September 30, 2008
In Darren's Own words ... Part 5
In this video I talk about how the night class idea will help us handle the sudden growth we are experiencing at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. There is a little talk about the pay.
September 29, 2008
September 28, 2008
In Darren's own words ... Part 3
Who would have know that my grade 9 typing class was the course that taught me the skill I would use the most in my life.
Quote of the Day
Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves
-Ernest Dimnet
Presentation reflection
I have reflected on very few presentation without thinking "I should not have said that".
September 27, 2008
Quote of the Day
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.
-- Robert Green Ingersoll
September 26, 2008
Embedded Media HTML Generator
The Embedded Media HTML Generator has been developed to ease the burden of inserting video and animations into web pages. Please select the type of media you wish to embed in your web page...
Quote of the Day
When asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated, Aristotle answered, "As much as the living are to the dead."
Diogenes Laertius (fl. 2nd century).
September 25, 2008
Great Quotations
Jami Olver on her facebook has written these as her favorite quotations and they made me laugh so I thought I would share...
You can agree with me or be wrong.
I am not a control freak, I just know what's best for everyone.
An iPod Touch for each student?
A Chapel Hill middle school could become the first in the country to give an iPod to every teacher and student, an experiment that would challenge teachers and administrators to ensure the hand-held devices are used as learning tools, not toys.
September 24, 2008
Exploring New Trends in Online Learning for K-12
During the event, which was attended by nearly 100 people, we learned about student and teacher perceptions of, and experiences with, online learning. Some of the data might surprise you. For instance, the majority of middle school students want to take an online course to get extra help and to learn more about a certain subject.
Blackboard Blogs: Exploring New Trends in Online Learning for K-12
Fifty Theories of education and Learning.
Holy Crow...fifty...education is not a simple thing is it????
SCCS is changing daily...
Anyone who is involved in e-learning is aware of the fact that the landscape of learning is changing rapidly, we are all striving to stay ahead.
September 23, 2008
Preventing Digital Plagiarism
Preventing all plagiarism all the time is impossible, but there are steps you can take to eliminate it from your classroom.
The Internet is an endless resource for information, and that means it can also be an endless source for both intentional and inadvertent plagiarism. While preventing all plagiarism all the time is impossible, but there are steps you can take to eliminate it from your classroom.
Colonial Williamsburg.
That the future may learn from the past.
Walk through time in this reconstructed colonial capitol. Follow in the footsteps of the founders as you walk the same streets they did.
Colonial Williamsburg - Kids - Games & Activities - Midnight Messenger
Quote of the Day
Education: Being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know; and it's knowing how to use the information once you get it.
William Feather
September 22, 2008
Quote of the Day
Only the curious will learn and only the resolute will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.
Edmund S. Wilson (1895-1972) U.S. author, literary and social critic.
Passport Australia
Get a firsthand look at the land down under, from the Great Barrier Reef to the outback!
September 21, 2008
September 20, 2008
Typing test results.
My view of typing test results are...
If I am fast...well then yahooo....
If I am slow...it is not how fast you type it is what you type...
You can quote me on that.
Quote of the Day
A wise man is one who finally realizes that there are some questions one can ask which may have no answers.
Anon
September 19, 2008
Quote of the Day
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) Irish poet and dramatist. The Critic as Artist.
September 18, 2008
Quote of the Day
Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.
Henry Brooks Adams (1828-1918) U.S. historian and writer. The Education of Henry Adams.
September 17, 2008
Internet/Social Networking Safety
Social Networking is a valuable tool for teaching our digital learners. By shifting the focus from banning social networking sites to teaching students how to interact safely, we can use this tool effectively in our digital classrooms. Here are some sites that have great resources for teachers regarding Internet and social networking safety.
Http://www.TeacherTube.com
Http://www.cybertip.ca
Http://www.kidsintheknow.ca
Http://www.media-awareness.ca
Http://www.badguypatrol.ca
Http://safety.sympatico.msn.ca
Http://www.onlinesafetytoolkit.com
Http://www.elmer.ca
Http://www.opp.ca
Http://onlinesafetytips.blogspot.com/
Taken from Education Computing Organization of Ontario
THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
With their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning
... Uphill...
