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August 23, 2010

150 day enrollment data

The 150 day system was started in SCCS in 2003-2004 school year and replaced the standard dual semester system. This system was designed to allow students to decided when was the best time of the year for them to start a class. They choose their start date and then they have 150 calendar days to complete the course. This system was designed to answer many different questions but this graph shows that other than the rush at the beginning of the school years the 150 days system did what we thought it would and spread the registrations out more evenly through out the school year and each year it got more balanced.

I am not too sure that this means, but it is a nice graph...

August 3, 2010

Daxtin Travel Journal

My wife, son and I are doing a world tour starting on September 20, 2010. During this tour my 6 year old son will be blogging our trip, if you or your class would like to follow the trip you can see it at...

Http://daxjournal.darrencannell.com

July 15, 2010

June 27, 2010

To my cyber school staff.

I thank God often for this opportunity that has been given to me. The opportunity to work with such a great staff. Thanks for all you do to make the cyber school great and to create an educational experience in the cyber school that is second to none.

Enjoy your summer, you may not feel it at this time of year but you like all teacher make a huge difference in students lives and although many students do not share this fact, later in life as they mature they will think of many of their teacher with thanks and with a smile on their face for the difference you have made in their lives. Stand with your head high there is no other profession that has such unrecognized power in our society.

Rest this summer and prepare yourself for another school year.

The Puppet

My Mother and Father sent this to me and there are few truer words..

Mr. Gabriel Garcia Marquez a great Latin American writer has said goodbye to public life due to complications in his health: Lymphatic cancer. He sent this letter to his friend.

If for an instant God were to forget that I am rag doll and gifted me with a piece of life,
possibly I wouldn't say all that I think,
but rather I would think of all that I say.
I would value things,
not for their worth but for what they mean.
I would sleep little, dream more,
understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light.
I would walk when others hold back.
I would wake when others sleep.
I would listen when others talk,
and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream!
If God were to give me a piece of life,
I would dress simply,
throw myself face first into the sun,
baring not only my body but also my soul.
My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice,
and wait for the sun to show.
Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh dream a Benedetti poem,
and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd offer to the moon.
With my tears I would water roses,
to feel the pain of their thorns,
and the red kiss of their petals.

My God, if I had a piece of life...
I wouldn't let a single day pass without telling the people I love that I love them.
I would convince each woman and each man that they are my favorites,
and I would live in love with love.
I would show men how very wrong they are to think that they cease to be in love when they grow old,
not knowing that they grow old when they cease to love!
To a child I shall give wings,
but I shall let him learn to fly on his own.
I would teach the old that death does not come with old age,
but with forgetting.
So much have I learned from you, oh men...

I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the mountain,
without knowing that real happiness is in how it is scaled.
I have learned that when a newborn child squeezes for the first time with his tiny fist his father's finger,
he has him trapped forever.
I have learned that a man has the right to look down on another only when he has to help the other get to his feet.
From you I have learned so many things,
but in truth they won't be of much use,
for when I keep them within this suitcase,
unhappily shall I be dying.

June 1, 2010

SCCS Year end Review

The earlier entries in TADO that were titled "SCCS Teacher Survey Part 1- Final Part are what you need to check out.

They can be found at: Http://blog.scs.sk.ca/tado/surveys/

These entries are the summary of the survey you the teachers of SCCS completed. Compare your answers to group answers. This process is step one of a yearend review .
The following will assist you in handling the information that you will find.

• The cyber school has been around for 10 years.
• Some approaches have served us well / some approaches have not.
• This is not an evaluation, this is a work in progress.
• No course is perfect and no course is ever complete.
• Every single course can be better.
• No one type of course is better than another for online education; each course must learn its best approach.
• We fail only when we stop attempting to better our courses.

Compare your scores against others in the cyber school and then ask yourself...how can I make my passes higher? How can I increase make my retention rates? How can I decrease my drops?

President Obama and the American education community has decided that all blame for the failing school system rests on the shoulder of educators. "If an educator is not successful then remove that person and try another until one is found that is successful." We are not in that mindset although it would be an easy fit because of the number of teachers in our division that want to be involved in Cyber School. Our mindset is that we have not failed until our teachers stop trying to better their courses, until they stop asking the question, "What can I do better?".

If you are not of that mindset and realize that you haven't been dedicating the time necessary to make your course as good as it can be, then you are on your way to failing as a cyber teacher.

May 20, 2010

The text of "The Education Question(s)"

If you have not seen the video yet...check it out and add your questions to the list...

The Education Question(s)

Testing, testing, testing, 1 2 3
Back in October ninth 2004
I asked a question are we entering a dark age of information
There is too much information out there
Students understand how to navigate the net
Teachers who do not know how to navigate the net who do not use the internet
Students who have no one to show them what is good or bad
A system of education which students and teachers do not connect
A result is a dark age of information
Is our school system set up in such a way that as a teacher I stand at the front of the class
And I am going to tell you what is important
And I am going to tell you what you need to be excited about
Because I am really interested in rockets, so I am going to sit there
And I am going to be passionate about rockets
And in science we are going to concentrate a little bit more on rockets
Because that is one of my interests
So that every student who comes out of my class is going to be a very knowledgeable about rockets,
They may not care about rockets because I am the teacher
And I am the one who is giving the information
And you will learn about rockets.
The information you know is exactly the same information that I know.
Follow the rules,
Play the game
Move when the bell rings,
Worry about this society and no other society
Don't have a global view,
Have never been able to see anything other than what is inside the four walls of the school.
They don't come to school for answers
They come to school because our society forces them to.
In school do we do too much hand holding
Do we have a model that a student can step into
And don't have to think about anything
Just have to follow the process
Just have to go through the steps in order to recieve the diploma.
High school is only four years
And if you don't do it in four years
And go to post secondary institution afterwards you are a failure.
We tend to stop a student from thinking outside the box
Do we force them into boxes
Do we stop them from thinking as individuals
Do we force them into the herd
Do we force them to follow a model that will make them just like everyone else
Students learn how to play school
They come to school
They go through the process
Because that is the process that we have set in place
In order for them to be success in society.
What happens when a post secondary degree does not get you a job
We see a need to reform the way we do things
Because we have lost control
We lost that title of being the sage
Of having the answers to all the questions
We don't own that title anymore
That title has been given to Google
Not a person a technology
That scares us as teachers
Do we find that we spend most of our days as teachers explaining information to the students
That they can get in a seconds notice on the internet
They don't need us to tell them the content
They need us to show them how to find the answers
There is so much information out there
That there is not way in a million years
We could teach everything that is out there
It is very important that we give them the tools to be successful
Do they need to be taught how to learn
Do we want to create life long learners
Do we want to create people who think outside the box
Do we want to create people that are problem solvers
Do we want to create people who have the ability to go out there
And do what they need to do to be successful
And technology is a part of life, technology,
The internet is part of our society
And our schools have not recognized the fact
That it is such a major part of our teenagers lives
That we need to educate them in order to make sure
That they are safe
And to make sure they have an effective understand of how to use the internet

The education question(s) comment...

A Facebook friend of mine was nice enough to comment about my "The education question video" I liked what she had to say so I asked if I could post it here and she agreed.
She has grown into a wise woman...:)

Technically to be a life long learner is to be a student forever. Very few people can get by without learning something everyday. Our education system is pretty outdated( sorry you were an awesome teacher though). There are very few teachers who can teach 30 students in a classroom who all have different learning styles, all different intelligence levels and keep the interest level of all the children. Just between the difference in my children is amazing. One is bored in school because he is so smart he picks up everything so fast he is bored 5 minutes into a discussion, cause he already gets it. The other is bored cause he can't sit still for those 5 minutes to even begin to understand the concepts. But you relate it to any physical activity and he can add and subtract anything.He can read any team name and last name of any player. Just can't get him to sit and read a book. How can you put them into the same class and expect them to learn the same way. So one gets really good grades and one doesn t. Just cause they learn different.
The key is to learn how you learn and go with it.That is where parents come in and have to pick up where the teachers left off. This is not to knock the teachers at all, i have alot of respect for them. I couldn't do what needs to be done either. The system has to change.
That does not always lead to secondary education, but Very little that i learned in University has to do with my job, and i went to school for the job i currently have. The best people are the ones who didn't learn in a school setting,and learned on the job. There are a few professions that you really need university. ex a doctor, but rarely. Too much emphasis is put on grades and school, that the ones who are and could be good at certain jobs, can't do them. Cause they can't sit in a classrooom and take notes, very well. Which is why we do not have the best people doing the best and most important jobs. Ex. I am a social worker. Who do you think understands working with street kids better, Some who can quote Freud or someone who has been there, or lived closely to that life. How can a women who has never experienced abuse counsel and understand someone who has been abused their whole lives. Obviously not the best suited for the job. But they get it over someone who has lived it.

May 11, 2010

SCCS Numbers at a glance

Total number of high school credit registrations to date (May 1, 2010)
1633 sections
Learning Communities 810 people
Total number of blogs : 773
Student Blogs: 156
• Science 10 Weather Blogs (63)
• Media Studies Course
• Conrad Brassard's Classes
• World Tour Project (ELO Students - 4)

Parish Blogs: 3
• St. Augustine
• St. Mary
• St. Martyrs
• Daily Prayers Blogs (2)

GSCS Board Office Blogs: 16

Educational Blogs (Mostly by teachers): 549

School Blogs: 47
• Homepage Blogs
• Newsletter Blogs
• Events Blogs
• Student Web Notices
• Weekly Prayer Blog
• Daily Prayer Blog
• Image Archives

Hybrids - 490 current

Cyber Planets - 1704

Growth Factor
Number of adult learners doubled from last year.
Number of students from other division increased 3.37 times from lat year

At a glance... :)

April 16, 2010

Facebook experiment

I am finding out more and more about Facebook and I am exploring methods of using it for educational purposes. It does cause me some concerns because of the privacy issues. I ran an experiment the other month where I posted a video to see how powerful a communication tool it might be. To say I was shocked was an understatement. In a single day, my posting of an image with a video resulted in over 1000 hits from Facebook people. I only have 632 friends, this is a tool that many spammers have found and are using, my account was comprised the other day and in a single moment all my friends were spammed and I do know a little about computers and social networking. So I am trying to figure out what is the best setting to use in Facebook to make it safe for classrooms. I am going to run this experiment again at the expense of using my 632 friend, but in the long run I think it is necessary to see if it is a tool that can be used in the virtual classroom without being abused. I apologize in advance to my friends, and their friends and their friends and so on and so on. I hope that you do not discontinue being my friend because of this experiment and just look at your privacy settings in Facebook to help you to not get spammed.

Stay tune for results.

I just finished tagging everyone and 10 people have untagged the image.

And I got two comments asking how I could add pictures to someone else's profile?

Many people are using a very powerful tool and are not sure who has access to the material that is being posted or how things happen within the program. At first glance this makes it a very scary thing for young people and schools. We need to learn how to teach students and teachers how to maintain control and then it might have some uses.

March 29, 2010

Book DCannell to present

Darren Cannell is touring the world. He and his family are going around the world during which time he would like to visit online schools and will be available to present in some locations. He is on vacation but will be willing to present in a few of the countries as he tours. The countries he will be in can be seen below:

View Cannell's Trip 2010-2011 in a larger map

If he is close to your country, you might be able to convince him to pop by to present. Darren has been the project leader, administrator and developer of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. He will hopefully be complete his thesis and be called Dr. Cannell by the time he starts his tour. His area of study has been distance education for his PHD as well as his masters. He is also a Webct Certified Trainer, Webct Certified Expert, Webct Certified Senior Trainer, Microsoft innovative teacher, Google Certified Teacher and life-long learner. His CV can be seen at: http://darrencannell.com.
He has presented at locations all around the world and if he is in your area and you would like to explore the possibility please fill out the following form and he will get back to you: http://bit.ly/9jHfnS

March 26, 2010

We the teachers (10 things I have learnt)

You can't be my teacher in 5 months,12500 hits and much discussion later has taught me (a teacher) ten things...
This video is embedded in many sites with many different comments attached. This is awesome because it has taught me many things, which is exactly what it was designed to do, provoke a response start a discussion.

Being the maker of the video and a teacher I will use the term "we the teacher", because I think this video has made me think and discuss as much as anyone.

1.) We the teachers think if we use technology, it is at the expense of the traditional i.e. books, teachers, face to face interaction.

2.) We the teachers don't like to told by anyone how to do our job.

3.) We the teachers think the design of the video, the actor used in it, and the music are more important to praise and critize than the message. We tend to worry about the little things which allows us to avoid the big things and the odvious things.

4.) We the teachers don't agree or like the digital native tag.

5.) We the teachers do not believe that students should have a say in how they are taught.

6.) We the teachers and more me as a father think if you are making a video, use a cartoon or avatar because then people cannot attack the actor.

7.) We the teachers feel we need to be given training and time to use the internet. If it was a priority we would find the time...we just need to do it.

8.) We the teachers should not feel we need to carry the whole burden of responsibility. Many problems are due to the curriculum, teaching tools, assessment, a fear to try something new (because we might get fired), a rigid current system of education and society view of what education should be.

9.) We the teachers think that you don't throw out the baby with the bathwater, but it is ok to try different bathwater with out fear of drowning the bady. (If anyone knows what this means help...I think I started to channel Yoda)

10.) We the teachers have to have thick skin because in this education revolution we are going to be critized but we are the best equiped and situated to help society.

Remember these are discussion points, they might not even be true...comments are welcome.

February 25, 2010

Facebook vs Twitter experiment

I had created a video in October of 2009 called You Can't Be My Teacher. This Youtube video had 1281 hits in the first month. It continued to climb right into the New Year and had 2226 hits (More than all my other 300+ videos put together. On January 4 2010, I started an experiment, I wanted to see if Twitter or Facebook was a better way to spread an idea.
My Twitter's account, I have tried to surround myself with teacher, online educators and people in education...there are 1624 people following my postings. I mentioned the video in three different postings, the first generated a 450 hit spike, the second generated 200 hit spike and the third generated 260 hit spike and were spread out over two months period. A total of 4887 hits occurred during this two month period.

Then I decided to introduce Facebook into this experiment, I have 627 friends made up of family, friends, ex-students and peers. I posted 12 image with link to the video in my photos folder and then tag all my Facebook friends for a single day. This single day produced 1554 hits on the video and generated a pile of comments.
My conclusions to the very scientific experiment was that Facebook can be a powerful tool to spread the word if you spam tag your friends, while twitter used as it was designed can also be an powerful way of getting the word out there.

I would like to thank all my twitter PLN and my Facebook friends for being participants in my education pursuits.

February 16, 2010

As a teacher, I hope none of my students EVER see this

Comments for "You Can't Be My Teacher."

I very much enjoy the message you are trying to get out there. However...
As a teacher, I hope none of my students EVER see this and here is why...
My (and many teachers I know) biggest pet peeve about students is when they try to tell me what my job is. Most of the time, students don't know what their job is. Nobody knows what a teacher's job is except teachers, and sadly not all of them know. Everyone else's opinions are simply that... opinions.
Web 2.0 is powerful. Be careful with it.

As an educator, I hope your students see it and demand a better education. It is their job to want the best you can offer them - after all, their parents are paying you.
It is usually fear and laziness that prevent teachers from taking risks. Are you so afraid of learning something new?
It will be a rare person who will not need Web 2.0 tools in their job in the very near future - including yourself! So look out, one of my students may be replacing you very soon.

I saw this - and I guess two things struck me. The first was that a lot of this had been scripted devised. You have a sociopolitical point you wish to make about educators and you are using your son to make it. That's a bit sick. The second point I wish to make is that taking him around the world is going to give him a tonne of great experiences, lessons and expose him to cultures. It's generally proven however that homeschooled kids (even cool jetsetting gypsy ones) are way behind in the way...

Way behind in what way? Socially? Emotionally? Educationally? Does the same things apply to students who are involved in a virtual school? Does the benefits of travelling out weigh the bad? My son was my actor, why does that make it sick? It was completely scripted by myself to put forth a message, one I take you do not like I guess?

I actually don't mind the point (ie: there are some teachers behind the 8 ball with technology)... I guess my points are 1) you are putting your son on the internet to endorse your personal politics. Surely, any consent he makes to be a part of it is mute, given that that you're his dad and that he is not paid. 2) That you are homeschooling your kid for a year, homeschooled kids tend to be a little behind because of what they miss out on - arguably more than having 1 teacher who isnt tech savvy.

Good points both. The homeschooling for a year is not because his teacher is not using technology, in actual fact we are going to try to connect back to his class using technology during the year. The year out of school is us travelling for the year and the hope is that during the year he will benefit more then he will lose. Which is a process we all do as parents when raising our children, try to decide what is best for them.

Are teachers really that afraid of technology and the internet?

Maybe someone can print this off on a slate with chalk and hand it to some of those other teachers who have barricaded themselves into their classrooms and lockout the world and hope that this internet thing is just a fad and the good old days will come back.

I am amazed at the number of people who do not think technology and the internet are a necessary part of education today. Do teachers really think that a powerful tool like technology should not be embraced? The teacher is still the most important element in a classroom but why would they not embrace what the internet can offer. Is the Sage on the stage threatened by the information available, or is it the evils of the net, or is it the learning curve or do they truly believe that a textbook and themselves is enough to create a education which will prepare students for the world today? I am open to comments and clarifications cause I am afraid for the educational system although the ones reading this use some of the technology.

Comments for "You Can't Be My Teacher."

What a brat. I would hope that my children have more respect for knowledge from any source, book or technology. What a farce that books are not a great sources of knowledge? Check out the new Pearson math books that combine technology and text. You cannot find content that is as well explained, consistent, and coherent as in some of those textbooks, ie., "excursions in Modern Mathematics" by Tannenbaum.

You have read the other comments, the brat is my son acting using my words. Listen to the video, he did not say you cannot use books he (me) said that you need to include technology, just like the Pearson math book. Books are already used in our school system in all courses a video called You can't be my teacher if you don't use books would not make much sense. The idea is to include technology because of the world in which he will need to live, work and exist.

I understand that for some the thought of technology in education can be threatening. What I find disappointing is when one insults a child who has simply assisted his father in bringing to light a topic that is becoming more and more relevant in todays education. I too hope my children have respect for all sources of knowledge just as I would expect them to have regard for others views and the maturity level to approach those opinions they may not agree with in a respectful manner.

Having to push ourselves as educators can be an uncomfortable experience, but it is our chosen vocation and part of it is to be lifelong learners. It is my belief we can do no greater injustice to our students then to not prepare them for the real world. This does not mean we give up our role to try to make society better and some believe it would be better without technology. Unfortunately this is not reality.

February 13, 2010

We are More... by Shane Koyczan

Being Canadian this brings tears to my eyes, it was part of the opening ceremony at the Olympics and it was not written by Canadian Beer company which in the past has been responsible for many other proud Canadian poems.

When defining Canada
you might list some statistics
you might mention our tallest building
or biggest lakeyou might shake a tree in the fall
and call a red leaf Canada
you might rattle off some celebrities
might mention Buffy Sainte-Marie
might even mention the fact that we've got a few
Barenaked Ladies
or that we made these crazy things
like zippers
electric cars
and washing machines
when defining Canada
it seems the world's anthem has been
" been there done that"
and maybe that's where we used to be at
it's true
we've done and we've been
we've seen
all the great themes get swallowed up by the machine
and turned into theme parks
but when defining Canada
don't forget to mention that we have set sparks
we are not just fishing stories
about the one that got away
we do more than sit around and say "eh?"
and yes
we are the home of the Rocket and the Great One
who inspired little number nines
and little number ninety-nines
but we're more than just hockey and fishing lines
off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes
and some say what defines us
is something as simple as please and thank you
and as for you're welcome
well we say that too
but we are more
than genteel or civilized
we are an idea in the process
of being realized
we are young
we are cultures strung together
then woven into a tapestry
and the design
is what makes us more
than the sum total of our history
we are an experiment going right for a change
with influences that range from a to zed
and yes we say zed instead of zee
we are the colours of Chinatown and the coffee of Little Italy
we dream so big that there are those
who would call our ambition an industry
because we are more than sticky maple syrup and clean snow
we do more than grow wheat and brew beer
we are vineyards of good year after good year
we reforest what we clear
because we believe in generations beyond our own
knowing now that so many of us
have grown past what used to be
we can stand here today
filled with all the hope people have
when they say things like "someday"
someday we'll be great
someday we'll be this
or that
someday we'll be at a point
when someday was yesterday
and all of our aspirations will pay the way
for those who on that day
look towards tomorrow
and still they say someday
we will reach the goals we set
and we will get interest on our inspiration
because we are more than a nation of whale watchers and lumberjacks
more than backpacks and hiking trails
we are hammers and nails building bridges
towards those who are willing to walk across
we are the lost-and-found for all those who might find themselves at a loss
we are not the see-through gloss or glamour
of those who clamour for the failings of others
we are fathers brothers sisters and mothers
uncles and nephews aunts and nieces
we are cousins
we are found missing puzzle pieces
we are families with room at the table for newcomers
we are more than summers and winters
more than on and off seasons
we are the reasons people have for wanting to stay
because we are more than what we say or do
we live to get past what we go through
and learn who we are
we are students
students who study the studiousness of studying
so we know what as well as why
we don't have all the answers
but we try
and the effort is what makes us more
we don't all know what it is in life we're looking for
so keep exploring
go far and wide
or go inside but go deep
go deep
as if James Cameron was filming a sequel to The Abyss
and suddenly there was this location scout
trying to figure some way out
to get inside you
because you've been through hell and high water
and you went deep
keep exploring
because we are more
than a laundry list of things to do and places to see
we are more than hills to ski
or countryside ponds to skate
we are the abandoned hesitation of all those who can't wait
we are first-rate greasy-spoon diners and healthy-living cafes
a country that is all the ways you choose to live
a land that can give you variety
because we are choices
we are millions upon millions of voices shouting
" keep exploring... we are more"
we are the surprise the world has in store for you
it's true
Canada is the "what" in "what's new?"
so don't say "been there done that"
unless you've sat on the sidewalk
while chalk artists draw still lifes
on the concrete of a kid in the street
beatboxing to Neil Young for fun
don't say you've been there done that
unless you've been here doing it
let this country be your first-aid kit
for all the times you get sick of the same old same old
let us be the story told to your friends
and when that story ends
leave chapters for the next time you'll come back
next time pack for all the things
you didn't pack for the first time
but don't let your luggage define your travels
each life unravels differently
and experiences are what make up
the colours of our tapestry
we are the true north
strong and free
and what's more
is that we didn't just say it
we made it be.

You Can't Be My Teacher « technoLanguages

sonja
January 25th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
wo, you've got me here.
I hope I can fulfill his expectations

Darren Cannell
February 14th, 2010 at 5:52 am
The fact that you are concerned about fulfill his expectations indicates the fact that you are a teacher that cares, and no matter what tool teachers use to teach, one who cares is an awesome powerful teacher. All teachers should be lifelong learners and adapting their teaching styles as the world changes to match what is happening outside the walls of our schools...a challenging profession but one that is unmatched in value to society...Congrats in being one of the most powerful people in the world.

You Can't Be My Teacher « technoLanguages

You can't be my teacher.

Thank you Malcolm Bellamy for the posting, I also have found the comments about the video interesting because of how they are polarized. My son being only six does not really believe what he said. He loves technology but also loves school and very little technology is used in his classroom. But it is my belief that in the future more and more of our students will approach school with the feeling that schools should not be islands different than the world in which they live. To train them for jobs that do not even exist yet is a challenge to our profession, and many would say we are not even preparing them for what already exists.

Anyways a long winded thank you for the post.

You can't be my teacher. « Malcolm Bellamy's Learning Blog

February 4, 2010

Doing cyber school on the trapline.

The teacher who received this email stated this is why I love the cyber school...

Student's email.

I am enrolled in your Cyber school science 10 class. I am a Christian. I like hunting and fishing, if it has something to do with the outdoors, I will probably enjoy it! I don't play many video games, I would rather hunt or ride my horse. For my 13th birthday, my dad took me on a survival canoe trip, I have a red-bone/coonhound that I hunt squirrels with. I have been homeschooled for 9 years, so this course fit right in! We normally live for 5 months of the year on a northern saskatchewan trapline. It is 3 hours from our farm by snowmobile and our farm is 45 mins from civilization by van. Our power is entirely solar power, so if we have a stretch of clouds, my computer usege is limited, but it is rare! My plan and goal is to finish this course in one semester, so any advise to keep me on that track would be greatly appreciated! I'm looking foward to this class.

January 28, 2010

Very weird...

Watch this video once, he is saying gaga or dada.

Play it a second time, close your eyes...it will be baba.

Beats me why... a comment says:

It's all very simple my friends. It's another audio. In the original video, he kept saying "gaga". You can notice it by the movement of his mouth. Then, he changed the audio to him saying "Baba". It's like he dubbed over it. He looks like he's saying "Gaga" but he's saying "Baba". This is because you can't say Baba without sticking your lips together.

January 24, 2010

Great video- I Need My Teacher To Learn 3.0

January 12, 2010

You can't be my teacher and other blogs.

So that silly video "You can't be my teacher" is appearing on other blogs in different languages...

Greek
I need my teachers to learn! | Ζωντανή Μάθηση | Alive Learning

Portuguese
"EM TODA A PARTE SÓ SE APRENDE COM QUEM SE GOSTA".: You can`t be my teacher

Swedish
You can't be my teacher. | Bloggy

Greek
You can't be my teacher - Διδάσκοντας Φυσικές Επιστήμες

Hindi
Deb Eisenach (debeisenach), Singapore - http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/eisenachd/default.html | Splitweet

Spanish

You can't be my teacher. - Cloud thinking

Prepare to Feel Old

It is getting close to my 50th birthday and I am starting to feel old reading this did not help.

Prepare to Feel Old : eLearning Technology

You can't be my teacher and Wordle

I took the url for the video "You can't be my Teacher." and put it into wordle this is what I came up with...

Interesting...

January 4, 2010

You can't be my ??????

