March 2006
March 31, 2006
Staff PMI
Over the next couple of weeks I will post staff PMI's. Once a year the staff at the cyber school have a meeting with the administration of the school to talk. This meeting uses PMIs to start the process. PMI stands for Positive, Negative, and Interesting.
The following is from one of the instructors at the cyber school.
Two positive things about cyber school and/or my course:
I really love the freedom that cyber school allows me to work on my course from any location (as long as there’s an internet connection). I enjoy the “geek talk” between other cyber teachers, this motivates me to create a more technologically sound design for my class, and it also allows me to share some of my own knowledge with my colleagues … it’s all about synergy.
I’m loving the way my course is turning out … in my opinion, there is no finished design. The more technology that I get introduced to, and the more content that I come across … the more it will find it’s way into my course. My online design follows the same route as my f2f designs. I’m always adding new and interesting items to my f2f courses … so why would it be any different for my online course. Most of all, I love that I get to use my knowledge from my master’s course and find another passion in education.
Two negative things about cyber school and/or my course:
I’m trying not to let it get to me …. but, I’m getting really annoyed with scheduling. I don’t think that most admin. has any idea how important it is for cyber teachers to have the ability to participate in their educational community.
I find it amusing that there is soooooo much ignorance about cyberschool and technology. This is not a negative thing about cyber or my course but rather an observation. When “ludites” don’t understand something, they must then ‘mock, riddicule, and trash” so that they no longer “feel out of place”. I’ve made it one of my objectives to educate “those who have no idea”.
Two interesting things about cyber school and/or my class:
I’m very interested in where cyber school can go … the future of what cyber school can become. I think that SCCS is at the forefront of highschool online education. I like that we (everyone) doesn’t really follow any prescribed “researched” methods … “trial and error” is the best way to learn and to be innovative. We, as a staff, share and support each other with our search for “online knowledge” and “methodology”. I’m very proud of the work that we do, and the barriers that we are breaking. There is a long life in online education.
I’m interested in the way my course is turing out. I’m trying to push the limits on what I’m good at (audio, video, design methods), and I’m starting to see positive results in my course. I could be in a constant state of design if I let myself do so. I find it interesting that I’m never really satisfied with what I’ve designed, I’m constatnly “tweeking” my course, adding new content and new technology.
Quote of the Day
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Sir Winston Churchill
British politician (1874 - 1965)
March 30, 2006
Staff PMI
Over the next couple of weeks I will post staff PMI's. Once a year the staff at the cyber school have a meeting with the administration of the school to talk. This meeting uses PMIs to start the process. PMI stands for Positive, Negative, and Interesting.
The following is from one of the instructors at the cyber school.
Positives (1) the people! This is a great group of people with whom to spend time on a social level, and they are also all great colleagues - intelligent, and excellent teachers. (2 )the opportunities to do research into my own subject area and the use of WebCT and other computer "stuff" - also included in this was the opportunity to get some very interesting inservices.
Negatives (1) the time - I never have enough time to finish anything, I am constantly behind, and I never have any time with my family. (2) all of the book keeping required to track kids - I understand it is necessary, it is just one more thing which I don't have time to do and therefore one more thing to feel guilty about
Interesting: (1) The fact that finally, finally, the system, the province, the university and so on are starting to recognize what we do here. (2) more and more I am understanding just how piecemeal WebCt is - and how many little inconveniences there are that I know could be fixed, although I personally do not know how to fix them.
Quote of the Day
Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.
Laurence J. Peter,
"The Peter Principle"
US educator & writer (1919 - 1988)
March 29, 2006
Four Levels of Online Courses (Level One)
Online courses can be divided into four different levels, which are not determined by the LMS used. They are determined by the developer’s approach. Recognition of the approach will make it easier to determine the methodology of the study.
Level One Courses
The characteristic that indicates that you have developed a level one course is that it is an attempt to recreate the textbook style of teaching. Often recognized as the boring high school class it consists of the premise that you must read the content and do the questions at the end of the unit. We have all taken this type of course in the face to face classroom. It is normally taught by the teacher who is not a content expert and has to rely on the textbook to teach the curriculum.
All the problems associated with this method of teacher in the face to face classroom are carried over to the online world. These courses achieve mild success online. We could get into an intellectual discussion about what is success. But for this theory we are talking about the students staying in the course and passing it. The design of the course fulfills the curriculum and is a content presentation...test...content presentation cycle. This is mostly a text based course and the teacher is there to keep the students on task. The response when asked a content question often is, "It is written write there in plain English. Can't these students read?" This method of cookie cutter design is the easiest to create. Digitize a text book's content and add the unit questions into the online testing system. Once recreated, revisions are few. (PowerPoint slides converted to html with a discussion board attached courses are not even at this level but that is another discussion.) This level of course will never develop into a level two. It is destined to always be a level one type course. It is missing the ownership of an instructor. The question about the student success that needs to be asked is:
Does the design of the course have any impact on the student's success rate?
Is the type of student who remains in the course the type of student who would be successful no matter what type of design was used?