BOTH ways
Yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
There was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of Thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my
Childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you
Don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, We had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! ...Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!
There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and messed it all up!
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video Games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your Imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or
Screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting
Harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only m-net And there was no on screen menu and no remote control! You had to use a Little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the Channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you Hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rats!
And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that! If we wanted Popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!
Vyew Instant Workspace
Wow, finally a Web collaboration tool that doesn't cost a fortune or require a cumbersome software installation Very easy to use, tool!
Vyew.com - Vyew - FREE Anytime Collaboration and Live Conferencing™
Quote of the day
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer.
September 16, 2008
A little harsh
Courses in education given at...teachers' colleges have traditionally been used as a substitute for genuine scholarship. In my opinion, much of the so-called science of "education" was invented as a necessary mechanism for enabling semieducated people to act as tolerable teachers.
Sloan Wilson (1920- ) U.S. journalist and novelist.
September 15, 2008
Ivory Tower Blues
We believe it is extremely important that the crisis confronting contemporary universities be publicly acknowledged and debated. Toward this end, through this website, we will provide the public with a way of monitoring the growing awareness of the problems associated with the crisis and the debates about the state of our universities.
Not my words
Consider... the university professor. What is his function? Simply to pass on to fresh generations of numskulls a body of so-called knowledge that is fragmentary, unimportant, and, in large part, untrue. His whole professional activity is circumscribed by the prejudices, vanities and avarices of his university trustees, i.e., a committee of soap-boilers, nail manufacturers, bank-directors and politicians. The moment he offends these vermin he is undone. He cannot so much as think aloud without running a risk of having them fan his pantaloons.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American editor, critic and writer.
September 14, 2008
Quote of the Day
The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Swiss cognitive psychologist.
September 12, 2008
Research your Online High School before you start.
Online high school is becoming a more common educational alternative. According to the National Education Association, as many as 100,000 students may be enrolled in an online high school program, with a majority of students taking at least one online course before graduating. How can you ensure that you enroll in a quality accredited online high school? The key is to learn as much as you can before you get started.
Allied Online High School Blog: Be Smart: Research Online High School <em>Before</em> You Start
Quote of the Day
Teachers are people who start things they never see finished, and for which they never get thanks until it is too late.
Max Forman
September 11, 2008
I like this reason for using technology in teaching.
"Because the generation of students that I am teaching is an instant pudding, drive-through, microwave, download-it-from-the-Internet, media-driven generation, I know that I must be innovative to keep their interest and to inspire in them a creative curiosity."
Doug Martin
10 Essential Strategies For Leading A Technology Department
Terry Freedman boils good leadership down to a handful of key principles.
It is an old article but I am in it...
Three teachers in the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools division are among the winners of Canada's 2007 Microsoft Innovative Teachers Awards.
Kelli Boklaschuk, Darren Cannell, and Maureen Romanchuk were honoured for creating The Crooked, Crazy Weather Project for Romanchuk's Grade 4 students at Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School.
Weather project earns teaching award
Weather project earns teaching award
Corinne's Blogfolio talks about the cyber school...
did not know a cyber school existed in Saskatchewan until I found an interesting article about the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School.
Microsoft Offers a Sneak Peak at Your Neighbor’s PC
Nerds love to know how other nerds use their PCs. To give you a glimpse of what your fellow nerds are doing, Microsoft has released some (anonymous, but revealing) details about Windows users gleaned from the company’s Windows Feedback Program.
Microsoft Offers a Sneak Peak at Your Neighbor s PC - Webmonkey
Game Templates
Welcome to Jeff Ertzberger's Game Template and Utilities web site. The materials located here are designed to enhance education through the use of technology.
Quote of the Day
The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American author, editor and printer.
September 10, 2008
Got to love Albert
It is little short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not already completely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry…. I believe that one could even deprive a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness if one could force it with a whip to eat continuously whether it were hungry or not…
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) U.S. physicist
September 9, 2008
I like this quote so it will be the second quote of the day.
Socrates thought the advent of writing would wreak havoc on the powers of the mind. Christian theologians denounced the printing press as the work of the devil. The invention of the telephone was supposed to make letter-writing extinct, and the arrival of the train — and later the car and plane — was going to be the death of community.
The Critics Need a Reboot. The Internet Hasn't Led Us Into a New Dark Age.
