How has the Navigate module prepared you to meet each standard listed above?
Standard B has been proven and proven again in the use of TOOL. Specifically through the Navigate unit, I was able to express my knowledge of synchronous and asynchronous learning (and to do it I learned how to use Piktochart!), I explored different LMS (and feel as if I conquered several... kicking and screaming), and the screen capture section showed that I have a wide repertoire of tools for creating such videos. Standard I was demonstrated in 3.2 with LMS reporting, with all of the talk about analytics (heavy!). Link to or provide specific examples from your work in Navigate. I think we should just do this by Standard:
What strategies will you take away from the Participate module and apply to your teaching? What lessons were most beneficial for you? I think all but the last section were very helpful in application to instruction and teaching. The last lesson took a lot of unnecessary time (Creation of Courses with LMS) and frustration. Honestly, I think we should give our trainees "trial access" to D2L, give them directions on how to manipulate the shell and maneuver through the course, and be done with it. How does it help us to continuously use systems that we do not use in GAVS? I just feel it was a waste of time. In all other areas, I learned either material that helps me understand my position as an online instructor or I learned to use a new tool that I will use in the future in my GAVS classes. The most beneficial were the Screen Capture section (I explored some different screen recorders, but I also played around with some online whiteboards, which was fun), the LMS trends (because I think it is important that we stay up with what is happening in the digital world), and the two sections that I used Piktochart for because I love that tool now and will continue to use it in my classes! It was also beneficial for me to consider all of the roles within our construct as an educational institute simply because it makes me appreciate the teachers and also all of the other faculty that work for GAVS. We are a pretty incredible learning community!
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I attempted to create a course using Canvas. While it seems as if it should be simple, I am so used to D2L. The instructions in this section really didn't make sense to me- I had to reach out to the TOOL team (Thank God I work for GAVS already and know those that can help me!!). I will save the rest of those comments for my reflection post. For now, let's take a look at my steps to create the course using the LMS Canvas.
To create the course shell, I followed the following steps:
I imagine that at this point, I can personalize assignments and announcements. Honestly, I never thought that using another LMS would be more difficult, but I suppose it is the same as my Mac mind attempting to use a PC at this point- I am comfortable with one system and don't want to change. I could have easily taken the materials given and gone into D2L and constructed the course, but I wanted to give a new system a try. It is very important that these steps are followed or it will not function (and I know because I made some mistakes along the way and had to take a few steps backward to figure it out). Honestly, since the questions clearly ask for me to describe my experience, it was awful. At this point, I wanted to quit working on TOOL altogether because the directions are not straightforward. I didn't understand that what TOOL was asking was for me to create a duplicate of the course that I viewed within the course contact. Grade reporting options-
There are many grade reporting options when it comes to looking at the data collected from the LMS. There are many directions we can look at this data: we can look at one student's progress from one assignment to the next, we can examine each individual question on an assessment to see how a group as a whole did on one particular concept (or standard). We can compare one year of students to the next to evaluate ourselves as teachers. We can use any data to look for a pattern. The grades that we see are traditionally percentages. Usually departments, schools, or districts use weights in different categories of assignments (tests are usually a higher weight, for example). Usually grades below a 70% are not passing, so students must keep their average as a whole above that point. Levels of grade reporting- There are several levels of grade reporting. Student level- students have access to their grades as they are working (at least using our LMS). They have access to the feedback left on each assignment, the percentages and rubrics that describe their evaluation, and they also have access to their transcript. Teacher level- teachers have constant access to the gradebook for all students. The students can be grouped by their enrollment status. Value to the online instructor- Clearly the most valuable view at data for the online instructor happens from their own view of the gradebook. The kicker is that a teacher must look at that data from all different directions. As described in the grade reporting options, teachers can look at the data from many perspectives and it is most valuable to take a look from each. Looking at one student and following their grades will help that particular student and it is important that we do this as educators so that we can assist in the success of individuals. However, to improve our own craft- test validity, effective teaching, etc.- we must look at the data from all directions to make the analytical collections most valuable! Having used D2L for some time now, there are tools that I like using better than others. My favorite features are discussion forum, news announcements, and the LOR. I think these features are relevant to real life, provide undeniable benefits to the learning environment, and they directly relate to effective online instruction. Let's talk use as well as benefit per feature: Discussion Forum I like the discussion forum for several reasons. First, it presents a real-to-life set up similar to social media. While the conversations are not real time, they are similar to leaving messages on Facebook or posts on Instagram; students can use the discussion forum as they use other technologies in their real lives. School needs more ways to connect to the outside world of the students so that they see more relevance. The discussion forum also provides a way for students to discuss what they have learned. Research shows that 92% of classroom talk should be by the student (I read that in an Arthur Costa book, but I can't properly cite it without looking it back up). We are allowing student talk in the discussion forum. Other important factors of education are happening there, like metacognition (depending on how it is used). Students can use humor if they like, as well. The instructional benefits are awesome, and it brings a level of communication to the online classroom that wouldn't exist without it.
