My Summary of Learning is complete! I used GoAnimate this year and I liked it but I think in terms of sharing it afterward, I prefer Powtoon, which I used for my Summary of Learning for EC&I834 (although that video is a blend of Powtoon and other video editing programs).
Thanks for the great course everyone! I enjoyed learning with and from each of you!
This week on our blogs, we learned about inserting pictures, giving attribution, and we had a work period to catch up on posts and write an optional “free write post” for those that are all caught up.
We started our pictures lesson with a discussion about copyright and the creative commons. We talked about how everything is copyright by default and discussed why this is the way our society worked. We discussed Napster and I realized how long it has been since Napster was a thing as none of my Grade 9s had even heard of the file-sharing site! We watched the first few minutes of the video of Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich speaking at the Senate Committee and discussed why he felt so passionately about his stance.
Once we had a good idea of copyright and the rules around it, we talked about copyleft and the creative commons. I showed them the different licenses that the creative commons website can help users hold and what each of the different parts means (such as non-commercial, attribution, share-alike) and why some internet users decide to allow others to use their materials. We then went looking for pictures to post!
I had all of my students use Compfight for their images and we learned out to insert an image of their choice into a blog post and use the caption area of the image to put in the photo credit. I also had students define copyright and copyleft on their posts so that I could check for understanding. When I was going over their submitted posts to publish them, however, I found that some had “copy and pasted” a definition of each of these two words into their post….I am going to have to have another conversation about using one’s own work next week, and not copying off of others.
I also briefly showed my students the search tools on Google Images. On this, you can search for different usage rights on images. I have used this in the past when I find that Compfight is not bringing up what I am looking for but I did stress that Compfight is a little easier as it is better stream-lined (in my opinion) and relatively user-friendly.
Once we were done images, students were able to work on their Current Event, catch up on other posts, or write about something that they were interested in. This gave me time to go around and help some students more one-on-one with using the Edublogs platform and fix up any posts that they either hadn’t submitted or that I would like them to make some edits to. I encouraged my student that, now that we know how to link to other websites and insert pictures with attribution, they should be integrating these skills into their future posts.
This week, we will be starting a research project on First Nations locations in the prairie provinces. They will be required to insert pictures into their posts and link to their sources…I can’t wait to see the results!
At the beginning of this week, I was working on one blended learning course, Calculus 30, that would be used as my prototype for #ECI834. Then Wednesday hit….and I decided why not jump right in and start a flipped classroom with my Foundations and Precalculus 10 students, I could use a little change! (And increased prep work I suppose!)
This is not the first time I have pitched a flipped classroom to my students to see if they would like to try it out with me (I have tried several times with Precalculus 30, a HUGE course content-wise, but never received any interest) and I expected the same response: “Ummmm………no.” So what’s different this time? Almost half of my students are in band which is a “pull-out” program in our school meaning that they miss my math class once in every six-day cycle to go to band class. This same group of students missed Friday and will be away on Monday as they are in Banff for a band trip. A good chunk of these students are going to be missing for four days in April as they are going to Europe on an EF Tour to attend the 100th celebration of the Battle at Vimy Ridge. These students miss a lot of instructional time and view the flipped classroom as a way to minimize what they miss and provide them with an efficient way to catch up.
So, Wednesday night, I was creating and videoing lessons, referencing those that already use a flipped classroom such as Ashley, coming up with formative assessments, and deciding how this was going to look (check out the blog site I created here). Thursday, we watched the lesson as a group and filled out the skeleton notes I had provided them. I felt it was important to model what they should be doing at home and answer any questions about the process, I do not want them to be disengaged because they are having difficulties with the process, as mentioned by Seethamraju in this week’s reading. This process was slower than it would probably be for most students watching the videos at home, but, I feel (hope) that it was valuable to them to go over it together. We then went over the formative assessment I created on Google Forms where I have asked them to answer 3 questions so I can see if they “get it” or not. I am hoping to use this to help decide if I need to address certain students individually on their understandings or if I need to reteach something as a large group. The big test of the process will be how many students have prepared and watched the lesson in advance of Monday’s lesson…….
This flipped classroom does not have a lot of online interaction outside of grabbing the appropriate links and going (much like Nicole mentions about her Weebly page), but I get to see these students every day and I set it up from scratch in one night. If we (the students and I) agree that this is effective, I will continue the flipped classroom beyond this unit and hopefully grow it into a more interactive community.
My Calculus 30 prototype does have these interactive aspects. Melinda mentions that she had not given much thought to interactions between students and with the instructor prior to the blog prompt and I find that I was the opposite. This is, in part, to the fact that I am already teaching this as a distance-ish course and have regularly received emails in the past of a picture of a question asking how to complete it. I am a big believer in encouraging collaboration within my classroom and will often direct students to each other to help them understand. One of my professors in my undergrad described that teaching demonstrates the deepest understanding and that has stuck with me and I have found that it usually is true. The image above is somewhat similar to what was shared with me so long ago.
