Social Networking in the online classroom

One area that I have the most difficulty teaching is my end of the year research project.  I am unable to work with all of the students individually to make sure they are on the right track.  I spend a lot of time correcting mistakes and having the students redo projects because they did not understand/follow the directions.  I have message boards and lessons that explain each step of the project but some students find these boring and most do not take full advantage.  I think if the students were able to work together in small groups in a skype room with me they would greatly benefit.  I currently have “open office hours” in which the students can come to my online classroom at schedule times to ask questions and I am also available all day for phone calls. The students usually work one on one with me in these situations and they sometimes feel intimidated.  I think that working in a skype room with peers would take away some of the stress.  I could schedule specific times to work with small groups of students.  It would be an informal meeting in which the students could discuss with each other in real time how their projects are coming along, how they stay organized, challenges they are having, etc. 

 The project is for my 10^th grade US history class.  They have to pick a topic that we studied during the year and explain the historical significance of the event/person and why it is important to learn about the topic today.  The students can either put their research into essay format, powerpoint/glog, digital story, or any other approved format.  Each format is worth the same amount of points but has a different rubric. 

The group collaboration will receive a participation grade.  My overall goal is that the students work together to brainstorm ideas for their project.  I will be there to facilitate the conversation and to answer any questions they have.  My hope is that they will have a discussion on their own and rely very little on me.  I want them to articulate their ideas with other and help each other strengthen their projects. This will also give me a better idea of who needs more help and I can contact them privately after the group discussion.  I think this will prevent a lot of confusion about the project and the students will be able to manage their time in a more meaningful way. 

Prezi.com

26.5/32

I had visited prezi before but I had not created an account and actually learned how to use the tool.  I was very surprised on how easy it was to use.  I like the final product that is created too.  It seems like it will be better for the visual/spatial learners since they can see the progression and pathway of what the presentation is about.  The site lost points in signup/contract area because students must sign up individually and their account is not connected to the teacher account.  The site also lost points because only the basic version is free.  There is not a mobile app available for this site although there is an app for an iPad.  Prezi also lost points in the final products area.  The final product is extremely educational however in the free account you have to view and save it online.  I also deducted points because students can search published prezis and they might find inappropriate material there.    

Other positives about Prezi:

Very easy to use

Awesome tutorials in text and video

Livebinders.com

I found this website while searching for web 2.0 tools.  It is a virtual binder that can serve many purposes.  As a teacher I can organize all of my information into the binder to give to the students or I can have them organize information for me to view.  This website earned 28 points on the rubric.

Students must create their own account and they are not linked to the teacher.  There are currently no apps available for this website.  I think teachers would have to be creative when using this website for groupwork.  The group would have to have a shared username and password. The final product is extremely educational and can demonstrate mastery however it can only be viewed online.  There are no ads on this site.  Students are able to search other published binders and may find some binders that are not age appropriate.

Other positives about livebinder:

Free

No personal information is required

Can be used for multiple grade levels

Enhances curriculum

Superlame.com

24/32

Another website that I discovered was superlame.com.  This site allows you to upload photos and add comic book bubbles and other effects to them.  This would be a fun way to add some excitement to presentations.  There is no login required and no personal information is given.  The website is free to use and does not require any software to be downloaded.  There is no mobile app available.  Once a picture has been edited it can be saved and emailed to others or put into a presentation. Depending on the picture that is uploaded and the captions that are added Superlame.com can enhance curriculum.  There were advertisements on the bottom and on the side.  The advertisements contained material that could be considered questionable and not school appropriate. 

 Human Filters

I am very fortunate that I have access to several professional learning communities.  I learn the most from my peers in my classes here at Wilkes.  Through discussions I always learn about new technologies and new ways to implement previous technology.  We share what is happening in our classrooms and improvements that we would like to make.  I always leave my classes with a lot of new ideas to try that I learned from my peers in these classes.  We all share a common bond of wanting to improve ourselves and our classes.    

The third group that I benefit from is the colleagues that I work with, specifically the ones that I share an office with.  I work closely in my office with a group of 25 teachers who vary from kindergarten to high school teachers.  Even though we all teach different subjects and grade levels we share in the unique challenge of educating students in a cyber setting.  We are able to share websites and tools with each other that we have found successful.  We are able to work together to build lessons the incorporate new technology and ideas.   

The third group that I work with is fellow Social Studies teachers.  I’ve meet these teachers in a previous school that I taught at, my husband’s co workers, and friends that I met in college and at conferences.  We are able to share ideas about how to make our lessons better and ways to make our lessons have more impact.  We all share in a common challenge of trying to make history interesting and relevant to young adults.   

Improvements

I sent an email to livebinders asking them to consider making an account in which groups of people could contribute to a binder.  I think this would be very helpful for students who are completing group work to organize their information and materials.  

CC Websites

Here is the link to my stack of EDIM514-CC links

CC Your Work

I selected the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.  With this license others are free to share and copy my work.  They are also allowed to make changes to my work.  If they do share or make changes to my work they must give me credit for the original work and it cannot be used for commercial purposes.  I chose this option because I do not mind if others use my work or even make changes to it.  I picked noncommercial because I am not comfortable with a large company or anyone else making a profit from my work. 

