Twas the night before class…(Fall 2011 edition)

Tomorrow is our first scheduled class meeting for the semester, and since I am up late (thanks to some medicine I am currently taking), I thought this would be the perfect time to write out my thoughts/goals/expectations for the semester.

• Get a better insight on the effectiveness of the course.  Although I taught the course after the “revamp”, it should be helpful to see how those changes have actually impacted the course and how the course can be further improved in the future.
• Provide more opportunities for application.  I enjoyed integrating the “Website of the Week” with them last semester so that they are introduced to some of the MANY tools out there, but this semester, I want to provide more opportunities for practicing what they are learning beyond just assignments for the course.
• Spend more time doing “workshop”  Although I have always conducted class in a workshop type manner, I think I will now cut back my “material coverage” time (which used to be going through the included powerpoints), which will hopefully force them to read and take more initiative to earn the information.
• Find out and attempt to address student needs  This is a goal every semester, but this time we are actually going to discuss it in the first class meeting.  I really want to know their expectations for the course so that I have a better idea of what they know and what they want/need to know.

Those are my overarching goals for the semester, and I of course will be adding goals after every class just for my own sanity.

Off to bed so I can be at my best for all of the new, shining faces tomorrow!

My, what a difference a semester makes!

I may be eating my words here soon, but it seems that all of the hard work I put in revamping my course was worth it!

On Monday, I taught a lesson on lesson planning.  For most of my students, this is their first introduction to lesson planning.  This is because this course is required for them to get into the TEP program (Teacher Education Program), which makes this course a little more difficult because it is hard to teach students how to integrate technology if they are not familiar with teaching and the pedagogy behind it.  Not and ideal situation, but as with any type of teaching, you just have to go with it :)

Anyway, because of their lack of knowledge with lesson planning, this module is always one of the most difficult in the course.  Last semester, my students really struggled with this topic so in my revamping, I made the directions and expectations much clearer and pretty much provided them with a template of sorts so that they just have to fill in the blanks.  To supplement that, I planned my lesson so that students would 1.) be exposed to a variety of actual lesson plans 2.) have a chance to critique lesson plans using the same criteria I use 3.) Have a chance to write their own plans.  The class ended up lasting longer than most, because I really wanted to take my time explaining it to them and inserting examples here and there because it is such an in depth topic.

One of the things that seemed to work really well was allowing students to critique lesson plans.  I found an awesome form at http://msit.gsu.edu/socialstudies/courses/6600_01/critiques.htm and I adapted it to fit the requirements that I was asking of my students’ lesson plans.  Then, I put them in groups, assigned them a grade level, let them choose a topic and associated lesson plan from the Alabama Course of Study objectives site, ALEX.

This activity led to some wonderful discussion amongst my students.  As I walked around the room, I heard things like:

• “One hundred and twenty minutes is WAY too long for kindergarteners to spend on one lesson.  I think she should have taken some things out to make it shorter and more engaging'”
• “It says here ‘Pass white boards out to students’,  but she didn’t list those boards in her materials.  She might forget to have those ready for her lesson”
• “This teacher has them taking a test after his lesson, but I think it would be more beneficial for them to do a project.  He can’t really assess his objectives properly through a written test”

These wonderful discussions were music to a teacher’s ears!  I was so proud that they were all (and yes I do mean ALL) engaged with the activity and really looking at these plans through a critical eye. 

So far, I’ve had about 15 lesson plan assignments turned in (out of 60) and I’ve had to count off points on maybe 2.  Like I said, I don’t want to jinx it just yet, but so far so good :)  I will update again once all of the plans are turned in Thursday evening!

This module last semester gave all of us fits.  The lesson plans were a mess and although they did what we asked, the expectations were not set very high (they were written more for experienced planners and had a lot of assumed expectations), and the lesson plans were not where I wanted them to be.  As I mentioned before, the lesson plans SO FAR are excellent and I’ve only had to count off points for nit-picky things like readability, and the objectives written in the incorrect format.

Lesson of the week:

If you want students to fully understand your expectations, put them in your shoes! :)

Things I would change:

Nothing for this time! :)  I just wish I could go back and reteach it to my students from last semester!

Starting all over again…

So, the spring semester is officially in full swing, and although we’ve only had one class meeting (thanks to the University’s change in schedule and having what would have been our first meeting fall on MLK Jr’s birthday), it seems like it is going to be a million times easier!

