Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Bibliography #1

Citation:

Dyke, Harding, & Liddon (2008) How can online observation support the assessment and feedback, on classroom performance, to trainee teachers at a distance and in real time? Journal of Higher Education, 32(1) 37-46

Summary:

This was a qualitative study in England about the real time observations of teachers using video conferencing technology. The research looked at initial teacher training. This research looked beyond the initial training where teachers video taped their teaching and then waited for feedback from the observer.

In this study, two cameras were placed in the classroom. The observer could remotely move the cameras to gain a better understanding of what the teacher, as well as what the students were doing in all areas of the classroom.

The classroom teacher was allowed to meet with the observer before the class and after the observation. This made it more personal for the teacher and limited the anxiety of teaching to a stranger.

Review:

The study found that careful placing of cameras and having the ability to remotely control them enabled the online observer to gain the proper perspective of the classroom. This made it more real as to how an observation on the classroom would go. By not having the observer directly in the classroom also limited the distraction for the students and the classroom teacher.

The study for this method to be comparable to face to face observation. It was also concluded that this is a cost efficient way to help new teachers, as well as extend this technology to on going teacher trainings in England’s schools.

The study seemed pretty solid. While it is a long term cost effective solution, it is still time consuming in the set up of the cameras, as well as the initial cost of the cameras and on line technology.

Bibliography #2

Citation:

Pittinsky, Matthew (2005). No Teacher Left Behind. T H E Journal, 32(11) 32-34

Summary:

This article summarized the findings of the National Summit conducted by Blackboard to address the topic of online professional learning. In the summit, they discussed how elearning had transformed higher ed learning. The major challenge discussed was implementing elearning to replace traditional professional development for teachers. Problems discussed for teachers using traditional professional development were many of the same as the argument for on l ine classes versus face to face classes. Time to travel, on going support after the class ends, and maintaining teacher interaction after the session ends were reasons discussed to move to on line professional development.

Review:

The article was a reinforcement of ideas that we have discussed in class as it pertains of on line classes versus face to face classes. With teachers having a 50% attrition rate after 3 years, districts are challenged in finding new ways to reach out too their teachers to support them in the classroom. The article highlights a few districts in their attempt to help teachers learn Spanish, create supported on line communities for teachers, and general on line classes for teachers.

The article is a good, basic summary of the necessary arguments that districts discuss when implementing professional development. While a bit elementary for a graduate program, it would be a good tool to deliver to teachers who don’t fully understand the importance and the advantages of elearning and professional devekoplment.

Bibliography #3

Citation:

Poftak, Amy (2007). Best of 2007. Technology and Learning, 28(5) 12-30.

Summary:

As a student who is still learning all the technologies out there, I found this article the most interesting. It was a summary of Technologies and Learning Best of 2007. The article covers the awards for a broad range of software and learning modules, picture dictionaries, library management, multimedia creation studios, on line communication and collaboration , and other categories. Criteria used to judge each product included if the program was a groundbreaker, pedagogically sound, crucial solution, user-friendly, and innovative.

A trend newly discovered in the review was a focus on teaching core skills in a self paced on line environment with a goal of showing measurable student growth and software solutions for managing and monitoring classroom computers.

Review:

Top Winner – Acheve3000 – We use this program at our school. It is a web based literacy program focusing on student growth in the core programs of elementary school. It focuses on the management aspect of the students and being able to track their growth and time on the system.

Other winners were WritetoLearn 3, Discovery Education, Brainpop, and Leapfrog Schoolhouse.

The multimedia winner was Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium version. It is a do it all web design and development suite.

I found this article helpful to me, the novice technology user, and thought it would help schools looking to guide them in software purchases and use. While the article isn’t really research of any kind, it is a good starting point for software investigation.

