CEDO599 Final Post

Well it has been a long journey but a fun one. I have learned a lot of new technologies and techniques that I look forward to continuining to implement in my classroom. I am very happy how my final project turned out and I look forward to the rewards and challenges I will face with implementation.

I just don't know what to do without my Tuesday meetings anymore!!!

CEDO 599 Week Two

My project is going along quite well as I continue to build and compile lectures and activities for students. I have set a variety of different areas on the websites, like a folder system, for students to access the information. The one thing that I am struggling with now is the limitations that I have been presented. I continue to find and think would be really cool for the students, but I am very limited in what I am able to do. In the end, I hope that I will have the ability to get everything my students need.

I am going to continue working on setting up my message board and response question area because this is the important area that I will be able to monitor what the students have learned and where to progress with new lessons and ideas. I am very confindent that I am on the verge of mostly wrapping this up for implementation in the fall.

CEDO 599 Week One

Overt the past few days, I've sat down and really tried hammering out my goal and final course project for this program. My goal is as stands

1. To research and implement Microsoft Sharepoint for all Introduction to Engineering Students.
2. To train students how to use Microsoft Sharepoint as the main online delivery model for course materials, documents, and presentations.

Over the past few days, I have went through a lot of frustration of working with Microsoft Sharepoint, because the program is more catered to a business environment. Educators need to alter their means of delivery to make the program work efficiently. Additionally, there has been a variety of restrictions placed on the program by our district coordinators that doesn't allow me to push the envelope and provide the students the education they deserve. Fortunately by working with them and offering suggestions, I have created a course environment that I believe will be fitting for all of my Introduction to Engineering students. Over the next few days/weeks, I will continue to look at the variety of options that the program offers and find better ways to improve my educational model for delivery.

CEDO 565 Week Six

Leadership is a position that I believe will always be an evolving field. With new technologies, ideologies, and challenges that leaders are presented with, new leaders will rise up to the occasion and show their talents. I believe that this course has help reassure me that a leader is a driven individual that can make the difficult choices that will positively affect their group or organization. While this decisions will most definetly be difficult and challenged, a leader has a true vision on what the task will complete at the end.

Teacher leadership is in a realm of its own. By being a good teacher leader, one must possess the traits of balancing an effective, highly engaging classroom with the offset of being vocal and particpating in school run activities. It is important for teachers to speak up and let their voices be heard on any issue that affects the school climate.

I don't believe my position on leadership has really changed, just reassured. I am confindent and well aware of the struggles that myself and other peer teachers will continue to face when fighting for leadership. It is important to take hard action towards your goals as a leader and associated yourself with the right people that will help you complete your goals. By improving education within, educators will continue to provide programs and activities for students that will better prepare them for the future and provide a welcoming environment for all individuals entering.

CEDO 565 Week Five

This week's lesson and in class activities were very reassuring. Whenever I have tried leading something, whether it be a meeting, a club, or an organization, there have always been tough cookies to deal with. I would try different approaches, ask them what they would like to see incorporated, and let them participate in the logistics. Unfortunately, some individuals are still going to resist the idea of change. I know in the simulation, we continually tried to incorporate the people that were against new ideas so we could pull them along the way. It was obvious that they individuals weren't going to agree to anything that was going to occur. What I learned through this simulation is teaming up invididuals who resist change with influential leaders can produce positive results, but incorporating a array of individuals, including students, community members, and leaders will result in an agreeance by everyone on the idea of change.

By teaming up a variety of parties, students, parents, and leaders, it is much easier to implement new ideas into the school setting. When our school first started to implement our Project Lead the Way program, pre-engineering, there were many people resistant to change (principals and core subject area teachers). Part of the problem was when our department first tried implementing the program, we went at it with only our department, not including the community, fellow teachers, and the administration. After numerous headaches from people resisting the program, we starting including other teachers and administration members. We took these teachers and administrators into different schools so they could see the program being implemented. After hearing and seeing the success stories of the program, our administration decided to run with the program, which has been a great success since its implementation. If we wouldn't have stepped back and added the administration and fellow teachers, we may have not had the program implemented at all.

