Definitions of Communications

• How have your individual communication skills changed as with the innovations in technology?
• How have advancements in technology altered classroom communication? Will these change further?

Response to Turkle’s “Connected: But Alone?”

I spend quite a bit of time connected to my iPad and my phone.  However, unlike many people, I do know how to turn them off!  When I go to work, I put my Samsung Galaxy 4 on Airplane Mode, and I close my iPad.  Both are locked away in a drawer.  I don't need either to disrupt the lessons I have planned for my students.  However, my students don't.  In fact, they are so plugged in that they are no longer cognizant that their behavior is rude and intrusive to their learning environment.  I am not against technology; in fact, I am one of the few teachers that probably use it prolifically.  And, I am constantly checking information when I am at home.  But, I still love intimate friendships and conversations.  It's just that most of my friends already have partners, live partners.  I don't have one, so technology has become, more or less, a way to feel the void.  But, I still reach out to my friends.  And whenever time permits, I avail myself to their company.

I am a great typer.  And, I text in full sentences.  I like to use complete sentences even in my emails, texting, postings, etc.  Technology has also made me more conscientious of voice.  There are some bloggers and writers that I love reading.  I can "hear" the words on the screen, or I can hear the words in my mind.  I am actually quite envious because I want my writing and blogging to sound authentic, engaging.  And, technology has made me more aware of what I say.  As I look for other job opportunities, I try to stay on top of my digital citizenship.  Sometimes, this makes me hesitant.

I teach in an urban, inner-city location.  Many people feel that because my students are Black and come from lower socio-economic backgrounds, bad manners is simply the norm.  I don't buy that.  I try to use technology to show students that I value it, and I have learned not to lose my cool because students miss 80% of what I teach because they would rather text and play music on their phone.  I have had to learn to let go because it is their education.  Some days, I try to re-direct, but that takes quite a bit of energy, and it wastes time.  If I spend time disciplining, I am losing time teaching.  So, Sherry Turkle is correct in saying that we have "short change[d] communication" for the illusion of connection.  My students are thinking they are learning, when in actuality, they learn less.  Eventually that check is going to come due, and students in my AP class are paying it now rather than later.

When we use an electronic device in the classroom, most students will engage.  But, it is short lived.  They quickly go back to doing whatever it is they were doing.  I do communicate using Edmodo; students receive text messages and/or emails.  Students know they have a direct line of contact with me.  I also have Edmodo on my phone, iPad, email, etc.  I purchased a smart phone many years ago just so I can stay connected to students and answer questions when necessary.  Administrators like to see the usage of technology, and many advocate that if you don't use it, you won't reach students.  At some point, when do we hold students accountable for their own actions?  Students must also learn to log off.  But again, I can and do.  My practice is better for it, theirs is not.  Will it get worse?  Yes.  Will urban, inner-city minority students continue to fall behind?  Yes.  Who will pay the price?  Society.

Trend Impact

Select the trend that will make the most impact on digital learning over the next five years and discuss in your respective blog.

I think the Interactive Whiteboard and possibly Gamification have the most impact in LMS for the future.  The Interactive Whiteboard is already growing, and there are a number of APPS that help with the Whiteboard.  And, the whiteboard is a staple in the face-to-face classroom.  The beauty if the Interactive Whiteboard is that you can teach concepts and demonstrate them in real time from the comfort of your home.  And, when a teacher uses the Interactive Whiteboard, that video will automatically turn into a YouTube video for downloading at a later time.

Gamification is not new, but it is a technique highly recommended for the gifted learner.  The problem with gamification---and the Interactive Whiteboard---is training.  Teachers must have the know-how of what games could extend learning of the specific concepts, and there has to be computers and laptops or iPads that will support Gamification.  Many games require Flash or Java; the iPad requires specific APPS in order to use these.  

Public Education, unfortunately, lacks the people with the skills to teach these concepts to teachers.  And, public schools lack the resources to support these trends.  The general public may be unaware of all the limitations.  These technological ideas are novel and can be a tremendous help in the teaching and learning process, but educational leaders just lack the basic knowledge to teach, share, demonstrate, and explore these options.  I am Google Apps Certified, but I got that certification on my own with my own internal drive.  Many teachers simply don't have that drive, and schools won't pay teachers the money they deserve to inspire to learn the material.  Schools want to do more with less, and it just doesn't really inspire teachers to go "over and beyond" the basics.  Technology requires quite a bit of investment and time, and schools tend not to offer either, especially in the public sector!  This is why the digital divide is still massive.