Bibliography #4

Citation:

Eroz-Tuga & Sadler (2009). Comparing six video chat tools: A critical evaluation by language teachers. Computers & Education, 53, pgs. 787 - 798

Summary:

This qualitative study discusses the evaluation and examination of six video chat tools. Two classes of graduate students conducted the study. One school was a large Midwestern United States school and the other a school in Ankara, Turkey. One student from the US paired up with a student from Turkey. The students are all current or future language teachers. The reason for the research was to investigate more advanced forms of CMC (computer-mediated communication). The focus of the project was to evaluate the technical aspects of the popular video chat programs to determine the practicality of personal and professional use. The study will be used as guidance for language teachers who wish to incorporate the technology in their classrooms.

The six video tools that were investigated were CUworld, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Paltalk, Skype, and Yahoo Messenger. They picked these six because of their popularity and availability to the public. The study first compared the audio and video capabilities (multi part, 1-1, and half/full – duplex) The students were then asked to discuss technology lessons using the six different video chats, but weren’t allowed to comment on the actual CMC.

The study ranked the 6 into 3 groups, bottom third, middle third, and top third. They ranked them on video and audio quality, community oriented category, and user friendliness. Skype and MSN Messenger ranked at the top for audio and video chat, but both tools lacked an integrated community component.

The overall rankings were broken onto two groups, personal use, and language learning with Paltalk scoring the worst for both and MSN Messenger scoring the best for both. Skype was ranked second for both.

Review:

I thought this study was very well organized and worth reading for anyone in the CMC field. The study’s strength lies in the different chat providers they used and tested. Having people from two different countries was a good way to differentiate the demographics. Another key point was that the students were not allowed to talk about the features of the actual video chats as to persuade the other student one way or the other.

Overall, it is well worth reading. The study recommended MSN Messenger and Skype over the others for both personal use and language learning.

Bibliography #5

Citation:

Whelan, Robert (2008). Use of ICT in education in the South Pacific: findings of the Pacific eLearning Observatory. Distance Education, 29(1), 53-70

Summary:

This was a qualitative study conducted in an online survey to assess levels of access to information and communication technologies in eductaion and to identify ways of lowering the barriers in the Pacific region. The importance for distance learning in the South Pacific is extreme, due to the large area that the University of the South Pacific serves. With the large increase of on line users in the past decade, distance learning has become a real importance to the region. The article discusses the use of the universities private satellite based telecommunications and ICT infrastructure, USPNet. It has had to triple its bandwidth of the last decade to accommodate the rising need.

The survey participants were policy makers, educators, and experts information technology. The “feedback” tool used to collect the data was Moodle. The survey addressed eight araes: demographics of the respondents, perceptions of ICT (information and communication technologies) in education and teaching practices, ICT access and school networking estimates, role of ICT in curriculum, current ICT initatives for education, strategies for the development and deployment, and current needs and challenges for development.

Review:

The article was focused on lowering the barriers to ICT in the South Pacific, but the research had external validity (thank you EDUC 607) in it’s findings. Some of the key finidings to tahe research were:

· Review lecturer workloads resulting from an increase in use of ICT’s.

· Provide an introduction and orientation for rural students mot in need of ICT.

· Study student behaviors online to develop models of effective practices.

· Design and test innovative ICT-based language learning resources to improve students’ academic and communication skills

On line learning is a challenge in all areas of the world, and it seems that they all have the same challenges. This study probably could have been conducted in Montana or upper Canada with close to the same results.

Session 6 Grading, Assessment, and Evaluation

My Read 180 classes just completed reading Bud, Not Buddy so I created a quiz using quizstar and created a 4 point rubric to go with the essay question. I thought quizstar was ok, I have used other test creators, including the one imbedded in our program, and found tht easier to use than quizstar.

Found the discussion on plagarism and essay writing essay. I wasn't aware of the severity of the problem in High School and college. I think rubrics are the closest thing to "perfect' we can get. In elementary school, rubrics are a great way to pre teach the expectations of the writing assignment. It gives the students a guide as to what you are expecting them to write about, and lets them focus their writing on the points.

I'm curious to hear Dr. Newberry's reasons for not liking turnitin.