My prototype is on Canvas and Google+ (at the moment, I’m thinking of changing that up a little) with the Google+ community where I see online collaboration occurring. I would encourage students to post questions they don’t understand or ask questions of each other and myself and come up with solutions and understandings together, instead of from the teacher who stands at the front of the room.
I have thought about using the discussion board feature within Canvas but my own experiences with discussion boards have been poor. I have experienced the feeling of frustration when others dominate the discussion and post so often I feel that there is nothing left for me to add that will be valuable and unique. This is a concern that arises often and needs to be addressed according the edutopia handbook, Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation and this is deterring me from wanting to use them. I like the more informal version of discussion we have in our Google+ Community as I feel it better encourages the development of relationships. I fear, like Logan, this is not as cut and dry as it is in the classroom, it needs more work in an online platform. Benita mentions the “5 R’s” from Schwier’s Shaping the Metaphor of Community in Online Learning Environments: “rules, roles, rounds, rituals, and ringers”. This gives a great place to start thinking about the tasks that you could assign in the discussion board of your LMS and has caused me to sit back a bit and think of if/how this changes my personal feelings about discussion boards. I’m not done this thinking process and am still grappling with how I would use it.
A common theme from this week’s posts (Melinda, Adam, and Kelsie to name a few who talked about it) has been the use of Flipgrid and, as I haven’t checked it out yet, I decided that maybe now it was time. After playing with it a little, I think this is more in line with what I would like for a discussion board, something that is more interactive and personal. So maybe my thinking is changing….but I think I need more time.
What have your discussion board experiences been like? Do you prefer the traditional typed version of a discussion board or the interactive one of tools such as Flipgrid?
I am jumping on board the Canvas-wagon along with many others in ECI834 such as Carla, Sarah, Nicole, and Andy. (I would love to say that was an intentional pun, but I didn’t realize what I had done until after I had typed it….).
All enthusiasm for making this decision aside, I am not feeling 100% confident with the choice as I am not sure it will be as interactive as I would like it to be. When we were first given the assignment to create a blended/online course prototype, and seeing how our course was set up in Google+, I was excited to try and set up my course in a similar fashion. Then, after being inspired by Carla’s post Inspired by Something New, I decided to look at Canvas…and now I am torn.
I have had some time to “play” in Canvas and have set up a REALLY rough course (I’m talking, the text/content is along the lines of “asl;dkgal;skdfha;” and not even a nice lorem ipsum) and I have come to the following conclusions:
1) I like the Calendar. I am a big fan of planning using a calendar and, if you were to see my long-term planning for this semester’s Calculus 30 course, you would see I have every class planned as to what I will be covering. This does not mean that there is no flexibility but it is my way of ensuring that I cover the entire course, and I like to give students an outline of when all of their exams will (likely) be the first day of class, especially because it is essentially a distance course.
2) The Modules allow for easier navigation than what I was thinking Google+ would provide. This is probably one of the more important aspects that is driving me towards using Canvas as I feel my students will use it ONLY if it is easy to use, I plan to set up my units/outcomes as my modules so that students can easily find what they are looking for.
3) The Quizzes feature allows for more detailed feedback than a right/wrong. Kyle discusses this further in his post this week. Because of the content and delivery method this course has typically had for me, I only grade the unit and final exams to determine the students’ grade. (I know, not the “best” but this was actually a request from the students as assignments were “too much course load”). I would like to use the quizzes as a way to bridge the gap between the students that REALLY want the assignments and feedback and the ones that have enough on their plate with their daily practice.
4) I can post the Outcomes right within the course….although I am not sure about the rubric/grading yet. Until I have a little more time to figure that aspect out, I probably will not use it extensively but I look forward to be better at it. I also like that you can connect/link these outcomes to specific assignments. Although I did not find the Saskatchewan Curriculum outcomes, this is something that can be added.
Overall, I find the platform to be easy to navigate and use. I am not done experimenting with some of the aspects and look forward to having it “in-action” with my students like Sarah, and Carla are intending to do and, much like Carla, I have a group of students that will not be shy in letting me know if something isn’t quite right.
“The Learning Management System. The LMS. Or in the UK, the VLE. The Virtual Learning Environment. Even though the latter sounds much less foreboding and controlling than the former, I confess: it makes no difference. I am not a fan.” – Audrey Watters on her blog
After all of my experimentation, I then read Audrey Watters’ post Beyond the LMS. As stated in her post, the LMS is about management and not about the students. Students (and teachers) often lose their work after the course is complete and are no longer able to access what they have created. This takes me back to Google+ and creating a space where the students can continue to be connected AFTER the course is done (if they choose), and maybe even help each other as they move forward into various post-secondary pathways.
So, back to square one. In all reality, I think that I am going to use both. Canvas to house the “meat” of the course, and Google+ to encourage the interactivity between my students and as a quick place they can go for answers. Or maybe, with the right convincing, I will be bold enough to leave the Canvas behind and go Google all the way…..
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