MOOCs Big Story of 2012...
Before today I had never heard of MOOCs (I confess: I originally read my RSA #4 article because of the title--any article that starts with the "word" moocifying had to be one in which I'd be interested), and after today, I've seen and read two articles on them.
The wave of the future....
Saturday, December 8, 2012
RSA #4: Creating an Open Classroom
Moocifying High School Learning Environments
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have been part of higher education for a few years. Recently there has been an initiative to offer these cost-effective (and previously provided only in high education) at the high school level. The beauty of MOOCs is that they can be delivered to and accessed by those who previously were unserviced educationally. MOOCs are student-centered rather than teacher-centered; learners access information in which they are interested rather than information that is arbitrarily required.
As Palloff and Pratt discuss in Building Online Learning Communities, Ch. 9 "Transformative Learning," students who engages in online learning cannot remain complacent. They are no longer tethered to a geographically centered campus; students from all over the world will cause them to dig deeper into themselves and really learn the material. Learning is no longer institute-driven; rather, students will have to anticipate being questioned about their knowledge. Other students will provide feedback, not necessarily the instructor, which will cause students to reflect, revise and transform their learning and themselves.
The author of this blog, Verena Roberts, is an Innovation Lead with ADLC (Alberta [Canada] Distance Learning Centre) who is looking for online courses in order to create an open classroom for her children. She has done extensive research on this subject, and this article (which is really an essay or paper) presents her findings to those who are interested in learning about MOOCs.
In her presentation and evaluation, she also provides a model of her own MOOC and how it might be implemented at the high school level that she calls a Continuum of Open Learning, which includes a design model called the Open Classroom Model. She anticipates providing more information in subsequent blog entries.
Palloff, M. & Pratt, K.(2007) Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Roberts, V. (6 December 2012). Moocifying High School Learning Environments. [Web log post]. Creating an Open Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.openclassroomonline.com/121/
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have been part of higher education for a few years. Recently there has been an initiative to offer these cost-effective (and previously provided only in high education) at the high school level. The beauty of MOOCs is that they can be delivered to and accessed by those who previously were unserviced educationally. MOOCs are student-centered rather than teacher-centered; learners access information in which they are interested rather than information that is arbitrarily required.
As Palloff and Pratt discuss in Building Online Learning Communities, Ch. 9 "Transformative Learning," students who engages in online learning cannot remain complacent. They are no longer tethered to a geographically centered campus; students from all over the world will cause them to dig deeper into themselves and really learn the material. Learning is no longer institute-driven; rather, students will have to anticipate being questioned about their knowledge. Other students will provide feedback, not necessarily the instructor, which will cause students to reflect, revise and transform their learning and themselves.
The author of this blog, Verena Roberts, is an Innovation Lead with ADLC (Alberta [Canada] Distance Learning Centre) who is looking for online courses in order to create an open classroom for her children. She has done extensive research on this subject, and this article (which is really an essay or paper) presents her findings to those who are interested in learning about MOOCs.
In her presentation and evaluation, she also provides a model of her own MOOC and how it might be implemented at the high school level that she calls a Continuum of Open Learning, which includes a design model called the Open Classroom Model. She anticipates providing more information in subsequent blog entries.
References
Palloff, M. & Pratt, K.(2007) Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Roberts, V. (6 December 2012). Moocifying High School Learning Environments. [Web log post]. Creating an Open Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.openclassroomonline.com/121/
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Classroom wikis--PBWorks
This article spotlights a teacher who discovered wikis years ago and implemented them in his 4th grade class through PBWorks.
This article spotlights a teacher who discovered wikis years ago and implemented them in his 4th grade class through PBWorks.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Cool Tools for 21st Century: Google Docs
Ideas for efficient and effective tech integration, created by Susan Oxnevad
These days a good way to capture the attention of an audience is to present information visually. For this reason, I created a glog of popular ways to use Google Docs for Learning to share with the teachers at our middle school. Just look at the glog, find something that interests you, and click on a link to see snippets of samples implemented by our teachers. Looking for more information or about any of these topics? View my Google Docs for Learning page on this blog.
Ideas for efficient and effective tech integration, created by Susan Oxnevad
These days a good way to capture the attention of an audience is to present information visually. For this reason, I created a glog of popular ways to use Google Docs for Learning to share with the teachers at our middle school. Just look at the glog, find something that interests you, and click on a link to see snippets of samples implemented by our teachers. Looking for more information or about any of these topics? View my Google Docs for Learning page on this blog.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir: Lux Aurumque
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir: Lux Aurumque
The future of music? A future of music? With the virtual choir, a musician can sing with anyone, anywhere. It's a beautiful piece; we're singing it in my church choir for our Christmas concert (though it may not be as beautiful as this video).
