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. 

Web Tools

Instruction / Presentation

1. Prezi
2. Powtoon

Communication

1. Google Hangouts
2. Smore
3. Google Calendar
4. Evernote
5. Voki

Evaluation

1. iRubric

Appearance

Appearance Awards

The Good:

1. Gwinnett Online Campus
2. Khan Academy
3. Econedlink
4. Google+
5. CK12

The Not So Good:

1. CoolMathGames
2. Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT: Yes, you would have thought differently too.
3. Harcourt School Publishers
4. Purple Math
5. Healthcare.gov: Sorry had to.

Time Management

1. Google Calendar - I like using Google Calendar because I can add as many viewers as I need. It can also be set with reminders and can be sent through emails and I can create a link to the calendar on the homepage.
2. StayFocusd - This app will be embedded in my LMS, because it allows me to block websites that will become a distraction for students. A great way to keep students focused and on task while assessing my site.
3. Evernote - I like evernote, because I can create groups and different folders. I can remain focused on tasks and also make sure that I don't forget things for later. I can also include others in evernote and they can also include things and reminders in their note sessions.
4. Decision Matrix - This tool is an excel template. I will be able use this in class, not only as a way to teach one of my lessons (Cost-Benefit Analysis); but I can also have students, and myself, use this for important tasks that are coming up.
5. Nozbe - This is a great way to combine my Google Calendar, Evernote, Dropbox, and others which will allow me to make sure I don't forget one thing in Calendars, while I have it in Evernote. It is another get organizing tool.

Synchronous Sessions

During this cohort, I have really played around with Google Apps. One of the apps is Google + Hangouts. This; and many others, gotomeeting, skype, and the like; allows synchronous sessions for collaborated works and discussions. To replace the interact in instruction a face to face classroom brings, online teachers need a tool that can allow live communication and interaction to happen. I have used the Google Hangouts to meet with my teaching team this summer. One teacher is in St. Kitts, and another was in New York. I was able to be in my classroom at school and discuss topics that we need to focus on for the next school year.

In the online setting, I will use this type of tool to replace the "boot camp" that I have close to the EOCT for my subject. It will be a great way to help students in real time and allow them to ask questions with the group. I will also create small group sessions for projects.

Discussions

Discussion forums are beneficial as a replacement for a classroom discussion. It can also be used as a way to collaborate with students and they can interact as they might in a regular classroom. I use discussion boards to provide a writing sample for each students and I require each student to comment on at least two of the their classmates reply. Keeping up with the forum is the hardest part for the teacher. A teacher can use these effectively if the teacher sets them up ahead of time and with a time requirement that does not last the entire semester. Providing feedback as well as the students will let students know that you are actively monitoring and grading the discussions. One of the major ways of an ineffective discussion board is to not be active on the board, so stay on the discussion.

Feedback

The Assignment:

Students will create a power point project. The presentation will highlight the four economic systems: traditional, market, command, and mixed economies. Components include: *Title slide and subtitle slides for each system *A short analysis of how each economic system addresses the three economic questions *A listing of positive aspects for each *A listing of negative aspects for each *Examples of nations that use or have used each economic system. *Graphics or pictures for each slide.

The Rubric:


The Feedback:

              Evernote feedback.

Evaluation Methods and Communication

Because a face to face setting allows personal interaction between the teacher and student, it is a lot easier to pull a student aside and discuss grades, motivation, or concerns. In an online setting, not so much. Communication must be top notch, because if it isn't, it could be the difference between a student failing and passing on the teacher's end. If authentic feedback and effective communication is not given, then the student will not have the resources needed to improve. By communicating through emails, Voki, Smore, Remind 101, or any of the number of online communication applications; online teachers can replace that face to face connection.

Differentiation

Voki - This is a great item to embed on my homepage to create notice of an upcoming event. You can change the characters to be sure that the message gets across.

Other notices I have used are Smore, Google Calendar, and Thinglink. Here is the link to the previous blog that has these examples: Newsletter Blog

The Newsletter

1. Google Calendar - I enjoy Google calendar, because you can add any viewer to the calendar and you can set the reminders for each. All it takes is an email address from every stake holder, student, parent, administrator. You can even have multiple calendars in view at once. Here is a screen shot of the month of June: 
   
2. Smore newsletter - This is an easy way to communicate important dates and events coming up and they have great templates and easy add-ons to make sure your newsletter has everything it needs. Here is a newsletter I created for my daughter birthday party:

Thinglink - This is a very cool site that will allow you to create from a picture a popup tag. You can place any image and tag things to it. Explain a diagram. Utilize a picture to explain people, events, or situations. As far as a newsletter, you can even have important dates or events tagged:

Homepages

This is a really fun and creative app that can generate fun and enthusiasm for students. Placing something like this on the homepage can actively involve all stakeholders with access to your course. Enjoy!

