Week Seven . . . Is it good enough?

     This week has been a tremendous journey.  I realized that I could not get my website finished.  I am surprised at how hard I worked and how little I accomplished.  The critiques that I received from my peers surprised me.  I received some good ideas from both Gary and Tiffany.  One of Gary's suggestions was using "Educreation" to communicate with my students.  My website was difficult to score with the Quality Matters Rubric since it is a tutoring site.  Many of the items listed didn't show up in a tutoring course, such as learning outcomes.  I really enjoy Gary's critique, he created a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2kOBZA4AC8&feature=youtu.be)    for me to watch.  How imaginative.  I am too nervous about taping my voice to create such a project.  I have managed to avoid Skype for the same reason.  Soon I will have to breakdown and join the rest of the world. 

     I found the chance to critique someone's site to be enlightening.  I was able to observe how others organize their work.  I was very impressed with Gary’s site.  It was “easy on the eyes,” not boring at all.  I would like to achieve this somehow on my site.  

    When I started working on my on-line site, I was not sure where to find the Quality Matters Rubric.  Then I discovered the rubric in week 7 assignment (I am sure it was in plain sight the whole time).  The rubric caused me to go back through all my work and to cite it correctly.  I discovered that there were many things that I did not address in my website, which I am not sure that I can address, such as students introducing themselves.  Last week I went through the site with the instructor of the course.  She was excited.  She said it was a great job and asked me to put in more information regarding factoring polynomials.  She also asked me if I would like the teach the on-line course in the Spring.  That may be more than I can handle, but I am willing to try anything. 

    I need to finish the course.  I have only made it to Chapter 2.  That leaves five more chapters.  I hope that this website will make a difference for students.  I know that the college hopes that the website will help to “draw” students to our campus. 

Week Six . . . Still at it . . .

This week has been long.  I have worked (and reworked) the review section of the on-line tutoring class that I am building.  I have spent a lot of time working on review.  I know that this is an problem area for many students.  Many students find that they missed a concept or have forgotten it and now need to know it to continue.

I now have to work on the core material.  I hope that the work in the chapters goes quicker than the review.

I watched the presentation from Heidi Olson.  I saw the video regarding the student lecturing the teacher.  I that the video rang true, I remember receiving packets to fill out.

Heidi pointed out a couple of things.  The first was that the welcome was most important.  I am concerned about the welcome.  I am not the primary teacher, so the students will not have the opportunity to get to know each other or me.  Another point she made was in regard to "too many clicks."   I just had this discussion with my supervisor.  She wanted all my items to fall into various folders, so that there wasn't so much to look at once.  This created lots of clicks.

Showing examples to students was mentioned.  I had a teacher that gave us only examples.  I tried, but I could never get the papers correct.  I thought I was following the examples, but always fell short of expectations.  I desperately wanted a rubric to follow.  Maybe examples with a rubric would have been better?

I will continue working on my Blackboard course.  I don't know how I will ever finish.  So much to do, so little time.

Week Five . . . Adventures in a Foreign Land

Building a website is a new concept.  I have used Blackboard before, but that was simple stuff.  I actually had to add students to my course. Some of the students I had to go to IT to have them "enroll" them.

My next adventure was in building tests and adding them to Blackboard.  The last time I built a test in Blackboard (about 11 years ago), I actually built the test within the Blackboard program.  This time I am using TestGen, which is a program provided by the publisher.  After much reading and experimentation I discovered that the test could not be uploaded directly.  Rather the test must go into a "pool" and then I have to build the test using the "pool" questions.  I currently have ten pages of questions.  It is getting a bit tedious.

After the questions transferred from the "pool" to the test I then tried to deploy the test.  I managed to deploy one test, but then could not figure out how I did it.  I tried and tried, but alas no luck.  Finally I admitted defeat and called IT.  After a few hours it was determined that I could not deploy the tests in Google Chrome (but I did deploy one).  I have to use FireFox to deploy the tests.