Now comes a technological bogeyman for the 21st century, this one responsible for a supposed sharp uptick in American shallowness and credulity: the Internet and its digital spawn. Witness the wave of books and essays implicating the wired world in a sudden rise in uncritical thinking and attention deficits.
The Critics Need a Reboot. The Internet Hasn't Led Us Into a New Dark Age.
Who invented the Ipod???
The iPod was not invented in 2001 in Cupertino, California. It was invented in England in 1979, by “serial inventor” Kane Kramer.
Briton Invented iPod, DRM and On-Line Music in 1979 | Gadget Lab from Wired.com
Audio Puzzler
Audio Puzzler is a new kind of puzzle game based on, well, snippets of audio found online. The audio is taken from popular video clips, so that when you complete the puzzle you'll be able to watch the video as well.
Klondike- the game
Three and a half million from the Klondike fields...it gold the rush is on...check out the game
I am not sure I agree but it makes one think.
There is less flogging in our great schools than formerly–but then less is learned there; so what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Samuel Johnson (1709-84) English lexicographer and writer.
September 8, 2008
Banish Boring Science
These teachers are so dedicated, but they have difficulty teaching for the standardized tests they’re given with the budgets they’re not given. It’s one reason the U.S. is falling behind other countries in science: By 2010, Asia will have 90 percent of the world’s Ph.D. scientists and engineers. We’re not teachers, but our show has taught us a lot about how to get people interested in science. Here are three humble suggestions that might help reinvigorate American science education.
Mythbusters Adam on Education Issues – Importance of Education - Popular Mechanics
Quote of the Day
A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education he may steal the whole railroad.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American president
September 7, 2008
Cheaters online
Who cares if people cheat? People have done it since the year dot and this medium in my opinion make no difference. If someone cheats is that my responsibility as the teacher? And good teachers have always been able to spot cheats - online is no different. Unless of course some bogus student takes the whole course and there is no f2f component. And if the cheat passes then *someone* has completed the course successfully and good luck to them. If you have a range of activities, collaborative learning, progressive assignments that require drafting and comment and analyis, I find it difficult to believe that someone could actually pull it off. But perhaps someone can prove me wrong? I read recently that teachers who use cheating as an objection to online learning are just using it as an excuse for not accepting change. I guess that's what I'd been thinking all along. The issue of cheating is a smokescreen. End of speech.
Quote of the Day
Education … has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.
G. M. Trevelyan (1876-1962) British historian
September 6, 2008
Quote of the Day
It has been said that we have not had the three R's in America, we had the six R's; remedial readin', remedial 'ritin' and remedial 'rithmetic.
Robert M. Hutchins
September 5, 2008
Essential knowledge, skills, attitudes and advice for Online Teachers
The most essential knowledge, skills and attitudes required of an online teacher
Ten Online Teacher Compentencies
Yearly, the Cyber School hires four new teachers and, like the face to face schools, we try to hire the most competent teachers for the positions. The online teacher's competencies differ only slightly from the face to face environment. It is well known that finding these super humans who have the personality, dedication and skills to teach is a daunting task because they are not a dime a dozen. However, it is necessary to set the bar high because in any classroom, be it online or face to face, the “highly qualified and competent teacher is the most important resource”. (Department of Education and Science, 2005 p.1)
The most critical ten competencies in order of importance for an online instructor are as follows:
1.) Humour
2.) Lifelong learners
3.) Guide on the side
4.) Worldly
5.) With-it-ness
6.) Adaptability
7.) Computer Skills
8.) Subject level mastery and confidence
9.) Team-oriented philosophy
10.) Recognized leadership in current school setting
The top four, after humour, were chosen because; lifelong learner speaks to the teacher’s commitment to personal learning, guide on the side relates to the teaching style. Worldly speaks to the teacher’s ability to relate to the global nature of their students and the fourth is with-it-ness, which applies to a mastery of all competencies and speaks to a teacher’s ability to cope and function in the stressful environment we call the classroom of the twenty first century.
