525-Session 4 & 5--Edublogs and Knowledge Management

Welcome back!

I would like to start this week by offering some congratulations!

Let's start by congratulating both Luz and Leslie for volunteering to be our "Facilitator Guinea Pigs" they did a fantastic job at prompting the conversation and pushing the content ideas deeper.  I developed the concept of 'students' trying the role of 'Facilitators' because it seems to be a natural extension of my teaching philosophy of pragmatic learning.  You can't learn to swim without getting wet, and practicing with these tools in our course should give you the security of feeling like it is a very protected place to work out the kinks w/o being in front of your own classes.

An additional set of congrat's goes out to both Gail and Sharyn for experimenting with Movenote, creating a presentation, recording it, and sharing it with us.  This will serve as the bulk of their Deliverable #1 (details in syllabus). Ladies, if you could repost your links under the D1 entry that I'll post next week and include the rest of the details below with it, then that would be great.

#1 – Choose or create a potential teaching /learning unit– (either classroom or professional development/training session) and provide an outline of the participants, their learning needs, topics to be included, setting (face-to-face, online, hybrid, etc.), and timeline for course/session. This may serve as the foundation for development of your final project. - Due by the end of week 4 (10/5).

As for the rest of the class, if you have experimented with Authorstream and Movenote and are still looking for something else then play with a few of the 'free' resources w/i this list.  Yes, some cost, so focus on the 'free' ones.  One of you mentioned wanting to gather information about who is viewing, so you may like KnowledgeVision on this list.

So there may still be some skepticism in some of you about the practicality and positive uses of this technology. After all, it does seem like every time we hear or read about blogs and children from the news media--- they have a negative connotation. Briefly skim this report published by Nielsen. I am sure that you will be convinced that blogs are not a passing fad. You can't fake these numbers (and its nearly 10 years old). That's probably a reality check for those of you that are just getting familiar with blogs.

Most of you have already begun creating your own blogs (As they are posted I'll place links to them in the left-hand margin.  I may only be missing one now.). Check them out, as well as some of the past participants' blogs and give them a comment or two. It'll be good practice.

I have merged the content for Sessions 4 & 5 this week because they are so interconnected that I struggled with trying to separate them. You can now access it here or view it from w/i the blog below.

525session5

More presentations from Dave Fontaine

Additionally, I'd like you to watch this tutorial. It is on 'Social Bookmarking.' Give this link a skim to get familiar with the term.

We are all familiar with the ability to save favorite websites in our "Favorites" folder, but what if you had the ability to see other edc525 participants' favorites? What if you could benefit from the greatest sites found by other teachers, professors, and professional development trainers in your field? What if you could access their favorites, as well as your own, from any Internet connected computer? Check out this tutorial and sign up for an account, (optional) and help us by 'tagging' all the great sites you find with an 'edc525' label. If you are apprehensive, visit Delicious.com and do a search for 'edc920' and you'll find all the websites used from that course. I haven't started tagging for this course, but maybe we could do it together.  Grab a coffee or other drink of your choice and kick back for the next few videos:

Pace yourself these two weeks. Some weeks will be easier than others---these two weeks will not be that way. There is a lot to go over, so don't put it all off until the weekend, and don't forget to visit your fellow participants' new blogs.  I'm creating a link to each one in the left hand margin.

Session 4 & Deliverable #1

To gear you up (and psyche you up) for this session I'd like you to watch this. You have to click on it twice. "Did You Know? 2.0" :

As you begin to work on, and think about, your project for Deliverable #2, (details in the syllabus, due Week 8) consider using these resources to guide your integration with the students:

Comment Etiquette http://blogs.tedneward.com/2005/08/27/Comment+Etiquette.aspx

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One of the education blogs that I subscribe to also recently wrote on a topic we discussed during our first f2f class---the overuse of PowerPoint.  As I said then, every tool has its place and I use it for its convenience, ubiquity, and for its ease in sharing the content while licensed under Creative Commons, so that you may easily modify the content for your own use.  But there is such a thing as too much, so here is a great resource for you to read and pass on to all of your future classes. Check it out: http://www.consultpivotal.com/powerpoint_reform.htm

On another topic---some of you were discussing the editing ability of blog posts. Blogs are more static than wikis (which we'll be discussing later in the semester), so when you post a comment to someone else's blog and you want it changed, then your only option is to delete it and rewrite it. Someone correctly mentioned that when you are in your own blog and you write a posting then you can always go back and edit it when you are in your 'Dashboard' screen, so these are some options.

