Working with My FIT group

Tonight, we finished the finishing touches on our project. I think everything turned out well. I enjoyed my group. Two of my group members I have never worked with before. One of the members I had a class with previously. It is different to work in groups on this level. Not a different that I don't like, but one that I can count as a new experience. We shared some similarities though. We were all FITs for the same class. It is interesting because we shared the same frustration with the group participants and course instructor. I think the FIT experience was not so much a bad experience, but a learning one. It allowed me to see that grown ups are sometimes no different than highschoolers. FITs are charged with pulling learning experiences from the students. Overall, it was a learning experience. But what's different is putting our project together. We all bring something different. I had some personal issues to take care of when the group had their initial meeting. I was lost when we first hooked back up. But Wali, the only male in the group, assured me that I could just fall into place. When putting the project information together, we all had dialogue on our experience. Because some of us have education backgrounds, we made comparisons on the qualities of a good teacher and a bad teacher. We even went as far to say that a good teacher can do well face to face or online. I agree. A teacher has the ability to pull information and make connections like no one else. I have to do this everyday. In the case of LaCema, she has to direct professional students to get the most out of their education. Overall, I enjoyed the group aspect of this class. I didn't feel overly stressed. We talked like adults when we needed clarification and was able to get the job done.

Collaborative Learning in the High School Setting

This is such a taboo subject in my district. If I'm lying, I am flying, but there is very little collaborative learning or sharing in my district. The only time when we collaborate is at grade level meetings and staff meetings. We very seldom use technology or learning environments to collaborate techniques, lessons, ahh ha moments, on-line. I think when you collaborate online, it opens up just that much more space for sharing. For instance, most schools are gearing up for the Michigan Merit Exam. It is a state test that is published in the news papers (results). Funding is apart of this as well. If we see that we are making way with a lesson or our students are really reaping the benefits from a concept covered, we wait till the staff meeting to discuss it. In the case of my district, we have whats called Big Picture On-Line. There we are linked with other schools across the United States. When you look at the information in the Knowledge Exchange, its over 4 years old. Our district rarely uses it and the others do not participate with it much either. I would like to see a change in the way instructors communicate. I think we would be able to share so much more if we utilized the tools we have more. I think a few reasons that instructors may not use it like they should is lack of training. Most schools throw programs at you, but don't properly train teachers. In addition to that, they don't assess much to see how its going. Some people are just down right scared of using technology. That's another topic in itself. I think all teacher and instructors need to get over their fears and use at a exchange of ideas. It should be used as a way of collaborating. So many learning environments have it as a feature. So I think at my next staff meeting, I will bring up staff using technology to collaborate more.

Been A long time

It's been a long time for me. I have been doing things with work and reading more in the past few months than I have in my whole entire life. But its cool, I will get over it. Besides I am learning some valuable information. I have been trying to develop a Blackboard site for my students to gain experience with. They have been having online discussions, quizzes and posting comments to each others discussion boards. I have been really pushing technology integration at my school. But I feel like administration may be resistant to it right now because state testing and other things are going on. Well, I think my kids are finally getting the hang of it. I want them to see that its more to the Internet than myspace and facebook. But after reading a journal that was assigned in my graduate course, some colleges are really embracing the on-line learning. I read how a school authentic assessments are on the rise in the graduate setting. I particularly took an interest to this article because as I develop materials for my students, I see how they freak when I say we are going to have a quiz on-line. They get so nervous, but they need to know that when they leave me and go to a place far far away, that's the way schools are handling test administration. They are moving to another level. Some may think that using a computer to take a quiz, should be very easy. But the design and tools of assessments is improving daily. It is adjusting to the fast paced world. My biggest fear is that my students may not feel like they received the exposure they should have while with me. I am trying everyday to give them something they are promised to see in the future, the evolution of the learning environment.

Asynchronous learning environments-Midterm

Being a FIT has been a learning experience. I am currently in the process of working on my master's project. So with being a student in my current IT class, I have had the ability to read articles that gives insight on how to keep your class involved in an online program in an asynchronouse environment. One of the articles focused on the graduate level student. Although that is an age difference from the students that I teach everyday, it has allowed me to see that the same rules apply. First, with the group that I am a FIT, they were very slow to respond and may not respond at all. As with high school students, I see that there HAS to be a requirement. I know that when you put requirements, students tend to do the bare minimum, but in some cases, its either that or nothing. I tell my students guidelines all the time. Whether its applying for 3 scholarships or 5, if I don't give them a number, they won't complete any. The one area that I would recommend to improve my FIT course is the participation level of the students. I think even though they may be graduate level students, they could still participate more. Some of the discussions are benefical for everyone. It requires you to think and respond. For example, one of the discussions that was presented was taking a high school course for credit. I think that everyone in the academic professions should have chimmed in on this discussion. Mainly because financial resources play a big part in the participation of this learning environment. Some students have computers at home, others don't. Some schools have effiecient computer labs, others don't. Some schools have teachers that have been trained to lead or facilitate computer based curriculums, others don't. So there are a varying amount of aspects to look at. With all this being said, we need to be more active in these discussions. We need to be more active in these classes. Although I enjoy the concept of this class, I would like to see more participation. I would like to see responses that don't "ditto" what the next persons said. We need to have more instructional discourse. I guess that's enough for today...

