If you're looking for additional resources for building your personal (or professional) learning network, check out the slide deck from a presentation my friend and colleague, Lori Reed, and I gave at the 2013 North Carolina Library Association conference.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Taking Better Advantage of Google+
I've had a Google+ account since membership was made available to all users, although I haven't been using it to enhance my personal learning network. For a course assignment, I was instructed to join some communities on Google+ and to create one of my own. I started by browsing communities recommend to me by Google based on my searches and other activities. Broadly defined, two communities are focused on technology and higher education, two focus on libraries, and one focuses on how education use TechSmith products in Higher Ed.
After joining these communities and exploring some content, I decided to create a community focusing on instructional technology and higher education. My hope is for the community to become a place where instructional technologists, as well as educators who use technology tools and techniques in their higher education classrooms, gather to share resources and tips and engage in discussions.
I created the community yesterday, so today I made my first post and had one person join. Yay! I'm still a bit unclear how potential members will find my community if I don't personally send them an invitation to join. I'm guessing that this takes time to build momentum and that the discovery process can be helped along with hashtags. I plan to sustain this community throughout this semester by posting every 2-3 days and commenting on others' posts. At the end of the semester, I'll evaluate how this tool is working for me and whether it's something I will continue to sustain.
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| Google+ communities I joined in the last week |
After joining these communities and exploring some content, I decided to create a community focusing on instructional technology and higher education. My hope is for the community to become a place where instructional technologists, as well as educators who use technology tools and techniques in their higher education classrooms, gather to share resources and tips and engage in discussions.
I created the community yesterday, so today I made my first post and had one person join. Yay! I'm still a bit unclear how potential members will find my community if I don't personally send them an invitation to join. I'm guessing that this takes time to build momentum and that the discovery process can be helped along with hashtags. I plan to sustain this community throughout this semester by posting every 2-3 days and commenting on others' posts. At the end of the semester, I'll evaluate how this tool is working for me and whether it's something I will continue to sustain.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
ISTE Standards for Teachers Case Study
This post is in response to the prompt:
Choose an instructor you have had in the past or a colleague you have observed, either face-to-face or online. Rate the instructor according to the ISTE Standards for Teachers. Develop your own rating system, and construct a blog post to justify your rating for each standard. In your post, reference 1 or more specific resources or ideas from this Interactive wiki.
The instructor whose skills I chose to evaluate using the ISTE Standards for teachers was a doctoral level educator and the course was graduate-level and hybrid. The levels of assessment I chose to use, in ascending order, were Novice (1 pt), Basic (2 pts), Proficient (3 pts), and Advanced (4 pts).
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
The instructor was Proficient with
indicators a and b which included promoting, supporting, and modeling creative
and innovative thinking and inventiveness and engaging the students in
real-world issues or problems and how to solve them. He assigned small group
discussions in the Learning Management System (LMS) so that students could
collaboratively work through ideas and projects. The instructor was Advanced in
the skills of promoting student reflection and modeling collaborative knowledge
construction. He assigned reflection blogs which were sometimes private and
sometimes shared with peers in order to encourage collaborative knowledge
construction. We also used a wiki within our small groups to foster this
knowledge construction. Given the division among the indicators I would use my
rubric to give him 3.5 pts – being midway between Proficient and Advanced for
Standard 1.
The instructor gave us the opportunity to
work with small, private, book collections from non-profits in the area as we
learned to catalog their materials in a way that would be useful to them. This project
was a semester long and certainly met the criterion of an authentic experience.
As we worked with our groups we were encouraged to use technology (mostly built
into the LMS because this was prior to most Web 2.0 technologies) to reflect on
our experiences and to read and comment on our classmates’. This experience
can loosely be compared to the Novel Wiki created by two
teachers as a class project on “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” by Barbara
Robinson. The final product (a catalogued collection) served as the summative assessment
while the “check-ins” using blogs and class discussions served as the formative
assessments. Rubrics were shared with us so we knew what was expected with each
assessment. Based on his skills with these indicators, I would give him 4 pts
on the rubric.
3. Model digital age work and learning
The instructor was very familiar with the
LMS and how to use different tools to promote teaching and learning. He often
invited colleagues to come to class and speak to us about their real-world experiences
as practitioners. When face-to-face visits weren’t possible, we watched a video
of the presenter. I believe at this time videos recorded on camcorders with
cassette tapes was probably “the” technology. While the instructor did his best
with what he had to work with, I would give him 3 pts on the rubric.
