Online+Learning+Presentation

The educational landscape is changing, and as students become more engaged in the technologically advanced lives outside of school, it is important that educational leaders take the time to evaluate what changes are necessary in the near future to keep students up to date with the most relevant information, and in a context that will keep them not only focused but engaged, fostering a mentality of lifelong learning. Today’s Teacher must engage students in the context of real world issues to enhance the depth of their learning (Lemke & Coughlin, 2009). The presentation that I made at the beginning of this week about the integration of open classroom, a service currently utilized by our design tech teacher, into the entirety of our middle school had this message behind it, and after talking with the administration team and my colleagues, I feel that they were receptive to the idea, though they threw up their challenges.

Though initially met with the distain of taking on more work, at this point in the year when we are already under immense amounts of pressure for other projects, and initiatives that our administration has decided to take on, my colleagues and I eventually came to the consensus that this would be a good thing to trial for the 4th quarter, giving us time to test out the development side, and work out any bugs that we do not like.

Jacob March

Jacob, I think it is great that your colleagues are willing to give it and that you guys decided to wait until the 4th quarter before implementing anything new. Might I suggest that you try to implement one aspect of online learning in your classroom so that you may be able to give them suggestions about what works and what didn't. You might also want to consider taping your class. This may give your colleagues some encouragement and give them a realistic view what to expect when trying it in their classrooms. ~Carissa Martin

"There can be infinite uses of the computer and of new age technology, but if the teachers themselves are not able to bring it into the classroom and make it work, then it fails." ~ Nancy Lassebaum, U.S. Senator

The above quote resonated with me because after sharing my presentation about online learning with my colleagues I got a sense that many of them although not opposed to the idea of online learning feel that they are not able to bring it into the classroom for some reason or the other. We all agreed that students of today are easily engaged when teachers integrate technology into the classroom. Nevertheless, people had objections and/or concerns that they were eager to share, resulting in a very interesting conversation. I had the opportunity to present to my entire grade level. This allowed me to gather input not only from the required sources but from many different perspectives. One teacher in particular was eager to share her thoughts as she recently enrolled 2 of her previously home schooled children at our school.

One concern they shared was the issue of dependency. As first grade teachers they were concerned that technology is has and will continue to prevent students from learning some very basic skills. For instance, the use cell phone calculators and spell check by high school students some argue is hindering them from becoming fluent in certain basic skills. Many of my colleagues worry that if online learning became more common in the primary grades that even more basic skills will be lost. It was also mentioned that online learning although wonderful requires the parent or teacher to monitor constantly as a trust issue develops with some children as learn how to flip back and forth between what they want to be doing and what they should be doing. I know many of us don't have that issue as our districts do a pretty good job of securing our servers and blocking students from accessing certain sites. Nonetheless, this may be an issue for students who attend a 100% online virtual school. Another concern they had in regards to the "trust-factor" was how teachers were supposed to know whether or not the students were actually the ones completing assignments. This is already a huge issue at my school because we battle every year with parents doing their kids projects. However, in a physical environment it is much easier to spot these things.

In general, all of my colleagues were against the idea of virtual learning for very young learners. They feel that for students in k-2 virtual learning should not be an option. I did explain that the [|virtual public school in Florida]states that elementary courses are only partially online. They also felt that technology while beneficial as an instructional tool for the teacher should be used sparing as a learning tool for very young learners. My colleagues were insightful yet respectful and gave me a good idea of some of the challenges that I will face as I attempt to be a "change agent" at my school. ~Carissa Martin

Carissa, I could see how the idea of online learning at a very young age could be something that would be a hard sell, however if you take the problems that your colleagues pointed out, and create your own online learning environment as a test run in your classroom, maybe you could go back and show them that this type of learning really does work for young students. Though I agree that at a young age your students would not be able to do everything that is available in an online classroom, it could be a great place to reinforce, and practice basic skills that your colleagues were fearful they would lose. - Jake March

Carissa, I agree that is is sometimes hard for others to see how something like this could be incorporated in the younger grades. It is apparent though, that even at young ages students are absolutely technology users. I had to try to get that point across to my colleagues as well. I tried to explain that students are using technolgy and virtual discussion boards whether we incorporate it into the classroom or not. Why not teach them how to participate and interact appropriately with this kind of technology at school? This point did stick with some of my colleagues and they said they would be willing to test how an online learning community would work with younger grades. -Elizabeth Kressin

