E-Learning For Educators Reflective Journal

Week 8
This is our last week.  My e-portfolio is complete and I hope within standards.  I am sure I will tweek it and use if for the future.  I am currently working on updating my resume and I plan on uploading that to there too.  I have learned AND used so many new tools during this course and I am excited to use them in my classroom next year.  I have high hopes that the students will respond positively to the new tools I will be using for the first time (discussion forums and wikis).  

Week 7
This week we worked on our e-portfolios.  It was actually kind of fun (a little frustrating at times) and useful.  I used weebly.com and it was really intuitive and simple to use. I even made my own page for school and I will continue to edit that and add to it.  I went further and made my school a new science page.  

I also used some of the QR code information from one of the CSEs last week to "tag" some of my documents.  That really was not difficult and it was kind of fun.  My 17 year old told me "cool" when I showed him that he could open his chemistry syllabus by scanning the code with his phone.  

Week 6
This week we created Custom Search Engines on a topic of our choice.  To me it seemed like a lot of work for a purpose that I have not quite grasped.  To me it would seem more productive to have a document with all of the necessary links present.  I found the information that other class members chose to be very interesting and useful, but again a document with all of the pertinent links would seem more useful to me.  

Week 5
I was very frustrated with the online tutuorial.  I eventually made it through with a terrible score.  Even though I have a terrible score I have some more tools to use when using the web.  I also feel if I am researching information having to do with my teaching, that I won’t do so badly~that I have some background knowledge when it comes to what I am looking for.  Having background knowledge allows users to help identify if a site is a good site or not.  I will most likely be doing some sort of information fluency lesson with my students (I do think it is important).  I came across this website, which seems to be very useful for high school teachers and full of good information.  

I want to know more about Standards Based Grading and I think that might be what I focus on for the final project.


Week 4
I was gone for the week and worked ahead.  We needed to make a survey in Moodle, but since I am familiar with Moodle I asked for permission to try out GoogleForms.  I loved it.  Very easy and user friendly and the results are very intuitive.

Week 3
Moodle and discussion forums.  When I was talking to my friend about using a blog for students next year she mentioned that I could do a discussion forum (she said that it is easier to find stuff).  I like the way that the discussion forum is set up in Moodle (small groups).  I can see myself doing this in my classes and either having a discussion forum with like minded students or having very mixed ability groups.  I have to think about what I want out of the forum before I could feasibly pick groups.  After using the discussion forum with the small groups I think I like that better.  It is much easier to keep track of and I can see high school students being easily overwhelmed. 

Week 2
diigo.com  
I have encountered some frustration with sharing.  I would type my description in and share it, but then my description and sharing “disappeared”.  Then I went to look at the group that I shared to and the comments that disappeared were there.  I guess I’ll figure it out and in the future I won’t share anything until I am completely positive I have it typed up correctly.  When I go back to the website and my “libary” it doesn’t show anymore that I have shared them to a group.  I hope my comments, tags, highlights, and shared groups appear.  If not I don’t know...

I had trouble finding time mid-week to get onto the discussion board.  My discussion responses all happened mid-end week. 

Week 1

It has been a long time since I have used a discussion board and I actually am brainstorming ways to use one in my own classes.  Some ideas that I have are to use it for my science current events and to also use it as a course “evaluative” process that is ongoing.  I will be thinking throughout the summer and looking at the different ways we use the discussion boards to see how I might be able to use them in my classes.

Custom Search Engines for Educators

Augmented Reality CSE
QR Codes for Educators
Cyberbullying

Reflective Journal for Assessment in E-Learning

Week 8
Required Links

Course Wiki
Midterm Project
Taxonomy Table
Pre-Course Survey
Final Project
Key Readings

Reflections
After thinking about it I will probably use my e-portfolio.  Maybe not for the same reasons as someone who pursues the master program that UW-Stout offers, but I can use it for my own professional purposes. I think I will work on updating my resume and posting that on there.  I am sure I can find other items that would be useful on there too.  If I continue to use it I will edit it to meet my professional needs.  I will also most likely continue to use my blog.  It will be edited though to meet the needs that I use it for.

I really have gotten a lot out of this course and I am excited to use some of the new tools that I learned about. I don't see myself working on another degree, but I do see myself taking some more of these courses offered (they are very good).

Week 7
Reflections
This week was spent working on an e-portfolio.  I chose to do mine on weebly.com and it was fun and useful.  I don't know if I'll ever use my e-portfolio again, but the information I learned about in the class (which can all be found on my portfolio) is VERY useful.

Week 6
Activity 6-1
Pre-Course Survey Link

Reflections
I am back on track and have my weeks "separated".  With my trip weeks 3 ran into 4 and week 4 ran into 5.  I believe I am all caught up.  I think I have a good start on my final project and I am excited to try to incorporate Wikis and Discussion Forums into my classes.  I am sure that they will be a learning experience for me and my students.

I also created a survey for the beginning of the year.  I like using GoogleForms and my students all have access to them without having to set up new passwords and accounts.  While creating the pre-course survey I decided that I will also have my students and parents do their classroom checklist (it lays out all of my expectations and policies) in GoogleForms too.  I will use the parents email that I hopefully get in the pre-course survey to share the classroom checklist with parents separate from the students.  Obviously for the ones that don't have internet access at home I will provide a printed copy.

