Still Here

I don't know if anyone is following this blog or not. I just wanted to drop by and say "Hi." I'm taking a little break to do several things:

-  Reflect on my learning up to this point
-  Organize my resources and references
-  Do a little redesign of my blog
- Incorporate this Blog into my e-portfolio

That's enough to keep me busy fro the next couple of weeks. I will be starting EDUC 761 (Collaborative Communities in E-Learning) June 10, 2013. I'm trying not to take too much of a break, don't want to get out of the learning mode. Oh, quick mention, I have been discovering some really interesting blogs, thumb through them if and when you get a minute. Will blog you later ;)

Week 8 Final Thoughts, Not A Final Entry (Assessment in E-Learning)

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        Assessment in E-Learning has really been a learning experience for me. It has taken my Web 2.0 knowledge to an unprecedented level. Prior to this course, I didn’t know about online assessment tools. Most of my experience has been in the classroom. I don’t have any experience in online training. I believe, by completing this course, I am more prepared now to take on the task. I have the confidence to write lesson objectives that are measurable by the appropriate Web 2.O tools. I have a wealth of reading resources to refer to. I gained valuable insight from my classmates and instructor (Mr. Jim Erbe), a trusty sage of knowledge.

        My workshop is not taught online. It’s still in an f2f (Face 2 Face) format. My plans are to bring it online. This will enable me to addresses larger audience while creating a course that is accessible and budget friendly. From the modules, I have learned how critical it is to have assessments that will accurately measure the level of accomplishment for the individual student. It is also important to utilize more than one assessment tool to get good measure of the individual students capabilities. Conducting a good assessment will enable me to make the appropriate adjustments to my course and discover what areas I need to improve upon to increase my student’s retention of the subject matter. Transfer of training will be the final measure of the success of the course and the assessment.

      I gained valuable knowledge from researching and utilizing several of the Web @2.0 tools. I utilized Blogger as my blog of choice. For me, this was a very easy tool to set-up and I use. I won’t have any problem explaining to my students or other instructors on its benefits and uses. I got really comfortable with Weebly for creating webpages. I have created three so far and it just keeps getting easier. I have created short videos with Animoto. This is another great resource that I have become comfortable with. All of these tools will enable me to provide an online course that is accessible, easy, and enjoyable to work with. If you can take anxiety out of the equation or at the very lease reduce it, I think you will go a long way towards making your online teaching experiences effective for you and retainable for your future students.

       I would be remiss not to thank all of my EDUC 762 EDUC 762  Classmates. You all provided valuable and generous feedback, great discussion topics, shred experiences, and an internet load full of great resources. Thank you for helping me to continue my educational journey.

Week 7 (Assessment In E-Learning Final Project)

What can I say about this project? It was a lot of work! I t will probably still require more work and it will never be complete. It’s an e-portfolio. I’m thinking shouldn’t they continually evolve and grow as we continue on our individual educational journeys? I chose to use a Weebly website to construct my final project with. I followed the outline and the advice that was provided by Jim. I think that I captured all of the elements that he wanted to be included in the final project. At the same time I have personalized it to make it my own.

I reviewed and rated four Web 2.0 tools: Vyew, Animoto, Blogger, and TestMoz. These are not the only tools but they are the ones that I feel would be most applicable to learners and my workshop. I have provided information related to how I would be applying these tools to my Leadership Is Everyone’s Business (LIEB) Workshop. I have also addressed topics related to accessibility, plagiarism, and student-centered learning.

Creating and assessing an online course involves a lot of research, more than I could have possibly imagine. Getting your objectives properly formatted to enhance a student's knowledge is equally challenging. I did several rewrites to get them to a point where I could actually create an assessment to accurately measure them. My assessment toolbox is is something that I will utilize for reference and as a reminder of the importance of creating solid and usable tools and references. 

