ting with combined courses right now. These courses have multiple teacher's homesrooms for each course allowing the teachers to work together to build course resources and activities. The students and teachers are set up in groups so most functions can stay seperate per homeroom. It takes going about things in a slightly different manner than the typical one teacher per course design. What I like is that the teachers are not all having to reinvent the wheel over and over again, they can team teach in many ways, and they have some comeradarie. Comeradarie and support for the teacher is something that oven gets overlooked in traditional online course settings.…
t introduced me to Elluminate. Students blog, research with blogs, and podcast assignments. Currently, I teach economics and have learning teams of four to five students, design a team wiki, based on a specific problem solving issues surrounding Global Warming (usually with an economic slant). The teams are to utilize delicious and diigo to collaborate in their research. They formalize their findings and produce a white paper which they either post to their wiki, a blog, or podcast using audacity. Rather large scale, but I am finding in my fits of experimentation, that these assignments are much more engaging and authentic. Would love to hear your ideas and thoughts on how you are implementing these technologies.…
time and in a two-way fashion is not going to work.
I will, however, organize our first ever Classroom 2.0 meetup in a couple of weeks and we'll see what happens. You and Colette are right, there are some technical hurdles to overcome, so we may not have as many participants as on the web. Nevertheless, I believe it's worth trying, so I'll get it started. If people are interested, I'll keep it going. I'll start thinking about it this week and will keep you posted. I see no reason why it couldn't happen in, let's say, two weeks or so.
I'd love to help out with the podcast, too. Have you made up your mind re: TalkShoe vs. Elluminate?…
s to keep lessons short and sharp and regular. Our courses, in the main, run for a full academic year so having students stay with us is vital. We've gone for 4 x 30min lessons per week, with a drop in tutorial on a Friday. Additionally we keep the classroom as interactive and LIVE as possible. We use Elluminate as our classroom and all our students meet up in there. We are looking at some kind of social networking for them but at the moment I haven't seen anything that has sufficient filters/ moderation in built - I can't afford the time for my teachers to be moderating everything our students want to post. Hope this helps! Warmest wishes, Eileen.…
ster of Science in Education program (Instructional Media). I am a STAR Discovery Educator. I use a lot of technology, but I am new to Web 2.0 tools. I am excited to bring more technology tools into the classroom for my students. I am looking forward to meeting other educators and sharing ideas and resources.
I really enjoyed Steve Hargadon's tour of classroom 2.0 you can find it on the Welcome page on the left hand side under "Tour of Web 2.0" webcast video. At first I made a link, however since you have to install Elluminate it is a little tricky.…
Added by Debbie Salahi at 12:13am on January 30, 2009
l Changes; BIG RETURNS tools wiki and you can link from there. The courses can be very intense, but I'm learning a lot from the process of allowing myself to be challenged by the content and trying to find ways to incorporate new ideas into the tool chest of an old teacher (moi). There's a ning that is in development as well, and thanks to the 21st century thinking of another Canadian student, many of us are trying to take the same courses and we meet online in Elluminate on Tuesdays at 6:00 Pacific time. I started by lurking and listening there to see if it was what I really wanted.…
about the only place I've found is k12.com.
Our current plan is to offer supplemental courses like math one period a day and then have one of our math teachers supervise and tutor the disparate math topics that hour.
I am open to looking at programs that have specific times and teachers that offer courses over services like elluminate. I just need to see what is out there.
The problem I am having now is finding the possibilities. Any links to or reviews of these services would be appreciated.
…
though because we had a huge need there.
Our Phonics and Phonics Intervention program was ungraded and the classes very small. My class was only three students at any one time. In one session. I had one boy from Oregon, one from South Carolina, and one from Arkansas. We are a non-profit run by donations and I teach as a volunteer, so the usual need to have enough students to cover expenses dis not apply. I had an advanced 4 year old reading at a first grade level when we started that was increasing in skill momentum with every passing month. I had a first grader that read at about the typical age/reading level, and I had a student that struggled with the phonics that was behind 'grade-level' by almost two years in reading. Our small size, scheduling, and technology allowed each to be able to work at their own level and yet together. As the students met the course objectives for the program they graduated out. Our 4 year old graduated first (very bright boy), then the first grader, and the struggling reader is still working with me and is on grade level now but we are continuing to solidify his skills until he is beyond being 'at-risk'.
Failure isn't part of our vocabulary. Reading is something that needs to often move beyond a classroom setting and get small scale for struggling readers. With our program there isn't a stigma at all. These kids have no awareness of the terms gifted, average, or special ed. They are just kids that meet together online for some fun with Mrs. Tammy. The atmosphere is very game like because the slides are designed to be manipulative-based. The parents are expected to do handwriting instruction at home on their own, so the activities are free of some of the small motor challenges that often hold back young students. They have objects onscreen, typing (the chat box is a terrific incentive to written communication), and full-duplex audio. My 4 year old student in Oregon actually had to get up at 6am to participate and his mom said that he was always wide awake as soon as she mentioned that is was a phonics day. He loved it. We did eventually move the class to a later time slot when it became available in the online classroom.