LOR
The LOR is a teacher tool, but I find it crucial to effective instruction. The reason is that teachers work very hard creating lessons, learning objects, resources in general that we want to reuse. We don't have unlimited space for saving them and even if we did, can we really claim that we have a perfect method for filing these resources. The LOR allows us to keep all of the items that we create so that we can store them and easily access them for reuse. While this might not seem like an instructional tool, the fact is that the more time we take away from planning and creating these learning objects, the more time teachers have to focus on the actual instruction. Do you see where this is going? Because we can use the LOR to save what we make and access it to reuse in the future, we don't have to continue to remake and redo what we have spent our time on previously. Our time will then go to instruction in other ways. It's like buying ourselves time! Trends in education?! In EDUCATION????? NO!! (please read in the sarcasm) As a 15 year teacher, I have seen many trends come... and keep coming. Trends rarely disappear, but they tend to chunk them together and give them different names, but effective practices are effective practices. The difference between education in the face to face realm and the online world is that online is fairly new to the world. I remember learning to use Google... and now it is something I use daily. Google has all the answers! The trends that are coming in online education will probably emulate those in the literal classroom in that they will come and they will stay; they might end up with new and improved names, and they will end up holding hands with other trends that come about, but they aren't going to go anywhere. In this section of Navigate, the task is to choose one LMS trend- the one that we feel will have the most impact on digital learning over the next five years- and talk about it. I am to discuss the impact on learning, whether or not it will conquer the test of time and explain my response. The fact is that I am not sure that one trend will be THE most important in terms of the impact. Just like in the classroom, we are trained to use various methods and instructional strategies, and then we find that there is not just one that will do the trick- we need a balanced mixture of all of them- I predict that we will find the same thing in the LMS trends. What I will do, then, it take a look at those that have made the biggest difference in my opinion, and talk about how that balance will be what builds success in online learning. The trends that I see as being most popular as of right now- mid year of 2017- are the following (please know that I am not a techie, necessarily, so perhaps you will disagree. I dable in technology, but education is absolutely what. I. Do. This discussion is based on what I have seen both in and out of the literal and online classroom. It is based on life in general): mobile learning (mLearning)- including MOOCs, microlearning, gamification, interactive video, and data. Each of these "trends" will be keeping/finding their place in the LMS as well as in the lives of all people who are now self taught in at least something. Let's look at why I feel this way... mLearning Tell me, who doesn't go straight to Google when they want to know something? Who does not look up a YouTube video when they want to learn to do something? When I was young, my mother never really liked to fix our hair. I was one of 3 sisters (even though we called my brother a girl most of our childhood, the number given does not include him) and my mother didn't do hair. We all looked scraggly most of the time. I didn't learn to braid until I had my own daughter (blessed was I to have her as my second child rather than the first) was about to enter PreK. Not only was she going to PreK but she would be attending a GA PreK that was located inside of the high school where I was teaching. I could not have my daughter looking scraggly. What did I do? I watched so many YouTube videos on different ways to braid hair, fix hair, do whatever you could possibly do... and I learned. Mobile Learning is a real thing. My grandmother at the age of 96 does it! If there is something I want to learn or I want my students to learn but I don't have the skill set to teach it, we are finding it online. Many businesses put their training courses online and allow you to take it at your leisure. Defensive Driving courses are online (that's what I have been told)! This trend is not going anywhere. We can outlaw phones in the physical classroom if we want, but we are fighting a loosing battle. If my kids struggle in a classroom to gain knowledge over a particular topic, we look for it online. And now we have all of these MOOCs (TOOL is one of them!) that can teach us and we don't even have to pay for them... STOP!! Lifelong learning will be a real thing as long as we have access to the internet! I think the programs that allow you to do a certain amount for free to wet your appetite are the ones that are going to pull in more