case. Instead there is an ability to make a real genuine supportive human connection that transcends the art of teaching. Many of the qualities of a cybercoach serve to make those connections. Whether a teacher is in a f2f class or online, the connection can be made. The tools and strategies might need to be varied because of the environment but the objective of the process is the same.

There is a HUGE distinction between a trainer, and instructor, both of which by definition imply the transfer of knowledge on the lower end of Bloom's Taxonomy scale. The difference between these and a teacher and finally an educator are vast. To me an educator deals with the student as a whole person bringing a unique set of prior experiences to the learning environment. An educator seeks to help students develop analytical and critical thinking skills at the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. This is similar to an integrative doctor who deals with mental, emotional,spiritual, and physical elements of a patient. Contrast this to a specialist who might say the patient is fine because one sytem, his specialty, is fine. "This patient has no heart disease and so is healthy." This said despite a cancer eating away the patient's liver. When we wear blinders, not matter our occupation, we miss vital elements and so any true professional seeks to expand his/her vision. This is what an educator does by assessing a student's prior knowledge and then analyzing how to get from there to the class objectives.

Midterm Reflection

After taking quite a few online courses I am forced to reflect on the role of collaborative activities. In a F2F classroom such activities are quickly and relatively easily organized first by the instructor and then by the student participants. It is then relatively simple to monitor performance and achievement within collaborative groups as the instructor can circulate or even observe from within the class and evaluate the working process of any group or even any individual student. But in translating the collaborative process into an online environment there are a number of drawbacks and pitfalls. Depending on the available tools the instructor may not know of problems until long after they arise. For the student, or at least for me as a student, both synchronous and asynchronous formats are difficult.

Synchronous chats can be especially difficult to arrange if students are spread over a wide geographic terrain, i.e. our upcoming Breeze session. Furthermore synchronous sessions must deal with the material at the most basic level to accomodate beginning students. This is extremely frustrating for learners with some background. The tendency to withdraw and not comment also becomes an issue, much as it could in a F2F class. Asynchronous tools are more immediate for each individual but there may often be a lag in responses from all students, particularly when using an e-mail based communication system. All of these drawbacks lead to what seems to almost be inevitable, some form of gap in communication or misunderstanding that takes valuable time and energy to resolve.

Perhaps on reflection I am the student who needs to control my own learning experience. It is not that I can't work as part of a team for I have been the team leader for an 8th grade team for the last 5 years. I think it is rather the idea of being evaluated based on someone else's performance that I cannot control. This is the reason I am fervently against merit pay for teachers based on student performance. Teachers of honors classes will always have higher scoring students than those who teach ESL or special education students and so teachers cannot control the performance outcome of their students. I really hated F2F classes that required working in collaborative groups. The online environment has been somewhat better but even here there are many frustrations. Often instructions leave job assignments within the group to the group itself. Without the benefit of F2F visual cues and ice breaking activities to develop a level of trust, this can be difficult. Furthermore, one student often jumps ahead, perhaps due to a difference in time zones, and posts materials while there is always one trying to catch up. And again maybe it is me but I have generally found males to be less supportive of the group process itself. So I think that I really would have to question how much collaboration should be included in online class design and how formal or informal an assessment I'd use for evaluation. The class activities have to address a variety of learning styles and allow options for each type of student to shine in her/his performance.

Online Collaboration

I have now taken a number of online courses and all of them seem to have some component for collaboration. Often this is simply through a discussion forum or message board. Some of my past courses used wikis for collaboration, or synchronous live chat, or even Moodle laboratory. All of these tools have a role to play in establishing successful communication among the members of a class. But in this module I have found that the collaboration in our group has been unparalled. I think that this is in part because the group itself is small. Furthermore by only having one group there is less pressure to expound upon the creations of other teams. It also seems that the rapport created among the members of this small class is much deeper than what might exist in a much larger group.

The creation of our team toolbox was in itself a learning process. But the activity also opened up an exploration of new tools that could be incorporated into online learning environments very easily. I am very excited about hosted systems such as WebEx that contain a variety of programs that enhance communication between group members and also allow an instructor to use vitually any application on a PC to present class materials. This is a whole new world that can extend online education into new roles for the future.

Week 3 Ends

This week's discussion of emerging technologies and tools that might be applicable to education is quite thought-provoking. The tools that allow for peer-to-peer collaboration are beginning increasingly more sophisticated, even allowing instructors to create break out groups and then virtually drop into those groups. This is truly interactive. Within new tools such as WebEx are many of the features that previously were only available as separate applications. So the advent of simulations, mmogs, and fully hosted applications is extending the capabilities of online teachers without the need to provide their own Internet servers and tech support programs.

I think this is a very exciting time to enter the world of online teaching simply because the possibilities and capabilities are making online education, whether it is a one day webinar or an ongoing class, much more equitable with face to face classes. Students who previously were unable to physically attend classes for a variety of reasons now have a world of educational opportunities available to them.

The Second Week Reflections

I can't believe that 2 weeks of class are already finished. Time is going so quickly. There is always so much to absorb that I feel like I haven't grasped all the nuances and implications of the strategies yet. I will freely admit that although I created a blog for Dennis' class I had not gone back to it since class ended. In setting up a blog for this class I decided that I wanted to try a different venue and so chose Blogger. It was relatively easy to set up and manage. I'm even setting aside some time to add new blogs on a fairly consistent basis.

