November 2003
November 28, 2003
WebCT 4.0 Breadcrumbs flash file
The following is a small flash file that explains the use of breadcrumbs in WebCT 4.0
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/prep/unit_1/breadcrumbs.html
Feel to use this file as you see fit.
November 27, 2003
Joke for the day
Four brothers left home for college, and they became successful doctors and lawyers and prospered.
Some years later, they chatted after having dinner together. They discussed the gifts that they were able to give to their elderly mother, who lived far away in another city.The first said, "I had a big house built for Mama."
The second said, "I had a hundred thousand dollar theater built in the house."
The third said, "I had my Mercedes dealer deliver her an SL600 with a chauffeur.
The fourth said, "Listen to this. You know how Mama loved reading the Bible and you know she can't read it anymore because she can't see very well. I met this monk who told me about a parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took 20 monks 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge them $100,000 a year for 20 years to the church, but it was worth it. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it."
The other brothers were impressed.
After the holidays Mama sent out her Thank You notes. She wrote:
Dear Milton, the house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house. Thanks anyway.
Dear Mike, you gave me an expensive theater with Dolby sound, it could hold 50 people, but all my friends are dead, I've lost my hearing and I'm nearly blind. I'll never use it. But thank you for the gesture just the same.
Dear Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home, I have my groceries delivered, so I never use the Mercedes ... and the driver you hired is a big jerk. But the thought was good. Thanks.
Dearest Melvin, you were the only son to have the good sense to give a little thought to your gift. The chicken was delicious. Thank you."
WebCT email flash help file
The following flash file and the one from yesterday were both designed by Dave Elder. We are find them very useful to assist the students in understanding Webct 4.0
Feel free to use these help files. I will be posting a series of them over the next couple of days.
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/prep/unit_2/Email_Window.htm
November 26, 2003
Webct Action Menu Flash file
Here is a link to a neat little flash file that explains the action menu within WebCT Campus Edition Version 4.0. We use it in our courses to assign students in navigating within webct. It seems to help.
Help yourself if you think it could be useful.
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/prep/unit_1/actionmenu.html
November 22, 2003
MidLink Magazine - online student magazine
I ran across the MidLink Magazine in my digital travels today - thought it might be of interest for online teachers.
Sponsored by SAS inSchool, North Carolina State University, and University of Central Florida, this is a "The Digital Magazine by Students, for Students - Ages 8 - 18".
The magazine provides a place for students to publish their work/projects. There is also a rich variety of teacher tools, including a whole slough of rubrics and evaluation resources...
Hope this proves interesting!
November 21, 2003
My greatest fear.
The greatest fear I had when putting together the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School is having high school students sitting in their basement all by themselves struggling through course material feeling isolated and that there is no help. Our online chapel, student lounge, and peer counselling group as well as their course instructors are all tools and persons we use to build community. All rules and structures are designed to promote communication. Communication is what makes community, and brings content alive. Keeping this in mind we build the courses around an instructor's approach to course material rather than a textbooks approach. This comes with many pitfalls but the student that use the system should not ever feel alone.
Cyber Counsellor Asks...
Has anyone ever talked about this whole ESL or language deficieny thing? I'd be interested to know what they do in places with a high immigrant population, especially when those people are technologically literate. Does on line learning allow them to keep their customs, dress, etc and discourage the joining of the culture of their new home. Is distance education entrenching a sense of solitude for these people?
Comment?
November 20, 2003
Distance Education for everyone?
Do you think that characteristics of distance education are determined by the students who chooses to participate? I have heard from many, distance education is not for everyone.
The method of education used in university for the last 100 years has been successful. Is the method successful or is it the type of students who choose to go to university that make it successful.
Have universities been built to attract a certain type of student and don't even make an effort to meet the needs of others?
So, is it realistic to believe that distance education will meet all the needs of all students?
Is it easier to build a cyber school if you determine the type of student you would like to attract and then build it accordingly?
If the above is true, picking a distance education theory would be easy.
Thoughts?
November 19, 2003
Ramblings
I would like to hitchhike on these ramblings... In building a successful cyber school, one needs not research educational theory or distance education theory. One needs to choose successful experienced classroom educators to transfer their skills to online. Allowing them to create their own course give them a start on the skills needed to be good online educators. Each will bring their own approach and skills to education. Creating a school, based on one approach to distance education or f2f education is doing an injustice to the educators. (If you have not noticed yet, I don't see a difference between the two.) A face to face school never tries to dictate one approach to teaching, each educator must find what works for them. Online, this reality doesn't change, a good educator will continue to explore until they find what works for them and their students. This exploration might take them to the theories, but not always. Sometimes it just takes online experience to make a good f2f educator a good online educator.
