During this past quarter, I was able to expand my knowledge in the area of technology for educational leaders. I enjoyed learning about the kinds of infrastructures there are for technology in the educational field, the Ed Norman syndrome and how I can use technology more effectively in my field of teaching mathematics at the community college level. I plan in the near future to develop a hybrid mathematics course for remedial level mathematics in which the students can work on their assignments with a computer and submit all of their homework over the Internet.
To summarize my three focus project, I have learned how to use the PRS Interwrite radio frequency clickers in my classroom to make learning more exciting and fun for the students. The students really enjoyed the session in which we decided to use the clickers and video tape the students for my project. I also learned how to use Camtasia better to create training videos in which I explain how to set up a class, input questions, run a session and grade a session on the PRS Interwrite system. Other instructors at my college are currently using the video training sessions that I developed this quarter as a means of learning how to create their own sessions for the PRS Interwrite system. So I developed my project for training purposes and not just for the project grade reasons.
I also developed a proposal for the purchase of another classroom set of PRS Interwrite radio frequency clickers for my third project. My proposal is currently under review by our department chair and probably will go to the dean of instruction by the end of this month. If successful, hopefully they will have enough funds left over in the budget to purchase another classroom set of radio frequency clickers by the end of this fiscal year.
In the future, I plan to continue using the PRS Interwrite clickers in my classes, especially my remedial math classes. I also plan to search for new ways to incorporate technology use in my classes, whether it be through new means of presenting the material, or perhaps a new Internet program that the students can access at home.
Activity log for the week of March 12 - March 18
Monday, March 12: downloaded podcast to computer
Tuesday, March 13: began transcribing notes, wrote this blog posting.
Wednesday, March 14: Happy Pi Day! (3.14) Respond to classmate blog postings.
Thursday, March 15 - Sunday, March 18: continue responding to classmates blog postings.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Monday, March 5, 2007
Session Nine March 5 - March 11
At Riverside Community College, we have some very good professional development workshops that are beneficial to many faculty and staff members and we have some that are a complete waste of time for many of the attendees at the meetings. Most of the professional development workshops are mandatory, so we don't really have a choice as to which to attend and which to skip.
Some of excellent examples of professional development come from our faculty innovation center. In this center, there are scheduled workshops dealing with the use of many of the software packages that are on our personal computers. There are workshops from beginning to advance use of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Frontpage, Publisher and Outlook. There are workshops on Adobe Photoshop, PaintPro, Camtasia, Dreamweaver and many more. These workshops are scheduled throughout the day to give opportunities for all faculty and staff members to attend. Usually the workshops are hands on, with the computer right in front of you to follow along and perform for yourself. The workshops usually last 1-2 hours in length, and they always provide cookies and some sort of drink for your enjoyment. The size of the workshops range from 2 people to 10 people at most, so there is plenty of opportunities to ask individualize questions and receive one on one training. And the workshops are spread out, so there will be a beginning level workshop one week, and the following week, there will be an intermediate level workshop with the advance workshop following in the third week. I have attend several of these workshops over the years and learned how to use Word, Excel, Publisher and Frontpage from these workshops.
Another example of an excellent workshop as an example of professional development is our sexual harassment workshop that is offered by our college. During this workshop, we are presented with a one hour lecture describing the types of sexual harassment in the workplace, and then we are presented with skits or plays in which we have to determine whether they representing an example of sexual harassment in the workplace or not. I feel by showing us examples and having us determine whether these are sexual harassment or not, gives us a better understanding of the topic of sexual harassment.
A poor example of professional development is our academic council retreats that we have bi-annually. During these workshops, which last from 8am - 3:30pm, all of the department chairs listen to lectures and presentations given by the administration on topics such as fill ratios, room utilization, budgetary issues, administration flowcharts and time schedule brackets. Usually these meetings start off with the typical stand up and introduce yourself which usually takes 20-30 minutes in itself. We have been going to the same meetings for the last 3 years, so I think by now, we all mostly know each other. The topics that are covered are not of interest to many of the chairs in the department. I know in the PE department, I am not interested in room utilization because my classrooms for my classes are either the gym or the track. But we still need to attend these meetings because they are mandatory and required.
