Online+Learning+Presentations+Wk4

__**Week 4- Online Learning Presentations**__

I presented the Moodle learning management system to my administrator and colleagues in effort to show them how this type of tool can help close the gap for all students in education. In my presentation I focused on how differentiated lesson could be created to reach all learners and keep them engaged and motivated. I explained how students could sharpen communication skills by participating in the wiki and blog, along with deepening understanding for global awareness. I shared how we could track student progress, how students could upload work, and how teachers could comment on that work. I also included how students could take teacher created online tests and receive immediate feedback, as well as have individual chat support with their teachers.

Before we met I went through some questions I knew that I would have if I were viewing this program for the first time so I would be ready with answers. One of first questions was, how would we be able to sustain the constant use of this program with the limited amount of computers we have. I explained how I do a rotating system with the 5 I have in my class right now. I also suggested we create a more efficient computer lab schedule so classes could have more access. We also discussed that our district is looking into helping us apply for a technology grant that could help fund check out rolling lap top carts. Another concern was the amount of added work this program would entail. My administrator spoke about providing in-service day time for training as well as paid after school hours. We discussed using a trainer of trainer system where 5 teachers trained on the program, and then each of those teachers trained 5 people. By doing this we could keep the groups small and the training process less overwhelming. Ultimately the response to this presentation was positive, although there are still several kinks to work out to get the implementation going.
 * Michelle Epstein **

// Michelle - // // I am impressed with the "proposed questions" you prepared for your staff. As I was reading your question and answers I too was thinking of the same results. Being prepared is partially key into making this (technology) resourceful and effective. Learning in the small groups will also ensure understanding. I would like to think I am pretty competent with technology and pick things up quickly, however I know that I can sometimes get lost or confused in a large group setting when I do not know what is going on. If I can get confused or lost, I try to think about those who do not always use technology every day; they are really lost! It seems as though you have a good handle on what needs to be worked out, but a great idea on how to implement in within your school. Sometimes the first step is getting your administration on board...and it seems as though he's right behind you on this one. Best of luck! // // -Amber //

//Amber,// // Thank you for your kind encouragement. // // Michelle //

// Michelle, // // That is great that your administration was so willing to get started with the online learning. Did your school have anything like this already in place? I love the idea of having only five teachers be trained and then having those five train five more each. I may try to suggest this idea to my PLC and principal, since this would be more personal as far as training and less expensive. Thank you so much for your insight! // // Colleen //

Colleen, We do not have anything like this in place but my administrator was recently at a conference and got to hear a brief description of Moodle and was interested in it. Talk about good timing. She has also spent a great deal of time as a GATE coordinator so she appreciates the motivation and enrichment that a program like this can offer. Michelle

Michelle, I presented the Moodle learning management system to my colleagues as well. I also talked about online courses offered through other sources that would provide AP courses for the students. One of the most beneficial areas of online learning is the ability for teachers to provide differentiated instruction. Not all students are equipped to handle the environment of a classroom, for various reasons that even teachers cannot define. Online learning provides a pace and individualized instruction that supports those nontraditional students. I understand that there are gaps in the educational system that need to be filled but sometimes those gaps involve our higher level learners. We not only need to support our lower level learners, but we need to challenge our upper level. Being able to enroll them in advanced placement courses or courses that the school does not presently offer can assist with this. I felt that this type of student would be able to enroll in a course that they could take outside of the normal school day. Their discipline and motivation in the classroom would support their independent learning outside the classroom. The challenge that I see in online learning is the access to equipment. I wish we could have rolling lap top carts in our school. You talked about technology grants and I was wondering if those are through your state or the federal government. I would appreciate if you could share some resources with me pertaining to this. Jennifer

Jennifer, I think you are right on when you write about this program meeting the needs of students that do not handle the classroom environment well. The grant that we are currently working on applying for is the Magnet Schools of America Grant. I was a part of the first school in our district to receive one seven years ago, and since then three other schools in our district have applied and received the grant as well. The new site I am at is currently in talks with the district about applying, we are very lucky to have 3 people district wide that help write the grants and monitor the legalities. This is a great relief because there is truly a huge amount of work that goes into this without those issues. If we write and receive it would approximately help us fund 4 rolling lap top carts (enough for 2 classrooms), another computer lab, 2 more computers in each classroom, and funds for teacher training.. I will keep my fingers crossed. Good luck if you decide to pursue this program :) Michelle

Jennifer Pepper-Spotlight on Emerging Technology I presented Moodle as my learning management system. My colleagues felt that online learning was an amazing philosophy to meet the needs of our students through different modes of technology and instruction. There were reservations due to the size of the school and the ability to place students where they need to be. They questioned when this would be offered and how much time would be allotted. This could replace a regular classroom period to provide a course that is not offered and provide additional courses outside the normal school day. They were concerned with monitoring and highly qualified requirements for teachers. Some source of monitoring and workspace would be necessary. A teacher must be highly qualified to develop a course in their area, which might require additional training.