Ongoing Communication

The truly important communication is the ongoing communication. In a traditional classroom, you are constantly interacting with students face to face, which makes it easy to inform them of upcoming events, tests, and due dates. In an online presence, it is more important to find ways to communicate with all stakeholders, since the classroom is virtual. Having a variety of communication is key to the student's success. Also, it is easier to provide evidence of communication with Remind Me 101, emails, and messages on the News board, like the one above.

Communication Guidelines

1. My welcome message through the portal will be delivered upon sign up to the course. It will introduce the course; my expectations; and of course, myself and contact information. I will have a link to Remind 101 for the student to sign up for the Remind of my class. Upon signup, the student will receive a welcome message explaining Remind 101 and the purpose of the text application.
2. Mass emails and messages are the same as I would put on the traditional white board or bulletin board in the tradition class. I would never post grades in mass emails or messages. I might remind students to check their emails for individual messages and grades. Example: "Students, your grade and feedback for your Scarcity project will be located in your dropbox, please access them and reply in the link provided if you have any questions. Great job, everyone!"
3. Personal notes are just that personal notes. In a traditional classroom, I would never have a student conference at the front of the class in front of everyone. I would never print a class list and grades for everyone to see. Common sense is key when it comes to the privacy of the student.
4. Stakeholders would be involved in the process of the student's performance and success, but I would limit the messages and emails to all stakeholders to ones that are on a need to know basis. I would not flood an administrator's emails with reminders of the next test or that grades are now located in their dropbox.
5. In the orientation piece of my courses, I will have each student process a module on the needs and rules of communication with school and district policies. Similar to the "course book" or "sign off sheets" that students would receive at the beginning of the semester, the online student would receive the same information and process.
6. The tools involved would be explained through orientation. Links and sign ups, like Remind 101 would go through a module similar to a lesson module. I would also require every student to go through the orientation before they can begin the course. All of this should be done no later than the first week of instruction.   

Differentiation

Since I do not have a course of students to go by form the past, my school gradebook is locked , and I don't have online data to go on; I decided to borrow the Economics EOCT test results for Gwinnett County.

Here is my modified data:

1. To help Edward West, who dropped out of school; I would want to try and investigate why he left. Is there some alternative to his decision to becoming a drop out. What is Edward's goals in life? Has this class or has another class caused his situation? Is there something at home? Can we catch him up in a credit recovery and full online learning; or having him in a blended class, so he can be monitored and motivated?
2. Vinnie, Mea, River, and Berk are Tier 1. These students passed, but can use more support to gain higher scores. More teacher led review and lessons might need to be offered to these students. I would utilize the online quizzes and tests and break down the data to see their individual deficiencies. I will individualize instruction based on their deficiencies. I will offer more opportunities for improving their scores.
3. The students in Tier 2 can benefit from more individual opportunities, but may not need as strong of a teacher led focus as those in Tier 1. They can utilize the same online resources given the the students in Tier 1, depending on their deficiencies. 
4. The students in Tier 3 have the motivation and the understanding of the basic knowledge that these student might benefit from more in depth lessons. Individualized instruction in personal finance and high learning options can benefit these students for their future. They can direct themselves better than lower tiers, which allows more teacher focus on those tiers.

With online learning, I can take the limitations of a whole class instruction out of the equation. All students can benefit in the same classroom, whether virtual or blended. I will have the opportunity to increase help sessions, focus learning on individual support for each student. Each student can his or her own learning path that will help solve any deficiencies they might face. 

Data Driven Instruction, Analytics, Reporting

This data explains the types of classes taught and the number enrolled in class. There are two EOCT courses. To note here is that even the AP Microeconomics maybe a concentrated course, the students still need all the information to be successful in the EOCT, which is the same test as the regular test taken by Economics. Another thing a teacher needed to focus on in is how many of those students are familiar to online instruction.


