Mrs. Armour's Math Blog

Discussion boards offer very important opportunities to allow students to interact with each other as well as with the teacher. Discussion boards allow students the opportunity to take the time and come up with insightful thoughts to share with the group as well as opportunities for others to question and elaborate on other’s words. Ways that discussion boards can be ineffective is to not make them natural in the outline of the course. Many times, when discussion posts are mandated and they aren’t interesting or on topic with what is currently going on in the class. I believe when the discussion boards are created to activate thoughtful conversation, is when discussion posts are done the best for the most effective way possible.

     As an online instructor, my students will need to be reminded daily on assignments any events that are upcoming in the course. Many times, the announcements are done in person during class, but since they are online, constant interaction is a must. I would create pop ups that will occur during log in as well as weekly emails that will go out to the parents as well as to the students. And also I would use Remind101 to text students and parents about upcoming sessions or quizzes

     Online communication is vital for the virtual classroom. A teacher's presence is vital for the success of the student and since there is no opportunity for face to face, newsletters and other forms of communication is needed to ensure student success. A newsletter is very beneficial to make announcements to the class as a whole. It's an easy way to list all announcements in one easy area. The cons to a newsletter is that it doesn't give much opportunity for individual communications that would give the students a more personal interaction.      I also created a flip book that summarized the entire statistics unit that is to be mastered. By doing this, parents and students can get an overview of what is expected as well as a semi-checklist to see their progress through the unit. I would ensure to attach one with the weekly newsletter to keep everyone up to date on current lessons and standards.

1) Welcome        a) Hello! Welcome to the Summer Math Course for 6th grade. I’m excited for the new term and the mathematical journey we are about to embark! I hope you will learn much about math this term and can apply it for years to come. All of the lectures, discussions, office visits, and presentation will be online so there will be no personal meetings opportunities, but there will be plenty of face to face interaction and communications. You will be expected to visit the student portal daily. Everything you need will be found there. If you have any questions, please email me at --------. Please take the time to visit with the site and interact with serval features including the syllabus, the course outline, and the discussion board. If you need anything, I will be available through email-----, phone-----, or text using the remind app with the code: ------ 2) Personal notes versus mass communication to stakeholders (appropriate times)   ...

I believe the best way to make sure teachers and other professionals refrain from violation important laws from FERPA and TCPA is to make sure they are aware of the current guidelines yearly. Teachers should be required to do a review course then pass a test to ensure they are aware and have learned the guidelines. Also, email could be monitored by administration to watch any potential infractions that teacher may do. Copyright doesn’t require that everything a person does be original, but it does require that you give credit to the owner of the original work, if you plan on using it. It’s only right and fair.

As technology, have progressed, I have seen that the way I communicate with others online has changed. I have definitely learned to adapt to my audience and understand when it comes to my tone and wording when I’m communicating with parents, students, and colleagues. Most communication in the classroom was through paper—whether it was a letter, notes, folder communication, or newsletter. But now, everything is communicated digitally though the website, email, and text messages. I think as technology becomes more advanced, so will the classroom communication. I think this is important because the main goal is to reach the students at their level. So it’s imperative to ensure that we as teachers stay up to date.

The Navigate module taught me a lot as an educator. I familiarized myself with new technology and learned of ways to implement them into my classroom. I enjoyed using the screen cast application and creating my own course. Also, looking through the different LMS allowed me to see how each one can be beneficial and how important it is to make sure the technology I use is beneficial to my needs and the needs of the classroom. The most memorable lesson from this module was learning the difference between synchronous learning and asynchronous learning. I didn’t know there was a difference between the two, plus I loved making an online newsletter using Smore. Also, I enjoyed learning about the different LMS tools available. I feel that I am more prepared for teaching an online classroom.

I used the Brightspace D2L website to create my course. I found the setup was very easy because it was already outline to create each feature of the course including the syllabus, the course schedule, the content, assignments and even discussion boards. I was a little confused with how I would build the course from the zip file given through the course, and I honestly thought that it was going to be an all-night experience. I was pleased to see that all I had to do was upload the course package and the website did all the rest! It was simple and easy and I’m glad that tools like this is available for schools. It takes all the work out of trying to build courses on our own. I think that as long as each step is followed carefully—which is given to the user by the site, then the user will have no problem creating th perfect course for their LMS

There are various levels to grade reporting. The student level reports the amount of time the student access the LMS. It also gives an account to the number attempts on a quiz or test as well the amount of time spent on an assignment. The teacher level will give information on the effectiveness of the teacher and if the instructor is efficient in instruction. The course level of reporting gives information about the effectiveness of the course and if there would be necessary changes made. Lastly the program level gives information about the overall effectiveness of the LMS and if there are improvements that need to be made. I personally think the most important level is the student. The goal is to make sure that student is learning the content well and at a high standard, looking at the student reports will make the teacher aware of any needs that need to be addressed in order to make the successful.