Week 6 (Assessment In E-Learning)

       This has been the toughest, yet most productive week yet. I have put a lot of work into my final project. It's a work in progress so I'm sure I will be adding more to it as I continue the E-Learning Program.  I know, as I go forward, there will be more things to add to my tool box due to nature of technological advancements. In the upcoming days ahead, I will get the chance to post my final project to our class discussion board to get that all important feedback from my classmates. I'm looking forward to their feedback to further refine my tool box.

Finding My Bearings (Assessment In E-Learning)

This has really been a hectic couple of days. I am training two instructors for a workshop that we have to put on next week, pulling together the logistical aspects(students, rooms, workbooks, guest speakers), and working diligently towards finishing up this course. It's a lot of work creating something from nothing, but once you get it together and look back, it's all worth it. Several weeks ago, I only read blogs, today I'm posting to my own. I was  browsing websites, now I'm playing around with header designs. This was a case of a lot of experimentation. I have to tell you, I think I did a pretty good job. Okay enough patting myself on the back, I have papers to write and courses to finish.


All you online teachers out there, if I said it once, I will say it again, "I A-P-P-R-E-C-I-A-T-E you!!"

Week 6 Sneek Peak Post (Assessment In E-Learning)

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        New challenge this week folks. I get to craft up a pre-course survey for a future online course that I will be facilitating. I am drawing a blank right now. It could be from the hundreds of surveys that I have completed in my lifetime that is causing me to have an outbreak of Murfnesia. Be careful that you don’t stare at my post for too long, you might catch it.

        I guess the question that I have to answer is, “How can I generate an effective survey that will ask the questions that I need to know about my future students and their course/workshop expectations?”  Hmmm…what a conundrum. Well, I will rely on my past painful experiences taking surveys and try to generate a relevant and painless one for my future online students.

      In addition to that, I’m still hurtling head first towards the end of the course. I’m gathering all my passengers (assignments) to make sure that we make it to our destination in one piece.

Week 5 Edit, Edit, and Re-Edit (Assessment In E-Learning)

       I'm taking my self through Ground Hog Day with my Bloom Taxonomy doc, Rubric, and higher order assessment objective. Teachers and Educators of the world, I sincerely apologize.
I  envisioned you
as tormentors determined to keep me from enjoying the sun shiny days of my youth with all your assessments and quizzes. Please forgive my "dunce cap" wearing self. I had no idea of the time, effort, edits, and re-edits that you went through to ensure that unappreciative young hooligans like myself could aspire to be something better and greater. I apologize. If I wasn't gainfully employed, I would come back and sit through classes and be the model citizen in the class. Unfortunately, my boss won't give me a note to come back to school. Besides, a guy my size would have an awful time trying to fit into one of those combination desk chairs.

            Okay, I digress. My future online students will have the best assessments that I can create utilizing the latest Web 2.0 tools, knowledge of the subject matter, and good fashioned "burning the midnight oil." The assessment aspect may be important, but I have to tell you the assessment instrument carriers equal if not greater importance. You really have to put a great deal of thought into the creation of lesson objectives. I now know that they have to be aligned and they have to be relevant in order to generate a meaningful and applicable learning experience for my students. I was a bit of a memorization finatic in school. It's not really about memorization, it's all in the application. The $5 (actual worth based on today's economy) question is, " Little Johnny or Little Susie build that bridge based on what they know or what they can remember?"

 Oh, a very important point to mention, while you are in the lab creating your masterpiece, get that second set of eyes for a sanity check. Be prepared for someone to call your baby ugly, but don't suffer in silence.

Week 4 (Halfway There for This Journey)

 This week I learned a very valuable lesson: the devil is in the details. I really have to pay close attention to instructions. If I miss the little things or leave out details, how can I successfully create clear and concise lesson objectives for my students?

This week was very intense. Its not easy working in a team environment, there are so many things you have to be concerned with. You have to make sure that you are communicating with everyone and you stay on top of deadlines. Trust is crucial when working with teams. My team is pretty motivated and we are all concerned with delivering a great product. Our motivation?,  we will be utilizing the tools that we create for our own personal toolboxes so we all have vested interest in getting it right.

