Lesson 6 Blog
Team work of which I am proud.
In this lesson Group 6 was given the privilege to moderate the class discussion. I requested the role of moderator of the discussions. This was a great challenge because for one I sometimes have the feeling that I don’t fully understand the principals associated with the topics. I know this is the purpose for the discussions, to explore and make reasoning based on the sharing of ideas. Truly this does help and I am grateful for the resource.

Team work which I found exceptionally challenging.
Moderating the discussion takes a skill to hone into an aspect of a posting to respond with a challenge that is both respectful and sensor to the student. I choose my wording carefully and deliberately when responding to students thoughts on these topics. I would say this was the most challenging aspect of the lesson for me.

Reflections on technology and instructional strategies that you and your team learned from this lesson.
Many students in our class responded with frustration of little understanding and support by their schools in subjects relating to NLE support. I found that most people in the teaching environment (k-12) experience similar issues of tight control over their access to web 2.0 environments. It is clear that education among administrators and people of control when accessing these technology-learning environments needs to come to an understanding. What is most beneficial for the student and how can we monitor the system in a way to make it secure and safe for our children. Restricting access over the board is not an acceptable response.

Anything your team would like to share
As we come down to the end of the class, I look back at the main topics introduced to us. These ideas, almost foreign at the beginning now seem to take on meanings as we implement them into our classroom systems. NLE’s now exist as legitimate curriculum lessons built around how students interact with technology. It is wonderful to see how the students embrace the content and more surprisingly is how I have embraced and now rely on the new structure for class content.

Russ

Lesson 5 Reflection

1. Team work of which I am proud.

In presenting our training session on managing collaborative learning environments, I felt our team worked extremely well together. We divided the training session up into three sections. Each person contributed to the sessions planning and development in a timely manner. We were able to rehearse and revise the presentation without any difficulties. At the time of the training session, members contributed to the management of the Elluminate learning environment without having to actually assign each person to a specific task. It was very natural.

2. Team work which I found exceptionally challenging.

With the flu rampantly spreading and various holiday activities, it has been more difficult to make the meeting time in Elluminate each week. However, making this a priority had made our group work seamless and easily manageable.

3. Reflections on technology and instructional strategies that you and your team learned from this lesson.

The differences in presenting a training session in an online environment versus a face to face session, presented unique opportunity for an adjustment in instructional strategies. Thinking about ways to check for understanding without being able to roam the classroom and view student work was challenging. I was able to integrate the unique feature of collaborative editing in the google docs feature to view student work products to provide for that check. Pacing also was another consideration in instructional strategies while conducting an online training session. While providing for questions intermittently throughout the training, I realized that the student must take more responsibility in voicing concerns than in a face to face class where the instructor is more able to see the lack of understanding.

4. Anything your team would like to share:

Even though we lost one member to our team during the semester, we are still able to seamlessly manage all tasks related to our assignments. We are able to support each other in the learning process and help each other understand parts of the class or assignments that any one of us may have had difficulties with. I feel fortunate to be part of this team.

Lesson 4 Reflection

1. Team work of which I am proud.

Assignment 7: Educational Institution Network Policy & Procedure: Our team has worked collaboratively to make sure this assignment meets all required criteria. Our meeting with the Technology Department staff member was productive and each of us learned and gathered a plethora of information from this session.

2. Team work which I found exceptionally challenging.

Assignment 7: Educational Institution Network Policy & Procedure: Considering that I am not too familiar with Educational Organizations Network Policies, I had to expand my learning and gain new knowledge to collaborate on this project. This paper requires specific criteria and it is extensively challenging. I am grateful we had someone who is extremely knowledgeable in this specific area who was willing to assist us and was up to the challenging interview process.

3. Reflections on technology and instructional strategies that you and your team learned from this lesson.

VoiceThread was an interesting tool for group collaboration. I was surprised and impressed to find out that VoiceThread allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) – in addition to having the capability to share them with anyone you wish. Using VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world. This is great!

4. Anything your team would like to share:

The people in my group and I seem to have had a great start. We get along well and share equal responsibilities. I am glad I have people in my group in which I can learn from. They have taught me to utilize several tools related to technology necessary for this course. Google web page is a tool I was not familiar with: the members in my group provided assistance and we have used a Google web page for our Network Leaning Training assignment.

Learning in ETC647

The beginning of the class has been a little hectic. Mostly because I am familiarizing myself with new applications that I haven't used in the past and the format of the class. It always seems to go this way in the beginning and then I find my groove and am able to more effectively navigate. LOL This semester I am also finding myself teaching more and more professional development courses on tech integration. I guess my district discovered what I can do and now they are using it. I think this class will greatly prepare me for the upcoming PD courses I will be teaching. I am already going to teach one on creating PLEs.

I was very confused on how to successfully complete the discussions in the class. I am still not completely sure if I am doing the discussions correctly.

Our group has been successful in helping each other when needed. We have also been able to communiate effectively.