While reading and listening to Khan, I found the information very useful and interesting. teaching the fine arts makes using Kahn's site somewhat of a mute point for me. However, I found many of our teachers in the core subjects are actively using Kahn Academy with their students. I would love to find content on Kahn where I could send my students to investigate a topic. This would allow me to flip my classroom. I discovered that many of the videos were easy to follow and the concepts were explained very effectively.
I believe that Kahn has hit the nail on the head by stating that credentialing will become a thing of the past. This elimination will occur with knowledge assessments much like teachers having to pass the praxis. These test do not care where you received your education as long as you can show that you have the knowledge for the profession. This removal of the importance of where you go to school will aid many students who cannot afford to attend the major universities. These students will now be able to attend modest cost universities and still have the ability to get quality jobs by demonstrating the mastery of the information.
Koller has many of the same basic ideas as Kahn but Coursera went a little further. I found the course work in Coursera in the humanities to be very interesting. I would love to study literature from a professor at Stamford.
I was not able to find a definitive answer to whether Columbus State accepts Coursera Credit how ever they are not listed as a partner institution. I do however feel strongly that the Coursera classes were more challenging than other online classes i have taken. I was not as intimidated by the class but was excited by the names of the professors teaching, because I was on my own learning pace. There where very few actual dead lines.This was a prime example of master style learning. I
I believe that the MOOCs style of online classes will be a revolution to the education environment. This revolution will occur by tearing down the boarders and barriers so that everyone can be entitiled to an education.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Ohio DL schools
The Connections Academy looked to be my choice if I was going to send my child or recommend an online school for a student. educators have faced many students who have moved to the brick and mortar high school after spending several years as either a home schooled student or as a student from an online academy. I have personally witnessed these students have a very rough time make the social adjustments allowing the students to fit in with their peers. Many of these students seem to become social outcasts and become disconnected from the school society. Connections Academy has the required on line virtual classroom environment where students get to interact with teachers and classmates through the live web classes. While the asynchronous concept supporting anytime anyplace learning is the crux of the learning environment, I feel that the live interaction would help to alleviate some of the social stigma associated with online education. I found the website to be very easy to navigate and the FAQ section was very informative. http://www.connectionsacademy.com/curriculum/high-school/free-online-learning.aspx
The flip side to this is the Ohio Virtual Academy. I found the site hard to navigate and the FAQ section was not informative at all. There was no discussion of virtual classroom interaction and it seemed that this on line school let you swing. Teachers did not seem to be available in any sort of personal manner. I found the website very hard to navigate and I believe that the lack of social interaction might leave a child to being somewhat socially inept. I am sure that other class members will have differing opinions but I do believe that the Connections Academy would be my first choice.
The flip side to this is the Ohio Virtual Academy. I found the site hard to navigate and the FAQ section was not informative at all. There was no discussion of virtual classroom interaction and it seemed that this on line school let you swing. Teachers did not seem to be available in any sort of personal manner. I found the website very hard to navigate and I believe that the lack of social interaction might leave a child to being somewhat socially inept. I am sure that other class members will have differing opinions but I do believe that the Connections Academy would be my first choice.
Assistive Technology for hearing impairment.
I chose this impairment since it is one close to home. I have a daughter that has been classified as someone with multiple disabilities. Brittany suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was three years. This has been, on its own a hurdle for her advancement through the education system, then to add in her hearing impairment. There were times we thought she had reached the pinnacle in her personal development. Through the use of assistive technology she continued to amaze us. Brittany goes through every day of her life with the largest and most beautiful smile on here face despite the fact that she has issues hearing what is said to her by her employer as well as the bus drivers who transport her. During her time in school, she faced hard ships due to her inability to process instructions from teachers due to her inability to hear. Many of us take for granted the ability to hear and process sounds and the meanings of those sounds. I can only imagine what it would be like if I lost my hearing.
