The ideal of a learning community is to keep a constant communication process that will give feedback on each project that the community is developing. Parents perceive that the all-school gatherings have a positive impact on their children. This action research project will definitely have greater benefit as many stakeholders are constantly informed of the process of the project. The most parents and students are informed of the process of this project, better will be quality of the findings on Google Analytics.
This action research will include podcasting to keep our learning community updated on the process and findings of the project. Students want and yearn for community. This is a valuable principle to develop any action research project because students are always motivated by internet based tools that allow them to interact with their community. Therefore, Google Analyst will have enough data to develop a readable map of interests and performance of our community on the website. This is will give enough data to be analyzed and answer with more services that will answer the needs of our learning community on the website
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Reflect on what you learned from watching and listening to Dr. Lewis.
Best practices are one the basic component of instruction that educators should not overlook at any time. Texas Educational Agency has set a Learning System that includes best practices at core of its mission. These best practices include teaching using current research based content. Therefore, Galena ISD is enhancing the research component of best practices while developing the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation Grant.
Reflection on what you learned from watching and listening to Dr. Timothy Chargois
The Beaumont ISD has been developing different research projects, and this applies perfectly in the field of action research because research should be developed by the people that are in charge of the field, people that is involved in the day-to-day of the process of education. Scholars from higher education entities have tools to enhance the process of school teachers in order to make research more formal and authentic, but the idea of solving problems and answering questions in a systematic action research is the most reliable way to be up-to-day on educational matters.
Additionally, there was another topic that attracted my attention from Dr. Chargois presentation. The project that is coming up on how to read ethical situations related to effective and ineffective teachers. This seems a fantastic field to explore. There are many questions on ethics and education. Usually we care about what is legal, but we should stop and think that not all that is legal is necessarily ethically correct. Ethics is a field that implicit to any human action, and we must take responsibility on this regard in every step of our educational career.
Additionally, there was another topic that attracted my attention from Dr. Chargois presentation. The project that is coming up on how to read ethical situations related to effective and ineffective teachers. This seems a fantastic field to explore. There are many questions on ethics and education. Usually we care about what is legal, but we should stop and think that not all that is legal is necessarily ethically correct. Ethics is a field that implicit to any human action, and we must take responsibility on this regard in every step of our educational career.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
EDLD 5301 Research
My research question: Google Analytics: How to track website activity, and why is this important to enhance the visitor experience to educational websites?
Schools in America are moving through the web. This has been a process that involves fast changes in technology that the new school has to adopt in order to be competitive in the new world. This is a world that demands for informed institutions that are willing to enhance costumers’ experiences when they visit their web sites. Therefore, schools, teachers, and school districts’ web sites need to track their visitors in order to analyze points of interest of their costumers, establish behavior patterns in their costumers’ searches, and compare costumer interest with the web site objectives. The final goal is to use data to rethink web products and, therefore, improve web site effectiveness.
Now, formal research process is not about understanding the problem but about asking the right questions to understand the problem. In other words, it is a problem solving based on problem understanding (Harris, S. Edmonson and Comb, 2009). Therefore, the main purpose of my quest will be to find what is the value that can be added to a web site by tracking visitors’ behavior, and how this data can be useful to enhance the services for the learning community.
Reference:
Harris, S. Ed monsoon, S., & Combs, J. (2009). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 9 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education. pp.16
ReplyEdit
Schools in America are moving through the web. This has been a process that involves fast changes in technology that the new school has to adopt in order to be competitive in the new world. This is a world that demands for informed institutions that are willing to enhance costumers’ experiences when they visit their web sites. Therefore, schools, teachers, and school districts’ web sites need to track their visitors in order to analyze points of interest of their costumers, establish behavior patterns in their costumers’ searches, and compare costumer interest with the web site objectives. The final goal is to use data to rethink web products and, therefore, improve web site effectiveness.
Now, formal research process is not about understanding the problem but about asking the right questions to understand the problem. In other words, it is a problem solving based on problem understanding (Harris, S. Edmonson and Comb, 2009). Therefore, the main purpose of my quest will be to find what is the value that can be added to a web site by tracking visitors’ behavior, and how this data can be useful to enhance the services for the learning community.