The top competency is humour. One's ability to see humour in situations, and in oneself makes it much easier to handle this stressful environment. "A good teacher must be flexible, have a good sense of humour and be open enough to admit they make mistakes too. Don't be afraid to laugh and have a good time" (Baird, 2002 ¶ 5). The online teacher spends a large amount of time sitting and being online which is not conducive to good health. Laughter has been shown to be good medicine and will assist one to conquer the challenges that online teaching has been known to cause. Experts, according to Pawlik-Kienlen (2008) state that "laughter increases endorphins, strengthens your immune system, and sends extra oxygen coursing through your veins" (¶ 1). This is all good but the biggest benefit of humor is the ability to laugh at oneself.
In comparison to the traditional form of education online education is a child. This child is trying to be accepted by a threatened adult, the traditional form of education. Most of the research being done on the child is done by the adult who has been unchanged for close to two hundred years and is worried about its autonomy within its ivory towers. Education Policy Institute (1998) states “Distance learning has been around for more than a century. Until recent years, however, it was comprised almost entirely of traditional correspondence courses which typically offered low-cost education to working people” (¶ 2). With the advent of computers and the dawn of the information age, distance education has moved into the mainstream and this alternative mode of education is beginning to influence the education status quo. Society is ready for a change to education but the stakeholders are not so willing to let go of a system that has served us well for two plus centuries. Humour is necessary for an online teacher to deal with this pressure which is placed upon them by their face to face counterparts.
Creating a lifelong learner is the new goal of twenty first century education and can only be achieved by an educator who shares the lifelong learner characteristic. Bearisto (2000) states "we must all develop the aptitudes and dispositions of lifelong learning if we are to thrive in our dynamic and pluralistic age" (p. 1). He further explains that being a lifelong learner will allow one “to thrive as a knowledge worker who surfs the wave of change in our information age" (p. 6). According to Beristo (2000) most face to face classroom presentation styles tend to reflect "teaching as telling and listening as learning, is very much like training" (p. 11). A teacher, as a lifelong learner, must be "committed to personal and professional development and innovation to maintain professionalism and currency for self and his community" (Institute of Technical Education, 2007 ¶ 1). This commitment allows the teacher to handle the learning curve necessary to becoming a good online educator as well as creating an environment which will foster lifelong learning in the students. This environment will allow the students to move from students to learners. Anderson (2007) clarifies by stating "students are individuals who get taught. But learners are more actively involved in the learning process. Learners have active curiosities and take initiative" (¶ 5).
The third competency which will be looked for in the cyber teacher is a guide on the side. Teaching online is akin to teaching in the largest library in the world. The internet is just a click of the mouse away. The sage on the stage pales next to this resource. It allows teachers to remove themselves from being the focus of the education and allows the students (learners) to be the center of the process. According to King (1993) it allows learners to actively participate in thinking and discussing ideas while making mean¬ing for themselves. (¶ 4) McKenzie (1998) states “student-centered learning can be time-consuming and messy, efficiency will sometimes argue for the Sage"(¶ 13). The face to face environment is more suited to this formal authoritarian teaching style. The focus is on the content. "The style is generally teacher-centered, where the teacher feels responsible for providing and controlling the flow of the content”. (Stein, Steeves, and Smith-Mitsuhashi, 2002 ¶ 1) The online method of course content delivery is perfectly suited to allow the instructor to be more of a guide. The content, instruction and assignments are delivered via the computer so the teacher’s role is naturally more of a guide. “The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.” (Bulwer-Lytton, 2007 ¶ 4) and Carruthers (2007) further defines a teacher as "one who makes himself progressively unnecessary" (¶ 5)
Competency four speaks to a teacher's need to be worldly. Awareness of the global dimension needed to prepare students for the world in which they live. This type of education is sometimes referred to as citizenship education. The Center for Intercultural Education and International Understanding (1998) further clarifies it as "Citizenship education with a global perspective relates to a global trend toward the redefinition of relationships amongst citizens and also of relationships between citizens, the community and the State" (p.8) and "School must reinforce social cohesion within a pluralist society. It must work to define common values based on common goals and prepare students to exercise their citizenship" (p. 1). Kirkwood (2001) describes globally educated people as "those who possess high-tech skills, broad interdisciplinary knowledge about the contemporary world, and adaptability, flexibility, and world mindedness to participate effectively in the globalized world" (p. 11). "Therefore, the teacher needs to strive for and possess the above characteristics in order to validate her/himself as an educated person of the 21st century" (Burnouf, 2004 ¶ 4).