Four Levels of Online Courses (Level two)
Online courses can be divided into four different levels, which are not determined by the LMS used. They are determined by the developer’s approach. Recognition of the approach will make it easier to determine the methodology of the study.
Level Two Course
The characteristic that indicates that you have developed a level two course is the recreation of a successful face to face course online. It is based on a content expert’s approach to the teaching of curriculum. The design approach is “What would you do on day one in the F2F classroom?” Create that as closely as you can in the online environment. If you have introduced yourself, create an html file with an image of your face, and a file containing the content that you would tell the students in the F2F. Then ask yourself what is the second thing you do in the F2F, digitize that and so on. Success rate in this level of course is a little higher than level one because it tends to have a little bit more personality than the text book approach. This type of course is taught by the teacher who created it and has taken ownership for it and has a vested interest in seeing the student be successful. A certain level of confidence is needed by the teacher, as well as a certain level of reflection on their teaching style and lessons. This type of course is never finished and is being revised continuously and in time develops into the next level. It will become a level three course when there is some recognition by the teacher that F2F teaching strategies are not enough to ensure success for students online. The teacher's need for the course to succeed and amount of "student mothering" that occurs increases the success rate of the students. The resources used in this type of course are the teacher's ideas and the text book.
A good question to ask if you want to know if you have a level two course is: “Is it possible to take what you have developed back into the face to face classroom with very few alterations?”
In other words the technology and the internet did not influence the course development in any way.
Four Levels of Online Courses (Level three)
Online courses can be divided into four different levels, which are not determined by the LMS used. They are determined by the developer’s approach. Recognition of the approach will make it easier to determine the methodology of the study.
Level Three Course
The indication that you have developed a level three course is when a level two course teacher recognizes the fact that they are teaching with the largest library in the world at their fingertips and have access to technology.
The general design of the course is still content presentation...test...content presentation cycle. This is a carry over from the face to face classroom. The teacher is still not willing to totally step away from the procedures that have worked so well for them in that F2F environment. The courses are still text based but the developer/teacher has started to see some of the cool things that technology can do and starts to see ways to integrate these into the content. These java applets, video, flash files are used to support the content text. These are attached outside the course content and are previewed and chosen by the instructor. The instructor has started to realize that there are resources on the internet created by someone else that can be used as course content and starts to explore methods of making this happen. As stated in the earlier post "the teacher starts to remove themselves from the stage and begins to recognize that the answer to the questions do not have to come from themselves or even from with the course presentation. The course starts to lean towards a student centered self discovery method of learning. The teacher asks the questions and facilitates or gives the students the tools and skills to find the answers. This type of course starts to lean toward learning the problem first and then answering it. Most courses before this were always having the answers first and then discovering the problem.
Four levels of Online courses (level four)
Online courses can be divided into four different levels, which are not determined by the LMS used. They are determined by the developer’s approach. Recognition of the approach will make it easier to determine the methodology of the study.
Level Four Course
The characteristic that indicates that you have developed a level four is when a level three course recognizes that the student might be able to choose the questions and the teacher assists them in using the technology and the internet to find the answers. This is a question first, answers second model. The teacher is just a facilitator whose role is to assist the student and teach them the skills they need to critically analyze vast stores of information on the net. The student and teacher work as a team toward covering the curriculum and tailoring the questions to achieve this. Honestly, I have never yet seen such a course but it is where we are going. There is too much information now to effectively teach it all. The teacher choosing to teach what they are interested in is a model that works for level 1,2 and 3 courses but a change that allows the students to decide to study what they are interested in might be positive change.
The proposal needs to clarify exactly what the implementation of a Learning Management System is trying to achieve. As shown above it can be used for a variety of different scenarios of which some are very simple and others very complex.
Quote of the Day
Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.
Laurence J. Peter
US educator & writer (1919 - 1988)
March 28, 2006
You have a strange mind too.
I psoted this a fwe years ago but I still liek it.
If you can read this, you have a strange mind too Can you raed this?
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd What I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan
Mnid,aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it Dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the Olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in The rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can Still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn Mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a Wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling
Administration Technology Interview (Part seven)
Q- What is the main support in place?
A-The drive has been the students and parents. Technology supports has been an autonomy which has allowed us to progress a lot further. They gave us professional development money. Send teachers away in order to become more technologically literate. We have built up our own base of expertise. We should identify the geek on staff for support. We need to recognize the fact that technology is not going away. Mostly its money that is needed to keep things up to speed. Servers are up most of the time and don’t seem to crash. Technology is part of the teaching world and administration world. Techies are important but you need to recognize teachers ability and it might be their extra curricular and bring other teachers up to speed.
Q- How has technology played a role in building a culture. Is there any particular stories?
A-A few things have happened. I thought cyberschool was going to be for the very advanced students, and should hit about 1% of the population. We have identified the advanced students, the slow students who nobody ever thought would succeed at this. And the support from the home has been amazing. Students have the parent sitting beside them. The parent knows the student has homework, can see it and knows when its done. Chat rooms and bulletin boards for the students has been identified as a phenomenal point. A deaf student was able to for the first time communicate with others without a handicap in the chat rooms. She was part of the community without a teachers aid for the first time.