One of my previous students also mentioned,

"As the availability of 'going online' becomes more affordable and the price
of technology continues to decrease, I'm sure we'll see even more families in
our classrooms join the world wide web. With this in mind, educators must also
do everything we can to use the tools that our students are using in order to
reach them. It makes me think back to when the second or third generation ipod
came out... I remember hearing about the first colleges that were making
podcasts for their students to listen to."

Well he mentions how some colleges and universities are making podcasts, but it goes much further than this. Dozens of schools are now recording professor's lectures (some video, but most just audio) and putting them online, along with the support material for the course for free, spend some time checking the sites out below, but even more powerful than this is the fact that they are also allowing the lectures to be accessed from anyone in the entire world.

It is part of the "Open Educational Resources" movement we've mentioned. If this topic interests you, and you decide to explore this path, then check out some of the cool things out there, like this interactive site on "Trapezoids."  Simple, interactive edugames and manipulatives like this make it much easier for students to practice, play with, and experiment with.  This is so that they may access any number of their "Multiple Intelligences" to better aid in teaching and learning.

Even more important however is the number of colleges that are beginning to subscribe to this philosophy. Just check out this list of schools, and then take a look at all 2200 different courses that MIT makes freely available.  Here are some additional links for you to spend some time on, but beware of the clock several hours can fly by: Coursera.org, MIT,  OEDb...   We go into a lot more depth on this topic in my edc922 course, "E-Books and Digital Content".

I also subscribe to this 'open' philosophy. By now most of you have noticed that all of our weekly sessions are licensed under Creative Commons. We'll go into more detail later about this movement when we begin talking about 'wikis' and start to create and edit some.
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David also mentions,

"I remember Professor Fontaine mentioning that he doesn't even have to log on to the
blog to make comments... he can do it from his email. Was I just hearing things
wrong? If not, I am not sure where to go to set up my blog so I can work though
my email. If that is possible, then I could open one less application and work
solely though email."

Well, when you are logged into your Blogger account, go to the Dashboard option and from there choose, 'Settings' and then , 'Mobile and Email .' Once there look for "Posting Options". You'll see the options to email postings to your blog, as well as have every comment emailed to you.

Lastly, keep on checking each other's blogs and don't be afraid to post a comment or two. Those who have already begun using them in class can use your comment as an example to the students that there are other people around the world reading their work.

Also, remember that if you are having trouble downloading a session you can always find a back-up copy at Authorstream.com Once there just do a search for edc525 and pick the appropriate session.

Happy blogging,
Dave

PS----One last reading for this session. It's worth the quick skim:
http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2008/06/02/avoid-school-talk-part-1/

PPS--The readings and assignments for Week's 4 & 5 have now been updated on our class syllabus, so please revisit them to make sure that you are up to date.

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Welcome to Part 2 of this week
session.

"The World of Wikis!"

This second part will take us down a new path!

A path that leads to more collaboration--

more cooperative learning---

and more opportunities to create differentiated instruction and visual learning---all with the goal of helping foster literacy, and learning, for our students.

Don't worry if you have barely heard of the word, 'Wiki'. Here is a taste of the excitement that awaits you when you download session 4/5.

and then watch this:

Good luck and take plenty of notes because I don't want to miss any of your ideas, excitement, or insights when you post your comments!