The fifth competency is 'with-it-ness', which is a term created by Kounin to describe the teacher's awareness of what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times. We commonly refer to this as 'having eyes in the back of the head.' “(Wuest, 1999 ¶ 4) Although the term is normally used in reference to a face to face classroom it can also be referred to the online environment. With-it-ness is something that can be learned but being able to pick up the signs of a student in need will assist the teacher in being a guide on the side. Luvic (2001) states "develop...with-it-ness....Be aware of everything that is going on in the classroom, at all times, monitoring students for signs of restlessness, frustration, anxiety, and off-task behaviours. Be ready to reassign individual learners to different activities as the situation warrants" (p.47).
The sixth and seventh competencies of online teachers are adaptability and computer skills. Online education uses technology, which is changing at a rate that is hard to follow and even harder to master. The online teacher, according to Prensky, (2001) is referred to as a digital immigrant who differs from their digital native students. The social networking tools that have come with Web2.0 bring a completely different set of tools into the hands of the digital natives. The popularity of these tools has surprised and frightened the ‘Digital Immigrants’ to the state where most schools, rather than embracing these tools, have banned them. The banning of facebook, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, myspace, social bookmarking, podcasts, youtube, and flicker, just to mention a few , has made a huge statement that education systems are not willing to join the ‘Digital Natives’ in their world. We could use the web2.0 tools to help educate students. Hokanson (2007) states “if we teach it and believe in the power of education, technology is our friend. Ignorance is our enemy. Instead we should fear more the releasing of millions of ignorant students into the shark infested waters of the internet. They are but guppies in an ocean full of sharks. “
‘Digital Immigrant’ teachers can continue to think that it is possible with a dated system of education to compete within the four walls of our face to face school with the information age which is a reality to the “Digital Natives”. An information age with connected students having instant information, communication, multimedia and entertainment and social networking tools is a new era that no teacher can realistically compete with using the current education approaches. In the past, technology has been used as a supplement to education. As teachers get more comfortable with technology it becomes a support for education but until it becomes integrated with education we will not be preparing the students for their world. Online teachers need to connect to their students and connect them to their world.
Confidence and subject level mastery is the eighth competency of an online teacher. In time a failure within the Cyber School, or in a face to face school, will not be looked at as a failure of the system or the educator. It is okay to allow a student the flexibility to fail. A student failing is sometimes the best education that person can receive. When a student fails within a course the instructor tends to see that as a failure in his or her ability as an educator or in the system as a whole. Many of the students that are referred from the face to face school to the Cyber School are the students who have not been successful in the face to face learning environment. A percentage of those referrals find the online environment is a better match for their learning style and excel. However, some of those referred students are not successful online for the same reasons they were not successful in the face to face. They are not taking ownership for their education. A student's failure sparks many discussions. As educators, our goal is to do everything we can to make a student successful. Keeping this in mind, it is possible that the challenges we have in K-12 education have nothing to do with the delivery system. Maybe it has to do with our lack of willingness to let students fail. Perhaps we need to make the students more responsible for themselves. As a student gets closer to grade 12 this responsibility increases. Education should be viewed as a privilege rather than a right. The time has come when we should let the students decide how and when they access this privilege. That does not in any way mean that good teachers, administrators and schools do not do everything they can to assist students when they ask. A percentage of an online teacher's time is spent trying to assist the students who never asked or do not want the help. Online schooling, home schooling and face to face schooling are all options for today's student. This new environment of options might mean we can allow the student to meet education on their terms, returning the responsibility for a student's education back to the student. It can allow them to pick and choose how and what they want; it can allow them to tailor their consumption of education. We, as educators, can go back to offering the education to those who want it and spend less time forcing it upon those who do not. Online teachers need to be confident in their ability to teach their subject matter and in their ability as a teacher. This confidence will go a long way to them being able to make the necessary distinction between a student's failure and their own failure.
The ninth competency is a team-oriented philosophy towards the online teaching and the online school. Rosenberg (2000) in Table 9.1 (p.242-243) compares a Traditional View to a new E-Learning Business Model and explains the organizational requirements needed for e-learning. The first change is making sure that all the parties involved realize that change is actually necessary. E-Learning does have some history, although brief. A good strategy for one to follow before starting is to research the organizations who have ventured down this path before. One can learn from others’ failures and successes. Take the best of each and make them fit your specific demographics, technical infrastructures, personnel and money available. After the research, it is necessary to get all vested parties to create a common shared vision.