Eric Whitacre's TED Talk: Virtual Choir process
Here's his TED Talk detailing how the original video came together and previewing the next one, Virtual Choir 2.0. He speaks of the connections to others people felt as they recorded their individual parts and how far people would go to connect to others.
RSA3: Can Online Learning Communities Foster Professional Development?
RSA3: Can Online Learning Communities Foster Professional Development?
http://uisbrookenslibrary.worldcat.org/oclc/811569370
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/LA/0894-mar2012/LA0894Research.pdf
One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching today is the lack of appropriate and pertinent professional development. The question the article "Can Online Learning Communities Foster Professional Development?" asks is "What types of professional development are most useful to inservice teachers as they consider issues relating to multiple literacies, digital literacies, and the literacy heritages of children from diverse backgrounds and with diverse ways of making meaning?" (p. 256). Critical to effective professional development is ongoing coaching, reflection on lessons, collaboration with colleagues and a focus on student outcomes (p. 256). The author, Richard Beach, says that professional learning communities (PLC) are a way to implement and integrate these components into schools. Of course, it can be a challenge for teachers to find the time and energy to learn what is necessary to effect the change necessary. Online PLCs can solve both of these challenges. Beach describes four major components to an effective online PLC:
Beach describes each of these four components in the rest of the article and describes how they work to support the whole of a PLC. The sense of community a shared purpose generates makes the PLC successful as a whole and for the individual teachers (and, ultimately, the students).
In Building Online Learning Communities (2007), Palloff and Pratt argue that the a sense of community and trust are two important components of effective professional development. Online learning communities can provide that sense of community that can lead to the trust so necessary for teachers to make effective use of professional development. Too often, however, teachers are thrust into collaboration groups or professional learning communities not of their choosing; when that happens, it is difficult to feel a sense of belonging so crucial to effective collaboration. As a result, there is little to no follow through, nothing is accomplished, and everyone is frustrated. However, if teachers are left to generate issues that are important to their PLC and given the time to make them work, they are far more likely to be successful.
Beach, R. (March 1, 2012). Research and Policy: Can Online Learning Communities Foster Professional Development? Language Arts, 89, 4, 256-262.
Palloff, M. & Pratt, K.(2007) Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
http://uisbrookenslibrary.worldcat.org/oclc/811569370
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/LA/0894-mar2012/LA0894Research.pdf
One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching today is the lack of appropriate and pertinent professional development. The question the article "Can Online Learning Communities Foster Professional Development?" asks is "What types of professional development are most useful to inservice teachers as they consider issues relating to multiple literacies, digital literacies, and the literacy heritages of children from diverse backgrounds and with diverse ways of making meaning?" (p. 256). Critical to effective professional development is ongoing coaching, reflection on lessons, collaboration with colleagues and a focus on student outcomes (p. 256). The author, Richard Beach, says that professional learning communities (PLC) are a way to implement and integrate these components into schools. Of course, it can be a challenge for teachers to find the time and energy to learn what is necessary to effect the change necessary. Online PLCs can solve both of these challenges. Beach describes four major components to an effective online PLC:
- a central social networking/discussion forum for teacher collaboration
- teachers' personal learning networks (PLNs)
- students' online work collected in blogs, wikis, podcasts, or e-portfolios
- a schoolwide online curriculum repository containing lesson plans and units addressing standards (p. 257)
Beach describes each of these four components in the rest of the article and describes how they work to support the whole of a PLC. The sense of community a shared purpose generates makes the PLC successful as a whole and for the individual teachers (and, ultimately, the students).
In Building Online Learning Communities (2007), Palloff and Pratt argue that the a sense of community and trust are two important components of effective professional development. Online learning communities can provide that sense of community that can lead to the trust so necessary for teachers to make effective use of professional development. Too often, however, teachers are thrust into collaboration groups or professional learning communities not of their choosing; when that happens, it is difficult to feel a sense of belonging so crucial to effective collaboration. As a result, there is little to no follow through, nothing is accomplished, and everyone is frustrated. However, if teachers are left to generate issues that are important to their PLC and given the time to make them work, they are far more likely to be successful.
References
Beach, R. (March 1, 2012). Research and Policy: Can Online Learning Communities Foster Professional Development? Language Arts, 89, 4, 256-262.
Palloff, M. & Pratt, K.(2007) Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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