The syllabus reflected digital
citizenship by containing citations for all works consulted and assigned. Each
assignment that was submitted had to contain proper and accurate citations.
Opportunities in the course for communication and collaboration with people from
other cultures were not presented. I have a difficult time discerning
learner-centered strategies used in this class. Based on the evidence for this
standard, I would rate his skills as Basic (2).
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership
The instructor was an active member in
the field’s local and national organizations, giving presentations at both the
state and national levels. His involvement allowed him to remain current in the
field which, in turn, benefited his students. I’m sure he had a professional
learning network, but it couldn’t have functioned in the same way that PLNs
function today. He would have had his colleagues in the department, access to
journals in the field, and communications with colleagues who weren’t in close
proximity to him via conferences and blogs. He would not have had the same
technology affordances available today such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Based on the indicators for this standard, I would rate him as Proficient (3).
Choose an instructor you have had in the past or a colleague you have observed, either face-to-face or online. Rate the instructor according to the ISTE Standards for Teachers. Develop your own rating system, and construct a blog post to justify your rating for each standard. In your post, reference 1 or more specific resources or ideas from this Interactive wiki.
The instructor whose skills I chose to evaluate using the ISTE Standards for teachers was a doctoral level educator and the course was graduate-level and hybrid. The levels of assessment I chose to use, in ascending order, were Novice (1 pt), Basic (2 pts), Proficient (3 pts), and Advanced (4 pts).
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
The instructor was Proficient with
indicators a and b which included promoting, supporting, and modeling creative
and innovative thinking and inventiveness and engaging the students in
real-world issues or problems and how to solve them. He assigned small group
discussions in the Learning Management System (LMS) so that students could
collaboratively work through ideas and projects. The instructor was Advanced in
the skills of promoting student reflection and modeling collaborative knowledge
construction. He assigned reflection blogs which were sometimes private and
sometimes shared with peers in order to encourage collaborative knowledge
construction. We also used a wiki within our small groups to foster this
knowledge construction. Given the division among the indicators I would use my
rubric to give him 3.5 pts – being midway between Proficient and Advanced for
Standard 1.The instructor gave us the opportunity to
work with small, private, book collections from non-profits in the area as we
learned to catalog their materials in a way that would be useful to them. This project
was a semester long and certainly met the criterion of an authentic experience.
As we worked with our groups we were encouraged to use technology (mostly built
into the LMS because this was prior to most Web 2.0 technologies) to reflect on
our experiences and to read and comment on our classmates’. This experience
can loosely be compared to the Novel Wiki created by two
teachers as a class project on “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” by Barbara
Robinson. The final product (a catalogued collection) served as the summative assessment
while the “check-ins” using blogs and class discussions served as the formative
assessments. Rubrics were shared with us so we knew what was expected with each
assessment. Based on his skills with these indicators, I would give him 4 pts
on the rubric.3. Model digital age work and learning
The instructor was very familiar with the
LMS and how to use different tools to promote teaching and learning. He often
invited colleagues to come to class and speak to us about their real-world experiences
as practitioners. When face-to-face visits weren’t possible, we watched a video
of the presenter. I believe at this time videos recorded on camcorders with
cassette tapes was probably “the” technology. While the instructor did his best
with what he had to work with, I would give him 3 pts on the rubric.The syllabus reflected digital
citizenship by containing citations for all works consulted and assigned. Each
assignment that was submitted had to contain proper and accurate citations.
Opportunities in the course for communication and collaboration with people from
other cultures were not presented. I have a difficult time discerning
learner-centered strategies used in this class. Based on the evidence for this
standard, I would rate his skills as Basic (2).5. Engage in professional growth and leadership
The instructor was an active member in
the field’s local and national organizations, giving presentations at both the
state and national levels. His involvement allowed him to remain current in the
field which, in turn, benefited his students. I’m sure he had a professional
learning network, but it couldn’t have functioned in the same way that PLNs
function today. He would have had his colleagues in the department, access to
journals in the field, and communications with colleagues who weren’t in close
proximity to him via conferences and blogs. He would not have had the same
technology affordances available today such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Based on the indicators for this standard, I would rate him as Proficient (3).
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