students. This trend will have a huge impact on online learning because we are portable! We can learn while riding to the grocery store (riding- not driving!). If we don't latch onto this, who is going to know our name?! They will remember the ones that allow them to learn (at least something) for free, on our own time, at our own pace, and I walk away from with a skill! Mark my words- this will be big for a long time! Interactive Videos Skipping ahead in my list just a little, we just talked for a very long paragraph about how mLearning is something we all do all the time; picture this... your lessons consist of videos, but not videos that last 20 minutes and we are all picking our noses, putting our heads down, watching the cats chasing birds out the window because the lesson is broken up with interactive questions or choices that require engagement and attention. Can you imagine?! Our students paying attention because they want to figure out what happens next?! They don't just want to, but they decide it! This interaction can be based on comprehension if you want, and then the wrong answer takes them to a remediation portion, or it can be choice that takes them to one of a few options where the outcome is actually changed due to their choice. Now, didn't someone say that voice and choice is a good thing? Differentiation by interest? See, the name has changed and it has adapted to the online world, but the concept has been around and we have been doing it! As we continue and we figure out how to work these tools (that kids are really already mastering).
Think about strategy gaming. You read about some characters and their struggle, their story; then you are given some choices about what you want to do. You try it out and see how your choices play out in the game. Isn't this almost what you are doing in the interactive video? Or close to it, anyway. Why won't this go anywhere? Kids are very visually stimulated these days. Everything they do is in big lights on a big screen. This is the stimulation that they are used to. When they come to school, nothing is big and bright. They stare at a book and they don't understand why characters make the choices they make. They would have... Do you see where this is going? If life at school somewhat mimics life in the outside world, students would be much more apt to pay attention, to participate, to engage. Admittedly, not all lessons can work this way, but would they have to? My kids will play games for a while and then they will get tired of losing and stop for a few hours. Good news for us- every lesson won't need to! Will it have an impact? I think we answered that question. Interest and engagement should say it all! Microlearning How long is the average attention span? Not sure? I can tell you- 17 minutes. How many teachers talk for longer than 17 minutes at a time? If you said most of them, you are admitting that students will lose their focus during a lesson. What can we do? We can do what is proven to be brain-friendly! We make lessons shorter- to be closer to the average attention span so that we lose less students while teaching- and we break it up with practice. We need spaced repetition of content to create long-term memory management... or honestly, to practice the art of recollection. If we know that the brain can't handle a 50 minute lecture, why are we doing it?! Online learning, in my opinion, can appease these methods easier than the face to face classroom. We break up videos with practice. Then we assign something interactive- where they have to apply the knowledge that they learned with the video. In the next activity, we learn something new and we add in the previous lesson so that the students are getting repetition again and linking previous and new knowledge. This, my friends, is microlearning. Data
Big or small, we have to be setting goals to match what is needed. How do we know what we need? Data. We have to use data to grow. If data says students need additional support in certain areas, we must provide it. We should be paying attention to all of the data that we can get our hands on. Data will be how we find what works and what doesn't, so as long as education is around, data should be too. Which LMS is best? Truth be told, each person will come up with a different answer to that question because it is based on opinion and need. I have used many different Learning Management Systems: in college I used Blackboard, while doing some certification classes recently we used Moodle, in a former school we used ANGEL, and for GAVS we have been using D2L (and we use the same in Gwinnett County where I teach face to face classes). I think, as the teacher, a lot of preference is based on what we are used to. I will say, however, that my least favorite of all of the systems I have used is Moodle. I never got the hang of it for some reason. It always felt unorganized, as if it were out of order. D2L has become very easy for me. I can easily navigate it and it provides all of the options that I need to continue research based best practices while basing reteaching on data.
