Monday, August 10, 2009
Annotated Bibliography and Video Scripts
Hello all my blog followers! Just a note to say that my annotated bibliography and my video scripts are available in the document sharing section in our classroom. Enjoy!
Collaborative Learning In Online Education: A Video Presentation
Collaborative Learning in Online Education: A Video Presentation
Hey all here is the actual presentation! I will be posting my annotated bibliography in a bit. but for now the presentation is finished!
Enjoy!
Kassidy
Hey all here is the actual presentation! I will be posting my annotated bibliography in a bit. but for now the presentation is finished!
Enjoy!
Kassidy
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Static Versus Dynamic Technologies Reflection
After I had finished both the required reading and the supplemental resources I understood the concepts of static and dynamic technologies. I have to admit I was a bit nervous when I read the headline for this module and I didn't have a clue to what either meant. But, with the chapters, journal, and other resources behind me I am happy to say that I get it! When I consider myself and the philosophy that I have for distance education I would have to believe that I am at the middle of this road. While I am competent on/at many of the dynamic technologies I know there is far more for me to learn. I do however believe that I have at least graduated from static (thanks to Walden) because of the new technologies that I have become familiar with recently.
It is because of the technologies and concepts that I am learning in this class as well as Dr. Thornburgs' that I am completely reinventing my technological self. The things I used to be proud of knowing how to do (such as moviemaker, wikis, blackboard) have been replaced with a whole new set of more difficult technologies. For example now I am becoming a Pinnacle protege, a Skyping freak, and a blogger. Who knew! I believe as this EDS program in Educational Technology continues these same technologies that I am so proud to finally know how to use will once again become obsolete with the reinvention of something better.
I believe that to move more to the dynamic side of the spectrum I need to first begin to trust in myself. I have a tendency of over thinking, over complicating, and over stressing about a simple task. I need to trust that I have been provided with the proper tools to accomplish the goals at hand. Then I will need to trust the technology. Sometimes this can be harder than it seems, but I need to have faith that things will work when I need them to work. Then I need to start thinking dynamically in my own classroom if I can start thinking this way with my students it will eventually become easier to be dynamic as a student and a learner.
I believe I have already taken the first steps on how to become more dynamic with my technologies and now I just need to keep working to understand and become proficient using these technologies in order to make these dynamic technologies second nature.
Kassidy
It is because of the technologies and concepts that I am learning in this class as well as Dr. Thornburgs' that I am completely reinventing my technological self. The things I used to be proud of knowing how to do (such as moviemaker, wikis, blackboard) have been replaced with a whole new set of more difficult technologies. For example now I am becoming a Pinnacle protege, a Skyping freak, and a blogger. Who knew! I believe as this EDS program in Educational Technology continues these same technologies that I am so proud to finally know how to use will once again become obsolete with the reinvention of something better.
I believe that to move more to the dynamic side of the spectrum I need to first begin to trust in myself. I have a tendency of over thinking, over complicating, and over stressing about a simple task. I need to trust that I have been provided with the proper tools to accomplish the goals at hand. Then I will need to trust the technology. Sometimes this can be harder than it seems, but I need to have faith that things will work when I need them to work. Then I need to start thinking dynamically in my own classroom if I can start thinking this way with my students it will eventually become easier to be dynamic as a student and a learner.
I believe I have already taken the first steps on how to become more dynamic with my technologies and now I just need to keep working to understand and become proficient using these technologies in order to make these dynamic technologies second nature.
Kassidy
Static Versus Dynamic Technologies Mind Map
Hello all my fellow Walden Bloggers! Here is my Module 5 mind map on static vs dynamic technologies. Because I created it in webspiration it automatically publishes it to a website. Here is that address! Happy mind mapping!