Allowing the parties to be part of the vision will empower the people involved to also become part of the process, letting e-learning be all it can be and then building the organizational supports for it to function. A wise man once said that the administration’s job is to support and adapt to the needs of the school, teachers and students and in the e-learning model it definitely applies. It is essential to have faith in the team that is given the task of developing the model. The online teacher needs to feel he/she is part of the decision making team. It is necessary to have a group of people who will try to predict the problems and solve them as they come up. If most of your planning and decision making is governed by making sure that the impact will not be too great if the project fails, then you are planning for failure. You must plan for success and create an environment which allows the online teacher to try new approaches. The first run will not be perfect but it will get better because of empowered people. On-line teaching is very similar to being a first year teacher. Mistakes will be made and the teachers will learn from them and improve their skills. But they must be given the freedom to make those mistakes and learn from them.
The tenth competency is a recognized leadership in the online teacher's current face to face setting. This leadership will go a long ways in the "selling" of online education as a viable alternative to face to face education. The acceptance of online K-12 education needs to be very important to the online teacher. A portion of their day will be spent educating adults, teachers, parents, and administration about online education. Many days they will feel more like a salesman than an educator. Online education, more than any educational movement, has been deemed as a threat to tradition by so many who are ignorant of all that it entails. The online education is unique in the fact that it is being evaluated by adults who have no point of reference because, unlike the students, they have not been raised in the information era. This accounts for the gap between the differences in the acceptance that is being seen between adults and students. The selling of online education to the students has been much easier than it has been to the adults.
The adult naysayers of online education in the past have out rightly denied the fact that it was possible to use something other than face to face to educate students. Acceptability has started to grow as online education becomes more common. It is almost to the stage where most teachers are willing to concede that some students can be educated using the internet as a vehicle.
Less and less English teachers are stating that it is possible to teach every other subject in an online environment, but not English! The explanation given is that English is different; it needs to have the teachers in the face to face environment to do a good job. English teachers were chosen only as an example. English can be replaced with any other subject. To students, an online course in one's schedule is not a novelty, it is just another option. We are entering a time where a mixture of face to face and e-learning in a student's high school career will be the norm.
This list of ten competencies is by no means a complete list. Many would place typing speed in the top ten, or passion or enthusiasm or flexibility. The list goes on and on. A good competent online teacher is a rare person, but they are out there.
As the administer of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School a big part of my job is to prepare teachers for their venture into online teaching. Part of our new teacher programs is a website which includes essential knowledge, skills, attitudes and advice for online teachers.
This website can be seen at:
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/bestpractice/ELT7004/index.htm
References
Anderson, E. (2007). Becoming Your Own Best Teacher and Learner. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from Baylor University: http://www.baylor.edu/strengths/index.php?id=27352
Baird, D. C. (2002, April 10). 10 Tips for Beginning Teachers. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from London District Catholic School: http://www.ldcsb.on.ca/schools/cfe/elearning/gifted/pdf/10%20tips%20for%20Teachers.pdf
Beairsto, B. (2000). What Does it Take to Be a Lifelong Learner? Retrieved December 8, 2007, from School District No. 38 (Richmond): http://public.sd38.bc.ca/~bbeairsto/Documents/LifelongLearning.pdf
Bulwer- Lytton, E., & Carruthers, T. (2007, October 17). Great Teachers Become Unnecessary? Retrieved December 9, 2007, from Thought for the Day: http://kirkweisler.com/t4d/2007/10/16/great-teachers-become-unnecessary/
Burnouf, L. (2004, Spring). Retrieved December 10, 2007, from Canadian Social Studies: http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css/Css_38_3/ARburnouf_global_awareness_perspectives.htm
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Quote of the Day
The chief wonder of education is that it does not ruin everybody concerned in it, teachers and taught.
Henry Brooks Adams (1828-1918) U.S. historian and writer. The Education of Henry Adams.