I talked to a fellow educator in United States who had a great idea. My son's video called "You can't be my teacher" has gotten a lot of attention. She stated it would be cool to do the video based on "You can't be my math teacher." Change the text to fit the idea and then video it following the style of original...would be soooo cool. Then the wheel started to spin in my mind...hey it could be a cool experiment to make a series...anyone interested...

Here are a few ideas...

You can't be my taxi driver
You can't be my school administrator
You can't be my math teacher
You can't be my classroom teacher
You can't be my laptop
You can't be my wife

Ok...you get the idea...post any others you think would make a good video maybe make your own I would love to see them...

Video Text
Are you going to teach me in a school?
Are you going to make me sit in a desk all day?
Is this what you are going to use to teach me with?
Is this what you are going to use to teach me with? (echo)
Do you know how to use a computer?
Do you know how to use a computer? (echo)
Are you a teacher?
Are you my teacher?
Are you going to teach me using the internet?
Are you going to teach me how to be safe on the internet?
Do you know what goes on on the internet?
Are you sure you are my teacher?
Are you sure you are my teacher? (echo)
Are you going to learn how to use the technology?
I am a digital native.
Do computers scare you?
Are you afraid to use them?
Have you been on facebook?
Have you been on twitter?
Have you been surfing?
Do you even know what is on the internet?
Are you going to be my teacher?
Or just that textbook?
Because I want to know...
what the world has to offer
And if you are not on the internet...
and know nothing about computers.
you can't be my teacher!
I said you can't be my teacher.
Make room for somebody who knows how to use the internet.
Do you think I am going to be ready?
Do you think I am going to be ready?
Do you think you are preparing me for the
world that I have to live in?
Do you think I am going to be ready?
That's your job!
That's your job! (echo)

January 1, 2010

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December 28, 2009

Credit Recovery - Canadian Style

A while ago, Darren posted an idea over at Teaching and Developing Online that Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School was exploring doing Credit Recovery. Now credit recovery in Canada has traditionally not been done online in the same way it has in the United States. For the most part, credit recovery has simply taken the form of summer school or having a student repeat the course. There are few online programs that focus on this area (as most online learning has traditionally focused on providing curricular opportunities to those who did not have them available in their brick-and-mortar environment). However, I think Darren and the folks at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School are on to something here as it is a needed service that online learning can provide in Canada.

Credit Recovery - Canadian Style « Virtual High School Meanderings

December 17, 2009

My Son the Blogger

My six year old son the famous actor from such YouTube videos as "You Can't be My Teacher" has become a blogger. We are going to travel for a year starting next summer and he is going to document our trip so he is starting to learn the skills. He would love your comments. He has done his first two entries.

Daxtin Goes Round the World

December 16, 2009

SCCS Numbers

I just ran a summary of the numbers at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School for the last three calendar years...

Year 2007
Total number of sections - 1101
Pass - 45%
Fail - 2%
Drop - 53%
Average midterm - 59%
Average final - 79%
Most Popular Courses: (Above 65 students) Mathematics 90, Mathematics A30, Mathematics 20, Christian Ethics 20, History 30, Info Pro 10

Year 2008
Total number of sections - 1164
Pass - 48%
Fail - 2%
Drop - 49%
Average midterm - 57%
Average final - 78%
Most Popular Courses: (Above 65 students) Christian Ethics 20, Mathematics 90, English Language Arts A30,

Year 2009
Total number of sections - 1621
Pass - 48%
Fail - 2%
Drop - 52%
Average midterm - 58%
Average final - 78%
Most Popular Courses: (Above 65 students) Biology 30, English Language Arts A30, Christian Ethics 20, Mathematics A30, Christian Ethics 10, Christian Ethics 30, Mathematics B30, Mathematics 90, Mathematics 10

So what does this tell us...work on retention..maybe...but this is an option for students.

December 14, 2009

My Social Networking Goal

I started this year with a goal of trying a different social networking tool each month, what you see below is a years work... It is so cool the networks you can make.

FriendFeed
465 Subscriptions 244 subscribers 630 comments
Zune
846 plays 33 friends
SlideShare
59 slide presentations uploaded 10000 views 2 followers
Tado Picture Showcase
1757 uploaded pictures 13 galleries
DDC Art Gallery
246 Original Artworks 8 galleries
YouTube
8347 views 322 videos
LinkedIn
23 Connections 11 linkedin groups
Facebook
628 friends 43 pictures Started 3 groups
Twitter
1550 Followers, 1651 Following 2700 Tweets
TADO
5878 Entries 298 Comments Est. 2003 Last 166 days 19710 visitors
Google Docs
100+ documents (masters and phd essays)
Delicious
635 bookmarks 2508 tags
Blip.fm
12 favorite DJs 16 listeners
Plerb
5 followers 221 posts
Plurk
Profile views 50 Plurks 734 11 Fans
Utterli
Followers 2 933 utters
YouAre
1002 entries
Hellotxt
Seesmic
Identi.ca

And I have learned that if you are not on the web, you are missing out on a lot.

December 11, 2009

Google Teacher Academy

This was a rush an I will include more about it in the next couple of days.

They tell me I passed so I get to display this image now...yahooo...or googloooooo.

December 8, 2009

Google Teacher Academy Press Release

I am honoured and await the learning curve.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 2, 2009

Your personal professional growth plan and the internet.

I am trying to put together a video about people's use of the internet in their personal professional growth plans...and I need some help from my cyber school staff to spread the word...

If you could send the line below to everyone in your contact list, or anyone that you think might have a thought on the idea the word should spread. Feel free to complete the task as well if you wish.

Trying to put together a little video about your personal professional growth plan and the internet... http://seesmic.tv/videos/iqwFGHJ9ds

December 1, 2009

How do you connect to people online?

A compilation of contributions to a project intended to help us describe how we connect to people - both technologically and socially.

Very cool.

How do you connect to people online? on Vimeo

November 28, 2009

Message to my son.

Santa's message to Daxtin my son

Translate Closed Captions on You Tube...

On November 20, 2009 I send out a request to see if I could get the closed captions translated for "You can't be my Teacher" video. Then today did a little searching and google and youtube already do it...awesome...check it out...

November 26, 2009

SCCS Guest Blogger

My sister is writing a blog for the cyber school about her time in television you might want to connect your students to it...

http://blog.scs.sk.ca/celebinsider/

If you know of anyone else that would like to guest blog and has an interesting career put them in contact with the admin team and we could get them started.

One silly little video...

So it started as an activity with my son, and my flip video. We were video taping him and playing and in about half an hour of me feeding him words and him repeating them, we had the rough that would make "You can't be My Teacher". I have been amazed at the number of people who have watched, commented and told me how to make this video better. It is an example of the power of social networking. I then cut it down to a minute and it helped me get accepted to the Google Teachers Academy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VSymMbMYHA

Some of the comments

What a phenomenal video Mr. Cannell! To the point, valid statements by your manchild...I couldn't help but laugh...because not only is it true, but he is so expressive. LOL. 5 Stars!

Super video that hopefully will make many educators think

Great video. It's a great food for thought because teachers complain that nowadays kids don't like to study but that's not the question.The question is: are we reaching them? Are we engaging them? or... Are we using the same procedures and techniques from the last century?

Outstanding. (that kid is adorable too, such an expressive little face!)

That was GREAT!! I may show this at 2 trainings I am doing tomorrow. I love it!

Great little video, a simple, yet powerful message, I really liked it.

Cute kid with powerful message!

seriously, that was fantastic-- I viewed it w/ my 13 year old-- she LOVED it too. Showing it to my Gr 9's tommorrow, if that's ok? Alright, I showed my Gr9's this: A little confused, but good convo

I like the video... a kid saying what we're afraid to say.... :-)

November 20, 2009

Looking to get this translated

I am looking to try to get the following text converted into as many languages as possible...if you speak another language, could you translate this for me...it goes on the youtube video called You Can't Be My Teacher

Please add your translation as a comment...thanks

Are you going to teach me in a school?

Are you going to make me sit in a desk all day?

Is this what you are going to use to teach me with?

Is this what you are going to use to teach me with? (echo)

Do you know how to use a computer?

Do you know how to use a computer? (echo)

Are you a teacher?

Are you my teacher?

Are you going to teach me using the internet?

Are you going to teach me how to be safe on the internet?

Do you know what goes on on the internet?

Are you sure you are my teacher?

Are you sure you are my teacher? (echo)

Are you going to learn how to use the technology?

I am a digital native.

Do computers scare you?

Are you afraid to use them?

Have you been on facebook?

Have you been on twitter?

Have you been surfing?

Do you even know what is on the internet?

Are you going to be my teacher?

Or just that textbook?

Because I want to know...

what the world has to offer

And if you are not on the internet...

and know nothing about computers.

you can't be my teacher!

I said you can't be my teacher.

Make room for somebody who knows how to use the internet.

Do you think I am going to be ready?

Do you think you are preparing me for the
world that I have to live in?

Do you think I am going to be ready?

That's your job!

That's your job! (echo)

These are the languages we are looking for... How many do you think we can get?

Abkhazian, Afar,Afrikaans, Albanian,Amharic,Arabic,Armenian, Assamese, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Basque, Bengali, Bhutani, Bihari, Bislama, Breton, Bulgarian, Burmese, Byelorussian, Cambodian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Corsican, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faeroese, Fiji, Finnish, French, Frisian, Gaelic, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Greenlandic, Guarani, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Interlingua, Interlingue, Inupiak, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kinyarwanda, Kirghiz, Kirundi, Korean, Kurdish, Laothian, Latin, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay , Malayalam, Maltese, Maori, Marathi, Moldavian, Mongolian, Nauru, Nepali, Norwegian, Occitan, Oriya, Oromo, Pashto, Persian , Persian (Afghanistan), Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quechua, Rhaeto-Romance, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Sangro, Sanskrit, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, Sesotho, Setswana, Shona, Sindhi, Singhalese, Siswati, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Sudanese , Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrinya, Tonga, Tsonga, Turkish, Turkmen, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Volapuk, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zulu

November 19, 2009

SCCS Credit Recovery

We are exploring an idea... any comments.

The concept behind credit recovery is to provide a service for face to face schools. There is much research that explains credit recovery as a successful venture in retaining and motivating students to complete their high school. The relationship between Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School and face to face school is that the online school will provide the service of teaching the content and assessing the students.

The credit will be awarded by the face to face school.
The face to face schools will determine the units/modules required for a student to achieve credit recovery.
Only the face to face school can register a student in a credit recovery course.
Students cannot register themselves in credit recovery.
The grade (report card) will be sent to the registering professional from the face to face school.
Students need to complete the cyber school general registration and preparation course before they will be eligible to be enrolled in a credit recovery course.
The length of time given to the student to complete the credit recovery will vary based on the modules/units choosen by the face to face school.
Modules/units can be seen under the appropriate grade level tabs above.
No extensions will be given to credit recovery students.
Online teachers will not spend time on credit recovery students attendance and motivation.
Online teachers will work on educating and assisting the students in completing the requested modules/units

SCCS Credit Recovery

November 13, 2009

How long Have I been on twitter?

Missed my year anniversary.

1 year, 3 weeks, 6 days, 8 hours, 17 minutes, 48 seconds

October 17, 2008

November 6, 2009

Experiencere's Channel

What a wildly cool design for a video...I like...

YouTube
- experiencere's Channel

November 4, 2009

Experiment between Twitter, FaceBook and TADO.

My son and I made a video called "You can't be my teacher". I wanted to see if more people would watch it because of twitter or facebook or TADO.

The total number of views from October 26th 2009 until November 4 2009 was 630 views on YouTube
By my guess I would say Twitter brought about 301
TADO about 124
While facebook had about 35 views.

Twitter is amazing in how the information spread...very cool.
TADO brought students and educators
While facebook brought friends and family and comments about my son the actor.
I think all three tools have their uses, but it did clarify for me how I can use each in my role.

October 30, 2009

Time Waits for no one.

To realize
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of a loving relationship:
Ask someone who had it
And doesn't now

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed an final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.

To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one.

Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when

You can share it with someone special.

To realize the value of a friend, lover or family member:

LOSE ONE.

October 21, 2009

Series: Cyber School Videos IV

The October edition of the videos that Darren posts at Teaching and Developing Online concerning the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School.

Series: Cyber School Videos IV « Virtual High School Meanderings

October 19, 2009

iRobot shape shifting blog robot.

It gets around by way of a process called "jamming", in which material can transition between semi-liquid and solid states with only a slight change in volume. In ChemBot's case, a flexible silicone skin encapsulates a series of pockets containing a mix of air and loosely packed particles. When air is removed from the compartments, the skin attempts to equalize the pressure differential by constricting the particles, which shift slightly to fill the void left by the evacuated air. In that way, the strange looking little blob inflates and deflates parts of its body, changing size and shape, oozes and pulsates across the floor. Beneath the skin are an incompressible fluid and an actuator that can vary its volume.

October 10, 2009

I am honoured Thank you

Thank you to Kelli and Ryan for the nomination.

To Whom It May Concern,

We are writing this letter and sending this information to nominate Mr. Darren Cannell for the iNACOL Outstanding Individual Contribution to K-12 Online Learning Award.

Darren has achieved many accolades throughout his professional career and personal life. Darren has been a school teacher for 20+ years, teaching grades 5 to 12. His high school teaching has centered around physical education, art and computer education. His efforts in the formation and operation of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School have resulted in its becoming the largest cyber school in Saskatchewan. As a result he has been a sought after presenter at numerous local, provincial, national and international conferences on distance education.

We strongly feel that Darren is deserving of this prestigious award as he is a very dedicated to the advancement of students within the Saskatoon Catholic School Division and in particular, our online students at the Cyber School. He is constantly striving to achieve more within this program that is innovative, with a diversity to accommodate students who learn in a variety of different capacities. Mr. Cannell's ability to look "outside the box" is a reminder to us all that our children's educational future is in very capable hands. As this program continues to grow under Darren's leadership, the students of Saskatoon Catholic School's have turned to online learning at a rate few could have anticipated.

Darren started the Cyber School in 1999. After initiating the original plan through its fruition, we are now the largest online learning institution in the province of Saskatchewan, and our numbers have been growing exponentially with every new year.
In simplest terms, the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School is a distance education and Educational Technology resource program that uses the Internet as its delivery system. It has offered high school credit courses via the Internet since 2000. These courses have been developed by Cyber School staff and meet Saskatchewan Learning curriculum guidelines. The courses have no face-to-face components and all material is delivered via an internet online learning management system.
There are currently 37 courses to choose from and enrollment in the high school courses reaches over 1000 students each school year.
The underlying philosophy at work at SCCS is that distance education is not considered to be in its own realm, separate from the world of classical education. Our staff consistently mentors other educators and takes an active role in sharing both their success and tribulations at conferences, PD workshops and in social networks on-line.
Our online courses and classrooms allows students from remote locations, those with learning disabilities, those who may not feel comfortable sharing in face-to-face situations, those who need to fulfill other commitments during schools hours, and those who may not be able to attend classes because of physical problems, the opportunity to contribute actively in class discussions and complete courses.
SCCS provides hybrid courses to educators in other locations who would like to use the Cyber School courses to expand and enrich their own courses or to provide a course that may not be offered in a particular school.
In 2000 Cyber School also started developing resources for pre-K-Grade 8. These resources are not courses per se, they are similar on-line classrooms. The resources found in the Cyber Planets address curricular objectives in every grade and subject area. Included in the Cyber Planets, are locally developed technology and math courses that teachers can choose to use with their students.
The Cyber Planets now have over 3600 students per year accessing them on a regular basis. Cyber School builds and maintains the Planets but the classroom teacher or parent is still the main instructor. Cyber Planets are free for anyone around the world to use.
Cyber School has further advanced its contributions to the education system by developing and launching On-Line Teacher Learning Communities. These learning communities are a collection of useful resources in all subjects for teachers in classrooms from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12. The resources can be used on-line or printed for classroom use.

Cyber School is always looking to provide easily accessible and new ways to communicate online. As a result, SCCS is now hosting blogs for teachers, schools and parishes. The blog allows for a simple way to communicate, via web site and or email, with students, parents and the community.
In January 2005, the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School started the Association of Online K-12 Schools. The goal of the Association is to provide a location where K-12 online educators, developers and administrators can gather. This virtual community offers environment conducive to communication, resource sharing and team building. Currently the association has members from four different continents around the world.
Not only do educators have the Learning Community environment to collaborate and share material, they now have access to the TADO PD Lounge (replacing the Association of On-line K-12 Schooling). The PD Lounge houses a multitude of both self-directed and guided short courses geared specifically towards integrating technology into the classroom. Communicate and collaborate with other educators regarding Smart Boards, Wikis's and blogs (Just to name a few).

With all of this in mind, it is very apparent that Darren has been instrumental and a driving force in the advancement of on-line learning, not only for our school division, but for the entire province of Saskatchewan while also networking throughout the world. Our practice has become the model by which other school divisions emulate. The vision he had over a decade ago has, and will continue to define what distance education can achieve.

Darren's favorite Quote
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." (Alan Kay)

Darren's SCCS Profile
http://blog.scs.sk.ca/darrencannell/

Darren's Blog
Teaching and Developing Online (started in 2003) Winner of numerous Ed Blog awards.
http://blog.scs.sk.ca/tado

Darren's Awards
2005 Educator of Distinction Award: Darren Cannell

Darren's CV
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/darren/resume/resume.htm

Darren's Portfolio
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/darren/website/index.htm

Darren's Art Gallery
http://blog.scs.sk.ca/ddcartgallery/

October 6, 2009

Time to Quit Assuming Pass the Ball

Pass the ball on this idea, it's time has come.

Time to Quit Assuming

September 30, 2009

Creativity Expert Sir Ken Robinson to Speak in Saskatoon

In 2005, he was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN's 'Principal Voices'. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies. His new book, currently a New York Times Best Seller, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Penguin/Viking 2009) is being translated into eight different languages.

News Item . College of Arts and Science . University of Saskatchewan

Check out his video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

September 28, 2009

More Dissertation Advice: Canadian Style

Wow food for thought...thanks for the time taken to help.

More Dissertation Advice: Canadian Style « Virtual High School Meanderings

September 27, 2009

TADO Picture Showcase

Over the last year we have been putting together a gallery of copyright free images that we can use in our courses. By asking people in facebook to join the Teaching and Developing Online Fan group and share their images we have built a great collection. Thanks to Raylene for all her work in adding images to the collection. If you are on facebook join the group and add your images.
We hit the 250 members mark which is so exciting...
We have 2488 images
We have added 1518 to the TADO Picture Gallery and continue to add we will catch up soon...
Take a sec and check out the gallery...
TADO Picture Showcase
Feel free to comment and vote for your favourite images.
And last but not least keep adding those images...you have made a very cool collection so far...so keep them coming.
Yahooooo

September 23, 2009

Students are overlooked.

From the words and comments made in this chapter, turning to the learner for insight in how to create a powerful online course seems to be a most logical thing to do.

They why do we so seldom turn to the learner for such insight? The student is often overlooked, or at best, the last component in the teaching-learning environment that is called upon to make input.

The eight categories that emerged from these interviews all share a common element - they emerged from a desire on the part of these learners to share what it feels like to participate in a powerful and well organized online learning experience. Interestingly, these categories are not defined in terms of specific strategies and techniques that should be done to make an online course effective. Instead they are written in terms of the learner's feelings associated with his/her meaningful and valued participation in an online environment. There is no prescription included that specifies how the educator should proceed. The challenge to the distance educator is to understand the feeling expressed by these learners - having a sense of autonomy, being accountable to each other, allowing me to set a flexible schedule, expressing myself in writing, etc - and then create a distance education learning environment that allows such feelings to flourish.

The above was taken from a book I am reading called:
Making Distance education work: Understanding learning and Learners at a distance... S. Joseph Levine. pg 96

September 21, 2009

Teaching and Developing Online SCCS style.

This is a simple view of what we do check it out.

TADO

SCCS The Brain View

Thanks to Kelli for updating the brain. This is what we do at the SCCS. This is an extensive view of our world. Hope you enjoy.

The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School The Brain.

September 18, 2009

SCCS Continuous Improvement Framework

Each year we give our teachers some hints and tips on how to make the cyber school better..this is the first for the 2009-2010 school year.

The Cyber School Continuous Improvement Framework- Chat Room use

September 15, 2009

Series: Cyber School Videos III

Wow thanks for the link...I really like seeing all the videos in one entry.

Series: Cyber School Videos III « Virtual High School Meanderings

August 31, 2009

TADO PD Lounge - What there is "Ta Do" in Educational Technology

Cyber School's newest development is an On-line Professional Development
Lounge for All Educational Staff from our own school division and

from around the world.

The Lounge is active and vibrant and updated almost daily by Cyber School Educational Technology Specialists.

The PD Lounge houses a multitude of both self-directed and guided short
courses geared specifically towards integrating technology into the classroom.

Communicate and collaborate with other educators regarding Smart Boards, Wikis's and blogs (Just to name a few).

In Addition to this, there is a vast amount of other Software Tutorials,
Smart Board lessons as well as access to Atomic Learning a company
who specializes in tutorials for most software applications used in schools.

*Please note: These tutorials can be used with or by students as well.*
Do you need some refreshers or introductions to Cyber Planets, Learning Communities, Hybrid courses or Blogs?

If so, Cyber School is posting videos of all staff delivered In-services so that
anyone can access them at anytime.

Click Here To Register for FREE!!!!!!

August 17, 2009

Social Media and Open Education

Check this course out...

Here is some information for non-registered students.

Alec Couros is the instructor for this course and is inviting people to join if they are interested. From what I know of Alec this is worth the time.

EC&I 831

August 14, 2009

Series: 10 Steps To Moving It Forward

Thank to Michael Barbour for the post it is always cool to see the whole series in one place.

Series: 10 Steps To Moving It Forward « Virtual High School Meanderings

August 12, 2009

Thank Teach Tuesday Twitter style

We should choose a day on twitter where people thank a teacher like #followfriday but #thankteachtuesday we could share stories of thanks.

@kleigh129: I have actually written thank you's to nearly all the teachers who influenced me. Amazing experience. #thankteachtuesday

@mctoonish: sent an email to several teachers a few years ago to thank them. #thankteachtuesday

@kconger: Yes, I sent my Freshman English teacher from 25 years ago a thank you note on Facebook. Made her day! #thankteachtuesday

TakingITGlobal in the house

When I was in Asia with Microsoft I had the opportunity to meet with Katherine Walraven (Education Program Manager) at TakingITGlobal. She is willing to come to Saskatoon to see if we would be interested in accessing Taking It Global. At the end of August she will be flying past Saskatoon and I have convince her to land here for a day or so. She would be willing to present Taking It Global network and how it could be used in our schools on August 31 at 1:00 p.m. This is a program that I have been following for a couple of years and I think it has a lot of merit and would be something we will be using in the cyber school student lounge next year, but since I was thinking of having her drop by I was thinking about expanding the viewing audience.

Please let me know if you would be interested in attending said presentation so I can set up an appropriate venue:

August 31, 2009
1:00 P.M.
Location: TBA

Below is some information about the program

Website: http://www.tigweb.org/

The Vision
Youth everywhere actively engaged and connected in shaping a more inclusive, peaceful and sustainable world.
Our Mission
We enable a collaborative learning community which provides youth with access to global opportunities, cross-cultural connections and meaningful participation in decision-making.
Who We Serve
We serve youth primarily between the ages of 13 to 30 through:
• an online community and initiatives that focus on enabling actively engage youth.
• education programs geared towards middle and high school students.
What We Offer:
• Global online social network and hub for civic participation
• Content & tools for educators to facilitate rich, interactive learning experiences
• Outreach & Collaboration tools for events, networks, campaigns, and causes
• Research, development, and sharing of best practices on youth engagement
• Facilitated learning experiences through workshops, webinars, and e-courses
Why Bother?
• Global awareness and understanding across cultures is key to the future of the planet
• Student dropout and disengagement rates are at all-time highs, and costing billions in lost economic opportunities and crime
• Preventable diseases and health issues are on the rise globally, with young people often the most vulnerable and affected
So Far...
• 4 million young people reached in 2008, over 14 million since launch in 2000
• Engagement across 12 languages, and in every country and territory in the world
• Thought leadership through presenting at over 500 education, technology, development, business, and youth conferences and events
• Partnerships across sectors with over 8 U.N. agencies, dozens of international civil society organizations, several top-tier technology companies (Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco, HP), and leading-edge foundations across North America.
• Global recognition from the World Economic Forum and Tech Museum of Innovation

I am aware of the poor timing of this presentation but this worldwide organization is not the easiest to book and it is very exciting that she can make it to our corner of the world.

Darren Cannell
Administrator
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School
2701 Porter Street
Saskatoon Saskatchewan
Canada S7J 3K7
Http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber
306.221.4936

August 5, 2009

Computer vs Man by Darren Cannell

My first book is a cartoon book.

Darren's view of the world of computers will bring a smile to the faces of geeks all over the world.

Computer vs Man by Darren Cannell (Book) in Computers & Internet

Pigs do fly by Darren Cannell

My second book on Quotes.

While surfing the web, I come across quotes that after reading I say: Exactly, that is what I am talkin about, ya, for sure, I wish I would have said that, Holy how true is that! Read these I dare you, you will say the same.

Pigs do fly by Darren Cannell (Book) in Self-Improvement

July 24, 2009

SCCS makes me proud.

When you see it all written down, it makes me proud to be a part of this educational endeavor. It also makes me proud to be associated with such a staff that has had the ability to create so much is so little time. With all the difficult changes we have had in the last year it is a good practice to stop and see the forest, even though it seems a few trees are falling, we are still one heck of a beautiful forest...Keep up the good work, and we will continue to develop the future of education.

