EDLD+5368+week+5+Reflections

=EDLD 5368 Week 5 Reflections= My Reflections

· // What benefits do you see in educators knowing how to design and implement online learning? //

// I feel that education is an identity that is always changing for the better. The benefits for teacher to design and implement online courses are endless. I feel that teachers should get our students ready for the future and I feel that online learning is the future. One of the benefits that I can think is the fact that students can work on their assignments anywhere and anytime as long as they have internet connection. Another benefit I can see is that the students get a chance to collaborate and interact with each other online. I like what Watson, J. F. said, "Online students also develop socialization skills through school projects and academic activities that require collaboration via technology as well as face-to-face" (Watson 2007). My students like my online courses because they said it was like My Space which they interact with each other. The universities are already implementing online courses. My niece, who is going to college already, has to take an online course. I feel that if her high school had offer online course, then she will be better prepare to take her challenging online course. I feel that the high schools have not tab the benefits of having online courses. Just this coming summer, my daughter is going to be one of the first students that will be able to take online course being offer by Texas Virtual Online Courses this summer. I hope this is the beginning of online courses for high schools students in our district. //

// • How will you professionally use your course that you designed? //

// When I let my students start the course or the assignment, they were very excited, they could hardly wait to participate on it. They kept saying that is like My Space and they were excited. Anything that excites my students is worth trying on it. I will make sure to make my lessons as much as possible to online courses. I know I will grow professionally using online courses. I feel the more tools I have to teach my students the more I am prepared and the more students I reach. Bottom line is what gets the students excited and eager to learn, the more they will comprehend the lesson. What I really like about online course were the students enthusiastic about it, that they were very fast to share it with their friends and by the time I knew it, I had students as well as teachers asking me about online courses. I can really see our Team working together and making our lessons online. //

// • Will you integrate online learning in your role as a teacher/staff developer? //

// I will definitely integrate online learning in my classroom. I saw the excitement that brought to my students when we did our online course on the Mayans. Again, when students get excited about something it just makes it a lot easier for them to understand and comprehends the lessons. One thing that I will like to do is to get my Team excited about online learning. I feel the more people you get involved the more ideas and creative ways of making our lessons online for everybody to use. Using the internet is a fantastic way of getting students involved in their learning. One thing that I like to get the students involved in the web is to giving them webquest assignments on a specific topic or lesson. Once the students feel comfortable using online tools or the web, students are less resistance on doing assignments online. By exposing students to the basic internet functions then again it will be easier for them to do online courses. //

// • What questions do you still have about online learning? //

// Online learning is relatively new to the high school and for sure to the middle and elementary schools. I am sure one of the questions that teacher will have is how to stop students from cheating or should we say what the students call it “we are collaborating together” or “we are comparing”. I feel that by working together as a team, we could find some answers or ways to stop students from cheating. This brings a whole new concept which I am sure we need to include it on our students hand book and have a discussion on our SBDM committee. I think we should get a committee to look into the possibilities of making a whole grade level online learning, that way our students our expose to this innovation and excited way of learning. I also feel that this committee should see other Learning Management System (L.M.S.) that could work with our teachers and have some staff development for them. //

// • What will you do with this new learning? //

// I am as excited about online learning as my students are. The first thing that I will do is to become an expert on online learning. I will like to work with a team where we can evaluate different Learning Management System (L.M.S.) and get to best for our school. I think the software is the most important component in online learning. If the teachers feel frustrated or not comfortable, then the online learning is not going to happen. I feel that if we can get that students excited as well as the teacher then it will be easy to get our administrators to let us use online learning for our instructional classes. The key factor for this to happen is that the teachers need to feel comfortable with the concept of online learning. One thing I will work with our Staff Development Coordinator is to bring training to our teacher on online learning. I feel the best way for teachers to get expose to online learning is by them doing an online class. //


 * // Reference: //**//

Watson, J. (2007). A national primer on k-12 online learning. North American Council for Online Learning. Retrieved March 18th, 2010 from @http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/national_report.pdf //