Your last instructional video is how to use a wiki as  your learning management system:

Enjoy and have fun!
DF

Session 3-Research Supporting Edublog Usage

This session is research-based, and a little heavy on the statistics, so take what you can from the information, save the citations, and use them in the future if you need to substantiate and legitimize edublogging in the classroom.  You'll notice that many of the readings were written 6,8, or even 10 years ago and discuss the impact of edublogging, technology, and collaborative software for the children.  This was done intentionally for two reasons:
1-The students that were included in the demographics w/i the statistics are now old enough to be your students in the Adult Ed. program of your particular setting, and
2-They have been exposed to, and have been using these digital tools throughout most of their educational lives, so it is imperative that we integrate them into our own instruction.  They expect nothing less, and that's why I've been immersing you in these tools from the start.

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This session will be spent on gaining background knowledge on the research out there suppporting edublogs in the classroom. It has been embedded below using Authorstream.com.  But before we begin please check out just a few of your peers' blogs and post a comment to theirs. They should have set-up the ability to have each post emailed to them, so that they know you left it.

I have been posting links in the left-hand margin.  If you don't see your name, then I may have missed it.  Please send me your blog address again.

Also, I'd like you to begin experimenting with adding additional multi-media to your blog.  Add an interactive, video, poll..---experiment and play with it.  Nothing is permanent.

Additionally, one recent posting that I really like is from: http://anne.teachesme.com/2007/01/17/rationale-for-educational-blogging/
this is from just one of the blogs that I subscribe to. It addresses the "Rationalization for Educational Blogging." It is very well written and a great place to start when trying to substantiate edublog usage in the classroom.  When you are finished skim some of the 'comments' as well.  Then wrap your head around the fact that this was written over 8 years ago.

I mentioned earlier that my presentation was uploaded to Authorstream.com   After you view it below and go through the assigned readings, I'd like you to practice this week with setting up a free account with Authorstream, then try uploading a slide show (like a PowerPoint) and then embedding it (or someone else's to your blog).

One of the areas that was mentioned, during our first session, was that people wanted to experiment with alternative forms of presentations.  Authorstream gives you lots of options, for example you can 'present live' using the directions here.  You should also scroll to the bottom of their home page and go through the "Why Authorstream" directions.  Once you have had a chance to immerse yourself in this tool, please share your reaction in Week 3's comment's section and let us know if you can see any practical applications to this tool.

EDC525-Session3

More presentations from Dave

This week also try: Movenote.com  and Authorstream.com

Good luck and have fun!

Dave

Past participants' comments from one of my previous courses about using blogs in education:

Spring '10
Spring '09

Summer '08

and older past participant comments and insights may be accessed here.

Session 2-The Power of Blogging

Welcome back to Session 2---The Power of Blogging!!

To start your creative juices flowing for S2, please watch this enlightening and entertaining video by Ken Robinson via TED Talks. It lasts for approximately 12 minutes, but it is time well spent!

When you are done, feel free to continue the dialog by commenting below.


If I may just reiterate---I've thrown most of you directly into the fire by diverging from the traditional forms of Learning Management Systems like Sakai and Blackboard for a very important reason.  In order to truly experiment with and learn how to use 21st century learning tools to aid you in your future endeavors teaching adult learners you really have to play in the sandbox.  I subscribe to the teaching philosophy of 'full immersion,'  so don't stress too much during this week's exercises. Mistakes will be made (and expected).  Based upon most of the emails I have been getting, the majority of the class has very little experience with this kind of communication medium.

There were many interesting conversations and comments left under our first two postings.  I've never had a class already know each other so well. Two comments that stood out were addressing the intensity and workload of learning (and teaching) online.  Sharyn said,

"Sharyn Vicente September 12, 2016 at 5:13 PM

Heidi, I think that you and Jason have narrowed in on how difficult it is to take an online course due to the independence it affords. An outsider may think that having more freedom online would result in it being an easier way to learn, but it is just the opposite, especially if you are not an organized student."

Then Paul responded,

"Paul RicciSeptember 12, 2016 at 8:04 PM

You hit the nail on the head when you pointed out the common misconception that online courses are easy. I've found that more time and effort (and discipline) must be used in the online setting. We've been fortunate to be part of a great group of people involved in this program, I have found that working together has been so helpful!"

