Sunday, February 27, 2011
Group 1's Mid-Term Jigsaw Project
You can visit Group 1’s Midterm Project here! - https://sites.google.com/site/educ763/
Assessment in eLearning - Module 4 Reflection
Wow! What a week this was. This was the midway point of our Assessment in eLearning course and that meant MIDTERM PROJECT time. Yikes! Last week, we were assigned our groups and chose what each of us would evaluate. Next came the challenges or should I say LIFE! I really like how one of my teammates put it. She called them "incomings" - something that needs to be dealt with right now while you still have all of the other things needing to be dealt with too! All three of us seemed to have many incomings at the beginning of the week which meant we couldn't really devote as much time to the project until midweek (or in this case Wednesday).
Well, when Wednesday arrives we all start to work vigorously on our portion of the project. Since mine is Excel, I am very comfortable with the program. The problem lies in remembering to think as someone who might not be familiar with it all. This was quite the challenge and took much more time than I thought it would. However, it was a great lesson in remembering where I started and how I can best help others when they are struggling with the program. Not only that, it made be realize once again why I use Excel for so many of the things I need at work and in my personal life as well. It was wonderful to delve deeper into what Excel is capable of as a grading program especially re-learning about the graphs and charts which can be made once you have your data entered. Nice refresher there! There can be a large learning curve with Excel and reading books and tutorials will help but other resources will probably need to be sought out as well.
As we come to the end of the project, we realize we need to decide how to present this to our classmates. Having viewed some of the others, I think we are feeling our presentation won't be much if we can only do a WORD document. Friday night as Margot and I were working and talking in Groove Workspaces (shameless plug here) I thought of an idea to use Google Sites to set up our presentation. Having used this for my portfolio allowed me to feel quite comfortable in looking at it and seeing if this would work. Well, I found what looked like the perfect template and set to work giving us the skeleton which would be our final presentation.
Finally after many hours of work between all of us such as editing our documents, editing the site, getting pictures and quotes, etc. we put the final touches on our site. I have to say I am feeling pretty proud of this project. Normally, I do not like group work. This project, however, was one where having the right teammates made all of the difference in the world. I think without all of us supporting one another as well as encouraging each other this could have been a major disaster. Instead, it turned out to be something incredible and I am proud of having been a member of Group 1! Way to go Ladies - We did it and did it well!
Until next week's entry, I am taking a much needed break (only for a few hours and then it is back to the grindstone aka Grad School work).
Well, when Wednesday arrives we all start to work vigorously on our portion of the project. Since mine is Excel, I am very comfortable with the program. The problem lies in remembering to think as someone who might not be familiar with it all. This was quite the challenge and took much more time than I thought it would. However, it was a great lesson in remembering where I started and how I can best help others when they are struggling with the program. Not only that, it made be realize once again why I use Excel for so many of the things I need at work and in my personal life as well. It was wonderful to delve deeper into what Excel is capable of as a grading program especially re-learning about the graphs and charts which can be made once you have your data entered. Nice refresher there! There can be a large learning curve with Excel and reading books and tutorials will help but other resources will probably need to be sought out as well.
As we come to the end of the project, we realize we need to decide how to present this to our classmates. Having viewed some of the others, I think we are feeling our presentation won't be much if we can only do a WORD document. Friday night as Margot and I were working and talking in Groove Workspaces (shameless plug here) I thought of an idea to use Google Sites to set up our presentation. Having used this for my portfolio allowed me to feel quite comfortable in looking at it and seeing if this would work. Well, I found what looked like the perfect template and set to work giving us the skeleton which would be our final presentation.
Finally after many hours of work between all of us such as editing our documents, editing the site, getting pictures and quotes, etc. we put the final touches on our site. I have to say I am feeling pretty proud of this project. Normally, I do not like group work. This project, however, was one where having the right teammates made all of the difference in the world. I think without all of us supporting one another as well as encouraging each other this could have been a major disaster. Instead, it turned out to be something incredible and I am proud of having been a member of Group 1! Way to go Ladies - We did it and did it well!
