Observer-Participant-Leader

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) has outlined the Framework of Essential Skills of the K-12 CTO.  The framework is comprised of three primary categories.  These categories are Leadership & Vision, Understanding the Educational Environment, and Managing Technology & Support Resources.  Each category includes 10 essential skill areas that describe the responsibilities and knowledge necessary to become an educational technology leader.

Over the past two years I have focused my professional learning and participation more on the area of technology education.  This focus was partly because I was earning my EdS in Instructional Technology. The other reason is because I like technology, and I want to learn as much about technology as I can.

During this time, I have participated in several activities that fall into the categories of the Framework of Essential Skills.  I have written the school’s tech plan, I have taken on the role of the school technology representative, and I have been a member of the school budget committee.  Through all of these activities, I have been an Observer, a Participant, and/or a Leader.

During the 2014-2015 school year, I was active in writing the school’s 2015-2016 technology plan, and am on course to write the school’s technology plan for the 2016-2017 as well.  Throughout the course of writing the technology plan, I have been an observer, a participant, and a leader.  In the area of Leadership & Vision,  I observed 1C--the facilitating of priority setting and decision making for the use of technology to support the district’s goals.  My principal distributed a survey for teachers to complete based on their use of technology in the classroom and during instruction.  She then took the results of the survey and asked the faculty which areas they would like to focus on the following school year.  I was now a participant.  The principal then passed all information on to me, and I took on the role of a leader in the area of Strategic Planning (2C) when I aligned the technology team activities with the school district goals while writing the school’s tech plan in AdvancED.  Writing the technology plan also required me to take on a leadership role in the area of Stakeholder Focus (6C) as I collaborated to create a vision of how technology supported the district’s goals.

In the fall of 2014, I was appointed as the school’s technology representative.  In this role, I act as a liaison between the school and the district IT department.  I began as an observer in the area of Instructional Focus and Professional Development (4B) through communication and collaboration with the district instructional leadership when I attended the district technology meeting as my school’s representative.  During this meeting several topics were discussed such as steps to writing the school’s technology plan and BYOD pilot programs. During this time, I have been a participant in the area of Stakeholder Focus (6B) to build relationships with both teachers and members of the district IT department.  I have also been a participant in the area of Communication Systems (8C) to accommodate technical issues related to various communication tools as I am the first person to contact in the building regarding technical issues.  If I cannot resolve the technical issues using troubleshooting techniques advised by the IT department, I will then report the issues to the district IT department.  This role also allows me to be an observer in the area of Communication Systems (8F) as I shadow the IT member when they are in the school to maintain communication systems to ensure that all programs are updated, compliant, and operational.

In October 2015, I was chosen to be a member of the school’s budget committee. I was nominated to the committee by the faculty, primarily because I am also the technology representative.  While serving on this committee, I have been an observer and a participant in the area of Business Management.  I have observed how to make purchases following relevant laws, policies, and guidelines (9D), and how to manage funds by following basic financial and accounting principles and guidelines (9E).  I met with other members of the committee, and we discussed technology needs (as well as other school needs) in order to spend our budget funds.  We discussed appropriate vendors for purchasing technology, as well as quantities of items that required accounting guidelines to be followed.  I then took on a participant role as I managed the annual budget (9B) to determine the unit price of items and complete the budget form for purchases.  I am also a leader to manage and negotiate with vendors (9F) as I am to order the items and complete the purchase order(s) for the items.  These purchases will lead to future professional development in the area of technology (9H), and will be included in the 2016-2017 technology plan.

These are just three examples of how I have participated in the area of technology at my school.  I did not realize that I had participated in as many areas of the Framework as I had until I began reading through the 10 essential skill areas.  The CoSN’s Framework of Essential Skills is an excellent guide for teachers to follow when identifying their skills and knowledge in the area of technology.

**All information and definitions regarding the CoSN Framework was taken from the Consortium for School Networking (2015) Washington, D.C. http://cosn.org/framework

Online Learning

Online learning has become increasingly popular.  What once was used as a way to provide distance education at the post-secondary level is now also being used at both the elementary and secondary levels.  I have taken several online courses and trainings over the past 9 years while earning graduate degrees and completing professional development trainings.  As one would expect, I have had varying experiences with these types of courses.

Like most anything else in life, there are pros and cons to online learning.  The benefits to online learning includes flexibility—work on your time whenever you can and wherever you are.  Online courses allow those with full-time jobs and/or families to earn a degree without affecting their existing schedule.  Well, at least not too much. 

One of the best experiences I have had with online learning had a great deal to do with the instructional design.  Moore and Kearsley (2011) state that online course designers should explain what is expected of their students in such a way that students will not only know the objectives of the course, but also how they should demonstrate their learning throughout every module, unit, lesson, and activity of the course.  The best experience(s) I have had with online learning did just that.  I was presented with an overview of the course, then an overview of the module, followed by individual explanations of each assignment.  One course even went as far as to provide step-by-step instructions of what needed to be done in order to complete each module.  This course was my favorite!  I love lists because I like to check things off as they are completed.  I guess that is the visual learner in me.