After doing some research about online learning, I decided to create my presentation on the Moodle online learning program. This is a program that our county uses for in-service days and for courses required for teachers to take to update or keep their certification. I know many people are familiar with the layout and use of it, so that’s why I decided this would be a good program to try and implement with our students. I placed my presentation on our school’s “share drive” (s.drive). This is where you can post IWB lessons or PowerPoint to share with the school. Since I was not around to give an actual presentation due to giving birth this week, I had the presentation posted earlier and asked a few colleagues and administration to view it and then email me feedback. I was happy with three teachers who responded and my assistant principal. They shared that the presentation was informative, but that if they didn’t know what Moodle was already, they would like more screen shots or photos of the actual “classroom” look and teacher view from the site itself. I completely agree and will think about adding that into my presentation later.

Amanda Jourdan

Amanda, you made a wise decision to upload your presentation to your school's "share drive." Congratulations to you and your family on the birth of your new bundle of joy! The "share drive" in my opinion is another way for teachers and staff to collaborate and share ideas and documents with one another. It is however,restricted to a server. It is understandable that your colleagues want a visual of exactly what Moodle would look like in an actual classroom. I find that by giving people visual of what to expect makes the task seem more feasible thus encouraging them to give it a try. ~Carissa Martin

I decided to do my presentation on the implementation of RCampus. Since we are lacking in the area of reading and reading comprehension from Kindergarten up through high school, I feel that an online learning community could be very helpful. The group I presented to liked the idea of having homework help/discussions available to all students. They also liked that students and teachers could share materials through the learning community that would enhance the instruction in the classroom. One idea that was well received was the implementation of an e-portfolio for the high school students. Students would begin a portfolio in 9th grade and would gradually add work samples and accomplishments to it over the course of their high school education. Since our school is focused on global education and preparation for the real world, this would allow students to have soemthing to show potential colleges and/or job interviewers.

We decided it would be a good idea to test this by incorporating a learning community into 3 or 4 grade levels next school year. If all goes well we would continue adding grade levels until all students and teachers are activiated and using the community. The idea of an online learning community was also though of as something we could use to draw in more students that would be interested in technology enhanced education.

Elizabeth Kressin

Elizabeth, I like the idea of having a portfolio for students to track accomplishments through high school. This is another way to make learning authentic and important to the student. Global education is something that many schools are realizing is important as our world becomes smaller via the internet. I hadn't considered the aspect of drawing in more student who might be interested in technology, but I do believe there is some merit there as well. I will have to adjust my presentation to reflect that concept as another point of importance when considering implementing these programs.

Bill Lutke

I did my presentation on Moodle because I feel that is the most user friendly, and since my school has NOTHING that is remotely like any of the programs, I felt that Moodle was a good place to start. I found that the real selling point was the relatively high cost/benefit ratio, meaning that it was something that we could get into fairly inexpensively that had the potential to bring real and lasting change to the way we approach instruction on a day to day basis. The conclusion I came to following the presentation was that if it was going to happen, I would have to be personally responsible for facilitating and implementing the program in the early stages, which I am fine with. I also sensed some apprehension with teachers who were less tech savvy and/or were not necessarily interested in messing with the status quo. For my particular school situation, I came up with three key factors that would justify implementing an online learning environment like moodle.


 * 1) College Preparation – This was the format I had to learn in college with no prior experience. While the learning curve was not horrible, it would have made my freshman year go more smoothly had I been previously exposed to this system.
 * 2) Closing the Achievement Gap – While this system likely won’t raise test scores of the highest achievers, it will provide better access to previously lower achieving students, which in turn will help to raise scores collectively.
 * 3) Real World Connections – One of our goals as a Christian school is to help our students connect their beliefs with what is happening in the world. By learning and functioning in a global community, students will be more thoroughly prepared to go out into a world that doesn’t always share their beliefs by getting out of the “bubble” that they have traditionally existed in.

By looking at it from these perspectives, the staff and administration I was working with during my presentation seemed to better understand the importance and potential of making this something we could and should look into further.

Bill Lutke