These are interesting points and both very true. This course is all about using online tools and resources to help you facilitate learning. Whether you are instructing f2f and adding in a few tools, or completely online, adding tech to your lessons can be total 'time suck'. You blink your eyes and hours have gone by and you've gotten lost in this vacuum of cool stuff to explore with not enough time in your life to play with them all.  I've also noticed that the workload to 'prepare' an online course is heavier as well. If any of you become online instructors or if you just do a hybridized course of instruction you'll find that you have to try to anticipate the questions and answer them ahead of time.  Whereas in a f2f setting you can easily go back and forth with Q&A's.  

 

You'll notice a change or two on our blog.  I thought that I would introduce you the first week to a stripped down version of a blog and have it slowly evolve over the weeks, so you could see other tools and abilities.

You'll be spending the bulk of your time this week moving through a number of tutorials that are asynchronous and self-paced.  Each one will walk you through a different element of a blog.  You'll go through these tutorials and experiment.  It is less important that you can envision an immediate use for this tool, but more significant that you get the opportunity to immerse yourself and think about how a tool like this forces participants to think outside the traditional classroom and encourages conversations with a wider audience.  My point with these exercises is not to give you busy work.  My hope is that you try to fit these additions and capabilities into the bigger picture----that big picture is how to use tech to facilitate teaching and learning.  Anyone can have their students play with fun tools,  it takes focus upon the motivation for their introduction to ensure they have merit.

You may recall that we touched upon Creative Commons Licensing and Open Education Resources during our first session. All of the tutorials we'll be using this week are freely licensed.  We'll go into much more detail about CC Licensing and its benefits to you when planning future teaching or PD sessions later this semester.  Let's start by watching this brief video:

Now give this page a quick skim focusing particularly on the license distinctions half-way down the page.  Just try to gain an overall understanding.You don't need to memorize it.  I don't expect you to be well-versed----just aware.

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Below, you will find a list of bulleted links that will take you to the exercises for Session 2. No one is going to force you to use these tools in the future, but please make a sincere effort to try them out.  Blogger, like nearly all online tools, is perpetually evolving, so if any of the directions seem to be off slightly please try to work around them.

Setting Up a Blogger Account

Adding a new post with a photo

Fine tuning your blog

Add a hyperlink from text or a photo

Changing the template & layout

Get rid of the top Navigation Bar

Adding a separate page

Adding html embed code with an Animoto example

Adding your own header photo

Editing html

Adding Recent Comments to your sidebar

Adding a label to group blog posts

Adding a gadget to the side bar

Adding an email subscription

Adding a hit counter or Clustrmap

Adding a working link to your email

Adding audio with AudioPal

Adding a Google Presentation

Adding a Google Calendar

Adding a YouTube Video

Adding a list of links in your side bar

Adding a link to class bookmarks

Adding a working clock

Adding external generated photos

Adding a jigsaw puzzle

Adding Speakpipe- audio commenting

Adding a webnote link to your blog

Adding a Photopeach Slideshow

Adding a photo to your Blogger profile

Add pdf, audio & video with Dropbox

Adding a Voicethread to your blog

Posting to your blog via email

Adding new authors / admin to your blog

Blogging from your iPad or iPhone

Keeping up with what's on other blogs

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Part 2

Let's start Part 2 of Session 2 by continuing to analyze online teaching andragogy.

First go through these links and follow the instructions, then view the readings on the 

syllabus.

2.0 --Overview of Week Two

2.1--The Art of Facilitating Online Discussions

2.1a-Facilitation Rubric

2.2-The Fun Part: Facilitating

Good Luck and have fun practicing with your new blog this week.  As you create yours, please send me the link and I'll add it to the list in the left-hand margin.

Session 1----Time for Introductions!!!

