October 2005
October 31, 2005
Boo!
Trick or treat! Halloween is finally here, and I have a special treat—no tricks—for you.
Ben and Jerry's for everyone! Okay, I can't send you a pint of ice cream, as much as I'd like to.
Instead, you'll have to make do with its "sweet" Halloween Web site. Start by playing some of the fun games. Boogie Bones is my favorite, but that's just because I like to make noise.
Komando.com, Website for The Kim Komando Radio Show?, Kool sites
Blogging Thoughts
Blogging is different altogether, providing a wonderful balance between putting work out there and developing the practice. Yes, they get to float their young, sometimes inspired work out in the world and see what comes back. They get to read it on the Web, Google themselves, try the writer's life on for size.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Quote of the day.
The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
Sophocles
October 29, 2005
Contemporary online teaching cases
Welcome to our Contemporary online teaching case site. It features the work of over 70 Deakin University staff in developing and using new media and online technologies to foster student learning. The site was developed through University strategic teaching and learning innovation funding. It has been designed to help teachers work creatively and productively in their online teaching.
Contemporary Online Teaching Cases
October 28, 2005
Joys of Shallow Thinking
This post by George Siemens really resonated down to my toes. I've gotten to the point where I've started to feel guilty about the way I read these days. My wife gives me grief because I don't spend as much time with books as I used to. And in some ways I miss that. But what I'm finding is that these new reading skills that I'm developing are necessary for the world in which I'm living.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Old Data, new findings????
This new US Census Bureau Internet Use report (16 page PDF) came out this month... it is well written and interesting, but the data is from 2003.
Student Comments
There are many ways to measure improved student achievement, but it is clear that improved achievement can be defined differently from student to student. Below are comments from Cyber School students describing how this alternative method of learning has helped them.
“It has made my school life so much easier and I’m understanding it better through cyber school than when I took it in school for one month.”
“It’s helping to advance the students in their skills with technology. It’s giving students an opportunity to take part in something they want to do, not something they have to do.”
“I find that it makes you more independent and you need to learn the material and you have to keep up to date.”
“It is a new way of learning and introducing people. It also gives people confidence to express their opinions and ask questions because they aren’t being judged by appearance.”
“Cyber School uses the Internet as a medium for education. Students who take cyber classes realize that Internet can be used for more than chatting or banking. Cyber School opens the new ways for students to be involved in the high-tech age. Internet technology opens a new world, gives endless opportunities, and reaffirms what education is about.”
“Cyber School has given students so many opportunities to be involved. Through the Chapel, students are able to indulge in discussions on heated topics in today’s society, as well as discuss issues that hit them close to home. This gives students a way to involve themselves in current events and also gives them an opportunity to voice themselves in a situation when they normally wouldn’t. Through the Student Lounge, students are given an opportunity to meet new people, make friends, and lend a helping hand to those in need. Last year, there was a group of students who decided to really get their hands dirty and organized several social functions such as bowling nights for the students and staff.”
Quote of the day.
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
Bill Gates, Business @ The Speed of Thought
October 27, 2005
A post from before..
I am trying to put together a blog roll of which has a list of blog whose focus or authors are from the k-12 Online schools group. These blogs will be listed on the Association of Online K-12 schools. If you know of such a blog let us know via email (cyber@scs.sk.ca) or comment to this posting. There is no charge for this listing, we would just like to add blogs to the list of resources available to our members.
Please feel free to spread the word about this, so we can populate this blog roll.
Association of Online K-12 schools url: http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/aok12s/home.htm
E-Learning 2.0 by Stephen Downes
E-learning as we know it has been around for ten years or so. During that time, it has emerged from being a radical idea—the effectiveness of which was yet to be proven—to something that is widely regarded as mainstream. It's the core to numerous business plans and a service offered by most colleges and universities.
And now, e-learning is evolving with the World Wide Web as a whole and it's changing to a degree significant enough to warrant a new name: E-learning 2.0.
Quote of the day
People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.
A. J. Liebling
What did we learn!
Looking back at the last five years of building a successful cyber school. What has it taught us…
Before you begin…Plan Plan ..then plan some more.
An example.
It is necessary to plan for the future when we are looking at the development of a Cyber school, simple things like the name of the school can caused a real problem due to the fact, Banners, colours, videos and other publications will need to be developed and changing of the school's name can mean a lot of unnecessary work.
Have a common vision
An example.