Q- How do you use technology to a mission and a vision?
A-The goal is to teach courses at a distance and then it changed to offer classes to all students in the division. Technology can change the way teachers teach and greatly enhance student learning.
Staff PMI
Over the next couple of weeks I will post staff PMI's. Once a year the staff at the cyber school have a meeting with the administration of the school to talk. This meeting uses PMIs to start the process. PMI stands for Positive, Negative, and Interesting.
The following is from one of the instructors at the cyber school.
"two" positives:
1. I feel that I am involved with a group of people that embrace innovation and change.
2. I am trusted as a professional with the freedom to do my job.
3. At heart I am pragmatic, I go with what works. Cyberschool seems founded upon pragmatism.
two negatives:
1. I enjoyed the time at cyber school when my afternoon schedule was open. Not being at Cyberschool to discuss all that is cyber related is difficult.
2. I would like more than one cyber class...bring on that Biology 20!
I'm serious.
Interesting:
- I find it interesting how other teacher's respond to Cyberschool. I will elaborate during our discussion.
- Locating resources and expanding my course has been very interesting.
- Teaching two units using my Cyber Biology 30 course with my real students has been very valuable. I have my own e-Gold chart in my classroom!
- numberous others...
Teaching and Learning Online
Congress recently passed a bill that ended the requirement that colleges deliver at least half their courses on campus (as opposed to online) in order for their students to qualify for federal student aid. Surely, that change is a sign that online learning finally has achieved a certain degree of legitimacy -- at least among lawmakers.
Report on High School Reform
High schools need a relentless focus on the results that matter for student success in the 21st century according to The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (the Partnership). The Partnership issued a new national report today, "Results That Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform," outlining a compelling framework for 21st century learning that focuses on the results that matter for today's high school graduates
Partnership for 21st Century Skills Releases National Report on High School Reform
Quote of the Day
Heck, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something.
Thomas A. Edison
US inventor (1847 - 1931)
March 27, 2006
Webct Icons
City College of San Francisco grants the use of copyrighted icons for educational purposes only.
Webct Icons in many different colors
Worst Presentation Stories
I would like to start an area where people share their worst presentation stories. This did not happen to me but it did make me laugh.
An intern in a grade three class had spent the whole morning painting easter eggs with the class, setting the eggs up at the front of the classroom in their cartoon under the board to dry, she began her math lesson. Turning on the favourite teaching tool the overhead projector she walked to the front of the class to pull down the screen. Then returned to the overhead to place the sheet on the screen. Pulling the cap off of her pen she started to explain the lesson. Two questions into the lesson the screen snaps up to the top violently pulling itself off its hooks and dropped down on to the eggs shattering them, throwing shells, yolk and whites from one end of the class to the other. Standing there in shock the intern proceeded to place the pen in her mouth in thought, the wrong way. Now she was standing in a room full of egg splattered grade threes with a mouthful of black ink.
She did remain in teaching even after this day. I would have gone into another less hazardous career.
Staff PMI
Over the next couple of weeks I will post staff PMI's. Once a year the staff at the cyber school have a meeting with the administration of the school to talk. This meeting uses PMIs to start the process. PMI stands for Positive, Negative, and Interesting.
The following is from one of the instructors at the cyber school.
My PMI;
I guess I can start out with the positive things from my Cyber experience thus far. I enjoyed teaching my course this year because I was very comfortable with the subject material. I caught on relatively quickly and found it enjoyable. The second positive thing that I have gotten out of the year is the "Cyber Experience" and by that I mean that I love the flex time, I love the atmosphere in the pod, and the fact that I can have a conversation about 'meta tags' or 'partitioning a hard drive' or 'networking file sharing' without people thinking I am a degenerate. I get many a blank stare at Leger, most of the staff just tell me that their computer isn't working and if I can "dink around with it" when I get a chance.
The things that I found to be negative, which were few and far between, would a few minor things in the course I was teaching. I would have tweaked a few assignments here or there, but I felt that it never was my course to tamper with. I know that the freedom was given to me, but I felt uncomfortable knowing that I was only temporary. I guess another thing is my future at Cyber. I very much hope that I can fill some position there for the long term. I really enjoy my time with it and now that I had a taste, I fear I am hooked.
The interesting things that come along with Cyber are the people. It is so much fun to be able to mess around with everybody there; everyone is so easy to get along with, and everyone is upbeat and jovial. It is a fun place to be, especially when a lot of people are in the pod.
It is a party, baby!
Administration Technology Interview (Part six)
Q-What challenges or barriers have you experienced, is there anything that the division is doing that is a main barrier. Or are they doing anything successful, that you would say hey they need to do more of this?
A-There’s a few things. Allowing the end user to decide what technology they’d like to use. Example is an IBM vs. an Apple; windows vs. macintosh. However It’s very important that technology leaders, make a decision as to what they are going to support and stick with it. What software packages we are going to use and how we are going to support and integrate itt. That doesn’t eliminate someone from using a mac if they want to, however we can allow support so much. Identifying one application, one type of computer, one type of software will allow us to focus the support. For the longest time most of the high school secretaries were using WordPerfect, we are so deep into Microsoft b/c of licensing and stuff like that, that recently they made a decision that we are only going to use Word from now on. Those type of decisions need to be made and the changes need to be made. And then add the supports to go along with it.