http://mywebspiration.com/view/163169a30486
Kassidy
http://mywebspiration.com/view/163169a30486
Kassidy
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Graphic Organizer
Hey all! Here is the graphic orgainzer. I am exhausted and will post my reflection to go along with it tomorrow. But enough is enough for tonight! http://mywebspiration.com/view/159642acc73
Kassidy
Kassidy
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Storyboard
Hey all,
Here is the first version of my very rough storyboard. I have the entire movie playing in my head and it is AWESOME! But, getting it on paper seems to be a bit more difficult. I will be adding more to it later today, but I wanted to get something up here now. I have posted it to one of my wikis because I am still using power point at this stage. Thanks all,
Kassidy
http://educationtechnologytimeline.wikispaces.com/
Here is the first version of my very rough storyboard. I have the entire movie playing in my head and it is AWESOME! But, getting it on paper seems to be a bit more difficult. I will be adding more to it later today, but I wanted to get something up here now. I have posted it to one of my wikis because I am still using power point at this stage. Thanks all,
Kassidy
http://educationtechnologytimeline.wikispaces.com/
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Module 3 Blog Posting: Assessing Collaborative Efforts
Collaborative learning should be assessed through multiple channels and resources. According to George Siemens’ video, assessing collaborative learning should not only be assessed by the instructor, but also it should be conducted by the students. Through open communities and peer feedback as well as student contribution collaborati9ve learning should be fair and direct, based on stated outcomes, and equitable (2008).
Varying skill levels of student’s skills and knowledge affects the instructor’s ability for fair and equitable grading assessment because it is impossible for any two students to come into any given class with the same skill level or knowledge. In his video George Siemens stated that it is very difficult to have equitable assessment (2008) because just because one student worked on a project for five hours and another student worked on the same project for five minutes doesn’t mean that they both did not learn something. Equitable grading is more about knowing your students and making sure that there is a high degree of learning taking place.
According to David Fionda’s e-learning blog the reality was that using e-learning alone is not enough collaboration is needed to make distance learning successful. However, if a student does not want to participate in online collaboration that is their right, but they have to understand that it could have negative consequences on their educational experience. But, if the student has already been place in a learning community the team should have established a team charter that details the possible consequences. If the rest of the group cannot relieve the situation the instructor needs to be informed and the group member needs to be removed from the group.
The instructor should serve as an overseer not a doer, the group needs to take control for their own learning especially at the higher level. The instructor should only become involved if the group cannot work things out on their own. According to Hurst and Thomas, “An online coach pops up within the stimulated environment to provide positive and negative feedback, depending on the learner’s discussion.”
I believe that if a student chooses to go against the norms of a classroom community they also need to take responsibility for the differences in how they will be graded. I believe that the assessment plan should be developed by the student and okayed by the instructor. If any revisions need to be made the student will need to make those necessary revisions.
Resources:
Hurst, D & Thomas, J. (2008).Developing team skills and accomplishing team projects online. In T. Anderson (Ed.) The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd ed., pp. 440-469). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.
Siemens, G. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning [DVD]. Laureate Education, Inc.
http://blog.candeos.com/
Varying skill levels of student’s skills and knowledge affects the instructor’s ability for fair and equitable grading assessment because it is impossible for any two students to come into any given class with the same skill level or knowledge. In his video George Siemens stated that it is very difficult to have equitable assessment (2008) because just because one student worked on a project for five hours and another student worked on the same project for five minutes doesn’t mean that they both did not learn something. Equitable grading is more about knowing your students and making sure that there is a high degree of learning taking place.
According to David Fionda’s e-learning blog the reality was that using e-learning alone is not enough collaboration is needed to make distance learning successful. However, if a student does not want to participate in online collaboration that is their right, but they have to understand that it could have negative consequences on their educational experience. But, if the student has already been place in a learning community the team should have established a team charter that details the possible consequences. If the rest of the group cannot relieve the situation the instructor needs to be informed and the group member needs to be removed from the group.
The instructor should serve as an overseer not a doer, the group needs to take control for their own learning especially at the higher level. The instructor should only become involved if the group cannot work things out on their own. According to Hurst and Thomas, “An online coach pops up within the stimulated environment to provide positive and negative feedback, depending on the learner’s discussion.”
I believe that if a student chooses to go against the norms of a classroom community they also need to take responsibility for the differences in how they will be graded. I believe that the assessment plan should be developed by the student and okayed by the instructor. If any revisions need to be made the student will need to make those necessary revisions.
Resources:
Hurst, D & Thomas, J. (2008).Developing team skills and accomplishing team projects online. In T. Anderson (Ed.) The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd ed., pp. 440-469). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.
Siemens, G. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning [DVD]. Laureate Education, Inc.
http://blog.candeos.com/
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Blog Links for Module 2
The first of the blogs for this week is one of multiple resources. It is the 2008 Horizon Report: The k12 Edition Blog site. In this blog the author explains and represents multiple online learning communication tools. It gives a breakdown of numerous communication tools that will be completely adopted in the next year. Tools such as skype, ustreamtv, and youpack are overviewed and linked for support. I believe this blog is a wonderful reference for all educators.