Welcome (again) to EDC525 - Website Technology in Education and Training

This is our class blog. It will serve as our discussion forum, connection to each other, and the main webpage you will be accessing. If this is your first visit, then please first read the entry below (titled, 'Welcome to EDC525---"Website Technology in Education and Training"') and follow the instructions there--- then return to this spot and continue reading.  You will find that there is some reiteration and repetition of information in this posting to serve as your 'training wheels' and to make sure that you have a solid understanding of this venue.  Once we get to Session 2 I won't be repeating myself as much.

 The content here should keep you pretty busy for the next few days until Session 2 is posted (Thursday evening)--for now you only need to know a few things.

This blog can be viewed by anyone, but will only allow the participants of EDC525 to interact with it. When you would like to respond to someone or comment upon a session, just click on the 'comment' link below each of my postings (you should sign up for a Blogger account ASAP and choose a 'User Name' that is easily identifiable. Blogger is owned by Google, so if you already have a user account with Google for something like: gmail, gdocs,picassa..., then use that user name)

I'm sure some of you have already begun to practice a little.  If you run into any trouble and need to contact me, then please email me at DaveFontaine1@gmail.com.  A few of you have been in direct contact with me for specific problems or stumbles, so please feel  comfortable reaching out to me if you need to.  The last thing I want is to have frustration levels rising during the first week.

In the left-hand margin you will see links to individual lessons (accessible every Thursday evening).



Rather than teaching (or preaching) from Sakai about online collaboration and 21st century digital resources that can facilitate teaching and learning, I have decided to teach you about Web 2.0 and collaborative tools by 'using' a collaborative tool. This is our class edublog, or blog for short.

This blog, in addition to its use as an interactive communication tool, will also be where you can access and download your weekly sessions. An additional benefit (that I mentioned during our first class) will also be that you will retain access to all of our course content, lessons, comments, and reflections in perpetuity.

The presentation links to the left will be accessible on a week-to-week basis (Thurs. evenings). I've said it before, but it bears repeating---When attempting to download always choose 'save' rather than 'open.'  There isn't a link to Session 1.

The syllabus is also linked to the left. Google has a free service (gDocs, gDrive) that allows you to just upload any Word document and with one additional click it gets published online with its own URL. The course syllabus is an example of how easy it is to use, and we'll practice with this tool this semester. I'm still tweaking the course content, so don't jump ahead and start Session 2's readings until Thursday night (9/15).

One more aspect that will be unique about this course is that I support a completely collaborative teaching philosophy. Following that mindset, I will keep your assignments, comments, and reflections viewable and accessible to future participants of this course. The 'goal' of that is so future participants may:

1. Gain from the collective knowledge of your experiences;
2. Benefit from what you have created; and
3. Incorporate new ideas into their classroom based upon your inspiration.

The bonus for you, of course, is that this information will also always be accessible to you. This way, in the future (many semesters from now) you may revisit this site and benefit from the ideas of all the participants that took it 'after' you. In this way---YOU will gain from all the 'learning speed bumps' of those that have come after you--even though they are not currently enrolled in this course. To reduce confusion however, I am only showing you a stripped down version of this blog's visual interface.  As the semester progresses I will be slowly introducing other aspects of it, one of those is the archive from past participants.
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Some of the content for our sessions is also covered in my "Blogs and Wikis" course. When that is the case I'll also give you a link to the 'comments' of past participants from that class as well.

Before we go any further I would like each of you to practice using this forum and introduce yourself (1.4 from the Overview checklist). We will be spending the semester together, so it is important to learn as much about each other as possible.

So first make sure that you have an account with Blogger (any Google user name and password will do), then click on the 'comment' link below this posting,  and write a few paragraphs about yourself.

Please include:
-your name (This will count for credit for 1.3 and 1.4.)
-email address (so that you may contact each other directly if needed),
-your educational background,
-teaching history,
-current teaching position with location, and lastly
-what you hope to come away with when this semester is over, along with any additional information about you that you wish to share, like your motivation for choosing this course... (This will count for credit for 1.5, so please read the checklist in the Overview for expectations.)


Sometimes it takes a little while to get the hang of using this forum. I have taken this into consideration by reducing the workload/readings of the first session. (Of course, if you get distracted easily, then you could spend hours exploring.)