CEDO 565 Week Four

This weeks' activities were very interesting and definitely showed a variety of benefits and struggles when placed in a leadership role. The simulation that we did in class was a difficult challenge because many of us haven't been put in that leadership role and don't know where we should be aiming our vision. I think it is important to understand that as a leader in an organization, there will be difficult individuals that will not conform to new ideas. Leaders can try and try to change that individuals mindset, but wasting too much time on that one person could be a downfall for the whole system. As a group we wasted a lot of time and resources to convince one person when that effort could have been spent better elsewhere. It is difficult to grasp this concept, but as a leader it is important to notice this to ensure a smooth implementation of change.

As for the other individual activity, it was fun to think about the morale of our school. Right now, we are finishing up the end of the year in which we are in negotiations for a contract that haven't went anywhere, just had a new schedule jammed down our throat which resulting with us teaching more classes, and the whole stress of finishing grading and packing as our school is getting remodeled. It is important as a leader to constantly praise the individuals involved to pick up their morale even in the hardest times. Great leaders offer praise whenever possible to keep everyone set on the vision of the school or organization.

CEDO 565 Week Three

This weeks' work comes at a very difficult time of the year, end of school. With all of the headaches and complaining students, I had to find time to complete all the coursework for this course. When looking at the activities this week, I really was intrigued when reading about the Millenials. There is a new bread of individuals entering the educational/business work place. These millenials, myself include are doing this different than many individuals in the past and we are willing to try new and innovative ideas. While many times these tries will result in failure, the millenial aged individuals are willing to learn from these lessons and make changes. I tried and failed miserably many times on new lessons and projects in my class. But after taking careful, detailed notes, I was able to make changes to make the lesson successful for future implementation. These changes, combined with all the technological abilities we are now presented with, will continue to shape our educational setting over the next twenty years.

CEDO 565 Week Two

This week's information was interesting to look at because most of the information I haven't really looked at in the way of acting as an administrator. The most useful and interesting portions that I looked at was the WINSS data. I use the WINSS data with my PDP, but predominately only to figure out demographics of my school. The activity that we worked together in a group required us to look at specific data. Our group chose to look at graduation completion scores and WKCE scores. By looking at these scores and trends over time, I was able to see the different areas in which we have continued to excel and where our struggles have been. Additionally, it is interesting to see how test scores vary from year to year based on new strategies that are being implemented in the school setting. I know as an administrator it is important to look at data/trends and see where the school is headed. I hope in the future, I will be able to use this data exclusively as I find it fun and demanding to make decisions based upon research data.

CEDO565 Week One

How do I lead? In my current position, I believe that I have three major areas where I show my leadership skills. First off, every day in the class, I act as a leader to my students. I help provide them skill sets and confidence that will lead them to success for any endeavor they seek in the future. While this task is somewhat difficult with students who resist to succeed, changing my leadership skills to help those students is something I continue to alter to provide all students the success they deserve.

The second area that I lead is innovation of new programs. Since my years at Brookfield East High School, I have implemented a Project Lead the Way program and a Robotics programs. While these programs have been a huge headache to implement, I have laid the ground work for successful programs to continue in the Brookfield East community. These challenges have been very difficult because I have been working on these tasks mainly under my own doing. I will continue to recruit advisers and helpers that will continue to help the programs succeed.

Finally, I have been a leader in the sports activities that I have worked with at Brookfield East High School, both wrestling and football. I continue to help students and provide vision and knowledge on how to become better student athletes and better people. By providing students these skills, I believe I can help instill leadership skills that they will pass onto future generations.

CEDO 555 Post Three

This week I have been working hard on finishing up my Culminating experience proposal and artifact portions. The CEP has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun work. It has really made me think a lot about writing good objectives and providing depth and breadth to a huge project that I am undertaking.

The project takes me back to my days in college in which I had to create my e-portfolio. I had to acquire a lot of data and set up a variety of objectives that I needed to address. By doing this again, it refreshes many of the headaches that resulted from the first time, but I am able to make changes to how I went about it the second time.

