MOOCs: Coming to a school near you......

What is a "MOOC" and how does it intersect with the online, or hybrid learning environments that we've been studying?

      A MOOC is not something that is new to any of us in the ITDML program.  We participated in a MOOC in the first semester that we began this program.  Although it was very new to us them, the idea of MOOCs is becoming more and more real to us.  A MOOC is a Massive Open Online Courses that is attended by people at all levels taking free courses on the internet.  Currently being part of the Deeper Learning MOOC, I was astonished to see that there are over 1,000 members.  They have even begun creating sub-groups within the community.  There are members from all over the U.S. as well as Europe.  It is incredible to see the amount of people across the country interested in the same ideas that I am.

      MOOCs are becoming a new and ideal way of teaching.  Although it it mostly used in the post-secondary arena, MOOCs are trying to make there way to the K-12 spectrum.  In the post-secondary schools there are two types of MOOCs.  There are the cMOOCs, where organizers develop a framework to engage all participants around a common idea. Their work and effort is aimed at having each attendee act as both a participant learner and expert. Participants bring ideas, questions, content, and other material to a table where everyone is engaged or understanding something about the greater good of the topic addressed. Facilitators use a variety of tools to help aggregate the experience as most of the content is not located within a specific platform but across a variety of media tools (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, blogs, wikis, online articles, YouTube, etc.). (Ferdig, Page 04)  Then there are the xMOOCs which are typically on a university or university-partnered platform, sponsored by universities or for-profit platforms. " These MOOCs offered on university-based platforms are modeled on traditional course materials, learning theories, and higher education teaching methods.  For example, they usually are organized around lectures and quiz-type assessment methods.  Also these courses typically use little distributed content that's available on the Web outside the platform.  Most course content is pre-recorded video lectures which are posted on the courses' home page. (Ferdig, page 04)

      These MOOCs really intersect with the types of learning that we have been studying in a variety of ways.  I feel that the ITDML program has intersected into a type of cMOOC class.  We have the ability to participate in the class as learner and expert. We bring ideas, questions, content, and keep everyone engaged.  We use a variety of tools and never seem to get bored learning them!!  

I even have been talking about MOOCs in my department meetings at school.  My department chair is interested in MOOCs for some of her statistics classes and has enlisted my help. (Yikes!)  MOOCs is definitely coming to K-12 schools and it will be interesting to see how they work.

Using Twitter to Post Assignments for Students-an Updated Version with Another Video

      Twitter is a very useful application that is being used more and more in the classroom.  To show this I have decided to create a short tutorial explaining how to use twitter to post assignments, reminders, links, and even photos.

      I really thought that this would be something that I could do quickly but I had trouble getting it all together.  I decided to use my chromebook to record a screencast through Hangouts On Air.  I have a desktop computer but it is just far to ancient to try to do a screencast on.  We would be waiting for years!  The first time I tried on the chromebook, the microphone was not on.  Talk about annoyed!!  The next time, the sound was all cracked up.  So, I went in for a third try and the sound quality was still bad.

However, here is the link.  The visual is good, but the audio is not what it used to be.  I think that after Hangouts made some changes, their audio quality went downhill because I have done this before and it came out well.

Using Twitter in the Classroom

      Throughout this class I have been turning into a perfectionist.  I could not leave this video as my final piece.  It's like there is a little voice behind me saying that I can fix it.  Ian.....is that you?  SO after the many attempts that I made using the chromebook, I decided to weigh my options with some other machines.  This is what happened there:

• I have a Dell laptop, so I thought about using that.  I went to turn it on, and it would not load up.
• I have my very ancient desktop computer, but no microphone, and it seriously takes ten minutes to load one page, so that was not in the cards.
• This left me with my IPAD.  So I was left to research some ideas on how to screencast on my IPAD.

      After a lot of searching, and a lot of ignoring of people in my house (sorry), I came across a lot of different apps.  I started to download quite a few of them.  I downloaded Educreations and Doceri, but these were just different whiteboard apps that did not give me the option to enhance with a webpage.  I was getting very frustrated.  I finally found an app that did everything I needed it to do.  It was an interactive whiteboard that allowed me to import a webpage.  It was called Explain Everything.  However, t cost $2.99.  I decided to sleep on it and would deal with it in the morning.

      As I woke up, I realized I was not happy with my video and I needed to fix something.  I decided to change it and downloaded Explain Everything.  It went well and was very easy to use.  However it took a long time to upload to youtube and process.  I was excited that my voice did not sound crackled.  But then, I saw the video and there was no picture for half of it.  I was going crazy!  Someone has it out for me!!