Another poor example of professional development is our bi-annual faculty retreats. These meetings are also all day long, including lunch in the middle. But the topics discussed during these meetings is not of interest to a majority of the attendees. Most of the meeting is taken up by the administration justifying what they do all day long during the semester. If there are any presentations dealing with the use of technology, it is usually 30 minutes in length and only shows the bells and whistles of the technology in the classroom. For example, we have had presentations using the PDAs in the classroom and the tablet PC in the classroom, but neither of these workshops allowed us any hands on experience with the technology. It was just presented and showed to us, allowing us to see and view its capabilities. I find these presentations interesting, but I believe that is partially due to the fact that I like technology and seeing how technology can improve my teaching. A majority of the faculty are not interested in these presentations and find that their time could be better spent elsewhere. I believe that if these presentations could be individualized so they could be used in each of our subject areas might help make the presentation more interesting and helpful to many.
My activity log for the week of March 5th - March 11th:
Monday, March 5th: downloaded podcast and transcribed notes. Wrote this blog posting.
Tuesday, March 6th: work on proposal for project 3. Hopefully upload this project and link it to my website.
Wednesday, March 7th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
Thursday, March 8th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
Friday, March 9th: have time to finalize project 3 if necessary.
Saturday, March 10th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
Sunday, March 11th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
A link to my project 3 proposal: Project 3
Some of excellent examples of professional development come from our faculty innovation center. In this center, there are scheduled workshops dealing with the use of many of the software packages that are on our personal computers. There are workshops from beginning to advance use of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Frontpage, Publisher and Outlook. There are workshops on Adobe Photoshop, PaintPro, Camtasia, Dreamweaver and many more. These workshops are scheduled throughout the day to give opportunities for all faculty and staff members to attend. Usually the workshops are hands on, with the computer right in front of you to follow along and perform for yourself. The workshops usually last 1-2 hours in length, and they always provide cookies and some sort of drink for your enjoyment. The size of the workshops range from 2 people to 10 people at most, so there is plenty of opportunities to ask individualize questions and receive one on one training. And the workshops are spread out, so there will be a beginning level workshop one week, and the following week, there will be an intermediate level workshop with the advance workshop following in the third week. I have attend several of these workshops over the years and learned how to use Word, Excel, Publisher and Frontpage from these workshops.
Another example of an excellent workshop as an example of professional development is our sexual harassment workshop that is offered by our college. During this workshop, we are presented with a one hour lecture describing the types of sexual harassment in the workplace, and then we are presented with skits or plays in which we have to determine whether they representing an example of sexual harassment in the workplace or not. I feel by showing us examples and having us determine whether these are sexual harassment or not, gives us a better understanding of the topic of sexual harassment.
A poor example of professional development is our academic council retreats that we have bi-annually. During these workshops, which last from 8am - 3:30pm, all of the department chairs listen to lectures and presentations given by the administration on topics such as fill ratios, room utilization, budgetary issues, administration flowcharts and time schedule brackets. Usually these meetings start off with the typical stand up and introduce yourself which usually takes 20-30 minutes in itself. We have been going to the same meetings for the last 3 years, so I think by now, we all mostly know each other. The topics that are covered are not of interest to many of the chairs in the department. I know in the PE department, I am not interested in room utilization because my classrooms for my classes are either the gym or the track. But we still need to attend these meetings because they are mandatory and required.
Another poor example of professional development is our bi-annual faculty retreats. These meetings are also all day long, including lunch in the middle. But the topics discussed during these meetings is not of interest to a majority of the attendees. Most of the meeting is taken up by the administration justifying what they do all day long during the semester. If there are any presentations dealing with the use of technology, it is usually 30 minutes in length and only shows the bells and whistles of the technology in the classroom. For example, we have had presentations using the PDAs in the classroom and the tablet PC in the classroom, but neither of these workshops allowed us any hands on experience with the technology. It was just presented and showed to us, allowing us to see and view its capabilities. I find these presentations interesting, but I believe that is partially due to the fact that I like technology and seeing how technology can improve my teaching. A majority of the faculty are not interested in these presentations and find that their time could be better spent elsewhere. I believe that if these presentations could be individualized so they could be used in each of our subject areas might help make the presentation more interesting and helpful to many.
My activity log for the week of March 5th - March 11th:
Monday, March 5th: downloaded podcast and transcribed notes. Wrote this blog posting.
Tuesday, March 6th: work on proposal for project 3. Hopefully upload this project and link it to my website.
Wednesday, March 7th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
Thursday, March 8th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
Friday, March 9th: have time to finalize project 3 if necessary.