Another thing this proposal has helped me out with the ability to write proposals within my school. By utilizing the smart objectives, I realized that I can create straight forward objectives based on a business/industry model. The smart objective portion has really helped me with narrowing in on my focus and setting attainable objectives.

Now to complete the actual proposal, that is another thing!!!!!!!

CEDO 555 Post #2

While a long spring break from school and school was very relaxing and needed, tonight I was realizing the amount of information that I put off. When looking through the two assignments for this week, standards and mission/vision, it really made me reflect back on my educational philosophy and reasons for taking this program. For the standards, it was interesting to look at the various NETS that are available for teachers. I found it very interesting to incorporate a variety of digital citizenship and leadership aspects. When I look back at what I am doing currently in my class, it is evident through Blackboard and a program called Sharepoint that I have been providing students leadership and opportunities to experience digital curriculum's. Students have loved using the online programs and I appreciate their reception.

As for the mission/vision, I have found it interesting to reflect back on my teaching and master's experience to hone in on what exactly those would be. Just recently, the last year, have I really realized the power of online education. I currently teach a variety of classes that students utilize online programs. Students are very receptive to the programs, but it comes with a caution. Worrying about students having access to the internet and taking time away from current curriculum to teach how to access the online environment is very problematic. I am hoping the more students that I influence with the online environment will make it easier for me to teach it in the future and students will start to help each other with the Digital Learning Citizenship.

CEDO 555 Blog Entry #1

The first series of this class has been a lot of fun to work on. It was interesting to look at a variety of different portfolio's created by students. I really liked that the portfolios that I found were mostly Instructional Technology portfolios because it provided groundwork for me to start and continue my portfolio. One of the portfolios that I did find was a little lackluster, but it is important to see the lackluster portfolios so I know what not to include in my portfolio.

As for the culminating work piece, it is going to be a lot of work. Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time this week to sit down and look at the work because I recently purchased a house. This means lot of running to get things done and papers to sign. After looking at the documents this weekend, I'm sure I will generate a list of ideas to possibly use for this culminating project.

CEDO 550 Week 6

• I will use what I learned in this course over the next 30 days by . . .

Have kids work on asynchronous discussions through Blackboard and Sharepoint. I am going to give them the chance to lead a discussion and go through the challenges and benefits of working in a form of communication such as asynchronous discussions.

• I will use what I learned in over the next year by . . .

I am going to try and incorporate the idea of synchronous discussions into my classroom through a web development tool. While I know that elluminate would be difficult for the full classroom, I can have students work with different small groups and lead a discussion on a variety of different topics across my curriculum.

• After completing this course I would like to learn more about . . .Program fees for the different types of online class hosting formats. We have worked with a variety of free one's and some paid subscriptions, but we have never really been told the cost of those paid subscriptions.
  

CEDO 550 Week Five

This week was somewhat difficult because of the group facilitation. It was really hard for all of our group members to get together because we had one member who gave birth, another individual who was out of town, and myself who was in the north-woods where I couldn't get internet access. It was interesting to see how groups can work together even though they aren't constantly meeting (through blog postings or emails) but it is more important for groups to work together and solve the answer/assignments that they were assigned.

CEDO 550 Week Four

The activities that we had to complete for this week were fun to complete. First off the synchronous discussion that I did the other night was a great experience. I was able to easily flow through a lesson and incorporate websites into my presentation that added to my presentations. Overall, I feel like the discussion went well and I was happy with my performance.

As for the week's activities, I thought that the student/teacher centered lesson ideas was beneficial insight into how I can change activities I teach in my class to more student focused. I reflected on many of my lessons and I noticed that I do a lot of teacher centered lessons. I will need to go back through my lessons and make changes where needed.

Finally, the differentiation portion was a great experience because it is something that I have always not wanted to participate in. I know differentiation is important, but I don't really know how to approach it. It was a good experience to work through an activity and identify ways that I can reach a variety of different learners in the classroom.