Using Twitter in the Classroom through Explain Everything

I then read Ian's email and decided to change mt chromebook to developer mode to see if that helped my video.  It still was cracked.  So, in conclusion, if you take me two videos and piece them together, you will get one great video!!  I think next time, I will make a video explaining Explain Everything and hope it works, but I need to acclimate myself to it first.  Sometimes technology just does not go your way!!

Learning Management Systems

      This week our reading was on Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and the different between those and other online systems. Oftentimes, LMS's get mistaken for many other online tools and this article helped to clarify that confusion.  Although the first time I read through it, I was very much taken back by all of the different abbreviations.  I was lost in LMS versus LCMS and all of the other abbreviations that they threw at us.  After creating my storify, this really gave me a chance to organize my thoughts and the different information that was given in the reading.

Please read my storify.  I hope you enjoy it.
Storify-Learning Management Systems

Online Learning-The New Initiative

      This week's reading was about online learning and the theories and psychology behind it.  It was very interesting to read about the cognitive reasoning of online learning.  I had not thought about the "cognitive" since I took psychology as an undergraduate in college.  It was interesting to read about the different types of learners and realize that many students would benefit from online learning because it gives them a chance to truly personalize their learning experience.

     In my district many teachers and students are using blended and online learning in their classes.  Online learning is used in our school to help students gain credit in classes that they have not passed.  It is offered as classes during the school day as well as after school.  It gives the students a chance to regain credit that was already lost.

To help show what I learned from the article.  I created another storify.  You can access it here:
Online Learning Storify

I really enjoyed reading about this topic.

Week 1 Reflection and Storify

After reading Saha's article on Distance Learning in the US-Past, Present, and Future, I really put everything together and that was when I created my Storify.  Storify was a new tool for me and I felt myself learning as I played with it.  I can definitely see myself using this more and more throughout the program. Here is my Storify: Blending Technology Into Teaching

Distance Learning to me is something very new.  I was almost shocked to know that it is being used in my school.  There are a few teachers in my school that use IPADS in their classrooms and teach using the internet and other tools rather than a traditional classroom setting.  These different types of teaching techniques are rolling out in many schools and forcing many teachers to prepare themselves to learn technology.

I also read about PLN (Personal Learning Networks) which is something that my school is also implementing.  Students are able to choose a subject that they find interesting and go out and really research it.  These personal learning networks can be anything from going out in the community and interning with businesses to doing an independent study of a class that is not offered at the school.  These ideas are really bringing education to an entirely new level.

I was very excited to begin this new course of Distance Learning with a professor that was at a distance.  It would be a real test of the "online" course that I have not really yet been introduced to.  I was interested to see how it would all play out.

An Introduction to Me......well..it's more random than anything

I always enjoy those random messages that get sent through social media that ask friends for different numbers and they have to come up with that many random facts about themselves.  I also like answering weird questions, it always seems interesting to me.  So for the random facts about me, I am very happy to oblige. 

1.  I was born on the absolute possible last day of the year (December 31st).  Also the worst day to go out, therefore I find myself staying most years.

2.  I have owned three houses in the past 5 years.  I am done moving....I swear!

3. I was class president in high school my sophomore, junior, and senior years.  This is why I enjoy being class advisor at my school.

4.  I lost my mother when I was 24 years old.  Three years later when I was 27, I lost my father.

5.  I thought by the time I was my age I would be married with children, instead, I keep going to school.  

6. I have a dog Molly who is the size of a cat.  She thinks she is the size of a lion.

7. I had been to Italy and Spain all before I graduated college.

8. I enjoy taking classes online, but I am still old school in the fact that I need to print some things out to hold them in my hands.

9. I have a deep obsession with using coupons.  I think it annoys others.  I have a binder that holds them all!

10.  One day I hope to be able to share everything I have learned with others.

11.  I have the worst memory ever, sometimes I forget what I did the day before.

1. What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken?  I went on a cruise to the Bahamas.  First time on a cruise and it was amazing!!!
2. Where are you right now?  Right now I am sitting in my kitchen listening to the sound of my boiler.....it is really loud!!
3. Can you play a musical instrument?  I actually played the clarinet in my high school marching band!
4. How long did it take you to get to work today?  No work today...SNOW DAY!
5. What advice do you have on love? Don't look for it, sometimes it just shows up when you least expect it.
6. What are 3 things that matter to you? Education, Family, and Friends
7. If you could sit with any 5 people dead or alive around your dinner table who would you choose and why?  I only need 2, my mom and dad
8. How do you want to be remembered?  For being me and no one else.