When planning for a cyber school project it is important to think towards the future and not based your decisions on what would be the easiest. Work toward a common vision and empower the people involved to become part of the process. You have to be willing to fail in order to succeed. A successful cyber school model will require flexibility with some of the traditional routines, policies and perceptions. Research other models, but take the best of each and make them fit your different demographics, technical infrastructures, personal, money and vision. It is natural to try to make the cyber school fit into the traditional model of school administration and teaching. However it is like trying to put a round orange into a square hole. After you have forced it into the space it is no longer an orange.
Strong administration must recognize the needs.
An example
Allowing the cyber school to be all it can be and then build the supports for it to function. A wise man once said that the administration’s job is to support and adapt to the needs of the school, teachers and students and in the cyber school model it definitely applies. Exact quote was “ No matter how strange the request for assistance might be, it is what the person needs at that time and it is the administration’s job to find a way to support that person.”
Support and empower the team
An example
It is essential to have faith in the team that is given the task of developing the school. That does not mean that you do not evaluation of the project. It is still necessary to have a group of people who will try to predict the problems and solve them as they come up. If most of your planning and decision making is governed by making sure that the impact will not be too great if the project fails then you are planning for failure. You must plan for success.
You will make mistakes, embrace it.
An example
The first run will not be perfect but it will get better because of empowered people. On-line teaching is very similar to being a first year teacher. Mistakes will be made and the teachers will learn from them and make it better. But they must be given the freedom to make those mistakes and learn from them.
Just a few hints
October 26, 2005
Basic Online High School Questions
I was going through some of my notes from the first couple of years of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School and ran across this list of questions.
I thought it might be of interest to some if I tried to answer them now after five years of administrating the school.
How many students do you need in a course before you split it into two sections.
Answer...60 students. An interactive online course will take a teacher two hours to answer the emails and bulletin board questions.
How many students is a full classes?
Answer...30 students is full. More than that stretches the teachers ability to answer all the questions.
Do we have a waiting list?
Answer...Any students over 30 go on a waiting list.
Do we allow full time cyber students?
Answer...Yes but only under special situations...face to face schools still have something to offer students. A combination of online and face to face is the best situation.
School Colours?
Answer...You need to approach the cyber school like you would a face to face school..so yes.
Sports teams?
Answer...When the numbers get high enough it will be necessary to address this question.
Do we have a priority list of which course we should develop next?
Answer...many factors play into this question. It is important to decided what should be the next course(s) developed, I have found a good way to do this is ask the cyber students.
Do we allow people to audit the course?
Answer...No..to build community within a course it is important that all students participate, students who audit tend not to be active.
Teacher/Parent Interviews...necessary or not?
Answer...Is it necessary no, because of the ability for a parent to always see what, how and when the child is working.
How many courses should a teacher/developer do?
Answer...One until it has been taught for 3-4 years. The work of developing a course is never finished and if a teacher/developer does more than one they tend not to get the first course to as high a level as a person who only has to concentrate on one.
How many courses should a teacher/developer teach?
Answer...as many as they develop.
Do we need a counselor on-line?
Answer...yes as you get more and more student who are becoming involved in the cyber school and do not have access to a counsellor in the face to face schools.
Do we allow students to retake classes...do we charge them twice?
Answer...How and when they drop would factor into this...but yes and yes.
What do we do about that?
"The kids are posting questions and answers to tests in between periods so kids later in the day know what's coming. What do we do about that?"
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Frappr...Edubloggers
A neat collection of edubloggers displayed on a map.
Four basic Journalists attitudes.
And I thought I was hard on journalists who don’t yet understand why weblogs are becoming so important to media – and why they should learn how to read blogs, follow them, and search them.
Contentious ? Journalists and Weblogs: Three (No, Four) Basic Attitudes
Quote of the day
USA Today has come out with a new survey - apparently, three out of every four people make up 75% of the population.
David Letterman
US comedian & television host (1947 - )
October 24, 2005
Today, I laughed.
I hope this was done as a joke.
Today I was searching through the list of items that were entered into the search on the cyber school home page. This one made me laugh.
What time is dismissal?
I normally look through the phrases asked and try to make sure our FAQ page contains most of the answers. Being a cyber school made this question funny.
Anyways...I laughed.
High school offers online gym class
Jacob Miller’s gym class isn’t about push-ups or running laps or dodgeball. It’s about computers and Frisbee.
Last year, as the tall, cheerful South High School senior neared graduation, he was finding it hard to complete his physical education requirement while balancing studies, sports and a social life. Then Miller discovered that through a new online class he could fulfill his phys-ed credit after school by playing on the Ultimate Frisbee team.
