Week 5 in Review

This week was a difficult and confusing one for me. It took several days of reading over different sources for Bloom's taxonomy and talking to colleagues before I decided how to pursue the assignment. In the end, I think I have a better understanding of Bloom's and a definite appreciation for the need to use it while creating not just online courses but developing any material I will use in my classroom. My Bloom's Taxonomy Assessment assignment for the Casey article did look a little different from others but I think functionally it works for me.

Another note, I have learned more about learning objectives. A couple of postings this week included classmates posting their learning objectives for classes they teach. Also we were given a link to a site that gave a basic how-to of creating learning objectives. I also received our graded rubric for the group project last week. In the notes I was given a brief summary of what LO should look like. For the final, I think I might get this right :)

Week 4 in Review

I really enjoyed this weeks assignment. We were asked to evaluate an assessment tool from a list. I had used most of the tools listed, but had not heard of Live Journal so I decide to work with it. At first I thought is was just another journaling website and thought of several other sites I would problably use instead. But as I studied the site further, I discovered some useful aspects of the site and am currently working with another teacher at school to implement this tool in her classroom. A link to our assessment toolbox can be found below.

For the most part, the week went pretty well. One downside, we heard from one of our members at the beginning of the week and have not heard from him since. I am just hoping things are okay.

Just coming off of 12 days of being down with the H1N1, I know how things can make an online class difficult. When you can't get online or are just out of it from an illness, online classes can be more difficult than a f2f class to get caught up. In a f2f class, you can go in at before or after class and get things made up, but in an online class where a good part of the class is discussion, lost class time can be impossible to make up. I will keep this in mind when I develop or teach online classes. Glad I had the experience although I am not happy about the missed discussions.

Group 1 Assessment toolbox.

Week 3 in Review

Wow, what a week. Started off by coming back from a weekend get away by spending 3 days in bed. Felt fine on Sunday and then head south for the week. Finally Wed, went to the hospital and was told I had swine flu. Won't go into all the details, but I have not felt like this since I was a kid. Not sick, just miserable. Anyway, tried to do the readings and post, but this week has been hard to concentrate. Waited until this weekend till I felt I could at least comprehend what I was writing.

I loved the article by Bonk. With his study, I can use it to approach our district administrators and hopefully help implement online instruction in our district the right way. So many districts in our state are just posting their f2f classrooms online trying to increase numbers so they can increase their funding from the state. Too bad everything has to be tied to money.

The article on concept mapping also helped me organize my web design class into a visual so I can see where I am and where I want to go. I have used them before, but not to design a class.  I think this may help me in the future when I develop my online classes for the tech department.

Concept Map

I have seen concept maps before, but have never actually produced one for personal use. I was assigned the task a couple of years ago to introduce Inspiration to our staff and a few still use it today. I used other tools to help me organize my materials. Although now after using it again for the first time in years, I think I found a use for it in my web design class. I think students will be able to use it to map out their web sites. Development of web sites can get a bit disorganized, but using Inspiration with notes and adding pictures might help a few students who have organizational problems. Here is my map on my web design class. I think I will be refining it to help me with the flow of the class.