Awards

2001-2005 Innovative website and education web awards (27 different sites recognized SCCS with their web awards)
2001 Nominee Premier's Board of Education Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education
2004 Winner of the Edublog Award Best technology meets pedagogy blog.
2005 Educator of Distinction Award (Darren Cannell)
2005 Innovation Award in Education for Integrating Persons with Disabilities
2005 Nominee Premier's Board of Education Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education
2006 Nominee National Technology Innovation Awards: The Learning Partnership
2007 Microsoft National Innovative Teacher Award (Kelli Boklaschuk, Darren Cannell and Maureen Romanchuk)
2008 Microsoft National Innovative Teacher Award (Ryan Hauber)
2009 Blackboard International Exemplary Course Award (Reginald Nakoneshny)
2009 SIGtel Online Learning Award Highly Commended (Kelli Boklaschuk)

July 2, 2009

TADO Tracking Data

After 917 days I reset out tracker for TADO to start fresh.
This is a historical snapshot.

June 30, 2009

10 Steps to Moving it forward-Cyber School improvement

Ten step to move an established cyber school forward
1.) Never ever forget what makes any school successful is it's teachers. The success or failure of a school can always be measured back to that single element.
2.) Administrations job is to supply the teachers with what they need to be successful and remove all barriers that stop this from happening.
3.) All decisions should be made with the students in mind, they are the clients.
4.) Practice what you preach, if no face to face contact is made with the students, teachers need to practice this as well. (i.e. no face to face meetings)
5.) Communication, communication, communication...it will solve most issues.
6.) Do not enforce know rules by communicating to the whole, communicate issues to the specific staff or students.
7.) Make sure teaching staff know that the internet and technology changes continuously, their courses need to reflect these changes.
8.) Teaching staff must exist where their student do, they need to have a professional online identity.
9.) Teaching staff's personal learning group should use social networking tools to access the best that exist in the world.
10.) Do not assume it is someone's problem to fix, if you work at the school it is your problem.

Change

Well, today is my last full day in the office before I start the summer as I sit here and reflect upon the last year, one word keeps coming to mind "CHANGE". A lot has changed for the cyber school in the last year, our demographic changed from 80% GSCS students to a 50/50 split of GSCS students and out of division students. This change caught us by surprise and caused some interesting challenges, but I hope we are better planned for the future, if that is even possible. Our staff has grown to 33 teachers give or take one or two and at this size it was necessary for another change. We had to close down the cyber school pod. The pod was a location where teachers of the cyber school had a desk in which to work, but with the number of staff growing to 33 it is not possible to house all staff members in a single place. So with broad strokes we completely shut down the work center for teachers. They now must work from their home school or their home. In the pass we supplied, chairs, desks, desktop, dual monitor and high speed at home for our teachers, now we supply a laptop, period. This may seem like a lack of support but it is just a new way of doing things and we will find a comfortable way to make this work for all. Like anything new and the cyber school never stops being new because we are always pushing the educational envelope, change will happen, when we stop changing we will stop being effective. So we will continue to welcome change and now I think I will change into my shorts and let the summer begin.
Hope you all have a God filled summer.

See ya at the end of August.

June 26, 2009

Twitter Talk Ivory Tower Snobbish views cont.

RT @dcannell: I think a person who has been in the k-12 trenches has more to say about k-12 education than an ivory tower researcher person.

@dcannell It's too bad government education departments don't agree with you...

@dcannell yes and no. Both views can be powerful. Often those in trenches too close to see big pic. Those in tower to high to see detail

@dcannell I agree. Every prof and education admin should teach at least part time. Even the board admin - can you imagine it? ...

@dcannell ... I also think that teachers should be students. How about as student in a colleague's class? Great Pro D for teachers.

@dcannell You are absolutely correct!

RT @dcannell I think a person who has been in the k-12 trenches has more to say about k-12 education than an ivory tower researcher person.

@dcannell Probably, but won't each have different things to say, allowing both a broader and a deeper understanding of K-12 education?

@dcannell There is one ivory tower prof who'd argue with you. I'd love to see you go head to head. I got no where with him years ago.

June 25, 2009

Twitter talks: Ivory Tower Snobbish views

Darren Cannell twitter:
Ivory tower snobbish views: It bugs me that unless you are a member of the ivory tower your ideas and words cannot be used to prove a point.

Darren Cannell twitter:
I think a person who has been in the k-12 trenches has more to say about k-12 education than an ivory tower researcher person.

RT @dcannell: (retweet) I think a person who has been in the k-12 trenches has more to say about k-12 education than an ivory tower researcher person.

RT @dcannell: I think a person who has been in the k-12 trenches has more to say about k-12 education than an ivory tower researcher person.

Darren Cannell twitter:
yet I spend my time trying to find peer-reviewed research to be able to accept and use the words of a k-12 career teacher.

Darren Cannell twitter:
great social networking which I learn much from but what I learn cannot use in my research because it does not meet the criteria

@dcannell (reply) I think that's changing in some disciplines more than others, but sadly, not all.

Darren Cannell twitter:
do you think it is changing in the education field?

RT @dcannell: I think a person who has been in the k-12 trenches has more to say about k-12 education than an ivory tower researcher person.

@dcannell at the IES research conference at the beginning of the month Arne Duncan called for more teacher-driven research initiatives

Darren Cannell twitter:
yahooo but are the ivory towers willing to release the power and control they have had for so long?

@dcannell I think its more about generating ideas from the people in the trenches. Hopefully that will lead to better communication

@dcannell too true, one of my greatest frustrations with academia

@dcannell It's refreshing to hear someone state their opinion. I stand by my right to agree or disagree upon occasion.

Darren Cannell twitter:
I am frustrated currently the PHD research course points me only to sources from the Ivory tower like the rest of the world doesn't count.

Darren Cannell twitter:
If it is not found in a journal or published it carries no value, might be why we are stagnant.social networking might jump start new ideas.

Darren Cannell twitter:
Not undervaluing ivory tower research but trying to value experience which is gained by doing not by studying oneself.

@dcannell Well said. Experience, participation, collaboration, learning from events rather than about events--these yield deeper scholarship

RT @dcannell: If its not found in a journal or published it carries no value, is this why we are stagnant scl netwrk may jump start this!

@dcannell I agree. There is much to be learned from "the trenches". Ivory towers are often a long way from the 'front line'.

@dcannell PhDs are given out by PhDs because you have learned the system. Like all schooling the point is compliance

June 23, 2009

Digital Dossier

How aware are you of your digital dossier? Watch this time line of Andy's lifespan and find out...

June 17, 2009

UP

There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps
has more meanings than any other two-letter word,
and that word is 'UP.'
It is listed in the dictionary as being used as
an [adv],[prep],[adj.], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky
or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning,
why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ?
Why do we speak UP,
and why are the officers UP for election
and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room,
polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers
and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house
and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has a real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite,
and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this up is confusing:

A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP ,
look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary,
it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about
thirty definitions

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the
many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time,
but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .
When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets UP the earth.
When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now ........
my time is UP , so time to shut UP!

Oh...one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning
& the last thing you do at night? U P

June 15, 2009

Out of the Box.

Have you ever been told....you think outside the box, or that you should try to think outside the box. Box is a term which is thrown around alot in education. For people involved in education is it necessary to think outside the for education to be success? Is the box a bad thing? What exactly is the box? Are we talking about the country's political box, the curriculum box, the country box, the school division box, the classroom box, the school box, the student age box, the gender box? I am really confused, too many boxes and all with personal self interest and a real loss ofunderstanding that education is about the students. Is this the reason why home schooling is on the rise? So the next time someone says that you think outside the box ask them "Which box?" and then don't wait around for an answer they might tell you and wreck the compliment. At least I think it is a compliment when someone says you think outside the box, at least I think it is...maybe I better ask someone in the box, any idea where I can find a box...never mind... I will just say thanks.

No Future Left Behind

Interesting video.

June 11, 2009

Twitter Talks: Report Card Comments

On twitter I asked people to submit their Report Card Comment real or not... it was meant to be an exercise that for teachers at this time of year might be a release for all the real report card comments they have to write. Some of the responses were just plain funny.
• On my 3rd grade report card: Please allow Bethany to talk at home. She says you make her save it up for school.
• He loves to write too bad no one can read his hand writing.
• What part of prerequisite did you not understand?
• After meeting you at parent conferences, I would like to commend your son/daughter on beating the odds.
• Please inspect your home for lead-based paint. Things we would like to say but we are professionals
• Have you considered home learning?
• Billy is a malignant tumour sucking the life force from the class.
• Very smart but never stops talking long enough to show it.
• She is much smarter than her brother.
• He's a bit of a crybaby. Please fix this over the summer.
• Your child might want to get a job using his hands and back.
• Considering the genetic factors, not too bad.
• He must come from a shallow gene pool.
• Grade: D- Smart, but bored. Passing her on in hopes she'll do better.
• Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; your child just gargles.
• My all time fave, "Your child has a lot of untapped potential."
• Your child inspires others to realize their true potential.
• He was not in class enough to evaluate.
• Your child is a waste of skin (teacher is saving this comment until his last year of teaching)
• Reads well but understands nothing.
• A great regard for his own abilities, but unfortunately not reflected in his grades. We don't grade hubris.
• I am passing him on to high school because we don't provide parking spaces for 8th graders.
• Your child's mark is a direct reflection of my ability as a teacher.
• I am passing him because a third year with me would do him no good.

TADO has a new design.

Thanks to Kelli we have a new design TADO...it is working very cool. There are still a few problems but over all it is really very smooth.

Comments are welcome but I think they might not be work...no sure...but hey it is a very cool design.

June 9, 2009

Clustr Map of TADO

Total visitors by city to TADO

Total visitors by country to TADO

The top 15 visiting countries to TADO

June 3, 2009

Life Lessons

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone...
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay cheque.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion,
Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

June 2, 2009

Twitter talks: 4 word homework excuses

Four word homework excuses and teacher replies

"It's meaningless busy work." #4wordreply "Agreed now get busy"
"That wasn't a joke?" #4wordreply " your grade will be"
"This assignment is stupid" #4wordreply "You're right. I'm sorry."
"I was so drunk" #4wordreply "Gee so am I"
"It's meaningless busy work." #4wordreply "I think I agree"
"the dog at it" #4wordreply "hope it doesn't die"
"traveling. couldn't access internet" #4wordreply "internet's just a fad"
"Satan said not to" #4wordreply "not in catholic school"

Four word homework excuses from twitter

"Satan said not to"
"it's in invisible ink!"
"our house burnt down"
"had temporary amnesia & forgot!"
"twittered the night away"
"no email in "
"smartphone typing hurt fingers"
"traveling. couldn't access internet"
"in car got carjacked"
"thought that was optional"
"spilled coffee on it"
"was that due today"
"wishing you wouldn't check"
"that was for credit?"
"got no printer ink"
"printer ate my paper"
"the whole internet crashed"
"dialup was so slow"
"the baby came early"
"It's meaningless busy work."
"homework got no home"
"I was so drunk"
"way too much redbull"
"I was in jail"
"Just didn't want to!
"it was too hard"
"I don't have one"
"i'm still on facebook
"My cat was sick"
"Left at Dad's house"
"my computer ate it"
"my flash drive broke"
"my roommate's computer broke"
"My house was robbed"
"polar bear attacked me"
"I only need a C"
"your syllabus isn't clear"
"the assignment was stupid"
"I lost my pencil"
"I don't use paper"
"went emergency shoe shopping"
"I didn't do it."
"Couldn't afford the textbook"
"I just got married"
"I lost my shoes"
"my wife had baby"
"my car broke down"
"My partner was absent."
"that was due today?"
"you were serious? wow"
"oh well oh well"
"it's in your inbox"
"That wasn't a joke?"
"Hmmm I don't know"
"my stupid computer crashed"

May 20, 2009

SCCS Staff Avatars

The staff avatar contest has ended. The winner was our own Sandra Climenhaga upon hearing about her victory she responded with:

Yes VICTORY IS MINE!!!!!

Ah but alas, I cannot take the credit on my own, the guesses were the accumulation of much investigation, brain storming, obsessing, and perhaps a tad bit of manipulation, by myself and my comrades on the main floor of the pod.

When does the new car get here? We decided we would take turns with it on a 3 month rotation schedule. We are SO EXCITED!!!

I guess I should inform her that the first prize was not a car but braggin rights only.

staff avatars

May 15, 2009

WHY WOULD TEACHERS WANT TO USE TWITTER?

Alec Couros has a great Saskatchewan sense of humour

May 7, 2009

Neat math stat...

Happy Odd Day! Todays Date, 5/7/09 , is one of only six days this century that will feature three consecutive odd numbers .

Thanks Andrew Carpenter

Internet Sixties and the Ostrich effect

Currently people are concerned about the information that they put online. In 10-20 years it will be very important that our students have an good online presence. If we don't meet the students where they are, we as teachers lack internet cred. A lack of online presence in the future will be viewed with disbelief and a lack of with-it-ness. Many of the bad things that are happening online now will be forgiven in the future very similar to those of us who were raised in the sixties. That Facebook picture where you are drinking a beer will be seen similar to a picture of us at Woodstock. You young readers may not understand that last statement but a lot of stuff happened in the sixties that is not acceptable today but is forgiven. Your online presence today for some of you will be viewed as the internet sixties. But this fear cannot stop one from becoming engaged in the internet, social networking and using this new digital era.

Teachers who spend their whole day trying to relate to their students will need to join today internet students to have internet cred. The ostrich effect that most schools and teachers have been applying to the education will not be accepted for too much longer. Hoping the walls of the school and the practice of banning will hold back the internet, cel phones, Twitter, Facebook and all the other activities that we have deemed too dangerous to use in schools. Banning does not prepare our student when they leave the wall of the schools. We as educator need to pull our head out of the sand and prepare our students for the dangers so they can safely navigate the digital world. We need to stop hoping that it will just go away, that if we do not allow it into the walls of our schools then it does not exist. This as an educator scares me a lot more than many of the issues that we consider to challenges of todays education. The internet is not a fad, I am confident in predicting that it will not go away anytime soon.

D. Cannell

Read this image carefully.

Teach and Learn go hand in hand.

Want to build your own ambigram...

How to draw ambigrams

Interesting riddle

My answer is they all have a letter repeated..but I was wrong.

What do these words have in common...

Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Assess

Actual answer

Take the first letter and add it to the end, then read it backwards and it is the same word...

Cool eh.

April 30, 2009

Twitter talks

Twitter
Elearning to me means ________________________. Fill in the blank. TADO twitter question.
Answers

Innovation, change, options, and possibilities.

freedom to learn in an environment condusive to my learning style

Opportunity

Elearning to me means curiosity, flexibility and engagement with community of learners.

"a global opportunity to secure a seat for today's learner in THEIR generation's un-classroom."

Authentic tasks engaging my students with a real worldwide audience, not just their teacher.

Twitter
Would people agree that elearning has reached a pandemic level 5 in the education field...it has shown up in at least three countries????
Answer

Unfortunately, not spreading fast enough.

Borderline level six! :)

Twitter Follower comment...:)

Hi Darren from a Twitter follower!
LOVE your site - just visited for the first time today.
I wanted to let you know that I'll be sharing a link to it and the learning curve video with a group of faculty here engaged in a workshop series on Teaching Online. Also plan to save link to you on our conference support wiki. Many thanks for sharing your work on Twitter! Otherwise, I would not have found you!! (Creates an opportunity to chat with them a bit about growing their own PLN!).
Thanks again and keep up the great work - and tweets about it!

April 23, 2009

31 Days To A Better Blog - Day 15 « Virtual High School Meanderings

And when I look at this list, I think that Darren Cannell and I do 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10 already. I also think that we do 7 some of the time. One that we don't do at this stage, but I would be interested in doing at some point in the future is "8. You can guest post for each other." We also don't do 1, but I'm not sure that either of us need that at this stage - but you never know what will happen in the future.

So Darren Cannell, if you're reading this and I suspect you are, I would love to have your write a guest blog entry (or several guest blog entries as the spirit moves you).

If you have a topic you would like me to write about...I am there...I read your blog daily and it is great to see someone who is so involved in the American Education System still keeping his Canadian roots...love your blog.

We will never give feedback on posts prior to pressing publishing, I think that is more for the newbie bloggers who are still a little concerned about what they post.

I have vented via Skype and do appreciate your expertise in the K-12 area.

I think if and when I finish this PHD I will be looking to collaborate a lot more..but what we have done up until now has been way cool.

We have very similar taste when it comes to identifying what we think our viewers wish to see.

I have posted many of his idea and postings but more than that, reading the blog gives me idea and helps me decide where to go on any given day...

We have the same type of blog viewers for sure.

I do not know of another blog which mirrors my views, my viewer type or my interests as
Virtual High School Meandering

I am not really thrilled with his name for his blog, because he does not meander, he has focus.

Thanks for another post

31 Days To A Better Blog - Day 15 « Virtual High School Meanderings

April 22, 2009

A quote for the day

"The elegant perfect design called a tree.....It makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distils water, solar energy is its fuel, it makes complex sugar and food, micro climates, changes colors with the seasons and self replicates.....Why don't we knock that down and write on it."

Happy Earth Day

The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School office has gone completely paperless and we would like to challenge everyone to try something new.
We are starting an email campaign at SCCS to partner with as many schools, organizations and individuals as we can around the world, to add the following two "green" lines to their email signature:

Green Email Signature Initiative

April 10, 2009

To the Sky

A story built 140 characters at a time. If you are a twitter users...log on and add your line...add a hashmark "#tothesky" and I will add your line as I get it.

To the sky

It all started in a galaxy far far away, on the third planet from the sun. It was a beautiful blue planet, inviting like the arms of a parent after being away for too long. The beauty, was, however, deceiving. On that planet live a race of beings surrounded by 37 rings of galactic particles like the rings of an atom. It's been said that each ring is portal to a dark side of the galaxy. This beautiful strange race of beings called the 1st portal the Avani Galaxy ring and carried a small, woven brown sack filled with soil out of respect for its powers. They are the descendants of the Belnar clan and are a threatened race. Chancellor Drod is concerned of the forthcoming prophecy. The rings energy is insidiously strong, yet eerily magical. Whether the prophecy intimated apocalypse or utopia was a matter of controversy among the priests. Drod assumed the worst. Legend says that one of the rings can save them, but which one? Caution: the wrong one is doom. Clues are hidden in the others. There have been many throughout the generations who have made claims to hold the key to the rings, but none dared tempt fate knowing that the true holders of the keys often did so unknowingly. Those claiming powers searched for the Palivati, the unaware keepers of the key awaiting destiny. So when Lakmi, the beekeeper's daughter felt the bees' energy failing, she knew someone was searching, and they were approaching. Lakmi was not afraid, the key was safely hidden away in one of the hives. Lakmi was the chosen Pavilati guardian of the powers to unlock the rings secrets. She took this extrordinary task in stride. Being Pavilati was all she has ever known. It was her One True Purpose.

Maggda wake up tired. Another dream. Always the same. Rings, bees & strange key. She learned to ignore them long ago but this time he felt drawn toward the garden. Her neighbour had an orchard and a hive to pollinate it. A good harvest this year. Her thoughts wandered freely this morning and danced from idea to idea humming in the sun. She decided the only way to figure out what she needed to do next was to go the place where it had all started. Under the hive in her garden. She proceeded to place leaves on her eyes as she lay down in her garden underneath, what was sure to be, the answer. As she lay there she started to sleep only to be awakened by the harsh sound of an engine. An unidentifiable ancient automobile came rambling up the drive; a model her mother would've instantly recognized. She missed her. It's been already 10 years since she disappeared. That's when the strange dreams started. Could her mother be somehow involved in. The automobile came to an abrupt stop and a tall, dark and handsome man exited, his dark pentrating eyes roaming in her direction.

Authors

dcannell	TJWinger	delanotho	APfleegor	grammasheri
tee62	coelacanthro	bhs_sanderson	AdtGrg	montitanner
maggda	LoranneBrown	geoffcain	mycreativefling	ValPerk
dejadru	MrsMcMahon

April 5, 2009

Time to Celebrate

We need to stop and celebrate the awards that have happened this year at the cyber school. Ryan Hauber has won the Microsoft Innovative teachers award for the student lounge and will be representing Canada at Kuala Lumpur in June. This is the second year in a row for us winning the National Microsoft Innovative teacher award, Kelli Boklaschuk won it last year for her weather unit in elementary school.

To top off these two awards Reg Nakoneshny has just found out he won the BlackBoard Exemplary course award and hopefully will be attend and presenting his course in Washington DC. in July. I attempted to win this award way back in 2000 and was not even close...congrats to Reg on his course and his win I am so proud.
Cyber school is starting to stack up the awards and getting known more and more as a collection of teachers who will be push education into the next era...Holy crow you people make me proud to be able to say I get to work with you.

Yahooo for the cyber school.

Darren Cannell

April 1, 2009

How to make a teacher happy...

One of our students wrote a message to the cyber school teacher at Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School..tell me this didn't make Mr. Antonopoulos's day.

I took Physics 20 and 30 through cyber school from you and graduated from Holy Cross. I would like to thank you for providing a comprehensive guidance in the Physics 20 and 30 courses. I did very good in Physics 111 in the University. It surprised me when I found out I got the highest final mark in my section of that class. I consider myself a good student, but I have to say I am no physicist! Since 2/3 of the Physics 111 is based on review of Physics 20 and 30, it is important for me to let you know how much I gained from your courses. I think I benefited from your teaching. Thanks again.

Wow nice words...do you know a teacher from your past that you should get such a note from you????

March 31, 2009

My rant of the day.

Asking my staff to create video which I will place on my blog and on the website has created a swell of grumbling. I view this request as no different than asking a staff member to present to visiting grade eights in a high school. Our grade eights are on the world wide web. A lack of a visual presence on the world wide web by the staff is a lack of willingness to meet the students where they are. A conference presenter the other day said if you want to teach, meet the students where they are. Expecting them to meet us, smacks of the residential school program which was a mistake made in our past, we need to learn from our mistakes. They are called digital natives for a reason. We need to go to them to be respected and successful in educating them. To teach online you need to have an online presence, you need to attempt to understand the strengths and weakness of the net to effectively embrace it as a teaching tool and not just a delivery system When we take students out of their environment and force them into our environment (schools) and try to make them like us using the techniques of an industrial age, we are missing the point. Many schools of today do not teach the reality of the world, we (because I am an educator) need to change our schools to reflect reality. A cyber school has a mandate by its nature to push this agenda forward. If teachers are satisfied with recreating their face to face courses in a digital format then we will never meet the student where they currently live.

An online presence for a teacher is something that needs to be developed carefully, your personal life is yours, your professional life is and should be online. You are teaching in that venue. Just as you are expected to enter into a school and show the students your professional teacher image. Online teachers need to show their online professional image and yes they do need to have an internet presence to have credibility with the natives. Another lesson we learnt in the past. We do not want to change them we want to join them and educate them so they can be safe in the environment in which they live. The ostrich syndrome which many school are so skill at does not prepare them for the world. Sticking our heads in the sand will not remove the problems our students will face online and so the autonomy created within the four walls of a school need to be broken down to make them more worldly.

Many teachers in schools, digital or face to face have always had a problem because of the curriculum and the course content. If you think back to your school days the main things we remember is not that the content it is the other life skills we remember. We are now in a world where we will never be able to teach all the content, maybe the medium that we use to teach is the content. Through the content we need to teach our students to navigate in the shark infested waters of the net and the world in which they live. This is part of our jobs as online educators, we cannot be satisfied with the teaching just content.

A vision of K-12 students today

March 30, 2009

New Help Line

Thanks to Kelli we now have a new help line at the cyber school

We will keep you posted on how well it works.

March 24, 2009

TADO Picture Showcase

Over the last couple of months we have been putting together a gallery of copyright free images that we can use in our courses. By asking people in facebook to join the Teaching and Developing Online Fan group and share their images we have built a great collection. Thanks to Raylene for all her work in adding images to the collection. If you are on facebook join the group and add your images.

We hit the 250 members mark which is so exciting...
We have 1,069 images
We have added 636 to the TADO Picture Gallery and continue to add we will catch up soon...

Take a sec and check out the gallery...

TADO Picture Showcase

Feel free to comment and vote for your favourite images.

And last but not least keep adding those images...you have made a very cool collection so far...so keep them coming.

Yahooooo

Darren's TADO bookshelf

I have the following books in my office if anyone would like to borrow one stop by...

Dcannell's Shelf - Shelfari

March 23, 2009

An anthropological introduction to YouTube

March 16, 2009

A first attempt at a policy

In December 2000 we tried our hand at the first cyber school policy... I like the reference to a filing cabinet, so much for virtual...

Procedure for students who have changed School, Semesters, Course or drops.

1.) Write Name on List On Filing Cabinet.
2.)Get student to complete Application to Discontinue a Class Form.
Http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/drop.htm
3.) Print students marks. (place on filing cabinet)
4.) Print student tracking. (place on filing cabinet)
5.) Contact Home school. (See Cyber Contact list)

March 14, 2009

Some SCCS statistics. August 25 2000

August 25, 2000
The WWW Homepage.
Total page accesses...2178
Days in Operation...177.5
Hits per day...12
Netscape viewers...53%
MSIE...19%
Windows...95%
Macintosh...4%

Monday hits...16%
Tuesday hits...20%
Wednesday...21%
Thursday...16%
Friday...13%
Saturday...8%
Sunday...6%

Number of Registered students

Numbers
BJM Math 90...1 Info 10...5 Physics 30...4 English B30...7 Total...17
EDF..................0...................5.......................6........................5................17
ST JOE.............1...................7.......................3........................3................14
HC.....................1..................3.......................3........................1.................8
Others...............1..................3.......................0........................0.................4
ELEM.................8..................5.......................0........................0.................13
Total..................12.................29....................16.......................16...............73

Course Usage
English B30...6910 kb
Math 90...123245 kb
Physics 30...51637 kb
Info10...279264 kb

March 13, 2009

The 10-20-30 rule of powerpoint presenting

No more than 10 slides in a sixty minute presentation.
No more than 20 minutes of slide based information
No small than 30 font size

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki

March 5, 2009

Saskatchewan a jobs 'hot spot' in Canada

Home sweet Home.

Saskatchewan a jobs 'hot spot' in Canada - CNN.com

Do teenagers lack attention?

Ten years ago...