I think some of things that we are doing at cyberschool with the blogs, and webpages, web CT and learning communities are helpful to our division. With our system becoming larger there’s large distance between some schools and technology is not affected by distance. From an administration point of view communicate using technology will make our overall system communication better.
Quote of the Day
I sent the club a wire stating,
PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.
Groucho Marx
US comedian with Marx Brothers (1890 - 1977)
Blogs are changing education
Winners of the first-ever 'Best of the Education Blog' Awards discuss blogging's impact on teaching and learning
Additional bloggers recognized by the awards program include Tim Stahmer, for "Assorted Stuff"; Darren Cannell, for "Teaching and Developing Online"; and David Warlick, for "Exactly Two Cents." For more information about each of the winners and their blogs.
Panelists: Blogs are changing education
And some blogs to check out
My blog did not win but it was recognized...
In addition to a nice framed plaque I got to meet and chat with some of the other recognized bloggers: Frank LaBanca, whose blog Applied Science Research was recognized for best classroom instruction blog for students (LaBanca actually uses it as an instructional tool to facilitate students' thinking and writing about the topics they study in class and allow them to see each others' work.), Bill MacKenty, who was recognized for his blog MacKenty.org, and Wesley Fryer, whose blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity was recognized for best education theory blog. Also recognized were Tim Stahmer, whose blog Assorted Stuff was recognized as best classroom instruction blog for teachers, Darren Cannell, who writes Teaching and Developing Online, and David Warlick for his blog 2 Cents Worth.
Missing and Exploited Children
It makes me sad that we even need such a website in our society.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
March 24, 2006
Staff PMI
Over the next couple of weeks I will post staff PMI's. Once a year the staff at the cyber school have a meeting with the administration of the school to talk. This meeting uses PMIs to start the process. PMI stands for Positive, Negative, and Interesting.
The following is from one of the instructors at the cyber school.
Alright here we go...... Basically I find the entire course/cyber school experience interesting and it is hard to nail it down to two specific things. I am finding that I am learning a lot about Christian Ethics because I have never taught this level before and I didn't develop this course. I guess that would also qualify as a somewhat negative too, it is hard to take someone else's course and teach it directly as it is, at least in a classroom environment I could be selective in lessons and intergrade my own ideas. I also find it great that I can do cyber school at my convenience, with my current schedule it makes it very easy to still sub without losing time for cyber school. I find it hard right now to get out of the 'classroom technique' of teaching. I am used to having the kids right there and having discussions or debates about different issues, especially in a course like this, and so I have to get used to the idea doing this through the computer- it is something that will come with time! I find it interesting how few people I've talk to that don't know what Cyber School is, I always knew about it and so I guess I thought so did everyone else. I also think it is great how many students take advantage of cyber school and how well they seem to do with it.
Administrators Technology Interview (Part five)
Q-What suggestions or advice would you have for other principals who don’t see the value of technology?
The only problem that I have with technology, is that its being forced on administration. I think you have to show them what its capable of doing and how it will make their job easier. How it will make it better within their home school. All of our administrators are intelligent enough to understand the value of it if you can show them why they should use it. You shouldn’t use technology just for the sake of using it. The moment technology becomes more important than the actual end result, then technology is not the value. That’s what we do at cyberschool, if you are teaching a class and you are spending more time explaining how to hand in an assignment, rather than how to learn the objectives you are trying to teach, then technology is getting in the way. It’s the same thing we are doing here, if one of the administrative tasks is to communicate with your parish or parents within your school community. If you can do that without spending half the time learning technology in order how to do it. As soon as you spend more time with technology then it’s not worth it. That comment that computers have saved us so much time, anybody who has used computers know that you can spend a lot of time learning it. I think in the next 5-6 years computers will get to the stage where that could be true b/c the technology is becoming more intuitive. Students are growing up with it, so as they grow up and get into the workforce they will see computers as a toaster rather than this thing that you are forced to learn. Those students when they get out into the software community, they will be intuitive enough and make it fit into their lifestyle. In a couple of generations I think computers will make life easier.
Blogs are changing education
Blogging, and the easy access to--and exchange of--ideas that it has spawned, is having a "transformative" effect on education, according to the winners of the first-ever eSchool News "Best of the Education Blog" Awards.
Panelists: Blogs are changing education
Quote of the Day
I hope you become comfortable with the use of logic without being deceived into concluding that logic will inevitably lead you to the correct conclusion.
Neil Armstrong, USC 2005 graduation
US astronaut (1930 - )
March 23, 2006
Staff PMI
Over the next couple of weeks I will post staff PMI's. Once a year the staff at the cyber school have a meeting with the administration of the school to talk. This meeting uses PMIs to start the process. PMI stands for Positive, Negative, and Interesting.
The following is from one of the registrars at the cyber school.