I’ve unfortunately never had the opportunity to “start all over again”, because I’ve never been in the same place for more than a year (or in this case semester).  It is nice going in, “knowing my stuff” and of course knowing what to expect.  Although I ended up having to combine my “Introduction” meeting and “Module 1” meeting all in one, it ended up working out okay.  My students seem pretty eager to learn and seem excited about the course, so that also makes it easier! :)

Surprisingly, I have a LOT of non-education majors this semester!  I was really shocked and I know that it is definitely going to keep me on my toes trying to keep them engaged.  During the first class meeting, I had them tell me why they were taking this course and most of them just said that they were required to take a computer class and this one sounded more interesting than the others (no pressure, right? ;)) One of my non-ed students told me that the reason he was taking my course was that he heard I was sweet, pretty, and smart…I think he’s trying for brownie points ;)

My approach for these non-ed majors is to try and make the material as relevant to them as possible.  Since I  have so many business students, I asked Alex about about how I could relate some of the education based assignments (like lesson planning) to the business world.  We came up with a few ideas, so I’ll definitely blog about how they turn out :)

The changes I made in the course seem to be helpful already.  Because I made the directions much more explicit, I’m having less questions.  Of course, I know there will never be a time where I don’t have ANY questions, but confusing directions do not help in that matter! :)  On top of the changes I made to the course overall, I’ve actually made some changes to my teaching as well that I hope will  help:

• I had the students make name tags to sit on the towers next to their computers.  I just basically had them create a name tent with their name on the front and the back (so that I could see their names whether I was standing in the front of the room or the back of the room).  It bothered me that last semester (especially if I needed to make note if they were not participating, i.e. playing on Facebook in class), I didn’t know all of their names, so I am determined to change that.  I’m hanging on to my photo roster, I’ve added their pictures to my Outlook address book, and I’m making them bring their name tags back every week so hopefully I won’t have that problem again :)
• I have created a separate e-mail address/account just for this class.  Last semester, I had them e-mail me through eLearning, the University’s course management system.  It was great having all the e-mails in one place, however, I had a problem with 1.) them checking eLearning often (since it is not connected to their e-mail and 2.) responding to their messages in a timely manner.  Because you can only access eLearning from a computer (as opposed to a mobile device or at least my Blackberry), I found myself constantly tied to the computer answering questions.  I do have my eLearning e-mails forwarded to my phone, but the only way to reply is to log in to eLearning on a computer.  It never failed that I would go through and answer all of these questions, log off the computer, and get an e-mail.  It was frustrating not being able to respond right back to them.  Having the specific e-mail account helps me keep all my correspondence together as well as making it MUCH easier to respond to e-mails (especially those “short answer” ones because I can do it from my phone)  So far, I’m loving it!
• Since it is easier for me to get in touch with them, I have been better about sending out tailored messages.  For example, today I sent out a reminder e-mail only to the students who had not turned in their assignment yet.  Having them all in my outlook has been a lifesaver! :)
• I used a Facebook group last semester, but I decided to use a Page instead this semester.  This way they can see it in their news feed and I even showed them how to receive updates when I post something there.  I don’t like that I can’t send messages, but I think that they will check it more since it is more like a “profile”
• eLearning was a struggle for me to deal with…not necessarily the technology itself, but rather the logistics.  Although I teach the same class to two sections, eLearning made me create two separate “classes” on the system.  It drove me crazy because every change I made, I had to make it twice.  It was also difficult when students sent me a message because I always clicked on the wrong class to reply back.  This time, I was able to combine both sections into one “super class” so that I treat both classes as one big class, meaning that I only have to make changes once.  It also helps me manage my students because they are a group of 60 (which is more how I treat them) rather than 2 groups of 30.  This worked out perfectly, because I kept the due dates/times the same for both classes, so it was really no different.  I LOVE it so far!
• I want to start integrating more technology ideas into the class rather than what I the course requires.  This semester, I have decided to try what I am calling “Website of the Week” or “WOW” (what can I say? I’m an elementary teacher at heart ;))  Each class meeting I’m going to introduce 1 to 2 (I haven’t decided this yet) websites that I think are useful.  This way they are getting a glimpse as to what is out there, and hopefully they will want to explore more :)  Since I have so many non-ed majors, I started out trying to pick websites that could be used both in education and outside ed, but I feel like I’m doing my elementary teachers a disservice by not sharing some great websites for elementary students.  I think I’m going to do 2 websites a week – one education, and one “hybrid” (as in it could be used in many fields)  and have them blog about them including 1.) a short summary of both 2.) how they can be used to meet the NETS standards (which is what this class is based on) 3.) how they can use one or both in their career.  Hopefully this will be a good experience for them and allows me to share some of the great resources I’ve been collecting throughout my doc journey :)
• I’m also making each class meeting more like a workshop.  One of the “suggestions” from my students in my course evaluations is that we didn’t spend enough time practicing the technology before they actually had to use it for an assignment.  I started this “workshop” idea during our class meeting, and I actually walked them through creating a blog, which was one of their assignments.  It was so much easier than having to keep sending them back asking for the correct link, so, so far so good.