Reference:
Harris, S. Ed monsoon, S., & Combs, J. (2009). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 9 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education. pp.16
ReplyEdit
Sunday, May 16, 2010
EDLD 5368 Instructional Design - Reflection
What benefits do you see in educators knowing how to design and implement online learning?
The availability of the internet is the most valuable advantage that any educator can have in a learning environment. This opens bigger when we are able to implement online learning. The unprecedented challenges that the new frontier of the web present to us are at the same time land for innovation and creativity. The internet is presenting us with new tools to develop a virtual classroom in order to make it more appealing for our students. Basically any class can be taught through the internet. Environments such us Schoology, Blackboard or Brighten are available to give students the opportunity to access long distance education, many times at lower price, highly connective, high quality, and 24/7 access. More advantage in a learning environment had not being possible in any other age. The digital age has revolutionized the classroom environment. The biggest question now is not so much “What we can do” but “When will it get to do it?” This description from Edutopia is very important to understand the great advantages that we have in this new frontier.
How will you professionally use your course that you designed?
I will use Schoology for my next year class. I will introduce my students to different concepts and lessons especially in reading. We have many tool in the website that should connect to delivery them to our classroom more efficiently. Schoology is a hub that we can use to make learning more accessible for our community. The ideal is to promote the development of technology facilitators and leaders that will work with ISTE’s Technology Facilitation (TF) and Technology Leadership (TL) standards, tech specialists will receive professional benefits from the web-based movement as their classrooms will become more sophisticated and will cover larger audiences. Now, the web quests are to utilize technology in a constructivist manner to facilitate meaningful learning. Humans tend to emulate the teaching styles or methods that we were exposed to both as students, and as educators. Therefore, along the process of using Schoology I will be careful to expose my students with the most current pedagogical theories, but also modeling how these theories translate into actual practice in the classroom.
Will you integrate online learning in your role as a teacher/staff developer?
Yes, I will. I am the technology coordinator in my school. This is an ongoing process. I will focus on managing tools from the Web 2.0 and connecting them to learning objectives. The challenge is to integrate teachers to the web instruction model. This problem will be sorted in a short future when the technology natives take over education. In the meanwhile we will work to engage technology immigrants in new technologies to make them willing to use them. Technology leaders play a pivotal role in determining how well technology is used in our schools. We should be able to prepare effective technology facilitators and leaders to meet the growing need for highly qualified educational technologists. Therefore, I will keep on taking online classes and giving online training and classes to students and teachers in my school and classroom. The great thing about technology is that it changes constantly and there is always room for improvement and professional development.
What questions do you still have about online learning?
More than a question, I have to solve the puzzle of crafting online learning. This will approach me to the ideal described by Jones (2007). The idea is to configure room for online instruction in an interactive environment. The availability of the Internet is the most valuable advantage that any educator can take from implementing online learning. The unprecedented challenges that the new frontier of the web are at the same time land for innovation and creativity. The Internet is presenting us with new tools to develop a virtual classroom in order to make it more appealing for our students. Mark Prensky (2007) is very wise on his article on adopt and adapt. According to this process of shaping technology for the classroom, I am on the third stage that is when we do old things in the new way because I had not mastered the tools to start doing new thing in the new way. I understand that I am a digital immigrant, and from that point, I have been able to evolve into learning to overcome my own barriers and become functional in new environments.
What will you do with this new learning?
I will engage students in technology-dependent learning that is project-based, using open-ended questions and higher-order thinking skills. The use of new tools we are changing our definition of literacy, but we need to adapt to an expanded notion of what skills are we expecting to develop. The very nature of data has changes in the past decade. It has become increasingly digital and networked. We moved from the print version of the Encyclopedia Britannica to Wikipedia, now we can have digital tours to museums and places we did not know they exist. Avatar is moving us from a physical reality to a virtual world where we interact in social networks, inquire for knowledge, interact in basically all senses, teach, and learn using the magic of the internet. That is the world I want that I want to belong. I will dedicate my professional expertise to develop more ways to teach in virtual environments.