Positives:
The staff (moral), working atmosphere (quiet busy), hours (flexible), the work itself, the knowledge about computers that I have gained, responsibility in the job, the RECLASS!!!!! (beauty), love this job, best one I have had.....I could go on.....but you only wanted two so I have already overstayed my welcome.......
Negatives:
Grade submission system!!!!! (hate it when things don't work right, adds too much time to my day), the temperature troubles in the Pod, the turnover in the other registrar position, interruptions (occassional errors made I feel are made because of interruptions causing missed steps ie: not taking student out of a class with a discontinue, or missing the step of putting a student in Mat after being enrolled in a class - that being said is never anything that causes severe problems just inconvenience) the commute in winter when the roads are crappy (personal), work load (don't get me wrong, I love being busy, but in the future I can see it becoming too much for one person to handle, ie: even now I don't get to do as much of the little things that I would like to do such as monitor Prep Course activity more than I have time to do now)
Interesting:
Cyber growth number one, it will be neat to see where it goes over the next few years.......
Peering into the faces of three charter schools
While classmates sweep, Dennis Wright adjusts desks at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School in Boston. Based on practices in China and Japan, the activity aims to give students 'ownership' of the environment and develop character.
Peering into the faces of three charter schools
Administrators technology interview (part four)
Q-Where is that push from to advance technology?
A-Students. Most of the push has come from the students for change. We try to make it more adaptive and flexible for them. So they dictate what courses we run the year after, and also the changes. For example we changed from the semester system to the 150 day schedule b/c of the request from the students. It made our teachers lives difficult but we’ve gotten over that hurdle and realized the good of it. Parents and Students have been very quick to accept the cyberschool and it’s been very easy to decide that this is no different than any other class. Our administration in the school division has not been as quick to accept it. That’s no different than technology in general. If you threw 3 computers into a room of 15 year olds, they would understand how to use it quicker than 8 teachers who teach computers. Integration just takes time, the selling of it and accepting of it. Before cyberschool the only thing that hindered the autonomy of a school was the correspondence school. Now we have close to 800 students taking classes via online courses, that has affected the autonomy of the school. They (schools) don’t have everything that they do, and scheduling under their umbrella and in the single building. This obviously steps on some toes and it takes time to get it accepted. It’s been 5 years of growth.
Q- You don’t hear of too many students taking correspondence. Is the push in the division towards cyberschool before correspondence?
A-Yes.
Q-Do you think that should be the way?
A-No. I think that a student in high school should have options. They should be given all the options and told here’s what’s available go home and talk about this with your parents. Now you have all the information make an informed decision as to whether you want to do cyberschool, correspondence, or face to face classes. I think it’s better for us to inform the students ‘here are the options, choose what you would be better at’. Some students are better at correspondence, some at face to face class. The students have to start recognizing that for themselves instead of having a homeroom teacher, assistant principal to decide ‘well you’re the type of student who wouldn’t do well at cyberschool’. I, being as versed as I am in cyberschool, couldn’t identify characteristics of a student who would be good or not good at cyberschool. The only thing that I have found that’s the deciding factor is ‘how badly does that student need that class’. The whole argument of learning styles, you would have to do an extensive learning style test of all students to identify who is suited for cyberschool. We have taken students from face to face classes, and its never come up whether or not it suits people’s learning styles. This is way we teach the class so this is your only option, so you take it. With cyberschool they have the option, so if face to face classes is not your learning style then you have another option. We’ve never promoted cyberschool extensively b/c success rate and b/c of the cost to our division. It does cost if the student is not successful.
Quote of the Day
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963
US black civil rights leader & clergyman (1929 - 1968)
March 22, 2006
Administrators technology interview (part three)
Q- A little bit about the blog, what do you see as an advantage to using the blog system over the current web page?
A-The ease of use. The biggest problem that we have with the web page is we have students who are very computer literate and offer to look after the school webpage while they are in the high school. The moment they graduate then we have to find another computer literate person who then takes it on as an interest of their’s and sometimes that just goes away. The other option that we’ve used to keep our webpage running is to hire a business, pay them $10,000 to put our webpage together. The internet b/c it changes so fast and b/c clientele changes so fast, at the school then you have a static webpage then that doesn’t change. The blog system, feeding the webpage allows you to use your secretarial help or someone at the school to update the webpage. As long as you a little computer experiencel you can update the webpage. The feeding of information into the blog which then feeds into your webpage allows you to very easily update it. That to me is a definite advantage.
Q-What role do you see technology playing on leadership in the future? What’s the next step? Where do you see your technology here advancing, for your position?
