Week 11: Chapter 9 and 10
Question #3- What is distance education? What type of support are critical to the success of distance education? Why?
While distance learning has been in existence since the mid 1800’s when correspondence courses in Europe used a mail system, distance learning has become extremely prevalent since the late 1980’s into the 1990’s. (Lever-Duffy and McDonald, 367) Using this class as a perfect example, distance learning is defined as “education when the teacher and student may be working from different locations and/or different times” (Lever-Duffy and McDonald, 364). This deliverance of instruction has grown extremely popular in recent years with the evolution of the internet, and the full time working student. In distance education technology is without question the key for this type of learning. Without internet access and sometimes even webcam capabilities make distant learning impossible. According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, distance learning was originally developed to deliver education to students in rural areas (364). Online learning has allowed full time workers to further their academic growth without sacrificing their careers. According to the text a number of states have developed online high school programs that offer credits state wide. In the past twenty years distance learning has grown drastically.
The support for distant education is extremely important, and depending on what type of instruction you are dealing with the support will be different. Synchronous and Asynchronous instruction are your two options in dealing with distant education. Synchronous technologies are for instant communication, while asynchronous is for non-instant communication. Synchronous technologies are tools such as telephones, broadcast videos, radio broadcast, internet chat, or video conferencing. All these tools allow students to interact instantly with teachers regardless of location. Asynchronous technologies are as important for that type of education. These tools consist of voice mail and fax, video and audio cassettes, internet conferencing, and email. These tools allow student to work at their own pace and not always be obligated to a certain time or location for class. Overall distant education is one of the fast growing learning tools in America, from the University of Phoenix to online classes at the University of Southern Mississippi students across the globe are enrolling in classes with students who speak different languages and have different cultures.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Week 10 Website review
The most recent project of this semester, has been my favorite. This project consisted of me creating a website for my class. I found this project to be very beneficial to my class, and I plan on using this very site for my class next year. Overall the assignment was not very difficult to create. Upon opening the page the viewer will see a short welcome notice from me. Below that the viewer will find the student of the month which once the school year begins will be updated each month. Below that on the home page viewers will find the word of the week and the homework assignments for each week. Along with this are all the announcements which are prevalent to the students and their parents. On the left side of the page there are several tabs which will direct you to different sections of the site. Such as course information, homework, and means of contacting me. The “Meet Coach Hotard” tab consists of my teaching philosophy, methodology, and my personal biography. You can also find on the left hand side, class announcements, class calendar, and useful links. I have had a very difficult time uploading links onto the page. However, despite that difficulty the assignment was not difficult and quite enjoyable.
Coach Hotard Website
Coach Hotard Website
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Week 8 Reflection
This past reflection presented a few more road blocks than the prior project. This project consisted of several assignments, however none of which were overly difficult. The assignment consisted of making a puzzle, project rubric and quiz using an internet wizard for all three. The second requirement was web reviews for both content and design of two websites which I use in class. The third and final assignment was making a track using trackstar to keep record of all the website used in class no one project was overly difficult and all were mostly enjoyable.
The first review puzzle I created, I actually used in class. It was a word scramble for US capitals which I gave to my students as a review game in class. Each student participated and was given bonus points based on how many capitals they unscrambled. The second was the project rubric, this rubric I hope to use one day in the future. This site I find will be very beneficial because I am constantly assigning small projects in class, and this rubric site will allow me to grade more fairly by using the rubrics which I create. The final sheet I created was a quiz for my 6th grade class. It was a quiz on the US capitals, which went hand in hand with the review puzzle. Overall all three of these tools will come in very helpful in the future when it comes to assessment.
The second portion of the assignment was the web review. The two websites I chose to review were MrDonn.org and eyewitnesstohistory.com. Both of these sites I use on a weekly basis. While Mrdonn.org is not easy to navigate around and is suited more so than teachers, rather than students it still has quite a few activities and interactive games which students can use to review major topics in both US and world history. The second website I assessed was eyewitnesstohistory.com. This is perhaps my favorite website for my students to use in order to gain a firsthand account of events in American history. This website is easy to navigate and has firsthand video, audio and written accounts of major moments in both world and American history. I would suggest this website to any social studies teacher who is hoping to reach their student and hope they gain more of a firsthand understanding of major events in history.
The final and most difficult portion of the assignment was the trackstar site. I had problems with this site, because I originally realized that I did not enter http:// prior to the URL and there for the track was not creating a direct link. Once I fixed that problem the rest of the assignment came along quite easily. I used several websites which I use quite frequently in my class, such as eye witness to history which is again, a great source for first hand accounts of historical events. Other sites which are included on my track deal with early American movies, and other interactive websites, such as National Geographic for Kids. Overall I believe I will be using trackstar in future classes in order for my students to have a place where the can access frequently visited sites.
Trackstar
Rubric
Test
Answer Sheet
Puzzle
Content1
Content2
Design1
Design2
The first review puzzle I created, I actually used in class. It was a word scramble for US capitals which I gave to my students as a review game in class. Each student participated and was given bonus points based on how many capitals they unscrambled. The second was the project rubric, this rubric I hope to use one day in the future. This site I find will be very beneficial because I am constantly assigning small projects in class, and this rubric site will allow me to grade more fairly by using the rubrics which I create. The final sheet I created was a quiz for my 6th grade class. It was a quiz on the US capitals, which went hand in hand with the review puzzle. Overall all three of these tools will come in very helpful in the future when it comes to assessment.