One of the other things that I am placing on the site are Powerpoint Slides from the publisher.   I save the Powerpoints as PDF files.  This works best because many math symbols will display on other people's computers.  I then discovered that the PDF files do not display in FireFox.  I must use Google Chrome to get them to display properly.  This is interesting because I have students tell me that their Powerpoints were not displaying, I never thought to ask what browser they were using.

I had the opportunity to watch the video regarding MOOCs delivered by Verena Roberts.  She is a very vibrate speaker.  I wish I could have been there for the "open learning" exercise.  The picture(s) that the class was drawing did not appear on the video.  I can see the difficulties in implementing on-line learning for K-12 students.  I am not certain what a "wall garden" is, but I assume that that it is a way to monitor everything that  the students encounter or write.  Verena had lots of great ideas.  Having students work in groups helps the control remain with the teacher.  Verena was able to have the one student's blog removed without the student's help.  That is an important thing to remember.  There needs to be a constant check-and-balance system, or it could be our jobs.

My webpage, tLC Math Tutor, is found in the UAA system.  The url is http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/classes/.  You will need your username and password from the UAS system.  You may have to go to the ME site,  https://me.uaa.alaska.edu/, to synchronize your password with the UAS system.

Week Four . . . Lions, and Tigers, and Bear, oh my . . .

      I am feeling overwhelmed, but not beaten.  I know I can do this.  I spent hours trying to figure out how to import an test from TestGen to Blackboard.  I finally did it (after a good night of sleep).  The question is "will I remember how I did it?"  My next challenge is to figure out how to "enroll" everyone from the class so that they may have access to the on-line class.  One obstacle after another.
    This week I did learn what a CMS and CSM are, acronyms everywhere. A CMS is a Computer Management System and CSM is a Complete Solution Manual.  I know everyone else knew this, but it is a great thing for me to finally know.
    I created the outline of the course on Blackboard this week.  I am finding Blackboard to be awkward.  I cannot delete the extra clutter that is on the taskbar, I can only hide it from the students.  I am discovering all kinds of thing I can do in Blackboard that I never knew about.  I am looking forward to another week of discoveries.

Week Three . . . Building the Course Structure

Wow!  That is my first reaction after building the outline of my proposed course structure.  If I started last year, I might complete the course during this class.

I believe that the conceptual framework that I will be working with is constructivisim.  This framework helps students to apply concepts that they have learned previously to new concepts.  Cognitivism is perfect for mathematical applications and helps a student to develop a stronger comprehension through practice and application.

My course will be built using Blackboard.  I am currently waiting for the "shell" to be built.  The IT department said three to four days about a week ago.  There is a shortage of IT on campus in the summer, so I must be patient.

The webinar on cyberbullying was very information.  I do not feel that many solutions were offered, rather I left with a sense of the problem.  I once accidentally tripped on a Facebook page that was dedicated to harassing a girl.  There was her picture and some very uncomplimentary words.   It was sad and caused me to reflect on some episodes in my childhood.  Cyberbullying would be some much worse than face-to-face bullying.  At least with face-to-face you can walk away and hide.  With cyberbulling you can't get away and it can last a long time.

I wish I could attend all the webinars, unfortunately (or fortunately) I have to teach during the Monday offerings.  I feel like I am missing so much information.

Second Week . . . the week of exciting ideas.