I found that my colleagues were in favor of this mode of learning, although they did express many reservations about the idea. The biggest advantage noticed was the opportunity for those students, who struggle between the walls of the classroom, to find success in an environment that is more conducive to their needs. They were curious as to how it could provide for our higher level students. I discussed the opportunity to offer advanced placement courses without requiring teachers to go through the rigorous training required to offer them in their own classroom. They supported the opportunity to challenge our students with this type of learning environment. Not all students can be successful in this type of learning environment, but my colleagues and I agree that a majority of them can.

__**Amber Cregan - Week 4: Online Learning Presentation**__ I could not but help think about how much Walden’s learning process is much like that of the online learning communities that I explained in my presentation. Both are accessible anytime, rubrics, discussions…you name it, are posted on the websites. Learning about the course and learning management systems was very interesting to see their benefits, but how you can use an online learning community even if you are not learning strictly through and online class. I chose to present my presentation (Moodle and Rcampus) to my kindergarten team and principal during one of our PLC meetings. I thought it was a great opportunity to be able to share my findings with them since we were already together. My principal and team thought the management systems were a great asset to have to classrooms. We talked about what types of things could be available on the web pages and the advantages of students and parents being able to use them. The downside about the presentation, it did not hit the right target….grade level. We are still very much in the learning stages of technology in kindergarten and will be in the developmental stages for quite some time. While many students understand the uses of the computer (as well as others), being able to manipulate through a program as those of the course/learning management systems is not appropriate for our students at this time. I did however take the time to share my information with some of the upper grade levels in my school. Many thought the online communities are great and can easily keep parents informed about their child’s education – what are they learning, what activities are being done, homework assignments, etc. As a teacher, being able to give a quiz online to a student who is absent is effective being that you do not have to worry about trying to find time when they do come back to school. Many of the teachers in my school are still in the “learning curve” about learning about technology; more importantly learning how to implement it in their classrooms. While I am not a professional on many of the things out there, I am always trying to stay ahead of the game. I have helped out many on being comfortable with technology and have taught them new ways of using something. I hope to continue to work with those in my building so they do become more comfortable in teaching with technology and using web 2.0 (our future to say the least!). “Instead of requiring our students to check their Web 2.0 technologies at the schoolhouse door, we should teach them how to use these tools for learning,” (Lemke and Coughlin, 2009). Resource Lemke, C., & Coughlin, E. (2009). [|The change agents]. //Educational Leadership//, //67//(1), 54–59.

Amber, One of the benefits I see with the online learning is the accessibility. If students are absent from school or move at a slower pace than others, they can still access the information from home. Of course this might present problems for those who do not have this option at home, but I guess we just hope that most do. It would be nice if there was some way to provide assistance to those families that cannot afford to have technology access at home. Maybe for some is not the money, but the lack of understanding as to why it is essential to their child’s education. It all goes back to the idea of change. Some people will take the risk and venture out into the unknown while others do not. Jennifer

//Jennifer -// //I think it could be a mix of both. Money is still a big issue (as computers, etc. are not exactly cheap) but at the same time understanding how to use something can inhibit one from buying them. As bad as this sounds, many of those families that do not have computers/internet acess at home are the foreigners. Many of them feel as though you will judge them when they say they speak a different language, more or less ask for additional help. In the past, I have had many families who shy away from helping their child because they did not know how to work with them. While you may offer classes for parents, they are still quite intimidated to step forth. So I do agree with your comment that, "some people will take the risk and venture out into the unknown while others do not."// //-Amber//

Colleen Davis – Week 4
After talking to my principal, I learned about an online learning program that our school is currently piloting. It does not follow our curriculum, but allows our students who failed to recover those credits. The way I presented online learning in my presentation was similar to this, since I focused on remediation and helping students close academic gaps. My principal appreciated these programs and the concept of online learning in this method because it helps students before they actually fail the class. Students failing their freshmen year at our school is a serious problem and a program like this would help bring down our retention numbers.

My PLC’s main concerns were how engaged students would be and the time it would take to set it up. Although I agreed it might take some extra time the first year, we could split the work and share the set-up for all of our students. I also explained to them how it meets Lemke and Coughlin’s (2009) “Change Agents” and how technology and flexibility of time and material will appeal to our struggling learners.

In order to begin implementation in our school, I will begin by working with my PLC. It will begin as a remediation tool and allow students to review and revisit material they have learned this year or basic skills they should have learned in the past. To help make this as engaging as possible for the students, I will follow Lemke and Coughlin’s (2009) advice and make the activities as authentic as possible with various modes of learning integrated.

Reference

Lemke, C., & Coughlin, E. (2009). The change agents. //Educational Leadership//, //67//(1), 54–59.