References:
Jones, Eric (2007). Strategies to Put Instruction Ahead of Technology. Principal Leadership. February 2007. 7, 6; Research Library pg. 35
Prensky, Marc. Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom. Edutopia.org. 2007. http://bilblos.lamar.edu/eres/heh/Abernaty/Abernathy%20EDLD5352%20A
The availability of the internet is the most valuable advantage that any educator can have in a learning environment. This opens bigger when we are able to implement online learning. The unprecedented challenges that the new frontier of the web present to us are at the same time land for innovation and creativity. The internet is presenting us with new tools to develop a virtual classroom in order to make it more appealing for our students. Basically any class can be taught through the internet. Environments such us Schoology, Blackboard or Brighten are available to give students the opportunity to access long distance education, many times at lower price, highly connective, high quality, and 24/7 access. More advantage in a learning environment had not being possible in any other age. The digital age has revolutionized the classroom environment. The biggest question now is not so much “What we can do” but “When will it get to do it?” This description from Edutopia is very important to understand the great advantages that we have in this new frontier.
How will you professionally use your course that you designed?
I will use Schoology for my next year class. I will introduce my students to different concepts and lessons especially in reading. We have many tool in the website that should connect to delivery them to our classroom more efficiently. Schoology is a hub that we can use to make learning more accessible for our community. The ideal is to promote the development of technology facilitators and leaders that will work with ISTE’s Technology Facilitation (TF) and Technology Leadership (TL) standards, tech specialists will receive professional benefits from the web-based movement as their classrooms will become more sophisticated and will cover larger audiences. Now, the web quests are to utilize technology in a constructivist manner to facilitate meaningful learning. Humans tend to emulate the teaching styles or methods that we were exposed to both as students, and as educators. Therefore, along the process of using Schoology I will be careful to expose my students with the most current pedagogical theories, but also modeling how these theories translate into actual practice in the classroom.
Will you integrate online learning in your role as a teacher/staff developer?
Yes, I will. I am the technology coordinator in my school. This is an ongoing process. I will focus on managing tools from the Web 2.0 and connecting them to learning objectives. The challenge is to integrate teachers to the web instruction model. This problem will be sorted in a short future when the technology natives take over education. In the meanwhile we will work to engage technology immigrants in new technologies to make them willing to use them. Technology leaders play a pivotal role in determining how well technology is used in our schools. We should be able to prepare effective technology facilitators and leaders to meet the growing need for highly qualified educational technologists. Therefore, I will keep on taking online classes and giving online training and classes to students and teachers in my school and classroom. The great thing about technology is that it changes constantly and there is always room for improvement and professional development.
What questions do you still have about online learning?
More than a question, I have to solve the puzzle of crafting online learning. This will approach me to the ideal described by Jones (2007). The idea is to configure room for online instruction in an interactive environment. The availability of the Internet is the most valuable advantage that any educator can take from implementing online learning. The unprecedented challenges that the new frontier of the web are at the same time land for innovation and creativity. The Internet is presenting us with new tools to develop a virtual classroom in order to make it more appealing for our students. Mark Prensky (2007) is very wise on his article on adopt and adapt. According to this process of shaping technology for the classroom, I am on the third stage that is when we do old things in the new way because I had not mastered the tools to start doing new thing in the new way. I understand that I am a digital immigrant, and from that point, I have been able to evolve into learning to overcome my own barriers and become functional in new environments.
What will you do with this new learning?
I will engage students in technology-dependent learning that is project-based, using open-ended questions and higher-order thinking skills. The use of new tools we are changing our definition of literacy, but we need to adapt to an expanded notion of what skills are we expecting to develop. The very nature of data has changes in the past decade. It has become increasingly digital and networked. We moved from the print version of the Encyclopedia Britannica to Wikipedia, now we can have digital tours to museums and places we did not know they exist. Avatar is moving us from a physical reality to a virtual world where we interact in social networks, inquire for knowledge, interact in basically all senses, teach, and learn using the magic of the internet. That is the world I want that I want to belong. I will dedicate my professional expertise to develop more ways to teach in virtual environments.
