Week 10!!

I cannot believe that we are beginning the final week of the course.  It is completely amazing and astonishing to see that the course is almost over.  Once again, I am so sad to lose such a great group of friends and peers.  I've learned so much from everyone, and I feel like I've a group of colleagues all over the world.

This coming week is a week of reflection.  Course participants are asked to reflect on what they've learned over the last 10 weeks on their blogs. They are to read about the levels of technology integration of their classes--both now and where they'd like to be in 5 years.

I think that the technology integration scales are interesting.  When I read them the first time, I was teaching in three different types of classes.  One class was adult learners at a local community college.  There was no technology in the classroom, and these learners had no access to technology either in the school or in the classroom.  They really needed to achieve computer literacy and were denied access by a horrible classroom.  When I taught this class again I bought my own projector to accompany my laptop, so I had a one-computer classroom.  While I didn't have a computer lab to use, a one-computer classroom was much better than nothing. It made a huge difference as I could show videos, audios, websites, etc.

My second class was at a university and there was a projector in the classroom that I could hook my laptop up to.  We used Blackboard in this class (in fact, using Blackboard was a program requirement) and I used Bb daily to post grades, readings, writing examples, my syllabus, homework, etc. I loved it.

The third class I teach is this Webskills course.  It is 100% technology and I love it, too.  To me, using technology enhances my teaching and my learners' experience.

Well, it's been a wonderful course with an incredible group of people.  I will miss everyone.  You are very dear to me!

Donna

Week 9

The worst is over--the final project or plan reports are in! Congratulations to everyone for posting them to the wiki so efficiently.

I'll be reading the checklists this week, and next week I'll be reading the final drafts!

Well done!!

Donna

Week 8

Week 8 has begun, and all course participants are to be actively engaged in sharing feedback with one another.

I always wonder about how helpful the peer feedback is. I think with adults, peer feedback is very helpful, especially when furnished with checklists and rubrics. I don't think peer feedback is helpful with students unless the feedback is carefully scaffolded. Students really need to understand an assignment's requirements in order to give one another good quality feedback. When they are struggling to understand what is required, the qualify of the feedback is very low.

Donna

Week 7

This week is partner creation! This means that we are nearing the end of the course as course participants create partners with whom they will share their draft plan report or project reports! This is an exciting time because it means that those reports will be due very soon!

Donna

Week 6

Hello!

Well . . .  this week passed nicely, with a lot of activity. This week's focus was interactive PowerPoint. When I discovered interactive PowerPoint, my thoughts changed completely about the usefulness of PowerPoint. Sitting and watching and reading a lengthy PowerPoint presentation is soooooo boring. It puts me to sleep. I am constantly amazed by the poor quality of a speaker's PowerPoint--these are people who should know better. They feel the need to cram every word possible on each slide. Bleh!!

I just attended a webinar, and the PowerPoint was one of the worst I've ever seen. I could not read the slides, the words were too small. There were grammar and punctuation errors; the lists were not parallel. It was so unprofessional, it was sad. A little bit of work and attention could have corrected the errors and made for a much better presentation.

I like minimal slides with interaction. This keeps an audience and students engaged and motivated.

To tell you the truth, I tend to judge speakers by the quality of the PowerPoint! If they have a poor quality PowerPoint, I tend to disregard the speaker.

That's my rant for the week!

Donna

Week 5

We are half way through the course already!! How amazing! This 5 week point comes up so quickly. I always like this point because the course is perking along nicely with everyone knowing what to do and posting away at Nicenet, adding to their blogs, and participating in a wonderful collaborative learning community. I am always gratified how hard everyone is working and how much effort they put into expanding their knowledge base.

Well done everyone!!

Donna

Week 4

We are now more than half-way through the online portion of our course. In a few, very short weeks, we'll be intently focused on finishing up the final projects or plans.

This is so exciting, and I am really looking forward reading everyone's final reports.

Donna