CEDO 550 Week Three

This week was interesting because I really got to work in on honing my skills for an online learning environment. I get to present to the class tonight and am excited to see how the interactive session goes. In all reality, I look at the experience the same as I would look at a discussion in a classroom. I am still going to be calling on people, still assisting with leading questions, and still requiring individuals to record the conversations. I think the experience will be fun and I can't wait to do it more.

I also liked looking at the tips for the week. There were a lot of ideas that I found from individuals that I didn't even think about. It is important to fall back on your peers, sometimes, to collaborate and find tips and ideas that you can implement in your classroom.

CEDO 550 Week 2

This week was fun because we finally got to participate with a virtual online learning environment in which we got to take charge and control the classroom setup. I liked using Elluminate and the functions seemed fairly simplistic in nature. While I was working with it and observing others, I was making mental notes of where I could utilize this concept in my own teaching. By separating students out in various break-off groups, I can have students brainstorm ideas and discussion topics that I provide and eventually bring the whole class back together and have them explain their findings.

The second part of this week's activities that I like was creating a welcome to the online learning class. I chose to utilize a video message at first because I thought it was important for the students to see who the instructor is. I realized, through classmate postings, that I need to follow-up my video message with a handout explaining the information that was covered through the video message as a reference. After completing this handout and re-shooting my video, I feel that the welcome "package" provided to the students is an excellent way to start their online learning.

CEDO 550 Week One

This is going to be a great class I feel. I think we are going to finally have the ability to run an online course and host a virtual class setting, which is the reason that we are all completing this program in the first place.

As for this week's activities, I found it interesting reviewing the articles and video related to online learning. I feel that while our society may still be slow to respect the concept of online learning, I feel that it is going to be picking up steam over the next five years. A colleague and I were discussing today that school districts that don't start offering online courses will lose students to other districts because there will be more options available and more flexibility. The answer to that is still to be seen, but I am happy that I am going through this program in a time where I can be at the evolutionary end of online learning.

CEDO 540 Week Five

So we come to the ending of another class!!! The first portion of this weeks assignments was fairly interesting to work within our group. As a group we found that Google trends was not a program that we would use in our classroom given its current state. We all said that the program needs to provide more use flexibility so individuals can access various statistics on the graphs and have the ability to click on accompanying links. I think if Google made those changes, it would be beneficial.

For the second portion, Resource Assignment, we got to look at a variety of different statistical data. It was fun to look at the different websites and view the different information that was being generated as well the different ways that information was displayed. I enjoyed looking at the WINSS website because it is one that I have used for my PDP. This time, I look at the website from a statistical stand point and the information really popped out.

CEDO 540 Week Four

This week's assignments were pretty fun. I really liked looking into Hitwise and I think that the company has a gold mine at its hands. Tancer's company is great because of the vast amount of knowledge that can be generated. It would be nice if there was some sort of free company out there that provided information to educators on the different types of information relating to statistics on student search engines.

The other portion of the assignments that I really liked was the futuristic job portions. Jobs are going to continue to change dramatically over the coming years and it will be hard to determine to the different fields that are going to be adding new careers. There are statistics out there that kids growing up today will have 10-14 careers by the time they are in their 30's. That is insane. I don't know which avenue we are going to be going in future fields, but I know they will all predominately relate to technology with most manufacturing jobs being outsource to more lower paying countries. This will cause a huge backlog of workers and we are going to see a huge influx of elderly individuals heading back to the college ranks.

CEDO 540 Week Three

This week we worked as a group on creating a survey. The survey that we chose to do was on the recent health care survey that is encompassing our country. As a group we thought that choosing something that is hot in the press would get a good number of responses and we could ask some good, non-biased questions. Both were accurate and the information that we got was interesting. When investigating the numbers it is interesting to see that some individuals in society do not seem to be involved with or pay attention to politics that make changes to their lives.

When using Survey Monkey, the program made it really easy to take the survey and distribute to others. We took the survey link and posted it on a variety of social websites, including Facebook and Twitter to help get the survey out to a larger group of people. Even users that have minimal computer knowledge had no trouble accessing the links or completing the short survey. This is important because some users seemed overwhelmed when using these new technologies, but Survey Monkey makes it simple for all to take.