Saturday, March 10th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
Sunday, March 11th: read classmates blog postings and make comments.
A link to my project 3 proposal: Project 3
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Session Eight February 26 - March 4
I can think of several ways in which data driven decision making is used in my school setting. The first and major example is called "accreditation." We have four standards which basically evaluate the school as far as performance, landscaping, communication with students, communication with staff, communication with faculty, parking issues, governance, the mission statement, course outlines, program reviews, assessments, fill ratios, programs offered at the school, etc. I could keep going on and on with this list of items that I am helping with in the writing of our "self-study" reflection that will be used in our evaluation for full community college status.
One form of data came from the form of a survey which was distributed and currently being collected on our campus. The survey asked for opinions regarding the distribution of course outlines, the beautification of our campus, the parking lot situations, safety on campus during various times of the day, and fill ratios of classes with students. Using the results from the survey, our self study will indicate which areas our campus is doing well and which areas we still need to work on.
My accreditation standard which I serve as chair of our committee is Institutional Effectiveness. I know from our results we wrote our own mission statement and over 82% of our faculty and staff strongly believe our mission statement reflects what we are doing at our campus. Also, a majority of our faculty and staff also believe that our remediation programs are effective in teaching students the basic skills they need to be successful in the next level of courses or in the job market in the future. One of our goals we aim for is a high success rate, not meaning if the student passes our classes, but whether the students pass our class and go to the next class and successfully pass the next level. That is fairly easy to calculate in math, but with other subject like history or physical education, this is not easy to do.
Another example of data driven decision making is when our dean of instruction looks at our fill ratios numbers to determine which classes are filling to maximum capacity and which are barely making the cut. By looking at our fill ratios, the dean along with the department chair usually decide which class offerings to keep the next year and which class offerings should be replaced with a class with a 'higher fill ratio.' This occurred last year with our backpacking and hiking class we offered as a physical education class. Even though many students enjoyed the class and wrote letters protesting the dismissal of the class, we replaced it with a step aerobics classes and filled the same room with more students.
A positive use of data driven decision making would be in assisting which classes bring in the higher FTES (full time equivalent student) numbers and which classes are not filling to capacity, thus lowering our overall FTES. Another positive use of the data driven decision making is in deciding how to offer classes as far as schedules. I know in the past, many classes were offered two days a week (either Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs) at our college. The students liked these time offerings because it allowed them to pick which days they wanted to attend school and they could work on the other days. Well, the data collected found that we were not utilizing our classrooms to full capacity because every Friday our campus looked like a ghost town. Therefore, now many of our classes changed to five day a week classes meeting for only one hour a day. This I feel hurt our enrollment at the community college because the students simply attend other community colleges that kept the two day a week schedule. Even though our campus has more students now on Fridays and we are utilizing our classrooms better, I still think we should have kept the schedule to two days a week. This decision was made by our administration.
My activity log for the week of February 26th - March 4th
Monday, February 26th: I downloaded and listened to the podcast for week 8
Tuesday, February 27th: I started writing my proposal for project 3. Checked blog sites for comments for this week.
Wednesday, February 28th: I wrote this blog posting. I commented on Denugyen and Cassandra's sites.
Thursday, March 1st: I will continue working on my proposal.
Friday, March 2nd: Continue commenting on my classmates blog sites.
Saturday, March 3rd: Finish writing up first proposal. Cut video sessions down in size. Upload to my website for project 3.
Sunday, March 4th: Comment on classmates' blog sites.
PROJECT 2
This is a link to my web page for project 2.
One form of data came from the form of a survey which was distributed and currently being collected on our campus. The survey asked for opinions regarding the distribution of course outlines, the beautification of our campus, the parking lot situations, safety on campus during various times of the day, and fill ratios of classes with students. Using the results from the survey, our self study will indicate which areas our campus is doing well and which areas we still need to work on.
My accreditation standard which I serve as chair of our committee is Institutional Effectiveness. I know from our results we wrote our own mission statement and over 82% of our faculty and staff strongly believe our mission statement reflects what we are doing at our campus. Also, a majority of our faculty and staff also believe that our remediation programs are effective in teaching students the basic skills they need to be successful in the next level of courses or in the job market in the future. One of our goals we aim for is a high success rate, not meaning if the student passes our classes, but whether the students pass our class and go to the next class and successfully pass the next level. That is fairly easy to calculate in math, but with other subject like history or physical education, this is not easy to do.