This information concerns me a bit, because the course started on 1/7 and only one student orientated to online that week. The other students are already two or more weeks behind. Most classes are locked from view until the orientation is done. If I notice that students have not completed orientation, I will be communicating with the students and parents by the second week of instruction. It is important to know that students understand the course and how to complete assignments



Making phone calls, especially robo-calls, are not the only form of communication, or even the most reliable form. Emails, text messages, contacting administration for verification of contact information. If I only made phone calls and leaving messages to the student and parent, I would not have enough proof that I did everything I could. Face to face conferences are still an important part of teaching. Also, leaving a message and sharing grades is against FERPA laws. The last two messages violate this law, especially if you happen to have the wrong number.



Who wouldn't want good news about their child?! This is a good source of "buy-in." Parents can see that the teacher does care about their student's work. Positive feedback is just as important to a student. The one thing I would change here is that I might send a personalized message on a particularly well done project or test, so that the email is not generalized email. I call this type of emails the "Publisher Clearing House" junk mail. It nice and all, but is my student the "real winner, or just a group of winners?" I'll send them this note anyway, but back it up with the personalized one.



This information tells me that something major was due on 9/9 and 9/16. For a student to be successful in an online course, he/she needs to pace themselves through the course. Maybe a daily grade should be required to assuring the student is logging in and completing work daily.  Also, I will contact students and their parents of their lack of participation.

 



These types of feedback are important to the success for the student, especially in an EOCT course. To be able to see what a student misses, allows that student to review and correct mistakes. Giving feed back always improves performance. If you don't know what you missed or how you missed it, how can you improve?




As it is important for feedback, it even more important for the feedback to be personal and with little to no spelling errors. The teacher might need to write out the feedback in a spell check enabled application, like MS Word.  I do this all the time, because I could never win the school spelling bees.

Summative Assessment

Here is a link to the first ten questions to the AKS 17: Scarcity Test. In Gwinnett County, we have expanded the GPS into the AKS, or Academic Knowledge and Skills.

Economics AKS 17 is:

explain why limited productive resources and unlimited wants result in scarcity, opportunity costs, and trade-offs for individuals, businesses and governments  (GPS) (SSEC_C2007-17)

• 17a - define and give examples of scarcity
• 17b - define opportunity cost as the next best alternative given up when individuals, businesses and governments confront scarcity by making choices
• 17c - define and give examples of the four factors of production (land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship)
• 17d - discuss a variety of strategies for allocating scarce resources (production possibilities curve, decision making grid)
• 17e - illustrate by means of production possibilities curve the trade-offs between two options
• 17f - explain that rational decisions occur when the marginal benefits of an action equal or exceed the marginal costs - published by Gwinnett County Schools 

Validity: The test is valid because ever question is directly correlated to an indicator of achievement (the letter designations) inside the AKS. Before the test can be taken, all assignments will be turned in and returned with feedback.

Reliability: The test is reliable because it is similar to questions students will see on the EOCT. This test has been used on other students. The questions, answers, and distractors are relative to the types of items they were taught. 

Security: The D2L format allows me to place one question at a time and have several random questions to assess each indicator of achievement. I can also set a time limit and attempt limits for each test.

Quality Feedback

At the end of ever lesson, I provide a student to gain extra bonus points on the major assessment for the end of the unit. These assessments can be anywhere from one to six extra points. They provide EOCT practice questions, vocabulary review and short answer questions. I give them immediate feedback in order for them to be successful in the quizzes and tests and understand what they focus on to learn in the material.

Here is a screen shot of one such assessment with feedback:

Formative Assessments

Because my main class subject is Economics and Economics is an End of Course Tested subject, I do a good amount of multiple choice questions. To fully understand the subject, I do not rely solely on multiple choice questions.
Several assessments that I use in class:

• Multiple questions that are similar to the ones on the EOCT.
• Reflective Discussion Boards that share student answers to a question and feedback from other students.
• Online activities:
• vocabulary crossword puzzles
• Drag-N-Drops when categorizing different concepts
• Prezi presentations
• Short answer questions at the end of each lesson to assess that the students understand the content.