New Media

The new media I investigated is teachertube. I wasn't even aware that teachertube existed before this class, but as the technology coordinator at my school, i thought this would be a great opportunity to investigate something that my staff could use with some effectiveness.

The url for teachertube is http://www.teachertube.com. It's simple to sign up and is free. My staff at school isn't too experienced with technology, due mainly to putting a classroom teacher, myself, in charge of training them. I am looking for something that can help them with classroom projects, ideas, and a place to discuss different aspects of education.

Teachertube offers videos, documents, photos, discussion boards, blogs, and a personalized area for your "friends. It operates much on the same way as facebook and youtube. You can save favorite videos, blogs, documents, and can post your own blog through the site. One way communication is facilitated through the blogs, but can host two way communication through discussion boards, email, and personal messages to members. It has all the same capabilities as blackboard, but seems to have a greater ability to host video and audio. There is no live chat function, but goes beyond blackboard it terms of supplying video. With 14,000 members and growing, it is a great tool for teachers looking for lesson ideas, networking, or teacher "friends".

This possibilities for elearning seem endless. I would love to give my teachers at school an assignment of finding video to support a lesson, or to find a new way to approach a lesson by posting a blog or discussion thread and going through the feedback provided by the members.

The only activity I can find that would not be supported would be direct and immediate two way communication through a live chat.

Overall, I am very impressed with this new media in terms of ease of use. It reminds me a lot of facebook, so the initial intimidation for my teachers wouldn't be there, as I know a lot of teachers are on facebook.

Week 4

1. Our text categorizes electronic information into four types:

Textual Information

Presentation Graphics Slide Show

Spreadsheets and Databases

Multimedia objects

Provide an example or multiple examples of effective use of each type of electronic information for eLearning. Be sure to provide specific information about what makes your indicated use “effective”. Explaining effectiveness in light of one of the media theories as presented in this session (or another media theory you prefer) is expected.

A. Textual Information – consists of two categories, announcements and documents. Announcements are shorter and are created using the LMS software. Documents are prepared using a word processor, and are longer and more detailed. Email is the basic form of textual information. Blackboard is a great tool that shares simple announcements for one way communication, and lets documents and examples to be posted so one can view them in the formats they were intended to be presented in.

B. Presentation Graphic Slide Shows- The one I am most familiar with is Powerpoint. Powerpoint provides great one-way communication when presenting instructions on a task or a presentation about a subject. In Dr. Newberry’s and Dr. Baek’s classes, I have found these to be a great way for a more complete understanding of the task at hand. It’s advantages go beyond textual information in that they create a more appealing way to present information to the audience.

C. Spreadsheets and Databases – using LMS gradebooks is minimal effecgiveness but does not contain much media richness. The book states that students can play a “what if”, and is a neat tool in trying to figure out your grade.

D. Multimedia Objects – lectures made in imovie are high in media richness theory as it relates tone and facial expression. It’s not as personally focused as email, but is easier to understand the intended meaning by the presenter. One of the key advantages for me is the ability to pause, and rewind to make sure I have complete understanding of the topic.

2. Our text goes into some very specific detail on the proper formatting of textual information. Explain what you believe to be the most important guidelines for your use of textual information that are provided in the text and then create a sample text document (other than an announcement) that demonstrates the best practices of formatting textual information. Be sure to explain the purpose of the document and who the intended users are if that isn’t obvious from the document itself.

The most important guidelines for use in textual information are to chunk information, use bulleted lists, and use text links within documents. The shorter the announcement is, the more likely that people will read it. Teachers are especially notorious at my school for not reading announcements or emails, so quick and concise is the key. Keeping the announcement brief and easier to read takes away from the intimidation of the announcement or text. The best way I have seen this used is in our schedule portion of our class. The links provided in their take to you to specific requirments for that week.

The document I have used for this was an announcement I passed out to teachers on how to retrieve data for their students using our districts Datadirector.