I think that’s about it!  I better get back to grading :)  Here’s to an amazing spring semester! :)

MS

Catching up and starting over…

Wow!  I can’t believe my last post was in October!  That is crazy, but I am sadly not surprised!  The end of the semester went by so quickly, I found myself having little to no free time to do anything “non-school” related.
In early November, some fellow instructors and I met and talked about how we could improve this course, and somehow, I ended up being the one chosen to make the changes.  This was a huge endeavor (and a huge honor), but since I was planning on making the changes any way so that the course would be easier for me to teach, I figured I might as well do it for everyone else.    Just for the record, here are the changes that I made (this was in the e-mail I typed out to them so I realize that some of this may not make sense to you :)):
· Main Page:

• I’ve added one of my colleagues’ “course tour” and “review of the syllabus” presentations to the main page rather than Module 1 so that they are easier to find
• I’ve added a “Course Overview” that describes how each of the modules are laid out
• I’ve added a Resource Folder on the main page that we can add useful resources for our students.  Right now there are some resources from the syllabus (OWL at Purdue and Netiquette) as well as some other APA style, online learning, and time management. 

· Modules

• As mentioned above, I’ve broken the Modules into sections for easier readability
• I’ve added some more detailed instructions for some of the assignments for clarity.  Another colleague sent me some extended directions for the Virtual Tour (one of our assignments).
• I’ve made sure that all of the Titles, Overviews, Objectives, etc all match up to the material in each module.
• I’ve combined two chapters (the chapters on Educational Software:  Administrative and Academic) and added another (Chapter 10 – Using the Web for Teaching and Learning).  Because I combined those two chapters, the number of modules stayed the same.
• I’ve added some resources that will hopefully help students complete their assignments like mini lectures pdf help files, etc.

· Assignments

• I have gone through and made sure the assignments matched the objectives for each module (One of the reasons why I combined the two chapters).  The assignments are pretty much the same, I just flipped some of them around to match up better with the module
• I’ve made the assignment drop box directions match the ones in the module.  Before there was some inconsistency between the two.
• I’ve added grading forms for each assignment.  You don’t have to use these if you don’t want to…it just made it easier for me to grade the assignments. 
• For the final assignment, I’ve created two options.  Since one of my colleagues teaches online, she has her students present in Wimba Live Classroom whereas I like to have my students present in class.  I created a page for each so that each instructor could choose.

· Quizzes

• I’ve gone in and made sure all of the quizzes match the chapters/modules.
• I’ve made them all 50 points (25 questions at 2 points apiece) just to make it easier to remember.
• As in the module, I’ve combined the quizzes for chapters 7&8
• Each quiz has a “Practice Test” that students can take
• This semester, I gave my students a cumulative “optional final quiz” that they could take for bonus points (because I didn’t let them make-up quizzes, and I counted off points for assignments being late), that was 100 questions worth 100 points.  I just combined all of the quiz questions from previous quizzes to create the item bank and the students liked having the opportunity to take this (whether or not they took advantage of it). 

· Web Links – I’ve added several links throughout the semester to sites we used during class activities. 
I was also asked to update our department’s bulletin board.  I’m still working on it some, so I will share pics as soon as I finish.
Needless to say, I am thankful I wrote some of my “changes” on this blog…it made it much easier to make changes in the course! :)
Maegan
P.S.  I was asked to teach the next class (CAT 250) this summer so next semester might be my last in 200!  I’m ready to make the best of it! :)

Technical Difficulties, Part II

Just when I thought the technical difficulties were out of the way, I ran into yet another one during our class meeting yesterday.

As I’ve mentioned before, when the course was designed, it was designed with the old version of the textbook and the designer had very little time to update it to the new textbook (which apparently changed a LOT of the chapters).  This lead to lots of inconsistencies throughout the course that we have all had to navigate through (quizzes not matching the material, Chapters being titled incorrectly, etc).  I usually catch them all, but yesterday, I missed one…a big one!  I had designed my class around the Digital Technologies lesson which is the material they were being assessed on, however, the powerpoint listed was on Assistive Technologies which a completely different chapter.  So, when I went to show the powerpoint to the class, it wasn’t the right one, and unfortunately I did not have one for Chapter 6 :(  I winged it and we discussed the digital technologies, did the activity below, and went on our way.  I felt like it went ok and since this chapter was fairly easy, I felt like they got all of the information they needed to know :)

As one of their assignments (actually the one that is due this Thursday), the students are supposed to create a Wiki (if you are unsure as to what a wiki is, it is basically a collaborative tool in which multiple people can edit its content…think Wikipedia), so I thought I would create a class wiki so that they could get used to using it during class.  Yesterday, we talked about different digital technologies that could be used in the classroom (digital cameras, scanners, handheld devices, etc) and I thought I would have the students research one of the tools and have them, as a class, contribute their ideas to a class wiki.  Good idea right?