A-It has already got to the point now where my role is not always contained to this room. B/c of the capability of taking your office with you, means you never leave the office. Which is a good thing and a bad thing depending on whether your can put down your work and stay away from it, otherwise you’d be working 18 hours. The portability is very exciting. The miniaturization of it is even more so. At the moment I’ve got myself a slate, which allows me to hold the whole cyberschool at my hand if I need it and to answer a lot of the questions and issues that I have no matter where I’m at. That’s where I think it’s going in time. The cyberschool in a couple of years it will disperse. At the moment we have built this pod where we have all the teachers in one location. What we going to do in the future is probably break it up a little more. Some of the senior teachers that have been teaching cyberschool for several years could work in a satellite office some place. We are getting so big that we can’t be housed in a location like this. If all 24 teachers showed up here it would be a very loud, noisy place, not an ideal workplace. The conductivity of our staff members needs to increase and I think it will. I have to recognize that my staff may not be here which then means that the electronic community we build here is so important. Some teachers I may not see for two weeks. So then we have to be able to deal with issues the same way a student would be deal with an issue with a teacher or a teacher with a student. We have to employ exactly the same strategies from an administration point of view to my teachers as a teacher does with their students. That didn’t happen the first couple of years, which is probably a wrong approach. We wanted everyone together b/c it was easier for us to deal with issues. As we get more and more literate and comfortable with technology then teachers can go away and it won’t be a negative thing.
Quote of the Day
Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it.
Sir William Haley
March 21, 2006
An inside look at Windows Vista
Set to ship at the end of the year, Windows Vista will be Microsoft's first major operating system release since it introduced Windows XP in 2001.
An inside look at Windows Vista
Internet's Gender Gap Narrows
Today, however, the differences are far more subtle. Both Men.com and Women.com are now gender-targeted health and lifestyle sites with mostly PG-rated content. Their advertisers are established internet sites and consumer-goods companies. They organize content into similar subject areas like health and entertainment.
Administrators technology interview (part two)
Q-In what ways do you use technology to make your school leadership more effective?
A-This is a cyberschool so we use technology as extensively as we can. We use instant messaging, for intercommunication with our staff here. The whole cybverschool is run on technology, so when it comes to communication with the students it’s all run through electronic communication. Everything that we have built, all the applications, staff meeting, everything it’s all run through an intranet that we’ve built. Using logs, learning communities and some of the other technology applications that we have developed here. .
Q-Do you think this internet is something that other high schools should be employing?
A-It is something that we have now started developed and will be offering in six months. For all other high schools and elementary schools, the method of communicating within your school, within your community, parents, students, church community. Once the blog system is sent up to feed the actual school web pages, then we should be able to effectively used our school web pages to communicate with our clients. That would be the students, parents, and others possibly coming to Saskatchewan. Our main SCS webpage should be a seller, should be a brochure for our business. I don’t think it is, I think it’s more of a communication tool for the teachers. There’s a lot of administration forms on there that parents don’t need to see. So I think it should be divided up and understand what the role of that webpage is for. And then the role of school webpage is for, is it to communicate with your community, or to attract new clients, or what is the actual role of that. I think what has happened with our structures that we have built now is they’ve just grown over time and there hasn’t been an actual plan in place. I’m very excited about the fact that this technology group that I’ve been working with, we’ve put together a good strategy for a whole web communication within our division.
Transitioning to Online Course Offerings
Much has been written about the effectiveness of face-to-face (F2F) versus online (OL) courses, and comparisons of learning and retention across both media, but less has been targeted toward important tactical and strategic considerations. Having little formal guidance to manage the transition to offering a portion of their university courses and programs online, administrators and universities appear inadequately positioned to execute their OL foray effectively. This paper outlines strategic and tactical points to help administrators better manage the transition to offering university courses online.
Transitioning to Online Course Offerings: Tactical and Strategic Considerations
Quote of the Day
When everyone is against you, it means that you are absolutely wrong-- or absolutely right.
Albert Guinon
(1863 - 1923)
March 20, 2006
Quote of the day
Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
Will Durant
US historian (1885 - 1981)
Administrators technology interview.
The following is a portion of an interview I did about administration and technology. More will be added in the next couple of days.
Q- How would you define effective leadership for a school administrator?
A- Remove all roadblocks so that teachers can do their job.
Q-What type of roadblocks, what are the major roadblocks they encounter?
A-Major roadblocks are to make sure that they have adequate prep time, adequate resources whether technology resources or hard copy resources. To assist in any behavior or discipline problems they may have in the classroom. Make sure that all teachers have all the professional development available to them.
Q -You have been identified as an administrator who uses technology to lead in the school, would you consider yourself to be technological literate?
A-Yes, by most people’s definition not my own.
Q- What would you say things a person should be able to do to be technologically literate?
A-Within our system, e-mail is part of it. Understanding what technology can do to enhance the classroom is part of it. Using the tools that are supplied by our school division from a technology point of view. Anything that our school division has available and has been licensed to use in a classroom, everybody should be have a basic understanding of each one of those in order to be literate in a school scenerio.
Q-What do you think they need to become literate?
A-Time. The biggest problem with technology is that it changes so fast, in order to stay ahead of it. That’s why I stated when you asked if I was computer literate I would say in most people’s version I am but not in my version b/c technology changes so fast that for me to stay abreast of everything that is happening that means I have to spend more time doing that type of thing. And I spend more time doing administration of the schools then I do looking after technology, and I think so does every other administrator in the school division.
Q-Do you think it was the hardware or software that’s been changing?