Another example of data driven decision making is when our dean of instruction looks at our fill ratios numbers to determine which classes are filling to maximum capacity and which are barely making the cut. By looking at our fill ratios, the dean along with the department chair usually decide which class offerings to keep the next year and which class offerings should be replaced with a class with a 'higher fill ratio.' This occurred last year with our backpacking and hiking class we offered as a physical education class. Even though many students enjoyed the class and wrote letters protesting the dismissal of the class, we replaced it with a step aerobics classes and filled the same room with more students.
A positive use of data driven decision making would be in assisting which classes bring in the higher FTES (full time equivalent student) numbers and which classes are not filling to capacity, thus lowering our overall FTES. Another positive use of the data driven decision making is in deciding how to offer classes as far as schedules. I know in the past, many classes were offered two days a week (either Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs) at our college. The students liked these time offerings because it allowed them to pick which days they wanted to attend school and they could work on the other days. Well, the data collected found that we were not utilizing our classrooms to full capacity because every Friday our campus looked like a ghost town. Therefore, now many of our classes changed to five day a week classes meeting for only one hour a day. This I feel hurt our enrollment at the community college because the students simply attend other community colleges that kept the two day a week schedule. Even though our campus has more students now on Fridays and we are utilizing our classrooms better, I still think we should have kept the schedule to two days a week. This decision was made by our administration.
My activity log for the week of February 26th - March 4th
Monday, February 26th: I downloaded and listened to the podcast for week 8
Tuesday, February 27th: I started writing my proposal for project 3. Checked blog sites for comments for this week.
Wednesday, February 28th: I wrote this blog posting. I commented on Denugyen and Cassandra's sites.
Thursday, March 1st: I will continue working on my proposal.
Friday, March 2nd: Continue commenting on my classmates blog sites.
Saturday, March 3rd: Finish writing up first proposal. Cut video sessions down in size. Upload to my website for project 3.
Sunday, March 4th: Comment on classmates' blog sites.
PROJECT 2
This is a link to my web page for project 2.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Session Seven February 19 - February 25
The Ed Norman Syndrome:
There would be several issues if we had a person like Ed Norman at our college. First, by restricting the Internet access, the students would probably just attend another community college by choice, preferably one that did not treat their students like children. I understand the importance of monitoring the Internet and making sure that students do not download files that contain malicious viruses to the computers, but at a community college, you cannot restrict student access to the Internet, especially the way Ed Norman decided to do this by submitting a request to visit a URL 2 weeks in advance!
There are many times while I am teaching that I will pull up the Internet during class and show the students how to access various textbook publishing websites or websites that contain math tutorials that will help them understand the materials covered in class more thoroughly. Also, the students feel that if they are paying tuition, they should have access to the Internet. I agree with them, and that is why our school library has free Internet access for students with a student ID card. The students would enter in their student ID number with a password to access all websites on the Internet. They are allowed to access music sites, myspace, email accounts, etc. as long as they input their student ID number and a password they create for themselves. If the student visits an inappropriate website, the computer will keep track of who the student is. I think this is a good way of monitoring the Internet and also keeping the students honest about which websites they visit at school without actually restricting their access.
All students at our school have a school email account, but if the school were to eliminate this, I feel the students would simply use their personal email accounts. Our school is trying to eliminate as much paper that gets mailed home as possible, so they try to send as much information electronically as possible. If they eliminated the school email accounts, then a portion of our students without Internet access at home, would be unable to receive this information that was previously sent by mail. Therefore, I serious doubt our school will eliminate school email before they eliminate our "Ed Norman."
Our school's "Ed Norman" would monitor the infrastructure of the school's network similar to the way it is monitored currently. In our labs, we have staff and monitors that walk around the computers to "keep an eye" on the students work. In our library, the students must enter in valid student ID numbers with a password to access the Internet. That way the student know the computer is keeping track of the sites visited by that student.
Activity Log for the week of February 19 - February 25
Monday, February 19: downloaded week 7 podcast and listened to it. Started transcribing notes for the lecture.
Tuesday, February 20: emailed Myla for prices on PRS clickers for a classroom set. Received a reply.
Wednesday, February 21: published blog entry for the week. I will continue by work on project 3.
Thursday, February 22: respond to classmate's blog entries for the week.
Friday, February 23: continue my work on project 3
Saturday, February 24: check classmate's blog entries and respond to as many as possible.
Sunday, February 25: begin writing proposal for a classroom set of clickers.