This blog illustrates how these communication tools can be adapted for all ages and experience levels. The thing I liked best about this blog was how it showed the relevance for using these communication tools in teaching, it also provided examples of how these communication tools are already being used by teachers from across the United States.
Another thing that I particularly found useful was the links on the right hand side of the page. These resources were the happenings before this blog and the accounts of what occurred after this particular blog. The one that I really enjoyed looking through was the one titled Technologies to Watch. This blog gave descriptions of up and coming technologies for the world of education. I also found that every time I clicked on another link I was mesmerized by the information I found.
This blog can be found at the following address: http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2009/chapters/online-communication-tools/
The second blog that I looked at for this week was found at Into the Blogosphere called Blogs as Virtual Communities: Identifying a Sense of Community in the Julie/Julia Project. This blog was written by Anita Blanchard and focused on the question of why are virtual communities important? It was interesting to read her ideas as I considered the discussion question for this week. Her point was that the term virtual community has been so overused that the term has actually lost its meaning, and while online education cannot be conducted without a virtual community she wanted to know exactly what that meant. To discover what the term actually meant Blanchard presented many different resources as well as a case study that she followed.
The case study was a blog that Blanchard followed to see if blogs could be indeed called a virtual community. Her findings were that with this particular blog and the followers the virtual community was only moderate at best, however all participants did feel the blog was a positive experience. So my question after looking at this blog was how can we take blogs from being just a positive experience and turn them in to a real virtual community. I sometimes feel that when blogging online I am missing the interpersonal connections of tone, and feel the writing to be monotone. No matter how good the writing may be, I find it hard to get into because I am just scrolling down another page.
I found this blog to be a very interesting, and honest review of virtual communities, and blogs in education. I believe that we could all benefit from reading this blog. Blanchard’s blog can be found at: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html
This blog illustrates how these communication tools can be adapted for all ages and experience levels. The thing I liked best about this blog was how it showed the relevance for using these communication tools in teaching, it also provided examples of how these communication tools are already being used by teachers from across the United States.
Another thing that I particularly found useful was the links on the right hand side of the page. These resources were the happenings before this blog and the accounts of what occurred after this particular blog. The one that I really enjoyed looking through was the one titled Technologies to Watch. This blog gave descriptions of up and coming technologies for the world of education. I also found that every time I clicked on another link I was mesmerized by the information I found.
This blog can be found at the following address: http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2009/chapters/online-communication-tools/
The second blog that I looked at for this week was found at Into the Blogosphere called Blogs as Virtual Communities: Identifying a Sense of Community in the Julie/Julia Project. This blog was written by Anita Blanchard and focused on the question of why are virtual communities important? It was interesting to read her ideas as I considered the discussion question for this week. Her point was that the term virtual community has been so overused that the term has actually lost its meaning, and while online education cannot be conducted without a virtual community she wanted to know exactly what that meant. To discover what the term actually meant Blanchard presented many different resources as well as a case study that she followed.
The case study was a blog that Blanchard followed to see if blogs could be indeed called a virtual community. Her findings were that with this particular blog and the followers the virtual community was only moderate at best, however all participants did feel the blog was a positive experience. So my question after looking at this blog was how can we take blogs from being just a positive experience and turn them in to a real virtual community. I sometimes feel that when blogging online I am missing the interpersonal connections of tone, and feel the writing to be monotone. No matter how good the writing may be, I find it hard to get into because I am just scrolling down another page.
I found this blog to be a very interesting, and honest review of virtual communities, and blogs in education. I believe that we could all benefit from reading this blog. Blanchard’s blog can be found at: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Module 2 Blog Post continued
After taking the rest of yesterday off to blow off some much needed steam I return to you all a little bit more refreshed and a whole lot more calm. To continue where I left off yesterday I am amazed by the capabilities computers and technology provide for us to communicate. While I am sure that whatever those crazy technologists are working on now is way out of my current level of understanding, in five years my niece who will then be seven will be explaining to me how to use the newest communication tool. I may not have all my technology ducks in a row so to speak right now, but isn't that why we are all back in school? To learn more and to better understand the available technology around us. My only major concern right now is what else am I missing out on? Just think about it, if I just now found out about skype, what else could I be using that I don't even know exists!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Module 2 Blog Posting Attempt # 2
Okay here goes nothing.
