WebEx 2

This weeks presenters were Charita, Becca, and Joe.

Becca: Holy cow, what a presentation.  Super professional.  I love Nearpod, but you really showed how to make it work on every level.  Great use of time in having us create something and share it.

Charita:  A bold choice.  I never thought of letting students loose on pinterest.  The techniques you showed made it easy to see the educational uses.  This would fit in well with conectivist learning environments.

Joe:  Thank you.  So much of what is in useful youtube videos is distracting.  These are great resources for making online content even more classroom friendly.  Good pace of presentation.

WebEx 1

Tonight we got to see presentations from Julio, Joey and Cathrine.
Julio: Well, organized.  Nailed it like a pro.  Nothing felt booring or slow.  Newsela is a cooll rescource I didn't know about.  This would be great in a classroom for pulling in what matters in a student's personal view of the world.

Cathrine:  Way to go.  Your presentation was easy to follow and instructive.  I felt like I would have no problem using livebinder as a resource.  Great idea gathering questions to guide your lesson.

Joey: an excellent presentation on how to get organized using EduBlog.  What a great way to help parents feel involved with their student's learning and part of the learning community.  Great speaking voice.

The Moodles

Tonight we got to see the finished moodles.  I was impressed.  Everyone put a ton of heart and effort into their work.  I was really impressed with Joe's, knowing that he shifted his  topic midstream.  The various resources used were not redundant as one moodle used technology asset in a totally different way from other uses.  The content and the instruction were really at the forefront and the technology just seemed to melt into finished products.

Here Comes WebEx

The goal of this week was to get comfortable with WebEx in preparation for the online lessons we need to teach to the rest of the class.  We also looked at a lot of online sources for things like surveys and how to flip lessons. All were quite useful and inspirational.  We also talked about how to make sure a synchronous lesson is engaging and effective.

The Moodle has Landed

I finished my moodle.  It is amazing.  I think I put close to fifty hours into it total.  I learned more from this project than from any other portion of this class.  The use of Nearpod and Ted Ed have me sold me on delivering electronic instruction.  I am even seeing how this could lead to flipped lessons in the normal course of my teaching. I did things to create content for this project that have changed the way I think about student centered and student driven learning. I am especially excited that my school is considering turning my work into an online course offered to our students.

How to be Good at Distance Learning Instruction

What you need to know above all is that any type of distance learning instruction needs to be miles more engaging than live teaching in a classroom.  If the content and instruction are weak the learner will find ways to distract them in their given learning environment (do the dishes, surf the web, get another coffee). 

Distance learning comes in two flavors, Synchronous and Asynchronous. 

Synchronous instruction needs to be focused on learning of simple concepts and planning for projects and further learning opportunities.  Instruction during these types of learning situations can lead to excellent discussion as students are more psychologically activated for response to one another. 

On the other hand when students will be required to deeply contemplate or research a topic it should be left to asynchronously structured learning plans.  The difference in the styles is reflective of traditional classroom learning.  Discussion and instruction of skills are done during class and the heavy contemplative work is done by students at home.

If you want them to think go asynchronous.  If you want them to discuss or share go synchronous.

In other news I got to evaluate some classmates moodles and got feedback on my own.  I was impressed with what my peers did.  I saw some simple and effective ways for delivering content that did not distract from learning.  The feedback I got was helpful and inspirational to make the final push and make my course shine.