     I am excited.  For once, everything is coming together, instead of apart, for a class.  I was asked to provide on-line tutoring for a College Algebra course this Fall.  I have tutored for years at the college but this will be the first time that I am performing this duty on-line.
     So, the excitement is because I enrolled in the Virtual Learning class before I was asked to build the on-line tutoring course.  How wonderful to actually be able to build something that I can use in the "real world."
    I have lots of ideas.  I don't which of the ideas are doable.   Some of the ideas will probably die because of the lack of time to complete them.  These ideas include providing Khan Academy links or You-Tube links for different concepts. Another idea is practice tests.
    I would like the course to be built so that the students could work with each other.  This set-up is based on the way that the tutoring center works at our college.  We have tables that seat two to four students.  Students naturally gather together according course.  The students help each other and then come to the tutor when the need arises.  This does not mean that the tutor has "downtime."  Rather the students help each other because the tutor is busy.  The tutor can work with between ten to twelve students at one time using this technique.
    The class would be held at the same time each week.  I also plan to provide help outside this time for students who require it.
   
   

My First Week

     This week was very challenging.  I learned lots of new terms like "MOOC" and "Andragogy."  I sent my first Tweet this week and wrote my first blog.  It is a bit daunting, but exciting.
     I found the article "Overcoming the Goverence Challenge in K-12 Online Learning" to be very interesting.  I currently work at a college where we are just beginning to seriously explore the possibilities of on-line math class.  In fact, I have been asked to become the on-line tutor for our first semester (this fall).
     One question that kept popping up in the article was regarding the delay in K-12 implementing on-line teaching, versus higher education implementations.  I think that the financial bottom-line would explain a lot of the delay.   I talked to a couple of elementary educators.  There were surprised about the types of technology I use every time I teach,  They said that they use hardly anything.  Students at the college level expect technology.  Public school students would like to have more technology, but often do not have a say.  We even have a charter school in the Mat-Su Valley that has eliminated technology from the walls of its building.  The parents of these students believe that their child would benefit from an old fashion approach to education.
     After I read the article, I then read the review of the article.  The review was not a good one.  Basically the review stated that the article presented no foundation and assumed virtual learning was more effective than the in-class approach.  The writer of the review felt that the article was in denial of the current documentation.
     I then read the article "Why Social Media Should Be Taught in Our School Systems."  I didn't not realize that our Tweets were being saved in the Library of Congress.  I did enjoy the idea of using Twitter in the classroom, instead of clickers.  As I learn more about Twitter,it will become easier and I will discover for it.
     On to the next article "Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States."  The article was less bias than the first article I read.  The author wrote about how online education is still considered to be inferior.  I do agree that students who are working through a on-line course need to be more disciplined. One of the suggestions of the Goverence article was to start students early with on-line courses.  That might help students to learn to be more disciplined, so that they may be successful in an on-line class.
     In the article "Characteristics of Adult Learners with Implication for Online Learning Design," learning style of adults are discussed.   As an instructor at a college I recognize many of the characteristics that were listed.  I even copied some of the items for later reference.
     I tried to watch the FERPA webinar, but could not access it.  I do know about FERPA, as it is a requirement of my employment.  My favorite part of FERPA is the restrictions on parents access to their child's records.  I have had parents call me at my home asking about their child. I tell them I can't tell them anything.  I get the, "but I paid their tuition".
    Instead of the FERPA webinar I was able to access the #oltak webinar.  It was extremely informative.  I am glad I had the chance to view this.
    Which bring me back to MOOC and Andragogy.  A MOOC is a Massive Open On-line Course, still not sure what that exactly means to me, but I now know the term.  Andragogy has to do with the learning theory designed to meet adults needs.  The theory is based on the idea that there is significant difference between the way a child learns and the way an adult learns.
     I am looking forward to my opportunity to build on-line material.  I am nervous, but excited.  I am not entirely certain as to what I will build my course around.  I do know it will be adults and math.  I guess that is a start.
     I finally got to the FERPA webinar.  I thought I was comfortable with FERPA, now I am nervous about it again.  I will work through the various rules and try to make sense of them.  I thought it was interesting that the speaker admitted that he was still finding "gray areas" in the FERPA rules.  That doesn't make me feel any better.  I am really interested in "Creative Commons," I will looked into the site.  I have several documents that I have created that keep ending up in the public school system.  The documents are not that spectacular, but they are my creations.