After watching the George Siemens video for this week I was excited about the growing acceptance of distance education. One of the reasons for the growing acceptance of disantce educaiton is the advancement of communication ability. For as communication abilities rise the physical geographical space that separates students from eachother and the instructor is lessened. I know that through this program at Walden University I have increased my ability to communicate, for technologies as Skype were not even part of my reality and today it is a part of my every day vocabulary. Communication technologies have evolved from being limited to face-to-face interaction only to now being able to write letters, make a phone call, write an email, a text message or now even a Skype. Sites such as wikispaces, blog spots and online classrooms and class cafes all allow learners to have interactions with one another.
This is only a fraction of what I had before, but mental fatigue and frustration is limiting my ability to communicate right now. I will write more in a bit. DANG IT!
After watching the George Siemens video for this week I was excited about the growing acceptance of distance education. One of the reasons for the growing acceptance of disantce educaiton is the advancement of communication ability. For as communication abilities rise the physical geographical space that separates students from eachother and the instructor is lessened. I know that through this program at Walden University I have increased my ability to communicate, for technologies as Skype were not even part of my reality and today it is a part of my every day vocabulary. Communication technologies have evolved from being limited to face-to-face interaction only to now being able to write letters, make a phone call, write an email, a text message or now even a Skype. Sites such as wikispaces, blog spots and online classrooms and class cafes all allow learners to have interactions with one another.
This is only a fraction of what I had before, but mental fatigue and frustration is limiting my ability to communicate right now. I will write more in a bit. DANG IT!
Gosh darn technology!
After typing my blog for over a half hour I posted it and it is now freaking blank. I am more than a bit irritated so I will try this again. After a few seriously deep breaths.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Hey all you crazy Walden Students out there!
I have officially changed my blog to make it easier for everyone to post comments to. Below you will find my previous blogs from blogline only now you should be able to comment on them! Thanks again for being patient as I figure all these gooey gooey goodness thingies out!
Kassidy
Kassidy
Oops! I forgot to attach the links to the articles!
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70-75. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33281719.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66-70. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33991516.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5). 63-67.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66-70. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33991516.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5). 63-67.
Module 1 Blog Post
Good news, I survived Chapter 2!
This module we had to read a series of three different journal articles written by our own amazingly talented Dr. Moller and his counterparts Huett, Foshay, and Coleman. I was really impressed by these articles. When I first decided that I wanted to become an educational technologist I really thought that meant that I would become the know it all of programs and how to use them. I never realized or understood how much a part of being an educational technolgist revolved around online learning. But now that I am getting further and further into the program I am realizing how interested I am in online learning. This is AWESOME! I finally feel like I know what I want to be when I grow up.
I have to say I found the articles for this week to be very interesting and thought provoking. Here are some of the thoughts that I had as I read through the three articles:
Article 1:
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this article and agreed with the opinions that it represented. The quote that had a lasting impact on me was "The challenge for ID professionals is not only to evolve the field, but also to assure that the products of sound professional design practice lead the elearning enterprise." I thought this quote was extremely represenative of the job that instructional designers and educational technologist have to accomplish when designing curriculum and technology for online learners. Having the right balance is key to a learners success in an e-learning environment. The other piece of information that I completely agree with was the idea that the ROI (Return on Investment) must be impressive in order for a technology to be worth the investment. And lets face it, in education the real return of investment is not money, it is learning, and when learning is occuring the technology is worth the time and expense.
Article 2:
After reading article 2 I had to agree with the opinions that were expressed for I found myself reflecting the reasons for my choice of becoming an online learner. While I was scared to try the online learning environment because I am such a face-to-face learner the benefits of becoming an online learner far outwayed the fears I may have had. The other idea that I found myself agreeing with was the opinion of online learning being too personally consuming. I have found in the last four months I am constantly thinking, reading, or working on assignments for this program, not that I didn't expect ot be busy, but my goodness I didn't realize it would take over my life the way it has, for I never know if I am doing enough on my assignments, and I don't have any comparisons to make with other people's work so I constantly feel like I don't know what I am doing, which is not a fun feeling for me. But hopefully I will work this out in my head before I drown trying to finish!
