Professional Learning Communities

During the summer of 2010, North Carolina DPI, CTE division, implemented the use of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).  These PLCs contain a wealth of information, including course curriculum, updates from DPI, and forums where teachers can ask questions about the curriculum or share "best practices" with other teachers.

Since I helped to develop the Accounting 2 curriculum for the state of NC last year, I am currently responsible for answering content questions posed by teachers during the first (field test) year of the curriculum.  Once teachers have had a chance to use, review and pose questions about the curriculum, our team will convene in June to correct mistakes or enhanced/add to the material for release at the July 2012 CTE Summer Conference.

My thoughts on PLCs are that they are beneficial for several reasons: 

1)teachers from across the state are connected to each other and therefore feel part of a bigger community.
2)questions can be posed and answered quickly as opposed to the old way of contacting the CTE director of the LEA; having them pose the question to the regional director; who then poses the question to the Section Chief, who then contacts the curriculum team members.  The answer was sent down the same channels, and often took several weeks.  Now teachers get answers while they are teaching the objective rather than weeks after teaching it.
3)Best practices are shared with others, thereby helping our students learn in new ways.

The biggest drawback to these PLCs is that I sometimes get an enormous amount of emails about postings to the PLC for which I am not interested. :C

Snapshot of Moodle PLC forum for Accounting 2:

Birthday Party for a Five Year Old Boy

This week, my son turns 5 years old!!  Wow, where does the time go??  He wants a party at Monkey Joe's, which is a wonderful place filled with inflatables.  The kids literally wear themselves out climbing, jumping, and playing.  I think it is a great way to get kids to excercise without them realizing it is exercise.

For those of you that don't know about Monkey Joe's, check out this link:  http://www.monkeyjoes.com/

I will keep you updated on our party planning progress!

Technology - Friend or Foe?

Technonology - sheesh!!  I have literally spent the last 15 minutes trying to log into my Blog.  The problem is that I have multiple GMail accounts, and apparently Blogger.com is closely associated with Google.  Unfortunately, I created my Blog using my Hotmail account.  Obviously, this is not acceptable in the Google Master's eyes.

Originally, I created my Blog with my University email, which was a GMail account.  However, since my work email has moved to GMail as well, I confused Blogger.com when I logged in.  Additionally, Blogger.com told me that I did not own my GMail university account and therefore was forced to change to a new email account to log in.  Since I already have 2 GMail accounts, I decided to use the Hotmail account so as not to have yet a third GMail account. 

So, here we are, back to the log in problem.  When I typed the Blog address in the URL, I am asked to log in with my GMail account.  But Googlegod, I have a Hotmail account!  The Googlegod did not reply, so I had to figure out what sort of technology sacrifice I needed to give.  Obviously, I sacrificed my patience and sanity. 

To find the link to my blog, I accessed my instructors "GoogleDoc" spreadsheet, and opened the link to my blog that way.  What in world did I ever do before Google????

ECI 719 First Post

Welcome to my blog for ECI 719.  I adapted a blog from a former NCSU course, so all of the former content is still available.  I had thought about deleting it, however, I plan on re-reading some of the articles to refresh my memory of the other course.

I hope everyone has a terrific week.  We are finishing up exams at my high school on Tuesday and Wednesday, and will use Thursday for a make up exam day.  Friday and Monday are professional days for us to get ready for the second semester and the onslaught of new students.

Davis and Ragsdell Article

The article, "Design of an Effective, Web-Based, Global Learning Environment Using the Keller Plan," discusses methods to create and effective web learning environment for virtual students.  The authors specifically address the "Keller Plan," which was "designed to maximize learning by stressing achievement and positive reinforcement" of student achievements." (Davis and Keller, 1)  The article also discusses the differences between sychronous and asynchronous learning environments as well as distance education needs of off campus students.

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model? What are barriers to its use? What benefits might be expected for those who overcome the barriers?

Most of my onlne courses are structured in the format of a Keller Plan, so my first reaction was "great, I already understand the concepts."  When I teach for North Carolina Virtual Public Schools, my curriculum is also laid out in this manner.  The positives of this model are that students favor the individual pacing; some evidence shows tutored students learn better than lectured students; and encourages students to take responsibility of thier learning, and be proactive. Further, courses that are not offered at a physical school can be taken online, providing additional learning opportunities.  Some of the barriers to the use of this theory/model are 1)up to date technology is needed; 2) can be expensive to acquire access to these classes; 3) the proctor for the course may not be skilled in the course content, and therefore cannot assist with the learning process; and 4)some students are not self motivated enough to learn.

Would you attempt to use this theory/model with the students you are currently teaching or hope to teach in the future? Why or why not? Could elements of the theory/model be modified so that it would work with your current/future students?