Project One: Using Technology.
Here is a link to my web page for Project One.
There would be several issues if we had a person like Ed Norman at our college. First, by restricting the Internet access, the students would probably just attend another community college by choice, preferably one that did not treat their students like children. I understand the importance of monitoring the Internet and making sure that students do not download files that contain malicious viruses to the computers, but at a community college, you cannot restrict student access to the Internet, especially the way Ed Norman decided to do this by submitting a request to visit a URL 2 weeks in advance!
There are many times while I am teaching that I will pull up the Internet during class and show the students how to access various textbook publishing websites or websites that contain math tutorials that will help them understand the materials covered in class more thoroughly. Also, the students feel that if they are paying tuition, they should have access to the Internet. I agree with them, and that is why our school library has free Internet access for students with a student ID card. The students would enter in their student ID number with a password to access all websites on the Internet. They are allowed to access music sites, myspace, email accounts, etc. as long as they input their student ID number and a password they create for themselves. If the student visits an inappropriate website, the computer will keep track of who the student is. I think this is a good way of monitoring the Internet and also keeping the students honest about which websites they visit at school without actually restricting their access.
All students at our school have a school email account, but if the school were to eliminate this, I feel the students would simply use their personal email accounts. Our school is trying to eliminate as much paper that gets mailed home as possible, so they try to send as much information electronically as possible. If they eliminated the school email accounts, then a portion of our students without Internet access at home, would be unable to receive this information that was previously sent by mail. Therefore, I serious doubt our school will eliminate school email before they eliminate our "Ed Norman."
Our school's "Ed Norman" would monitor the infrastructure of the school's network similar to the way it is monitored currently. In our labs, we have staff and monitors that walk around the computers to "keep an eye" on the students work. In our library, the students must enter in valid student ID numbers with a password to access the Internet. That way the student know the computer is keeping track of the sites visited by that student.
Activity Log for the week of February 19 - February 25
Monday, February 19: downloaded week 7 podcast and listened to it. Started transcribing notes for the lecture.
Tuesday, February 20: emailed Myla for prices on PRS clickers for a classroom set. Received a reply.
Wednesday, February 21: published blog entry for the week. I will continue by work on project 3.
Thursday, February 22: respond to classmate's blog entries for the week.
Friday, February 23: continue my work on project 3
Saturday, February 24: check classmate's blog entries and respond to as many as possible.
Sunday, February 25: begin writing proposal for a classroom set of clickers.
Project One: Using Technology.
Here is a link to my web page for Project One.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Session Six February 12 - February 18
At the community college level, there are many common barriers to technology integration that I hear about. Most of them are simply excuses for why we shouldn't use the technology to help our students or how the technology makes things more difficult for students. I even hear the excuses of why we shouldn't post our class syllabi or class assignments on the Internet because it is the student's responsibility to keep tract of their paperwork and assignments. I think especially for some of our instructors who have been teaching at RCC for longer than I have been alive, there excuse is "I have always done it this way and it seems to work just fine so why should I change now?" I think it is because technology takes time to learn how to use and implement effectively and they simply don't want to take the time to learn how to use it.
One good example is our current accreditation that our school is going through. I am the chair for one of the Four Standards committees. Our accreditation chair thought it would be easier to communicate questions and responses between committee members and the steering committee if we set up an 'accreditation class' using WebCT. So that is exactly what they did. The steering committee would post questions for the committees to respond to every week just like an instructor would post an assignment for their students. Only 1/4 of the faculty responded to the questions stating excuses like "WebCT it too confusing to navigate through" or "I can't seem to log in." The steering committees' reasoning to using WebCT versus email was that they wanted a way for other Standards to view the responses from other committees and not simply their own committee. If we did this by email, that would mean 50-100 emails per day with the large number of faculty members at our campus. Nobody would have time to read all of these emails. Plus, they thought that we could save all of the dialogue electronically for the accreditation team's site visit in October. As the chair, I ended up having to cut and paste the questions for my committee members into an email and send directly to them in order for them to respond. Then I would have to cut and paste their response back into WebCT for others to view.
