August 2004
August 31, 2004
Student's feelings on the eve.
Here is a posting from our students lounge on the eve of another school year in the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. I could not have said it better myself...
I hate to say it... but it seems that I've fallen into the CyberTrap as well. You're not alone. :-)
Yes I'm here for another year, and I'm sure that you're all just thrilled to pieces. I'm looking forward to what promises to be yet another year of debates, discussions and other such fun, involving, distracting distractions. *sigh* I have no life. Here I am typing into a computer, when I don't even know if anyone will respond. lol
Welcome back everyone!
The Eve of Another School Year.
Here I sit on the eve of another school year. After spending 20 years in the face to face classroom I am pleased to say the excitement of another year is not lost when the school is a virtual school. During the summer we denied access to the students and tried to revitalize ourselves. Most of the cyber teachers spent so much time in the summer rewriting aspects of their courses that they are looking forward to having the students back, so they can rest.
With technological changes, and access to more and more information is the online course is never truly done? Each year the courses gets more refined and each year the students should benefit from the new and improved version. So, the question is asked, when is a course done, when do you stop evaluating and revising?
Retirement is coming maybe that is the time.
Until then, one hour from now the students will see the new revisions...
I hope they work...
I hope the students read the whole page and not just the first and last line.
I hope they solve the multiple email questions I get on the same topic.
I hope they match a wider range of learning styles.
I hope I get the "this is so cool response"
I hope the lesson that took me 2 weeks to write is looked at for longer than 15 seconds.
I hope what I wrote is not so bandwidth intensive that they skip over it.
I hope I remembered to release the changes to the students.
I hope the success rate in my course increases.
I hope the free-use images I included are actually free.
I hope the pacing of the course is correct.
I hope I fulfilled all aspects of the curriculum.
I hope they like it.
August 29, 2004
Wired schools help keep parents in the know.
Our school system is going to venture down this path in the next couple of years...I think it will be an interesting exciting venture.
Wired schools help keep parents in the know | csmonitor.com
Wired schools help keep parents in the know
Teachers fight against Internet plagiarism
Another from the same source.
Teachers fight against Internet plagiarism | csmonitor.com
Teachers fight against Internet plagiarism
US schools need more tech savvy
These articles are all from the same source...I like it.
US schools need more tech savvy | csmonitor.com
The Internet offers teachers online help with lesson plans
Most educators agree that well-planned lessons are a classroom essential. But some teachers don't know how to shape lessons. Others may not understand the subject they teach well enough to dream up creative ways of presenting it.
That's why, in recent years, more teachers have turned to the Internet to pool expertise and to sample lesson plans tried and tested by other teachers.
The Internet offers teachers online help with lesson plans | csmonitor.com
The Internet offers teachers online help with lesson plans
August 26, 2004
Online Learning: Ways to Make Tasks Interactive
It is now generally accepted that the interactivity of online tasks is an important determinant of learning. A variety of examples of interactive programs available on the web are shown. A description of the way an online Psychology lab is used illustrates how interactivity can enhance the understanding of concepts.
Online Learning: Ways to Make Tasks Interactive
Four Practices for Great Performance.
Expecting the best from employees doesn't always deliver results. Instead, managers must involve workers in setting goals that are achievable, measurable, and tap into motivation.
HBS Working Knowledge: Organizations: Four Practices for Great Performance
School district smart to pursue innovative ways to educate students.
The Churchill County School District deserves high marks for keeping up with new technology in education.
The district is offering Internet classes this semester for the first time. It's one more way to help Churchill County students get an education outside of the traditional classroom. The only criteria for students who enroll in the program is they must have a computer at home or use one the district provides at selected schools.
Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard - Opinion
August 18, 2004
Tips/Tricks/Best Practices for the WebCT Chat tool. (Part Three)
Does anyone have any tips/tricks/best practices you can share on how to use the webct chat tool?
(Thanks for Ken Masters)
It depends largely on who will be on it, and what you're going to use it for, but here some things to bear in mind:
1. Logging in problems
Get everyone to try a log in days before, from the same machine that they will use in the real session. This will ensure that their machines, browsers, plug-ins, connection, etc. are all ok.
