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
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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
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