Although I have used wikis in classes in the past, I have never had an issue with them, however, I learned an important lesson yesterday:  a wiki is a collaborative tool, but cannot be used for simultaneous collaboration.  Basically, every time a student would type in their idea, it would erase everyone else’s…it was a disaster!  Thankfully, I was able to think on my feet and have them input the information elsewhere and then I added it to the wiki (which by the way can be found at http://cat200fall2010.wikispaces.com/Digital+Technologies)

Anyway, hopefully my technical difficulties are out of the way…however, being a technology teacher has definitely kept me on my toes ;)

Things I liked:

• I really enjoyed the collaborative activity (although the technology didn’t work).  I think this will be a great resource for them in the future!
• I like that we were able to turn the class into more of a discussion rather than a lecture…I hate to lecture, but it is way the course is laid out and because it is part of the NCATE certification, I have to make sure I cover everything in the course.

Things I would change:

• Figure out a better way to use collaborative tools simulataneously.
• Create a wiki/blog/or discussion board for questions.  That way students can see the questions that have already been asked and either answer them themselves or see what I have answered.
• Make the changes needed to make sure that all material matches up (I won’t take time to list that all here, but I do have a running list :))

Until next time… :)

Technical Difficulties

I’m a little late in posting this, but it is midterm time and things are a bit crazy!

Before our last class meeting (which was almost two weeks ago…Yikes!  I told you I was behind!), I created a survey to really find out what was working for the students and what wasn’t and how I could help them do well in this course.  Although I am tender-hearted an often don’t take criticism well, I realize that it is for my own good and I can use it to improve myself which is exactly what I hoped to do with this survey because I certainly don’t want to be blasted with bad evaluations at the end of the semester when I can’t do anything about it.

Anyway, the survey results were fairly positive…almost all of my students told me that the jeopardy review game from the last class was extremely helpful (although they did fine on this week’s quiz without it), which made all of that hard work pay off.

I also asked the students if they would like me to send out messages through a CAT 200 Facebook group and over 50% said they would, so I have recently done so and have been sending out messages through both eLearning and Facebook.

The only thing that “irked” me (for lack of a better word) was one response.  I know that it honestly amounts to nothing, but because I am such a perfectionist, it rubbed me the wrong way.  This was the response that elicited that emotion:

Note:  the grading forms I’m referring to are what eLearning calls the built-in rubrics that I have been using the past few assignments.

Can you tell what irked me?  No, well let me point it out for you…

Ok, let me tell you why this irked me.

First of all, it had nothing to do with the question I asked…all I can figure is that particular student thought I was asking if my form of grading was helpful…I’m not sure.

Taking the comment as is, I was a bit offended because I go out of my way to make sure that I am doing everything I can to make sure these students succeed which includes being extremely clear about my expectations and assignment due dates (calendar on the syllabus, course calendar, MULTIPLE e-mails every week, reminders in class etc)

In saying that, the thing that bothered me the most is that students are EXPECTING to receive reminders about assignments.  Although I obviously don’t mind sending out reminders, it bothers me  that they feel that they are entitled to these reminders and unfortunately at this level, having professors that constantly remind you about assignments is RARE.  I hope that these learn this before it is too late!

Although the survey was completely anonymous, survey monkey allows me to pull out that one person’s responses, which I did and this particular student told me that they currently had a C in the class, so I realized it was just a student scorned and shouldn’t take it to heart.

Anyway, moving on!  This session, we talked about lesson planning and the assignment that is actually due next week actually deals with lesson planning (I’m not sure why the assignments were not switched to match up with units, but I’ll deal with that later).  For our in class activity, I actually had students go onto ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange), check out the state standards, and choose a grade level, subject, and standard they were interested in.  As part of the assignment the students are to create a wiki and paste their lesson plan there, so I went ahead and had them create the wiki so they are good to go for the next assignment.

During the class meeting, I gave students a tutorial on how to use the Wimba LiveClassroom which we would be using in the assignment due that following Thursday.  I walked them through step by step and even pointed them to the video the course developer made on how to complete the assignment.