While most of my online learning experiences have been pleasant, not all have been ideal.  One class in particular comes to mind.  Moore and Kearsley (2011) state that in order to be able to construct an online learning program, you must begin with creating objectives and evaluations, which cannot be done unless one knows what they are actually trying to teach.  The instructor of my less than ideal class was obviously not familiar with the course.  The instructions for some of the assignments were not clear, and many of us needed clarification on numerous occasions.  The main issue was not that there were multiple misunderstandings, but that the instructor did not understand either—she gave one set of directions, and then changed them after the due date!  And when several people were late turning in one assignment, she sent out a mass email to the class stating that many had not turned in the assignment on time.  Needless to say, this caused some hard feelings because the assignment was turned in based on the instructor’s prior “clarification” of the assignment directions, and they were embarrassed by her “scolding”.

Designing Online Learning Interview        

Educators must keep in mind that online learning requires instructors to be encouraging and supportive of learners who are at varying levels of self-directedness (Moore & Kearsley, 2011).  Overall, I am happy to say that my experiences with online classes have been very pleasant.  I love the flexibility of online learning.  I thoroughly enjoy being able to work at my own pace!  When signing up for classes or trainings, my first choice is typically online learning.

Reference:

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2012).  Distance education: A systems view of online 

           learning.  United States: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

Virtual Schools

           Education is constantly changing.  As educators we consistently seek out more effective and efficient ways to meet our students’ ever-changing needs.  One of the up and coming methods to provide for our students' individual needs is virtual schooling.

            The State of Alabama is joining the virtual schooling realm.  While ACCESS has been provided for students in Alabama schools since 2005, school districts will be required to provide students in grades 9-12 with a virtual education option to be in place by the 2016-2017 school year.  As of 2015, five states have required students to take at least one online course as a graduation requirement (Samuelsohn, 2015).  According to Moore and Kearsley (2011) students will need to have knowledge of “digital literacy” in order to be able to function in an Information Age society.  Digital literacy refers to the knowledge of input and output of computers, phone, or other electronic devices (Moore & Kearsly, 2011).  Requiring/taking online courses is a method for incorporating digital literacy into the curriculum.

              While some schools in Alabama have developed a virtual school policy, many are still in the process.  The district in which I teach is one of those schools.  A virtual school policy has not yet been developed, but has been discussed.  As of now, the plan for developing a virtual school plan will begin with research.  Other school policies will be reviewed, and our district plan will most likely be developed using Best Practices that best fit our district needs.

            The next step for my district in regard to virtual schooling would be to develop an outline for the policy.  We need to review the state requirements for the policy to ensure the district policy meets all requirements for virtual schooling—scope and delivery, student eligibility criteria, requirements for monitoring and testing, and attendance requirements.  Requirements for participation in extracurricular/athletics should also be taken into consideration when developing the policy.  The district should also choose an LMS, so students will know at home requirements in advance. 

            The way we teach and learn changes with our society, but it also changes due to economics.  “As the cost of electronically transmitting information has been falling, the cost of conventional education and training has been rising” (Moore & Kearsley, 2011, pg. 275).  Virtual schooling is another resource to provide educational opportunities for our students as effectively and efficiently as possible.

The Dabbs Family, a military family, uses a virtual schooling option.

References:

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2012).  Distance education: A systems view of online 

           learning.  United States: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

Samuelsohn, D. (2015).  Virtual schools are booming.  Who’s paying attention? 

http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/09/virtual-schools-education-000227

Virtual Learning

Distance education has evolved quite a bit over the years as described in the text, Distance Education: A Systems View of Online Learning (Moore & Kearsley, 2012).  The writers describe “the most recent generation of distance learning” as virtual learning.  This virtual learning is a combination of teaching and learning online, while attending “classes” and universities using Internet technology (pg. 23).

This blog entry is a 3-2-1 post--3 things that impressed me, 2 things that surprised me, and 1 question I still have regarding virtual learning.  While reading and viewing the material for the topic of virtual learning, there were several points that I found interesting.    First of all, I was impressed that the State of Alabama became the 2nd state in the country to create an online learning requirement.  This program is called ACCESS.  Our state often falls to the bottom of the list in many national polls, so it is a nice change to be one of the “firsts”.  

Another factor that impressed me was learning that some schools have full time virtual teachers--that is all they do.  Most of the schools and virtual programs I am familiar with are taught by classroom teachers who have virtual classes in addition to their regular workload.  If teachers were able to focus strictly on their virtual classes, they would be more likely to treat their virtual students as face-to-face students.  In fact, some virtual teachers do try to treat their virtual students the same as their face-to-face classroom students. This was the third idea that impressed me about virtual learning.    Several virtual teachers make efforts to visit their virtual students in their “home” schools.  For example, if a virtual teacher has several students at one school, she makes an effort to visit the school to meet the students face to face.  This is an example of the “humanizing” factor described in chapter 6 of the text.  Humanizing occurs when virtual teachers emphasize the importance of Students as individuals and encourage group rapport (Moore & Kearsley, 2012, pg. 137).  