The assistive technology that seemed to make a huge difference in Brittany's educational achievement was the arrival of the smart boards. Smart boards first arrived on the scene in 1991. https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/using-smart-boards-in-the-classroom/ The Boards are touch sensitive screens over white boards that link to computers or laptops and even now to tablets that allow teachers to differentiate lessons to specific types of students White boards allow teachers to project presi presentations as well as direct web links and to show videos. These boards also allow a teacher, using special pens or pucks to draw on the board to further clarify points during the lessons. White boards also allow the student to save the lesson and drawings on their personal tablets or laptops for future review. Smart boards made a difference for hearing impaired students because the learning environment went from a write concepts on the board and then erase it to move on, to one with pages and the ability for students to save the entire lesson. The inability to process language was minimized through the new technology.
The second technology that made an improvement on my daughter's educational advancement was the inclusion of sound amplification systems in the class room. This allows for amplification of video, computer as well as the teacher's voice through overhead speakers or into ports for headphones at the desks. These systems are very cost effective as well as showing the improvement in standardized testing scores. Using the sound amplification systems allows for the the voice of the teacher, through a wireless lavaliere microphone, to be amplified approximately 8db to 10db above ambient room noise levels. This will aid impaired students to better process spoken concepts in the class room One link that I found to be very basic but informative was http://www.hear-more.com/classsuggestions.htm .
Watching students today at the high school level wearing mp3 players and the such with headphones in so loud that I can hear the music as they pass in the hallways means that there will be a huge need for advancements in assistive technology for students with hearing impairment. I believe many of these advancements will come in the basic cost of these current technologies. Society has witnessed the costs dropping on computers, cell phones and televisions through out the years as manufacturing has improved. Education will see the inhibitive costs for smart boards as well as sound field amplification systems improve. These devices will become common place in the classroom which will serve to aid in the elimination of hearing impairment as a stumbling stone to education.
References:
https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/using-smart-boards-in-the-classroom/
http://www.ehow.com/about_5101358_smart-boards-used-classroom.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Board_interactive_whiteboard
http://www.schoolsoundfield.co.uk/catalogue/12/School-Soundfield
http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/research/international_research/australia/proof_research_creating_enhanced_learning_environments.pdf
The assistive technology that seemed to make a huge difference in Brittany's educational achievement was the arrival of the smart boards. Smart boards first arrived on the scene in 1991. https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/using-smart-boards-in-the-classroom/ The Boards are touch sensitive screens over white boards that link to computers or laptops and even now to tablets that allow teachers to differentiate lessons to specific types of students White boards allow teachers to project presi presentations as well as direct web links and to show videos. These boards also allow a teacher, using special pens or pucks to draw on the board to further clarify points during the lessons. White boards also allow the student to save the lesson and drawings on their personal tablets or laptops for future review. Smart boards made a difference for hearing impaired students because the learning environment went from a write concepts on the board and then erase it to move on, to one with pages and the ability for students to save the entire lesson. The inability to process language was minimized through the new technology.
The second technology that made an improvement on my daughter's educational advancement was the inclusion of sound amplification systems in the class room. This allows for amplification of video, computer as well as the teacher's voice through overhead speakers or into ports for headphones at the desks. These systems are very cost effective as well as showing the improvement in standardized testing scores. Using the sound amplification systems allows for the the voice of the teacher, through a wireless lavaliere microphone, to be amplified approximately 8db to 10db above ambient room noise levels. This will aid impaired students to better process spoken concepts in the class room One link that I found to be very basic but informative was http://www.hear-more.com/classsuggestions.htm .
Watching students today at the high school level wearing mp3 players and the such with headphones in so loud that I can hear the music as they pass in the hallways means that there will be a huge need for advancements in assistive technology for students with hearing impairment. I believe many of these advancements will come in the basic cost of these current technologies. Society has witnessed the costs dropping on computers, cell phones and televisions through out the years as manufacturing has improved. Education will see the inhibitive costs for smart boards as well as sound field amplification systems improve. These devices will become common place in the classroom which will serve to aid in the elimination of hearing impairment as a stumbling stone to education.
References:
https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/using-smart-boards-in-the-classroom/
http://www.ehow.com/about_5101358_smart-boards-used-classroom.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Board_interactive_whiteboard
http://www.schoolsoundfield.co.uk/catalogue/12/School-Soundfield
http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/research/international_research/australia/proof_research_creating_enhanced_learning_environments.pdf
Peer Blog Review
What is the name of the blog you reviewed?