MSNBC - High school offers online gym class
High school offers online gym class
How much is my blog worth...$0.00...Bummer
My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?
Teach Content or Teach Learning?
Not much of what I remember has anything to do with content. I mean I remember some of the assignments and exercises, sure. But what I remember most, and the reason they're still with me today, was their passion for learning, their willingness to go beyond the text or topic, their senses of humor.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Violence in the Classroom
My EFL students are repeat victims of institutional violence. When given the opportunity to take control of their learning, they get nervous, confused, and irritable; and like sailors on a sinking ship, they look desperately for rescue. From the very beginning of their formal education, they have rarely been encouraged to think for themselves, take a critical stance, and choose the direction and pace of their learning. They’ve been marginalized, homogenized, standardized, and processed. They sport student numbers and grades like cattle sport brands and bells; and like all domesticated livestock, they are completely dependent on their owners for sustenance.
apcampbell ? Blog Archive ? Violence in the Classroom
The New Student-Teacher Channel
If self-disclosure between teacher and student can boost learning outcomes, blogging may be its most effective mode.
Quote of the day
A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
October 20, 2005
Halloween valentine?
It is in french, and it is addictive...so do not go to this link unless you have some time to waste.
Le coeur fait boum... Chez Maya !
Blogs are not a valid school subject.
Blogs are NOT a valid school subject. Blogs are a sloppy communications technique, rarely containing anything really worth while, and rank just one notch above text messaging on cell phones. We've got kids who can't add, can't read, and can't write in real sentences, and wouldn't know a verb if it bit them. There's where the real education effort needs to be placed. Sure, that's not 'fun', and kids do want to play rather than learn, and teachers seem to go out of their way to avoid being actual teachers.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Quote of the day
I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
Totie Fields
October 19, 2005
Quote of the day
Teaching is more difficult than learning because what teaching calls for is this: to let learn. The real teacher, in fact, lets nothing else be learned than learning. His conduct, therefore, often produces the impression that we properly learn nothing from him, if by "learning" we now suddenly understand merely the procurement of useful information.
Martin Heidegger
Evaluating Online Teachers
When administrators of virtual schools evaluate a teacher, they can’t walk out of their offices, stroll into the classroom, and take a seat at the back to observe the day’s lesson. But they can go online and get megabytes of vital information about the teacher.
Bits and Bytes: Evaluating Online Teachers
October 18, 2005
Changing education
"We have shifted the emphasis from content alone to making use of the content" on the principle that "knowledge can be created in the classroom and doesn't just have to come from the teacher."
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Redi website
This DEST website contains a comprehensive database of information about resources, policies and materials for drug education and incident management.
REDI - Resilience Education and Drug Information
Generational views on technology.
For kids, technology isn’t just a productivity tool. It’s a way of expressing themselves. If they’re buying a computer, they’re more likely to care about what it looks like on the outside or if it is beefy enough to run the newest computer games.
October 17, 2005
'Virtual cafeteria' teaches good eating habits
To improve student health and enhance parent understanding, the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District (ISD) in Carrollton, Texas, has put $95,000 into developing a program to give parents, students, and other community stakeholders a new way to learn about the foods offered in its schools: a virtual cafeteria.
eSchool News online - 'Virtual cafeteria' teaches good eating habits
Weblog Usability
One of a weblog's great benefits is that it essentially frees you from "Web design." You write a paragraph, click a button, and it's posted on the Internet. No need for visual design, page design, interaction design, information architecture, or any programming or server maintenance.
Weblogs make having a simple website much easier, and as a result, the number of people who write for the Web has exploded. This is a striking confirmation of the importance of ease of use.
Weblogs' second benefit is that they're a Web-native content genre: they rely on links, and short postings prevail. You don't have to write a full article or conduct original research or reporting. You can simply find something interesting on another site and link to it, possibly with commentary or additional examples. Obviously, this is much easier than running a conventional site, and again indicates the benefits of lowering the barriers to computer use.
Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Charismatic Leadership in the E-Learning Organization
Leading change requires courage, vision, and across-the-board buy-in. Transition and change are not easy, even in organizations that trade in change and innovation. Anxiety and tensions abound, and a bureaucratic, "management by committee" approach may cause the organization to flounder. Centralized control is one response to change; radical decentralization is another. In either case, one fairly traditional response to ambiguity is to look for a single charismatic leader to emerge.
