Week 14 & 15

Scenario 1 – It would be feasible for the student to enroll in an online course at a local school district that offers open enrollment to students outside of the district to take the course(s) needed.  In addition, the districts have allotted funding to cover expenses associated with students taking online courses if it meets the criteria of Section 21f.  The open enrollment option will be beneficial for the student as well as for the school.  The student will be able take the course, the school don’t have the added expenses associated with offering the course (enrollment, salaries, etc.) and there is a capped amount that the school is required to pay for the online course.  

Scenario 2 – With the consent of the parent, a student can take an online course if it meet the following criteria: The course must appear in the district or statewide catalog, second, the course provided must be an interactive internet connected learning environment from teacher and by time or both.  If the parent has made the decision of how they want their child educated I would not try to prevent it, if it is in the best interest of the student.

Scenario 3 – The student can be denied if s/he does not meet the prerequisite, knowledge and skills needed to be successful in online course and if the courses taken at the previous cyberschool are not sufficient in quality and rigor as the courses at new school however, the student can be placed in an alternative course or similar course of an acceptable rigor or quality.  

Scenario 4 – The teacher should be able to participate in facilitating online courses, stated in PAM 5-O-D: Expanded online learning courses provided in an interactive Internet connected learning environment students are separated by teacher and time or both, which means that time can be allotted that better fit the schedule of teacher and student.

Scenario 5 – The best option for the 12^th grader would virtual online learning. Stated in PAM 5-O-A a student may receive academic instruction through self-scheduled learning where student have control over time, location and pace of their education and have the option of taking unlimited courses as long as student is seated with a certified instructor.

Majority of the schools that I have worked with in the past are not equipped to handle online schooling due to lack of resources (funding, teachers, etc.). The changes that need to take place in schools to provide quality online courses will happen over time however the changes are occurring faster than some schools are able to keep up with changes.

Part 2: What I know about K-12 online learning

Based upon the readings and this website, what did you learn that surprised you?

After completing the readings, one thing I found surprising was the concept of virtual schooling is not new. Before reading "Virtual and Distance Education in North American Schools", I thought virtual schooling was a fairly new concept and it was just now becoming more mainstream in our education system. I did not realize that the independent-study high school movement started in the 1920's and what is different today is technology is just now catching up to the concept.  It is also surprising to know since virtual schooling has become more mainstream that there are only two organizations that offer online schooling that focus on elementary grades.

Were there things you posted in part one that were false (were any of them listed in the 10 myths)?

In my part one posting I wouldn't say I posted anything false or listed in the Top 10 Myths about Virtual Schools, however I would say I did not have a clear understanding about the whole concept of virtual schooling but I feel that I was on the right track.

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.

Week 4 Prompt - SAMR Model

I am an instructional designer, currently I am working with Henry Ford College to help design e-learning courses for the Industrial Technology department. 

Substitution

Henry Ford College has received funding to form a Multi-State Advanced Manufacturing Consortium (M-SAMC) with other colleges to transform manufacturing education delivery to meet the needs of today’s students and employers. Henry Ford College is changing and revising the delivery of courses that are offered to students.

One of the projects we are working on is creating demonstration videos for the welding lab.  The demonstration videos will show safety protocols or welding demonstrations. These videos will be available to students that are not able to attend class and to students that are taking welding courses at other colleges or technical schools. The videos will be uploaded to a YouTube channel for viewing.  The classes are usually paid for by an employer, for certification or a requirement for their job. Each class only run for a period of time, so the videos will be set-up to keep the student from falling behind.

Augmentation

In addition to developing the e-learning courses, we are also developing supplemental materials for the students. We use Google docs to collaborate with each other. I share the information that I have complied with the Subject Matter Expert (SME) and corrections are made instantly, instead of printing and making corrections on copies.

Modification

In addition to developing demonstration videos, we will also be using a software called Tegrity to capture class lectures. The lecture captures will give students that are not able to attend class the ability to view class lectures at their convenience.

Redefinition

In one of my classes that I took last semester, we were placed in groups where we had to design a 15 minute learning module and do a presentation on the phases and design process we went through from start to finish. We collaborated weekly on Google hangouts to come up with our project plan and to design module. One group member wrote content for the module, one group member created the module in Captivate software and one group member put audio of presentation and slides together in Camtasia and uploaded it to YouTube for viewing.

http://youtu.be/1PHR6xGtowI

Week 1 Reflective Blog

I work with various age groups, Baby boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. The observation that I have made with the Baby boomer population is that they are slower to learn technology, are not trusting with the use of it, don’t have the patience to research the information, do the reading required, and easily get frustrated as a result of that, they rather do things the traditional way such as writing letters verses emails, paying bills through traditional mail verse paying online and the list goes on, however the Baby boomers that do embrace technology, it is very limited how they used it.  I found that the Generation X population attitude is more embracing of technology than baby boomers. Technology was becoming more wide steam, affordable and readily available and they were able to incorporate it into their lives which required a behavioral change to do so. However technology was not required for Generation X to use in their daily lives it was more of an option to use it if desired. Generation X are somewhat in the middle they can go either way when it comes to changing their behavior with integrating technology into their daily lives. The observation that I have made with the Millennial generation is technology has become a normal part of their everyday life and they rely more on the use of technology to get things done in some instances in the absence of technology it has become harder for them to adjust their behavior to doing things the traditional way and some basic skill set which requires critical thinking skills may not be present which makes it more difficult to adjust to the change.

There is some truth to the readings and I think that the transition is more obvious between the Baby boomer generation and the Millennial generation. I feel that the baby boomer generation relies more on their critical thinking skills and the Millennial generation rely more on technological skills. There are advantages to both. I think there need to be a middle ground teaching the importance of how things are done traditionally using critical thinking skills as well as integrating technology to enhance critical thinking skills.