Week 1's primary goal is to make sure everyone is on the same page and skill level before we sink our teeth into the meat of this course,  however, if you run into any 'techno-speed bumps' then please feel free to contact me with any questions.

There are a few readings listed and linked from the syllabus.  Most are online, but this one should be read from here:

Introduction to Social Media for Business by Dennis O'Neil

Everything here is licensed by Creative Commons. This means that you have complete authority to download, save, share, and use all of the lessons in your classroom, but are prohibited from any commercial uses.

You will notice that most of the PowerPoint presentations will have the narration transcribed in the 'notes section' of each slide. We've all heard about the con's of using PPT and the desperate need for alternatives, but I've found using this sometimes makes it easiest for the largest number of people to then take and manipulate.

The transcription of my narration is because sometimes I have teachers from around the world taking my courses. I've had teachers from Canada, China, Alaska, California, Phillipines, Sudan, Singapore...taking my courses (And they may need help understanding my "Ro-diland" accent) but more importantly, the transcribed narration allows you to take these slides and use them in your own classroom. (or, if you find my voice putting you to sleep, you can just read the slides instead)

Good luck this semester! I look forward to working and collaborating with you.

Dave Fontaine
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PS-Click on the 'comments' link below to make your comments for this week.

Welcome to EDC525---"Website Technology in Education and Training"

Welcome to EDC525---"Website Technology in Education and Training"

This title is a bit outdated and doesn't clearly convey the content of this course.  It could, and some day soon will, be called, "Using Technology to Teach the Adult Learner."

Throughout this semester we will be covering a vast amount of information (but don't be too intimidated). Information and new developments about this content are exploding exponentially, so it's challenging even for me to stay current.

New sessions will be posted (here on our class edublog once a week (by the end of the day on Thursday).   I was going to explain why we are using this site when we see each other, but now I'll try to convey the details virtually. 

I've sat through countless training sessions, lectures, workshops, and classes and have learned that there is no substitute for experience. Following this mindset, I decided to have you immediately dive right into one of the first tools that we will be playing with and experimenting on.  

This online service is called, "Blogger" aka "Blogspot".  It is owned by a Google, so it is in your best interest (when signing up) to use a Google account (if you have one).  

Ordinarily, we have our first face-to-face (f2f) meeting at URI's Providence campus (Shepard Building)  in room 317 from 4-6:30ish. We then normally would meet again for a mid-semester f2f and at the end of the term for Final Presentations. As you know, due to the overwhelming amount of personal requests for a special accommodations from course participants, I polled the class and it was decided to have our first session virtually.  This means that you will have to dive right in and may have to struggle a bit until you get the hang of this venue.

This site will be our class blog.  I'm sure by now you are all aware of what a blog is.  The term is short for 'web log'.  It's format is similar to many sites you may have used and we will be using this blog as our home page.  

Each week, you will visit here and read my weekly posting.  Often from there you will be tasked with visiting, experimenting, and using additional online resources, all of which have the potential to aid you in your endeavors to impart your vast trove of knowledge upon others.  

Please keep in mind that there are new developments and trends in online information every day, therefore we may have to be flexible when interpreting the syllabus. This may mean some modifications, changes and condensing of information. 

To ensure that we are covering the most current skills and content, I will be assimilating and collating information right up until the moment I post a session. This means that each session's link (over in the left-hand margin) will not be accessible until its respective Thursday. Even so, there may be times during a session when a cited link is dead. If that is the case, I will try to keep saved copies of all the information. Just email me (davefontaine1@gmail.com) and I will forward the data to you.

During the first few sessions we will be covering foundational skills. This is to ensure that we all have the basic essentials of online andragogy ‘down pat’. Once this is covered, we will pick up the pace and begin to delve into the mechanics, nuances, and meat of our course.

PLEASE DON'T FEEL OVERWHELMED this first week and pace yourself going through the links and readings.