Here is the short answer link to my lesson: 4: Study in Scarcity

Building Portable Learning Objects

1. Quizlet - The first Learning Object I am using is the Quizlet on Scarcity Vocabulary. Vocabulary is extremely important in the success of the EOCT for Economics. I put together the six vocabulary words associated with the scarcity lesson. Here is the link, again.
2. GoogleSites - Google Sites allows me to create as many websites that I need for classes I teach. I have started creating my site for Economics. I can lay it out any way I need for best use. It is an easy template and because it's Google, you can load almost anything on it, videos, Google Docs, Word, etc. Here is a link to my site on Economics. (It is still a work in progress, so please don't mind the mess.)
3. Bonus round: I did not create this, but I love that someone did. Econedlink - Econedlink.org has been a savior of time and creativity. They have created many lessons, videos, and quizzes that have helped teachers share and students understand Economics in high school. Here is my link to the Scarcity video and quiz.

Locating Resources

In the lesson of Scarcity in Economics, I have put together this full lesson. It is a layout to follow, start with the Preview page, then follow the link to the next page at the bottom of the page.

Here is the link to my Scarcity Lesson.

• The Preview page has the image and text requirement for this assignment.
• The Acquire page has the multimedia requirement for this assignment.

Enjoy.

Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

I chose to start a wikispace to help with my discussion board. I find it very similar to Edomodo, but it has a better "white space" for students with learning disabilities. There are fewer distractions on and around the page that will allow students to easily find the latest post and not be distracted, or "lost" in the website. The only thing I do not like is that you have to load the

Here is the link to my wiki: https://mreseconomics.wikispaces.com/

Here is a screen shot:

Identifying Stakeholders

The mentioned stakeholders were very detailed and I feel that they are an accurate portrait of each of these.
One of the stakeholders that is overlooked that most is the group of "future" stakeholders.

1. The University and Colleges have a great need for future students to have certain skills to be successful in post graduation education.
2. Business Administration also needs to be involved in the skill sets that online education can provide.
3. Students also need to know what is expected for their future plans and the ability to explore careers that they are interested in. Students and parents need know what path they need to plan for the student's future.

Laws of Communication

Some simple common sense rules can apply to making sure you never violate FERPA:

1. Never send grades in an email, text message, answering machine, or anything that can be shared to parties that are not direct stakeholders of the child. The only time this can be done is through an official school document, i.e. report card, or through the student's online portal.
2. Parents and students have the rights to request grade and personal information of that child only. Some counties or districts offer an online option known as a parent portal. To protect the students through FERPA, the school offers a token code to parents to sign up in order to assess the parent portal
3. Never share grades with a third party outside the personal stakeholders of the child, this also includes fellow teachers unless in an official meeting about that child. If a third party asks for information on the child, refer them to an administrator, or better to the parent of the child.

"Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

• School officials with legitimate educational interest;
• Other schools to which a student is transferring;
• Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
• Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
• Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
• Accrediting organizations;
• To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena; 
• Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
• State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law."                           - http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html For additional information, you may call 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (voice).

To protect yourself for violating copyright laws, following common sense steps is also important:

1. Use government created sites for information, like www.whitehouse.gov.
2. 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
3. Use the GNU Free Documentation download to obtain free software that is also free of copyright violations.

Not all things have to be original to be protected:

1. One thing teachers are known for is to share and borrow form other teachers. We don't like to "reinvent the wheel" when ever possible but, we also want our students to not plagiarize, or cut and paste directly. Sometimes, we can be hypocrites.
2. Borrowing from an artist, musician, or creator without permission can cost you a lot of money, lawsuits, or even your job. Just ask Vanilla Ice:

borrowed by MoreMusicVids channel on YouTube.com

Trend Impacts

The blended or flipped model classroom is the trend that has the most impact in today's classroom. By blending "traditional" instruction with "online" instruction, you are able to take the best of both into one.

Traditional:

• Face to face contacts humans need.
• Understanding of material with real time discussions and question and answer sessions
• Personable  ability to work with other humans.
• Bonds made by teachers and students to be successful in society.
• "Teachable moments" that remind teachers why we spent all of that time and money at major Universities and Colleges.
• Friendships made that last before and after Facebook

Online

• Ability to work in your own pace.
• Ability to work from home, library, backyard, on top of a mountain, etc.
• Ability to utilize modern technology that will impact their future career.
• Ability to share and compare lessons and plans with colleagues in other classes or even other schools.
• Ability to write fewer drafts with less spelling errors, link artifacts, and create exciting resources and projects.

