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.