There were also points regarding virtual learning that surprised me.  One of these was that several schools have had little interest in virtual school in lieu of coming to class.  The schools who offered this as an option were larger schools attempting to lower their class sizes.  One would think that students would jump at the chance to not go to school.  The virtual teachers believe that students see school as a social event, and do not want to miss seeing their friends.  I tend to agree with them.

I was also not aware that so many states have operational online K-12 schools.  According to the information provided in the module, 11 of the 16 Southern Regional Educational Board states have K-12 online schools, while there are 6 states with absolutely no public virtual schools.  I know that there are virtual programs available in our state, and that online programs have become increasingly popular for post-secondary education, but I did not know that so many states have online programs for K-12 schools.   With the current amount of technology usage in our society’s day to day activities, I find it difficult to believe that there are still states without public virtual schools.  Operational online schools can provide many opportunities for K-12 students that might not be available otherwise.

Many still have questions regarding virtual schools.  One question I still have is how are virtual classes and/or virtual learning opportunities used in the elementary grades?  Most of the information in the module discussed how virtual learning is used in upper grades, particularly eighth through twelfth grades.  I also wonder if any states have current models including the use of virtual programs in the elementary school.  I have a few ideas for how virtual learning programs can be used in elementary grades.  I have included these ideas in the infographic below.  

The use of virtual learning programs is an interesting topic.  Many states are still working toward implementing these types of programs.  Although our society is technology-rich, the idea of using technology in K-12 schools is still fairly new.  

References

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2012).  Distance education: A systems view of online learning.  United

States: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

Choosing an LMS

Distance education is becoming more prevalent in today’s educational society.  Most people think of distance education as taking classes off campus.  In the text, Distance Education: A Systems View of Online Learning (Moore & Kearsley, 2012), the authors discuss the various terminologies for distance education such as e-learning, online learning, and distributed learning.  All of these terms include the use of technology and the Internet.  Learning Management Systems are programs that help create, organize, and deliver educational courses (“What’s an LMS?,” n.d.).  Distance education and Learning Management Systems typically go hand in hand.

There are many different types of Learning Management Systems (LMS) available for use.  When choosing an LMS, one must consider the program's features and capabilities to determine what would best fit the needs for the objectives of the course.  When reviewing the various types of LMS available, I narrowed the best fit for me down to three choices: Google Classroom, Moodle, and Edmodo.

Google Classroom has several advantages that appealed to me.  First of all, it’s free.  Free is always good.  The only downfall is it is only free to Google Apps for Education (GAFE) organizations.  Another advantage is that you have unlimited storage because it’s linked to your Google Drive.  Google Classroom also allows you to link other Google tools such as Calendar, Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Forms—even Gmail.  These are all programs I already use, but my school is not a GAFE organization, so I had to move on to another choice.

Moodle was one of the first LMS systems used within the system where I teach to support blended learning.  Blended learning refers to using the Internet to complete assignments, to follow-up or extend lessons from the classroom and is a prominent form of distance education in the K-12 classroom (Moore & Kearsley, 2012).  Research found that in the 2007-2008 school years an estimated 1,030,000 K-12 students engaged in online courses (Moore & Kearsley, 2012, p. 55).  Moodle offered many of the features that appealed to me in an LMS.  These features include requiring an access key to enroll in a class, various assignment features (quizzes, discussions, surveys, etc.), and grading and recording capabilities.  The main problem with Moodle is that it is not necessarily user-friendly.  I know this from experience.  I did set up a Moodle account for my class, but I never used it because it was time-consuming.  Plus, a host server is required to use Moodle, so if your system or organization does not provide that host server, you will not be able to run the software.

Edmodo became my LMS of choice.  With Edmodo, I can provide a safe, secure learning environment for my students.  The students will not be able to search nor find others within this program.  A safe environment is critical for me especially since I teach younger students, and my main goal is simply to incorporate technology through blended learning opportunities.  Edmodo offers many of the same features as Moodle—quizzes, discussions, surveys, grading and recording capabilities—but it also allows for parents to have access to their child’s grades and to stay in contact with the teacher.  Like Google Classroom it is free, but you do not have to be a member of an organization for it to be free—it’s really free!  Of course there are also some disadvantages to choosing Edmodo.  For example it is Internet based, so I would not be able to use Edmodo assignments for homework unless all of my students have Internet access at home.  The disadvantages are not an issue for my students since, as I said before, they are younger and there are some features I wouldn’t use. 

Choosing an LMS is an important part of distance learning.  The programs can help educators plan, organize, and deliver instruction.  You must decide how you want to use an LMS during instruction, and what features would best benefit your needs.  Read "What is an LMS?" to learn more about LMS software programs.

References

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2012).  Distance education: A systems view of online learning.  United

States: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

What’s an LMS? (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.talentlms.com/what-is-an-lms/.