Deciding on an LMS

While I was exploring the LMS options, I am convinced that the best choices for k-12 schools would be Desire2Learn (commercial), Blackboard (commercial), and Edmodo (Open Source).

• Desire2Learn and Blackboard have a long history of online school use. Through one of the info-graphics, it was neat to see the many providers that blackboard bought to improve its product. They are tested material and have based their clientele on K-12 schools (D2L, mostly) and colleges and Universities (Blckboard, mostly.) These are very good for entire school systems or large schools, because these LMSs are not cheap, but they provide a very good service for the entire package.
• Edmodo is an open source sites that allow individual teachers and smaller, "financially challenged" systems to work together and provide a free online experience. Some of the negatives that Edmodo has for a system is that there are little safeguards on what teachers share, as far as getting your lessons varified and placed in the LOR. This LMS is a good source because the wealth of lessons are not just limited to counties, districts or even states, but there are a lot of lessons to choose from and that could be a daunting task.   

Creation and Investigation of Course

The LMS that my county uses is D2L. By exploring D2L, I realize that it is a complicated process if you are not familiar with the entire system. One thing I do not like about it is that you have to create course material through Softchalk. Now, Solfchalk is cool in the way that it has add-ons that can create various instruction methods, like interactive crossword puzzles. Softchalk can be very time consuming if you are starting from scratch. Once, you have created and template and set it as the default, it becomes a matter of adding your lessons and material. Once your Softchalk lesson is complete, then it is a simple upload to your D2L course shell. One good thing about the county's D2L site is that there is a great number of pre-made lessons in the LOR. I have a few lessons in there as well and it is rewarding to see that there are other teachers who have used my lessons for their shells as well.

Content Map

This is the first concept of the Economics Course. One thing I noticed is the time limit given to "squeeze" everything in. Most of the concepts overlap and can interrelate, so I had to prioritize. This was very helpful to layout. Having a Content Map laid-out like this can help make sure that the students and I stay focused and keep pace for the EOCT.

Digital Feedback

• I have used "Reward Tokens" in my my flipped class when a student did very well on a assessment or project. These "Reward Tokens" unlocked a game session in USATestPrep that gave them a fun game that reviewed the concept they just studied, while other students would have to do the review quiz and seminar. This motivated students to work harder on the original assignment, because they saw other students with a special code to skip the more traditional review. I would continue to use this method because students really seemed to enjoy the reward of hard work, even if they were still reviewing the material.

• In the discussion boards, I have students answer the original question in a one paragraph essay, then they are required to comment on at least two of their peers. I use their peer feedback to help support understanding of the topic.  

• Another way I would communicate is through Evernote: A friend showed me this just the other day, and when I saw it as an example for the digital feedback; I was sold. Here is an example of an email sent to a student about their project grade:

Mr. Smith,

Your presentation grade is recorded in the gradebook.

Please follow the link for your recorded message on the feedback of your project:

Smith's Evernote File


Congratulations,

Mr. E

Rubric Post

I really enjoyed the iRubric website. It have a database of many projects and essays that will fit within my lessons. It was easy to edit a pre-existing rubric to fit my needs. For this rubric, it started as a poster project and I was able to change it to a power point presentation. Another neat feature that I like about iRubric is that you can calculate the grade by a simple click of each box associated with the level the student earned in his/her presentation.
Here is the link to my rubric: Economic System Rubric (I tried to embed the actual rubric in this blog, but the code did not allow me to upload the entire rubric.

Here is a screen shot:

News Post

On the home page, as the students log into the course class, the news feed is front and to the left of the page. This is a very important tool that will keep students abreast of any upcoming events or changes within the course. 

In order to make sure I am not violating creative licenses, I will search for images and videos through the Creative Commons website. Once I am there, I will make sure that I also site any image or video I collect to get create where dreate in due. In the screen shot below, you will notice that the picture has been "powered by" Fotopedia.

Here is my latest announcement on my D2L site:

Definitions of Communication

Is this where we are heading? I hope not, but it seems too close to reality than I like. After this cohort, I will leave for the Appalachian Trail for a week. Will I survive without my "sociable robot," called my iPhone. When I come back, will I have missed the latest funny cat video? Will I have missed out on the Facebook
posts about nothing? "I share, therefore I am."

