Pro Port Ex 1.1

This looks to be a busy, but very productive class.    

So.... this weeks blog question is.......  How have you or your schools utilized ePortfolios? 

Well, the short answer is... we don't.  However, our 6th~8th grade students do have portfolios that they are supposed to put items in throughout their career at our middle school.  Then at the end of 8th grade, they present their portfolios to two teachers.  They have to "pass" in order to go to high school. 

That being said, I think there are a lot of programs that could be used for their portfolios.  I think Prezi would be a great way to do a digital portfolio.  You can add in audio and video clips, not to mention pictures and scans of physical artifacts.   I wouldn't mind making my own professional portfolio Prezi.... I think it would help set me apart from the pack.

A lot of the tools we've learned in class I think would be great for making the projects that end up in the digital portfolio.   I especially think that iMovie and Garageband have a lot of potential. Also, Comic Life would also be another way to present information in a new and creative way.

Facilitating...... could've gone better.

Well, getting my feet wet the first time facilitating was interesting.  There are definitely things I could do next time to improve.    I definitely need to refine my questions/prompts.

My original idea when I made my power point was to have everyone myth bust the myths.  Unfortunately, I made several assumptions.  #1) Everyone would know what I wanted them to do with no prompts.  #2) They're adults so they'll just "get it".

I definitely need to work on prompts and clearer expectations.  I learned a lot from my cohort members.  Definitely learned a lot by watching my classmates.  I definitely will do better the next time I'm planning to facilitate.

Reflections.... like moon beams off the water.....

Okay.... one of the biggest challenges of facilitating ,I think, will be keeping track of everyone once you break up in to groups.  I asked Ken if it was possible to record the small groups, to which he said, "No...not yet."  I think it would be hard to grade small group discussion in larger class with many break-out groups.   I can't wait for that upgrade.  That will be cool.

Things that are really important to think about are the questions and execution. It will be hard doing the mini 15 minute class, but it will be a good taste of what it'll be like in a longer class.  Although, in a longer class, it will be hard to plan the right amount so that you have enough to do, but not an excess.  Or the opposite where you run out of stuff to do and have those awkward pauses.

I chose my topic because while I want to use more computers in class, but with my school and computer lab issues, coupled with my students access to computers and internet is somewhat limited, I thought it would be an appropriate topic.

When I was developing my rubrics for my activities, they are based on some rubrics I use for writing in my class. I thought it would be good to be consistent. So I didn't entirely recreate the wheel.... instead I decided to modify it.  Work smarter, not harder.  :-)

Clear as mud...

Well, tonights' class was fun and informative.  It was interesting to see how the 3 group projects turned out.  To me they looked like three different examples that you might show students.  What made it particularly interesting is how the teachers thought that they had thought that the instructions were explicit enough about what they wanted.   It definitely drove home that instructions need to be explicit. Personally, I thought they were fine.

Another thing which nobody mentioned and I thought of while laying awake last night is that we as teachers, need to be prepared to accept and grade things that don't meet our expectations.  We all give out assignments and occasionally something comes back that isn't wrong per se, but it's not what we were fishing for. If the project is well done, there still was learning that went on and perhaps that's what the focus should be on.  We can always  hit on the topics we wanted them to learn with either the project discussions OR assign a smaller project to get them thinking more about what we intended.

I also think that many of us haven't, but hopefully will, be exchanging contact information.  We get so wrapped up in all of the Skyping, IMing and emailing that we forget that the phone can be just as important.   I think we should make a class google doc and post all of our cell/phone numbers...then people and print it off and put it near their computers.

I have also been making a running list of all of the little tips Greg & Ken have been making in class.  If you're curious, here they are:

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Provide enough time for students to collaborate.

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Beginning communication can be challenging.

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Division of labor is important. Roles may be useful for younger students.

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Scheduling a first meeting for your students may help to get the project started.

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Share contact information at the beginning of the project.

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Students may feel isolated when they are unable to communicate.

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Establishing check points for students will help students to set the pace.

Moderator (Ken): Note to Self: Scheduling can be a challenge.

Moderator (Greg ): NOTE TO SELF: Collaboartion is messy.

I think this is all for now. I'm off.

Class #2

I must say, I am really enjoying the interactive nature of class.  I'll be honest, during the first class when we kept getting "invited" to raise our hands, clap, etc. I thought to myself, "Seriously? We've been using this forever. We know how to do this stuff.", but after our second class it makes sense.

The discussion about similarities and differences between online learning and traditional learning really drove home some points. Even though I knew many of the things we talked about like different ways students could participate vs. a traditional classroom, ways of inviting participation (like all of the hand raising, etc.)

Also, I really liked the break out rooms and how there were used. They reminded me a lot of "language labs" where you would wear a headset and interact with someone across the room.... but instead you're only limited by time-zones and willingness.
I actually went in a played with the grouping settings after class it is really cool.  I am really excited to learn about all the little features.

I think the hardest thing will be asking GOOD questions that will elicit the answers and critical thinking that I want.  I did notice though about the questions we did have in class, they were very reminiscent of my D&D/Role-Playing days.  "There's a sleeping dragon on a pile of gold in the cavern.  What do you do?" and then leave it up to the players/students to work though it.   I think I may really turn out to like thinking of these higher order questions. :-)

I think this is all for now.  I'm looking forward to our next class.

Class has begun.... again

It seems like there's a never ending supply of classes.  :-P  However, I am really excited to get into the meat of this class.   Learning to use Eluminate will be fun.  Although I've used it with my groups in the past... I didn't know how to do a poll, which I do now!!  Now I just need to think up fun polling questions.

As for moderating, especially students, it will definitely be challenging to come up with good higher-ordering thinking questions.  I know when working with middle school kids, they don't like to think and will do their best to give the easiest answer possible.  They really hate it when I keep asking, "why" and making them justify their answers.  It is a skill I try to use, but I'm still a long ways away from being a rock star when it comes to asking questions.

As for my online conferencing experiences... I've only used Skype and Eluminate, unless you count my days in college on the ISCA BBS.  As I like to refer to it, the all-text FaceBook. Now, I never did anything on their academically related, but I sure had a lot of fun. :-)

I can't wait to see what week two has in store.  I'm enjoying all of this so far.  I hope the class stays as fun and interesting as it was last week.

Yeah! Finally past all that math!

I am not going to lie... that stats stuff was confusing.   This next assignment should be interesting.   I don't mind researching sites to see how they're used.

While I appreciate the explanations of the stats, I'll leave that up to Bill and Yep to mess with.

I did, however, download that program Bill suggested.... although right now the name evades me.  I hope to play with it some more.  It seemed like a fairly visual based stats program... and that may be the way for me.  I am definitely a visual learner and don't get too excited about numbers.  I'm mathematically challenged since way back.


I do to love how people find cool sites and share them though. There is SOOOOOOO much out there that there is no way I'd find 1/2 of the cool stuff w/out friends / coworkers or colleagues.    One of my colleagues just found edumodo.com which is like Facebook... but for teachers and students.  I'm very excited about the prospects in using that in class.