This week I read the Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experience Guideline Companion Document for my graduate course. This document addresses the core principles of student learning online. It is very practical by nature, and offers their characteristics of quality online learning experiences.
I first attempted to follow the links to the educational games that this guide offers as tools for the classroom, but I was thwarted by our ISD’s firewall (external blogs have also been defeated). I decided to investigate these educational games due to the fact that I could not use them to teach any content at my particular school. I was not that interested in them to begin with, but I know students like games of all different varieties.
I was pretty familiar with most of their online experiences. The teachers at my high school incorporate many of these experiences into their classrooms. I was surprised to actually see that students are only required to have twenty hours or online learning experiences. I would imagine that our students are easily getting that within a two or three month span.
I am interested in using implementing an interactive discussion with an expert that uses mathematics in their profession. I could see this type of experience bringing relevance to a subject that students continue to argue that no relevance exists beyond Geometry. I would love to see an initial conference between my students and my friend, let us call her Sally, which works for NASA. Sally has been involved with several different research projects and could showcase examples of the type of work she has been doing. Students would then begin a research project that is related to that particular type of work. In this hypothetical situation, students would then be able to ask Sally questions using an online discussion forum.
I believe the above situation would be hard to implement due to the availability of these experts. I have attempted to reach out to several professionals before, and it was hard for these individuals to commit the time. However, I had a leading motion-capture filmmaker visit my film club this fall. He hosts a website that contains content related to the aspiring and professional motion-capture artist. He invited the students to become part of his community. In addition, our film club will be sending him our next short once it is completed and we will be receiving his input. I am interested to see if he is willing meet using video conferencing since he currently resides in California.
I am introducing collaboration across different of my sections using Google Documents, but would love to collaborate with a classroom in a different county or even country. I am ignorant of the ways in which I can find willing classrooms in other countries. I think I need to dedicate some time to exploring ways to find other willing teachers and time to craft an engaging way to collaborate with another class.
Students within my school district are receiving many online experiences; yet, I think we can make these experiences much richer. It will take time to bridge connections with other teachers and professionals to truly create a lasting experience for our students through collaboration.
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Casey,
ReplyDeleteTwo things that came to mind while reading your blog:
1.) I often wonder about the technological ability of teachers in other countries, and their willingness and "savvy" to use the web in communication contexts to enhance their students' learning experiences. Do teachers in other countries face the same type of pressures we do? Time, money, empathetic students, and a general resistance to change found in some coworkers. All interesting questions that could shed light on whether or not collaboration could occur in another country.
2.) I think 20 hours too, is far too few. Some students log 20 hours in 2 days of online communication at home...is it meaningful...mmmm, good question. But I think that we have to keep in mind the limited access of some school districts to the Internet. Do some schools still not have Internet access in the State of Michigan? If the answer is, "Yes", then moderate requirements are probably a good thing until certain schools get to a more resonable technological point.
-Jeff V.
It is interesting that as teachers we rarely meet people outside our own buildings, and generally not outside our regions. Other professions seem to have annual conferences that span the country and even the globe. It is harder for us to find experts outside the teaching profession.
ReplyDeleteCasey, your "chat with an expert" idea sounds great, ESPECIALLY for high school math. One resource you could try is www.linkedin.com. As a math teacher, once you create your own profile,you could join math-related groups and you would be able to contact (send in-mail) to others in those groups, some of whom may work in a field of real world math application.
ReplyDeleteCasey,
ReplyDeleteI have access to a few engineers, finance and banking professionals that use math in their everyday activity. Please let me know if I can make a connection for you. Good working with and I wish you all the best.