The skills that we do not have online, that all good f2f educators use is the students eyes. The blank looks or the looks that say they get it...
({O}{O})-blank look ({*}{*})
Online there are other clues, the eyes are not there but with experience you will be able to identify other clues.
These clues allow a educator to adapt the instruction to fit the type and learning styles of their students.
With this in mind the only educational theory that applies to any class is that it cannot be a static design because it has to continue to change based on target's needs. A successful cyber school needs to support and recognize this. Supporting it by suppling as many tools, applications and administrational supports as is possible. Recognizing it by not trying to get all the educators to fit into one educational theory.
In reality, some students will love an educator's approach and others will not. (Students course evaluations have proven this.) Meeting all the students needs is not possible, but it doesn't stop a good educator from trying or a successful cyber school from offering an environment which will allow the effort.
Educational Theories, learning platforms, course design will all have some effect on students success. All of these combined cannot match what the educator brings to the course.
Thoughts?
November 17, 2003
Earth as Art (Very cool)
Being an ex-art teacher I found this site very cool.
Earth As Art: A Landsat Perspective (Library of Congress Exhibition)
A series of Landsat satellites have imaged the Earth's surface for nearly thirty years, providing data for applications in business, science, education, government, and national security. The Landsat satellite currently in orbit is Landsat 7. The U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center in South Dakota is the primary receiving station for Landsat 7 data, and it distributes these data to researchers around the world.
November 14, 2003
The War on Error
11/13/2003 5:00:00 PM - A school board's network analyst discusses the unexpected lessons students taught him, while MDS explains why employees sign a usage agreement. Let the security training begin
November 12, 2003
Further reflections of Cyber Counsellor:
-It seems that this method of service delivery appeals to a large number of students who have had complicating issues in their lives. These issues have required them to change their educational plan. The impact on SCCS has been that creative strategies must be considered when developing programs for these students. This takes time. In a nutshell; one size doesn't fit all!
-These complicating issues are not necessarily negative. A number of high performance athletes, for instance, find that this method of delivery meets their needs.
-Parental contact is crucial when dealing with school aged students. Personal contact is appreciated by "older" students.
-Tracking and follow up are most effective when done in a timely manner.
-The intake phase is a crucial element in correct placement of a student. For our purposes, this is done through registration. Many registrations require follow up before we place a student
November 11, 2003
E-Conflict is it new?
E-conflicts in the E-chapel
It seems like most of the words today has received the e letter before, or are in the process of getting one. There is e-business, e-learning, e-mail, e-banking. Will there ever be e-faith, e-church, or anything related to the aspect of faith life for those who believe.
In SCCS, we have a cyber chapel, which could be called: e-chapel, we have e-discussion board, e-prayers, e-rosary. E-media has been around much longer than internet, and they have influenced our lives in away which we often don't even realize.
We also find ourselves in e-conflicts which often appear in discussing various issues. On one hand the e-conflicts seem to be not too dangerous, and on the other they get very quickly personal, and people start picking on each other. As I don't have much normal high school experience, I don't know if those e-conflicts and e-picking reflect the way the classroom debates take place, or they are just the e-chapel phenomenon. If anyone has any ideas or experiences in this topic let me know. It could also be an e-solution.
Fr. Andrew (Cyber Caplain)
November 3, 2003
Jesus and Satan and Computers
For those of us involved in Catholic Education and Computers will find this joke kinda cute.
Jesus and Satan were having an argument about who was better at using the computer. They had been going at it for days and God was tired of hearing all the bickering.
Finally, God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test which will take two hours and it will judge who does the better job."
So, Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboard and typed away.
They moused.
They did spreadsheets.
They wrote reports.
They sent faxes.
They sent e-mail.
They sent e-mail with attachments.
They downloaded.
They did some genealogy reports.
They made cards.
They did every known job.
But, ten minutes before the time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, the rain poured, and of course, the electricity went off. Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.
Jesus just sighed.
The electricity finally flickered back on and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically screaming, "It's gone! It's all gone! I lost everything when the power went out!"
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all his files from the past two hours.
Satan observed this and became even more irate. "Wait! He cheated! How did he do it?!
(You'll love the punch line...)
God just shrugged his shoulders and said:
JESUS SAVES.
