January 2008
January 30, 2008
The Cyber School Continuous Improvement Framework
As stated at the opening staff meeting we are working on a continuous improvement framework (CIF) It will work in a few different steps: Each CIF will take one month to complete. Each month I will introduce a new unit in our CIP journey. There are ten tasks and at the end we will see if our stats via Cyber Tracker improve.
Yahooooooooo another month has come and gone...well not quite yet but you know how things work...I have posted the February CIF, a short month, a short CIF...you are very welcome.
The Cyber School Continuous Improvement Framework
January 29, 2008
THE YEAR'S BEST [actual] HEADLINES OF 2007:
Crack Found on Governor's Daughter
[Imagine that!]
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says.
[No, really?]
Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers.
[Now that's taking things a bit far!]
Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
[Not if I wipe thoroughly!]
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over.
[What a guy!]
Miners Refuse to Work after Death.
[No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so!]
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant.
[See if that works any better than a fair trial!]
War Dims Hope for Peace.
[I can see where it might have that effect!]
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile.
[You think?]
Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures.
[Who would have thought!]
Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide.
[They may be on to something!]
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges.
[You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?]
Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge.
[he probably IS the battery charge!]
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group.
[Weren't they fat enough?!]
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft.
[That's what he gets for eating those beans!]
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks.
[Taste like chicken?]
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half.
[Chainsaw Massacre all over again!]
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors.
[Boy, are they tall!]
And the winner is....
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead.
January 28, 2008
Microsoft surface
I want I want I want.
Media Convert
Media Convert - free and on line - convert and split sound, ringtones, images, docs - MP3 WMV 3GP AMR FLV SWF AMV MOV WMA AVI MPG MP4 DivX MPEG4 iPOD PSP OGG WMA AAC MP4 MPC MMF QCP KAR MIDI REALAUDIO FLAC JPG PSD DOC PDF RTF TXT ODG ODP ODS ODT SXW WK1 MDB XLS VOB
Phrase Express
PhraseExpress organizes your frequently used text snippets and allows pasting them into any application.
Expand abbreviations and common phrases as you type
Launch applications by entering text shortcuts
Autocomplete phrases with the predictive text recognition
Quickly handle email responses
PhraseExpress Autotext - Autocomplete text Utility
The Wonderful World of Early Computing
The history of computing spans thousands of years - from the primitive notched bones found in Africa, to the invention of abacus in 2400 BC, to Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine in 1883, to the rise of the popularity of Personal Computers (PCs) in the 1970s. For the most part, this timeline is marked by devices that bear little or no resemblance to present-day machines both in form and capabilities.
We’ve had many posts on Neatorama about the newest and greatest in computers and technology. But for this article, let’s go back - way back - and take a look at the wonderful world of early computing.
Neatorama � Blog Archive � The Wonderful World of Early Computing
The personal and global wireless network
From bits of data transmitted across mere millimetres to gigabytes sent through the air over many kilometres, we live in an increasingly wireless world.
BBC NEWS | Technology | The personal and global wireless network
January 27, 2008
Not sure about this,,,
Project Tomorrow
The vision of Project Tomorrow is insure that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and engaged citizens of the world. We believe that by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in the 21st century.
January 25, 2008
WiziQ
Elementary Tutorials in PowerPoint
January 23, 2008
Workshop.on.ca
Welcome to the online resource developed for elementary teachers by the Ontario Ministry of Education and TFO. It includes modules on Literacy and Numeracy with videos of teachers in action, activity sheets, lesson plans and more. You'll also find modules on Daily Physical Activity (DPA) from the government's Healthy Schools program, and on Anaphylaxis, for the protection of students with life-threatening allergies
eWorkshop - Online Teaching Resource
The Future of Online Learning
Online learning is in its infancy. As pioneers struggle with new technologies and new practises, the discipline evolves almost daily. An online course that was considered state of the art twelve months ago is today considered to be out of date. Technology employed only by early adopters last fall is this summer in wide circulation and in danger of becoming obsolete by the fall semester.
Yet despite the rapid change, trends may be identified, trends which point to the future of online learning. What will be is not as radically different from current models as may be conceived, however, some significant shifts in the nature of online learning, and learning in general, may be identified.