Virtual School: Impressions ( January 2000 )

Wow! Where to start? Overwhelmed ! Exactly what is this all about ? Internet web pages? HTML? WebCT? What is Darren talking about? Dave Elder actually understands this guy when he is talking?
Major learning curve ahead ! Needless to say the first month of this project was one that not only had me excited in being involved in such a project but also one that at times had me feeling somewhat apprehensive. Apprehensive in the sense that I was out of my element and that my computer knowledge was limited in being able to accomplish the task that lies ahead. Even though we did not have a place we could call home and the hardware had not as yet arrived the use of the computer in the Science area and the four Macs ( "Boo!" as Darren would say or "Cool!" would be Dave's thoughts on those machines) in the art area served a very useful purpose. First of all I was able to see and sort of figure out what WebCT was all about and how such a program would help me in putting the Physics course on line. Although a great deal of time is still needed for me to become familiar enough with WebCT to be able to accomplish as to what I think needs to be done to deliver a good physics course on line, I at least now know what is possible. Probably the biggest benefit gained during this month from a technical and course design perspective was the ability to browse the internet and find physics related sites. Some of these sites provided me with certain insights into how certain concepts in physics could be presented. Also certain images, and simulations found at some of these sites I will be able to incorporate into my course design to allow for a better development of key concepts. Links to certain physics sites that I found during this time will also be a useful tool for students as they learn about certain topics. The conference we attended in Saskatoon put on by the SSTA was useful in that it provided me with the opportunity to gain an insight into what is happening out there with regards to virtual schooling, particularly in places like Alberta. Although we did not gain any specific knowledge regarding the courses we are designing we did become aware of some of the issues related to virtual schooling, many of which are still to be resolved, particularly here in Saskatchewan. It was made obvious to me that many people are very apprehensive about the delivery of course in a virtual school setting but were willing to allow for such a service. Policies and controls to be established later as SaskED and some of the other players want a hand in all of this but as to exactly what that should be nobody seems to know for sure. As for our project we were assured by our administration that "full steam ahead" and not to worry about all the other groups or people as they are playing "catch up". As mentioned above the learning curve for me has been and will continue to be a large one to be able to complete this task. However, I realized very quickly that the support provided would be sufficient. The release time is a must and a valuable resource to allow a person to learn and in turn focus on the task at hand. Secondly the technical and computer knowledge support provided by Darren and Dave including their patience has been without question the most valuable resource that a so-called "course designer" like myself appreciates. Knowing what I now know and what needs to be accomplished would be an impossible task without the support of release time and advice from a person with the technical expertise and the vision of Darren. The other thing that I have found very rewarding has been the comradery and team approach towards this project. Had this not been the case I would have found this task very onerous and rather difficult to complete, particularly if I had to go at this alone. Sharing one's ideas, many challenges and even the frustrations one experiences with others that are very supportive makes life much simpler. In closing it is important to note that for my the challenge is still there and though I am still somewhat apprehensive I am very excited as to what we are about to accomplish.

Report filed, February 26th, 2000 Tony Antonopoulos

March 3, 2009

SCCS IGNITE IT AWARD Voting Support

SCCS has put in a nomination for a MSDN Ignite IT Award (To recognize and reward the efforts of Canadian IT Professionals and Software Developers with two grand prizes including Crystal trophies, Software Kits valued at $1,000 and $5,000 prizes.) for Cyber Tracker. Please view our submission on the site below and click on the Vote now button on the left hand side. You will need a hotmail or MSN messenger account to vote. Please send this to anyone you know who might be interested in voting for us!

http://www.microsoft.com/library/errorpages/smarterror.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/canada/igniteit-awards/view_submissiondetails.aspx

February 25, 2009

I think I am honoured - no pun intended.

Dear NCU PHD Education Honor Student: *******

Congratulations! Due to your outstanding scholastic achievements as an NCU learner in the field of education, you have been nominated for membership in Kappa Delta Pi, one of the largest and most prestigious educational honor societies in the world. Our chapter, Alpha Delta Epsilon, was installed at Northcentral University on June 15, 2007, and was the first chapter chartered by KDP at a virtual university. Additional information about our chapter may be found at http://www.kdp-ade.org or in our discussion folder in the 'Honor Societies' section of the NCU discussion board. *******

When seeking membership as a graduate student, a candidate must:
1.121 have full graduate standing at Northcentral University.
1.122 have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher for all graduate coursework completed.
1.123 exemplify worthy educational ideals.
1.124 express an intention of continuing in the field of education.
1.125 give evidence of leadership abilities.
1.126 have completed fifteen (15) or more semester hours of graduate work at Northcentral University.

Up here in Canada we do not know much about these Pies should I be honoured?

The Essay

February 23, 2009

TADO stats

Seems like a good week.
Weekly Stats Report: 16 Feb - 22 Feb 2009
Project: Teaching and Developing Online
URL: http://blog.scs.sk.ca/tado

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	9	58	21	18	24	19	9	158	23
Unique Visitors	9	32	15	17	20	14	9	116	17
First Time Visitors	9	27	12	14	16	12	7	97	14
Returning Visitors	0	5	3	3	4	2	2	19	3

February 21, 2009

Did you know 4

February 20, 2009

Did you know 4.0

February 17, 2009

List of Tips

This is a list of tips that I put together at the very beginning of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. In February 2 2000 these are the things that I thought were important.

If you are going to ask people their opinions, LISTEN.
Quality is infinitely better than quantity.
Have realistic expectations of people and programs. There are only 24 hours in a day, and we do have to sleep sometime.
Make sure that those you hire to lead technological changes are competent, and that you are clear as to what you want them to accomplish.
Set up contingency plans to fall back on.
Plan for upgrades and for your staff's outgrowing the technologies they have.
Know that change is a painful process and be ready for the bumps in the road to success.
Good communication is essential in the process.
People come before technology.
Take a step back from things every once in a while to view the overall picture.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
Know when to say when. Stress is caused by saying "No problem" to every request.
Don't expect others to become responsible for things they have no way of delivering.
Don't promise what you can't deliver.
Make sure you do not exclude members of the school; remember to accommodate the unique needs of the non-traditional and handicapped students.
Provide examples of forms in the plan. (physical layouts, surveys, evaluation)
Above all, be neat and organized. An easy-to-follow format is the best. Leave as much of the jargon, both educational and technological, as possible out of the plan. "Here's what we want to accomplish. Here is what we have. Here is what we want, and this is how we are going to do it." If you have to include them, make sure that a glossary of terms of any abbreviations, acronyms, and technological terms is included.
Be detail oriented. The best laid plans will go asunder by the little things that crop up.
A good plan is not determined by length.
Acknowledge people for their good work on a regular basis.
Hire technologically capable teachers. Many universities and colleges are now preparing teachers to use technology in the classroom. Take advantage of that capability.
Provide security for all equipment and virus protection for all networks and stand-alone computers.
Know the intended readers for the plan.
Spend a minimal amount of time on your soapbox.
Don't get into platform arguments. Let the committee and the software determine what is used where. These days it makes little difference what platform is used.
When at all possible, form business partnerships within the community or state to provide knowledge and financial help.

February 3, 2009

Lost Generation

January 23, 2009

Microsoft Canada Ignite IT Awards

Cyber tracker program was designed to fill the tracking holes left by the built in tracking tools found in most learning management systems, email and student attendance systems. Tracking on-line students is a confusing and time consuming task to prevent them from "falling through the cracks". Most on-line educators are allotted very little time to teach, track, and grade students. This program enables instructors, administration and counselors to view where a student is at all times during the course and easily communicate their concerns or accolades. The program is unique because it is web-based. The program, allows for an infinite number of communication components to be developed. The ability to customize the program to each individual educational facility by simply using their registration database or by using the registration database developed inside the program makes this program absolutely universal and global.

Microsoft Canada Ignite IT Awards

January 22, 2009

TADO Picture Showcase

This is the opening of the TADO picture showcase. These images are posted in Facebook by members of the group called Teaching and Developing Online Fans. These image are taken by the members and are copyright free. This is a great collection of awesome images which will continue to grow. If you are interested in having your image shown as a TADO image get into face book and post some images.

TADO Picture Showcase

January 21, 2009

Image of the day

I am starting a online photo gallery. This gallery will be a blog which will display, copyright free images submitted by whoever would like to contribute. From the submitted images and image a day will be chosen to be displayed in TADO. The teaching and developing online blog (TADO) is viewed by people from all over the world and will be an neat experiment for someone to get there favourite image on the web.

Do you have the next image of the day?

If you have a favourite image post it here in comments and I will move it over to the photo gallery.

January 20, 2009

Moved my email subscribe service

I have moved my email subscribe service to google feedburner. I have transfered all the subscribers from feedblitz. You will have to confirm the transfer.

Hope this causes no trouble for anyone.

Teaching and Developing Online QR Code

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging). QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone's browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks. Users can also generate and print their own QR Code for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR Code generating sites.

January 6, 2009

A survey and request for help.

I am collecting information from high school students by getting them to complete a survey...if you can help this process in any way that would be great.

We are starting to collect information about high school education, we would like to hear your opinion hence we have a new survey in the student survey area. This survey will ask your opinion about face to face high school. This collection of information is a world-wide survey of students, who better
to talk about high school education than high school students, join the movement.

Anyone can take the survey go to the following url:

Your voice survey

After you have done that check out the movement website:

Education Reform movement

January 5, 2009

Did you know? Technology

Feeling stressed? You ought to have a tantrum.

The end of the holidays, cold weather and economic gloom will make today one of the most stressful days of the year for returning to work.

But experts have come up with an unlikely remedy - throwing a tantrum.

Feeling stressed? You ought to have a tantrum, scientists say | Mail Online

January 2, 2009

YouTube - TADO custom player

Steven Downes helps elearning professionals with tips.

December 26, 2008

Let us hear your voice website.

A complete set of resources shown in a single website.

Let us hear your voice website

Let us hear your voice seesmic conversation.

The Let us hear your voice video

The Let us hear your voice wiki

The let us hear your voice wiki can be found at:

http://yourvoicehs.pbwiki.com/

Feel free to add your thoughts and quotes to the wiki...

Let us hear your voice.

December 24, 2008

Blogosphere help.

I am trying to spread the news around the blogosphere so if you can help get the word out by adding the following image to your blog and link back to the entry before this one, maybe we can get some students speaking out.

To add this image and hyperlink to your blog or website...Copy and paste this code

Your voice.

Let's hear your voice Challenge

There is lots and lots of research about post-secondary students views on education and how it needs to change to fit the students of today. What is missing is the high schools students views on education today. This challenge is designed to ask you the high school students or ex-high school students to share your opinion. We want to know what you think.
There is a pile of research out there on the world wide web that speaks to the difference of today students in the information age in comparison to the students of yesteryears.

The research produces a series of quotes.

1.)Beristo (2000) most face to face classroom presentation styles tend to reflect "teaching as telling and listening as learning, is very much like training"

2.)Anderson (2007) clarifies by stating "students are individuals who get taught. But learners are more actively involved in the learning process. Learners have active curiosities and take initiative"

3.)McKenzie (1998) states "student-centered learning can be time-consuming and messy, efficiency will sometimes argue for the Sage"

4.)Kirkwood (2001) describes globally educated people as "those who possess high-tech skills, broad interdisciplinary knowledge about the contemporary world, and adaptability, flexibility, and world mindedness to participate effectively in the globalized world"

5.)Hokanson (2007) states "if we teach it and believe in the power of education, technology is our friend. Ignorance is our enemy. Instead we should fear more the releasing of millions of ignorant students into the shark infested waters of the internet. They are but guppies in an ocean full of sharks. "

6.)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"

7.)Levine (2006) "the challenge facing education schools is not to do a better job at what they are already doing, but to do a fundamentally different job"

8.) Levine (2006) states. "teacher education research was subjective, obscure, faddish, impractical, out of touch, inbred, and politically correct, and that it failed to address the burning problems in the nation's schools."

9.) Roes (2001) confirm this fact and identify that "these changes are needed because of ever growing pressure in the school systems themselves, in which knowledge work becomes ever more important, and partly because of the very information and communication technologies which are transforming our economies"

10.) Levin and Arafeh (2002) state "nonetheless, students themselves are changing because of their use of and reliance on the Internet. They are coming to school with different expectations, different skills, and different resources. In fact, our most Internet savvy students told us that their schools, teachers and peers are at times frustratingly illiterate, naïve, and even afraid of the online world. Indeed, students who rely on the Internet for school who cannot conceive of not using it for their schoolwork may ultimately force schools to change to better accommodate them"

11.)"We have learned to 'play school'. "We study the right facts the night before the test so we achieve a passing grade and thus become a successful student." "It's not attention deficit - I'm just not listening!" "When I go to school, I have to 'power down.'"(District, 2007)

12.)The current approach to education has resulted in a dropout rate of nine point four percent (2005) and only twenty-eight percent of 12th grade high school students believe that school work is meaningful. Twenty one percent believe that their courses are interesting and a mere thirty-nine percent believe that school work will have any bearing on their success in later life. (Wirt, et al., 2002)

Let your voice be hear!

Youtube...Create a video speaking to a single quote from above. (you can make as many videos as you wish)
The goal of this challenge is to create videos that are 20 seconds to maximum 2 minutes.

Facebook...Join the group. Add a comment.

TADO...Comment on the entry

Add the "Your voice" image to your website or blog.

Sccs student lounge...upload a video, add a thread in the discussion forum.

December 22, 2008

Dewey says it all.

40 inspirational speeches in 2 minutes

My favourite is Star Trek...Pichard rules.

December 21, 2008

Interesting fact

Doctor Wesch makes the following statement ...this is some amazing facts.

ABC TV network and the other three major networks since 1948 in 60 years as created 1.5 million hours of material.
YouTube in the last 6 months has produced more without producers.
9232 hours of material being uploaded a day.
that is equal 385 channels on all day or 200,000 3 minute videos not mass media, most of these videos are meant to be viewed by less than 100 people. 88 percent of this material is new and original content that is better than all the networks.

This year 70 exabytes (70 billion gigabytes) of material will be created this year. (this is 518,000 libraries of congress) 12,000 gigabytes per person or a stack of books 350 feet tall, less than .01% of this will be on paper

December 16, 2008

TADO Cartoon of the Day widget

Wowzio

grab this · education blog

December 13, 2008

The new TADO design.

After a full week of work the new design of TADO is starting to appear. Thank you muchly to Kelli Boklaschuk for her help in the design and she knows I do appreciate all the work. Thanks a lot…at this time we are accepting suggestions and comments about the new design. Let us know if there is something you would like to see. I am still looking for a special archive design to use for the cartoon archive so if anyone has any suggestions let me know.

D. Cannell

December 4, 2008

Welcome to the new Home.

TADO has a new home and design. Thank you to Kelli Boklaschuk and the staff at Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School for the assistance in the transfer.

TADO is home.

November 30, 2008

A benchmark month.

I have been writing in this blog for years (since 2003) and I have never in all those months placed an entry in every single day...this month is a first...an entry every day...yahooo. I have gotten as close as only missing one day in August 2007 and two days in a few other months but never every day.

This month I also found out that the movable type server at University of British Columbia will be moving to word press. I have been proud to be part of the U of BC server for the last five years and would like to thank them for all the support over the years. I will be moving to the server at the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School division and will be redesigning the blog. If anyone out there has a template or design they think would look good on TADO, I am open to suggestions.

Thanks again to all for the support, nomination, comments and time over the years, a new era for TADO will begin soon.

D. Cannell

I am honoured...thanks you.

I’d like to nominate Teaching and Developing Online for the 2008 Edublog Awards in three different categories:

6. Best teacher blog
8. Best educational tech support blog
9. Best elearning / corporate education blog

TADO - Edublog Nomination � Virtual High School Meanderings

November 26, 2008

My Writing type...???

I typed the url from TADO into the Typeanlyzer and...

The analysis indicates that the author of TADO is of the type:

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. He is especially attuned to the demands of the moment is masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. He generally prefer to think things out for himself and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanic enjoys working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in his work and personal life. He enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as a policeman and firefighter.

Analysis

This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing.

I have not been nominated yet :(

Now this edublog award I have not been nominated for...but it is an award that I won in 2004.

The 2008 Edublog Awards! The Edublog Awards

I was nominated.

I was nominated in two categories for the Canadian Blog Awards.

Teaching and Developing Online was nominated for the Best Professional/Career Blog.

DDC art gallery was nominated for the Best Photo/ Art Blog.

If you are so moved and feel like voting check it out.

Canadian Blog Awards

November 18, 2008

Re:post from March 7, 2005

Here I am three years later and with all my tracking tools, I still have no idea how many people are reading my words...but since I write this for my teaching staff at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School it matters not...but I thought I would ask the question again and see if anyone out there has found a better way to track people...and what the heck is an A-list blog...where is this list and how do I get on it?

Anyways here is the post from three years ago...feel free to comment.

A few things have been happening on my blog that makes me wonder ..."How many people are actually reading my blog?"

Every once in a while I write a postings that is a view through my cyber glasses. These postings are uniquely mine or in other words written by me. They are not the interesting sites that I posted to the blog that I find as I am surfing around the net. These are "posting through my cyber glasses" and as they appear on other people's blogs or on websites it makes me wonder how many people are actually seeing the material posted to my blog.

I will clarify, I posted a site the other day that I found on a Chinese blog and tried to translate it into English. It caught my eye because my name appeared in it. In the posting to my blog I requested some help in translating the entry. Within three hours I got a response back and a second response less than half hour after that. I loved it, but it also got me to thinking.

According to my hit counter on my site, I get about 14 hits a day, the chances of someone seeing the posting and commenting on it within four hours are very slim when you only have about 14 hits on the site a day. The chance that two of those 14 would speak chinese and comment are slim. Am I way off on the number of people who are reading the blog? Maybe my hit counter is no good? Maybe RSS feeds account for more hit on the site than I know?

There was a lot of talk about "A-List" blogs a few weeks ago and it got me to thinking...

I have no idea how many people are actually reading my blog.

I am looking for suggestions on how to figure out this question and how to increase the readership. If the RSS feeds are the most popular way people are reading my blog, how do I go about capitalizing on this fact?

My cyber glasses need some help in seeing.

November 16, 2008

Cloud Computing

I think this is the next wave in computing and we may as well join in before it gets to far down the path.

Cloud computing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

November 13, 2008

My Space numbers

If my space was a country it would be the 8th largest in the world. (Between Russia and Nigeria) Are we comfortable with our students growing up in a country with no adults.

My Space stats

Over 70 yrs old .................................................................3.20%
51-70 yrs old......................................................................0.48%
41-50 yrs old.......................................................................0.48%
31-40 yrs old......................................................................1.34%
22-30 yrs old......................................................................8.49%
18-21 yrs old......................................................................22.80%
14-17 yrs old......................................................................60.01%

Tim Hawes at the ECOO conference says "This is a concern."

October 31, 2008

Continuous Improvement Framework

The October CIF was to get the staff to embrace a web 2.0 tool called zune.network.

It is the end of the month and some of our cyber school staff are not members of the zune network yet.

A quote comes to mind...I believe this completely...so it concerns me that the online teachers who are leaders in our system are not embracing the Web2.0 tools. (if you are not aware of what web2.0 tools are, do some surfing)

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” (taken from a keynote).

Our students send a large portion of their online time in web2.0 tools, please tell me you are not one of those teachers who are not concerned about being able to relate to their students. You should be surfing the web, so you know what it offers, you should know what the students are doing. Your commitment to online education is great but being a cyber school teacher means more than just logging into webct and cyber tracker. You need to join the internet, surf kids surf. Invite the web into your course and in turn meet the students where they live.

And invite me as a friend in the zune network.

Geeks unite...become web2.0 versed...oh and don't forget to teach.

October 28, 2008

Introducing a new word "dalking"

Dalking

I would like to introduce a new word into the english language. It will cover any form of digital talking...email, discussion board, video conferencing etc.

I find myself wanting to say in email as an example I will talk to you, write to you, email you in the morning...would it not be better to have one word...

Dalk to you later

It was nice Dalking to you

I Dalked to you last week about this

Spead this word through the blogosphere and lets see if it will have wings and catch on...anyways thanks for letting me dalk.

SCCS International presentation day

Today is international presentation day. During the year we have lots of visitors coming by the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School for tours and to ask us questions about the program. Today just happens to be an extra busy day. We have a team us down in Phoenix United States presenting at a conference and a team of visitors from Australia coming to the pod in Saskatoon. It will be interesting to compare the questions from the two groups to see if there are any geographical differences.

Yippeee for international presentation day.

October 23, 2008

Add yourself to the map above.

This is a good chance to advertise you blog on my map. The map is a new one, I liked the way it looks and adjusts to the width of the page. So, if you are a TADO reader or you have a blog...add it to the map above and because it is a new map...you will stand out.

Let us populate this new map...I will have to see if I can find a way to carry over all the others from my old map...I should be able to do that...hmmm

Oh well another job for the morning.

October 22, 2008

Ok, Bill Gates when you read this...

Bill, when you read this message, I am very interested in being part of this think tank idea of yours. I can be reached at any time through this blog or send me an email at: Dcannell@gscs.sk.ca

All you bloggers out there unite... If have a blog, help me out here and post this to your blog. You know, just in case Bill doesn't read this. Like that will happen, I know he reads it all the time. Bill, I am your Canadian man. I mean that in purely a work way, I have great ideas, my wife say so... so you know it must be true.

Well, thats my resume, give me a call.

Bill Gates' new venture: A think tank? | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

The most terrifying video You'll ever see

October 21, 2008

New map banner

I have decided to add a new map banner. If you are a frequent visitor to TADO add yourself to the map. Add your blog to the map. I would just like to get a better feel of the community that reads TADO... Maybe this will be the way.

And so the trail and error system continues.

Plus it looks lame with only my face scrolling across the bottom, that we need to change.

In advance thanks for adding your name.

D. Cannell

October 16, 2008

The eyeballing game

Interesting...I scored 6.28 on my first try...will do it again.

The eyeballing game

October 15, 2008

Spooky, motion where there is none.

October 3, 2008

TADO Map

It is so cool to have people add their name to the map, it is nice to see the world wide readership. Thanks to all who added their pin to my map.

September 30, 2008

The Zune network...kinda cool

September 20, 2008

Typing test results.

My view of typing test results are...

If I am fast...well then yahooo....

If I am slow...it is not how fast you type it is what you type...

You can quote me on that.

September 17, 2008

Internet/Social Networking Safety

Social Networking is a valuable tool for teaching our digital learners. By shifting the focus from banning social networking sites to teaching students how to interact safely, we can use this tool effectively in our digital classrooms. Here are some sites that have great resources for teachers regarding Internet and social networking safety.

Http://www.TeacherTube.com
Http://www.cybertip.ca
Http://www.kidsintheknow.ca
Http://www.media-awareness.ca
Http://www.badguypatrol.ca
Http://safety.sympatico.msn.ca
Http://www.onlinesafetytoolkit.com
Http://www.elmer.ca
Http://www.opp.ca
Http://onlinesafetytips.blogspot.com/

Taken from Education Computing Organization of Ontario

August 27, 2008

We are hiring a new registrar at the cyber school.

You have to live in Saskatoon for this because I will want to see your smiling face.

ST. PAUL’S R.C.S.S.D. #20

NOTICE OF JOB OPENING - COMPETITION #2268-08-071

EMPLOYEES OF THE SCHOOL DIVISION ARE ADVISED OF THE FOLLOWING JOB OPENING:

JOB CLASSIFICATION: On Line Learning Registrar

WORK CENTRE: Cyber School (Holy Cross High School)

DATE SUBMITTED TO SCHOOLS: August 27, 2008

JOB SUMMARY: A permanent 10 month registrar position providing administrative support, web support using various web 2.0 programs and technical support as well as troubleshooting for online users. Applicant must be comfortable working in a paperless environment.

QUALIFICATIONS:
As per Board Policy; In addition, preference will be extended to applicants who have:
• Certificate/diploma from a recognized training program.
• Microsoft Office Specialist Certificate an asset.
• A minimum of two years related experience.
• Good working knowledge of computers, web 2.0 tools, blogging, word processing, database maintenance, Web CT, MAT Software, networking and Excel.
• Demonstrated bookkeeping skills.
• Good organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work well with others.
• A global understanding of computer applications/web programs and a web presence.

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT:
• As per Collective Agreement.
• 7.0 hrs/day, 210 days/year schedule
• To begin a.s.a.p.
• Salary range - $16.72 - $19.74 per hour

APPLICATION PROCEDURES:
• Written applications should be directed to Human Resource Services (Fax: 659-2012). PLEASE REFER TO COMPETITION NUMBER WHEN APPLYING.
• Electronic applications (INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY) can be submitted through the Web Portal under “Employee Self-Serve  Employment Opportunities”.
• APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN 4:30 P.M., SEPTEMBER 3, 2008.

August 21, 2008

Who has been visiting TADO blog ...

August 19, 2008

Education in five minutes...works for me.

Thanks to Stephen Downes... this made me laugh.

If you have been following TADO

If you have been following TADO this summer you will have noticed the postings have followed a certain format. I have been posting the student's opinions to a series of questions that we ask them during the school year. I hope people have enjoyed the responses. We are about a week away from starting another school year and are developing the surveys that we will use this year.

If you have a burning question that you would like to ask k-12 students...drop me a comment and I will see if I can get it into one of our surveys.

August 15, 2008

Ode to Joy

July 16, 2008

Cyber Teacher's Comment

I think that without fail a cyber school teacher improves as a face to face teacher. Using the latest research and actively searching for new ways to teach our students is part of being a cyber school teacher. This can only help our face to face classes. In addition the freedom and creativity required to teach a cyber school class forces one to think of interesting ways to share difficult concepts. This often involves the use of specialized software which often involves collaboration with other cyber school teachers. Staying current is a necessity and it becomes infectious.

Being open to change and the willingness to work very hard to create a cyber school class is rewarding, exciting, often frustrating, and worth all the work!

July 14, 2008

Cyber Teacher's Comment

The first thing that should be mentioned is that it is a great opportunity to work with and interact with teachers and colleagues who are true professionals and are not afraid to push the envelope when it comes to being innovative in their teaching. As a result of this collaboration new skills are learned both in terms of computer programming and more importantly in developing better teaching techniques. Further to this once an online course is developed it also becomes a valuable resource to your regular classroom students by providing them with access to it. Student have benefitted greatly from such a resource.