September 4, 2008
SCCS Mentoring Program
Thanks to Kelli Boklaschuk who was delegated to compile this write up on SCCS. She did an excellent job.
1. Does your school have a formal teacher mentoring program?
The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School provides both a formal and informal mentoring program for immediate SCCS staff as well as to the entire school division.
The informal mentoring program at the Cyber School itself is conducted via an online Staff Learning Community housed in a secure learning management system. In this on-line learning community staff are given a teacher/developer manual filled with tutorials, staff created templates, and useful advice. The staff meetings minutes are also housed in the learning community as well as software tutorials and other non-locally developed resources for staff. Staff share insights, troubleshooting techniques and other information in the on-line discussion area. Surveys are quizzes are also used in the Learning Community as way to maintain communication and receive feedback from staff who are at remote locations.
The formal mentoring for Cyber School takes place on-sight where staff and administration are always available for one–to-one help. One of the mentoring programs implemented in 2008 involved a continuous improvement framework where staff were asked to learn new technologies and implement them in their online courses. Staff mentoring sessions were help monthly for collaboration and troubleshooting.
It is important to mention that as an on-line school it is imperative that staff be continuously learning new programs to provide the highest quality of on-line education to students. As a result the staff has built its own mentoring program whereby each person becomes an expert in one area and is available for informal mentoring at any time. By doing this, staff feels less overwhelmed especially those who are new to the school.
SCCS also provides both formal and informal mentoring to all staff in the Greater Saskatoon Catholic school division in the area of educational technology.
The informal programs are as follows -
High School Staff Options:
Hybrid Courses – High School educators are given the opportunity to use a full Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School online course developed in their subject area to complement their face-to-face teaching. Teachers new to a subject use this as a tool to learn content. Some teachers give the students the opportunity to write the online exams instead of face-to-face exams, some use the hybrid as an additional resource and some use the course in its entirety and are simply a facilitator in the face-to-face classroom. All teachers can and do receive formal mentoring for their hybrid course as discussed later in this answer.
Learning Communities:
The SCCS Learning Communities are online in a secure Learning Management System where users can log in and communicate, collaborate and discuss with other educators who teach the same subject areas. The high school versions of these Learning communities involve grade 9-12 educators of a particular subject area. They also house online courses, printable units, and many other resources relevant to their particular subject area. Again formal mentoring for Learning communities is discussed later in the answer.
Blogs:
Blog are used by teachers to communicate with their student, parents and community. They are used for many reasons including posting course notes, assignments, videos and so on. Blog users have an online helpdesk to give them the assistance they need to start blogging as well as create right learning sites for their classes. Blog users are formally mentored as well and will be discussed further.
Cyber Planets:
Cyber Planets are online communities for high school students. The Cyber Planets are divided by grade level and include all of the SCCS online courses as well as other courses developed outside SCCS. Students from around the school division have access to communicate, collaborate and share resources with each other in this secure online platform. In this instance students mentor each other.
Elementary School Options -
Cyber Planets:
Cyber planets are secure online elementary school classrooms. The classroom includes secure e-mail, chatrooms & bulletin boards. This classroom allows teachers to monitor their students activities while logged into the classroom. Teachers use these to complement their in class teaching as well as integrate technology into the classroom.
The Cyber Planets also includes "Subject Stuff". The websites found in this area have been evaluated and include sites and activities students divided by grade and subject area.
Staff are mentored with online tutorials as well as formally as discussed later.
Learning communities:
The SCCS Learning Communities are online in a secure Learning Management System where users can log in and communicate, collaborate and discuss with other educators who teach the same subject areas. The elementary school versions of these Learning communities involve educators of a particular grade. They also house online courses, printable units, and many other resources relevant to their particular subject area. Again formal mentoring for Learning communities is discussed later in the answer.
Blogs:
Blog are used by teachers to communicate with their students, parents and community. They are used for many reasons including posting course notes, assignments, videos and so on. Blog users have an online helpdesk to give them the assistance they need to start blogging as well as create right learning sites for their classes. Blog users are formally mentored as well and will be discussed further.
The formal mentoring in the school division takes places in the form of hands on in-servicing regarding the above programs as well as other ways to integrate educational technology.
This mentoring takes place upon request by a school staff, group of educators or support staff. Not only are these sessions used to present the intricacies of these programs but to also promote active life-long learning by teaching about the technologies used by students of today (Digital Natives).
