Part 1 - What I know about K-12 online learning

My experience with online learning is relatively new and what I know and understand about online learning is that it is another way of delivering education other than in a traditional classroom setting. Online learning goes beyond the four walls of a classroom it can take place anywhere.  Almost any subject can be taught online. It also gives any type student the opportunity to work independently or collaborate with other students and teachers anywhere in the world.  In my opinion,  online learning for today's k-12 students is becoming more of a traditional way of being taught and for older students (other than k-12) online learning can be considered a new way of being taught.  However, working in an online environment can be isolating if you are not use to working in that type of environment. It requires you to think a little differently in how you work and communicate with other people. Educators also have to be creative in how they deliver instruction in this type of learning environment. 

Judging the Quality of Wikis and Non-vetted Sites

I am not a teacher however, I do design courses for students. In my opinion, I view Wikipedia as a resource for students, depending on what type of information that is being sought and how the information is being used will determine whether or not to use it as a resource. In designing courses I have included YouTube videos (how-to videos) as resource for students.

Building and Refining Your PLN

One of the areas I am interested in is researching the effects that digital note-taking verses traditional note-taking has on student learning. The three blogs that I have chosen to follow are, Nova Next, Life hack, and UW Bothell learning Technologies. These blogs speak about the effects that note-taking has on student performance.

Nova Next is a digital publication that features information on science and technology. I chose to follow it because the article made points on both the benefits and drawbacks of digital note-taking, verses traditional note-taking and the different types of cognitive processes that takes place in the brain.

The second blog that was of interest to me was Life Hack. Life Hack covers varies topics however what caught my attention was the article on “Advice for Students: Use a Wiki for Better Note-Taking”. One of the reasons I chose this blog is because we are learning to use wikis in this class and it was interesting to me to see what were the most popular wikis developed for note-taking.

Lastly, I chose UW Bothell learning Technologies because this blog covers news and updates on the use of technology in higher education.   The topic that caught my attention was “Old Fashioned” Note Taking More Efficient than Computers. This article speaks research on how traditional note-taking helps with recall of information better than taking notes using a computer.   

Twitter

I have chosen the following organizations because I am an instructional designer that is interested in financial literacy education as well as technologies that assist in increasing academic performance. The following organizations are providers of financial literacy products and services.

Edutopia

@edutopia

Edutopia is an organization that is dedicated to developing tools for educators that help students develop 21^st century skills.

National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE)

@NEFE_ORG

NEFE is a non-profit organization that provides financial literacy workshops and materials for K-12 through adulthood.

Practical Money Skills

@Practicalmoney

Practical Money Skills is an organization that provides financial education and tools for educators to service individuals of all ages.

Jumpstart Coalition

@NatlJumpstart

The Jumpstart Coalition is an organization that work together with other organizations to start initiatives to promote financial literacy education.

FINRA Foundation

@ FINRA Foundation

Provides financial literacy services to America’s under served population of every age.

Reflection

The Web 2.0 tools that I have gravitated towards since taking this course are Diigo and Toondoo.  Before taking this course, I use to bookmark and organize websites by putting them in folders or on the tool bar.  After accumulating hundreds of bookmarks, that process started to become cumbersome because I had no way to filter or tag sites. I like Diigo because it allows me to tag, filter and annotate, which makes it much easier to locate and organize researched sites. Toondoo is another tool that interest me because you can make a point or get an idea across with pictures and it can be used with any age group. To improve my information gathering skills I am always looking for an easier way to retrieve, and store large amounts of information.