EXTRA EXTRA read all about it… details about my LMS that is

Hi Friends, This week I wanted to give you a bit of a run down on how I intend to facilitate my Blended Course.  These are just my preliminary ideas and are possibly subject to changes, as I find I am learning more as I go. Sarah has some fabulous ideas in her blog this week in terms of establishing boundaries and participating for her older students.  Although, I think that working with young grade 3 students there is only a need for pre-teaching about “Netiquette” and digital citizenship. 

I think for student/student-instructor interactions I will implement a blog. This form will be used so that students can publish their assignments and respond to readings or video’s. I think that once students get the hang of commenting on each others posts they will quite enjoy it. Although I believe that it may be difficult to create a community, this is something that the students have to do for themselves. Elizabeth had a great point when she said “we can try to foster a welcoming, open environment in which students feel a sense of community, but we can’t ensure this in all of our classes”. Image Source 

Choosing this form of student interaction is beneficial because grade 3 students are smart and full of great ideas and they will be able to share their thoughts with their peers online. Perhaps there is a way to moderate as the facilitator so that student blogs and comments can be reviewed before being posted. I also like the idea of commenting on students post, they will see that the teacher has read and thought critically about their post.

When facilitating an Blended Classroom I will make sure interactions between students and teacher are genuine.  I believe that awarding marks for participation is a starting point for students.  By encouraging participation with marks, students will begin to explore using blogs and commenting on their peers work and do so in a appropriate manner. This is the first step in meaningful interactions. Students will gain confidence by having fellow students reading and responding to their blogs. I think that both peer assessment and self assessment have value in a blended classroom. Elizabeth mentions the importance of teaching students to use pingbacks in their blogs as it “further encourages them to read other people’s blogs at their leisure and quote them in their own. It is important for students to read other people’s work, and to know that their work will also be read. This will help them see the value and importance of blogging, and the importance of reading something over before submitting it.” Image Source

I thought that I would check out the hyperlinks that were found in the document  Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation for some assessment ideas.  I was very disappointed to find out that all the hyperlinks that I tried were broken.  I think that it is very important when setting up a Blended Classroom for students to make sure that all links are working.  By not checking for dead links an educator can run into a lot of wasted time in terms of having students refer to a link provided.

Well this is my starting point, oh yeah and rubrics.  Have you ever used a blog platform in your classroom, which one?

Extra, extra, read all about it…… or just watch the video!

This week our blog prompt asked us to look at pedagogical differences of various types of media. Like many other classmates, I will be looking back on my experiences as a student. I have always been challenged by reading text.  As a child I struggled learning to read, my mom even hired a reading tutor to alleviate my frustrations. Stephanie mentioned that in her undergrad she began to enjoy reading, for me the opposite I struggle reading chapters, my eyes get heavy and it all turns into a blur and I want to fall asleep.  I even experimented with Kurzwell, having it read to me, but the voices were too boring and I had a hard time following what was being said.

Roxanne’s post, made me think back to my use of technology in my schooling experience, I recall having Mac computers in elementary school but we rarely used them.  I did manage to figure out how to use the Printshop program to make cards, banners and certificate.  In high school, I took a typing class but we used a typewriter and created cartoon pictures by following written directions of letters and spacing. Although I do recall, my English teacher had us go on the computer and practice typing with these boxes over our hands so we would learn where the keys were, I remember her saying hands on home row.  I did sign up for a Practical Applied Arts in grade 11 and 12; I managed to do all right in the computer class rotation.  We had small assignments such as internet scavenger hunts and sending emails.  I still use my Hotmail account that I created in that class, and lucky for me it was not dorky like powerpuffgirl@hotmail.com my younger cousin had to change his as his first email account was spongebobjtd@hotmail.com.  Teachers really did not incorporate much media into their classes maybe a video or a film on the old projector.

After reading the section 7.4 in the  Bates text I realize that video is a much richer medium than either text or audio. Video can be used as presentational material.  I have always been a visual learner and hands on learner, learning through pictures, demos, videos, and doing an activity.  When a teacher can not provide a learning experience for the class that’s when media comes into play. One thing that really stuck out to me is how Bates notes that video can substitute for a field visit, by:

• providing students with an accurate, comprehensive visual picture , in order to place the topic under study in context;
• demonstrating the relationship between different elements of a system under study
• through the use of models, animations or simulations, to teach certain advanced scientific or technological concepts

I automatically thought of how Ms. Frizzle takes the students on an adventure but we the audience learn through media exposure to the video.

I believe that Roxanne makes a valid point that teachers need to be incorporating more technology and media into the classrooms, there is never enough. By allowing use of media and technology in the classroom it gets students ready for the real world and come to understand and explore the internet in a safe guided manner. Like Roxanne and Loraine I use Kahoot for changing up quizzes and assessment, Kahoot allows me to check for understanding while talking through correct answers.  The students even asked “can you make a Kahoot” or even to create their own.

As an adult learner in an online class, I am finding that technology is allowing me to connect and create with others who are not even near me. I enjoy everything that Alec and Katia share, I am also forever learning from my peers in the Google+ community.

Well friends please let me know which media type you learn best from! Even better share an media learning experience.