Online+Learning+Presentation

=Week 4: Online Learning Community: Leading Technology Change=

For this week's Learning Community contribution, summarize and share the results of your online learning presentation. After reading about your community members' experiences, offer a suggestion, resource, strategy, or additional idea to at least one of your community members.

Assignment length: 2 paragraphs

 * Note to Candidates:**
 * //Your Instructor will be checking your regular participation in your Learning Community to ensure that you have met the requirements outlined in the assignment. Participation will be worth 4 points for every week in which there is a Learning Community Assignment.//
 * //APA format is not required in your wiki posts. The goal of the wiki element is to support your learning as a member of an online learning community. Keep in mind, however, that your contributions are part of your graded coursework and, as such, should represent professional work. Please proofread your entries carefully.//

Cheri Reinke: APP 4: Online Learning - Powerpoint
I struggled with this assignment in finding a web-based management system that I felt like I would use and be able to teach to our other teachers. I finally ended up with Emdodo. Our gradebook program, Jupiter Grades, already has a quiz platform build into it, but Edmodo also has one along with the ability for students to be able to chat with one another online. I can also give surveys and link to other online learning sites. I also have them upload their work on Edmodo and use it similar to how we use our online learning areas. They share their writings and upload projects to their portfolios. I also link to online quizzes and links. In sharing my PowerPoint presentation, one of the teachers stated that at the beginning of the year she was against having computers in the classroom. Her rationale was that kids spend too much time in front of the computer as it is. Throughout this year, she has changed her opinion and now she can see the value in technology and the tools that we can utilize through technology. This was reinforced in my PowerPoint presentation. Another point that she made was that our society is changing and that she can see the necessity and value of our students using technology. Part of the reason that she doesn't do more with technology is that she doesn't know how. Another teacher that I met with said that she does typing games and the reason she doesn't do more is that she doesn't know what to do. She said that she is not afraid of the computer but rather she doesn't really know where to start. She also said that she is willing to learn. My administrator stated that she agreed with me but she is afraid of technology and she wouldn't know where to start. She really is afraid of it. She likes the idea of incorporating more, but she doesn't know where to start. I told the teachers that I met with that I would be willing to help them find ideas and to also show them some resources that I use to stay informed. (blogs, emails, etc.) We agreed to meet this summer and make a game plan for next year. They really have an open mind about technology and are interested in moving forward.

Dequency to Cheri

I am happy that your school is on board with the technology changes. It is encouraging to see schools that are ready to make changes that will benefit the students in the long run. I have notices that a lot of educators do not know where to start when implementing technology. I have often thought of making a technology handbook for teachers. This handbook would consist of little ways to forge into the 21st Century. Perhaps that is something you can do for your school to get them started.

This was an interesting opportunity to talk to my fellow teachers and administrator about new ways to improve our school. The teachers felt that added support in the development was needed, however, there would be great apprehension to the integration of the program to some of the staff. There is a definite line between the older teachers which are not tech savy and reluctant to change, and the group of younger teachers who are looking at technology as a tool to better learning. As part of the younger group (although I am not really that young), it is often frustrating dealing with the older staff because they are so anti-technology and change. We have a great focus on the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s) and one main concern was that teachers are very reluctant to change their classroom rhetoric for one that is an unknown when we are still accountable for the standards and not knowing how effective this program may be. The largest issue was that of time. Of the three teachers in the group, two were very positive towards finding ways to implement this in their program, but the one remaining was adamant about not wanting to implement this due to lack of time she felt she already had to cover the required information. I found it interesting too that the one that was worried about time was of the older group and is often stressed over the daily routines of the day. By no surprise my administrator's viewpoint was one of pure support and of great interest into the pockets of students these programs could reach which are currently struggling in their core classes. She suggested that we find a core group of teachers willing to pilot the program, perhaps one from each of the courses; math, English, science, civics, and see if we could come up with a collaborative site where students could go for information and support. As we collaborate we will develop a plan on implementation and how we can best “enlighten” the staff to be effective across all of the grades we serve. If as a team we can develop the tools and instruction for the teachers, we feel that we can best get our ideas out there and help all of the teachers implement these practices. We all felt that without a proper introduction to the staff and support on the ins and outs of the programs it was not something that was worth while to introduce until it was in place. Nick to Bethany: I teach in Washington state and it is amazing to me how similar are experiences were even though we are across the country from each other. The fear of adding more to our plate and the unknown with technology is tough to overcome. I also found that my administration was very supportive. I believe that this is because they had to only consider the theory and big picture about why it was important versus teachers whould had to consider logistics. Moving forward I think your right, finding more information, collaborating, and educating ourselves and others is the only way that this implementation could successfully happen.