I am really excited about some of the tools I have learned about and have been forced to use since the beginning of this class.

Weeks 4-5
Reflections
Well first things first...I have switched the order of my posts.  I didn't like having to scroll to the bottom to read the most current information and I don't like that on other blogs either that I have read.

These are kind of going to blend together, because I was in Panama for Week 4 with very limited internet access.  So for week 4 I needed to work ahead and get my work done before I left.  Unfortunately it was a week where we were working in a group.  I feel bad for my group members, but I think that I was able to do the portion of the group project sufficiently well and I turned it into them very early.  I would have done more if I could have, but that would have required them to work ahead too.

I am now catching up with my schoolwork from last week and trying to get this weeks work done too.  All of this while trying to catch up at home.  Busy, busy, busy.  We were "reintroduced" to Mr. Bloom this week (any teacher will know who I am talking about) and it is always good to look at learning objectives and assessments with Bloom in mind (especially in my teaching of chemistry and physics).


Week 3
Activity 3-1
Concept Mapping

Reflections
It would be nice if google docs files could be uploaded to the blog.  Much of week 3 was spent working ahead into week 4, so that I could enjoy my trip to Panama and not worry about schoolwork (I wasn't going to have internet access).

So I can upload an image, just not a PDF.  I tried copying and pasting and that didn't work too well.  I'll have to play around with this some more.

Week 2

Activity 2-3

Let's Go To The Movies

     I have many movies that I love, but this one is one of my all time favorites.  It is a story of a Jewish man who winds up in a concentration camp with his young son.  He turns the whole ordeal into a game for his son's birthday in order to protect his son from the horrors going on around them.

     I don't exactly know why it is special to me.  It just shows how a parent's love for their child can produce a response in the parent to protect their child at all cost.  The movie is a feel good movie with a decently happy ending.

Notes from Module 2 Interactive Inventory

**My choices are marked in yellow and there are only three statements that I do not completely agree with.

1.  Desired learning is assessed indirectly through the use of objectively scored tests.  I would prefer it to state that the assessment is direct.  I know that not all assessments are a direct reflection of skills learned, but the way my end of unit tests are set up they are a direct reflection and I can directly see what the students have learned.  I do not officially use Standards Based Grading, but at some point I will move that direction and I have been slowly moving there the past two years. 
2.  Assessment is used to monitor learning.This could easily be on the learner-centered side.  Students use self-assessments often in their own learning.  If they do homework and check to see if they have the right answer that is a way that they monitor themselves.  There are online quizzes, flashcard apps, and numerous other ways that students can informally assess and monitor their own learning.  
3.  Emphasis is on right answers.  I teach chemistry and physics and sometimes the right answer is necessary and this really depends on if a lab is being done or a problem set.  It is sometimes necessary for a student to get a “right answer” to solidify and verify their learning.  My above statements are dependent on my classroom. 

Reflections

At first when I opened up my blog I didn't really think I could ever use one in my classroom~I was viewing it as a journal.  A blog would make a great journal and I enjoy reading blogs from my friends' travels etc...

After reading this weeks readings I quickly discovered there are many different ways for a teacher to use one in the classroom...even a high school science teacher.

I like the ideas of having students post main ideas to create a "lesson directory".  I am not sure that a wiki might not be better for this.  I will look more into how a blogs and wikis compare and contrast.

I also would need to decide how I would "assess" the blog use and if it would be public or private.  I will be looking for other teachers blogs to see how they look and how they are used.

Week 1

Reflections

     I have used D2L before, so learning how to get around was fairly simple.  I am also taking another online learning course, so I apologize if I get the content for the two classes mixed up.  My only frustration last week was getting signed up for using the Wiki.  I received errors, and I couldn't get logged in.  Even after I was given permission to access the Wiki from the instructor I had problems with my password.  I wound up going out of the D2L system and going to the Wiki website and clicking on forgot password (I had never set it up).  It reset it for me and I was good to go after that.  I talked with my friend about wikis and my concern about students erasing other students "good" comments.  She said there is always a history that the administrator can access.  I guess I will have to try one next year to see how it works~maybe for classroom rules and expectations?  I have a few weeks to think about it. 

First blog, first post

     I am taking a class for an online teaching certificate.  I can't really see myself ever stepping out of the classroom, but I love incorporating technology into the classroom. The tools that I will learn about in the class should certainly enhance my classroom teaching.
     One of our assignments was to start a blog, use it throughout the rest of the course, and to see how we might be able to use blogs in our own classes.
     I teach 9-12 science in a small town in southern Wisconsin.  My first love was chemistry, and then I fell in love with physics.  I am lucky enough to teach both of these courses, environmental science (a fun and fascinating class), and a freshman introductory physical science course.  I stay very busy teaching, parenting, learning, etc....I received my MS in Physics Education last year and I decided that I would continue my education with the technology route.
     When I am not teaching or taking classes I am often taking one of my three children to some activity (soccer, bowling, skiing), reading a book, watching TV, hanging out in the backyard with my family (this includes 4 dogs) and friends, babysitting my niece and nephew, biking, sailing, and camping.