The second portion of the assignment was the web review. The two websites I chose to review were MrDonn.org and eyewitnesstohistory.com. Both of these sites I use on a weekly basis. While Mrdonn.org is not easy to navigate around and is suited more so than teachers, rather than students it still has quite a few activities and interactive games which students can use to review major topics in both US and world history. The second website I assessed was eyewitnesstohistory.com. This is perhaps my favorite website for my students to use in order to gain a firsthand account of events in American history. This website is easy to navigate and has firsthand video, audio and written accounts of major moments in both world and American history. I would suggest this website to any social studies teacher who is hoping to reach their student and hope they gain more of a firsthand understanding of major events in history.
The final and most difficult portion of the assignment was the trackstar site. I had problems with this site, because I originally realized that I did not enter http:// prior to the URL and there for the track was not creating a direct link. Once I fixed that problem the rest of the assignment came along quite easily. I used several websites which I use quite frequently in my class, such as eye witness to history which is again, a great source for first hand accounts of historical events. Other sites which are included on my track deal with early American movies, and other interactive websites, such as National Geographic for Kids. Overall I believe I will be using trackstar in future classes in order for my students to have a place where the can access frequently visited sites.
Trackstar
Rubric
Test
Answer Sheet
Puzzle
Content1
Content2
Design1
Design2
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Week 7 Reflection# 6
Week 7: Question #2
What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous communication? Name and describe the Internet communication tools that fall into each category.
According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald the internet offers several possibilities of communication. These communications are both asynchronous and synchronous communications (253). Synchronous communications is defined as same time communications such as chatting or videoconferencing which can be produced through a webcam. Asynchronous is defined as time shifted such as email, discussions, or mailing list. Both methods of communication can be very useful in the education world.
The most prevalent in terms of asynchronous communication is email. Everyday nearly every educator uses email to communicate with parents, administrators, and other teachers. In order to have an email a teachers simply needs an email address. This entails a user name and password for a server. Generally each teacher will have a professional email which will be provided to them by the school district’s server. Emails allow for you to write virtual letters to others, receive letters, and store them for later reference. It is wise to create folders within your email account which allows you to store certain emails in certain areas to access them more easily. For instance, I have folders for all personal, professional, and other emails.
Another asynchronous communication tool for computers is discussion. There are several terms for discussion, such as bulletin boards, clubs, and forums or message boards. Discussion boards allow people to post messages and await either public or private responses. This type of communication allows for various groups of people to read and respond to certain post. Lever-Duffy and McDonald points out that discussion can be used for teachers to interact with other teachers no matter where they are located and students to do the same (259). Discussion is asynchronous because a post can be responded to at anytime, not immediately. The final asynchronous communication tool is mailing lists, which are also known as listserve. This tool sends emails to names placed on an entire list. They resemble all other personal email messages (259). According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, listservs are beneficial to educators because it allows teachers to receive and send emails to other colleagues all at once.
There are two main types of synchronous communication tools, chats and video conferencing. Synchronous communication allows for instant communication with different parties. A chat is for two or more internet users to meet in real time. This virtual space is known as a “chat room” (260). Another form of chat is instant messaging. Instant messaging (IM) is a one on one chat which can be started whenever two users are online at the same time. However, while chats may be useful in many arenas, I do not believe that school is one of them. Too often chat rooms are infiltrated by people who can have access to our students. Another form of synchronous chat is video conferencing. Not only through video conferencing can users see one another, but they can also hear and talk to one another. Video conferencing has been developed immensely in the past few years, and it is now easier than ever get in contact with users around the world.
What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous communication? Name and describe the Internet communication tools that fall into each category.
According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald the internet offers several possibilities of communication. These communications are both asynchronous and synchronous communications (253). Synchronous communications is defined as same time communications such as chatting or videoconferencing which can be produced through a webcam. Asynchronous is defined as time shifted such as email, discussions, or mailing list. Both methods of communication can be very useful in the education world.
The most prevalent in terms of asynchronous communication is email. Everyday nearly every educator uses email to communicate with parents, administrators, and other teachers. In order to have an email a teachers simply needs an email address. This entails a user name and password for a server. Generally each teacher will have a professional email which will be provided to them by the school district’s server. Emails allow for you to write virtual letters to others, receive letters, and store them for later reference. It is wise to create folders within your email account which allows you to store certain emails in certain areas to access them more easily. For instance, I have folders for all personal, professional, and other emails.
Another asynchronous communication tool for computers is discussion. There are several terms for discussion, such as bulletin boards, clubs, and forums or message boards. Discussion boards allow people to post messages and await either public or private responses. This type of communication allows for various groups of people to read and respond to certain post. Lever-Duffy and McDonald points out that discussion can be used for teachers to interact with other teachers no matter where they are located and students to do the same (259). Discussion is asynchronous because a post can be responded to at anytime, not immediately. The final asynchronous communication tool is mailing lists, which are also known as listserve. This tool sends emails to names placed on an entire list. They resemble all other personal email messages (259). According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, listservs are beneficial to educators because it allows teachers to receive and send emails to other colleagues all at once.
There are two main types of synchronous communication tools, chats and video conferencing. Synchronous communication allows for instant communication with different parties. A chat is for two or more internet users to meet in real time. This virtual space is known as a “chat room” (260). Another form of chat is instant messaging. Instant messaging (IM) is a one on one chat which can be started whenever two users are online at the same time. However, while chats may be useful in many arenas, I do not believe that school is one of them. Too often chat rooms are infiltrated by people who can have access to our students. Another form of synchronous chat is video conferencing. Not only through video conferencing can users see one another, but they can also hear and talk to one another. Video conferencing has been developed immensely in the past few years, and it is now easier than ever get in contact with users around the world.
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