Thursday, November 20, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
dailyPosts 11/08/2008
YouTube - Pecha Kucha and Education
My first youtube video upload. It describes what the pecha kucha presentation format is and how it can be applied to education.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Friday, November 7, 2008
My Pecha Kucha on Pecha Kucha
I wanted to share with you the presentation I did at NM Technology in Education on October 16th of this year in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (see youtube video below) It was well recieved and was a fourth of the entire presentation that was given with my colleagues at San Juan College (David, Marty, and Curt). At our presentation we each gave a Pecha Kucha presentation in quick succession covering four vastly different topics with time for questions in forty five minutes.
Hope you enjoy!
Hope you enjoy!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
dailyPosts 10/29/2008
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
dailyPosts 10/10/2008
Educational Technology Services > Online Readiness Survey > Detroit, Michigan > Marygrove College
Technology Experience
1. I feel confident using the keyboard and the mouse.
Yes No
2. I feel confident working with files, such as creating, saving and printing documents.
Yes No
3. I feel confident about logging on to an Internet service provider and navigating to different web sites.
Yes No
4. I feel confident about using most of the tools in the web browser, such as navigating to the next or previous web page, printing a web page, or bookmarking web pages.
Yes No
5. I feel confident about my Internet skills, such as using a search engine, identifying and downloading appropriate files, and installing new browser software.
Yes No
6. I feel confident about resolving most common error messages while surfing the Internet, such as "connection timed out" and "page not found."
Yes No
7. I feel confident about my electronic e-mail skills, such as logging in and out of the account, sending and receiving mail, and attaching and downloading files.
Yes No
8. I feel confident about basic troubleshooting, such as rebooting the computer in case of a crash and resolving printer errors.
Yes No
Access to Tools
9. I have consistent and convenient access to a computer with a Pentium chip or higher, such as a PC running Windows 2000 or XP, an iMac or PowerMac running OS 9 or higher.
Yes No
10. I have a reliable Internet connection.
Yes No
11. My computer is equipped with a sound card with headphones or speakers and microphone.
Yes No
12. My computer is capable of at least 800 x 600 resolution.
Yes No
13. I have a working printer attached to my computer.
Yes No
14. My computer has a working DVD drive.
Yes No
15. My computer has a working CD-ROM drive.
Yes No
16. My Internet connection speed is at least 56K or higher. DSL or Cable recommended.
Yes No
17. I have one of the following Web browsers: Safari, Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, AOL 7.0 or higher (PC) or AOL OS X, or Netscape 7.0.
Yes No
18. I have virus protection so
Friday, October 3, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
dailyPosts 08/21/2008
PressThink: National Explainer: A Job for Journalists on the Demand Side of News
the whole rather than the parts - is this the opposite of what we are saying with microlearning? Could this be in support? We are having students move away from having thing handed to them and have them construct the whole picture for themselves - definitely need to give them all of the pieces and the box lid so that they know when they are finished.
elearnspace: Location-based learning and working
You don't need a classroom to learn - in fact I would say most learning doesn't occur in the classroom any way - so isn't all learning already these things?
- Consider another perspective: "we go to classrooms to learn". It may have been more valuable at one time, but with meetups and internet connectivity, I wonder if classrooms are going to go the way of business offices: distributed, open, mobile.
elearnspace: Presentation: Designing new learning landscapes
- Many of us have moved from asking "is technology effective" to "how can we use technology as a lever for transformation"
Daily Bookmarks 08/20/2008 « Experiencing E-Learning
Create a timeline by adding each event manually or by adding a source (Flickr, RSS, twitter, etc.) Images, music, and video can be included in events. Related services include Tickr, which lets you create a dynamic timeline with Flickr images based on search criteria, and TimeTube, which does the same for YouTube. Some people are playing with this as a way to visualize the river of information from the Connectivism course (CCK0
this fall.
Hooking learners with a simple story « the Shady Learning Blog
Using a teaser scenario to introduce a course - and continue story throughout to move learner through the course.