     I believe that the most relevant feature of the LMS is the e-portfolio tool. A lot of times, when students are learning online, they may not have the opportunity to have a face to face experience where they can show what they have learned. Having a running portfolio that is available online, allows the student and teacher really see what they have accomplished not only with one class but over several classes. And being that there isn’t no one on one interaction communication is key to any effective online instruction. Ensuring that there is an open line of communication between the teachers, parents, and students are vital towards academic success. I would use these tools to ensure that my parents are aware of the progress of their student and the students are aware of the expectations of the course. Also keeping track of the student’s grades and sending alerts about important assignments and announcement will help the student stay on track and keep up with the work...

I think the trend that will have the biggest impact on learning and the classroom will be mobile learning. I think this mainly because cellphones have become staple in students life’s and they are way cheaper than laptops or tablets. They can be purchased with government assistance and they are the smallest device that can have access to the entire world wide web.  The future of online learning will be driven by mobile learning because more students will have phones more than any other device. Especially since every year, phones get closer and closer to being able to do what laptop and computers can. I believe that this is definitely not a fad and will essentially become a necessity to not only online learning, but  learning in general. 

The LMS that I think is the best is the Blackboard Learning Managements System. It meets the needs of all the important stakeholders in a school. For students, it makes sure that the learners can have access to the system whether though mobile capability or an offline version that doesn’t require internet. For teachers, it provides opportunity to easily differentiate the classroom. It also provides an assistant that can help teachers with instruction by automating certain parts of the lesson simultaneously. The IT department will have an easier job with data because of the SIS integration which allows easy seamless integration and allow data to flow easily between the student and the Blackboard Classroom. For the administration, the system can easily be implemented with all the training being provided by Blackboard as well as having a bi-directional information system to ensure a smooth transition. For the developer, Blackboard’s design for mobile apps enable learners to interact and ...

http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cbfjVg6Stx The screen capture can allow students to see what’s going on your screen while, speaking to them about the content you are teaching. This is great for modeling with student exactly what you want to be done in an assignment or teaching them a new method within the system. Teaching can be modified by now having the ability to review lessons and pause the teacher on their own pace.

I used the Google Hangout tool. I practiced the video tool, as well as the phone call feature and the messaging feature. I also practiced with my favorite application which was the screen casting that allowed students or other users view my current screen on my laptop. While using the tool, I found that it was very simple to login because it is lined to my Gmail account—which is also free. It was very easy to navigate as a teacher and I think students would be able to work with it as well. The only problem that may arise is that the user must have a Google account, which you must be 13 years old to have. So parents will need to make an account for their students, but everything else is completely free and easily accessible. Overall I think Google Hangout would be very beneficial to the classroom. It will give the opportunity to have the face to face interactions between the teacher and the students and also give a platform for conferences with parents or small groups. 

When it comes to synchronous learning, I personally prefer commercial software verses open source. Open source software usually comes with features that are catered to the learning environment. They are easy to use, and they add value to the learning community itself. Also, many commercial software can be verified as research based so it has been proven to be beneficial and improve the learning experience in some way. Plus, commercial software has many gadgets that I, as a tech geek, enjoy to use during instruction. In contrast, the open source software is drastically cheaper—free, which can be a great asset to teachers who are not given the opportunity to have resources available to them. Also most open source software is very basic which allows younger users to be more open to using them every day during instruction. Essentially open source software would be ideal for schools or teachers who want all students to have accessibility to the need materials for the class without ruining ...

     The Participate module has made sure that each of the standards listed above have been met. In regards to standard C, I could create lessons on teaching others how to be safe online and follow the legal laws of copyright and fair use. I also came up with several presentations that could be used in a lesson, including the presentation: “How to be Digitally Safe in a Digital World.” I have made presentations about internet etiquette and developed a social network of bookmarks for students to use to be a part of digital learning communities which shows mastery in Standard E. The biggest lesson that was most beneficial to me was the digital health portion. So often, teachers just focus on the work, and making sure the students learn; but it is also important to make sure that they are healthy. I feel that this goes with standard J because teacher must be professional but also they should be role models even with being an example for healthy interaction with online learn...