After learning the details fo the Keller Plan, and referring to my personal experience with this type of learning module, I would not attempt to design a lesson for my current students using this method.  A great majority of my students are not self motivated enough to work independently.  Further, my computer classes require direct feedback from the instructor when completing the task.  This past summer I taught a computer course online for North Carolina Virtual Public High School.  My success rate was much lower than in my face to face classes; and my drop out rate was much higher.  Some reasons for this was that students each had different versions of software which started the confusion.  Others were not proficient with the computer and became frustrated and stopped working in the class.   Lastly, not having a hands on instructor to help them immdiately when problems arose caused alot of frustrations.  I have actually taught a blended class whereby my students accessed content in Moodle; and I provided hands on help.  This also did not work as well as my face to face lectures/instruction.

I would, however, try using this method with my upper level Advanced Business Studies students becuase they have a little more initiative and the course material is more self study.

Since we're taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

The instructor can use Moodle, Elluminate; Wimba Pronto; Wimba Messenger; classjump.com; or similiar technology to present these lessons.

Davis, R. L. & Ragsdell, K. M. (2000). Design of an effective, web-based, global learning environment using the Keller Plan. ICEE, Taipei, Taiwan, August 14 - 16. Retrieved January 17, 2011 from http://www.ineer.org/Events/ICEE2000/Proceedings/papers/WB5-1.pdf

Session 14: Learning Objects

This weeks reading discusses learning objects. Learning objects are tagged, online content resources. Although not a learning theory or model, they facilitate learning and add to the content by providing additional resources for the learner.

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model? What are barriers to its use? What benefits might be expected for those who overcome the barriers?
Initially when reading about this resource, I thought, "wow, I didn't know it had a name!"  I have been using learning objects both as a teacher and as a learner for many years.  The Internet is so accessible now, and there is such a wealth of information available that can enhance student learning.  Some of the barriers to using learning objects is that the links to these resources may break or content moved; therefore students no longer have access to the resources.  Use of learning objects within curriculum also needs to be evaluated by the teacher prior to using them.  For example, the content may not be valid; authentic; or appropriate.  Learning objects that have been properly evaluated can provide so much information and knowledge than can a classroom lecture.  For example, a student could gain so much more information on a Holocaust lesson by exploring pictures, letters, personal accounts from Holocaust survivors and members of the liberating forces than just hearing lectures from instructors.

Would you attempt to use this theory/model with the students you are currently teaching or hope to teach in the future? Why or why not? Could elements of the theory/model be modified so that it would work with your current/future students?

I often utilize learning objects in my classroom.  I am fortunate to have a computer for each student since I teach the business education curriculum.  Often, I supplement my lectures or lesson with available content via the Internet.  I use numerous subject databases including the Library of Congress - American Memory website; and other government websites such as the Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, etc.

Numerous authentic databases exist, albeit some are not readily found using google or bing.  Therefore, databases such as ERIC, NCWISE OWL and other types of subject databases must be found alternatively.  Colleges and Universities have excellent databases from with to use.

Session 13: Cognitive Flexibility Theory

This weeks reading discusses the Cognitive Flexibility Theory. This theory "emphasizes the real-world complexity and ill-structuredness of
knowledge." (Spiro, et. al) This model also involves the "selective use of knowledge to adaptively fit to decision making" in a unusual situations.

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model? What are barriers to its use? What benefits might be expected for those who overcome the barriers?

As I was reading this weeks selection, I was impressed with the level of learning that takes place with use of this model. Students will most definitely stretch their current knowledge while working through lessons developed using CFT. Another thought that entered my mind while reading about this model was "how to help our students in elementary through high school develop the basic cognitive skills to be able to use CFT in the future." Some existing barriers are that many of our students are not able to think outside the box enough to use this model. Other barriers are that most CFT situations are "ill-structured," meaning that they mimic real life uncertanties; and are often hard to make into a learning lesson.

Would you attempt to use this theory/model with the students you are currently teaching or hope to teach in the future? Why or why not? Could elements of the theory/model be modified so that it would work with your current/future students?

Although I would love to use a model such as this in my classroom, many of my students are not capable of successfully working through the model. I do use a smaller, easier version of this model with students in many of my activities, I just did not realize it had a name. For example, when teaching about budgets, I have students ask family, friends, etc., a series of questions that help them understand emergencies; etc.

Since we're taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

"Multimedia, because of its hypertext capabilities, is well-suited to modeling this flexibility due to its multidimensionality and
nonlinearity" (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1991a). There is so much information available on the internet, students can become quite knowledgeable. Further, using web 2.0 tools; subject directories; etc. can help students to research scholarly information from which to increase their knowledge.