Hooking learners with a simple story
Instead of just starting an e-learning course with a dry-as-sand list of objectives, I like to start with a “teaser” scenario. A teaser is designed to hook the user and give them a bit of motivation for taking the course.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
dailyPosts 07/31/2008
Any Flv Player - Software to play FLV video file and enable FLV playback on website, blog
elearnspace: Rumour has it, the web is big
- "We start at a set of well-connected initial pages and follow each of their links to new pages." It's that simple. Start somewhere. Follow links from there. That's learning today.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
dailyPosts 07/10/2008
Arkansas State University-Beebe Study Tips for Online Learning
UW-Platteville Distance Education Blog: Top 10 Tips for Successful Online Learning
Peterson's Distance Learning Advice - Study Tips for Distance Learning
Study Tips for Successful Distance Learning Email a Friend
* Tools
Before enrolling in a course, make sure you have access to the tools necessary to complete assignments. A word processor can help you to organize your work and communicate your thoughts more clearly. If your lessons appear through cable television, you'll want to know how to program your VCR to record the programs to refer back to. Access to a fax machine, computer with adequate hard disk space and modem for e-mail transmission are "musts" for many classes.
* Schedule
Set aside a regularly scheduled time for study. If you have not been involved in academic pursuits recently, you may find that your career, family, hobbies, and social and civic commitments leave little time for studying. To help you fit studying into your schedule, keep a record for a week of how you spend your time, and then decide what you are willing to give up. Schedule your studies for a time when you are mentally fresh and able to devote at least one hour to your work. Think of the hour as "reserved time." If you miss too many study periods, revise your schedule.
* Where to Study
You will find it easier to focus in an appropriate environment for study. Find a place that is free from distractions. You might consider work--before or after hours and on your lunch hour--a public library, or a separate room in your home.
* Reading Skills
You must comprehend and retain what you read for real learning to take place. Reading skills can be developed by concentrating on what you read and by taking frequent pauses to organize and review the material in your mind. At the end of a study session, review everything you have read, making special notes of important points. Reading a computer screen can be hard on your eyes; it may be necessary to download hard copies of reading assignments and communications from your instructor and coworkers.
* Communication Skills
It can be intimidating to speak into a microphone in a video or conference call, but your communication skills are an important part of any assignment--on the job, at home, and at school. Distance learning provides the opportunity to enhance these skills. Pay careful attention to instructions and be certain that you understand what is being asked. It often helps to develop a brief outline before responding to questions whether they are submitted in writing, via e-mail, orally, or on video/audio tape. Organization, grammar, and the appropriate style are important whichever medium you choose.
Presented with permission from Peterson's by Virtual Ink Press™Successful Online Learning: Tips for Taking Your First Online Class
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
dailyPosts 07/09/2008
The Difference Between Summative and Formative
What is formative assessment, then? First, it's not a product. That was the central misunderstanding of the administrator who asked for an example of a good formative test item. Even though assessments will continue to be labeled
formative or summative, how the results are used is what determines whether the assessment is formative or summative.To begin, let's look at summative assessment. In general, its results are used to make some sort of judgment, such as to determine what grade a student will receive on a classroom assignment, measure program effectiveness, or determine whether a school has made adequate yearly progress. Summative assessment, sometimes referred to as assessment of learning, typically documents how much learning has occurred at a point in time; its purpose is to measure the level of student, school, or program success.
Formative assessment, on the other hand, delivers information during the instructional process, before the summative assessment. Both the teacher and the student use formative assessment results to make decisions about what actions to take to promote further learning. It is an ongoing, dynamic process that involves far more than frequent testing, and measurement of student learning is just one of its components.
- Feedback: The Key Difference
- But if desired learning goals are the foundation of students' instructional experiences, then assessments of student learning are simply extensions of those same goals. Instead of “teaching to the test,” teachers are more accurately “testing what they teach.” If a concept or skill is important enough to assess, then it should be important enough to teach. And if it is not important enough to teach, then there's little justification for assessing it.
- The best classroom assessments also serve as meaningful sources of information for teachers, helping them identify what they taught well and what they need to work on.
Formative and Summative Assessment in the Classroom - Annotated
- Because they are spread out and occur after instruction every few weeks, months, or once a year, summative assessments are tools to help evaluate the effectiveness of programs, school improvement goals, alignment of curriculum, or student placement in specific programs.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
dailyPosts 07/03/2008
- Dubbed “the explainer” by popular geek publication Wired because of his viral YouTube video that summarizes Web 2.0 in under five minutes, cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch brought his Web 2.0 wisdom to the University of Manitoba on June 17 (see video above).