I had the pleasure of reviewing the blog for Lauren Coffaro called An Apple A Day. This blog may be reached by using the link here. http://www.anappleadaytech.blogspot.com/
Is the style of the writing in the blog you reviewed suited to the blogger’s intended audience? In other words, is the writing professional enough for a teaching blog?
I found Lauren's writing style to be very easy to read as well as very informative. I was touched by her post about here daughter in the corn maze as well the quote from Waldo Emerson. I may actually end up borrowing this as a signature in my school email account. Her over all style is very professional and I feel that it is written in a manner that third graders should be able to grasp the concepts presented in her blog.
Are the colors/fonts appropriate? Are there things that are distracting about the blog that need to be changed (ie. Pictures/images too large or too small, hard-to-read font, distracting backgrounds, etc). Are Vokis in the right place (they should be only on the sidebar)
The general aesthetics in Lauren's blog are very pleasing. The only issue I found was in the review of my blog. The Color of the text was showing on my computer as grey. I was not able to see here post about my blog. That is the only thing that i found even remotely displeasing in here blog. This was only limited to one post.
Is the spacing and layout easy to navigate? Are there “repeats” of posts? Does the flow and direction of the blog make sense?
Apple A day was extremely easy to navigate and I found the flow to keep me wanting to move further back through her blog. reading this blog i also found that I really liked the personal touches she had included. I feel like I got to know one of my class mates a little bit. The writing was very well done. I could not find any deficiencies in her writing.
What is your overall impression of the blog? (Include any suggestions you may have for improvement. If you have any questions or additional comments, please include them here).
Suggestions and impressions are just one person's opinion. I suggest that anyone following my blog should go check out Lauren Coffaro's blog An Apple A Day for yourself. I really enjoyed reading this blog. I found the links to be very informative and helpful and I found myself book marking a couple of those. However as I stated a little earlier i would change the color of the responses to the questions for the review of my blog hard to read. I would like a color change there. I also might consider making the symballo inserts just a little smaller. These inserts drew my eye a little bit. I had to pull myself back into her blog. I know that i personally will keep checking back in on this blog.
I had the pleasure of reviewing the blog for Lauren Coffaro called An Apple A Day. This blog may be reached by using the link here. http://www.anappleadaytech.blogspot.com/
Is the style of the writing in the blog you reviewed suited to the blogger’s intended audience? In other words, is the writing professional enough for a teaching blog?
I found Lauren's writing style to be very easy to read as well as very informative. I was touched by her post about here daughter in the corn maze as well the quote from Waldo Emerson. I may actually end up borrowing this as a signature in my school email account. Her over all style is very professional and I feel that it is written in a manner that third graders should be able to grasp the concepts presented in her blog.
Are the colors/fonts appropriate? Are there things that are distracting about the blog that need to be changed (ie. Pictures/images too large or too small, hard-to-read font, distracting backgrounds, etc). Are Vokis in the right place (they should be only on the sidebar)
The general aesthetics in Lauren's blog are very pleasing. The only issue I found was in the review of my blog. The Color of the text was showing on my computer as grey. I was not able to see here post about my blog. That is the only thing that i found even remotely displeasing in here blog. This was only limited to one post.
Is the spacing and layout easy to navigate? Are there “repeats” of posts? Does the flow and direction of the blog make sense?
Apple A day was extremely easy to navigate and I found the flow to keep me wanting to move further back through her blog. reading this blog i also found that I really liked the personal touches she had included. I feel like I got to know one of my class mates a little bit. The writing was very well done. I could not find any deficiencies in her writing.
What is your overall impression of the blog? (Include any suggestions you may have for improvement. If you have any questions or additional comments, please include them here).
Suggestions and impressions are just one person's opinion. I suggest that anyone following my blog should go check out Lauren Coffaro's blog An Apple A Day for yourself. I really enjoyed reading this blog. I found the links to be very informative and helpful and I found myself book marking a couple of those. However as I stated a little earlier i would change the color of the responses to the questions for the review of my blog hard to read. I would like a color change there. I also might consider making the symballo inserts just a little smaller. These inserts drew my eye a little bit. I had to pull myself back into her blog. I know that i personally will keep checking back in on this blog.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
PicMonkey
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