I am as about as guilty as anyone else when it comes to my cell phone and computer. I email, blog, chat, tweet, post and stream. I watch my daughter on her iPad and my other on daddy's computer watching Netflix. I need my girls to focus on our real lives. I make sure my girls get outside and ride, swim, explore, and ramble.

I try to provide more of this:

And less of this:

But it is hard.

With online classes, it is even harder to have that personal connection that I love in the classroom. The camaraderie when you get to know the students, their family and their friends. The understanding of my humor and their humor. The pat on the shoulder. The look of "I caught you, but I might not tell on you, if you get your act together."

Individual communication skills have changed over the years. We "gather in sips:" LOL, BRB, OGM. ; p. We communicate in the virtual world more than we do in real life. Everyone is on a screen, and not in the scenes. We have truly have made the world smaller through innovations like online news and blogs, Facebook, and the like. We know what is happening right now and can watch the events unfold before our eyes. Think of September 11th, 2001, weren't you "glued" to your TV. Now, imagine not being confined to just your TV, watching the events of 9/11 on a computer or your phone, who would have thought of that?! 

I barely make phone calls home anymore. Parents and I communicate in emails. The students view their grades through their portal, not through a printed grade sheet or even a hand written report. New ways of making announcements or sharing upcoming tests is done through text messaging, like Remind 101. 

The future looks great for instant notification and real time assessment feedback. Is that really better for the human contact? It's only a matter of time before the traditional classroom will cease to exist. The teacher needs to utilize technology to better serve the student and parent. At the same time, the teacher needs to value that human element and keep constant communication open to help develop the whole child, academically and socially.

Miranda Lambert might have it right by saying, "It all just seems so good the way we had it, back before everything became automatic."

LMS Reporting

Since I am currently "sans pupils," I will use an older training module gradebook:

* borrowed from Gwinnett Online Campus instructor training. 

Student Level Reporting: As you see from above this is a "typical" grade book, where the teacher* will enter a numerical grade in an electronic gradebook. The student has access to see his/her grade and can also view it in categories of classwork, homework, and summative assessments. In order for a student to actually see mistakes or wrong answers, they will have the refer back to the reply of the teacher from the assignments within the dropbox.

Teacher Level Reporting: The teacher is able to have total management over the gradebook. Teacher can enter grades manually, or if set up to do so; the quizzes and tests can generate grades automatically to the gradebook. Teachers can view categories and percentages of weight for each area to insure compliance with the rules of the district or school. The teacher can also differentiate instruction on topics that have reported lower than average grades. Teachers can also export grades to another gradebook in the SIS set by the school or district. (This option can take a few days to synchronize, though.)

Course Level Reporting:  Teachers can evaluate different lessons and assignments among each other. Teachers can link comments and revisions of lessons in the LOR in order to provide feedback on lessons and assignments. Teachers can borrow from one another through the LOR and receive new or different ideas for teaching the content.

Program Level Reporting: Teachers can compare lesson taught in F2F verses the Online lesson in a flipped classroom opportunity. Teachers can decipher which lessons work better in an online level, and can revise F2F lessons to fit the online component. The ease of use in the D2L model is not very friendly to the teacher who has little formal training and could become very frustrated by the experience. More in depth training needs to occur in order for every teacher to utilize D2L to its fullest potential.

Tools within the LMS

The LMS I am most familiar with is D2L. Desire2Learn is Gwinnett County's choice LMS, so I have familiarized myself with this resource, because I will be using this in the fall for my regular flipped classroom.

Here are some of the tools that I will be using in the fall. Some useful, some not so much, and some I am still figuring out:

This page is not available for most teachers. A select few of us are allowed to make courses to fit the needs of our school. Most courses that are already offered in the county have a template course. I will show you the bare bones of my future Economics course and the tools within the course.

The home page of the Economics Course has many navigation links and a News feed, Calendar View, and an Updates feed, which are all very useful to help keep communication at the forefront of my class.

 In the course content tab, I will use most of these tools:

• The most used for students and myself would be the "Content" button. This will open up the window to the actual assignment list. 
• As a teacher, I will utilize the "LOR" button, which is not available for students. This allows me to search pre-made lessons on my subject. "Why recreate the wheel, when you can go to the tire store." - Denton Elkins 
• The students have the ability to use the Locker feature, if they want to safe their work and assess it from any computer, home or school.