With respect to teaching students, the gratification one gets in seeing your students taking on the responsibility for their learning and succeeding as independent learners as they become engaged in a program that you have developed. The ability to learn on your own with little assistance from a teacher or an instructor is a life long skill that can benefit someone in a variety of ways.

Cyber School has literally opened up the world in terms of the people one gets the opportunity to work with. As a teacher you are no longer confined to teaching only students who are located in your community. One is able to interact with students from different locations who are of different ages and also a variety of cultural backgrounds. An enrichment opportunity for both students and teachers . Your classroom has literally become “the world”.

In terms of “pitfalls”, time is the key factor. Time is of essence as one tries to learn the many programs necessary to develop a quality online course and of course to continue to maintain it and improve it.

July 13, 2008

Cyber Teacher's Comment

The advantages of being involved in the Saskatoon Cyber School are many for me. I have been at Cyber School for a few years now, and the best thing about it is the flexibility it gives me. Having a young family, the format of the Cyber School allows me to do my teaching when it works best. I no longer have an 8:00 to 4:00 job; the work gets done when it fits into my schedule.

It helped me in my face-to-face school as well because it has allowed me to introduce new and exciting aspects in my classroom. A Cyber School class is always being tweaked and updated with new elements, and as a Cyber teacher I am always learning new things, and many times I have introduced these new technologies and discoveries to my students, and it always enhances face-to-face classes. My cyber position keeps me current with my students.

I can't really think of any disadvantages for working at the Cyber School. You have to be on top of your Cyber class and students because it is open all day, everyday, and you have to be motivated to keep on redefining your Cyber class. It is never 'complete' because there are always new things to add and update. This does take time, but this is also the reason why the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School is leading the way for online education.

For me, being a Cyber School teacher has been nothing but a positive experience. We have a strong, cohesive staff. We have a wonderful mixture of teachers from all over the division and each one of us are ready and willing to put in the extra effort to keep the school on the cutting edge. I can't imagine my career without the Cyber School.

June 23, 2008

May your day, be a Shay Day.

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."
Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.
"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats the least fortunate amongst them.

June 20, 2008

Paulsen Quote response

I was pleased to follow your blog series of "Paulsen qotes" in which you disseminated my pointed statements widely.

I have also seen that you embed YouTube videos in the blog. Therefore, you may be interested in embeding some of the statements I have enjoyed playing with lately.

All the best
Morten Flate Paulsen
Professor of Online Education
http://home.nki.no/morten/

June 11, 2008

Computer training fun

I have seen this video in a couple of presentations...it has made me giggle each time.

Check it out.

June 5, 2008

ESET Smart Security Ad

I was reading an ad about an anti-virus program which displays a robotic thinker (You know like the statue)

and it has written in bold letters...

Imagine what you could do if you could predict the future.

We did.

I read this the first time, thought about it, then read it again.

What a cool statement.

What would you do if you could predict the future?

May 29, 2008

A Pearl of Wisdom

The following is a pearl of wisdom from the conference I am currently attending. It is a conference on innovation and one of the speakers was Arnold Wasserman and he said to help one innovate it is necessary "Sometimes you have to get out of your own Sandbox".

Arnold Wasserman is the chairman of the Idea Factory in San Francisco and Singapore.

May 26, 2008

Learning to change

This is one very interesting video

May 20, 2008

Does anyone know the artist...

I am trying to track down the artist for this alien...I would like to use the image in our pod as the trainer for our virtual training center. If you know the artist, can you drop me a comment.

Thanks in advance.

May 7, 2008

Time to Review with gas prices climbing

All these examples do NOT imply that gasoline is cheap;
It just illustrates how outrageous some prices are....
You will be really shocked by the last one!!!!

Think a gallon of gas is expensive?

This makes one think, and also puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 ... $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19 ..........$9.52 per gallon
Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 .... $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray 16 oz $1.25 ......... $10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 ......... $33.60 per gallon
Vick's NyQuil 6 oz $8.35 ... $178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 .. $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 ...... . $25.42 per gallon
Scope 1.5 oz $0.99 .....$84.48 per gallon
And this is the REAL KICKER...
Evian water 9 oz $1.49..........$21.19 per gallon!

$21.19 for WATER
And the buyers don't even know the source .

(Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Ever wonder why computer printers are so cheap?

So they have you hooked for the ink.

Someone calculated the cost of the ink at................

You won't believe it...................
But it is true........................
$5,200 a gal. (five thousand two hundred dollars)
So, the next time you're at the pump,
Be glad your car doesn't run on
Water, Scope, or Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, NyQuil
Or , Printer Ink!!!!!

May 3, 2008

We asked our Teacher/Developers.

Question asked in a Discussion Board

Is it necessary for every course in SCCS to contain a discussion board?

Justify your answer.

Here's what we discussed:

Discussion Board Positives-
-A great place to promote and encourage communication
-For students' opinions and thoughts, and the defence of them
-Still some opportunity for use even with the 150 day schedule
-helps instructor guide and evaluate learning process and provides feedback for students
-There is a place for private discussion boards

Discussion Board Negatives-
-150 day schedule is not conducive to meaningful discussion
-tedius to monitor
-subject sensitive (math)
-burden on an already content-heavy course
-forced disucssion worse than none at all

Extras-
-shouldn't be mandated, but should still remain an option
-new tech? Voice discussions?
-One online teachers states: he is a lover, not a typer. He would rather call just to hear your voice...

"Maybe after this CIF... I may learn something..." Another online teacher.

Thanks to Ryan for summarizing.

May 2, 2008

We are into budget time.

I think this image is a great one showing the education dollar in our society.

April 30, 2008

New Office WOW ideas

I have been searching websites and I hope you the blogosphere can help me or point me in the right direction. My name is Darren Cannell I am the administrator of the biggest cyber school in Saskatchewan. We are in the fortunate situation where we will be moving our office at the end of this school year. This unique moving situation will allow us to develop a office which will meet the needs of the administration and teachers of the cyber school both physically and virtually. The goal of the physical office is more administrative than teacher related and needs to be a WOW office. It needs to make people stop and go WOW this is the cyber school. The virtual side of the office needs to be designed to coordinate the admin and the teachers to effectively run what we think is the best cyber school in the country.

We are contacting such companies as Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Nortel, SaskTel and Blackboard to see if they have any suggestions about the design and look of said virtual and physical office and was wondering if anyone out there might have some WOW ideas and designs.

We need to WOW the local, international and universe visitors that we will be hosting this up and coming year.

April 28, 2008

Blue Lighting Up The Human Brain At Work

We are thinking about using blue lights in our new pod...this might be a cool side effect.

Blue Lighting Up The Human Brain At Work

Combating "Birds of a Feather" Syndrome

Check out the follow-up I (Michelle Martin) wrote here--It might clarify what I meant to say in the original post.

The Bamboo Project Blog

I always like it when authors comment on their works...Thanks Michele

April 25, 2008

The ultimate administration cyber office

This would be my ultimate administration office, it would have a rubber floor which would allow us to move the electrical and network jacks where it is needed and a theatre training center to bring together teachers/developers and visitors.

April 24, 2008

Another reason why cyber schools are becoming so popular.

School clique banned 'ugly' girls - Queensland - BrisbaneTimes

April 22, 2008

I want a pair of these.

For use at home of course.

This—what's the word I'm looking for?—aberration of a pair of pants designed by Erik de Nijs (nope, me neither) is, I guess, designed for the Geek at Heart. They incorporate keyboard, mouse and a pair of knee-height speakers.

April 15, 2008

Images from Innovative Teacher Conference Hanoi

The following are images from the Microsoft Regional Innovative Teachers' Conference in Hanoi Vietnam. We also stop in Hong Kong which is the first image.

Ngong Ping Plateau Hong Kong

Three hundred plus year old tree at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi

Seems like teaching has not changed... image in the first university in Hanoi.

April 9, 2008

Is the government helping?

Is the Canadian government helping or hindering the globalization of education?

By giving complete control of education to the province has the government helped with the global world. Are we falling behind countries that had a unified approach to how the country deal's with others? Do we need to decide what and how we share our educational expertise and materials? Are we spinning our wheels by all of us trying to do the same thing, and some doing a good job and some not.

April 1, 2008

April 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.

April CIF is here.

The goal: Is to create a 30 second to 2 minute video that can be displayed on the cyber school web site and a second video with be displayed in the overview section of your course.

http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/CIF/april.htm

March 31, 2008

Invited the Queen to visit...

I sent an invitation to our Queen to come visit the cyber school...she cannot make it this time...which is too bad, I did want to meet her. But she did read the material we sent her and she said it was interesting.

Remember it never hurts to ask.

March 16, 2008

DDC Art Gallery

Since I let SaskGallery domain end, I have not had any place to display my art work. Well, that has come to an end. I have launched the DDC Art Gallery. I only have three galleries so far so check it out.

Leave lots of comments....Thanks all, hope you enjoy.

DDC Art Gallery

March 5, 2008

4 and 8 are all the numbers

It is quite interesting that all numbers can be created by using only two numerals - 4 and 8.

March 3, 2008

March Continuous Improvement Framework

March CIF is here.

The goal: Display information on the front page or web links area in course content of your course that is updated automatically. Giving the students a glimpse at what is available on the internet.

http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/CIF/march.htm

February 28, 2008

Launch the new SCCS website

Today we launched our new cyber school website, this blog driven website is a technology wonder. Congrats to Kelli Boklaschuk for her work on the site.

Welcome to the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School

February 26, 2008

Administrator ID card

I have found my ID card.

February 21, 2008

Why thank you very much.

I am honoured to make the list but even more honoured by your words....Thank you

Teaching and Developing Online by Darren Cannell. Darren is part of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. Darren is also apparently secretly the world's first nuclear-powered blogging machine. That's gotta be the case because there's no other way he could post as frequently and interestingly as he does.

Blackboard Educate Innovate: The Blog Habit

February 20, 2008

Made myself an avatar.

February 6, 2008

Some very very good points (part two)

A successful union of information technology and systemic reform of K-12 education requires a renewed commitment to teachers in the nation's schools. If teachers are to become the students' empowered managers and resource guides for the broader world of information available through networks, they must have opportunities for professional development to take on this new role.

Investment in teachers today for all forms of professional development is woefully inadequate. While their access to technology in the classroom and at home is growing, it is at far too slow a pace and at a level of financial commitment too low to address the needs. Nor can this shortfall be met by relying on a new generation of younger teachers that are more computer literate than their predecessors. That strategy is not consistent with systemic reform.

Teachers must be offered opportunities for coursework in information technology and the opportunity to engage in building links in their communities where experience with technology is already in place. Students must be brought into the reform strategy as they are experienced mentors in the emergent world of cyberspace. School systems that want to change must promote professional development of teachers with the same commitment they make to hardware and software availability and network access.

Through recent history there have been two views of technology. The first sees technology as available predominantly to the economically advantaged. The second sees technology as a means of lowering barriers between the financially well off and those less economically fortunate.

History suggests that the latter is most often the relationship of technology and society. Major technologies deployed today, such as the airplane, saw early acceptance by those with financial resources, but increasingly and especially in recent decades have become much more available, as evidenced by the wide use of air travel. Electronic technologies more than any in the past have spread rapidly at much lower costs. Today games played by children are purchased and played across all socioeconomic groups.

Though poor neighborhoods and families face daunting challenges, technology deployed in education can help remove inequities between the schools of the inner city and the suburbs, between cities and rural districts, and inequities faced by people with physical disabilities and by Native Americans. Technology can become the force that equalizes the educational opportunities of all children regardless of location and social and economic circumstance. This should be the national goal.

With more than 23 million computers in American homes, the consumer demand for educational and entertainment products and services has created a substantial economic market that is surpassing the professional and business markets for new information technologies. This new and quickly growing market is supporting new ventures and services and is transforming the companies that helped create the information revolution.

Expansion and turbulence within the entertainment industry, the textbook publishing industry, and the computer hardware and software industry are translating K-12 educational possibilities into K-12 educational realities. Educators, parents, and students are quickly learning with their home computers what new products and services offer. And as the cost of buying and using these new products drops, these consumers are building a base of experience that will contribute to lifelong learning.

Businesses and venture capital are attracted to good ideas, and the new markets for educational technologies are already drawing considerable attention. But for these investments to pay off they must lead to products and services that are both interesting and based on national standards and systemic reform.

The potential for crossover between the educational and business systems is great. Educators can use new technologies to invest in learning activities, while venture capitalists can invest in educational products and services as a way of developing new markets. Children can gain access to interesting educational technologies, educators can benefit from children who are more interested in learning, and investments made today will produce both short-term and long-term economic returns for the companies and individuals who make them.

Cognitive research of recent decades has shown that earlier theories of learning did not take into account the intuitive capability that young children have to process complex thoughts, even in the absence of basic skills traditionally instilled in the young as "building blocks" of learning. Nor did earlier theories recognize the extent to which complex learning skills begin developing at preschool ages.

The innate learning capabilities of the young are now being joined with interactive learning skills achieved through encounters with game and other information technology. The new challenge for education is twofold: First, what has already been learned about learning must be applied to aid the general teaching and educational reform effort. Second, while systemic reform goes forward, research into the changes in learning posed by interactive technologies must be vigorously supported so tomorrow's schools will profit from improved understandings of learning in the information age.

Traditionally the federal government and a few philanthropic foundations have been the sources of support for cognitive research by scientists and scholars. These institutions must be encouraged to support research that will improve our understanding of how the children of the information age will learn.

Some very very good points

Children have always been explorers, born with the ability to interact and learn about the world. But children today are growing up in a different world. Those between the ages of 3 and 18-and especially children entering school today-are being hailed as the "Nintendo Generation." They live in a world that is increasingly interactive, communications intensive, and knowledge based. They are standard bearers in the technological revolution, having never known anything else. Because of their ease in and with the information age, society needs their active involvement and interaction.

The changes going on today create an opportunity and necessity for a transformation in the way our schools function and our children are taught. If we cannot teach our children how to play and work in this world, our children will remain at risk. Education must be based on a model that is appropriate for an information-driven society. We must prepare children for a future of unforeseeable and rapid change.

Home entertainment and video game technology is ubiquitous, creating a customer base that dwarfs that of the business market. The size of the consumer market has allowed manufacturers to offer sophisticated hardware and software at greatly reduced unit costs. The processors in even simple appliances like televisions and audio compact disk players have the capacity of business systems of just a few years ago. And in many ways-particularly with regard to the graphics and sound that are so engaging to children-home video game systems outstrip even current business systems.

The huge amounts of technology already in the hands of children offer the education community a low-cost way to bring technology into the classroom, in addition to the accepted approach of relying on more expensive systems from the business market. If accepted by educators, the convergence of superior educational software designed for business computers and the problem-solving approaches of game systems could prove a powerful force in K-12 education.

A national and international digital network called the Internet currently ties together millions of people electronically around the world. Over the next decade electronic networks will rapidly evolve to provide information, services, and interaction to virtually all Americans. They will encompass the telephone system, cable television, wireless communications, shopping, libraries, higher and continuing education, and other services now provided in person. This evolution will be fueled by public policies designed to foster competition, equity, and individual rights. It will also be fueled by massive private investment in infrastructure and content.

The Internet, which is now rooted largely in institutions of higher education, has tremendous potential to change K-12 education. Yet today, despite promising starts in some schools, that potential remains largely untapped. As the network's focus shifts from institutions to individuals, ubiquitous access will become a practical tool for education both at home and in schools.

The Internet is one prototype of the information superhighway. A reflection of many communities and individuals, it has been built upon both public and private initiatives. It provides a means for collaboration and research not bound by walls, distance, or time.

The Internet is a key element in reinventing K-12 education. Children and adults alike who have access find that the Internet's boundless information resources and communications capabilities are not only enlightening but fun.

But for the Internet to be successfully used in teaching and learning, the 16,500 school districts across America need both to have access to it and to be able to use it. Both the public and private sectors have an opportunity to expand access to the Internet, linking our nation's schools, libraries, universities, research centers, private companies, and homes. Phone lines, interactive cable television, satellite links, and fiber optic cable all should be options for connecting to the net.

For more than 200 years, from the founding of the 13 colonies in the 1600s until well after the Civil War, the nation's educational needs were largely met through the model of the one-room school. As the nation urbanized and industrialized in the latter part of the 1800s, today's factory model of K-12 education emerged. As the nation enters the next century, technology allows us to consider a new model of education, one that couples classroom learning and resources to education resources found quite literally throughout the world.

In the one-room school and in today's factory-model schools, the teacher is the heart of the education enterprise. In the new model of education, the teacher will emerge as the mentor, guide, and broker to the world of knowledge made accessible by technology.

In response to the many reports of serious inadequacies in U.S. schools, national thinking about the state of K-12 education underwent a remarkable change in the 1980s. The governors of various states emerged at the forefront of educational reform, turning the call for action into measurable changes within their states. By decade's end, the governors and President Bush had agreed to establish standards and performance goals to be in place by the year 2000-a process that has been formalized in the Goals 2000 legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.

In contrast to earlier reform activities, today's systemic reform efforts are broad-based, deeply rooted, and cognizant of the need to have national standards implemented through local reform. They recognize the need to support all components of the educational system consistently and continuously.

Over this same period information technology has moved from an era of mainframes to local area networks and network connectivity. By coupling the wider use of technology in education to the systemic reform effort and by using the emerging curriculum standards as guides to the development of educational software, new models of K-12 education can be catalyzed.

February 5, 2008

Saskatchewan Technology

Recent findings:

After having dug to a depth of 10 meters last year, New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, California scientists dug to a depth of 20 meters, and shortly after, headlines in the LA Times newspaper read: 'California archaeologists have found traces of 200 year old copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers.'

One week later, 'Moose Jaw Times Herald', a local newspaper in Saskatchewan reported the following:

'After digging as deep as 30 meters in sagebrush fields near Moose Jaw, Oley Johnson, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Oley has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Saskatchewan had already gone wireless.'

January 30, 2008

The Cyber School Continuous Improvement Framework

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 16, 2008

Embrace E-Learning Presentation

Here is a presentation about embracing e-learning.

Download file

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

December 12, 2007

Answer to the worlds hardest riddle.

I ran across two answers the first was:

No
Most young children accept the fact they don't know the answer to everything, Harvard grads do not I guess. I said this answer...NO....the last sentence of the the riddle is the question:
Can you guess the riddle? to which I answered NO.

The second right answer I found was found in a poem by Neil Gaiman:

TIME

The time has come,
winter is here
and those yellow bears disappear.

The time has past
as man looks back with a sigh
and a tear in his eye.

As time is held
boys cross their legs
but of course the toilet begs

As time marches on
Girls loose their blush
and swap a comb for their brush

As time passes
For those held high
their end is nigh

As time catches up
Everyone is equal
when we get to the final sequel

As time turns
Without it we have flour and water
With it we have breakfast for my daughter

As time revolves
How does one turn water and wine
into something so fine

As time runs out
The more in a minute you try and squeeze
the less you can do with ease.

As time ticks
All the time that has past
man cannot comprehend something so vast.

December 11, 2007

In the News

The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School since its
inception has received a large amount of media attention.
The following is a sample of some this attention.

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School - In the News

December 10, 2007

THE WORLDS HARDEST RIDDLE!!!

I turn polar bears white
And I will make you cry.
I make guys have to pee
And girls comb their hair.
I make celebrities look stupid
And normal people look like celebrities.
I turn pancakes brown
And make your champagne bubble.
If you squeeze me, I'll pop.
If you look at me, you'll pop.
Can you guess the riddle?

97% of Harvard graduates can not figure this riddle out,
But 84% of kindergarten students were able to figure this out,
In 6 minutes or less.

Can you guess the riddle?

Google the answer after... I got it right, might explain why Harvard didn't accept me, but those kindgarten kids did...except that one little girl, she was mean.

Hybrid class instructor speaks out.

The online instructor of biology has decided to offer his online course in the face to face setting (hybrid course). Below is some of his thoughts.

I have been using my Biology 30 hybrid course with the students for the last two chapters (19,20) and the comments/information have been REALLY useful. A few highlights:

- 64 kids, two Bio 30 face to face classes
- 56 kids have responded that this has been a positive experience, 4 neutral, 4 dislikes
- many more knowledge based discusssions ("search autism/vaccination/misinformation, 5 minutes we discuss what you have found")
- kids like the links but are often confused that the links are different for each lesson...I would have never thought of this before.
Because the links breadcrumb is the same they assume that the links within it must also be the same.
- kids are mastering each lesson and those that normally sat back in class are forced to work...and not liking it
- those same kids that normally sit back are admitting they are learning much more.
- kids are interacting MORE!!! and sitting at computers...much more open concept to learning, I am guiding their learning but not directing it like I would be in class.
- I still need to teach kids, but I am teaching them now from a knowledge base, consequently discussions are informed. Kids are asking questions from a level that indicate they understand the concept and simply want clarification.
- Kids are talking about the 'efficiency' of learning which is often misconstrued as 'easier' by teachers and students.

- This is a concept that needs to be explored in the schools, classes can be split quite easily, learning is mastery based, learning is efficient, learning is individualized, learning is fun, knowledge is the goal not memorization, students can learn the aspects of the curriculum that THEY find interesting without being penalized for being 'off task'.

December 3, 2007

Try this out

Try this test...Escapa!

My record to date:

Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools teachers among Canada’s most innovative educators

SASKATOON, December 3, 2007 – Three Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools teachers are among the winners of Canada’s 2007 Microsoft Innovative Teachers Awards.

Kelli Boklaschuk, Darren Cannell and Maureen Romanchuk were selected for creating The Crooked, Crazy Weather Project for Romanchuk’s Grade 4 students at Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School in Saskatoon.

In the project, technology was used in various ways to keep the 22 students interested and engaged as they learned about predicting weather, a unit in Saskatchewan’s Grade 4 science curriculum.

In class, lessons about topics like meteorology, precipitation, clouds and snow were taught with the help of videos, sound files and websites. Rather than taking notes from a board at the front of the room, a projector was used to enlarge and display the information – a small difference but one that made this task much more interesting, Romanchuk reports.

Students also learned about Internet searching, using key words, evaluating websites, manipulating HTML scripts and creating hyperlinks. For the lesson on learning how to set up and enter information into a blog, students were each matched with a city and assigned to answer several weather-related questions about the locale. Each of them also wrote and videotaped a weather forecast for their city. The student blogs and videos can be accessed at The Crooked, Crazy Weather Project’s website: http://blog.scs.sk.ca/weatherproject

Students had fun using the technology, says Romanchuk, and it helped them grasp and retain what they’d learned. “Some children were hesitant at first, but they took this on and exceeded our expectations.”

“Changing the way you teach to adapt to the students is very important,” says Boklaschuk. “It’s obvious this is the way they like to learn.”

The teachers hope the recognition the project has received will encourage more teachers to investigate how to incorporate technology into their lessons. In fact, The Crooked, Crazy Weather Project was designed as a template so other teachers within the division can easily use it to teach the same unit.

A total of five Canadian projects were selected to receive a 2007 Microsoft Innovative Teachers Award. The winning teachers attended the International Innovative Teachers Forum in Helsinki, Finland earlier this month. All winners from Canada were also invited to attend a similar forum in Hanoi, Vietnam in spring 2008 for teachers from the Asia/South Pacific region.

November 30, 2007

December's Continuous Improvement Framework

As stated at the opening staff meeting for SCCS 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.

December's CIF

November 20, 2007

Teaching Math

Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

1. Teaching Math In 1950

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Math In 1960

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1970

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is $80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Math In 1980

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the
number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 1990

A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and
inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the
preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of
$20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class
participation after answering the question: How did the birds and
squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? ( There are no wrong
answers.)

6. Teaching Math In 2005

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. This is $85 and so he got $25 more than he spent. What is his profit? (the correct answer in the teachers book which is the one you better have gotten will then be $30)

October 30, 2007

Conference quotes.

I found the following distinction very interesting.

A blurring of duties between teachers and techies is hurting online education. Teachers spending time fixing machines is not a good use of teacher’s times and even worse IT people making pedagogical decision while working on a teacher’s course. At the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School we have Teachers who write their own courses from scratch with no IT support, and our techies fix the teachers machines when they get messed up. This model seems to work but does force a huge learning curve on the content expert (teacher) at the beginning of the development. This is necessary for the teacher to become comfortable with the learning management system. However once the teacher is past the learning curve, then they have the technical know how to do changes to their course without having to contact IT. The model where content experts pass their content on to the IT department who then digitizes the information does eliminate the learning curve but slows down the update and minor renovations of the course. Any changes, pedagogical or just a spelling mistake requires a trip back to IT. This model does not work. But it is the model of choice for most universities.

I am open to comments on the above statements.

October 29, 2007

Conference quotes

It is a cycle.

. This statement alone causes one pause because we were hoping that the young teachers of today being from the digital age will embrace the new educational movement and move the computer, internet into education. We are finding this is not happening. All new teachers being on facebook all night will not translate to the use of technology in the classroom. They continue to teach the way they where taught and the way most teacher colleges are approaching education. Tradition is a hard thing to change.

So those of us who thought the young teachers of today would have the answer to the Dark Age of Information need to go back to the drawing board and rethink the solution..

More Conference quotes

The impact of technology on education has been minimual. But we are still only recreating what is happening in a face to face method.

I know this is true with our online courses. But it is necessary to have a starting point and the face to face method is what the teachers know. So they re-create what they know, it then becomes my job as the administrator to get them to take the risk to push them to develop their courses into the next level as described below.

http://blog.scs.sk.ca/tado/vschools/archives/2006_03.html#024631

October 25, 2007

Peer Teaching.

At the last conference I was at...I attended a session where the presenter (Cheryl Frose) talked about an editors den in the discussion board area. Where students would be allowed to post assignments and then have peers review, check spelling and help make the assignments better before they hand them into the instructor. I thought it was a great idea but I did wonder how to sell the idea to the Sage on the Stage teachers who feel that he or she is the only one who should be helping, teaching and guiding the students. So I asked the question:

Do you have any research that I can use to make certain teachers more open to the editor den idea?