An LMS must meet the needs of many, not just a teacher or a student, but all stakeholders. How does this happen? There are several qualities taken into account. I would say one of the most substantial in making this decision is cost. The institution needs to make a cost effective choice- schools are not in it to make money, but they certainly can't be left in a financial hole. Second, the team needs to decide what features are non-negotiable. What do teachers need? What do the students need? Which systems can provide all of that, or perhaps, the majority? Third must be usability. Will it be difficult for new users? Can the teachers and course developers catch on quickly? Will it take them a long time to master the system? Last consideration- which system can handle growth? If you are trying to grow your program but you sign on for a system that cannot handle much growth, you will be changing and learning a whole new system in no time, which is not worth anyone's time or money! I think that D2L aligns well with the initiatives, growth, and technological needs of GAVS. I say this because after 5 years working there, each year we are able to grow a little and make changes to assist all teachers, faculty, and other stakeholders in the direction of student success. For example, just this year we started using a new widget on our Course Homepage that tracks the user logins to the course. This is important because we no longer have to go dig for this information as instructors. Before, we could make assumptions based on grades and progress and then check student logins based on those assumptions, but now we can take a glance at a graph to see how many students logged in that day. At that point, we can make a pretty educated guess at who did not. Administration can also now track data for each student. The data that they can provide us is overwhelmingly helpful, especially when a student is underperforming. I had a student claiming that the information I was sending her parent about her classroom activities was inaccurate; all I had to do was reach out to my administrator and she sent me a print out not only of what pages of the course content the student had visited but information as specific as how many clicks she made per page! I am still learning how to access all of this data, but I can certainly access what I need to make sure that I am leading myself toward the school improvement goals! Aside from data driven decisions, we are also encouraged to differentiate in the online classroom. D2L makes this very easy with all of the different options for posting. We can use all different types of media, post in multiple different places, etc. It also gives other stakeholders the opportunity to create their own login and view their student's progress at their own convenience. The systems allows us to leave feedback as specific as necessary, and even remediation suggestions with links, etc. All stakeholders are provided with options using this particular LMS. After all of the systems that I have used, I have to say that I am a fan of D2L. There are many screencasting tools that can help me record my desktop while I teach lessons and I have used a handful. The one that I chose to use for this lesson is Quicktime because I can save the recording to my computer and then use it whenever I want to, I can save it to my Google Drive so that I can use it whenever necessary, or I can add it to YouTube so that I can provide just a link in some cases. It's all up to me once it is recorded.
Capturing my screen gives me the capability to explain concepts to students simply by using my computer and recording the answer to their questions, a lesson described in an alternate fashion, or provide direct instruction about a topic that we have not yet covered. This means that I don't have to be in the same room with the students to instruct them. The negative aspect is that they are not present to ask questions, however, it would be just as easy to answer questions via video and send it after questions are posed. Adobe Connect has the same capability, and we use that with GAVS. I just thought I would show something different for the sake of branching out:) These tools bring online learning and teaching methods much closer to the face to face classroom!
