Online Learning

This week for CEP 811 we read Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experience Guideline about online learning.  It is neat that Michigan is pushing teachers to incorporate technology into their classrooms.  I teach in Tennessee and I would love to have some sort of requirement as well.  Just one online experience before graduation.  I believe that is feasible. 

The paper was filled of various ways to incorporate technology into your classroom.  It is a wonderful resource.  One technology that I would love to use is the Online Field Trips, otherwise known as virtual field trips.  I think is is a wonderful tool! I work in a low socio-economic area and the students do not always get the same experiences as other students.  It is important for them to explore different places as well.  I feel that virtual field trips can be used in every subject and offer so much.  They also lend themselves to other online experiences, such as blogging.  After the students completed their "field trip" the students could write a short paragraph in a class blog (or even their own blog) about their experience. You could also take it one step further and hold a discussion with an expert.  There is no need to stop at just one online experience.

Virtual Field Trips are great for a number of reasons, one being that they have the opportunity to hit many different types of learners.  Virtual Field Trips usually have visuals, contain some audio and may require you to take some notes.  These hit 3 different types of learners right off the bat! Also, viewing the virtual field trip is always an exciting process.  The students could also work in groups.  For example this virtual field trip: Max's Fantastical Zoo has a worksheet to print, the ability to play the audio as well as offers challenge problems for students.  This virtual field trip is about a zoo and relates to math.  The ideas and resources are endless.  Another great field trip is Visit a Volcano which incorporates science and social studies. These field trips also tend to go across the curriculum and incorporate other subjects.  Students could also create their own higher order thinking questions based on the information they learned.  The students can then share their questions with a group and take turns answering them. 

However, not all online learning works for everyone.  While browsing through the list, I came across a few I knew I would have difficult incorporating into my classroom and into the lives of the students.  Like I had mentioned earlier, most of my students do not own computers nor do they have access to them outside the classroom.  Therefore, setting up an RSS feed, may not be practical since we have to share the mobile laptops with our entire school and I do not have a computer in my classroom.  Another resource that could cause a problem is to have the students create an electronic portfolio.  As I was reading the article I noticed that some of the online learning is geared towards older students (high school age).  Now, that doesn't mean it cold not be brought down to a level for elementary or middle school students to understand, but the older students may get more out of that particular online learning.  I do think that the resources you and your students have can help to contribute or hinder the process of online learning. 

Wikis

As part of our assignment this week we ventured into the world of Wikipedia and Wikispaces.  I found the school system's website on Wikipedia.  On the site, it lists all the elementary schools in the school system, I decided to LINK my school's website to the world "Liberty" under elementary schools.

Truth be told, I have always been weary of Wikipedia and Wikispaces.  At the beginning of the year, I always talk with my fifth graders that not everything on the internet is true.  Therefore, having a website based on "facts" that can be altered by anyone is society, makes me wonder.  However, as I browsed the various wiki sites, I noticed that the sites are managed well.  I am excited to start my own wikispace and see where it takes me! 

New Wikispace

UDL Evaluation Checklist

Universal Design for Learning, UDL is a format in which a lesson is created to try and reach all the learners.  I used a lesson I created at the beginning of this course which is geared towards fifth grade with adding and subtracting decimals.  Feel free to take a look at the lesson Adding and Subtracting Decimals prior to seeing how it measured up to the UDL checklist.  Take a look: UDL Checklist.