Cheryl's answer:

Patricia Wolfe. Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, Virginia. 2001.

The saying, “The best way to learn something is to teach it” contains more than a little truth. Teaching a concept or skill to someone else requires a fairly high level of understanding. Too often we check for students’ understanding by asking them if they understand or if they have any questions. Though this might work in some situations, often students think they understand when they don’t or are hesitant to admit they don’t. (p. 85)

(Peer teaching) allows the students the opportunity to rehearse what they have learned, thus strengthening their neural pathways…peer teaching provides valuable diagnostic information for the teacher, who finds out how well students comprehend the material and what misconceptions they may have formed. (p. 186)

Here is a British website with a LOT of information on assessment AS and For learning:
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/as/keyfeatures/self_peer.asp

Here is a useful paper titled "Using Peer Assessment to Develop Skills and
Capabilities": http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/JAN03_Issue/article04.html

Here is a paper from the University of London called "Research evidence of the impact on students of self-and peer-assessment":
http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/EPPIWebContent/reel/review_groups/assessment/assessment_protocol5.pdf

The web abounds with examples of peer assessment. Hopefully one of these sources will provided you with the evidence you need to convince your teachers that it is a good thing to have students teach each other.
Everyone wins!

Thanks Cheryl Frose.

October 23, 2007

School 1977 vs. School 2007

If this was not so true it would be funny.

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking
lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1977 - Vice principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car
and gets his own shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lockdown, the RCMP are called, Jack is hauled off to
jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counsellors are called in to
assist traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up
buddies.
2007 - Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark.
They are charged with assault and both are expelled even though Johnny
started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1977 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal's office and given a good paddling.
Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for
ADD. School gets extra provincial funding because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him
a whipping with his belt.
1977 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college,
and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster
care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she
remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has
an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some Aspirin to school.
1977 - Mark shares Aspirin with the school principal out on the smoking
dock.
2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug
violations. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high-school English.
1977 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper
articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for
graduation is racist. Canadian Civil Liberties Association files class
action lawsuit against provincial school system and Pedro's English teacher.
English is banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway
but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover Canada Day firecrackers, puts them in
a model airplane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1977 - Ants die.
2007 - Canadian Firearms Centre and the RCMP are called and Johnny is
charged with domestic terrorism. CSIS investigates parents, siblings are
removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a
terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher,
Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1977 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She
faces three years in federal prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

October 16, 2007

This is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I have donated my hair to breast cancer. My staff was challenged to raise $500 plus dollars and I would shave my head. Well they have raised the 500 and more so next monday. My hair will be gone. I will update a picture for all to see.

Breast Cancer Fundraising

October 15, 2007

Can you find the 9 faces in this picture?

If you want to see the answers try this: Face answers

October 4, 2007

Online teaching/learning quotations

Virtual Campus using "Real education" services whose principle is that "any service a student can get on campus, an online student can get with CU online".

Source unknown

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"In the future, as higher education shifts from traditional classroom teaching to on-line learning, academic support programs will increasingly become more in demand by on-line learners especially advising, career preparation, learning skills, orientation, tutoring, and intervention to overcome on-line technical problems. However, although many services may be made available on-line, academic support for both faculty and students will still be necessary for many students since they may be miles from the parent institution offering the course and will insist on some face-to-face interaction with academic support personnel."

Frank L. Christ. “Academic Support Programs” entry in Higher Education in the United States: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Publishers

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“Online learning now depends more on the ability of educators and trainers to tutor and support learners online than on the technology itself.”

Dr. Ian Heywood, 2000 World Open Learning Conference and Exhibition, Birmingham, England.

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"Most university students have never been formally taught to learn how to study, either in high school or college."

Gardner, L. (1998). Why we must change: The research evidence. Thought and Action. 14 (Spring), 71-88.

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"the challenge is not simply to incorporate learning technologies into current institutional approaches, but rather to change our fundamental views about effective teaching and learning and to use technology to do so"

( Higher Education in an Era of Digital Competition: Choices and Challenges by Donald E. Hanna and Associates. Atwood Publishing, 2000, p.61.

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"Faculty are moving forward, technologies are improving, and student demand is increasing -- but few changes are taking place in the university structure as a whole to accommodate the special needs of the distance-learning student." Richard Bothel, dean of continuing education and distance learning at Troy State University.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring41/bothel41.html

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"Faculty developers can learn much from colleagues who work in learning assistance programs on campus. Transforming universities into fully integrated learning communities is a requirement for promoting academic success in the new millennium. When the "millennial students" walk onto campus, it's time to call upon those who know them first hand."

The Millennial Learner—Challenges and Opportunities: Saundra Yancy McGuire (Director of the Center for Academic Success and Adjunct Associate Professor of Chemistry at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and Dennis A. Williams at POD Conference in Vancouver.

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"Preparing students today for tomorrow's workforce has a lot to do with teaching about how to use and evaluate knowledge. The Internet is rapidly becoming the biggest repository of information we have ever known. The key will be in our ability to find, evaluate and use the information it provides. We need to teach analytical and organizational skills. Students must know how to evaluate data. Gone are then days when students spent their time memorizing facts that were readily available at their fingertips. Students need to learn communication and study skills. We must give them the type of tools that prepare them for lifelong learning, so they know how to study and how to evaluate the importance of what they learn."

Leight, M. Converge (December 2000, 3(12) 11.

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“Online students can be better retained, experience greater course satisfaction, and learn more in less time with greater ease and confidence when an online course is linked to an Academic Support System and is designed with activities and information that assist them to become a collegial group and to learn more effectively and efficiently.”

Christ, F.L. Achieving student retention, satisfaction, and success through online pedagogy. A presentation at TechEd Long Beach, February 26, 2002.

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"Student retention in the online course is a major concern. ... ... "...the availability of information resources and assistance throughout the course are some solutions to high online drop-out rates."

Moore, G.S., Winograd, K. and D. Lange. (2001). You can teach online: Building a creative learning environment. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. p. 3.5

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"...primary variables responsible for discriminating between completers and non-completers included three of the Likert scale factors: study environment, motivation, and computer confidence."

Osborn, V. (2001). Identifying at-risk students in videoconferencing and web-based distance education. The American Journal of Distance Education, 15:1, 47.

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"A third area of concern for distance students is the lack of support and services such as providing tutors, academic planners and schedulers, and technical assistance. The isolation that results from the distance learning process can complicate the learning process for adult students. Support for distance learners should not be overlooked when planning distance programs. Students need tutors and academic planners to help them complete courses on time and to act as a support system when stress becomes a problem.

Galusha, J. (1997). Barriers to learning in distance education. Interpersonal Computing and Technology. Retrieved at http://www.emoderators.com/ipct-j/1997/n4/galusha.html

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“The fifth challenge facing the use of the Web in universities is to how best use the Web to encourage good learning behaviours in students. Most good learning behaviours rely on metacognition and this is universally regarded as an essential attribute of good learning. … …Encouraging metacognition develops students' knowledge of the nature of their learning, of their effective learning strategies, and of their learning strengths and weakness. … …The Web has potential in this area to meet this challenge if appropriate instructional design strategies are employed in the development of material for the Web. It is unlikely to occur if lecturers just mount their printed course material and use the Web as a convenient delivery medium. If the design of courses allows individual exploration coupled with reflection and the comparison of a student's views with others, as well as the encouragement of good learning behaviours, then metacognition can be enhanced and good learning can result.

Fetherston, T. (2001). Pedagogical Challenges for the World Wide Web. Educational Technology Review. 9:1. Retrieved January 21, 2002 at http://www.aace.org/pubs/etr/fetherston.cfm

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"Learning Centers can be viewed as the education provider's physical and social "Point of Presence" with the distance learner. As such, learners should expect to find an array of functions and services supporting their distance education activities offered at or facilitated through the Learning Center site."

IPSE (Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education) –‘Learning Centers & Three Tiered Distance Education Delivery Model' Retrieved September 12, 2002 from http://www.ihets.org/consortium/ipse/learningcentermodel.html

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“Connect the Disconnected”

Dr. Ray Ganey, Cochise College, AZ

Thanks to Learning Support Centers In Higher Education

October 1, 2007

September 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:

Step one: Recognize the following facts:
• No matter how good our online courses might be they can be improved.
• Not changing anything is not an option. (If we all do things the same way we will always get the same results.)
• This is the year to try something new.
• The online technology and software is changing rapidly so must our courses to reflect the current technology.

Step two: Do not reinvent the wheel

• Take the time to check out other people’s work and approaches.
• During the month of September our goal is to implement one new element into your course from your research.

Check out the responses by;

September 28, 2007

Are you dumb?

Am-I-Dumb.com - Are you dumb?

My Number correct: 25/25
However it was interested in how many American questions were in the test.

Ok, it is for a good cause.

I opened my big mouth the other day and said that if we raised $500 + I would allow my head to be shaved for breast cancer month. Well since it is for a good cause I will assist and see if we can make it happen. If you would like see how we are doing so far...check it out.

http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/CIF/shave.htm

It is for a good cause.

September 21, 2007

Ok, blogosphere...I need your help. Maybe I have a job for someone.

If you have not been to the YouAreDamned.com you will not understand what I am talking about in this posting. I would like to find out who has created this site...now before everyone gets excited I am not going to rant on the person or anything. What I want to do create is the exact opposite of what this site is all about. Here at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School we have a chapel where the students on a daily basis post messages stating who they would like the population of the cyber school to pray for. This activity would be greatly enhanced if we could have a flash application like the one that is used to damn people, which instead of damning would post why a person should pray for...

For example today a student posted that they would like the population to pray for their grandmother who is sick and in the hospital with cancer. By posting this on the wall each day the students could view the wall and say a prayer. We would need to change the view of the site to clouds and brighter images etc.

We would be willing to try to reverse engineer this application if we could have access to the FLA file for youaredamned.com.

I understand why the creator of said site is a little concerned about someone knowing who built the site because of the flak they would get from a portion of the internet population. I am not one such person, I would like to create the opposite of the site to use for an educational spiritual component of the cyber school. I would be willing to sign an agreement to keep the authors name secret. We could meet in a dark place on the internet and exchange fla's.

Any help from the blogosphere to assist in achieving this goal would be greatly appreciated.

Can the power of the sphere do this?

Any bloggers out there that would be willing to post this on their blog spreading the word might help us solve this mystery.

If there is any flash expert person out there that is up for a challenge and would like to work on a partnership project and help develop such a site, lets talk.

September 18, 2007

Our SCCS school server blowed up good.

Friday at about 4:30 our school blowed up, not like a bomb, like a virtual fire. Our server crashed for some reason that is way beyond me. Four hundred plus students without a doorway into their school decide to use the older technology the phone to find out what had happened. Our phone service started to ring off the hook and we started to field the questions. Three days later we are back up and running and the phone has stopped ringing. It is now time to develop a back up plan for the server blowed up issue.

Cause when a server blowed up in a virtual school it kind of feels like this to the administrator.

September 13, 2007

Animoto

The contest is open, we will be giving away a memory stick to the best Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School video made using the animoto website.
Contest closes end of October. Send all entries to Ryan Hauber at: rhauber@scs.sk.ca

September 12, 2007

Cyber School doing a better job than F2F according to the students.

I was showing one of my staff members some of the stats we have collected through the new survey available in the student survey area at Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. They are so cool…check this out.

Question 6:
Did you cheat in anyway in your online course?
Out of 79 responses

15(19%)Yes….64(81%)No

An interesting stat by itself but check it out compared to question 7:

Question 7:
Have you ever cheated in a face to face course?
Out of 79 responses

25(31.6%)Yes….54(81%)No

Now don’t that blow your socks off… Maybe you teacher in the face to face schools should talk to your peers and get them to work on this stat.

And then this one floored me…

Question 12
Is the cyber school’s method of course delivery better preparing students than face to face school’s methods?

Out of 78 responses
1 (1.3%)No response…41(51.9%)Yes…37(46.8%)No

Yahooo… students think you are doing a better job then the face to face schools.

Keep up the great effort, you cyber teachers, the results are starting to show.

September 10, 2007

Comments: From Fear to Freedom: Empowering K-12 Students Online blog entry on September 6th 2007

I was wondering... Is this something you wrote? I would like to write about it on my blog, but I am not sure who wrote the original piece.

Whoever wrote it, it gets you thinking in some good directions.

Posted by Nancy McKeand at September 7, 2007 7:57 AM
Our Cyber students already have email access with us- are you looking at this as a system wide protocol or ? The biggest hang-up in-school teachers will have is the time to spend with this communication tool- they would need time allotted for it or it won’t happen.

Posted by Cyber Staff at September 10, 2007 10:06 AM
• Describe the stages of mitosis – prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.

this one is vital ;)

Posted by Cyber Staff at September 10, 2007 10:07 AM
I actually like his anarchistic approach to education. To that End I have sent Darren’s school board e-mail, home e-mail, cell phone number and AIM, MSN handles to the entirety of my contacts list and students in both of my courses.

I am of course not serious, but while I do like this approach I can almost hear the responses from others who say, yes but I don’t want them to have that information of mine. I do think that openness is a key to effective and constructive online teaching and learning, and the establishment of learning communities.

However, I also wonder at the feasibility of following this kind of suggestion. Are we stuck in the constraints of a education system, or are we hiding in it, and saying we can’t extend this kind of freedom when really it is our reluctance not our limitations? Not sure, but it was actually a good read. To be honest, my first thought was to read it out of pity, but thanks, it was better than a pity read.

Posted by Cyber Staff at September 10, 2007 10:08 AM
Alright, after a year of having my brain turned on low, this week has offered me much to think about. I enjoyed the article and appreciated many of the points the author made. What I have found, so far, is that cyber school is a much more effective way of teaching for me. I do think the students feel as though they can contribute to discussions without fear of being ridiculed, and everyone gets an equal amount of time or space to put in their thoughts. Their posts also seem much more honest than what I would get in a face to face classroom. You will always have people who cannot work without someone standing over them and telling them to, but so far I have seen students who are happy to take responsibility for their own learning.

Posted by Cyber Staff at September 10, 2007 10:09 AM
I don’t know how to react. One side of me says that limitations of any kind are a form of censorship. Another side of me thinks that some students, especially some younger ones, may need the structure and limitations in order to stay on task. It could be a matter of efficiency as well, giving direction by limiting options – but maybe that isn’t our job as educators – but maybe it is. Do we give all students the freedom to do what they want on-line? I think we have to ask ourselves if parents give their children that freedom at home? Almost everyone I know have restrictions on their children’s online activities. We are acting in loco parentis, and educational institutions should be accountable. It could be looked at the same way as having a legal drinking age, legal driving age, legal gambling age, film ratings, video game ratings…

On another note, while I was reading I was wondering if CyberSchool has an ‘official’ mission statement. I read through our ‘philosophy’ but is that our mission statement? Having a brief ( approx. 5 sentence ) mission statement that focuses on our Catholicism and our cutting edge technological medium/environment would be very cool. Something we can throw out there and have the world take notice of…

Posted by Cyber Staff at September 10, 2007 10:10 AM

September 5, 2007

New Icons

I am working on a new set of icons for SCCS and started by using images done by Rokey.

Check them out let me know what you think.

Iconwork for SCCS

August 31, 2007

SCCS 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:

Step one: Recognize the following facts:
• No matter how good our online courses might be they can be improved.
• Not changing anything is not an option. (If we all do things the same way we will always get the same results.)
• This is the year to try something new.
• The online technology and software is changing rapidly so must our courses to reflect the current technology.

Step two: Do not reinvent the wheel

• Take the time to check out other people’s work and approaches.
• During the month of September our goal is to implement one new element into your course from your research.

Places to start your research:

http://www.centralischool.ca/wblrd/web_resources_10_12.html

http://blog.scs.sk.ca/tado/vschools/

Step three: Share your element.

When we started the Cyber school our strength was the sharing of our approaches. As we have gotten bigger we have lost this and we will be attempting to get this back.

• By the end of each month you will be required to share the monthly task with your peers.
• This method of sharing will be sent via email to myself and I will share it via the TADO blog. (If you are not a subscriber to the blog you should be)
• I will bug each of you to complete these tasks.

Each month I will introduce a new step in our CIP journey. There is ten tasks and at the end we will see if our stats via Cyber Tracker improve.

Welcome to the CIP cyber style.

If you do not like this approach or do not understand, my door is open and we should discuss.

August 30, 2007

Loved it

My sun and I have had a riot playing on this site. He is almost four and just starting to read. So if you have a young one or you teach the young ones check this site out.

Learn to Read at Starfall - teaching comprehension and phonics

A thought for teachers.

As we head into another school year I thought I'd share something that just MAY give you a lift. File it under the category of, "You never know the impact you have on a kid's life."

TipLine - Gates' Computer Tips: A thought for teachers

August 28, 2007

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School Promo

Here is an experimental animated promo I created that I think you might enjoy.

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School Promo

Relying on technology hinders learning

I love articles like this...Lets try, a poor educator who teaches poorly hinders learning. A chalk and blackboard if used poorly can hinder learning and make a mess of your dark clothes. Poorly written articles can hinder one's learning when one could be reading something that makes sense. Sorry, but this article insults me.

Relying on technology hinders learning - Opinion

August 20, 2007

High School Educator and Student Resources

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School High School
Educator and Student Resources

Welcome to the 2007-2008 school year. Once again Cyber School is offering many resources to help educators, students and parents. Please consider the following information and register at your leisure. If you have any questions visit the Cyber School website (http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber) or call the Cyber School main office @ 659-7700

What we offer:

1. Online Mathematics Resources

2. Communication Hubs

3. Educational Blog

4. Learning Communities

5. Hybrid Courses

Please view detailed information below.

1. Grade 8 Mathematics Resources: (Suitable for grades 7/8/9 Depending on skill level)
The grade 8 Mathematics resources are designed to be a supplemental resource for students to use, to help reinforce Math concepts. The resources are organized by strand and then by unit, with each unit placed parallel to the objectives in the curriculum, so they are easy to find and easy to use in addition to what is being taught in class.
Each unit contains a short lesson, as well as ten interactive questions to help reinforce the math objectives. Some of the features include moveable protractors, click and drag objects for studying similarity and congruency, interactive time zone questions and matching, multiple choice and calculated activities among the dynamic resources offered.

2. SCCS Communication Hubs
The learning platform used by SCCS (Web Ct) has some great built in communication tools. Using these online tools you can create communication hubs. These hubs can be used as methods of sharing information, having online asynchronous discussions as well as synchronous chats. Connect with students in other countries or even in the same city.

3. Educational Blogs (Easily updated web sites to relay information to parents, students and the community)
Cyber School is offering FREE hosting of educational blogs. If you are interested in sharing information with students, parents or community on a blog (web page format) we will host if for free. We use Movable Type as our blog system software. Blogs are easy to update. If you can type and send an email, you can update your blog.

If you have any questions regarding SCCS blogs please feel free call Cyber School at 659-7700

To register go to http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber and click Registration and then on GSCS Blogs

4. SCCS Learning Communities

To Register for a Learning Community(ies) go to http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber and click Registration and then GSCS Educator Learning Communities.

5. Hybrid Courses

Taking the on-line courses developed by the talented cyber school teachers and using them in a face to face classroom, you have what is called a hybrid course. The courses can support or be used as the actual course in a face to face classroom. The courses designed in cyber school can be used free of charge by the teaching staff of the Saskatoon Catholic System.

Some suggested uses for cyber courses in the f2f classroom.

* Supporting your Face to Face teaching
* Use as your face to face course (must have access to a computer lab)
* Use it as resource for developing your face to face course
* Use the communication tools to enhance your face to face course communication.
* Use online testing as practice test for students.

Thank you for taking the time to read through what we have to offer via Cyber School. If you have questions, would like to see something else developed or if you would like to have an in-service on any or all of the above resources please contact Cyber School at 659-7700.

Have a great 2007-2008 School Year!!!

Kelli Boklaschuk
Instructional Team Leader

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School
306.659.8166

Elementary School Educator and Student Resources

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School 2007/2008
Elementary School Educator and Student Resources

What we offer:

1. Grades 2-8 Cyber Planets

2. Educational Blogs

3. Learning Communities

4. Communication Hubs

5. Teacher Assistant Learning Community

6. P.A.A. Learning Community

Please view detailed information below.

1. We are pleased to introduce the newest development at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School … SCCS Cyber Planets.

Cyber Planets are essentially Learning Communities for students in grades 2-8. Cyber Planets are housed in the secure online learning platform Web CT. Cyber Planets are web based and can be accessed with a valid username and password from any computer connected to the internet. Presently, Cyber Planets are being used by classrooms teachers as an “Online Classroom”, whereby only students in that particular classroom can log into their Cyber Planet.

The Cyber Planets also include the Elementary Technology and Mathematics resources that have been developed by Cyber School Educators.

Finally, the Cyber Planets house a multitude educational web sites and activities both specific to grade and subject area. Cyber Planets let students explore educational activities to aid in their knowledge development. They also allow communication and collaboration between classmates, between students and teachers and so forth.

SCCS Cyber Planets, where the even the sky is not a limit!

Detailed information regarding locally developed courses/resources in addition to web activities in the Cyber Planets:

· Grade 8 Mathematics Resources: (Suitable for grades 7/8 Depending on skill level)
The grade 8 Mathematics resources are designed to be a supplemental resource for students to use, to help reinforce Math concepts. The resources are organized by strand and then by unit, with each unit placed parallel to the objectives in the curriculum, so they are easy to find and easy to use in addition to what is being taught in class.
Each unit contains a short lesson, as well as ten interactive questions to help reinforce the math objectives. Some of the features include moveable protractors, click and drag objects for studying similarity and congruency, interactive time zone questions and matching, multiple choice and calculated activities among the dynamic resources offered.

· Grade 7 Mathematics Resources: (Suitable for grades 6/7/8 Depending on skill level)
The grade 7 Mathematics resources are designed to be a supplemental resource for students to use, to help reinforce Math concepts. The resources are organized by strand and then by unit, with each unit placed parallel to the objectives in the curriculum, so they are easy to find and easy to use in addition to what is being taught in class.
Each unit contains a short lesson, as well as ten interactive questions to help reinforce the math objectives. Some of the features include moveable protractors, click and drag objects for studying similarity and congruency, interactive time zone questions and matching, multiple choice and calculated activities among the dynamic resources offered.

· Grades 6, 7 & 8 P.A.A. Units
New units covering Teaching Video Production, Towers, Solar Vehicles, cardboard boats and motorized toy vehicles have been developed are are available in the Cyber Planets. The Educator resource parts of each unit is available in the P.A.A. Educator Learning Community.

· Grade 8 Technology Lessons:
New!!! A unit on Basic HTML (Web site development) has been developed. The lessons have videos and assignments leading up to the eventual development of a student web site. This unit fulfills the html component of the Grade 8 Technology Scope and sequence. Most of the other grade 8 technology objectives are fulfilled with the other technology units in the Grade 8 Cyber Planet.

· Grade 4 Online Lessons and Resources: (Suitable for grades 3-5Depending on skill level)
This course is essentially a secure online elementary school classroom. The classroom includes lessons and project to fulfill each component of the technology scope and sequence for the grade 3 and 4 levels. Beyond this, the classroom has other resources including secure e-mail, chatrooms, bulletin boards, assignment areas as well as an area to post student favorite web sites. This classroom allows teachers to monitor their student’s activities while logged into the course.

· Grade 5 Online Lessons and Resources: (Suitable for grades 5-8 Depending on skill level)
This course is essentially a secure online elementary school classroom. The classroom includes lessons and project to fulfill each component of the technology scope and sequence for grade 5 students as well as parts of grade 6. Beyond this, the classroom has other resources including secure e-mail, chatrooms, bulletin boards, assignment areas as well as an area to post student favorite web sites. This classroom allows teachers to monitor their student’s activities while logged into the course.

Please note: We can combine any of the above resources into one online classroom for you. The potential for these online classrooms is endless. Feel free to give me a call to discuss this further. (659-8166)

Are you ready to enroll your class into the SCCS Elementary School Cyber Planet?

To register go to http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber click Registration and then on Elementary School Cyber Planets Grades 2-8 Educators Only

2. Educational Blogs (Easily updated web sites to relay information to parents, students and the community)
Cyber School is offering FREE hosting of educational blogs. If you are interested in sharing information with students, parents or community on a blog (web page format) we will host if for free. We use Movable Type as our blog system software. Blogs are easy to update. If you can type and send an email, you can update your blog.

If you have any questions regarding SCCS blogs please feel free call Cyber School at 659-7700

To register go to http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber and click Registration and then on GSCS Blogs

3. SCCS Learning Communities

Cyber School has further advanced its contributions to the education system by developing and launching "Online Educator Learning Communities”. These 'Learning Communities' serve as a collection of useful resources for grade levels from kindergarten to grade 12 and encompass all subjects; from Physical Education to Aboriginal/First Nations Education. The resources are for both online use as well as printable copies for classroom use.

NEW!!! Are new goal for the Learning Communities is to provide educators Saskatchewan Curriculum core units. We plan on developing each core unit in each subject and in each grade. These units have been designed in house (for the most part) and are developed in Web Based, Word (modifiable) and PDF formats. The units also have ‘student only’ components that will be added to Cyber Planets upon completion. This area is under development but we do have many core units that are already complete. If you would like to share your own unit(s) to the Learning Communities please forward them to me or directly to the Cyber School Main office. We have the resources to convert the units into electronic format if need be. We will also give author credit if desired.

To Register for a Learning Community(ies) go to http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber and click Registration and then GSCS Educator Learning Communities.

4. SCCS Communication Hubs
The learning platform used by SCCS has some great built in communication tools. Using these online tools you can create communication hubs. These hubs can be used as methods of sharing information, having online asynchronous discussions as well as synchronous chats. Connect with students in other countries or even in the same city. For more information about the communication hubs, contact the Cyber School 659-7700. If you think it is possible, it is. We don't predict the future we invent it.