Article 3:
I was surprised to see negative effects of online learning in this article. I guess I just hadn't really thought about the down sides of elearning for younger students, but it was nice to have the cons presented to me in such a matter of fact manner. I tend to agree that regular high schools don't work for all students, but I was faced with the fact that neither will online learning today and I have to agree with that too. For not all students can handle the lack of social interaction and the negative effects of no social interaction. I found myself thinking of a world where everybody was the stereotypical computer geek with no social interaction skills and was terrified, but it is all about finding the balance of education and what will work for one, may not be right for another.
Big week everyone! Buck up and we can do it! Good luck
Kassidy
This module we had to read a series of three different journal articles written by our own amazingly talented Dr. Moller and his counterparts Huett, Foshay, and Coleman. I was really impressed by these articles. When I first decided that I wanted to become an educational technologist I really thought that meant that I would become the know it all of programs and how to use them. I never realized or understood how much a part of being an educational technolgist revolved around online learning. But now that I am getting further and further into the program I am realizing how interested I am in online learning. This is AWESOME! I finally feel like I know what I want to be when I grow up.
I have to say I found the articles for this week to be very interesting and thought provoking. Here are some of the thoughts that I had as I read through the three articles:
Article 1:
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this article and agreed with the opinions that it represented. The quote that had a lasting impact on me was "The challenge for ID professionals is not only to evolve the field, but also to assure that the products of sound professional design practice lead the elearning enterprise." I thought this quote was extremely represenative of the job that instructional designers and educational technologist have to accomplish when designing curriculum and technology for online learners. Having the right balance is key to a learners success in an e-learning environment. The other piece of information that I completely agree with was the idea that the ROI (Return on Investment) must be impressive in order for a technology to be worth the investment. And lets face it, in education the real return of investment is not money, it is learning, and when learning is occuring the technology is worth the time and expense.
Article 2:
After reading article 2 I had to agree with the opinions that were expressed for I found myself reflecting the reasons for my choice of becoming an online learner. While I was scared to try the online learning environment because I am such a face-to-face learner the benefits of becoming an online learner far outwayed the fears I may have had. The other idea that I found myself agreeing with was the opinion of online learning being too personally consuming. I have found in the last four months I am constantly thinking, reading, or working on assignments for this program, not that I didn't expect ot be busy, but my goodness I didn't realize it would take over my life the way it has, for I never know if I am doing enough on my assignments, and I don't have any comparisons to make with other people's work so I constantly feel like I don't know what I am doing, which is not a fun feeling for me. But hopefully I will work this out in my head before I drown trying to finish!
Article 3:
I was surprised to see negative effects of online learning in this article. I guess I just hadn't really thought about the down sides of elearning for younger students, but it was nice to have the cons presented to me in such a matter of fact manner. I tend to agree that regular high schools don't work for all students, but I was faced with the fact that neither will online learning today and I have to agree with that too. For not all students can handle the lack of social interaction and the negative effects of no social interaction. I found myself thinking of a world where everybody was the stereotypical computer geek with no social interaction skills and was terrified, but it is all about finding the balance of education and what will work for one, may not be right for another.
Big week everyone! Buck up and we can do it! Good luck
Kassidy
Working Hard
While it may be summer vacation, I feel like I am working more now than when I was in the classroom teaching all day. I guess that is because teaching is fun and this degree is hard.
What a busy week for assignments! Could chapter 2 of Diffusion of Innovations be ANY longer. My goodness.
Anyway I am working on finishing the articles and will be posting my reflection to them shortly. My printer is out of ink, so I need to read them online. Tough on the eyes I tell you. Does anyone know if there is a highlighting function in PDF's? Just a thought.
Be back soon, if chapter 2 doesn't permanently put me to sleep.
Kassidy
What a busy week for assignments! Could chapter 2 of Diffusion of Innovations be ANY longer. My goodness.
Anyway I am working on finishing the articles and will be posting my reflection to them shortly. My printer is out of ink, so I need to read them online. Tough on the eyes I tell you. Does anyone know if there is a highlighting function in PDF's? Just a thought.
Be back soon, if chapter 2 doesn't permanently put me to sleep.
Kassidy
Welcom to my blog
While I have never had a blog in the past I am kind of excited now that I have one! I also want to mention that after reading the course descriptions for this class and Dr. Thornburg's class I am really interested in the class projects. I think I will like these projects more than the timeline assignment (no offense Dr. Deubel). Here is to hoping that the course work becomes more interesting and more fun.
Kassidy
Kassidy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