Another barrier to technology integration is our hybrid Math 52 classes that use My MathLab. In the hybrid class, we require the students to spend at least 2 hours in our math lab. The only problem is there are only 22 computers in the math lab and each hybrid class has 60-75 students. Therefore, the lab is always crowded right after a class lets out because the students find it convenient to go directly from class to the lab to work on their homework. The barrier appears to be that the students can work on their assignments from other computers on campus, (ie. computer labs, English/writing center, or the library) but they do not receive credit for their required 2 hours in the math lab because they are not actually in the math lab. This is a barrier that we can fix if we had more computers to accommodate all of the students. Another solution that we have posed is for students who bring laptops to school to use their personal laptop computers in our math lab while sitting at a desk. That way they are not taking up a computer and they are actually sitting in our math lab and able to fulfill their 2 hour requirement for the week.
Activity Log for the week of February 12 - February 18
Monday, February 12, 2007: download and listened to the podcast for session 6
Tuesday, February 13, 2007: received feedback from Dr. Newberry regarding project 1, continued to work on project 2.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007: responded to the blog posting for this week. Sent Dr. Newberry the hyperlink for project 2 for approval.
Thursday, February 15, 2007: respond to classmates blog postings.
Friday, February 16, 2007: work on project 3 proposal for more clickers. Edit videos for project 3
Saturday, February 17, 2007: respond to classmates blog postings.
Sunday, February 18, 2007: respond to classmates blog postings. Continue work on project 3.
One good example is our current accreditation that our school is going through. I am the chair for one of the Four Standards committees. Our accreditation chair thought it would be easier to communicate questions and responses between committee members and the steering committee if we set up an 'accreditation class' using WebCT. So that is exactly what they did. The steering committee would post questions for the committees to respond to every week just like an instructor would post an assignment for their students. Only 1/4 of the faculty responded to the questions stating excuses like "WebCT it too confusing to navigate through" or "I can't seem to log in." The steering committees' reasoning to using WebCT versus email was that they wanted a way for other Standards to view the responses from other committees and not simply their own committee. If we did this by email, that would mean 50-100 emails per day with the large number of faculty members at our campus. Nobody would have time to read all of these emails. Plus, they thought that we could save all of the dialogue electronically for the accreditation team's site visit in October. As the chair, I ended up having to cut and paste the questions for my committee members into an email and send directly to them in order for them to respond. Then I would have to cut and paste their response back into WebCT for others to view.
Another barrier to technology integration is our hybrid Math 52 classes that use My MathLab. In the hybrid class, we require the students to spend at least 2 hours in our math lab. The only problem is there are only 22 computers in the math lab and each hybrid class has 60-75 students. Therefore, the lab is always crowded right after a class lets out because the students find it convenient to go directly from class to the lab to work on their homework. The barrier appears to be that the students can work on their assignments from other computers on campus, (ie. computer labs, English/writing center, or the library) but they do not receive credit for their required 2 hours in the math lab because they are not actually in the math lab. This is a barrier that we can fix if we had more computers to accommodate all of the students. Another solution that we have posed is for students who bring laptops to school to use their personal laptop computers in our math lab while sitting at a desk. That way they are not taking up a computer and they are actually sitting in our math lab and able to fulfill their 2 hour requirement for the week.
Activity Log for the week of February 12 - February 18
Monday, February 12, 2007: download and listened to the podcast for session 6
Tuesday, February 13, 2007: received feedback from Dr. Newberry regarding project 1, continued to work on project 2.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007: responded to the blog posting for this week. Sent Dr. Newberry the hyperlink for project 2 for approval.
Thursday, February 15, 2007: respond to classmates blog postings.
Friday, February 16, 2007: work on project 3 proposal for more clickers. Edit videos for project 3
Saturday, February 17, 2007: respond to classmates blog postings.
Sunday, February 18, 2007: respond to classmates blog postings. Continue work on project 3.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Session Five February 5 - February 11
I believe that a technology integration "best practice" that I use in the classroom is My MathLab. www.mymathlab.com I have been using this program for the past four years now teaching over 14 classes using it.
There are many benefits from using this program. For starters, the program is web based and the students can work on their homework problems anywhere they can find Internet access. Not only can the students work on their homework in our Math Lab on campus, but they can work from home as well. The program itself is powered by Blackboard, so many of the menu options are similar to what we see when we log into Blackboard. Also the students who use the My MathLab are not required to purchase the textbook because the textbook is online for the students to access. The only requirement for the students to purchase is the pass code. Having the textbook online is nice for the students because if they have difficulties with a particular problem, they can access the textbook and it will take them to the exact pages in the textbook that explain how to work through their problem.