E-Learning Queen: Charismatic Leadership in the E-Learning Organization
Vision and Leadership in the E-Learning Organization
What are defining characteristics of vision in an e-learning organization? With all the talk about vision and mission, are people really taking the time to speculate on what that might look like?
E-Learning Queen: Vision and Leadership in the E-Learning Organization
Blogging 101
Like other teachers bringing blogging into the classroom, he thinks the online journals will spark students' enthusiasm for computers, writing and opining.
"They're learning the technical skills, but they're also learning that they have a voice online," he said. "They may be from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, but they're writing online, people are commenting on it, and they're learning that they have a voice."
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
October 14, 2005
Blackboard Acquisition of WebCT
News, blogger reaction and more on the Blackboard acquisition of WebCT - your one-stop source for all the reaction
Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Blackboard Acquisition of WebCT
October 13, 2005
The New Behemoth LMS
It will be surprising if there is anything much more than a few bug fix releases of WebCT CE6 before the new behemoth platform emerges.
EdTechPost: More on the new behemoth - Timing, Open Source and Interoperability
Quote of the day
Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog.
Doug Larson
Blackboard and Webct merge comments
Slashdot | Blackboard and WebCT merge
October 12, 2005
Blackboard and Webct merge?
Blackboard and WebCT, leading providers of enterprise software and services to the education industry have announced plans to merge. The announcement was made at October 12th at 4 pm EST in a news release posted on PR News wire.
"I have had experience with both companies and view this merger as combining excellence with excellence to advance the e-Learning industry, I also see this combination as a way to break down barriers across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to open the door to new opportunities for collaboration among institutions using different e-learning platforms." - Jack Wilson, President of The University of Massachusetts and current WebCT Vista client.
Blackboard and WebCT Announce Plans to Merge
The Blogosphere as a Carnival of Ideas
Many young academics who are thinking about blogging share Black's dilemma. Is it a good idea to blog if you're on the job market or have a nontenured position? Tenured academics who blog face relatively little risk when they express controversial opinions -- they have job protection. It's a different story for academics without tenure who want to blog.
Print: The Chronicle: 10/7/2005: The Blogosphere as a Carnival of Ideas
Bad News for Universities.
For some time, I've wondered just how comprehensive that changes in the way that we receive, handle, publish, assess and archive information will be, in terms of the future of universities. Stephen Downes, among others, sometimes seems to suggest that the rationale for higher learning will simply move away from universities, as learning increasing occurs and even is accredited elsewhere.
Abject Learning: A musing with a big hole in the middle of it...
Quote of the day.
Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.
Jef Raskin, interviewed in Doctor Dobb's Journal
October 11, 2005
What does it mean to be an online teacher?
Does it mean we have to leave some of the student control that we had in the face to face environment at the virtual door. In a classroom you have a “control” which allows you as a teacher to enforce some rules that you cannot in an asynchronous virtual classroom.
Statements like:
“Do not search the internet for your answers”
“Do the work by yourself.”
“Work in a silent environment.”
“Make sure you use at least one source of research from a library.”
“This is not an open book test.”
"Do not search the internet for your answer." Will online students follow these instructions and would the teacher know if they did. Could the student go to the library to look up the answers? Most teachers would applaud a student for being so studious.
Do the work yourself, don't ask anyone for help. Would a teacher refuse to help one of their students who asked for help? Why are we threatened if a parent or a friend who has already taken a course sits down beside the students and assists them in completing an assignment? A student who is helped by a teacher should produce a better assignment and learn more; a student who is helped by a parent or a friend should produce a better assignment and learn more. The result is the same, so as teachers why are we more comfortable with the one approach but not with the other?
In the information age it is important for us as teachers to encourage students to utilize as many tools as they can to access the information in the world. The days of memorization and knowing content is an old concept, the ability to find the answer is the new necessary knowledge. As teachers we need to recognize this in the way you design your online courses, if you are making statements like...do not search the internet...do not ask anyone for help... do not search back into your notes while doing this test...you are going to find yourself very frustrated and trying to guess who is following these instructions.
In the online asynchronous virtual classroom only make rules that you as a teacher are capable of enforcing, this means you will have to do some things different than you would in a face to face environment. If you are not doing things differently, then you need to ask yourself; are you really an online line teacher in the information age and are you really preparing your students for the world they are entering?
The weakest link.
This podcast addresses the concept of the the inherent technological weaknesses in distributed education.Our programs and courses depend on the reliability of technology that is beyond our reach and out of our control. How reliable is the Internet as an institutional platform? How can new models of distributed education portend better curricula and more flexible courses?