Now, how would it look in the public school classroom? Teacher to student ratio is tough and so is the grade/label system that kids get locked into. It would be nice if classrooms could have computers off to the side where volunteers from anyplace in the country could log in to listen to a struggling student read and assist with working through activity slides to build those phonics and spelling skills. You could them maximize the availability of retired teachers, college students in education degree programs, volunteers that you meet right here at CR 2.0, parents, and even grandparents. When your volunteers can click a link from home (or even a work break) and be there in minutes, you get more help and it distracts the flow of the larger class less and frees the student from feeling singled out as behind. My guess is the other students will want to do it too. :0) Is it economically feasible? Sure! Elluminate's three-seat rooms are free. One volunteer and up to two students can be working together at one time. You just need a few computers with internet access and Elluminate set as a safe site with your IT department. Then round up some volunteers. I will have training in the use of the Elluminate classroom all through the summer fo rthe volunteers with our program. You round up a few volunteers and I will train them too. I have a large collection of K to 3rd grade math and reading slides for Elluminate that I have made which are very hands-on with a very game-like appeal. I can pass them along during that training. As with everything else I do, it is free. Let me know if you want to run with it. :0)
We are getting thunderstorms here, so off I go for a while. I will pop in later and share a few more ideas for the brainstorming session :0)…
dée Globe 2008 Race gives the opportunity for teachers and students to understand oceanic systems by following the race. We'll also experiment an interaction with sailors, at least, the american sailor Rich Wilson with the help of Lorraine, who teaches in Newton, MA. We'll use Elluminate to do it, on our international educational network School Beyond the Walls.
We have set up a Ning page for teachers who are interested in following the Vendée Globe with their students where we have begun to post links, resources and activities. We welcome teachers who are interested in following the Vendée Globe to join us
Objectives (the list is open you can add your ideas...):
1. Youngest students will learn basic geography (latitude/longitude ; continents, oceans, straits, isthmus and so on...)
2. Oldest students will learn the ecology of the oceans (meteorology, oceanology) and the fragility of oceanic systems (pollution, overfishing, endangered animals...)
3. Using with students strong web 2.0 tools and interact with sailors during the race
Calendar:
September/October: registration (ETW for teachers from EU, school beyond the walls for all the participants...
October: Setting Up Materials - Each School involved in the project take contact with others schools by our geographic riddles online
November: Beginning of the Race... Setting Up Activities:
1. Following skippers on a map with mixed teams of students from different schools
2. Identify and explain problems coming up against sailors (oceanic and atmospheric streams, icebergs...)
3. Organizing questionning of the students to change them into journalists...
4. sending mails to sailors
5. using Elluminate between our schools (we have 25 seats) for e.learning about topics created by teachers, and if conditions are right, with Rich Wilson (we'll record the sessions)
February/March: End of the project...
Our group to manage the project: Vendée Globe 2008 Project
La course du Vendée Globe 2008 est l'occasion de mieux comprendre les systèmes océaniques en suivant la course. Nous expérimenterons aussi une interaction avec au moins un navigateur, Rich Wilson (Etats-Unis) en travaillant avec une enseignante de Boston, MA. Nous utiliserons à cette occasion une plateforme collaborative mise à notre disposition par notre sponsor Elluminate sur notre réseau éducatif international L'Ecole Hors les Murs http://horslesmurs.ning.com
1. Permettre aux plus jeunes de se repérer (latitude/longitude - repères basiques: continents, océans, cap, détroits, isthmes)
2. Comprendre l'écologie des Océans (météorologie, océanologie) et la fragilité du milieu océanique (pollution, surpêche)
3.Utiliser les outils du web 2.0
Septembre: inscription ETW + Réseau Social Hors les Murs
Octobre: Mise en place des ressources – Prise de contact entre les enseignants et les élèves via nos devinettes géographiques pour repérer l'école de chaque partenaire
Novembre: Début de la course. Mise en place des activités:
Suivre les skippers sur une carte
Au fur et à mesure des aléas de la course, identifier et expliquer les problèmes rencontrés par les marins (courants marins et atmosphériques, icebergs etc...
organiser le questionnement des enfants pour les transformer en enquêteurs/journalistes.
Envoi de mails aux compétiteurs (des équipes sont chargées de suivre UN navigateur)
Utiliser Elluminate entre les écoles (nous avons 25 places) mais aussi, si les conditions le permettent avec le skipper Rich Wilson (sessions enregistrées)
Faire rechercher par les élèves des ressources sur le thème des Océans et les mettre en ligne
Février: Fin du ETW…