During his presentation, the Kansas State University professor breaks down his attempts to integrate Facebook, Netvibes, Diigo, Google Apps, Jott, Twitter, and other emerging technologies to create an education portal of the future.
“It’s basically an ongoing experiment to create a portal for me and my students to work online,” he explains. “We tried every social media application you can think of. Some worked, some didn’t.”
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
dailyPosts 05/13/2008
Clark contends that “leaders are needed to define the environment, keep it safe, give it purpose, identity and keep it growing”. He gives a set of mantras for teacher/leaders in any online community:
- all you need is love
- control the environment, not the group
- lead by example
- let lurkers lurk
- short leading questions get conversations going
- be personally congratulatory and inquisitive
- route information in all directions
- care about the people in the community; this cannot be faked
- understand consensus and how to build it, and sense when it's been built and just not recognised, and when you have to make a decision despite all the talking.
He cites confirmation that “personal narrative is vital to online learning communities. Personal stories and experiences add closeness, and provide identity, thus strengthening online communities.”
- William Klemm has a more pragmatic approach[9, 10] to student participation, one that tends to coerce the engagement of post-secondary students in online collaborative learning. A minimum level of online participation as well as a deliverable piece of work relevant to the community activity is a mandatory course requirement. Many universities adopt a similar approach in order to ensure minimum online engagement of each student in collaborative study.
her guidelines[14] for growing communities within a class of students:
- communicate frequently with the class
- make as much interaction public as possible
- create a space for non-classroom-related interaction
- understand the limitations and strengths of the technology you're using in terms of fostering interaction
- ask questions often, and interact with students in the forum you have devised for class interaction.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
dailyPosts 04/29/2008
WebTools4u2use » About This Wiki
- The purpose is to provide information about some of the new web-based tools (Web 2.0) and how they can be used and are being used by school library media specialists and their students and teachers.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
dailyPosts 04/25/2008
Dave’s Whiteboard » Blog Archive » When you need incompetence fast - Annotated
how NOT to be a good leader/administrator
- Leave training to chance.
- Put training in the hands of supervisors who are not trained instructors.
- Make training unnecessarily difficult.
- Make training irrelevant to the students’ purposes.
- Schedule performance for times when people are not at their sharpest.
- Select people for tasks they have intrinsic difficulties in performing.
- Do not provide response aids (e.g., magnification of difficult visual stimuli).
- Design the job so it has no future.
- Avoid arranging working conditions that employees would find pleasant.
- Give pep talks rather than incentives to promote performance in punishing situations.
Creating Incompetence (individual level)
Knowledge
Capacity
Motives
A professional development course for community college educators.
possible tool for elearning - share an image, everyone in room can see image, can comment on image - what about digital photography?
Learnlets » Like riding a bike… - Annotated
elements of great learning experiences right tools, motivation, support, and environment - good story
- The lesson was that with the right tools, motivation, support, and environment, learning is magic. Are you making your learning experiences like that?
F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox) - Annotated
Eye-tracking software was used to determine on several web pages the pattern people view the pages. Consistently it is in a F-Shaped pattern. Do students do the same with web content?
- Users won't read your text thoroughly in a word-by-word manner. Exhaustive reading is rare, especially when prospective customers are conducting their initial research to compile a shortlist of vendors. Yes, some people will read more, but most won't.
- The first two paragraphs must state the most important information. There's some hope that users will actually read this material, though they'll probably read more of the first paragraph than the second.
- Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words that users will notice when scanning down the left side of your content in the final stem of their F-behavior. They'll read the third word on a line much less often than the first two words.
Implications of the F Pattern
The F pattern's implications for Web design are clear and show the importance of following the guidelines for writing for the Web instead of repurposing print content:- Users won't read your text thoroughly in a word-by-word manner. Exhaustive reading is rare, especially when prospective customers are conducting their initial research to compile a shortlist of vendors. Yes, some people will read more, but most won't.
- The biggest determinant for content usability is how users read online - and because people read differently, you have to write differently.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
dailyPosts 04/15/2008
Academic honesty and online courses | College Student Journal | Find Articles at BNET.com - Annotated
- Until now, the supposition was that, because of decreased monitoring and interaction in online classes, cheating in this setting would be greater than in traditional classrooms. Our paper suggests that as online education expands, there is no reason to suspect that academic dishonesty will become more common.
Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Plannning
Staying the Course: A Study in Online Student Satisfaction and Retention - Annotated
- Frankola (2001) claimed that adult learners drop out of online courses due to the lack of time, lack of management oversight, lack of motivation, problems with technology, lack of student support, individual learning preferences, poorly designed courses, and substandard or inexperienced instructors. The Frontline Group (2001), an online learning provider, offers five reasons why adult learners drop out of online learning programs: poor design, failure to understand the new medium, lack of consideration for a variety of learning styles, lack of support systems and ignoring the self-selecting content need of learners.
Making the transition: helping teachers to teach online
This article explores the transition factors face to face instructors need to make to move to teaching online.
A Brief History Of Distance Education Article - Study College University Articles
Monday, April 14, 2008
Using a Wiki
I can't remember where if read this or heard it during a presentation - but I found a scribble on a piece of paper that take my phone messages on and I wanted to document it so that I don't lose the idea.
Using a wiki to have students write and answer exam questions for exams. This would double as a way to get students involved with their own learning and also help them study for the exam. It also helps me or the instructor create exams that coincide with student learning.
I also heard of instructors who have students help them plan the syllabus for the class - a wiki would work for this as well. If I remember the instructor would send out a survey several weeks before class to get an idea of how many exams the students would like, what type of work they preferred group or individual, and other course structures that wouldn't effect the content of the course. If you had a wiki created students could edit the parts you allowed and students would have an idea of what the course would entail. This is something that would at least be worth trying.
Using a wiki to have students write and answer exam questions for exams. This would double as a way to get students involved with their own learning and also help them study for the exam. It also helps me or the instructor create exams that coincide with student learning.
I also heard of instructors who have students help them plan the syllabus for the class - a wiki would work for this as well. If I remember the instructor would send out a survey several weeks before class to get an idea of how many exams the students would like, what type of work they preferred group or individual, and other course structures that wouldn't effect the content of the course. If you had a wiki created students could edit the parts you allowed and students would have an idea of what the course would entail. This is something that would at least be worth trying.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Supporting Student Learning Online in Science and Engineering
Presented by: J.B. Wiskell, Bonita Bray, University of Alberta & Dr. Curtiss Hanson, Jason Vetter, University of Northern Iowa
The other day I attended this presentation and J.B. Wiskell from the University of Alberta had a interesting analogy for learning - that there are two types.The first is described as a teflon learner where after the semester is over nothing really sticks. And the second type is described as a velcro learner where after the stuff learned does stick. And this was all tied back to using eportfolios as a way to make students more velcro type learners.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Introductions
Hello, my name is DiscoSam and I wanted to introduce myself and explain a little about why I started this blog. First I am an Instructional Designer - officially for almost two years by title - have been designing courses and working with faculty since 1999. I work at San Juan Community College in Farmington, New Mexico - but I am employed by SunGard Higher Education. I am currently working on my Master's through New Mexico State in Community College administration (this is my first semester). I have a bachelors in elementary education and an associates in graphic design.
Enough about me for know - I started this blog as a place to jot down my ideas, thoughts, and possibly my ramblings about community college administration, instructional design, online education, and online student support. I also wanted a place to document my learning/professional development.
Over the next couple months I will also be preparing my presentation that I will be doing at TTIX (Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange - http://www.ttix.org/). The presentation is entitled "The Separation of Course and Classroom". The main focus is to get SME's and faculty to stop building their courses inside a course management system and to build them so that they can be delivered in multiple classroom settings i.e. online, mobile, face-to-face, hybrid or any combination above. If you have seen any anything that will support this idea please pass it along - I am always looking for more information.
I think that is all I wanted to say for this first posting. More to come soon . . .
Enough about me for know - I started this blog as a place to jot down my ideas, thoughts, and possibly my ramblings about community college administration, instructional design, online education, and online student support. I also wanted a place to document my learning/professional development.
Over the next couple months I will also be preparing my presentation that I will be doing at TTIX (Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange - http://www.ttix.org/). The presentation is entitled "The Separation of Course and Classroom". The main focus is to get SME's and faculty to stop building their courses inside a course management system and to build them so that they can be delivered in multiple classroom settings i.e. online, mobile, face-to-face, hybrid or any combination above. If you have seen any anything that will support this idea please pass it along - I am always looking for more information.
I think that is all I wanted to say for this first posting. More to come soon . . .
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