Tools for Deciding on an LMS

1.  Moodle seems to be a great resource for K12 and Higher Education.  It offers every training except eCommerce and Internal Training.  I have only seen Moodle in tidbits.  My dislike of the program is that you have to download it to your computer.  I have moved to more cloud-based computing, so downloading anything to a computer is obsolete and can't be done.  However, a number of educators use Moodle and seem to like it quite a bit.  In terms of popularity, it has the most users of the most popular LMS Software.

2.  Edmodo is a great resource for K12 primarily.  Higher Education may find it somewhat childlike and too simple.  Edmodo's interface resembles Facebook, and the software is quite simple.  This makes it a great favorite in the K12 setting because it is user friendly and doesn't require a lot integrated steps.  It is especially useful to those that may not be tech savvy.  This LMS has the most customers!

3.  Blackboard can be K12 or Higher Education, but it is more known at the Higher Education arena.  Blackboard is an intricate system, but it is not user friendly.  It is highly integrated, but the interface requires some knowledge of piecing together an LMS.  Unfortunately in the public school arena, many districts just don't have the right people who can do much training of these systems.  Districts have people in instructional technology, but these people know hardware and software.  Very few know instruction, and they definitely do not know how to teach information.  In such cases, schools and districts need technological resources that are user friendly!  

4.  Cornerstone is an LMS for businesses and eCommerce.  Its features licensing and certification resources for people seeking career advancement!

The Best LMS:

The best LMS depends on the needs of the organization.  If I am making a recommendation, it needs to be something user friendly, easily to navigate, and something that can be used in the online primarily.  Edmodo, Schoology are my top two choices for public education, K12 setting.

LMS Reporting

Consider the LMS explored during the Navigate skill. Then, in your blog, discuss the following: What are the options for grade reporting? Are there various levels? Which levels remain most valuable for the online instructor in regard to student performance?

Options for Grade Reporting:

• Student Level – Student data can result in a report view that indicates the number of times a student accesses a course, attempts a quiz, visited content, or used a particular tool. The reports can aggregate across students in a course, and this data can be informative about the effectiveness of the online course.
• Teacher Level – A report may look at course grades per course offering or across semesters/sessions to indicate positive or negative results per teacher, as well as overall material within the course’s effectiveness. A teacher may look at their own data or their students’ data for differentiation or evaluation of their teaching methods.
• Course Level – Course level analytics are helpful to evaluate and re-design course materials and assessments.
• Program Level – Program level data is used to evaluate the effectiveness in aggregate of the successes and failures of programs to inform administrators of areas for improvement.

The two most important levels to a teacher would be Student Level and Teacher Level.  Program Level is primarily for administrators; teachers simply do not have this omni-presence for the organization.

The student level can actually show if students are active in the course.  It is a great way to determine if a teacher or administrator needs to drop a student.  Because the analytics at this level show tool usage, this information could be something a teacher uses in planning his/her next course.

Teacher level helps a teacher self-assess himself or herself as an instructor.  It also can potentially identify problem areas or areas that may need re-addressing.  Students change, so the need to offer content and culturally relevant material could be determined for this analytical data.

Course level may be helpful to the teacher to determine if content needs to be re-designed or re-positioned.  Again, students change, and what works for one class may not be as helpful to another.  Culturally relevant curriculum and appropriate scaffolding dictates this part of data.  The relevancy of information from the state probably also changes this tool.

Most valuable are the Student, Teacher, and Course level.

Tools within the LMS

Common Tools in an LMS:

Many of these tools are actually necessary for instructional purposes.  The only one that I think is probably not as useful is the Social Profile.  As a teacher, I cannot select my students, so I don't see the real need to view their social media accounts.

Email is just a convenient and easy way to communicate.  And, it documents your communication.

Notification systems are important to alert students of new assignments, grades, etc.  Teachers need a notification to know when students submit assignments or pose questions.  Teachers have entirely too much to monitor to not use some type of notification system.  Many notification systems can integrate with smart technologies, so the cell phone and iPad can be a great alarm for those busy and on the go!