In the grading tab, I will use all of these tools:

• Discussions allows me to create a class discussion blog. This is a good way to interact with the students on an open forum assignment. Students can also view and reply to other students as well.
• Dropbox allows students to turn in work to me. It gives them a time stamp, so I can require a due date. Student can confidentially turn in their work and I can comment and return work.
• Grades will be a well used button by students, especially at the end of the course as they hope the grade fairy has sprinkled "A"s in every assignment.
• Quizzes is a button that directly links all assessments that are available in the course. I have the power to lock assessments, opening and closing them at certain times to keep them as authentic as possible. I can also create a quiz to have one, two, or unlimited chances for students to pass.

In the Interaction tab, I will need some extra time on most of these buttons:

• I will have another way of taking role through the "Gradebook" feature on the county's website. The classlist will be only useful to me to make sure the gradebook reflects those that are enrolled in my class.
• I do not think I will use the ePortfolio button yet, because I am not that familiar with this feature. I might utilize this more as I am teaching seniors and would want to have a assess tool to graduation requirements.
• I might not use the Online Rooms unless I need to create one for an EOCT seminar or study session.
• I am not familiar with the User Progress, but I might use it in data disaggregation and collection.
• The Pager feature is useful, but with a flipped classroom, raising hands still works just fine.
• In a flipped classroom, Seating Chart is useful. In a fully online class, not so much.

The notification bar warns me of any emails, messages, or announcements that the course or students might have. Also, it reminds me of my name and what I'm doing here.

*All images are borrowed from Gwinnett D2L's GIVE Center East Online course.

LMS Tool Categories

Lecture Capture

Please forgive the crudeness of this video it was recorded through my Lenovo webcam. I have access to a flip camera (after checking it out from our school media center) and an iPhone (which I guess I could have recorded from as well), but you get the idea. Thanks and enjoy.
 

Commercial vs Open Source

I enjoy Open Source media when trying to tutor or creating a help session. This kind of software allows students to interact easier and ask questions and chat with the class or help group. I also enjoy the ability to customize the site for my use. With student participation, it can seem like a real classroom with real time questions and answers. It can also assess in the student's true awareness of the material in real time as well.

In order for the company to make money and guarantee continued longevity with the school system, the commercial media will have training videos, seminars, and costumer service. Commercial can be more uniform and have less of a chance of alteration of basic materials. This could be useful if a teacher is less computer savvy and needs additional training in the use of the software.

Recorded Sessions

I have worked with many different software options with online capabilities. My Master's degree at FSU used a very limited (and early) version of Blackboard and after a few years my Specialist's degree at UGA used a more encompassing and later version of Blackboard. As a student, both were good sources of communication and organization for the classes.

As a teacher, I have used USATestPrep to accent my teaching by having students take tests and reinforcement activities. I like this, but it is very limited on what can be done for instruction.
 I have also used Edmodo, but so far; only as a communication with other teachers on ideas of certain lessons. It does have the capability of more, but I have other CMSs that I use in a more boarder scope.

Gwinnett County's Online School and most of the central office uses the Desire2Learn format. This, of course, is the one I am use to the most. I am not a big fan of it because I am not as proficient in it as I should be. I feel that it is harder to use and the development of individual lessons takes larger than it should. As I get more training and use it more often, I will become better and will utilize it better as my school uses it for instruction.

I have found that Google + is easier to understand and easier to upload lessons and data. Google Drive can read most documents, PDFs, and most multimedia. It is quick to upload former lessons and presentations. I have used Google + to develop most of my CMSs for the past school year.

Delivery Methods and Vendors

Gwinnett County has many options available for teachers to develop and create online learning communities:

•  The main LMS is desire2learn. Most school that are going digital are being directed to use the D2L format.
• Some schools are Google schools which is offered completely free for any user. By saving money on licensing software, schools can focus on using their technology funds on hardware or additional software.
• Edmodo is a great CMS that allows educators to work together regardless of the system in which they teach. Edmodo is available to schools with licensing agreements with the county.
• SMARTtech has a CMS, but in order to use it effectively, you must purchase the hardware of the SMARTboard for each classroom.
• USATestPrep and Study Island gives teachers a way to access pre-made questions and activities for different subject. This requires individual schools to buy individual courses, though. 