5. Teacher Assistant Learning Community

The T.A. Learning Community has been under development in the past few months. This Learning Community now hosts a multitude of social stories, visual strategies for behavioral programming, self help schedules, work modification, Boardmaker plus, words their way and fun and games.bPlease check out the newly developed Learning Community and all it has to offer Teacher Assistants to aid in the work they do with students.

To Register for a Learning Community(ies) go to http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber and click Registration and then GSCS Educator Learning Communities.

6. P.A.A. Learning Community

New units covering Teaching Video Production, Towers, Solar Vehicles, cardboard boats and motorized toy vehicles have been developed are are available in the Cyber Planets. The Educator resource parts of each unit is available in the P.A.A. Educator Learning Community

To Register for a Learning Community(ies) go to http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber and click Registration and then GSCS Educator Learning Communities.

Thank you for taking the time to read through what we have to offer via Cyber School. If you have question, would like to see something else developed or if you would like to have an in-service on any or all of the above products please contact Cyber School at 659-7700.

Have a great 2007-2008 School Year!!!

Kelli Boklaschuk
Instructional Team Leader

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School
306.659.8166

June 22, 2007

The A-Z of Achieving Your Dreams

A-void negative sources, people, things and habits.
B-elieve in yourself.
C-onsider things from every angle.
D-on’t give up and don’t give in.
E-njoy life today: yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.
F-amily and Friends are hidden treasures. Seek them and enjoy their riches.
G-ive more than you planned to give.
H-ang on to your dreams.
I-gnore those who try to discourage you.
J-ust do it!
K-eep on trying, no matter how hard it seems. It will get better.
L-ove yourself first and foremost.
M-ake it happen.
N-ever lie, cheat, or steal. Always strike a fair deal.
O-pen your eyes and see things as they really are.
P-ractice makes perfect.
Q-uitters never win and winners never quit.
R-ead, study and learn about everything important in your life.
S-top procrastinating.
T-ake control of your own destiny.
U-nderstand yourself in order to better understand others.
V-isualize it.
W-ant it more than anything.
X-ccelerate your efforts.
Y-ou are unique of all of Nature’s creations. Nothing can replace you.
Z-ero in on your target, and go for it!!

Education Quotes

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
- Malcolm Forbes
A child miseducated is a child lost.
- John F. Kennedy
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
- Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
The teacher is one who makes two ideas grow where only one grew before.
- Elbert Hubbard
One good teacher in a lifetime may sometimes change a delinquent into a solid citizen.
- Philip Wylie
Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
- John W. Gardner
"Do you think you can maintain discipline?" asked the Superintendent. "Of course I can," replied Stuart. "I'll make the work interesting and the discipline will take care of itself."
- E.B. White, Stuart Little

June 15, 2007

Best Practice in E-Learning

I did this a few years back and laughted at the presentation design. Hope you enjoy.

TalkingSlide

May 30, 2007

Internet awareness quotes

“The danger to kids in Web 2.0 is not what they may find online, but from what they themselves put online for others to access.”

Doug Johnson, 2007. Discovery Educator Network Webinar

“Our research, actually looking at what puts kids at risk for receiving the most serious kinds of sexual solicitation online, suggests that it’s not giving out personal information that puts kids at risk. It’s not having a blog or a personal website that does that either. What puts kids in danger is being willing to talk about sex online with strangers or having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web like going to sex sites and chat rooms, meeting lots of people there, kind of behaving in what we call like an internet daredevil.”

Dr. David Finkelhor, 2007. Internet Caucus Advisory Committee

“Just as you need to know where your children are before, during, and after school and who they’re with and what they’re doing, the same applies for the internet. It’s as simple as talking to your kids about who they’re with, where they are, and what they’re doing online.”

Dr. Michelle Ybarra, 2007. Internet Caucus Advisory Committee

May 29, 2007

List of Universities that offer Online Doctorates

I have been doing an extensive search for universities that offer online doctorates in education with a focus on distance education. In my search I have asked the people on the WebCt list serve to offer suggestions. So, below is the resulting list. Some were given with reasons why some are good while some people gave reasons why some are not good. I really appreciated the time people took to help. I have still not made a decision but I am getting closer.

Nova Southeastern

Indiana State University

Pepperdine

NorthCentral University

New Mexico State University

Capella

University of Nebraska

Regent University

Deakin University

Joensuun University

University of Phoenix

Walden

May 22, 2007

Advice for Life

* Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, and wear the fancy lingerie.
Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

* No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

* Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will
this matter?"

* What other people think of you is none of your business.

* Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

* However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

* Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your family and
friends will. Stay in touch.

* Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or joyful.

* Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

* The best is yet to come.

* No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.

* Do the right thing.

* Call your mother and father often.

* Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

* Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you
certainly don't want a fast pass.

May 18, 2007

This made my day!

I opened my email today to find a note that made my day. This was a nice way to make sure I as a blogger continue to blog. I write this blog to share information with my staff at the cyber school, it is great to know others enjoy and find what a post of value as well.

May 17, 2007

Count the black dots.

May 8, 2007

5th Annual Canadian E-Learning Conference

I will be attending this conference...I think it is one of the best conferences that I attend.

2007 Canadian E-Learning Conference

May 4, 2007

Technology Survey

Does anyone have a technology review survey that they might be willing to share? We are getting close to reviewing the teachers within our division about our cyber school and the use of technology in their face to face classroom. We are a K-12 division but post-secondary surveys might give us some ideas as well.

So, please share.

D. Cannell

April 24, 2007

Writing Techniques:

Avoid alliteration. Always.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Avoid clich's like the plague. (They're old hat.)
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
Contractions aren't necessary.
Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
One should never generalize.
Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
Be more or less specific.
One-word sentences? Eliminate.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Who needs rhetorical questions?
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

April 20, 2007

TADO has been Nominated

Make sure you take the time to vote.

April 18, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two of the joke.

I love the conversation. There is no pressure from above, I just needed each of you to think through the process and comment on your belief of the Cyber School's difference. Again, you have shown your desire to be open to new ideas, go with the flow and do what is necessary for us to be successful. I was going to push the discussion further and schedule in interviews for each one of you to see which of you would figure out that the time for the interviews was April 1St, which is April fools day, but I just could not do that to you.

Again I love the opportunity to work with you and would like to again thank you for the discussion and I promise to try not to fool you all again. (Maybe)

Staff responses

Beauty Darren!!!

So was it really a complete hoax? or are you pulling a double whammy and in fact it is an issue and you just don't want us to think it is an issue.... Darn it this is like warcraft back in the day.. hard to pin you down.

Sometimes a person just wants to be held...lol.

April 17, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

I don’t see a fixed date for parent teacher interviews as being very feasible- my students’ start dates are very spread out. Home school interviews would possibly work- for those with home schools. Can we insist that all parents’ email addresses be posted when their children register for a class? I think that would take care of a lot of the communication issues we might face.

April 16, 2007

Thoughts for the Day

1. A day without sunshine is like night.

2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.

3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.

6. He who laughs last thinks slowest.

7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in
the trap.

9. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.

10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.

12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.

13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.

14. OK, so what's the speed of dark?

15. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?

18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines

19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

20. Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, "What the heck
happened?"

22. Just remember -- if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.

23. Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright
until you hear them speak.

24. Life isn't like a box of chocolates; it's more like a jar of jalapenos.
What you do today, might burn your bum tomorrow.

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

It happens fairly often at Holy Cross (ie once a term) when students from the school book an interview when they sign up for their in-school class interview. There is nothing to stop any parent from booking an interview. Even though we are 150 day school most kids register within the semester window.

Problematic for students from other schools, but workable if the parents want to travel. Biggest problem is getting information out to parents; we don’t have all their email addresses and if they don’t know what is going on in their kid’s courses that means their children are not going to tell them that interviews are coming. A mailout makes the most sense if we are really serious about getting parents to interviews. If we are not really interested in interviews but want to look like we are addressing the issue we could provide a link on our home page to the interview schedule at the schools where our teachers are located. The link could also encourage parents to email the teacher at any time.

April 3, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

We were just chatting and came up with an easy solution. What if we allowed parents to schedule interviews in with our home schools? So tonight, I have interviews at St. Joseph. Why couldn’t a parent who’s interested email our secretary and request a time? The biggest issue is telling parents when these different time slots are, but it should really work. It solves the issue with the board and ultimately, how many parents are going to take advantage of this, so how much will it impact your home school?

Our interviews were last week and incidentally a scenario similar to the one in which you are referring happened to me. One of the students taking my course stopped by my table with her mother unscheduled when I had a break to see how things were going. We chatted for a couple of minutes and everything was fine. But I also wondered at the time, what is the protocol. Has this ever happened to anyone else? How did you handle it? If it would have been scheduled, I guess I could have been prepared.

April 2, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

I agree that meeting with the parents is important...but I don't know what I would talk about. I actually speak to my face to face students and can talk about their behaviour, attendance, emotional state etc. with their parents.

The point may be moot ... I don't think parents would show up anyway.

Exactly! Our students have no behaviour / disruption issues. They have work habit issues, performance issues etc. Each of these issues is addressed by the nature of cyber school. Every parent has access to the work habits and performance of their children every minute of the day. Also, because of cyber tracker and this nature of cyber school, I would hope that students with performance/work habit issues have MORE contact in our environment than in the regular face to face environment. Plus, we do have face to face meetings with parents, we are not opposed to them. We have them when necessary or when requested by the parents.

I also agree with the previous argument, with the 150 day schedule, when do we hold them?

Let's hold them and have a game of Kaiser when no one shows. Plus, in my face to face class, students are given 1 and ½ days off to compensate teachers for their time. Are we going to reduce the students 150 days to 148.5 days? This way, instead of playing Kaiser when no one shows up we can have a “development” night. We’ll hold interviews if anyone comes, but if they don’t this would be PD time that you have in face to face anyway….. I guess what I’m saying, if there is pressure to make cyber more like the face to face, then it’s all the way. Of course, it seems silly to close the server to students so that we can talk to their parents.

I was being a little facetious in the above paragraph, but actually what a neat idea. An evening / day of PD to fix / update courses under the pretense that we are there for interviews – if parents come, we are ready. However would the board need to cover our face to face classes while we are available for afternoon interviews?

March 30, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

The tracking system that we use and in particular the open gradebook that is provided allow parents the opportunity to access and monitor their children's progress on a daily basis. Further to this my email address along with the phone numbers where I can be reached are communicated to the students and parents, making myself always available. I would prefer to leave it that way at the discretion of the parents as to when they wish to talk to me as opposed to formalizing the process whereby we need to be at a particular location and time just in case someone might show up to meet with us. I believe the process we are following right now is transparent and allows the parents the opportunity to meet with us when needed.

March 29, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

I think that if they want PTIs then we should give them PTIs .... but it will/should be through the technology that we instruct with ... email, discussion postings, telephone and chat rooms. We could have chat room schedules set up for each instructor and parent. (We could be the first to conduct PTIs through a chatroom system).

We are not a face-2-face teaching environment, so our PTI should not be of a face-2-face nature.

March 28, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

The purpose of P-T Interviews has always been to keep the parents in the loop. From what I understand, the specific format of how that takes place has never been formally outlined. I have personally done many interviews over the phone. Have you thought if giving downtown an outline of the amount of time that a Cyber teacher presently communicates with a parent. Example if the teacher sends on average 10 e-mails to a parent and each e-mail takes approximately 3 minutes to read = 30 minutes of communicating with parents. And the other important factor is that the communication is on-going rather than a 5 minute hashing and highlighting of their child’s progress. 5 minutes of hashing and highlighting vs. 30 minutes of ongoing. NO CONTEST.

The other thing is that if they do pressure for P-T interviews then they need to supply the school time to accompany it. Every school is given a specific amount time off for interviews. At the elementary level we are given 1 full day (for the year). I think the high school has more time than that.

Are they willing to give Cyber Teachers the school day time to complete these interviews?

March 27, 2007

School Safety Stats

One in six teachers report having been the victim of violence in or around school. This compares to one in nine teachers five years ago.
(The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 1999: Violence in America’s Public Schools - Five Years Later, Metropolitan Life, 1999)

Twenty-five percent of students have been the victim of a violent act that occurred in or around school.
(The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 1999: Violence in America’s Public Schools - Five Years Later, Metropolitan Life, 1999)

Twenty-eight percent of students, twenty-three percent of teachers, and thirty percent of law enforcement officials think that violence in local public schools will increase in the next two years.
(The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 1999: Violence in America’s Public Schools - Five Years Later, Metropolitan Life, 1999)

Elementary school students are just as likely as those in secondary schools to be the victim of a violent act.
(The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 1999: Violence in America’s Public Schools - Five Years Later, Metropolitan Life, 1999)

High school seniors from metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas were about equally likely to report being victimized at school in the last twelve months.
(The Condition of Education: 1999, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999)

Thirty nine percent of high school seniors reported something being stolen from them. (The Condition of Education: 1999, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999)

Although fewer school-associated violent deaths have occurred in recent years, the total number of multiple victim homicide events has increased.
(1999 Annual Report on School Safety, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 1999)

Twenty-five percent of high school students fear in-school violence.
(Kids Voting USA Youth 2000 Initiative: Voices * Involvement * Voting, Kids Voting USA / Behavior Research Center, 1999)

Peer group pressure is cited by fifty percent of seventh through twelve graders as a major factor in why violence occurs in schools. Drugs or alcohol is cited by thirty-nine percent, lack of parental supervision is cited by thirty-six percent, and lack of family involvement by twenty-five percent.
(The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 1999: Violence in America’s Public Schools - Five Years Later, Metropolitan Life, 1999)

Twenty percent of parents worry a great deal about their children’s safety in school and traveling to and from school.
(Are We Safe?: The 1999 National Crime Prevention Survey, National Crime Prevention Council, 1999)

The juvenile gang problem affects communities of all sizes and all regions in the United States with the number of gang members rising in small cities and rural counties in the late 1990s.
(OJJDP Research: Making a Difference for Juveniles, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

The violent victimization rate for students in schools where gangs were reported was almost eight percent compared to the three percent rate for students in schools with no reported gang presence.
(Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

Violent crimes by juveniles peak in the afternoon between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., the hour at the end of the school day.
(Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

Nationwide, fifteen percent of high school students had participated in a physical fight in the past twelve months.
(Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

Four percent of high school students felt too unsafe to go to school in the past thirty days. (Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

Nine percent of high school students carried a weapon on school property in the past month.
(Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

Seven percent of students were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past twelve months.
(Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

Thirty percent of teens say they have been offered drugs at school.
(Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (Spring 1999): Teens in Grades 7 Through 12, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 1999)

Nine percent of students reported that they avoided one or more places at school because of fear for their own safety.
(Indicators of School Crime and Violence: 1999, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 1999)

Although overall criminal victimization at school generally did not rise in the 1990s, violent victimization rose slightly.
(Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999)

Three percent (about 800,000) sixth through twelfth grade students carried a gun to school in the last year.
(The 12th Annual Parents’ Resource Institute of Drug Education (PRIDE) National Survey of Student Drug Use and Violence, Parent Resource Institute of Drug Education, 1999)

A total of 3930 students were expelled from school for bringing a firearm to school according to the most recent Gun-Free Schools Act Report.
(Gun-Free Schools Act Report: 1997-1998, U.S. Department of Education, 1999)

Fifty-seven percent of expulsions for bringing firearms to school involved high school students, thirty-three percent involved junior/middle school students, and ten percent involved elementary school students.
(Gun-Free Schools Act Report: 1997-1998, U.S. Department of Education, 1999)

Nineteen percent of students reported being hit, slapped, or kicked by another student.
(The 12th Annual Parents’ Resource Institute of Drug Education (PRIDE) National Survey of Student Drug Use and Violence, Parent Resource Institute of Drug Education, 1999)

Forty percent of students say they have bullied other students with threats of hitting, slapping or kicking; six percent have threatened other students with a gun or other weapon.
(The 12th Annual Parents’ Resource Institute of Drug Education (PRIDE) National Survey of Student Drug Use and Violence, Parent Resource Institute of Drug Education, 1999)

Young people who carry guns exhibit high rates of other disturbing behaviors with forty-six percent reporting that they used illicit drugs in the last month, sixty-one percent reporting having been in trouble with the police, and eighty-six reporting having been in trouble at school.
(The 12th Annual Parents’ Resource Institute of Drug Education (PRIDE) National Survey of Student Drug Use and Violence, Parent Resource Institute of Drug Education, 1999)

Forty percent of students indicated that the behavior of other students in their school definitely or somewhat interferes with their performance.
(State of Our Nation’s Youth, The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, 1999)

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

Argument #1:

The concept of Parent teacher interviews is going to build a biased system in favor of Saskatoon Catholic Students over our non GSCS students. Parent’s of those students who are enrolled from outside of Saskatoon, (which could and should be an increasing number every year) will be placed in a position whereby they can legitimately argue we are show favoritism to our own students by engaging in a face to face process with parents and guardian’s which, while available to them is feasibly a very different thing.

Argument #2:

This is another example of making a new concept and a new method of educational delivery fit into the pre-conceived notions of conformity that have come from 100 years of institutional thinking. Quite honestly, When parents have access through phone and via e-mail on weekends and evenings, and there ARE many use this time to ask questions and find out about their child, why is the thinking that a traditional parent/teacher face to face interview giving them something which they do not already have a superior way to accomplish?

Which is preferable? Having one ten minute face to face meeting in which primarily the tasks accomplished will be introductions and a discussion of cyber school OR constantly available access throughout the course, when you actually have questions or need a specific answer to your query in regards to your child?

March 26, 2007

Cyber School Teacher - Parent Interviews

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

Cyber School Interviews (April Fools Joke)

April fools jokes work the best when they are not on April the 1st.

Step one of the Joke

It started with the following email to my online teaching staff.

Step two Staff responses.

This step happened and I will post the responses in the next couple of days because some of them are very good.

Step three Fake interview day set up

I could not follow through because the responses started to make sense and I did not want to actually have teacher - parent interviews in the cyber school.

So I had to send out the following email to terminate the joke.

March 21, 2007

Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School

The following is a group of powerpoints that were used at March 19th presentation to a group of instructional designer from around the province of Saskatchewan.

SCCS - What we do here...

March 16, 2007

Expanding the academy concept: Art Academy

We are looking at expanding the academy concept, the cyber school allows flexible scheduling for the students which makes it perfect for academies. So being the artist that I am, I work on the logo first and the details second. What do you think?

Expanding our academy concept: Hockey

Ways of preventing distress and depression

Planning financial, family & future goals
Eat well
Exercise regularly
Limit alcohol/drug intake
Know effects of medication
Rest
Maintain focus on priorities
Seek support when needed
Resolve conflicts
Maintain a spiritual connection
Have some fun
Create sets of loose routines
Positive self-talk
Laugh

March 15, 2007

Techniques for Surviving & Thriving

1. Hang on to your sense of humour.
2. Have fun everyday.
3. Have some goal, a purpose in life.
4. Spirituality and philosophy give a sense of unity.
5. Practise mental relaxation exercises.
6. Look for balance.
7. Learn to say “NO”
8. Learn more about how you respond to change
9. Validation
10. De- stress

March 14, 2007

Try this sometimes

Get a group of children in a room with a light fixture hanging just out of their grasp. Then watch what happens: one child will jump to touch it, and before you know it, every kid in the room will be leaping like Michael Jordan. They're testing their skill, stimulated by the challenge of reaching something beyond their normal grasp.
Put the same children in a room where everything is easily in reach, and there will be no jumping, no competition, no challenges.
The problem with education is a low ceiling of expectations. We have built schools that demand and teach too little, and the children have stopped jumping.

Carroll Campbell

March 13, 2007

Humour Homework

1. Regain your smile. Smiling is a million dollar habit.
2. Identify your humour style and the humour styles of those you work with.
3. Perform the Laughter Rap. Write new verses for it.
4. Ask a colleague to become your laughing buddy. Form a larger coalition and become known as “The Three Wise Guys.”
5. Hang onto your sense of humour and have fun every day.
6. Watch a funny movie.
7. Read the comics every day and cut out the ones that remind you of your life. Find the humour in them.
8. Sort through family photos and write funny captions or one liners to go with your favourites.
Humour Homework cont’d
9. Create a humour environment. A ha ha bulletin board.
10. Recall several of the most embarrassing moments in your life.Find the humour in them.
Now practise telling stories about them in humorous ways.
11. Anytime something annoying or frustrating occurs, turn it on its head and find the humour. Think about it like it happened to someone else. Laugh at him and then at yourself.
12. Every night at dinner, make family members share one funny story or even an embarrassing moment of their day.
13. When a person offends you or makes you angry, respond with humour rather than hostility.
14. Sign up to receive the Top 10 List from David Letterman.
15. Find something humourous in every day.
16. Exaggerate and overstate problems. Making the situation bigger than life can help us regain a humourous perspective.
17. Focus humour on yourself. “Because of my lack of hair, I tell others I’m a former expert on how to cure baldness.”
18. Listen to a recording of laughter. Record people laughing; especially children.
19. Make your kids giggle or tickle laugh.
20. Play music during low energy moments.Get out of your seat and move your body.
21. Sing happy songs such as “Zippedy Doo Dah”
22. Hold a meeting without flipcharts, computers etc. Put paper and crayons on the tables.
23. Smile, laugh out loud, laugh silently every time you hit delete on your keyboard.
24. Read a children’s book out loud.
25. Read or write humourous poetry.
26. Hold a tell a joke contest.

March 12, 2007

Four Humour Styles: The Laughing Classroom

Are you a Joy Master?
Positive
Inspiring, Humanizing, High-level Play
Healing, Inclusive, Warmhearted, Innocent

If you have checked 5 or more statements, congratulations! As a Joy Master, you know how to take humour to its highest form!
As a role model, your warm sense of humour will be an inspiration to others.

Are you a Fun Meister?
Positive
Slapstick, Clowning, Naïve, Imitative, Entertaining
Negative
Ridiculing, Dark Humour, Tragedy and Suffering, Hurtful, Degrading

If you have checked 3 or more in either category, you are definitely a frolicking Fun Meister.
Challenge yourself to turn negative traits to positive ones that can be appreciated by all!

Are you a Joke Maker?
Positive
Wordplay, Teaching Stories, Parody, Instructive, Insightful
Negative
Insulting, Biting, Satiric, Stereotyping, Destructive

If you have 3 or more checks in either category, you are probably a jovial Joke Maker.
Challenge yourself to turn negative traits to positive ones that will bring a smile to everyone’s face.

Are you a Life Mocker?
Negative
Cynical, Sarcastic, Exclusive, Coldhearted, Worldly, Dehumanizing

If you have checked 5 or more statements. BEWARE!!! What you consider a sense of humour is really your method of lashing out and hurting others.
Take time to analyze what messages you are giving to yourself about the world and your place within it. Look at the positive qualities of the Joy Master, Fun Meister, and Joke Maker to see if they can help you become lighter and more loving toward yourself and others.

by Diana Loomans & Karen Kolberg

March 9, 2007

The High Fives of Humour

5 Social Benefits of Laughter
Builds a sense of team.
Promotes creativity.
Increases communication.
Enhances self-esteem.
Reduces conflict.
5 Positive Results from Laughter
Enthusiasm
Confidence.
Optimism.
Joy.
Openness.
5 Physical Benefits of Laughter
Reduces stress.
Enhances immune system functioning.
Acts as an internal massage.
Regulates blood pressure.
Feels good.
5 Ways to Recognize Laughter
Exhalation of breath.
Shaking of chest and sides.
Watering eyes.
Contraction of facial muscles.
Cheeks turning bright red.
5 Qualities That Reflect Fun & Enthusiasm
Vocal variety.
Animated facial expressions.
Exuberant energy level.
Passion about work.
Willingness to take risks.
5 Basic Competencies Enhanced by Humour
Communication skills.
Creative/critical thinking skills.
Cultural awareness skills.
Cooperative learning skills.
Coping skills.
5 Habits to Assure Wonderful Human Relationships
Acceptance.
Appreciation.
Admiration.
Approval.
Attention.

March 6, 2007

The Big Smile Oath

I do solemnly swear,
To turn up each side of my mouth,
And to smile as often as possible,
I agree to laugh several times daily.
And to give and receive at least three hugs per day!
I vow to have frequent bouts of silliness,
And more happiness for no reason.
From this day forth,
I promise to laugh long and prosper.

From What All Children Want Their Parents to Know: 12 Keys to Raising a Happy Child
By Diana Loomans & Julia Godoy

March 5, 2007

The Laughing Oath

To be stated while wearing a great big grin:

I do solemnly swear from this day forward
To grease my giggling gears each day
And to wear a grin on my face for no reason at all!
I promise to tap my funny bone often,
With children, family, friends, colleagues & clients,
And to laugh at least fifteen times per day.
I believe that frequent belly laughter
Cures terminal tightness, cerebral stiffness,
And hardening of the attitudes,
And that HA HA often lead to AHA!
Therefore, I vow, from this day forth,
To brighten the day of everyone I meet,
And to laugh long and prosper!

I wonder which one I am?

Some people create joy wherever they go.
Others create joy whenever they go.

Anonymous

March 2, 2007

Cyber Pod Work Environment Rules

1. Sickness
This is no longer allowed under any circumstances.
We will no longer accept your doctor’s statement as proof of illness.
If you can walk to your doctor, you can certainly do work.

2. Leave of Absence for an Operation
This practice must stop from today.
We wish to discourage any thoughts that you may need all of whatever you have and should not consider having anything removed.
We hired you for all that you are and to have anything removed certainly makes you less than we bargained for.

3. Death, other than your own
You must arrange to attend funerals very late in the day after your work is done.
Providing this is adhered to, we will consider letting you go 1 hour earlier.
Please be sure to put this in writing.

4. Death, Your Own
This is acceptable as an excuse, but…
We would like at least two weeks notice as we feel it is your duty to teach someone else your job.
Treat this point as important.

5. Personal Hygiene
Entirely too much time is being spent in the washroom.
In the future you will follow the practice of going in alphabetical order.
For instance, those with surnames beginning with “A” will be allowed to go from 9 to 9:05 and so on.
If you are unable to go at your appointed time you must wait until the next day when your time comes around again.