I teach CTE in a middle school. My department consists of three teachers. We already are implementing the use of Edmodo in our classes. I think Edmodo can be considered online learning but it is lacking many features that can be beneficial. After my presentation we discussed ways that online learning is different from Edmodo. We agreed that Edmodo doesn’t support discussions all that well. With a CMS we can better facilitate discussions. Also, we felt that implementing a CMS will bring all the different tools together that we want to use, such as blogs, quizzes, surveys, and assignments. I along with another teacher in my department feel pretty comfortable exploring online learning. The other guy in our department is a little resistant because he is not very good with technology. However, we are lucky because he is very willing to try new things and is always asking us to help him implement technology with his classes.

The assistant principal was on board with us. He said he was going to talk to the principal and academic facilitators to get their input on the first steps we would need to take to implement online learning in our classrooms. Once we have our game plan it is then our goal to reach out to other teachers in the school. We talked about the different CMS and agreed that Moodle seems to be one we would like to look into. I looked into this previously on my own but was a bit confused as to how to use it. I am excited to let them try it and collaborate together to figure out what needs to be done to get this implemented. Since we have a classroom full of computers it would be great to use a CMS in our classes. This would also help my effort to go paperless!

Nick Nohner: Online Learning Environments
Throughout this course and my time at Walden I have learned the many benefits that technology can bring to my classroom; this week’s resources and application are just another extension of that theme. Technology can remove barriers like time and space through asynchronous classrooms. We can create learning environments for our students that allow them to engage the material through multiple perspectives and via many different learning styles. During my presentation I tried to communicate this message to my peers and tried to calm their fears about such a new teaching technique. Going into the presentation I was concerned that my peers would not be receptive because the typically reject the incorporation of technology. I have decided that they are hesitant because they feel that they do not have the skills and do not understand the technology. Furthermore, they cling to traditional techniques and are generally weary of anything new. Developing online classrooms is new and different for them so I decided to try to take out some of the unknowns for them. Theoretically they agreed with my points, but they are still unable to imagine themselves doing it. At Shadle Park there is a clear need that this type of technology can address; the only missing piece is getting a critical mass of individuals who feel passionate about it to help tip the scale to begin implementing it. I discussed with my colleagues what support features should be in place to help them through this new process. I came in suggesting that we have professional development time set aside for teacher with expertise to give the rest of us instruction on how to move forward. I also thought that we should meet as Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra II teams to help create and populate online classrooms with meaningful and powerful tools. My colleagues appreciated these suggestions, but believe that it should perhaps occur at the end of the year instead of three quarters of the way through. They are feeling busy and stressed and this seems like one more task that they would have to do. I appreciated their comments and I put in a request to our administration to set aside a professional development day aside during summer break to allow teachers to play with this new tool and see if it truly is a good fit for our school.


 * Dequency Ragler: Online Learning Enviroments **

I have learned the importance of technology and online learning throughout my time at Walden. I know that the courses I have taken throughout Walden strengthened my resolve to make online learning available to our students. I see it as another resource in our tool bag that will help fill in the gaps that we are not meeting as teachers. This year our goal was to improve our initial classroom, or Tier One instruction. We have three tiers based upon Response to Intervention, or RTI levels. Students are then placed into tiers based upon their need for intervention. Our principal said that Tier One instruction was not up to par and a lot of our students were ending up in Tier Two or Tier Three. I proposed that online learning will help teachers meet the needs of all students by teaching in a different style. Online learning would also help our above level students by giving them the challenge that we cannot. As teachers we are so busy bring to meet the needs of the below level students that the students who need acceleration often do not get what they deserve.

My presentation was met with mixed emotions. The principal and teachers thought that an online learning environment was an excellent idea for schools that are not "Needing Improvement". We are in the third year of needing improvement and the principal had pulled out all the stops to boost the students that need extra help. The bad part is that we are not afforded the creativity within the curriculum that will help us meet all of the students needs. Our computer time is mainly used for intervention programs, not acceleration programs. I wish we were not at that level, but we are. Hopefully, things will improve so we will be able to move forward with technology based teaching.

=David Vickery App 4: Online Learning Presentation=

My presentation was met with mixed reviews but along the lines I predicted. I made my presentation to a mathematics and English teacher in addition to my principal. Each has had experience with a classroom management system (CMS) in graduate school. One is a former graduate of Walden and the other is a doctoral student at Walden.

Surprisingly, the non-Walden teacher was in favor of the idea of adopting a CMS. She felt she could adapt her English course to work with the system. Each of the three faculty members agree that a great deal of planning would need to be accomplished to correctly implement a CMS in our school. The mathematics teacher felt that only advanced students would succeed with a CMS in an asynchronous web-based environment and average or lower level student would fail. I tend to agree with her thoughts. My principal did not openly accept the idea but found interest in how we could address the English standards from the common core curriculum in each classroom. The CMS conversation turned to how blogs could be used to accomplish a similar outcome.

The management systems I looked at seemed to be very complicated. I was overwhelmed sifting through the various pages and examples. I feel totally unprepared to tackle such a daunting task. I believe that most of my coworkers would feel the same once they looked deeper into developing a course using a CMS.