Note that most will wait until the day before, before trying and then will need help immediately. You need to have someone with tech savvy who has seen most of the problems before - you want to respond, not to waste time diagnosing.
2. Bill the first real session as "exploratory" and don't aim to get through too much. But tell that to your participants up front, or they will be disappointed at how little they got through in an hour. It's their first time, remember. (see also points below)
3. First time time waste.
Chat is a lot of fun when people first try it. That means that they will want to experiment and fool around. Don't expect them to settle into in the first few seconds - it could take up to 10 minutes before you settle the group. Let them have a bit of fun and get it out of their systems.
4. Because people talk over themselves, you run the risk of people seeming to respond inappropriately. Here's a hypothetical example:
[Peter] What is your opinion of what the CEO of Acme industries has done
about their budget?
[John] What do you think of the AIDS situation in Zimbabwe?
[Mary] I think it's great, and will solve all their problems.
A situation like that arises where Peter phrases a question, Mary is typing her answer, but, before she can respond, John has typed another question and presses "Enter" a split second before Mary does.
To get around this, we tell our students to use the name of the person to whom they are responding, at the beginning of the sentence:
[Peter] What is your opinion of what the CEO of Acme industries has done
about their budget?
[John] What do you think of the AIDS situation in Zimbabwe?
[Mary] Peter, I think it's great, and will solve all their problems.
4. Expect a delay between a question an answer - most people don't
touch type, and even those who do, still need a bit of time.
5. If you have love for the English language, put on a thick skin and
be prepared 2 c tht ppl use shrt frms of wrds cos u cant w8. (It usually won't be that bad, but certainly speling anfd grammer go out the window. Sometime it results is errors, often hilarious, ususally followed by a corection (which itself might be incorct :-)
6. Make sure that your support people are available by phone (cell, if they're using their land-lines for connection). Yup, I know it sort of reduces the effect, but it's necessary.
7. If you have an opening introduction that you'd like to give, or if you're going to do it second time, then type up some of the stuff first in Word, check spelling, grammar, and then copy-and-paste in to the chat room. But keep the chunks (paragraphs) small, and post one paragraph at a time, because they scroll up the screen, and you people need time to read.
8. Not sure if this is still valid in these later versions, but there was a bug in the earlier version: If you posted a private message, and it ran over 255 words, then only the first 255 were private, and the rest was public. Mmm, very interesting.
9. Be careful of what you say in private - it's all logged.
10. Tell your people upfront that it is all being logged, and will be distributed. For two reasons:
- Courtesy (and in some countries, law)
- The logs act as minutes and notes. You can later retrieve the log
file, and post it up (raw or edited, depending on your situation), so people don't have to take frantic notes during the session, and also that they have an accurate recording of what was said (none of this "I was quoted out of context" stuff :-).
Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. I think other issues depend on the situation, number of participants, etc.
Tips/Tricks/Best Practices for the WebCT Chat tool. (Part Two)
Does anyone have any tips/tricks/best practices you can share on how to use the webct chat tool?
(Thanks for Bob Boufford)
Set up some "ground rules" ahead of time.
Establish "codes" for asking questions, "passing the mic"
and "I'm still talking". Common ones include:
? - handraise for I have a question
! - handraise for I'll answer that
... - I'm still have the floor
>> - I'm done talking
along with the usual other emoticons.
On the issue that Donna brings up of latecomers or those who lose connections needing to "catch-up", there is a way to display the current chat log in an almost "real time" fashion. With CE, you can create a Single Page link that points to a chat room log in the "chat" folder in Manage Files and is set to open in a new window. Any time the window is refreshed, it shows the latest log entries.
Tips/Tricks/Best Practices for the WebCT Chat tool. (Part One)
Does anyone have any tips/tricks/best practices you can share on how to use the webct chat tool?
(Thanks for Donna Hennig)
Group Size
The Chat session can get quite confusing if you have more than 5 or 6 people. Either keep the group small or set up some "rules" in advance. For example, you could make it clear that the instructor/moderator will direct questions at specific individuals to answer rather than just a free-for-all.