LMS vs CMS

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are more complex and create a unit for an entire school system to incorporate every aspect a school wide online learning would need. D2L is an example of this. The main advantage is when incorporating an LMS in a school, all students are trained in using the product and are able to take multiple classes in the same system. Administrators and other personnel are able to build different levels of control and flexibility to the LMS. Course Management Systems (CMS) would work best by an individual teacher or group of teachers. Edmodo would be a good example of the uses of a CMS. Even though Edmodo can be a LMS, if the school or district adopts it; it is a very user friendly system for teachers to develop individual courses and virtual classrooms.

Roles and Functions of the OLE

A Prezi on Roles of the OLE. Enjoy!

Synchronous vs Asynchronous

Perfect Online Community

1. Teachers need to collaborate to develop the right materials and lessons that engage all learners. 
2. Teachers need to survey students about the lessons to see if there is more (or less) the course needs to offer. 
3. Make it user friendly. (If, you, the teacher can't do it easily, don't expect the students to do it.)
4. Check the links. Check the links. Check the links! 
5. Get rid of the fluff and the junk!
6. Work with the students during their online experience. Be the teacher!

Digital Health: Get off the screens and into the scenes!

It is important get away from the computer. During this class, I have stressed over how much there is to do. With the schedule I have, I need to complete at least 6 or 7 blogs a day. Being that it is the 11th day in this cohort, I'm not doing so well. Because of this assignment, it has helped me focus on not just sitting in front of the computer all day. There is a need for a break everyday. In today's technology, many kids are in front of a screen instead of in front of a scene. I grew up without cell phones, iPods, iPads, and most of the video gaming systems. I was outside. I had a tan (sometimes a burn) before school was out for the summer. I was swimming, hiking, fishing and hunting every summer. Now, I find myself and my girls inside in font of a computer, iPod, or TV. That's not good! This assignment might actually be my favorite. It reminds me to get outside and to get outside with my girls. Here is my calendar that I am going to follow for awhile, if I have to be in front of the screen "all day.":

Morning Walks are going to be a way to start my days this summer. I am going to walk at least a mile before I start my online quests for the day. While the girls are waking up and my wife is getting ready for work, I will take the time to "run away" from stay home summer dad and clear my head of yesterday's stresses.

Flex and Focus will be a time for the girls and I to turn off all devices and flex our legs and focus on something without a screen. We might go outside for awhile or just some quick exercises.

Play in the Day will be the end celebration of my work for this cohort. We will head to the pool, park, or the woods for at least an hour; if the Georgia weather plays nice. If not, we can draw, paint, or do something that gets us away the screens and into different scenes.

I have the calendar set to flash a reminder on the computer, so I am forced to remember my commitment.

I feel that as education turns more towards the virtual technology, I will incorporate these kinds of events in my school day. I will have a "blackout" period on my webpage that will hopeful encourage students to get off the screens and into the scenes!

Digital Safety

Here is my next blog on Digital Safety. Brought to you by me through PowToon: a real cool presentation software.

AUP

So to combat intended or unintended issues, all students need to understand and agree with Acceptable Use Policies when working in a "professional or educational realm."

When creating an AUP, I am a good believer in the "Don't Reinvent The Wheel" policy. So, I want to borrow from the big guys in the Twin Towers in Atlanta: http://www.gadoe.org/Technology-Services/Instructional-Technology/Pages/Creating-Cybersafety-Use-Agreements-.aspx

Federalism is the system of government in the United States. The Constitution is the law of the land and no state, county, municipality, or person is above those laws. States have the freedom to create policies and procedures that are unique to the needs of the states, and so on. One of the unique tasks left to the state is education. The states for the most part are in charge of the educational needs of the citizens of Georgia. So before I go ahead and create a policy, it is important to know what the State of Georgia requires.

By using the Secondary School AUP, we can create a ground work for what is expected of both students and teachers  in the State of Georgia. (The word document is amendable to match the needs of the individual school if the need arises.) This policy will be during the first class. It will be personally signed by all participates and their parents. It will also be available and referred to on the home webpage of every site I create and instruct from: Mr. E's AUP.

Proper Netiquette

When thinking of netiquette, my mind jumped back to this video. One of the biggest issues of netiquette is representing your true self. Often times, many students feel freer when having a computer screen in front of them than a teacher or peer. Cyber bullying is a growing problem, because students that normally not bully in a traditional setting would feel "braver" doing it from their computer. Another issue can be that they say things that might come across in a different manner intended. YELLING in all capital letters is rude.

My Poster of Netiquette