I would encourage students to use whatever license they felt most comfortable with.  I think a benefit of allowing students to pick their own is that it exposes them to the different types of licenses and makes them more aware of fair use when they are researching. 

EDIM 514 Intro

Hello, my name is Lauren Fox. I am currently working on my masters in Instructional Media Technology. I am currently taking this course and Inquiry Based Learning. After these two courses are complete I have one class and I will be finished with my masters! I have enjoyed my time at Wilkes but look forward to the completion of the degree.

I am currently teaching 10^th grade US History at Commonwealth Connections Academy. I have taught there for four years and in VA the previous two years. I love teaching history and I always have a lot of new ideas to incorporate into my class when I take these classes.

NETS-S

Explain how student use of communication, collaboration, and publishing Web 2.0 applications can help students to meet the NETS-S.

The NETS-S are very important to incorporate into our classrooms.  They are six standards that will create students who will be able to work and successfully navigate a new and changing global workforce.  The six standards are:

1.     Creativity and Innovation

2.     Communication and Collaboration

3.     Research and Information Fluency

4.     Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

5.     Digital Citizenship

6.     Technology Operations and Concepts 

The first standard Creativity and Innovation and the second standard Communication and Collaboration work hand in hand.  The first standard encourages students to think critically and apply background knowledge to find new and innovative solutions.  It is important to collaborate while thinking outside of the box.  Collaboration fosters an environment where students can share their ideas and build off of each other’s ideas.  Communication is a key part of collaboration.  There are numerous Web 2.0 applications that can aid communication.  Skype will allow students to speak in real time. They can also use chatrooms like today’s meet to chat.  Speaklike.com has a built in translator which will enable students to collaborate on a global level.  Students can use Google Docs to share their work with other.  By using Wikispaces they can create a website in which all members will be able to edit and participate.  Students can also collaborate to create a glogster and prezi   

            By doing the above students naturally begin to develop and work on the fourth standard which is Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making.  By working together students will have to make decisions such as who should be the group leader, what time should they meet etc.  They also develop their problem solving skills by solving problems such as how do we work as a group if the members aren’t in the same time zone?  They must think critically to solve all of these problems as well as the problems presented by the assignment.

            As students begin problem solving and critical thinking they begin researching information.  A great way for students to share their information is through creating a diigo list.  The list will be available for all of the group members to access. 

            Through interaction with all of these Web 2.0 applications students will strengthen their technology skills.  They will become very competent in their abilities.  They will be able to foresee future problems as well solve unexpected technological problems.  They will also learn safe and responsible ways to use technology; they will understand the personal aspects behind technology.   

            It is very clear that these standards are extremely valuable and important to prepare our students for the changing world they will be entering as adults. 

PBL

I was very inspired by these projects.  Due to lack of funding, increased class size, state testing, lack of time, and numerous other changes teachers are often discouraged from taking on large projects.  The teachers who used these projects got around all of these obstacles and their students thrived. I was especially inspired by the Worms on Wall Street article.  My first two years of teaching I taught in Virginia.  I am very familiar with their Standards of Learning (SOL).  There were so many standards and they were so specific that I often felt pressured to just teach right off the standards list.  It was refreshing to see that the standards could still be incorporated into lessons that the students were picking.  If they can create projects like this in VA and do well on state testing I can certainly create a project here in Pennsylvania where my standards aren’t as detailed. 

The three projects all shared a common goal of wanting to provide real world learning while incorporating state standards.  In Newsome the students were able to pick what they wanted to study and the teachers worked with them to make sure that the standards were still incorporated.  In the architecture projects the students were not given as much freedom in picking a topic but they were free to explore areas of interest within architecture.  For example if a student was very interested in alternate forms of energy they could focus on that and make that a main design element of their school.  The March of the Monarchs project was structured but still allows the students some freedom to pick topics. 

.  The teachers play a very important role in the projects.  They are responsible for all of the initial planning and preparation.  They must guide the students and help to achieve success.  In the worm project the students initially wanted to learn about snakes.  The teacher did not tell them no she just asked them if they thought snakes would be easy to examine and obtain.  She helped guide them as a class to the decision of studying worms.  It is also the teacher’s responsibility that the standards are incorporated into the lessons and that the students are prepared for assessments in addition to the real world application. 

The students are held much more accountable in project based learning.  In these projects the students were responsible for creating their own projects, working with each other, and creating presentations.  Instead of being spoon fed the information they must learn by doing.  They then gain a  a working understanding of the information.  The students are more engaged in these projects because it actively affects them.  For example the students who are tracking the monarch butterflies are much more engaged by participating in the project.  When they leave the classroom they are looking for the butterflies.  The material becomes personal to them and they enjoy it more.  They also obtain a working knowledge of the information.  The geometry students learn firsthand how math is used in the real world and the importance that it plays. The student who had the Flower Power flower shop gained valuable information on how the stock market works and how easily a takeover can happen if you aren’t careful. 

Instead of focusing on the negatives the teachers responsible for these projects focused on the benefits.  Not only did test scores improve but so did attendance, participation, and student confidence.