The program also contains videos and animations for students to view if they want options or if the explanations from the textbook are not enough. The animations are sometimes childish, but they get the point across. The videos are professional instructors working through very similar problems on the screen.
I also like using My Mathlab because two student can work together on their homework and help each other out and I do not have to worry about them copying off of each other. This is because each student has similar problems with different values in their problems. So two students can work through the same problem together, but their answers are going to be different in the end.
The reason many other teachers are not using My Mathlab is because it is something new and "not traditional." Many teachers, (especially the ones that have been teaching for years!) believe their techniques have worked this far, so why change? Some teachers believe that My Mathlab is too confusing for the students. Others have the misconception that My Mathlab does the problems for the students and the students do not learn the process of working through the problems. But I think the main reason is that My Mathlab takes some time to learn how to teach using it as a tool, and many instructors do not want to take the time to learn something new if they can keep teaching using the traditional format.
Activity Log for the week: February 5 - February 11
Monday, February 5, 2007: downloaded week 5 podcast and listened to the lecture.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007: got cameras and video equipment ready for Wednesday's video taping and photos of the Interwrite PRS clickers in action for my projects.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007: brought the Interwrite PRS clickers to school. Used the clickers in my review session for both of my math classes as a tool for the review session in preparation of their final exam. I will post photos and hopefully short videos on the Internet as part of my projects in the next week or so.
Thursday, February 8, 2007: transcribed notes from podcast. Started uploading photos to my website.
Friday, February 9, 2007: responded to classmates blog posts.
Saturday, February 10, 2007: posted week 5 blog post for myself and responded to many classmates blogs.
Sunday, February 11, 2007: continue to comment on classmates blog posts. Finish uploading photos to my website for Project #1
There are many benefits from using this program. For starters, the program is web based and the students can work on their homework problems anywhere they can find Internet access. Not only can the students work on their homework in our Math Lab on campus, but they can work from home as well. The program itself is powered by Blackboard, so many of the menu options are similar to what we see when we log into Blackboard. Also the students who use the My MathLab are not required to purchase the textbook because the textbook is online for the students to access. The only requirement for the students to purchase is the pass code. Having the textbook online is nice for the students because if they have difficulties with a particular problem, they can access the textbook and it will take them to the exact pages in the textbook that explain how to work through their problem.
The program also contains videos and animations for students to view if they want options or if the explanations from the textbook are not enough. The animations are sometimes childish, but they get the point across. The videos are professional instructors working through very similar problems on the screen.
I also like using My Mathlab because two student can work together on their homework and help each other out and I do not have to worry about them copying off of each other. This is because each student has similar problems with different values in their problems. So two students can work through the same problem together, but their answers are going to be different in the end.
The reason many other teachers are not using My Mathlab is because it is something new and "not traditional." Many teachers, (especially the ones that have been teaching for years!) believe their techniques have worked this far, so why change? Some teachers believe that My Mathlab is too confusing for the students. Others have the misconception that My Mathlab does the problems for the students and the students do not learn the process of working through the problems. But I think the main reason is that My Mathlab takes some time to learn how to teach using it as a tool, and many instructors do not want to take the time to learn something new if they can keep teaching using the traditional format.
Activity Log for the week: February 5 - February 11
Monday, February 5, 2007: downloaded week 5 podcast and listened to the lecture.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007: got cameras and video equipment ready for Wednesday's video taping and photos of the Interwrite PRS clickers in action for my projects.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007: brought the Interwrite PRS clickers to school. Used the clickers in my review session for both of my math classes as a tool for the review session in preparation of their final exam. I will post photos and hopefully short videos on the Internet as part of my projects in the next week or so.
Thursday, February 8, 2007: transcribed notes from podcast. Started uploading photos to my website.
Friday, February 9, 2007: responded to classmates blog posts.
Saturday, February 10, 2007: posted week 5 blog post for myself and responded to many classmates blogs.
Sunday, February 11, 2007: continue to comment on classmates blog posts. Finish uploading photos to my website for Project #1
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Session 4 January 29 - February 4
Question: Identify yourself in one of the five categories of innovators. Provide examples to substantiate your self categorization.
After hearing the podcast for this week, I would have to categorize myself in the majority group of "early majority." There are definite individuals in our college that I can identify as innovators and there are people who I know would fall under early adopters. I am not one of them. But I do find myself more cautious about adopting a new idea or innovation when it comes to teaching techniques. I often consider and think about what the students' reactions will be regarding the new ideas. I usually wait until I have observed other teachers using the ideas or innovations before I will attempt them myself. An example is the MyMathLab program. At first, I thought it would be more difficult to teach with computer problems on a computer screen. But after trying it out for myself and one semester of teaching it, I would prefer this method of teaching rather than the traditional method of a standard textbook.
