Week 4 of CEdO550

In reflecting on my teaching experiences to date, I would say that the proportion of teacher centered versus student centered lessons has been …

• I would say that my classroom is much more teacher centered than student centered. I have attempted to make more student centered lessons over the years. When I create lessons that are student centered, the students retain much more information. 

I was able to identify more than one authentic assessment to measure mastery of a single concept lesson when I …

• My students have been involved with a reality check in which they attend an event at which they have to make real-life decisions. The students are given a life status (married, single, children, no children), they have a preselected career that has an annual income attached to it. Based on knowledge gained in class, the students must make life decisions based on the life status and income. Some find they have to get a part-time job in order to pay for their necessities and some find they have to get a part-time job in order to pay for their wants. After the event I am able to look at their paperwork and their checkbook register to see how successful they were at budgeting, making life choices, and balancing a checkbook.

The rubric I created for my lesson clearly defined expectations and scoring for the lesson so that my students could …

• understand what was expected of them. The rubric also told the students what they were required to do to receive full points, partial points or no points.  The rubrics are very clear and to the point and leave little room for subjectivity. 

While working on this module I had success/difficulty while doing something new involving …

• I am still struggling a bit while trying to make lessons more student centered. I find it difficult to break out teacher centered instruction when that has been the technique used when I have been a student. I also find it difficult because student centered instruction was not heavily stressed when I was an undergrad.

CEdO 550 - Week 3

What is the greatest challenge that I have encountered as an online teacher/facilitator and how did I manage it?

• I would say that my biggest challenge was getting over my anxiety of facilitating a synchronous activity. I was very nervous that I would hear crickets after posing my questions or that I would get so nervous that I would stumble over my words and not be clear about my message. Once I got passed that feeling, I felt good about presenting. There are many things to pay attention to when using a classroom like Elluminate and I found myself missing what was being said in the chat area. I think I used the other tools effectively though.

Some things that I feel are really important to consider about synchronous and asynchronous facilitation as I prepare to facilitate my threaded and web conference discussions are. . .

• I think that different learning styles must be considered when planning synchronous and asynchronous activities. I also feel that a great deal of organization is required. During synchronous facilitation, the facilitator must know what needs to be discussed in the given amount of time as well as making sure to have enough material to be covered in the alloted time period. During asynchronous facilitation, different learning styles need to be taken into consideration to ensure that every student will benefit from the asynchronous work.

I chose my particular discussion topic because . . .

• I chose E-Learning 2010 because virtual learning has been a highly debated topic since it has come about. As a traditional classroom teacher I find both sides very interesting.

One thing that I thought about when developing rubrics for the 2 different discussions is. . .

• I thought about having clear objectives that needed to be met with specific directions for each point value.

Week 2 CEdO550 - Online Facilitation

Identify at least two synchronous and two asynchronous online learning tools that would be appropriate for your targeted online learners.

• Of all of the synchronous tools available I could use Elluminate to host the learning environment and Skype to host a one-on-one discussion, or a group discussion. Both are very easy to use and easily accessible.
• One asynchronous tool that I could use in online learning is a blog site, such as edublogs, for discussions. I like to use a discussion board in my classroom and a blog can serve as this. Another possible tool to use is My Big Campus. This tool allows me to post assignments, resources, and submit grades. Students can communicate with each other and the teacher via chat or the wall.

List four different types of activities that you might use with your targeted online learners and identify an appropriate online tool to use in implementing that activity.

• In Accounting I like to use spreadsheets for some of the problems. I could post the spreadsheets on MBC as a Google doc file for the students to download it and complete it. When the problem is completed, the students could then submit it on MBC and share it with me.
• In Intro to Business, my students research a green business in Wisconsin and create a presentation about the business. Rather than using PowerPoint, the students could use Prezi and share the presentation with me and others in the class. The presentation could then be viewed during class while the student presents it.
• In Entrepreneurship, student create a new type of cereal. They are expected to design a new box and create different types of advertisements for the cereal, including a tv commercial. The commercial can be created by using goanimate and shared with me.
• In 8th grade business, the students research famous entrepreneurs and present their findings. They could use voicethread to create their presentation and include their own voice if they would like to.

Is my initial contact warm and inviting? Are there things I did particularly well or could do better in the future?

• I think your initial contact was done well. You gave our log in information for the site you use, as well as the things you expected us to do before class started. You also included links to our class and also to tech support for elluminate. In closing, you said you were looking forward to learning with us. You also asked for follow up to make sure that everyone received your email. The only improvement I would suggest is something simple, like "Welcome to OFTWOL!" 

Is my initial contact clear and concise and yet user friendly? What are some strategies that help to format your contacts to make them as clear and concise as possible?