References:
Jones, Eric (2007). Strategies to Put Instruction Ahead of Technology. Principal Leadership. February 2007. 7, 6; Research Library pg. 35
Prensky, Marc. Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom. Edutopia.org. 2007. http://bilblos.lamar.edu/eres/heh/Abernaty/Abernathy%20EDLD5352%20A
Sunday, December 6, 2009
• The UDL Lesson you created in the CAST Lesson Builder
The experience of create a unit online with my team really targeted my affective network. The process of quilting the pieces of the lessons using the networks of Universal Design for Learning is effective to understand the meaning of the three networks: recognition, strategic and affective. The what, how and why of learning that are meaningful in the process of learning when it comes to choose activities and different media to structure a lesson plan.
My team is great. They are all over researching, and sharing their thoughts. There is real collaboration because everybody is thinking about giving more every time. Developing a UDL unit was unique because I learn about a book that I had not read before: Esperanza Rising. This book happens to be very touching for Mexican American students. From there we started brainstorming on the lessons for the unit, decided to do it for Fourth grade students, designated the subject areas for each one of us to work on, and started the process of writing lesson plans. We had to meet several times to discuss and extend the ides of the UDL learning theory and its development. We had a great time, and decided that we probably meet in Austin for a conference.
My team is great. They are all over researching, and sharing their thoughts. There is real collaboration because everybody is thinking about giving more every time. Developing a UDL unit was unique because I learn about a book that I had not read before: Esperanza Rising. This book happens to be very touching for Mexican American students. From there we started brainstorming on the lessons for the unit, decided to do it for Fourth grade students, designated the subject areas for each one of us to work on, and started the process of writing lesson plans. We had to meet several times to discuss and extend the ides of the UDL learning theory and its development. We had a great time, and decided that we probably meet in Austin for a conference.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
PSA Project final thoughts
PSA Project final thoughts
The production project we have been through along this class gave to us insights to make this process in a formal way starting from the idea of a multimedia project, to the screen writing, to storyboarding, to production, and to post-production. The visual arts are the sum of most arts, and it is wonderful to approach that world in a class dedicated to learn how to produce a multimedia project in a collaborative team. We were fortunate to work along with respect, tolerance, welcoming ideas and very good spirits.
The beginning of our group was not having a group and being lonely in the web. Then Daphney gave us a hand and we were able to connect with each other and start working together. We started by reading and analyzing the material from our class every week to start applying in our project what in theory was explained. The using all elements available to put together an idea focus on purpose of the Public Service Add (PSA) and its audience. Once we agreed in a basic script for our story, we started a list of tasks and responsibilities for all the group members. Then, Irma started our wiki where we have been collaborating in producing documents, discussing ideas, voting on possible shots of our PSA, and having a great time interaction with each other in this amazing Web 2.0 tool. Once we had the initial script I make a page for the storyboard. Storyboarding was the graphic representation of the sequences we would do along these weeks. The storyboard helped us to brainstorm ideas of how much time, movement or transition from one scene to another and what special effects could be used.
The video-shooting was very interesting because we came with different shots each member of the group did to upload them to our youtube.com account to be evaluated by the team to select the most suitable for the project. Consider the types of camera shots that can be used. We discussed about close-ups and how they show details, expressions and emotions, medium-range shots to make visual the bullying scenes, and any other technique used to promote visual language to captivate our audience and transmit a message.
We learn basic principles of copyright and how to apply them in http://creativecommons.org and other readings along this class. This is one of the most important parts of the project. How to finish our clip in a copyrighted ethical environment? The question was always part of our discussion. When we explore the idea of using some students to shoot a scene, the parental permission was needed. The music we ended up using came from War Sounds Audio, and we confirmed that was a Navy public domain.
The publication of our PSA included the question of how to upload videos in format acceptable for the web. We learn to modify our videos to .mp4 videos that youtube.com accepts. This and many other details were crafted in a collaborative manner. Our group is a wonderful learning community that makes projects more efficiently by using each member skills to develop projects.
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