Until next week's entry, I am taking a much needed break (only for a few hours and then it is back to the grindstone aka Grad School work).
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Assessment in eLearning - Module 3 Reflection
Dr. Bonk's article about the Perfect "E" Storm was very applicable to this week at least for me. I am not sure I have ever been this confused about an assignment. The concept map really threw me for a loop. It look until Saturday to finally figure out what I was doing. Not happy with myself about that one. Now that it is completed I know I have done them before but for some reason, I could not wrap my head around it this week. I think at first I like many others confused it with the midterm. Once this confusion subsided, I was still facing that "Perfect Storm" of confusion with now slightly diminished waves. Thank you Jim for clarifying even further what we needed to accomplish as this cleared the storm and it was much smoother sailing home at least for me.
Regarding the reading material this week, it was slightly overwhelming with all of the information. I realize that the main article was written over 7 years ago, but some of the information in it was new to me. This alone added to the confusion I was experiencing this week. What really seemed to resonate with me was the need to ensure you are actively engaging your students and having assessments which are authentic for them. If this is not occurring, you will lose your students. We have actually had this occur in our classroom when students have stated to us they were either playing Xbox, Playstations, Wii, or even watching TV when we were conducting our lessons online. Since we cannot see them, they simply need to log and we "hope" they are actively engaged. Well, we learned early on that we needed to ensure our lessons contained elements to engage those learners as well as assess them. I have to say we have been quite successful. Also, I am glad this class had the chance to read this article and view the video. Even though items such as this might be "old" in terms of technology, it never hurts to revisit them every once in a while. As I said, I had not heard of some things and I consider myself pretty computer/technology savvy. Always glad to learn something new.
Here is hoping I get my head out of whatever fog it seems to be in for understanding some of the activities we have to accomplish. Until next week's challenges begin I shall sign out for now.
Regarding the reading material this week, it was slightly overwhelming with all of the information. I realize that the main article was written over 7 years ago, but some of the information in it was new to me. This alone added to the confusion I was experiencing this week. What really seemed to resonate with me was the need to ensure you are actively engaging your students and having assessments which are authentic for them. If this is not occurring, you will lose your students. We have actually had this occur in our classroom when students have stated to us they were either playing Xbox, Playstations, Wii, or even watching TV when we were conducting our lessons online. Since we cannot see them, they simply need to log and we "hope" they are actively engaged. Well, we learned early on that we needed to ensure our lessons contained elements to engage those learners as well as assess them. I have to say we have been quite successful. Also, I am glad this class had the chance to read this article and view the video. Even though items such as this might be "old" in terms of technology, it never hurts to revisit them every once in a while. As I said, I had not heard of some things and I consider myself pretty computer/technology savvy. Always glad to learn something new.
Here is hoping I get my head out of whatever fog it seems to be in for understanding some of the activities we have to accomplish. Until next week's challenges begin I shall sign out for now.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Notes from Reading Interactive Inventory
I loved completing this inventory since it asked questions about how we teach. This is so what my philosophy is about teaching, learning, and assessing. I loved it. If you would like to take it as well, here is the link: Assessment: Teacher-centered or Learner-centered?
I do agree with my results. As I have evolved as a teacher over the years, my philosophy regarding assessments has changed greatly. I greatly prize learning with my students and learning from our mistakes. A simple test is not really going to tell you a student has mastered the material you have been working on in class. This is where portfolios or projects come in for assessments. The world of education has changed and I for one am very happy it has.
I do agree with my results. As I have evolved as a teacher over the years, my philosophy regarding assessments has changed greatly. I greatly prize learning with my students and learning from our mistakes. A simple test is not really going to tell you a student has mastered the material you have been working on in class. This is where portfolios or projects come in for assessments. The world of education has changed and I for one am very happy it has.
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