Remember its just me talkin'

Are you fit to be a F.I.T.?

This is a question I have been asking myself. I am currently a F.I.T. instructor for a class. I have noticed that this is very much different from the classroom I run everyday. This class is asynchronous. And lets just say that I have my own opinions about that. I believe that this class can really be proven to beneficial for the person that is committed to learning in this type of environment. While dealing with my group, I had to introduce myself to the teacher and the teacher introduced me to my group members. I then introduced myself to my group members. I was quite excited about the topic they were presenting, virtual schools. I have a strong interest to want to learn more about this topic. I think once society breaks into this learning community, there will be so many more learning opportunities for our youth. (Let me get off my soap box). This is where things have gotten a little tricky for me. My group does not really communicate online like I think they should. The instructor can make more of the collaboration tools available to students. But in my reading and research regarding a learning environment like Blackboard, there are technical issues that may come into play. Also, instructors may only want to keep so many features available to help control and monitor the class. The class I am currently enrolled in with Dr. Zhang has been the first class that I feel like the work directly relates to what I want to do or information that I want to learn. The readings assigned is information that I can utilize and research that makes me want to learn more. I read a journal published by the British Journal of Educational Technology. This journal is the reason why I had to write this blog. The title of the journal is "How to structure online discussions for meaningful discourse: a case study". The group that I am 'f.i.t.ing' does not engage in discussion like I think they should. I think in order to have a asynchronous environment, there needs to be 'meaningful discourse'. Not the posting of materials and waiting for your time to be over. This is not an attack of the group members, but an encouragement for them. I would love to see the dialogue between them and the rest of the members from the class. I even post questions just to stimulate conversation. As I read this journal, there seems to be room for improvement. Researchers are still looking for ways to stimulate interaction and exchange of information. I enjoyed my readings this week and look forward to see the progress made in this learning environment.

Until next time....
Aisha

Remember its just me talking!!!!

Moving in a new direction

I know that most of you may know that I am a teacher. So although I am on the interactive track, some how another, I tend to do work relating to my job. My school is different than the set-up of most public schools. Our students learn through project work and learning goals. They also have input on what they learn as well. We have individualized learning. We are still adjusting our curriculum, but that is the basis of it. I say all that to say, this year, staff was requested to write their personal learning plans on something they would like to change or enhance within their classroom. Some example topics were increase ACT scores, increase student's reading levels, assessments, individualization of curriculum, reading and writing workshops, etc. Of course, my topic is way off base from my colleagues. I chose to increase college readiness with my 12th grade students. I chose this topic because I think that some of my students are not taking the college prep seriously. They think they are going to be in high school forever. I talk with my peers to assist me with this, but they tell me they are going through themselves. I have been working with our college counselor to help expose the kids to post-secondary institutions, conducted college learning team meetings, put up a scholarship board and gave work related to college prep as class work. Some students take it seriously, most don't. Because I love to see what other people are doing, I was directed to a website http://www.nclack.k12.or.us/secondaryeducation/sse/index.html . Although this is not a web-based program, the tools were great and it connect so well to our schools philosophy and curriculum. This also a great program for connecting the teacher, student and parents. It also gives assessments so that everyone can see the progress of the program. Above everything else, it is a way to require from my kids what a professor will be looking for this time next year.


Until next time,

Aisha

Remember....It’s just me talking to u!!!

I'm getting old...

I don't want to tell anybody how long it took me to get back in my blog. I think that I have too many user names and passwords to remember. With that being said, I try to use the same info, but I must not be trying hard enough. I assume that I can talk about anything in my blog that pertains to technology and face to face learning. Last week I had to miss class because I went out of town and it was a different experience. I went to Jena, Louisiana. This town only had two main roads paved and two traffic lights. They are involved with alot of press relating to the Jena 6 situation. Without me going so deep, the one thing I remember about that area is Hurricane Katrina. So many schools were destroyed and student’s records were lost. Alot of students relocated, hence attending different schools. I often wonder the benefit of online facilitation there. I am sure that most of the buildings have not been re-built and they are still in temporary facilities. But in this situation, an on-line program will be beneficial. They would have a place, somewhere out there that will always be the "classroom". Hardware can be destroyed, but they will be able to come back to were they left off. That's just me thinking. I don't know what I would do if WSU was destroyed or damaged and they lost my transcripts. They would just have to take my word, I was about to graduate!!! But there is a great need for online learning. More so, a learning environment that is truly a class, not a power point presentation. The younger generation is crying for effective online learning classrooms. My master's project is for me to design an on-line curriculum for our school. Lord knows we need it.

Till next time....
Aisha
Remember.....It's just me talking to you.