What I learned this week is the importance using more than one tool to assess student learning.  This will provide you with many opportunities for you to adjust/revise your teaching strategy to help a struggling student. From the video, "An Introduction to Comprehensive Assessment,” not all things will require a classroom assessment or can be truly measured by a classroom assessment. The learning that students receive in the classroom sometimes can only be fully assessed based on their success or failure in the application of the learning after the books are closed or they have signed off from their last online class. Take a moment to swing by the Team Oscar the Grouch Assessment Toolbox webpage when you get a minute. Let me know what you think. Click on it under my link list.

Self /Peer Assessment (A Few Brief Words)

This is pretty difficult to do, but if you can pull this off with respect for the person being assessed, all people involved can benefit from the experience. You have to remember,  "assess the results and not the individual." I am overly hard on myself when it comes to self-evaluation. It’s a fine line that requires the right amount of balance. You don’t want to walk on water and you definitely don’t want to appear as a lifeless lump.

Random Thoughts (Murf Original)

"Collaboration  is cooperation dependent in the same location."

"Collaboration is time dependent in an online environment."

Week 3 Reach Back (Assessment in E-Learning)

Our team has been working on researching assessment tools for our midterm project. We are exploring several different assessment tools. It’s a win-win, because we shared our knowledge, learning a little more about the importance of using more than one tool to effectively and accurately assess learning. 

 

The discussion board this week really expounded on the topics presented by Curtis Bonk, (30 Emerging Technologies for e- Learning) and their possible impacts on online assessments. We focused on the major elements of the Perfect Storm: emerging technology, enormous learner demand, enhanced pedagogy, and erased budgets.We also discussed several of the emerging technologies and their related impacts.

For a newcomer, such as myself,  to e-learning these Perfect Storm elements are critical to understand and be able to cope with to ensure the educational success of my online learners. I will have to be able to weather the storm to keep my future students focused on the destination instead of the journey.

We also had to develop a concept map for our learning objectives. The concept map really helped me to see my learning objectives. I was able to develop my objectives by integrating activities and assessments from an expanded view. It helped me to think critically about the structure, content, and relativity of the objectives to my topics and my over all lesson plan.

Week 3 Initial Post (Assessment in E-Learning)

Last week I alluded to how challenging that I thought that Assessment in E-Learning would be in the coming weeks. Man, was that an understatement. With all the the discussion posting, content mapping, and team projects we have to do over the next couple of weeks, it's going to be like stacking grease marbles with a catcher's mitt on an incline. Whew, say that 3 times while you running from a pack of hungry dogs wearing a meat suit. I'm looking forward to this challenge. I am the official president of Team Oscar the Grouch (Team OtG). We have been collaborating , communicating, and updating. These are a few of the good qualities that every team needs. Oh, when you get a chance, check out my LO Concept map. Hold on tight, I ain't done yet!!

Closing Out Week 2 (Assessment in E-Learning)

There were some great discussion topics related to blogging and their use as an assessment tool this week. I was wrestling with ideas of how to apply this to my leadership development workshop. It's not an online e-course. For the time being, it's a classroom facilitated workshop. I have to really develop a way to get this online and utilize the power of reflective discussion. We have a mix of digital natives and digital immigrants working for the DoD, so that would be a consideration in the design of the e-course  Putting this workshop online could definitely reap the benefits of the technology, it's just a matter of time and money, mostly money. I will continue to prepare for this challenge by learning as much and as fast I can over the next several weeks.

I have to admit, getting this blog together was a little stressful. My classmates have awesome layouts. From what I can see from their examples, you can be as creative as you like.

E-Learning Classes

Closing out the E-Learning for Educators this weekend, woo hoo!! That class really rocked. I'm glad that I will have access to all the discussion posts and reading references for one year, I will need that time to refer back to all that information.