I was hoping that this would alleviate some of the questions I would receive, but boy was I wrong!

I was BOMBARDED with questions about this tool.  I understand it is hard to learn, but this was crazy!  Every time I got the same question more than once, I would send out an e-mail to the class.  I don’t mind helping students, but what I do mind is when I go out of my way to help them (like send them e-mails on how to troubleshoot), I do expect them to use them before they send me an e-mail asking the same question that I just addressed.  When I found myself answering the same questions that I just addressed in MULTIPLE class e-mails, I got a bit frustrated that I was going to all of this trouble to send out multiple e-mails and them not even bother to read them.

Because the students were having so many problems, I ended up extending the assignment until this past Monday.  Although we didn’t have class, I spent the entire day answering e-mails from students and redirecting them back to the e-mails I had previously sent (Alth0ugh I do get e-mail alerts on my phone, because of the eLearning mail tool setup, I actually have to go log in on a computer to reply to their messages, which means on days like this, I am literally tied to the computer.)

Thankfully I did get the majority of them through the assignment with only a few minor breakdowns (both mine and their’s), but it was an exhausting process.  I was feeling very defeated until I received this e-mail from a student who had literally had a breakdown.

It definitely made my day and made me realize that all my hard work is worth it :)

Anyway, here are the things I have done:

• Made note of all of the problems students have ran into using Live Classroom to be better prepared to help students in the future.
• Submitted midterm grades for my students and was happy to see that I only have about 6 students out of 6 with grades lower than an A :)
• I made a Facebook group to communicate with my students Note:  I am not friending any of my students, they are just allowed to join a group I created and I send messages through there.

Things I want to do or would change:

• Type out a troubleshooting/FAQ pdf to use for future classes and direct students there when questions are asked.
• Create a FAQ on a discussion board/blog so that I can refer students there rather than having to answer the same question multiple times.
• Figure out better, quicker, and more effective ways to communicate with my students (i.e. maybe create a class e-mail account?)
• Fix the discussion questions and assignments so that they match up with the units.

Anyway, I meet with my students again on Monday so I’m looking forward to another great class! :)

In full swing…

The semester is officially in full swing…my students have completed their first module and we are getting started on the second one!

When I met with them for our third class meeting, I started off by talking a little about the last assignment and some problems I had (them not turning it into the right location, incorrect formatting, etc).  I also made sure to point out that for their next assignment, I created a rubric so that they would know exactly what I expected and it would be easier for me to grade.

I also gave them some time to calculate their grades so that they were aware of what they had in the course.  I plan on having them do this every once in a while, just so they can’t e-mail me at the end of the semester telling me they didn’t realize they were in bad shape.

After we went over the class material, we played a game of Jeopardy to review for their upcoming quiz.  I hope that by doing this it not only helps them prepare, but also realize they HAVE to read.  Anyway, we played in teams, and I gave the team that won 2 bonus points, and the others 1 (since they all had to take turns being the “leader” so they all participated).  Although I was pretty hesitant about playing a game in class (I thought they would think it was stupid or childish), they really enjoyed it.  I think we, as college educators, sometimes forget that we sometimes need to make learning fun.  I also gave them access to the practice test so hopefully they will use that to help them prepare as well…we’ll see on Monday.

I just got finished grading their third assignment and for the most part, I was pretty pleased with their grades.  Of course the points I had to count off were silly things that could have easily been fixed (not using the specified font or not posting to their blog), they did MUCH better on this assignment.  I also really liked having the rubric so that I didn’t end up like this….

Things I did this week that I liked:

• Played Jeopardy to help them review for their quiz
• Created a rubric for their assignment
• Taught them how to figure out their grade in the course
• Created a column in the grade book that tells them how many points they currently have
• Got all of their assignments graded and returned just 2 days after the due date! :)
• Added all of their blogs to my google reader so I can check to see if they updated before I grade their assignment (which was part of the requirements for each assignment)
• Alex helped me create an Excel spreadsheet to keep up with grades when I’m not logged in.  It is much easier to look at and having grades in two places helps me make sure I didn’t make a mistake.

Things I want to change:

• Since the rubric was so successful, I want to make sure I do it for every assignment next semester.
• Organize my online gradebook…I’ve got it the best I can get it right now, but I want to do that from the beginning next semester.
• Build “in-class assignments” into my participation points rather than just using them as bonus points.
• Set up an account on Soshiku so students can be reminded of assignments by text

I’ll update after their quizzes on Monday…I just hope they all remember! :)