6. Quantity of Work
No matter how much you do, you’ll never do enough.
If you disagree please see your District Representative.

7. Quality of Work
The minimum acceptable level is
PERFECTION at ALL times.

8. Advice from the Workplace Specialist
Eat a live frog the first thing in the morning and you will be hopping around all day.
Certainly nothing worse can happen to you the rest of the day.

9. The BOSS is ALWAYS RIGHT even in his/her absence.

March 1, 2007

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Each year in the second semester I spend some time reviewing your courses with each of you. Last year we had a personal interview and talked about what level your course was on the four level scale. This year I am one year older and do not wish to take up your time with the personal interview. I am going to do a virtual tour of your course, but to do this I need each of you to complete the following questions:

Mathematiques Grade Nine Answers

This course offers a full Math 90 curriculum. Each concept has an explanation along with several examples, including many movie files which are quite appealing to all students especially the visual learner. Marks for each assignment and exam are shown immediately for the student to keep a close eye on their progress and the teacher is an email away for any questions that arise.

Student Comment:
One student loved how it was user friendly and easy to get around.

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................No
Dropbox........................................Yes
Chatroom.....................................Yes
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines.......................... Yes The students have guidelines but are expected to be finished the course on time. The actual assignments don’t have due dates, but I watch that they keep a good pace. If they are not finished what needs to be done by midterm, they can still submit those after the midterm report.
RSS Feeds....................................I have no clue what that means
Blog.............................................No
Read TADO..................................No
Marks for communicating...............No... never thought of that though
Cyber Tracker saves time...............Yes
Brown Bag useful..........................I have not been able to attend as I start at EDF at 1:00pm

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................When I get to work and when I leave.
Check your email.........................At least 5

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................Almost everyday
get to the cyber pod....................I have only made it a few times

How many...

students in your course............... 5
course email do you get...............55
discussion board entries..............1

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

I think I need to look into this…I don’t think I have any.

List one different element in your course.

The amount of Flash Files. I think they are a valuable tool for the visual Math learner.

Comments

February 28, 2007

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Journalism Grade Eleven Answers

This course offers a wide variety of concepts considering Journalism. It allows the student to study the many different modern ways of how media covers news through print journalism as well as electronic journalism. The final project allows the student to master an element of journalism that most appeals to themselves.

Student Comment:
I had a couple of students who were really quite interested in Journalism and appreciated the amount of learning material was offered.

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................No a journal but not daily
Dropbox........................................No
Chatroom.....................................Yes
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......No I don't have any
Flexible deadlines.......................... Yes The students have guidelines but are expected to be finished the course on time. The actual assignments don’t have due dates, but I watch that they keep a good pace. If they are not finished what needs to be done by midterm, they can still submit those after the midterm report.
RSS Feeds....................................I have no clue what that means
Blog.............................................No
Read TADO..................................sometimes.
Marks for communicating...............No... never thought of that though
Cyber Tracker saves time...............Yes
Brown Bag useful..........................I have not been able to attend as I start at EDF at 1:00pm

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................When I get to work and when I leave.
Check your email.........................At least 5

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................Almost everyday
get to the cyber pod....................I have only made it a few times

How many...

students in your course............... 4
course email do you get...............130
discussion board entries..............166

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

This site is used to help the students realize that ethnocentrism happens everywhere, even in our own city.
Saskatoon

List one different element in your course.

This course allows the students to take a good look at the media and what is reliable media vs. media that is simply for people’s entertainment.

Comments

February 27, 2007

Email spam report

It was brought to our attention that some rather obvious spam got through to our staff over the weekend. We have sent the offending email to our vendor for resolution.

Here is the latest stats about the mail received which is deemed good vs the junk. If you compare it to the last report in October of 2006, we are now topping 3,000,000 emails per month received with only 6% deemed good - over 100,000 per day.

We are sorry that some garbage does get through, but as you can see the task is daunting. Please communicate to your staff that we are still applying our best efforts to remove the junk, but keep all of the good email - a delicate balance to be sure.

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Media Studies Grade Eleven Answers

1. Self-directed learning: you choose an area of interest for in-depth study!

2. Explore issues related to mass media while learning other important skills, such as project planning, time management, communication, evaluation and analysis.

3. “The medium is the message” An opportunity to engage in multiple media forms. (Motivated, ambitious, challenge-seeking applicants only, please.)

Student Comment:
Generally speaking, I am always thrilled when they post responses to individual lessons, obviously excited or outraged or blown away by discovering some aspect of media they hadn’t before considered. The most reactions come from the “deconstructing” unit, which covers digital manipulation, Canadian representation in the media, the language of advertising (and an essay on parity which seems to be popular). I should “save” some of the responses for future reference.

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................Yes
Dropbox........................................Yes
Chatroom.....................................No
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines.......................... No
RSS Feeds....................................No.
Blog.............................................No - working on one
Read TADO..................................No.
Marks for communicating...............Yes
Cyber Tracker saves time...............Yes very much actually
Brown Bag useful..........................Yes, when they happen

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................25
Check your email.........................2

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................5
get to the cyber pod....................1

How many...

students in your course............... 10
course email do you get...............There have been 249 email exchanges, so approx 125
discussion board entries..............We have 608 entries this semester, so far

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

Is it Fake or Foto?

List one different element in your course.

The course is entirely project-based. This may change.

Comments

I still have years to go to have the course I envision

February 24, 2007

My first wiki.

This wiki is a follow up to a discussion that I had at Northern Voice.
It is an attempt to place interactivity of web stuff. Please go anedit this wiki to build this list.

"Wiki wiki" is Hawaiian for "quick". In the words of Wiki's creator, Ward Cunningham: "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for quick and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web."

TaDo Wiki

Trying to build a list based on interactivity.

This list will be from the least interactive to the most interactive.

1. Web Pages
2. Website guest book
3. Blogs
4. General message boards
5. Wikis
6. Personal message boards
7. Email
8. I.M.
9. Telephone
10. Video Conference
11. Face to face meeting

Administrators Virtual Course Tour

English A Grade Twelve Answers

This course offers great flexibility, independence and quick feedback to the serious learner. Students are able to work on their own time, and pretty much at their own pace. Teacher feedback and assignment return is prompt, usually within 12 hours, and rarely longer than 24 hours.

Student Comment:
I liked how all of the assignments were done on the computer. I also liked how fast I would recieve my marks back. This allowed me to know what my mark was throughout the course. It was not hard communicating or asking questions and they were all very well answered. I really liked how I could work on my own time. If I was really busy I could do it at a different time.

Fast help when needed. Teacher patience, and flexbility period for writing exams.

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................Yes
Dropbox........................................No
Chatroom.....................................No
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines.......................... I accept assignments after the stated cut off time.
RSS Feeds....................................No.
Blog.............................................No
Read TADO..................................Yes.
Marks for communicating...............Yes
Cyber Tracker saves time...............No not yet
Brown Bag useful..........................Yes

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................once
Check your email.........................2 to 3 times

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................7 or more
get to the cyber pod....................2

How many...

students in your course............... 9
course email do you get...............don'tknow I have not kept track
discussion board entries..............Somewhere over 900- the private discussion boards are the main avenue I and the students use to communicate and for them to submit assignments and for me to return them.

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

I have no links

List one different element in your course.

Letter of Introduction

Comments

There are a number of changes that I am looking at as I work on the ELA 20 course. I want to explore more closely the pros and cons of using the drop box rather than the discussion board that I am using now for submission of assignments. I will look at using blogs for the student journals. If I see them working well for ELA 20 (or better than what I am using for ELA A30) then I foresee changing the process in ELA A30.

February 21, 2007

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

English B Grade Twelve Answers

This is a course that provides you the opportunity to expand your learning styles. You will learn independently and become responsible. You also get one on one time whenever you need it.

Student Comment:
(Paraphrased) “This is the most challenging English course I’ve ever had, and I learned the most”
Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................Yes
Dropbox........................................No
Chatroom.....................................Rarely
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......No
Flexible deadlines..........................As a rule, No
RSS Feeds....................................No. not yet
Blog.............................................Yes, but not operating yet
Read TADO..................................Yes.
Marks for communicating...............No.
Cyber Tracker saves time...............Yes and No
Brown Bag useful..........................Yes

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................5
Check your email.........................Constantly (50)

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................Everyday at school
get to the cyber pod....................5

How many...

students in your course............... 9
course email do you get...............83
discussion board entries..............50

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

I have no links

List one different element in your course.

Not really sure

Comments

None

February 20, 2007

Cyber School Promo 2006

The following is a cyber school promo for 2007 to be used at grade 8 parent nights and 9-11 parent nights at our feeder schools.

2007 Cyber School Promotional html

2007 Cyber School Promotional PowerPoint

Bated Breath

I Love the internet...here is the answer to my own question.

"Bated breath" has been around a long time. Here's the first cite in the Oxford English Dictionary: "1596 Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice i. iii. 125 'With bated breath, and whispring humblenesse.'"

Bated-- "To moderate or restrain (a variation of "abate"): to bate one's enthusiasm, and, "to lessen or diminish," and "with bated breath - in a state of suspenseful anticipation."

I myself like the "baited" ...you know holding a worm in your mouth trying to lure the fish in...

OK...OK it might not be as good.

Northern Voice Blog Conference

I am officially a blogger, on thursday I will be flying to Vancouver to participate in my first bloggin conference. I am a veteran conferencer but a virgin blog conferencer. I will blog my experience and I hope you wait with baited breath for those postings.

(by the way anyone know where the expression "baited breath" came from?)

Latest Drug in Middle School - Dusting

First, I'm going to tell you a little about me and my family. My name is Jeff. I am a Police Officer for a city which is known nationwide for it's Crime rate. We have a lot of gangs and drugs. At one point we were # 2 in The nation in homicides per capita. I also have a police K-9 named Thor. He was certified in drugs and general duty. He retired at 3 years old because he was shot in the line of duty. He lives with us now and I still train with him because he likes it. I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs into my house. Thor wouldn't allow it. He would tell on you. The reason I say this is so you understand that I know about drugs.

I have taught in schools about drugs. My wife asks all our kids at least once a week if they used any drugs. Makes them promise they won't.

I like building computers occasionally and started building a new one in
February 2005. I also was working on some of my older computers. They were
full of dust so on one of my trips to the computer store I bought a 3 pack of DUST OFF. Dust Off is a can of compressed air to blow dust off a computer. A few weeks later when I went to use one of them they were all used. I talked to my kids and my two sons both said they had used them on their computer and messing around with them. I yelled at them for wasting the 10 dollars I paid for them.

On February 28, I went back to the computer store. They didn't have the 3 Pack which I had bought on sale so I bought a single jumbo can of Dust Off.
I went home and set it down beside my computer. On March 1st, I left for work at 10 PM. Just before midnight my wife went down and kissed Kyle goodnight. At 5:30 am the next morning Kathy went downstairs to wake Kyle up for school, before she left for work. He was propped up in bed with his legs crossed and his head leaning over. She called to him a few times to get up. He didn't move. He would sometimes tease her like this and pretend he
fell back asleep. He was never easy to get up. She went in and shook his
arm. He fell over. He was pale white and had the straw from the Dust Off can coming out of his mouth. He had the new can of Dust Off in his hands. Kyle was dead.

Administrator Course Virtual Tour

Chemistry Grade Eleven and Twelve Answers

CyberSchool Chemistry provides students with an opportunity to learn in a unique way. It uses the resources of the Internet to illustrate chemical principles in ways not possible in most classrooms. Successful students come away with a broader knowledge base and more independence to make them life-long learners.

Student Comment: What did you enjoy about Cyber School ?

- how helpful the teachers are. When you have a question they can answer it and explain what it is you are wondering about.
- the flexible hours you are required to work.
- that you can set your own schedule

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................No
Dropbox........................................No
Chatroom.....................................No
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................Yes It is listed as an option for submitting assignments.
Computer marked assignments.......Yes. Of the 70-odd assignments in each course, most are computer marked. Because they are short answer/numerical answers for the most part I still have to go over every assignment to make sure the students are getting all the credit they deserve.
Flexible deadlines..........................Yes 150 days is my only deadline
RSS Feeds....................................No. I have enough trouble getting students to read beyond what is written in the course (they treat it like a textbook) RSS would just give them more material not to read.
Blog.............................................Yes Only for my "in body" sessions at Holy Cross
Read TADO..................................Yes. I browse it and read the bits I think may be useful
Marks for communicating...............Yes. It is based on specific items to be placed on the bulletin board, not email conversations with me or with each other.
Cyber Tracker saves time...............No. All the information I need is on WebCT and an Excel spread sheet. Inactivity can be determined using Track Students in WebCT. I record midterm and final due dates as a matter of course when a student registers. The record of emails is fine, but my problem is lack of progress, not lack of logging on so I wind up writing my own emails anyway.
One thing that has added to my work is that we no longer get notice when a student is added to a class. It is usually only when a student I don’t recognize starts sending emails or when I go into the manage students section of WebCT that I notice I have a new student.
It would be great if Tracker could send an email automatically when a student is added or deleted.
Brown Bag useful..........................No. Attendance is usually so low that everything gets repeated by email anyway. We need to get a formal staff meeting time allocated like is done in the schools.
How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................A couple
Check your email.........................six times a day

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................A couple. I check it when I grade the course to make sure I am not missing anything.
get to the pod.............................Every Day
How many...

students in your course............... 25
course email do you get...............On average about 6 a day
discussion board entries..............On average about 2 a day

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

Chem Team

List one different element in your course.

At this time I can’t think of any elements which are unique. As I renew the courses over the next couple of years I want to make it less wordy and more interactive. Easily said, but I realize I have a huge job ahead of me.

Comments

Now that we are established as a school I think our biggest challenge is to stay on the radar of teachers and students. We must continue to sell ourselves and our product to the students and the community at large. Only that way will our enrollment remain viable.

That said, we have to make sure our “product” stays current. More time and resources must be allocated not only to course additions, but renewal.

February 12, 2007

Administrator Course Virtual Tour

Information Processing Grade Eleven Answers

This is a very practical course. The lessons are easy to follow. The assignments reinforce the lessons.

Student Comment: I really liked this course, is there an IP30?

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................Yes
Dropbox........................................Yes
Chatroom.....................................No
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines..........................Yes 150 days is my only deadline
RSS Feeds....................................No
Blog.............................................No
Read TADO..................................Yes
Marks for communicating...............Yes
Cyber Tracker saves time...............Yes
Brown Bag useful..........................Sometimes, Email is usually enough, when email is not….. YES

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................Constantly
Check your email.........................Constantly

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................3
get to the pod.............................1

How many...

students in your course............... 14
course email do you get...............Approximately 400/15 = 27 per student
discussion board entries..............131 or about 9 per student

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

The University of Toronto Engineering Communication Centre

List one different element in your course.

I have an assignment / quiz on every page… lots of immediate feedback.

Comments

None

February 9, 2007

Too many links it drives me mad.

The following is the start of an executive summary of a proposal we have put together and I will just use it for this example

Our initial concept involved developing a program to track students enrolled in Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. Web CT, the learning management system this program was designed to accompany, does have student tracking capabilities however, it is designed to work primarily with semester based courses.

Doesn't a blog entry with so many links make you mad. I end up away from the original entry and off surfing somewhere else. So in my blog entries I try to make my point and then place a single link to the point of interest.

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Ukrainian Grade Ten Answers

I would want my own kid taking the course!

Student Comment: Have not received any (yet – all the good ones are coming soon)

Which of the following are used in the course?

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................Once
Check your email.........................At least twice

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................once
get to the pod.............................four

How many...

students in your course............... 2
course email do you get...............39
discussion board entries..............1

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

Novamova

List one different element in your course.

It’s all in Ukrainian! And, I use an ancient technology – faxes!!

Comments

None

February 8, 2007

Administrators Virtual Course Tour

Christian Ethics Grade Twelve Answers

Know God. Love God. Serve God, all with the help of my online Christian Ethics class.

Student Comment: I have not had any yet.

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................Yes
Dropbox........................................Yes
Chatroom.....................................No
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................Yes
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines..........................Yes
RSS Feeds....................................No
Blog.............................................No
Read TADO..................................No
Marks for communicating...............Yes
Cyber Tracker saves time...............No
Brown Bag useful..........................Yes

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................Twice
Check your email.........................3 times a day

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................3-5
get to the pod.............................3 times

How many...

students in your course............... 17
course email do you get...............130
discussion board entries..............970

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

Your Guide to the Religions of the World

List one different element in your course.

Other than being about religion I haven’t had time to explore other courses yet.

Comments

None

February 7, 2007

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Physics Grade Eleven and Twelve Answers

A detailed high school physics course which meets all of the objectives of the prescribed curriculum established by Saskatchewan Learning. The course provides students with the opportunity to become informed about key concepts in physics and become independent learners as they learn at their own pace. The illustrations and links to websites provides students with a visual representation of many of the key concepts that are studied and the detailed solutions to questions that are provided allow students to develop their problem solving skills along with their critical thinking.

Student Comment: Flexible, caring, and accommodating instructor.

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................No
Dropbox........................................Yes
Chatroom.....................................No
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................Yes
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines..........................Yes
RSS Feeds....................................No
Blog.............................................No
Read TADO..................................Yes
Marks for communicating...............Yes
Cyber Tracker saves time...............No
Brown Bag useful..........................Yes

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................Once
Check your email.........................2-3 times a day

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................1 - 2 times when it is working
get to the pod.............................5 times

How many...

students in your course............... Physics 20 - 14 Physics 30 - 8
course email do you get...............Countless
discussion board entries..............Many

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

How Does Light Work?

List one different element in your course.

A very detailed and structured "Student Calendar" which allows students the opportunity to always be on task.

Comments

Tracking of students in the course is important as are referrals. However I have found that the process that we are presently working on to be a rather cumbersome one and also stressful whereby a lot of time is devoted to this process as opposed to focusing our attention on those students that are actually willing to do the work. The attempt to streamline and standardize everything may be of benefit to some but flexibility and efficiency must be built into the process. I guess what I am trying to say and as I have already indicated, I am rather frustrated right now with the tracking system that we are presently pursuing as it has created additional work for me. Having said that I also understand and appreciate the amount of time and effort that has gone into formalizing this process and from an administrative perspective it may have made things simpler.

February 6, 2007

Podcast Number three

TADO Crew: Norm Lepage, Darren Cannell, Todd Paslawski

TADO Table of Contents

TADO Net Buzz

Darren: Dynamic use of computational readouts
Todd: use of an online calendar
Norm: iTunes podcast directory

TADO Feature Topic
1. Can Technology overwhelm content?
2. Do we design online learning based on the user or based on the technology?

Check it out by clicking the button below

Podcast Three

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

English Language Arts Grade Ten (under development) Answers

The ELA A10 course is designed to help further develop students’ skills in Language Arts. The areas that we focus on are reading and writing from poetry, short stories, essays, plays, and novel studies. Freedom and flexibility is built in to this interactive course.

Student Comment: None

Which of the following are used in the course?

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................Once
Check your email.........................at least three

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................N/A
get to the pod.............................2

How many...

students in your course............... N/A
course email do you get...............N/A
discussion board entries..............N/A

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

I don’t have an internet site, I have downloaded and inserted links to interactive movies and music to support the lessons.

List one different element in your course.

It is ELA A10 – nobody else can say that!

Comments

I know a lot of this didn’t apply to me, yet, but it made me think about my course design. I know if I did it again, there might be some things I would have done a bit differently but I am pretty pleased with how it came out overall. Once I have some students in there I’ll have a better idea of where I screwed things up, and have to change things. I got a lot of great advice from the people in the pod. It made it soooo much easier. I talked to many teachers and got them to tell me about what works and what doesn’t, and what they prefer and why. It was awesome.

February 5, 2007

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Information Processing Grade Ten Answers

This is one of the first completely online courses developed in the province. It provides students with the opportunity to pursue a credit in Information Processing in a non-linear, learn at your own pace, online environment which allows them to gain a true knowledge and understanding of the principles of technology use in their lives and the world around them.

Student Comment: “This course was a lot of fun and interesting. Instead of sitting through a teacher lecturing about things I know already, I learned some valuable computer skills and acomplished things I didn't think were possible before.”

Which of the following are used in the course?

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................I am tracking them from when I log in on Cyber to when I log off.
Check your email.........................Too many to count

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................Twice I think
get to the pod.............................3+

How many...

students in your course............... IT’S full from day one to final day.., 30 at all times
course email do you get...............Current course year 991, I have sent 1718
discussion board entries..............2108 (multi years though, not sure about this year.

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

Quite honestly this course was set up to run independently of other sites and therefore does not suffer link rot, or outdated links, it was meade to run itself, although the best third party javascript linked on the site is to the typing tutor program from The Typing Tutor

List one different element in your course.

The integration of html programmed hard links in the course itself presents an ease of use other courses are not able to match.

Comments

None

February 2, 2007

Administrators Virtual Course Tour

History Grade Twelve Answers

First, I don’t consider myself much of a salesman, I couldn’t sell water in the desert. Here goes:

Understand how our country was created, populated and governed so that you can determine if the plans developed by the "Fathers of Confederation" have been followed or rejected. What is Canada, and what does it mean to be Canadian?

Student Comment: "I felt smarter because I didn't have a whole class of other students to compare myself to ... and I could do the work whenever I wanted, and I could do as much as I wanted to..."

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................No
Dropbox........................................Yes
Chatroom.....................................No
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines..........................No
RSS Feeds....................................Yes
Blog.............................................Yes (but not for the course ... yet )
Read TADO..................................Yes
Marks for communicating...............Yes
Cyber Tracker saves time...............Yes
Brown Bag useful..........................Yes (when I get there)

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................Not as often as I'd like ... I'm based in email
Check your email.........................Everyday, multiple times ... it's my primary link of communication

How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................It ranges from 2-4 times a week.
get to the pod.............................I try to get to the pod as much as I can ... between 1-3 times a week.

How many...

students in your course...............31
course email do you get...............I get about three emails a day from my students.
discussion board entries..............Each student will submit a min. of 14 discussion board entries. I've created a article critique discussion and a current events discussion forum.

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

They are all fantastic, take your pick. The reason I say this is because, I've created a lesson template that all of my lessons follow. Research has shown that interface continuity has a tremendous impact on the online user ... it establishes students self-efficacy in the course, and creates a feeling of comfort because they are familiar with their "screen real-estate" ... they know where everything is, and where everything is suppose to be. (I know, long answer)

List one different element in your course.

I use audio files on my main page to deliver class notices. I will be using an application to enhance the audio communication between myself and my students. I think that my course has strong online design methodology, and implements as many online "internet" technologies. (the use of the new online technologies are always tested and accessed by me before I implement them in my online class.

Comments

I love teaching cyberschool. I love the challenge of using current technology to communicate historic events. Bottom line, I will use the highest and lowest forms of technology to motivate my students to learn and keep learning. Oh yeah, Macs rule!!!!

February 1, 2007

New Monthly Poll

The people who check Never are not telling the truth,

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Mathematics B Grade Twelve Answers

First, I don’t consider myself much of a salesman, I couldn’t sell water in the desert. Here goes:

Are you looking for a course to teach you Math B30. All lessons go step by step, all assignments must be completed to ensure understanding, and all solutions are worked out to see where you may have made a mistake

Student Comment: “I like the way lessons are set up.”

Which of the following are used in the course?

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................at most onece
Check your email.........................weekdays -3 weekends - 1
How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................couple
get to the pod.............................1

How many...

students in your course...............14
course email do you get...............392, but I have deleted some
discussion board entries..............0

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

Haven't got there yet.

List one different element in your course.

Not Sure

Comments

None

January 31, 2007

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Mathematics Grade Eleven Answers

The Math 20 cyber school course is ideal for students who are independent, motivated and loved to be challenged. It provides in depth lessons and examples that allow students to learn the course material independently, but it also has a teacher readily available via e-mail or phone to provide assistance and answer questions.

Student Comment: “I learned a lot and enjoyed the class. Thanks!”

Which of the following are used in the course?

Daily Journal ................................No
Dropbox........................................No
Chatroom.....................................Yes
Discussion Board..........................Yes
Fax machine.................................No
Computer marked assignments.......Yes
Flexible deadlines..........................Yes
RSS Feeds....................................No
Blog.............................................Yes
Read TADO..................................Sometimes . . . when an article peaks my interest
Marks for communicating...............No
Cyber Tracker saves time...............Yes, thank you! I find it extremely helpful and see that it has the potential to help us even more with tracking student progress.
Brown Bag useful..........................Yes, I think they are essential.

How many times a day do you check your...

Phone messages.........................2
Check your email.........................Lots 10+
How many times a week do you...

log into cyber tracker...................3
get to the pod.............................5

How many...

students in your course...............21
course email do you get...............470 since the beginning of this school year, 5182 since the course started
discussion board entries..............85

Most useful site(s) linked to the course.

Math GV Plotting Software (graphing software for students)

List one different element in your course.

Not Sure

Comments

None

January 30, 2007

The Search for a PHD

I have just completed my Masters in Distance Education at Athabasca University with a 3.78 GPA. (he states proudly)

I am presently looking for a University to do my PHD and an advisor who would be interested in K-12 online education. An accredited university is a must, I would love to have my last degree from either, England, U of S, Australia or Europe. My other degrees are from Canada and I would like a different approach. Any suggestions from the blogosphere would be great.

I would like a university that might be willing to offer me a scholarship...I like saving money and it makes me popular with my wife.

Here is my CV and feel free to email me if you have a suggestion, a first hand positive university experience, if you work for a university or you have a pile of money and would like to sponsor a poor teacher's education. I am not cheap but I can be bought.

Darren's CV

I normally do not post personal entries but I thought this might be an interesting experience.

Administrator Virtual Course Tour

Christian Ethics Grade Ten Answers

This Christian Ethics 10 is the first course designed with the explicit approval of Bishop Albert Legatt and the endorsement of the Diocese of Saskatoon. Its aim is to reach out to those students who are seeking a Christian ethics course regardless of their location or school division. It incorporates technology in a manner which focuses on the unique and god-given talents and beliefs of all participants to build a truly one of a kind online Christian community of personal faith and truth seekers.