A-Hardware is not a big issue anymore. It was at one time where they kept changing the windows version and that stuff and then requiring a faster machine. But its sort of calmed down now b/c the windows programs are so similar so there isn’t a big jump when going to a different windows version. You go to a different software package they are fairly standardized. So there’s a lot of standardization that wasn’t there before. When you use to change from wordperfect to office, that was a big jump for someone to do. But because they are both fairly similar there’s not a big deal anymore. You could change from wordperfect to office because of the standardization between word processors. E-mails are the same thing, we’ve been using outlook for our standardized e-mail within our school division. Most principal’s are adequate at using it. Not the whole power of it, but can send an e-mail. It’s a good communication tool.
Albis website
I thought you might be interested in my project. I'm developing a vocabulary memorization tool. It's free, try it out!
So far I have about 18 languages, including Spanish, Russian, German, Japanese, Norwegian, etc.
March 17, 2006
An Army of Cyborg Bugs?
The insects would be outfitted with sensors and a wireless transmitter designed to enable them to send data on conditions in places inaccessible to human troops. The goal of the program is to produce a sensor-enabled insect with a 100-yard range that could be placed within five meters of a target using electronic remote control and, potentially, Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies.
U.S. Department of Defense seeks proposals on remote-controlled insect-cyborgs.
Technology an Educator Can Love
The Education World Tech Team discuss its favorite new hardware and software. Can the technology work for you too? Included: More than twenty technology tools for teachers and tech coordinators.
Technology an Educator Can Love
Quote of the Day
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
William A. Ward
March 16, 2006
Make' em Laugh!
I like to tell jokes in class. My favourite question, when I finish explaining a particularly difficult concept, is:
"Any questions, concerns, complaints, confusions, uncertainties, anxieties or other general inquiries? Any good jokes?"
It lightens the atmosphere and seems to make my students relax and learn better. I'm not the only one who thinks so.
What every teacher should know
There's no getting away from it; technology in schools is here to stay. But technology must be integrated effectively if it is to make a difference in the way teachers teach and students learn. What are some of the essential technology-related skills every teacher should possess?
What Every Teacher Should Know About Technology
Quote of the day.
I might have posted this one before...but I like it.
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer
German philosopher (1788 - 1860)
March 15, 2006
21st Century Learning Environments
We're living in the 21st century, so by definition every classroom must be a 21st century learning environment, right? Wrong. Just as educators were often accused of teaching with 19th-century methods in the 20th century, many are still not changing with the times. For some schools, the biggest challenge is understanding the true nature of 21st-century learning. Once this transformational concept is embraced, technology becomes a means to help boost achievement across the board.
21st Century Learning Environments
Don't Talk to Invisible Strangers
Although parents have been cautioned about Internet safety for years, a wave of news reports suggesting that predators monitor chat rooms and Web sites like MySpace.com for potential victims has sparked a sharp rise in the number and intensity of parent meetings since January, Internet safety experts say.
Don't Talk to Invisible Strangers
A Laptop for Every...Teacher!
"In the event of an emergency, an oxygen mask will drop down. If you are seated next to a child, put the mask on yourself first, then assist the child.”
FOR YEARS I have been ranting that this is exactly what we have not done in technology and education—we have not taken care of the adults first.
Quote of the Day
Despite the high cost of living it still remains very popular.
Unknown
March 14, 2006
Quote of the Day
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
William Safire
US columnist & speechwriter (1929 - )
March 13, 2006
Online classes take on a new look
Online classes are in existence to help students who want to avoid sitting in a classroom and for those who want to have more time in their schedule. However, sometimes, online classes can make life more difficult than easy.
The lecture audio is sometimes muddy, the lighting is often poor and keeping up with the camera changes can be complicated. These are the reasons why the School of Management has decided to create a classroom in Jacobs Management Center specifically designed to meet the needs of online lecturing.
Online classes take on a new look
Quote of the day
"The multitude of books is making us ignorant"
Voltaire
I like it better as...
The massive amounts of information on the internet makes us all ignorant.
Darren Cannell
March 10, 2006
Rejects Plagiarism Detection Service
The Chronicle Herald reports that Mount Saint Vincent University has outlawed the use of the popular TurnItIn.com plagiarism detection service. The service has been instituted at other Canadian Universities in the past several years due to the rise of digital plagiarism.
Canadian University Rejects Plagiarism Detection Service
Building Community
I posted on The EDUCAUSE Instructional Technologies Constituent Group a description of how I use the discussion board to build community in online classes. Having summarized the experience.
Using the discussion board to build community in online classes
Quote of the day
When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
Rodney Dangerfield
March 9, 2006
Stephen Downes Hiatus Poll.
Stephen Downes makes one proud to be a Canadian with his vision for the future of education. I did read OLdaily everyday, I am curious if there are others out there who did the same?
Send others to vote.
Is Distance Learning Right For You?
If you're like most people, you know someone who has taken an online class, or has considered it. After all, it makes perfect sense, especially when it comes to furthering your personal and professional goals. You can earn your degree online, minus all the time and location hassles that often accompany attendance at a traditional brick-and-mortar school.
Is Distance Learning Right For You?