The reflective nature of a blog was fairly evident from my first exposure. Even though I've used a variety of reflective and personal response logs and journals in my f2f classes as a means of assessment, it never occurred to me to make the transition to the online environment through blogs. It seems to me now that I've had some time to work with the tools and to think through its uses, that my learning disabled students could especially benefit from the use of blogs. First of all writing is always a chore for them usually due to their poor mechanics. The computer would help with spell check and grammar check to alleviate some of their concerns. Additionally poor motor skills can make the actual physical writing process difficult and typing could address that concern. Last but not least, the fact that blogs are published on the Internet means that there is an immediate real world audience out there that could provide feedback. This is a more authentic audience than simply the teacher in the classroom.

...to introduce myself

It is my great honor to introduce to everyone Pat Hutton.Pat is certified to teach nursery school through 8th grade (talk about a diversity of cognitive levels) and a k-12 special education teacher (tons upon tons of patience). She taught 1st grade for one year, but has spent the majority of her time in the middle grades in a SPED program in NJ (my husband's from there- which exit where you at?). She's taught all major subjects, but has spent the majority of her time teaching English.One school related memory that makes her smile was being chosen to study "New Math." She felt that being able to use manipulatives and learning set theory was more of a game than actual studying (meanwhile, I'm not even sure what set theory is).She would like to use her online experience to help prepare future teachers prepare for their classroom experiences. Pat functions well in the online environment because she learns best independently which makes her more condcious of the descions she makes as an educator- something I'm sure her students, both online and in the traditioanl classroom, will definitely appreciate.On another note, she believes that most people who know her might be surprised to learn that she is very much in touch with her psychic self (I too believe in psychics and the spiritual realm- I have to, I live in the most haunted country in the world...just ask the spirit that politely turns on the downstairs light nearly every morning around 5:30-6 am to ensure that my husband and I get up on time- I'm really not kidding about that either).

Please allow me.....

Good evening fellow classmates. I'd like to introduce you all to Joy Nehr. She is presently teaching 7th grade Language Arts in England but has taught both 6th and 7th grade in a number of states here in the US. As a student she had a memorable experience in the 2nd grade. She attended a DoDDS school in the Phillipines where even the young students changed classes. Her social studies teacher blamed her for everything that went wrong (once even when she was absent!) and so Joy used that experience to her students' advantage. She makes a real effort to go out of her way to listen to students' points of view. Joy enjoys the flexibility of being able to take online classes anywhere because her husband is often moved to new stations as an active duty member of the military.On a personal note, Joy really loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books that made the world retreat as she read them. Her 2 pet peeves are people whistling indoors and rudeness. Like most of us, the rudeness is defined in our own terms. I'd also like to add that Joy is generous, volunteering to work with 2 partners for this interview.

What is alternate???

Alternative assessment has become something of a buzzword within educational circles ranging from elementary through tertiary school systems. There is a real need to connect the educational system to the world of work where traditional school assessment is of little value. What educational theorists are referring to as alternate assessment is actually much closer to the elements of job evaluation present in a majority of real world settings. Employers have specific points they look for in performing an evaluation and the product they examine varies depending on the job. This is increasingly true in America where our economy is transforming from industrial to service based. The resulting emphasis on team work and collaboration over strictly individual performance has great impact on our schools today. Measuring the delivery of a service cannot be gauged with pencil and paper and objective questions.For me as a learner the survey provided an area of comfort and familiarity. It gave me the opportunity to control just how much information I would divulge in relation to a concept or experience. As an instructor I prefer the wiki because it allows me to examine the work in progress of all my students rather than just those who might dominate in a class discussion. It also provides an opportunity for me to intervene if I see problems developing befor any more formal assessment.

Survey Interaction

My own experiences in the classroom have lead me to a point where I view the assessment process as much larger in scope than when I was a new teacher. Young teachers must learn to be the center of their own little universe in order to get tenure. It is only with experience that you can begin to see the real value in self-assessment and reflection, both higher order thinking skills. The learning process is circular or spiral in naterure with objectives, assessment, evaluation each repeating over and over as learning is monitored and adjusted along the way.

February 5, 2007

In reading the articles for this module, it seems that blogging is quickly being incorporated into the educational environment. In the f2f classroom reflective journaling has long played a part in many lessons from novel responses through problem solving activities in math, and even within the social studies to create personal ties to curricula. I have myself had middle schoolers create journals as historical characters and describe, using actual historical facts, their own personal reactions to events that occur. This creates an immediate human connection with materials that can be difficult to access for younger students especially.

What the readings this week propose is taking the many uses of reflective journaling from the f2f classroom into the virtual realm. The main difference gives rise to the main caution. Blogs are public, not private and can be accessed as well as critiqued by anyone. Students need to be able to understand the impact and context of such critiques. As an educator part of my responsibility in using blogs would be to address this concern. I might, depending on the age level and maturity of the students, start by setting up strict guidelines for using a blog, perhaps as a tool to respond to specific questions where I can control the content and thus some of the critiques. I might also have my students practice responding to other people's blogs in a constructive manner under my guidance so they can judge the quality of responses. An additional protection might be to create my blog on a site such as edublogs where the content is not wide open (think My Space!) and you must register to read the blogs.

Welcome to my world!!

Here it is Super Bowl Sunday and I'm still at work creating a new tool to use in my work. Trying out a blog is very similar to journaling and we all know I could not be consistent with that. I guess the key for me is taking the time to write the thoughts that rush through my mind. I think I'll get the hang of this pretty quickly.