Self-Reflection

I have learned a lot from taking the TOOL program. 

1. I have learned about my ability as an online teacher. The fact that I knew as much as I did, impressed me and filled me with confidence. At the same time, I was able to develop more understanding in my deficiencies and learn how to solve those issues. I have never officially taught an online course before, but I have used many web based instruction and created many websites for my classes. I would love to be able to have a completely online course. Next year, I will take the knowledge I learned from here and the resources I obtained form this course and create an completely flipped model in my classroom.
2. Here are my past observations from the proceeding year:

  * This was an observation that took place in the media center after full instruction in class was given. My administrator acknowledged the lack of having the objective at the time (it was in my classroom.) This is something that will be easily solved with the flipped model.

Rubric and Competencies

The first shot is of the Academic Knowledge and Skills that the students will learn in the up coming Units:

The next shot is the Unit on Scarcity and the objective the students will learn:

This shot is the "Preview," where the student will receive a real world application and introduction to vocabulary:

The next page, students will access a video, vocabulary, and a quick quiz for understanding.

This page is the assignment that will be turned in through the dropbox:

This last page is a quick assessment where the students will find questions similar to the EOCT and related to the lesson:

Aggregated Lesson Material

1. I really have used USATestPrep for most of my early online attempts. The school or district has to pay for each class license, but the way that it is set up is a great way to aggregate data of student performance. It is easy to use and very helpful for students to build skills beyond the "classroom." 
2. Another aggregated resource is Edmodo. It is a great LMS for teachers. You can also friend and share materials with other teacher in your same subject area. Great resource!

Define Learning Objects

Free to Use

1. Edmodo - Website dedicated to teachers as a source to share with other teachers
2. Powtoon - Animated Presentation Material
3. Prezi - Cooler than Power Point

Unlimited with Subscription

1. USATestPrep - A subscription website by school system, but great for assessments and practice
2. Desire2Learn - Full online education system, paid by school system.

Fair Use and TEACH Act

 One thing that is seems to be more difficult these days is the motivation of students. Teachers struggle to spark the interest of students. One way a teacher can is by sharing material, music, or videos that kids can relate to and be interested in. The biggest problem with this is the violation of the creator's rights of protection and copyright. One of the most important items a teacher developer can have when it comes to the Fair Use of a product is this check list. Making sure that the items you use will not cause problems and violate federal law is very important. With the TEACH Act, it has similar limitations, but it only applies to non-profit institutions. 

The TEACH Act expands the scope of educators' rights to perform and display works and to make the copies integral to such performances and displays for digital distance education, making the rights closer to those we have in face-to-face teaching. But there is still a considerable gap between what the statute authorizes for face-to-face teaching and for distance education. For example, as indicated above, an educator may show or perform any work related to the curriculum, regardless of the medium, face-to-face in the classroom - still images, music of every kind, even movies. There are no limits and no permission required. Under 110(2), however, even as revised and expanded, the same educator would have to pare down some of those materials to show them to distant students or make them available over the Internet to face-to-face students. The audiovisual works and dramatic musical works may only be shown as clips -- "reasonable and limited portions," the Act says.

 published by the University of Texas Library System

Open Education Resources

OER - 

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are freely available online for everyone to use, whether you are an instructor, student or self-learner. Examples of OER include: full courses, course modules, syllabi, lectures, homework assignments, quizzes, lab and classroom activities, pedagogical materials, games, simulations, and many more resources contained in digital media collections from around the world.

published by the Open Educational Resources Infokit

Use Creative Commons website to find licensed material that can be used free of copyright violations.

1. Four main types of Creative Commons types
1. Attribution: give credit to the source
2. Share-Alike: conditions of material is used in the same way as the original
3. Non-Commercial: used in a way for non-profit purposes
4. No Derivative Works: can share original material without alterations

Web Tools for Student Assessment

I like USATestPrep:

1. It provides many questions, games, and activities that align with Georgia's GPS. 
2. Teachers can create classes and invite students to join the generated classes.
3. Students can login and complete the tests and activities that are a part of their class.