Quote of the Day
If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine
March 8, 2006
Online Teaching Certification Course
Like all learners, new online instructors need hands-on experience, feedback, and ongoing support to become comfortable and proficient in the virtual classroom. It is unrealistic to expect even the most self-motivated, creatively pedagogical, and technically inclined instructor to fly solo after just a few hours of training. With our online degree program growing steadily each year, our small staff could no longer keep pace with the follow-up training necessary to maintain the quality of our courses.
Uniting Technology and Pedagogy: The Evolution of an Online Teaching Certification Course
Web portals giving parents quick access
A website portal, initiated by the high school about 18 months ago, has given Holly Azevedo a window to her son's school day adventures, and compels him to tell her when things go awry, like when he interrupted his math teacher's lecture last week. The Web page, accessible from any computer, provides secure information to parents about their child's school files, including report cards, progress reports, attendance, and -- the stickler for 16-year-old Corey -- discipline records.
At home, sick in bed? That does not compute
Web portals giving parents quick access to attendance, academics, and more
Open Source in Education
Or alternately, “For companies like Microsoft the school market is important because they’re leading innocent young minds to love Microsoft technologies.” And of course, then the old argument continues that schools shouldn’t use open source technologies because they are not used in “the real world”. Whose world are we preparing these children for? Ours, or theirs?
Couros Blog ? Blog Archive ? ZDNet Article: Open Source In Education
March 7, 2006
Offering Stephen Downes a Job.
I would love to have Stephen Downes as a staff member at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. It would be great to see if he could take all of that theory and make it apply to the 12-17 year olds that we call virtual students. I think what he would bring to the table would be a completely different perspective on how we are approaching online education and push it to the next level. Stephen, if you are thinking about going back into the trenches, don't think about those post-secondary offers of employment. They just offer fame and fortune, we offer the grassroots long hours, and no money. Sounds like a hard offer to refuse, doesn't it?
I am not able to directly offer you a job, but I could sure put a bug in the ear of the people who could...
I have no idea why you decided to go on a hiatus, but if you want to test your theories from the last years of bloggin, predicting and educating us...come on down into the grassroot trenches we would love to have you.
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School
Bloggers' Rules
I’m currently in Jay’s Informl Unworkshop and we are discussing some guidelines for bloggers. From Dave Pollard’s front page is this great advice:
Shocking...
For the record, loud and clear, in not appreciating he work that you do, whoever / whatever organisation is responsible is firstly kicking themselves in the teeth and secondly demonstrating what absolute drongos they are.
A sad day for online education.
He made me proud to be a Canadian, I did not always agree with him but he was always a good read. Stephen on hiatus will leave a large hole in the blogosphere.
We all wish him well.
Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ OLDaily
March 6, 2006
SCCS in the Community
Since 2000 when SCCS began there has been a growing interest from the media, award selection committees and conferences. You will find below a variety of links that will display this interest.
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School in the Media
Protest "25 to Life"
The "25 to Life"© video game allows players the option to role-play by shooting gang members and police officers and using innocent bystanders as human shields. The Web site advertising the game boasts that players have "more than 40 weapons to choose from, including shotguns, machine guns, stun guns and tear gas."
ONLINE PETITION -
PROTEST "25 to LIFE"© VIDEO GAME
Help Protect our Children and our Officers: Ban Eidos' "25 to Life"©
March 5, 2006
Moodle, Drupal and Elgg
Bill has posted some excellent initial thinking around the combination of Moodle, Drupal and Elgg working in an academic context.
Dave Tosh :: Weblog :: Moodle, Drupal and Elgg working in an academic context
March 3, 2006
Blackboard Unveils Blackboard Beyond Initiative
Well I guess it's official now - Blackboard has embraced e-learning 2.0. Proposals include "personalizing the e-Learning environment," facilitation of social networking, "Network Learning Environments," and workplace learning. It's pretty clear that I think they are moving in the right direction with this. But it would have been nice to see the support available (for we certainly have the knowledge) to develop this in Canada.
Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~
The Blackboard Beyond Initiative
“We have decided to appropriate every frickin’ buzzword we can and just in case you don’t geddit we’re going to mention 2.0 no fewer than 8 (EIGHT) times. So there. We are innovative and interesting didn’t you know. And to prove it we’re going to give you, um, a “Global Learning Objects Catalogue” [cos that’s a new and proven idea], some bizarre website that connects “students and faculty across disciplines and across institutions” [cos that’s just the natural thing to do, innit, am sure everyone will be jumping at it], an “e-Portfolios-for-life” [please somebody help me, this is too good, I can’t even comment] and a “collaborative data warehouse service” [um, you’re going to do frickin what with my data, it’s going to help who???].”
The Blackboard Beyond Initiative at incorporated subversion
March 2, 2006
March Resources
Looking for fresh ideas for the month of March? This site has theme-based crafts, online adventures, lesson plans and much more. Check back often as more resources will be added throughout the month.
4 trends to watch
I like Elliott Masie's latest "4 trends to watch" about the future of learning and technology (Feb 2006):
Four Trends to Watc in Learning and Technology
March 1, 2006
Quote of the Day
If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.
Peter Ustinov
English actor & author (1921 - 2004)
