Online+Learning+Presentation

This is the page for The Online Learning Presentation - Week 4

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These days, the majority of students in K-12 classroom are digital natives. There is no denying that chasm exists between the way they obtain information at home by using technology devices and the way they are provided with information at school. “If learning styles have shifted, teaching methods must follow suit, and technological innovations have much to offer to improve teaching and learning” (Gillard & Bailey, 2007, p. 88). They also argue that “educators at all levels must prepare students to achieve success in a world that uses technology for much more than entertainment and casual communication (p. 92).” Thus, it is critical for today’s educators to adopt technology integration into classroom instruction in order to prepare students for the future. This week, I made a PowerPoint presentation to the administrators and my colleagues at staff meeting. Indeed, this made an effective impression on them for a starter, given that our school fall way behind in terms of ICT education and nurturing 21st-century skills. In fact, we do not even have a smart board. However, we are now ready for change: immense shift fin preparing our students for 21st-century competitive era. After the presentation, the principal agreed upon establishing a new subject called “21st Century” in one of elective courses as well as allocating the budget to purchase one smart board. And I will be in charge of the class. There must be a lot of hurdles to overcome in being a teacher leader for technological change at school, but I am ready and excited to take on that challenge. The following is the subtopics I dealt with in the presentation: 1. Today's students are digital natives 2. Nurturing 21st-century skills 3. Benefits of online learning and virtual school 4. Global e-learning perspectives 5. Most Important: One-on-one student teacher engagement

References: Gillard, S., & Bailey, D. (2007). Technology in the classroom: Overcoming obstacles, reaping rewards. The International Journal of Learning, 14(1), 87–93.

**Holly Gramling:** This past week, I presented to 3 English teachers and our Assistant Principal of Instruction (API) about the need for a reading class, specifically a virtual reading class. The presentation went much better than I had expected and the API asked me to create a formal proposal so he could take the concept higher. Many of the academic problems the students encounter could be elimated if he or she were a more proficient reader. The virtual class will move the students through the basic reading skills and progress him or her to grade level. The class will be created with Moodle and the teachers will be able to collaborate online instead of always needing to meet face to face. The challenge will be to find a budget to be able to create an online class, creating the actual class, and getting approval from the board. The teachers were very excited about the prospect of creating a virtual class.

I ended the proposal with the question, "Why not create a class for the non and reluctant readers within a platform they are comfortable using?" This seemed to spur most of the debrief session. We discussed the students who may be non or reluctant readers in the traditional school setting, but are high level gamers. The gaming concept works with them, so we agreed to try and incorporate that concept into the class. All the teachers and the API agreed that the students are being overlooked because of the concept that they should already be proficient readers, and this is a way to help them.


 * Comment from Marcus Johnson: **

Hello Holly,

I think you are on the right track with your ideas and assessment about reading issues being overlooked. I teach on the high school level and too often I hear teachers complain about students not being able to read yet not taking the time to teach them how to read. I often ask, "what is the purpose of assigning material to a child that you know cannot read it". It has been shown that students that do not learn to read by second/third grade have an extremely hard time the rest of their academic careers. Part of the problem is that elementary is seen as the time where students are taught how to read while in middle and high school they are told what to read.The gaming concept is a great idea. Try incorporating levels into the game that advance with the students reading skill. Your virtual reading class is also a good idea. I feel that it will help the students become more comfortable.

__ //**Marcus Johnson**// __

Before I began creating the PowerPoint for this weeks assignment I decided to randomly ask teachers if they were familiar with course management/learning management systems. I was surprised to find out that most knew very little about this particular technology. Though the task given was to think of specific uses for implementation in our individual schools, it's hard to pitch an item that your audience knows little about. With this in mind I approached the task in two phases. The PowerPoint was used to simply explain in general what CMSs are and some simple ways to implement them. I presented to three teachers (SPED/Inclusion, Math, English).

As expected, all three wanted to know how the systems could benefit them. Before I attempted to answer I asked them to give me an idea of problems that they were currently having. The common underlying issue that kept reoccurring was students not being on grade/skill level...especially with reading. I explained to them that using CMSs (I demonstrated with my Blackboard account) would give them the ability to create a class that's divided into sections based on readiness/ability level. I also demonstrated how they could individualize assessments easier as well. This way they could address the needs of each learner helping them to progress at their own pace. I then suggested that they could use state test data to formulate the student groupings in the sections. I asked the teachers to think of how a high school student that reads on an elementary level may feel when asked to participate in the general classroom. I then went on to explain how this system could alleviate some of that embarrassment/withdrawal. After a day or so the principal stopped me in the hallway stating that he wanted to discuss the PowerPoint that I presented to my staff members...apparently I made an impression.

Marcus,

Wow, what a wonderful ripple effect you have created at your workplace for a technology change! In fact, it is not surprising that most of your colleagues knew little about CMS. Here in Japan, there is not such online virtual classroom system at all. First and foremost, the action should start with getting coworkers familiarized with the functions of that kind of technology as well as myself. Just out of curiosity, have you ever used CMS before on your own? Or have you been using one currently? I myself am a total novice about it, so I should study more for a starter. Thanks for sharing great practice!

Yoshio Kamakura