This Essay does not attempt to describe what ought to be, but rather, what will happen. Although I am a deep supporter of online learning for many reasons, I have chosen instead to focus on prediction rather than prescription.
The reason for this is that, if we are aware of where the field will take us, we are more able to shape the manner in which we will travel and the environment in which we will reside. Knowing the future helps us to a significant degree become shapers of the future.
Just In Time Resources On Demand (JITROD) for Nursing Education
Growing Up Digital
"Constantly surrounded by technology, today's kids are accustomed to its strong presence in their lives. Today's kids are so bathed in bits that they are no more intimidated by digital technology than a VCR or a toaster. And it is through their use of the digital media that N-Gen will develop and superimpose its culture on the rest of society. Boomers stand back. Already these kids are learning, playing, communicating, working, and creating communities very differently than their parents. They are a force for social transformation. "[
Integrating Curricular Resources@2Learn.ca: Reflection on Teaching Practise
The Rewards of Effective Facilitation of Online Learners
Online learning is increasing in momentum around the world. International online learning communities and collaborative groups are developing around the globe. According to a special report, Online Education: What the Future Holds, the majority of Canadians has demonstrated interest in online learning (Ipsos-Reid, 2002). The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training reports the results of its survey, E-learning and training in Europe, which addressed the use of e-learning in training and professional development Europe. The survey revealed marked growth in distance (Cedefop, 2001). The U.S. federal government is turning to the World Wide Web to train its 1.9 million employees, to save money, improve productivity, and enhance the attractiveness of government services. This distance training includes a new Web-based training site which uses 3-D graphics to direct employees to 30 online courses, that cover topics related to computers, management, customer service and ethics. This online educational effort is part of a broader e-government initiative to improve governmental efficiency and cost-effectiveness (Thibodeau, 2002). Today only about 16% of full-time students on American college campuses are between 18-22 years of age and are traditional residential students (60 Minutes, 2001).
The Rewards of Effective Facilitation of Online Learners
January 21, 2008
SCCS students speak out...
When the students were asked what their favourite website was...they responded with....
Click on the image for the stats...
January 16, 2008
Professional Development thoughts
The benefits and drawbacks of online e-learning for professional development are the same as they would be for any scenario. Hatfield (2004) state the "advantages as:
Geography isn't a limiting factor.
Schedule tend to be more flexible.
Student based learning is the dominant educational philosophy
A mix of media enlarges the scope of the education.
And the disadvantages as:
Social needs are better fulfilled in person.
It may be harder to create a network with fellow workers
Face to face interaction can be motivational and encouraging
Professional development is more than a classroom. (p.3) (Thomas, 2004)
An online professional development experience in Baltimore County Public Schools (2004) stated that "ninety four percent of the online participants indicated that they gained more knowledge by taking the course online than in a traditional setting." (p.4)
For any professional development program to be successful it must be deemed as valuable by the leadership. This value must be translated into release time, financial support and made a priority. Development of a quality professional development program takes money so whether it is developed in house or purchased it will incur a cost. Online professional development is often viewed as a money saver and it might be, if used by many and for a long period of time, but in the beginning it will take as much money or more than a face to face program. Release time is important because the flexibility of online training is often mistaken as a program that can be completed outside of work time and then is viewed by the participants as just another “something” that takes away from their personal life. The release time will also speak to the priority and the value the leadership places upon the program. Both of which are necessary for a program to be successful.
Communication Tools
Back in April of 2004 I was trying to get my certification in Webct and created a flash application which was all about the communication tools which we use at the cyber school. I listed the key points about each of the tools. You can see this application at:
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/present/communication.swf
I am a fan of chat and other synchronous group communication tools; however I do find them to be very limiting in an educational setting. For communication and group building they are some of the best ways to communicate. The popularity of MSN and ICQ will attest to that. I think they have their place but after teaching high school for twenty years I feel for the student who has thirty others looking at him/her when put on the spot with a question. A discussion board allows them the time to research and formulate their thoughts while many synchronous (F2F class room or chat) communication settings do not. I think lurking is a pretty good indication of a student’s desire to be part of a community but not their willingness to participate. Try to run a chat without any marks assigned and you will be amazed at the number of lurkers who will attend. The same thing happens in many F2F classrooms. The majority of the chat happens between a select few while the rest lurk. What I like about discussion boards is that when they are sophisticated enough, an instructor can compile a student's responses and use them as an indication of a student's knowledge of the subject. In a sense, use it as an assessment tool and one where every student needs to respond. In the purest form education is not done for marks. It is done by an individual for intrinsic reasons but marks are a great form of motivation. If we can ever get formal education to the stage where it is flexible enough that students want to partake in it for personal reasons, we will have a system which meets student's personal educational goals without the instructor even knowing what they are and remove the necessity for marks to be assigned to the activity. Too often, assessment tools are used to test the instructor's ideas of what is important for a student to know, rather than allowing the student to choose their education goals and fulfill them. But that is a totally different topic.
