Adobe Connecting August 28, 2008
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I have used Adobe Connect for meetings a few times this year, but I used it for the first time with one of my students today. Tanya is new to the course and wanted an overview of how the Moodle works. My Classics course on the Moodle site is designed as a one stop shop for all the learning and each block represents a week’s work, but could be a bit overwhelming if you come in cold near the end of the year (which it is really).
So I opened a meeting room so I could share my desktop and demonstrate how to approach using the site. Tanya had no mic or web cam so just used the chat feature to ask me questions as we went along. It actually worked very well and was so easy. It made me realise that I could use this as a way to quickly catch up with students if they are having difficulties.
Much easier than having to travel to use a VC – which might actually be booked anyway!
Why ICT? March 25, 2008
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Love this clip. I will have to use it in my presentation to teachers. Why…? Bit of a no brainer really isn’t it.
Thanks to Andrew Churches for this one
My first rant – Copying notes from the board March 23, 2008
Posted by mrsuds in pedagogy, rant.3 comments
I came across this post by the 25 hour day blog (through Miguel’s of course).
I love it though! However……
One of my young ladies said this morning, “What have we got to do this for? None of the other classes have to?” This after I had spent some considerable time creating an activity that I thought was pretty good. Turns out she only wants me to provide notes.
“Do you know what notes are?” she says. “We read the textbook. you write notes on the board, and we copy them down. Like they do in the other classes.” Hmmm …….
I love the blog environment, and all the great ideas and discussions. Trouble is then I have to go back into the real world of my 19th century classroom.
This sort of thing REALLY irritates me. In my first year (2004) at my previous school, half way through a lesson (History of course) a student suddenly asked me to put notes on the board for them to copy down. I was stunned. I had NEVER been asked that before. Why would a student WANT to copy down notes – I would rather watch paint dry (well…may be a slight exaggeration, but you get my drift). I stopped what I was doing at the time, quietly collected myself and then asked the student why. At this stage a few other students started piping up about it. It seems that taking notes made them feel secure in the knowledge that they had the correct information for the exams. “Well how about I give you notes in a handout and we process it in a way that might be interesting?” I replied. For some that wasn’t good enough either. When it came down to it some of them just didn’t want to think. They wanted it easy. Just give us the information please, we don’t actually want to learn! They had been indoctrinated into this way of thinking by many teachers in the school. I did things quite differently and some of them werem’t used to thinking for themselves. Needless to say, once they got used to me they came around and surprise, surprise they actually did quite well in the exams. Despite not ever copying notes from the board.
Unfortunately many teachers out there still write up boards of notes for students to copy down. Some of these students will still eat that sort of thing. Others, usually those who think outside the box, will challenge it. I know why teachers do this and it is not because they think it is good learning. It is because they need to ‘get through’ the content and have exams hanging over the heads all year. I don’t think this is an excuse though. You can still get your students succeeding in the exams and provide enaging, thought provoking and worthwhile opportunties for learning (and yes sometimes these things are mutually exclusive). You just need to be willing to take risks.
Unfortunately a school system built on exams as a form of assessment will not encourage teachers to take risks.
But I think it is so important that we do.
My first Video Conference (VC) lesson February 12, 2008
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My first VC lesson was some time ago now, but I feel it is worth sharing the experience.
I must say I did feel some trepidation leading into the first lesson. I had spent some time practising and getting familiar with the equipment, but that was a bit like practising for a game of football – it doesn’t quite capture the challenges of the real thing. One good thing as far as I was concerened was that the students were as inexperienced as me.
I am teaching Level 2 Classical Studies to three students (now become four), two of whom were actually year 11’s. This is a subject I am very experienced in and had developed a lot of online stuff in the past, which I think has helped the transition to online learning.
I only teach one VC a week, while most of the other teachers here have two. To me the VC is only a small part of the whole elearning experience and I wanted to avoid the trap of using two VC lessons to get through a lot of content. My plan was to use the VC lesson as a chance for discussion on the work that had gone on during the week, use of mulitmedia to enhance the learning, or to to do things to keep the students enaged (roleplays etc.). I have prettty much stuck to that formula so far and thing have gone reasonably well.
Anyway the first lesson was not the most inspired I have ever given. Much of the time was spent getting used to using all the different equipment, especially the document camera. I had met the students at orientation day, but I think it took them sometime to get used to me in a TV. The rest of the lesson was a hotch potch of introductory material so I dominated proceedings rather than it being very student centred (which I was very keen on happening). Since that time the students have really come into their own and are more than happy to participate. I just haven’t had an opportunity for them to interact a lot with each other, but we are only 5 lessons in and the opportunity hasn’t really arisen. The next unit will definitely allow for a lot of that.
Anyway I am enjoying the VC side of things while still on a learning curve. The rest of the learning is supported by a class blog which has worked exceptionally well and I LOVE doing.