Beyond these in-services and or training sessions Cyber School offers both email and telephone help to any and all users of these programs and to help staff implement their educational technology ideas into the classroom. We also encourage staff to visit us at the Cyber School to obtain additional mentoring and support.
2. Which teachers receive mentors and for how long?
New staff at SCCS receive one-to-one mentoring by administrative staff on a regular yet flexible basis. The new staff member is introduced to all aspects or the programs they will be using, how the school is run and how the student tracking works. The staff member in then given the opportunity to get involved in the staff learning community and through online discussion with colleagues or via tutorials begin to grasp the on-line teaching methodology. This mentoring program often takes 1-3 months at most.
Beyond this, staff take it upon themselves to mentor each other in their respective expertise. This type of mentoring is informal and on-going.
All teachers in the school division are also given the opportunity to be mentored in the area of educational technology. We give them the options and support them when it suits their schedules.
3. What are the roles of the mentors?
The mentors roles involve guiding, giving feedback, making suggestions, co-teaching, developing , troubleshooting and discussing all educational opportunities with staff.
4. How are mentors matched with teachers?
Mentors are not specifically matched with teachers. The matching revolves around the needs of the teachers and the expertise of the mentors.
5. How are mentors prepared and for their roles?
The SCCS formal mentors are experts in their field. They have been prepared by taking graduate level courses and training in specific areas of educational technology , distance education as well as leadership. They are also those who develop new programs for the school thus becoming experts in these programs and as a result are qualified mentors for staff.
All staff are prepared to mentor each other in their own field of expertise as result of personal interest and or motivation to learn and become experts by attending conferences, participating in online seminars and taking advanced courses.
Our staff continuously mentors each other, whether it be via email, in the online staff learning community or face-to-face. The mentoring that takes place is one of the richest and most enticing parts of being an on-line teacher at SCCS
6. How are mentors supported during the mentoring process?
Simply put mentors mentor each other, they group together when needed and are always available for feedback , guidance and assistance.
7. Are mentors provided for course facilitators?
Every course, Cyber Planet, Hybrid course, Learning Community and blog has the possibility of being supported by a mentor(s). The user/teacher/staff member simply has to make the request for this type of support.
8. How does the facilitator mentoring program work?
The program we have implemented has evolved from our philosophy of “create it and let them come to us.”
9. What competencies or knowledge do the teacher and facilitator mentors focus on with their mentees?
Our mentoring focus is geared towards educational technology.
10. How do the mentors, mentees and other school staff know when a mentoring relationship has succeeded?
We are very aware that a mentoring program has been a success when students have positive results, when the teacher/user/staff returns to use the programs in the future and most of all when the mentee becomes a mentor!
11. Are any of these or other approaches to mentoring used in your school?
We use reflection with the SCCS staff in the Learning Community. They are asked to answer surveys and provide feedback regarding many issues.
We use professional development with the SCCS staff as well as with all staff in the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Divisionl.
12. Are any of these or other forms of informal mentoring active in your school?
Yes to all three and they have been discussed in prior questions.
Quote of the day
Education seems to be in America the only commodity of which the customer tries to get as little he can for his money.
Max Forman
September 3, 2008
20 examples of grammar misuse
Grammar just ain't what it used to be, it seems. When we explained the difference between "fewer" and "less than", following Tesco's policy shift on this matter, readers told us what grammar rules they see being flouted or find confusing. The list was a long one. Here are the best.
Quote of the day
The whole object of education is...to develop the mind. The mind should be a thing that works.
Sherwood Anderson
September 2, 2008
Facial Recognition .... way cool.
Today's cameras can make taking a good picture as easy as pushing a single button. Uploading, labeling, and sharing the photo is where things are more likely to get messy. Google's simplifying this by introducing facial recognition technology to Picasa.
Learn English Language
This site contains free to use interactive games for learning languages and links to study resources.
Anatomy arcade
Anatomy Arcade makes basic human anatomy come ALIVE through awesome free flash games and interactives.
Finally, students can play flash games in class and not get in trouble for it and teachers can run lessons that will engage students like never before.
Education is ...
Education is the process of casting false pearls before real swine.
Prof. Irwin Edman