Video Games Learning
Will video games change the way we learn? We argue here for a particular view of games—and of learning—as activities that are most powerful when they are personally meaningful, experiential, social, and epistemological all at the same time.
Video Games and the Future of Learning | Kairosnews
Blog Guide Book
A fairly comprehensive guide...80 pages worth.
Interactive Fiction games.
Games of the 11th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition
Podcasting thoughts
One of the oft-cited disadvantages of podcasts is that you can’t really “skim” them – that is, it generally takes 30 minutes of your precious time to listen to a 30-minute podcast.
Contentious ? What Sounds Interesting? Podcasting and Learning Styles
Divide still a divide?
I am ready for real 'news' about the Digital Divide...the same studies from the Pew Internet and American Life Project keep popping up in newspapers (as filler, I suppose). One of the more recent comes from IndyStar.com: "Many hurt by digital divide want to be there, study says". If we depend solely upon the Pew statistics, "32% of american adults remain unconnected from the Internet (narrowly defining what digital divide means)."
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Is one third of a 'divide' still a 'divide'?
Quote of the day.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Author: Unknown
October 6, 2005
The New Classroom
"Kids are bombarded by media," says Blake. "They're completely high tech, and they don't know a different way. When you hand them a book, they're going to say, 'Is this all there is?'"
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
What it means to teach.
We're no longer the only teachers our students can have on any particular subject. We're not the only audience for our students' work. We're no longer limited by the four walls of our classrooms. And we're moving toward a time when collaboration will be central to our practice. All of this requires that we cede much of the control over learning to our students, that we act more as connectors to relevant information than distributors of it, that we model the effective consumption and creation of content, and that we focus on the basic skills and ideas of our disciplines in the context of a more individualized, inquiry based model that develops passionate, or as Alan calls them "fearless" learners.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
SF Wi-Fi All Free, All the Time?
Google wants to connect all of San Francisco to the internet with a free wireless service, creating a springboard for the online search engine leader to leap into the telecommunications industry
Wired News: SF Wi-Fi All Free, All the Time?
Quote of the day
An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.
Niels Bohr
Danish physicist (1885 - 1962)
October 5, 2005
LearningPlanet.com
Many neat games for all age groups.
The future of e-learning
Learning Technologies: The Future of e-Learning
Search and Knowledge Management
Due to the tremendous amount of content and knowledge nearly every company generates, employees often depend on meta data and various search functionality, such as full-text search and retrieval, to find desired information across a variety of content repositories.
An Alternative for Search and Knowledge Management
Quote of the day.
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
Rita Mae Brown
US author and social activist
October 4, 2005
Online Tools and Services
FavIcon generator
FavIcon from Pics -- how to create a favicon.ico for your website
Neat Quote
We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.
Robert Wilensky, speech at a 1996 conference
commandN - tech.web.news.video
commandN is a weekly web news video show that covers technology trends online and offline. We started the show on a Toronto waterfront rock with a PowerBook, an iSight, and Quicktime Broadcaster (and Le Tigre's "Tell you now" as our musical inspiration).
Amber Mac and Mike Lazazzera host the show with Jeff MacArthur (Halifax, NS) as a guest segment producer. Brian McKechnie is our cameraman, post-production editor, and all-around chief rendering champ.
http://commandn.typepad.com/
October 3, 2005
www.DNSstuff.com
It does it all...check it out.
Classroom Revolution
Students of almost every age are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy. This is especially true of younger kids with younger parents. So how is this digital revolution affecting education? A binary answer: Not enough. According to a federal study, most schools are essentially unchanged today despite reforms and increased investment in computers.
USNews.com: Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Classroom revolution (10/10/05)
Weather for your site.
This creates a weather forcast for your home that can be added to your website.TrafficZap Free Traffic Tools
Dr. Watson.
Dr. Watson is a free service to analyze your web page on the Internet. You give it the URL of your page and Watson will get a copy of it directly from the web server. Watson can also check out many other aspects of your site, including link validity, download speed, search engine compatibility, and link popularity.
Logo Maker
Logo Maker - Logo Creator - Logo Generator - Create a free logo for your business or website
To Debate or not?
When I heard that advocates of “Intelligent Design” were urging schools to “teach the controversy” between their view and Darwinian evolution, I was dismayed.
Inside Higher Ed :: To Debate or Not to Debate Intelligent Design?
AOK12S Newsletter
This is the associations third newsletter.