Discussions and Blogs may be similar; I tend to use them for similar things.  These are great for online chatting.  They also serve as documentation of communication.

Instant Messaging may not be necessary if students can correspond via email.  Teachers and students can enable both, but one doesn't need both.  For those students and teachers that are on limited text messages, I would not recommend the Instant Messaging option.


Learner Tools in an LMS:

All of the resources listed here are needed.  If I need to rid a tool, it would definitely be the Self-Assessments/Surveys.  Self-Assessments are for more metacognitive learning.  I value metacognitive learning when I read responses, but I tend to use it more for Honors and AP students because these students tend to take it more seriously and tend to be more sensitive.  Very seldom do I use metacognitive reflections in Regular courses.

The survey is probably appropriate for students to evaluate me.  At the post-secondary level, students complete surveys on their professors.  It could possibly be used in the same capacity.

The dropbox is a great way to have a definitive place for students to drop assignments.  This mechanism keeps emails from becoming clogged.  Teachers just have to remember to always have a dropbox readily available for each assignment.

Gradebook Functions:

Many students primarily focus on the Gradebook functions, but these functions are very important for student and teacher alike.  As an instructor, I especially like the feedback action where I can type feedback and possibly annotate student work (i.e., Edmodo lets you do this).  I type faster than I write, so providing feedback via typing makes life easier.  Also, The gradebook actually does the computing of information.  Data Import is very useful especially if a teacher is using an open source and wants to easily place those grades into the gradebook!

Creation and Investigation into Courses

My shell course is available on Schoology.  The course and folder is called Digital Citizenship Curriculum.  All materials are in one folder.

Access Code

82HWF-4QBGJ

I have made several courses in an LMS before, and I am grateful I already had the prior knowledge to understand what exactly I am doing.

The beauty of programs that already have the template created is that the teacher can smoothly upload his/her information and assignments.  It would be different if I needed to know java code and html language.  But, with Schoology and Edmodo and others like them, a novice can achieve success.

There were several particulars that teachers have to be cognizant of when creating a course:

1. Order of information and processes
2. Tools and fonts need to match 
3. Images and videos need to be something that truly adds to the information and not a distraction
4. Speed of computer
5. Software and hardware necessities (i.e., Quicktime was needed and java was needed for some activities)
6. Plan, plan, plan.

LMS Tools Competency

In my experience in taking online courses and offering blended learning to my traditional students, a teacher must map out several tools and have them readily available to make teaching and learning seamless.  Some tools are without question:  syllabus, calendar, grading scale, contact information.  But, other tools may be required at a later date.

For teaching, since this is the job I am applying for, I hope that the LMS platform is in a lot of ways already planned prior to my students enrolling.  I expect that any organization will have already planned the basics in their expectations:  School information should be readily accessible, how the school/organization wants my platform to look like, grading weights, email, and just key components they want me to use.  The only thing I want to do is navigate and drop my important information for my course on the platform.  For instance, if Ga Virtual wants me to use blogs, then simply tell me, and I can place the widget and the resource there.  I can also place the rubric and plan my discussions.  What I don't want is to have to use an open source to create blogs when the platform should have these resources/tools built inside the program.

The syllabus and course content are the two most important things that I value.  The syllabus outlines the course expectations, and the course content is the exercises and information students must use to demonstrate their mastery of material/standards.  The course content should also be flexible enough where I can add support materials to enhance the instructional piece.  Course Assessments allow students to show their mastery of materials with tests or projects.  The ePortfolio component allows more differentiated tasks where students can select specific projects and items to represent a holistic view of their mastery.  I love the ePortfolio because it is electronic, and it can be used for a number of other opportunities.

I hope that the Grade book is automatically linked to the grades.  This means that when I punch in a grade, it automatically transfers to the grade book.  This eliminates "extra" steps that I traditionally have to take in the face-to-face setting.  I also hope that the computer can grade quizzes and tests automatically and transfer those grades to the online Grade book.  This would help students keep up with their progress, and it would lessen the number of students asking me, "What is my grade?"

Finally, I hope any organization's LMS is easy to navigate and pleasant to the eye.  And, I also hope there are lots of YouTube tutorial videos or Handouts helping students and teachers how to navigate specific tools, especially when both are attempting to do something "new."