//Collen,// //Wow it seems like you are on the right track, and having your school already considering a similar program helps pave the way. You did a great job helping address some of the fears and problems stated by your colleagues. Although this is a great program for remediation I think the rest of your staff will also see how great it can be for all learners. I like that you are taking on one area "remediation" so as to introduce the program and allow people to get comfortable with it and not become frustrated. Great job.// //Michelle//

Benjamin Thornton
It was difficult for me because of the short week to get everything organized with my school. I did make a small presentation about CMS in general and [|Schoolology]in particular. The principal and the teacher I work with in particular did seem interested in the idea, but they are waiting for a more formal presentation to the PLC in a couple of weeks. I gave them my slides to look at and to think of questions to ask me.

With the formal presentation, I hope to have a sample course set up so they can see how the process would actually work. This is the sort of project I have been discussing with my teacher for a while now, so I know she is aware of what I am thinking of. I hope that between the slide presentation, the question and answer session, and my sample demonstration, I will be able to convince the school that this is a good option for the education of all of our students.

Ben, I __love__ Schoology and wish I could use it in my own classroom. I teach elementary school and think it is a little too young for them. Especially because one of my main lessons is keeping them off of facebook and how dangerous it can be for students that young. (I teach Computer Literacy) Good luck incorporating this into your lessons. Let me know how it takes off! -Kristin

Ben- This is the first time that I have heard about the schoology site and I am very excited to learn more about it. Since learning about it have you been able to use it in your classroom? I love that there are so many good sites out there to learn from I just hate that I cant know them all :) Thanks for you posting!! Erinn

Kristin CrooksI presented Moodle to my colleagues. Overall, the reaction was the same. It seems like an awesome idea, but how do I do this with the computer availability that we have? Only one portable lab for the entire school of 700 students? One of the teachers had already heard about Moodle from an online class she was taking. She had even played around with the demonstration site before to try to get a feel for how she could use it if only sporadically throughout the year. The other teacher had heard of it, but, given the circumstances with our computers, claimed she hadn’t given it much thought from there. My administrator thought the LMS was an excellent idea and even suggested getting together with a few other teachers to try to write a grant for another portable lab. This way maybe Moodle could be better incorporated into our classrooms.From the feedback I got from my fellow teachers, I can see how great Moodle would take off in our school. Our students thrive or technology and this would be such a great way to keep everyone together and all activities and assignments in one central place. Parents would be able o easily access their children’s grades and assignments and the school could save money on paper and announcements for school-wide events and activities.With the help of my colleagues, maybe we can get some grants written and our computer situation could be turned around. In order to create change in our students we have to be expected to first make the change in ourselves.

Kristin, I also presented Moodle to my colleagues. How great that some of your colleagues had heard of the site. None of the math department had heard of it before. They were not too sure about it because we do have teacher websites and an online grading program that does some of the same things that Moodle and RCampus do. I told them that this could streamline all that and provide ways to give online assignments. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I wish you all the best as you pursue the grant writing! What a great way to get more computers in the hands of your students! <span style="color: #5bb2cd; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Judith

__**Erinn Blasco - Week 4: Online Learning Presentation**__ I also presented the Moodle to my colleagues. I got a very positive reaction from my principal and fellow teachers. I am actually currently working on powerpoint that I will be presenting at the next staff meeting to show all my fellow teachers how to use the site. I think it is great how quick to except this new technology my principal was. I feel that most of the problem with new technology is that people are afraid to use it. They feel that they are going to "mess something up" or "do it wrong". We need to be more open to the things that are out there so that we can fully help our students reach their true potential. I think the most important thing to remember about Moodle and other systems like it is that it gives students a voice and increases their confidence. What I mean by this is that when you ask a student to type/write something you are giving them more time to think about their answers and process the information that they are receiving. The students are then able to form an answer that truly states what they mean. I learned a lot after I presented my Moodle information to my colleagues. The first is that my fellow co-workers are much more open to new information and technology then I thought. I feel that they really just needed a leader to show them the information that they needed. It was like what we discussed last week during class. We need a leader to show us what to do and how to do it. It is all about what type of leader you want to be. In this case I want to be someone that presents the information to the other teachers and helps them find new things that they would like to accomplish from those ideas. It is important to keep people on their toes and sharing this information does just that.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Judith Buzzell - Week 4** I decided to present an overview of course management systems and showed my colleagues both RCampus and Moodle. I also showed how our current coursework was done through eCollege. I wanted to show my colleagues that using this technology can be easy to use. I teach math at a middle school in South Carolina and we have about 500 students in the seventh and eighth grade. Our math department is made up of 4 teachers and we each teach something different. I gave my presentation during our last department meeting. We have two teachers who currently do not use a lot of technology and are retiring this year so I was not sure how well this material would be received. I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was intrigued about this new technology as I was when I researching it. I asked if they thought this would be a good idea for us at Waccamaw Middle school and most said yes, but it sounded like a lot of work. I understand the feeling because I am often overwhelmed with all I have to do. I explained however that this was not something that had to be an all or nothing thing. We could begin by using one or two elements of the learning environment until we were more comfortable with it. For each teacher this would come at a different time depending on how well they worked with the technology.