There is one individual at my college who I respect their opinion about new ideas and innovations. Usually, I will talk to this person and ask him about the pros and cons with using the new ideas in the classroom and get his opinion. I believe he is a very honest person who will tell me whether an idea is working with the students or it is something that is a complete waste of their time.
I would not find myself in the late majority because I am not resistant to change. I know of many teachers who fall under this category and believe that we should still be teaching using only textbooks and chalkboards! But then once a majority of the faculty begin putting the peer pressure of them to change, they decide to go with the flow. I am not resistant to change. And I definitely do not fall under the lagger category.
My activity log for this week is as follows:
Monday, January 29, 2007: Received the response units and brought 42 of them home. I will work on setting up my experimental class to demonstrate project #1.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007: Downloaded and listened to the podcast for this week. Began writing up notes from the lecture.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007: Finished notes for this week. Began writing up blog posting.
Thursday, February 1, 2007: Finished blog posting. I will comment on my classmates postings for this week.
Friday, February 2, 2007: I will work on setting up my experimental class with the PRS software. Computing services is installing the software on my office computer and the computers in the classrooms that I will be teaching in.
Saturday, February 3, 2007: Continue responding and commenting on classmates postings.
Sunday, February 4, 2007: Continue comments on postings. I will run through a sample class session using the PRS software at home before I bring it to class on Monday. Watch the Super Bowl.
My project #1 is going great. I will have the PowerPoint lecture done this weekend. I want to video tape my class using the PRS software as proof of my use of technology in the classroom.
My project #2 hasn't started yet. I did purchase a headset with microphone so that I can record the Camtasia training videos.
My project #3 began with data collection. I am requesting the cost of a classroom set of responders along with data collected from the students who have used the responders from project #1
After hearing the podcast for this week, I would have to categorize myself in the majority group of "early majority." There are definite individuals in our college that I can identify as innovators and there are people who I know would fall under early adopters. I am not one of them. But I do find myself more cautious about adopting a new idea or innovation when it comes to teaching techniques. I often consider and think about what the students' reactions will be regarding the new ideas. I usually wait until I have observed other teachers using the ideas or innovations before I will attempt them myself. An example is the MyMathLab program. At first, I thought it would be more difficult to teach with computer problems on a computer screen. But after trying it out for myself and one semester of teaching it, I would prefer this method of teaching rather than the traditional method of a standard textbook.
There is one individual at my college who I respect their opinion about new ideas and innovations. Usually, I will talk to this person and ask him about the pros and cons with using the new ideas in the classroom and get his opinion. I believe he is a very honest person who will tell me whether an idea is working with the students or it is something that is a complete waste of their time.
I would not find myself in the late majority because I am not resistant to change. I know of many teachers who fall under this category and believe that we should still be teaching using only textbooks and chalkboards! But then once a majority of the faculty begin putting the peer pressure of them to change, they decide to go with the flow. I am not resistant to change. And I definitely do not fall under the lagger category.
My activity log for this week is as follows:
Monday, January 29, 2007: Received the response units and brought 42 of them home. I will work on setting up my experimental class to demonstrate project #1.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007: Downloaded and listened to the podcast for this week. Began writing up notes from the lecture.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007: Finished notes for this week. Began writing up blog posting.
Thursday, February 1, 2007: Finished blog posting. I will comment on my classmates postings for this week.
Friday, February 2, 2007: I will work on setting up my experimental class with the PRS software. Computing services is installing the software on my office computer and the computers in the classrooms that I will be teaching in.
Saturday, February 3, 2007: Continue responding and commenting on classmates postings.
Sunday, February 4, 2007: Continue comments on postings. I will run through a sample class session using the PRS software at home before I bring it to class on Monday. Watch the Super Bowl.
My project #1 is going great. I will have the PowerPoint lecture done this weekend. I want to video tape my class using the PRS software as proof of my use of technology in the classroom.
My project #2 hasn't started yet. I did purchase a headset with microphone so that I can record the Camtasia training videos.
My project #3 began with data collection. I am requesting the cost of a classroom set of responders along with data collected from the students who have used the responders from project #1
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