Common Assessment Data Guide

A. Summative Results (Classroom Standards Performance Report)

1. Log on to DataDirector. (www.achievedata.com/sanbernardino)

2. Click on Exams.

3. Click on 1 test you want results for (ex. 2009-2010 Grade 3 Spelling Common Assessment #2)

4. Under the Reports table, click on Classroom Standards Performance Report.

5. If you are viewing more than one exam, Click on Add Exams.

6. Select other tests to includes in report.

7. Click Save Changes.

8. Must click on Update button.

9. To print, click PDF icon at top of screen.

3. What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication as it is used in eLearning and how do you choose between the two for a given task?

Synchronous communication is where there is communication between two parties at the same time. Examples of this would be in an audio chat or Skype. Asynchronous communication is where the communication is happening anytime. Blogs and email are the two most common forms of this.

If the goal of the task is more involved and needs a clearer and faster mode of communication between people, synchronous communication would be the better tool. The challenge with this way is to find a time where everyone can “meet” to complete the task. If the task is feedback about a project or a question that needs to be answered, asynchronous communication can be used.

4. What technologies does your CMS/LMS have to support synchronous communication?

Skype and Talkshoe are the two synchronous technologies that I have used. Using Talkshoe for the first time last week, I was impressed with the fact that Dr. Newberry recorded the session for later use. Recently, I learned about Blackboard having the feature to have an online whiteboard. It also contains the virtual classroom and chat feature.

5. What technologies does your CMS/LMS have to support asynchronous communication?

Blackboard uses discussion board, email, and forums. I use the link in blackboard to gain access to all the blogs to further the discussions we have about our tasks.

6. Describe a task or assignment you could use in an online class that would use either asynchronous or synchronous communication. Explain the task or assignment, identify the technology you would use to support the activity and explain why you chose that technology. Explain what you would do to ensure that the activity was successful.

As someone who needs answers now and am very impatient waiting for responses to texts, emails, and blog posts, I would choose Skype as my synchronous technology for a class assignment. I used Skype successfully in past classes to complete projects with my partner. Of course, the key was to have that partner on line and logged in, texting was used to set up those times. The huge advantage for me using Skype is getting meaning and tone across. My wife will tell you how my tone in texts often don’t portay what I really mean! ;)

The task I could use would be to create a simple powerpoint assignment with a partner. Skype gives the ability to share what is on my screen with my partner at the same time being able to communicate openly. No meaning would be lost due to the fact it is a video text, expressing both tone and facial expressions. Immediate feedback could be given by both partners as the presentation is created on one of the computers involced.

Session 3 Guest Speaker

I consider myself to have a limited knowledge when it comes to instructional technology. One of the reasons I chose to get my masters in this field was to broaden my knowledge about this field, as I am the "so called" expert at my school.

I was frantically trying to take notes while he was talking. He was a wealth of information when it came to elearning. Some of the points that I found interesting are listed below.

1. It was interesting to hear about how the department came about and how it operates within the university. It was also encouraging to hear that we selected a college that is one of the front runners in this field with it's wide variety of support and application.

2. The biggest "wow" for me was the US Department of Education study that said blended classes are getting better result than face to face. I can definately see the advantages of the on line classes, as you can do it at your "leisure". Also, he mentioned that students think about course content more when participating in on line classes versus face to face, and I guess I'm sitting here being example #1 of that! The communication among peers is a great exmple, and our blogs are a perfect example of constant communication, wether it's one way or two way.

3. I liked how he mentioned that they use the professors as trailblazers and embrace new technology. It sounds like a good working relationship within the university. I believe as trainers, are ultimate goal is to empower our teachers/ students and not have them depend on the office to be there to help all the time, but rather to use them as a crutch.

4. Blew me away that 1 in 4 students take online classes. I guess since I last attended college (before the internet) this has taken off. I just never realized how much this has taken off.

5. I was glad someone brought up the point about voice capability of blackboard. I look forward to seeing this work.

I enjoyed very much hearing the presentation. I feel I will learn more from my fellow classmates than I could in any face to face class. Everyone asked very good questions.