Normally, I will go through all of the content in this blog posting f2f during our first session, so if you run into trouble or hit a techno-speedbump along the way, I could help.  Feel free to reach out to me with any questions if that's the case.

To ensure continuous accessibility to the information within these weekly presentations I suggest you immediately download, and save the sessions, to your computer.  Not every week's session will be downloadable, (Week 1 is mostly readings w/o a video session to download, so don't look for a link for this week.) but many will be. I cannot emphasize this enough. Along the left-hand margin, there will be a link for each session, but not Week 1. When you click on this link you may be prompted to 'save' or 'open' the session.

Always ‘save’ it to your desktop (or in a folder somewhere on your computer). Previous class participants have found it easiest to organize if they create a folder and store all the sessions in one place. Another option would be to right-click on the link and choose, 'save link as.'

‘Saving’ the sessions will decrease problems relating to your bandwidth. Also, although it may take a while for a presentation to download (up to 10 min. or more depending upon the speed of your connection) it will be much easier to toggle between a PowerPoint and the Internet if you have it saved to your hard drive. Weekly sessions will also become portable if you save them to a thumb drive, so if you want to take them from home to work, or vice-versa that will be easiest.

Additionally, you will need to have access to a computer that has PowerPoint version ’97 or above to view the presentations. We spoke during our first meeting about alternative presentation tools other than PowerPoint, so (As an alternative I will also upload a copy of each week's session to an online service where you can stream it live. You will find that link at the bottom of each weekly posting.)  

As I mentioned earlier, I teach this course completely from a blog. This will help those of you who have little, to no, experience with blogs.  You get to practice, participate, and even create your own, so that, down the road, you can make an educated decision about how this tool may best be used for your future teaching environment.


I'll give you all some time to practice with this a little and contact you Saturday night with our first official weekly session, so look for an email from me directing you back to this blog where you will find more details.  

I believe in immersing you in the technological tools that I am trying to expose you to, so that is one of the main reasons why I am teaching this course from a blog.  This will give you first-hand experience using a blog and also by uploading my sessions to the online service (Authorstream.com), you will again see the distinctions between traditional slideshow tools and online services that store all of your material in the cloud.  Hybridized and/or Blended Learning are the new models of andragogy that many colleges and universities are embracing, so most of our focus will be upon how online tools can be used to Flip your classroom. Skim this article for an overall idea.

Please remember that we are all educators/trainers (or some day may be), and that this is a collaborative course. In that same vein, we will all be sharing our thoughts and ideas together, so as you post your reflections and comments we will all be responding to you, therefore, timely responses are imperative. After you have posted your weekly assignment/reflection, make an effort to return again later to read and comment about other participants’ assignments and perspectives.

Once again remember that we are all perpetual learners; constantly growing. I hope to learn as much from you---as you will from me.

Saturday evening I will update this page with information about our first session. Along the left-hand margin you will see the syllabus, but truthfully, I will be updating it weekly, so it might be a better idea if you just save a shortcut to the live version.   There isn't a required, purchasable text, but for those of you that want more depth on blogs and wikis then I recommend Will Richardson's book.  Don't worry if it takes a week to arrive.

You may order it from most online book sellers. Until then you may want to read it online (not ideal and you usually can't access the entire text), but here is the link: Wikis, Blogs, and Podcasts

You could also check your local library here.

If you run into problems, please review the directions again. It is not uncommon for participants to 'stumble' a little getting used to this forum.

Thank you and please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have along the way.

Please follow the links below to read an overview of Week 1. As you go through it, explore the links for more detailed information.  When finished with the Overview begin to go through the additional readings/directions 1.1, 1.2... to build your foundation for this semester's content.

Overview of Week 1

1.1--Who is the Virtual Student

1.2--Who is the Virtual Teacher

1.3--Who We Are (it's all about the people)

Good Luck and have fun.  I'll post the rest of Week 1 by Saturday night.

Dave Fontaine
eBook, eLearning, and eContent Specialist
National Board Certified Educator
DaveFontaine1@gmail.com
401-835-3782