Assessments in E-Learning will present me with equally challenging and exciting tasks. I designed my own personal web page for E-Learning for Educators. For this class, I have created a blog. I will figure out this whole technology thing eventually. Looking forward to the next several weeks with new and former classmates.

Making My Blog Presentable

Maybe I am getting too deep in the weeds with this thing. Burned a little bit of midnight oil working on my blog. I don't want design flaws to be a distraction. More changes to come. At this point, it's usable. I will take any suggestions for improvement.

Week 2 Reachback (Assessment in E-Learning)

     The last couple of days I have been reading, posting, and replying to my classmate’s posts on our discussion board. I have been getting great insights related to blogging and it’s application as an assessment tool. I have really been reading and researching a lot on creating blogs.  I really want to have a user-friendly blog site. This would be great if I could implement it at my job. The biggest hurdle with this is the security concerns with my IT department. I will approach that bridge when I get to it, for right now I will continue going through the resources and ideas being provided by my classmates.

             I have been reviewing my classmate’s blogs. They have great layouts. They have given me the inspiration to continue to develop my site in order for it to be educational for me and a nice information resource for people who view it. I got some great incite from the article regarding reflection strategies. I don't have the capability or administrator privileges to create blogs at my job. (security concerns).  I use the good old pen and paper method. I utilize this in my leadership development workshops. Our reflection exercises are very powerful tools that helps my participants to look back on their experiences, write about them, and share them in small group.

Assessment Results: Teacher-centered or Learner-centered

    
 I thought this was a good assessment of my knowledge of teacher and learner centered assessments. My responses were based on my interpretations of the the differences between the two. I have a better understanding of the differences and I think this will help me to develop relevant methods to assess my future students both online and in the classroom.

Starting My Blogging Journey

Hello Bloggers!! 

This is my first stab at doing this, so I hope I’m getting this right. I am currently enrolled in the University of Wisconsin’s E-Learning Graduate Certificate Program. The are several courses in the curriculum. I am currently taking the Assessments in E-Learning course. This blog will be a chronology of my educational journey through the program. I have never blogged before; this is all new to me. If I break a blogging rule, please let me now. I do not have a desire to get blogged down. (Ha Ha).

Eventually this blog will become a part of my e-Portfolio. You will see many changes. I am open to any and all help, suggestions, and feedback. With that being said, blog on!!

Reaching Back Week 1 (Assessments in E-Learning)

I never would have thought that talking about movies would be such an interesting icebreaker.  please take a look at my contribution, below,  to the discussion. There were so many movies references. I liked this idea because it sparked memories of families and good and bad times. Having the courage at the first meeting to speak freely about personal things breaks down barriers and often put people at ease. The really amazing thing to me was how the icebreaker activities had tie-in to an article by Mr. Michael Buhagiar that was required reading for the first week.  We had great discussions related to assessments.

Ice Breaker Activity: Let's Go to the Movies (Assessments in E-Learning)

       I don't know if many of you are familiar with the Griswold Family, but over the years they have been on several vacations. Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) have been to Wally World, Europe, and Vegas. The film most meaningful to our family is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Synopsis from the DVD, "It's Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon."

       The film most meaningful to our family is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The main point of the film, for me, is nothing's more impotent than family. No matter how eccentric, family is important. Since 1989, this movie has been a family tradition for my wife, son, daughter, and me. We put on our matching pajamas (my wife buys these each year) and gather our snacks. Every Christmas, even though we almost know the lines by heart, there is no conversation, only laughter and enjoyment of the film. It's been harder to keep the tradition since my kids joined the military. But, they have their own copies and at the same time, each year, we sit to watch the movie. It reminds us of the importance of just stopping our hectic schedules and enjoying family. This is something that we talk about and plan for each year. 

Blogging Newbie (My Blog is is Born)

This is part of an assignment in my educational journey discovering the importance of assessments. I am currently attending UWStout online. My course for the next 8 weeks is EDUC 762 - Assessments in E-Learning. This blog will become a part of my e-portfolio.