Embrace E-Learning Presentation
Here is a presentation about embracing e-learning.
January 14, 2008
The National Science Digital Library
NSDL is the Nation's online library for education and research in
Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.
NSDL.org - K-12 Teachers - The National Science Digital Library
Interactive Activities
The Interactivate activities listed below are designed so that the user may keep track of correct responses, hence they are cataloged as "assessments". A number of these activities, the Connect Four type games and the Quizzes, also allow users to select difficulty levels and specific problem types, as well as set a time limit, allowing for further tailoring of the assessment to their abilities. The Connect Four type games are designed for two players whereas the other activities listed are designed for individual work.
January 11, 2008
According to Pew Internet and American LIfe Project 2002
95% of college students have gone online (compared with about 665 of all americans).
4 out of 5 college students check email everyday.
20% of college students started using computers between ages of 5 and 8
more than 2.5 million students took distance learning courses in 2003, while about 710,000 did five years earlier.
The e-learning market is growing about 100% each year.
More than 1,400 colleges offer online classes.
Almost all college students own their own computers (95%)
1 in 4 students communicate more with their professors using email than face to face.
More than 50% of students say email helps them express ideas to their professor they would not have expressed in class
Quote of the Day
Research finds no significant difference between distance learning and traditional face to face learning.
Robert Hatfield Ph. D.
January 10, 2008
Learning Blackboard/webct
This page is a collection of references for use by (and contributed by) colleagues who are using the Blackboard / WebCT systems, especially those at the beginning of the learning curve in using the systems.
January 4, 2008
Worksheet Library
As elementary teachers, we know that your everyday brings many responsibilities and challenges. In the average day, you face hundreds of issues: classroom management, student achievement, certification, study skills, administrative tasks, learning standards, parental communication, and various other intricacies of pedagogy. This leaves little time to create useful and effective resources that help your students learn. This is where Worksheet Library comes in.
Earth Science Worksheets: Grades K-6
Changing the approach...
Teachers today are attempting to teach their students with traditional and e-learning methods that are no longer valid; the only choice may be for educators to change the way they teach. Furdyk (2007) states “teachers need to exist in the spaces the students exist, understand their culture. You have no credibility if you are not where they are” (¶ 10 minutes). They are according to Prensky (2001) “using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, over 10,000 hours talking on cell phones, over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV)(p.1)” and send 200,000 emails or instant messages.
To answer the challenge of transforming traditional education or e-learning is to welcome the students and information age and transform the popular ‘Sage on the Stage’ classroom approach into a ‘Guide on the Side’ approach. The social networking tools that have come with Web2.0 bring a completely different set of tools into the hands of the students. The popularity of these tools has surprised and frightened the ‘Traditional teacher’ to the state where most schools and cyber schools, rather than embracing these tools, have banned them. The banning of face book, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, MySpace, social bookmarking, podcasts, YouTube, and flicker, just to mention a few , has made a huge statement that education systems are not willing to join the students in their world.
An information age with connected students having instant information, communication, multimedia and entertainment and social networking tools is a new era that no teacher can realistically compete with using the current education approaches. In the past, technology has been used as a supplement to education. As teachers get more comfortable with technology it becomes a support for education but until it becomes fully integrated with education we will not be preparing the students for their world. We need to connect to our students and connect them to their world.
References
Furdyk, M. (2007, October 18). Living, Learning and Contributing as a Life Long Journey. (M. Furdyck, Performer) Key Note Speaker Distributed Learning in the 21st Century Conference., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
McKenzie, J. (1998, March). The Wired Classroom. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from FNO.org: http://fno.org/mar98/flotilla2.html