Punctuality
Because the Chat session is real time (synchronous), anyone who joins late will not see the text of the conversation that went on before they entered the Chat room. If people come in late, you will have to repeat what was said earlier if you want them to see it.
August 17, 2004
It is about time...someone made a decision on this one.
I am so happy someone has finally clarified this...internet, net, web and email...someone has finally decided to take a stand on this. Well done wired news.
Wired News: It's Just the 'internet' Now
Online Course Development: What Does It Cost?
Does it cost less to design and develop online teaching and learning today than it did a few years ago? Are the categories of cost different today from the past and from what the costs might be in the future? The costs of developing online programs are significant, yet there are few resources to help planners. Here, Judith Boettcher proposes a few guidelines for predicting the costs involved in the design and development of online instruction.
Online Course Development: What Does It Cost?: Syllabus
Ten Efficient Research Strategies for Distance Learning
Today's distance education administrator, frequently with an expertise in another academic discipline, is also supposed to be a distance education scholar. This expectation results from the recent interest in distance learning that nearly all institutions of learning and disciplines of study have shown. More research, studies, journals, and essays about distance education also exist than at any other time.
A distance education administrator and an education research librarian at Brigham Young University have teamed up to identify ten pragmatic research strategies to help new, busy, and even a few experienced distance education administrators stay current in their field and successful in their applied research. All distance education research strategies identified were required to pass a distance administrator test for pragmatism, user-friendliness, and efficiency.
The ten research strategies that will be covered are accessing library expertise, books from your or others' library catalogs, academic journals, databases, current awareness services, subscription services, distance education Web portals, associations, listserv/discussions, and use of research assistants.
Ten Efficient Research Strategies for Distance Learning
August 9, 2004
Cyber schools draw more students.
Cyber schools draw more students - PittsburghLIVE.com
Spelling Bee research???
The key to winning a spelling bee has always been pretty straightforward. Spell the most words right, you win. Misspell a word, kiss the trophy goodbye.
But times are changing, and a team of researchers at Brandeis University has put a new spin on the traditional spelling bee format in an effort to prove their theory: that neither head-to-head competition nor pure cooperation is the best way to motivate students. The environment that best engenders education and innovation, they say, is somewhere in the middle.
Boston.com / News / Local / Brandeis lab asks, how is learning spelled?
August 7, 2004
PestWorld for Kids
What are pests? Think of them as animals out of place. Out in nature, they're just doing their jobs. But when they move into our homes and yards, then we call them pests. So come explore the world of pests. Then you can use your knowledge to outwit the pests in your world.
HotKeyz
HotKeyz is a keyboard utility with hotkey control for executing other files, folders or RUN commands. Launch applications in a Normal, Minimized or Maximized State. The Parameter option gives you parameter control when launching another application like Internet Explorer and surfing to a specific site as parameter. For example (iexplore.exe) with the parameter (www.skynergy.com).
August 6, 2004
Review Analysis of WebCT
Current to March 02. As part of a website devoted to "helping educators evaluate and select online delivery software", this page for WebCT analysis is chock full of information for those considering purchasing it. Reviews everything from design and pedagogy to cost.
Taken from http://www.ibritt.com/resources/webct.htm
Virtual Worlds Meet the Real One
Replicating real life in a computer game can be fun, as anyone who's made the virtual characters in The Sims do horrible things to each other already knows.
Even when a virtual world crumbles, or a vicious Sim makes another character swim back and forth in the backyard pool until it drowns, no one really gets hurt.
Wired News: Virtual Worlds Meet the Real One
Med students practice on 'virtual' patients
The days of medical and nursing school students practicing on real patients might be numbered. Today, many doctors and nurses in training are making their first diagnoses--and their first mistakes--on plastic, wires, and computer circuits rather than flesh and blood.
Cheating in Online Student Assessment: Beyond Plagiarism
Online student assessment features in many distance-learning programs. The prevention of plagiarism has been the subject of much attention, but insufficient attention has been given to other problems of dishonesty in online assessment. We survey the types of problems that can occur and what can be done about them. We believe many educators are unaware of these problems, and most countermeasures proposed are insufficient.
Cheating in Online Student Assessment: Beyond Plagiarism