As a teacher already employed by GAVS, I have explored Adobe Connect over a prolonged period of time. Even after quite a few years teaching, there are still features that I am just now becoming familiar with and probably many others that I am not aware of. I can tell you about my time and experience using Adobe Connect and give specific examples in the form of images to illustrate my points. White Board Pod Using the white board pod makes it easy to spontaneously teach a topic or even display planned notes for the students to copy or follow. It can help in engaging the students, as well, because we have the option of giving them access to write on the white board. Often times for practice, I will post questions, and the students will be given the opportunity to respond by writing on the white board. This is very basic but a type of interaction that is different to the online setting. Sharing Pod Another feature that I often use is the ability to share documents. There are several ways that I take advantage of this tool, but most often I will share PowerPoint presentations to organize information that I am giving the students. This is supplemental, usually, to the videos, etc., that they receive in the Course Content, and is usually the result of lack of understanding. Presenting the material in a different way than what the students have already seen is a form of differentiation in my direct instruction. I also enjoy sharing PDF files that are board game templates and allowing students to be engaged in practice during the online sessions. This is very helpful because the online course does not offer an excess of interactive material where the student will have immediate feedback. Playing games engages them but also gives me the chance to offer immediate feedback while they practice. Another important way the sharing pod can be used is to share whatever is on my desktop at any given moment. This is certainly helpful when a course is just beginning and students are learning to navigate the course. I can demonstrate how to get to different parts of the course, the easiest route to complete certain tasks, or even just show different options. Video Chat Sometimes students know one another and want to participate in video chatting activities, while other times students want to attend class in their pajamas and not have to worry about others seeing them when participating in an online course. It seems to me that the younger the students are and the better they know one another, the more likely they are to want to use the video chat option. One way I have used this in the past is to play charades with a group of students that came to the Synchronous Session. The students begged to use the video chat tool and because they finished the direct instruction with plenty of time to spare, we played an impromptu game of charades where I would private message them a verb and they had to act it out. The remainder of the students had to guess the action, type the verb, as well as pronounce it correctly. It would then become their turn to act! Class layout One of my favorite aspects of Adobe Connect is that you can have several layouts ready before you start class so that you don't have to rearrange your pods mid lesson. It makes it so much easier to adapt and to use multiple language learning abilities during the class. For example, in my most recent online chat, we watched a video, but during the video the students were to answer comprehension questions. I would switch from one layout to another, giving the students the opportunity to watch the video and comment on happenings in one layout, and then to participate in a polling situation where questions were answered anonymously but posted for the class to see. Running an online class has its challenges, but it is normally not a difficult task. I would have to say that, yes, it is easy. The worst part is making sure the classroom opens properly and that all other programs on the computer are closed down as Adobe Connect does not run smoothly if other operations are attempted on your computer while using it. The process of using it takes practice, but it does not usually present problems. I enjoy using Adobe Connect for Synchronous Sessions and like learning new ways to facilitate useful and effective teaching and learning.
A topic thrown around in the realm of online learning is the difference between Commercial versus Open Source Virtual Classrooms. When looking at customer reviews, it seems that there are very few differences between the two. I decided to dig a little deeper, though, to come to a better understanding. From what I can tell, there is no clear right or wrong choice, but simply what will work best to help you reach your goals.
I think it is obvious why, in an online learning environment, we would choose to use a commercial virtual classroom rather than an Open Source- privacy laws. It is rare that we use information in the online classroom that would compromise FERPA laws, but even the name of a student is confidential information. If we are using Open Source classrooms, security is not guaranteed. It is difficult to make any type of "guarantee" in the online world, but with an agreement with a commercial company, the chances of any information being shared or anyone entering the classroom without specific permission is nearly impossible. The issues when choosing can easily be narrowed down to five categories: cost, service, innovation, usability, and security. All of these should be considered when choosing an online learning platform, but when laws demand privacy, security is easily the quality that takes precedence.
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