• Yes, your contact was very well-written. When considering the second part of this question, I think about when I am writing substitute plans. I usually read through them several times after I have written them. I add things that I have forgotten and delete unnecessary items. I try to think about whether I would understand them or not if I was the substitute. I have problems following some sub plans myself when filling in, so this is very important to me. I also make sure that if directions are given, they are step-by-step and sometimes I will give visuals.

CedO550 Online Facilitation Week 1

I can relate the examples of online learning to my own experience in the following way. . .


I started thinking about ways to incorporate more online tools in my classes. We recently adopted My Big Campus in our district. I am slowly testing it out and trying new things with it. 


I mostly have been utilizing the calendar to post assignment due dates and test dates. I also have begun using the Discussion feature to push my students to think further about our topics and hopefully link it to their own lives. In one of the articles we read this week, that was one of the advantages to online learning. The work is more real-world based and the students are pushed to a higher level of thinking and are expected to utilize critical thinking skills. It is my hope that the students realize that what they are learning actually happens and can affect their lives. 


Another feature I have started using is the Schoolwork feature where I can post assignments. This allows the student to print if needed or just view the assignment on the computer, depending the nature of the assignment.

CEdO535 Week 6 - SMART goal

What item do you believe you can incorporate from this class into your professional or personal life and how will you ensure that you achieve the goal of incorporating it?

The first tool that we worked with that I plan to use in my professional life is blogs. I am hoping to improve the amount of writing in my classes by incorporating a blog. My plan is to pose a question or give a topic on Monday for the students to write about. The topic would be related to what we are talking about in each of my classes. This will be a way for my students to realize that what we are talking about can affect their lives or be seen in their lives.

The second tool that I would like to use more of in my professional life is podcasts and screencasts. I think these are great tools that can be used in a classroom. I find it very difficult to have a sub in my classroom who can teach my subject area. By using podcasts and screencasts, I don't have to worry about losing valuable class time with my students. The sub can air the podcast or screencast in class and if students are confused, it can be replayed as many times as necessary. These also could be helpful if a student is absent. The student would be able to view the cast and won't have fallen behind in class.

Week 5 of CEdO535 - Web 2.0 tool and Google site

This week in CEdO535 we were asked to research a new Web 2.0 tool. I chose to go the route of photo editing. I found Pixlr to look at and found it very easy to use and very similar to Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is a program that I use in my yearbook class and I also use it in my personal life. Pixlr is a free tool and is so similar to Photoshop that if my school district ever refuses to update our Adobe Design Suite we would have Pixlr as a back up program to use. Most of the editing tools were the same and I only struggled with one tool. That tool is erasing a background to create a cut out of a picture. I had some trouble with it, but with some further practice and work with the program I could probably master it. Pixlr allows the user to upload photos from a computer and also to save it back to the computer. I found myself falling in love with Pixlr as I did with Photoshop!

I also worked on finishing my Google site. I created the site to be able to use it in my classroom. I have a page for each class that I teach. Almost every page includes links to google docs that would normally be copied and handed out in class. I was able to link up presentations that I use in Intro to Business for students who missed a day and notes. I am also hoping to have a fully functioning blog. That page still needs work, but with a little extra work it will be ready to go soon. I like the idea of students being able to be a little more independent and also be able to participate in class when they might not normally participate in the classroom.

We also finished reading the required chapters in our book about Web 2.0 tools and using them in the classroom. I found the podcasting and screencasting the most interesting and valuable tools. I like the idea of being able to have podcasts or screencasts as back ups for students who have missed class or for myself when I have to be gone from school. Every class period is valuable and it is difficult to miss time with students when they have a substitute who might not know how to teach the material. Using a podcast or screencast could minimize the loss of classroom time.

Week 4 of CEdO535 - Google site, podcasting, and Twitter

I started my Google site for my classroom this week. It is still a work in progress, but I am done with two classes so far. I teach six different high school classes over the course of a school year, so I have my work cut out for me! I would like this to be fully functioning site by the time I am finished with it. We have been given two weeks to complete this assignment, however to be fully functional I think it will take me longer to perfect it and make it exactly how I want it to be.

I am struggling to complete my five required tweets for the paper that is due this week. I don't feel as though I have that much to say and I feel like I am forcing myself to come up with intelligent tweets to add. I don't think I am using twitter to my full advantage at this point. Professionally, I could follow people who would give helpful links or lead me to tools or information that could be useful in my classroom. I think I need to spend more time with it to see what I can do with it.

After creating my screencast with Screenr, I found out how easy screencasts are. I think the biggest downfall of Screenr is that it is restricted to five minutes. I could see myself talking for much longer than five minutes on some lessons. I also have used eyejot and also found it easy to use. I would definitely need to investigate some other tools to see which I like best and which I would be able to use effectively.