CEDO 550 Week 1

I have no experience teaching an online class but certainly have some experience from the student perspective since starting this MEIT program. I did take a few online classes during my undergrad but they were very sterile and not interactive at all. Basically those classes were this format - read your text, take a quiz/test online, participate in a few forum posts, and that was it. The format of the CS courses is so much different. They are still the online format but now I feel like I know my professors and my cohort colleagues. I've never met any of them but I feel like I have. If I ever have the opportunity to teach an online class I hope my students feel like they know me just as they would if I were standing in the classroom with them. With the Internet and technologies changing at such a rapid pace, the interactivity, communication, and collaboriation certainly will continue and improve the entire online learning experience.

Reflection points:
Identify at least two synchronous and two asynchronous online learning tools that would be appropriate for your targeted online learners.
*Target audience: high school students
*Synchronous online learning tools: Elluminate & Skype
*Asynchronous online learning tools: Blogs & wikis

List four different types of activities that you might use with your targeted online learners and identify an appropriate online tool to use in implementing that activity.
*Reflection – blog
*Discussion – forum
*Group project (paper) – Google Docs
*Group project (presentation) – Voicethread

Is my initial contact warm and inviting? Are there things I did particularly well or could do better in the future? Is my initial contact clear and concise and yet user friendly? What are some strategies that help to format your contacts to make them as clear and concise as possible?

I tried to cover all of the suggested points when scripting my initial contact email draft (Brief introduction of the instructor, Contact information for the instructor, Broad Overview of the course, Supplemental resource information, Course schedule or pacing, and General expectations for the course). Just like when responding to parent emails, it is difficult in this email script to write it in a manner that comes across as warm and inviting since they are just black and white words on a screen. However, I really spent some time choosing my words and hopefully they come across as warm and inviting as I intended them to be. If I were teaching this online class to high school students, I would want to also have a videoconference with each student and at least one of the parents/guardians prior to the start of class to serve as a brief introduction to me and the class as well as go over the expectations of the course and questions from the student/parent(s)/guardian(s).

In regards to making the initial contact clear and concise, I also tried to do this. Instead of giving all of the information, I asked the students to go to the class wiki where much of the class information, expectations, syllabus, instructor bio, etc were housed. The students would be able to explore this information prior to the first class and send any questions they might have to my email or call me on the number provided.

CEDO 540 Week 5

This week I had to check out a few websites that contained statistical data on a variety of topics. I prefer this type of research and analysis of information much more than figuring mean/median/mode and standard deviations of sets of numbers! :) I have my students use two sites on a regular basis that collect data/information. They include the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the CIA World Factbook. In fact, my students are currently doing a project on research varioud countries and examining the economic, cultural, and business etiquette factors. The main resource for the economic data is the CIA World Factbook. I like that this source provides the information (like unemployment, inflation, GDP, etc) but then also compares that country's information to the other 265 countries that it gathers information for.

Google Trends & Google Insights are neat tools to examine to check out the search trends for topics. The results can be broken down regions, cities, languages, etc. Here are the results I got from the Google Trends on "Brett Favre" - it is surprising that you can see the huge peaks in searches for him. These were most likely the times when he was announcing his retirement....unretirement....retirement....unretirement....etc. :)

CEDO 540 Week 4

Here is my last 2 1/2 weeks in a nutshell...then I'll tie it all into statistics. My son was in the doctor 2 1/2 weeks ago with strep, then had the flu, followed by a double ear infection = 2 doctor visits and many, many calls between visits with the nurse(s). My daughter also followed a few days behind her brother with all of the same symptoms, therefore leading me to believe that maybe she had the same outcomes = 2 doctor visits for her as well and many, many calls between the visits with the nurse(s). Yesterday she walked into the corner of a tv cabinet door that was open and caught the corner right between her eyes = over an hour on hold/talking to the nurse(s) for them to tell me to go to the ER since they weren't comfortable looking at her/dealing with it since the laceration is on her face. Great...Packed up the 2 year old to spend 3 hours in the ER waiting room with a bunch of crazies while waiting for a room to open up. Finally, got into a room and had some numbing gel applied to the wound and had to wait another hour. FINALLY, the doctor was able to come and put in 4 stitches while I had to lay on top of her as she was wrapped in a blanket to prevent her from swatting at the doctor as the nurse held her head still. I hope I don't have to do that again. On top of that, the ER doctor discovered that she does now also have an ear infection. Super. There's the background...now let's talk stats.

I'm thinking about the 4 doctor visits and 1 trip to the ER and trying to estimate the mean, median, and mode regarding the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ it is going to cost me. In addition, I can look at how many hours I spent on the phone talking to a nurse in the last 2 1/2 weeks and try to figure out how many minutes, on average, I was on with each call. Now let's talk standard deviation....I know the ER trip is going to be much more expensive than the other regular doctor visits. Let's see how many standard deviations it is away from the regular doctor visit bill average....We can also look at the prescriptions I've paid for between the strep throat and 2 sets of ear infections. We could probably manipulate that data to figure out the mean, median, mode, and how many standard deviations the Augmentin is away from the average of the other amoxicillin prescripts.

I've found a real-life application for stats....not sure I like the numbers though! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

CEDO 540 Week 3

I'm about to meet with my group in just a few minutes to go over our survey questions. I had a really difficult time coming up with a topic so I'm glad I am in a group with someone who is decisive and can make some decisions! Thanks Bill! :) I think we have a great topic for our survey and now it is time to hash out the actual construction of the survey questions. We have the general idea of the questions but it is now time to decide the format of the questions that will lead us to the most valuable and accurate data. Do you have open-ended questions or forced choice questions so you can group the data easier? I think for most of our questions we are going to have to re-work them to be forced choice questions with the "other" option for people to add their own answer if one of the supplied options doesn't fit their situation. Otherwise, we are going to have such a wide range of answers which will make the data analysis very difficult. Well...I guess we'll see what comes out of our group meeting. :) That's all for now.

CEDO 540 Week 2

This week we were to research a few survey tools, both free and paid applications. I've used a few of the free versions for informal polls and surveys in my classes but haven't used one for any statistical purposes yet. The free versions of these tools fits the purpose I need/use them for (polldaddy, polleverywhere, surveymonkey). I did send out a survey at the beginning of the year to assess people's knowledge and interest of various technology applications/tools and did so by creating a Google Form. It might my need just fine. I didn't need to take the results and do any sort of high level analysis besides just looking at who knew how to use what tool and what tool(s) each person wanted to know more about. I'm not sure a paid survey tool would have benefited my purpose.

With that said, like I mentioned in our group response this week when comparing survey tools, it is difficult to really compare the paid vs. free versions of survey applications. It is sort of like comparing apples and oranges. Many of the free versions we checked out had an upgrade; with that upgrade, those applications were basically the same price and had the same features as the other paid versions we looked at. It was "fair" to compare the free versions to the other paid tools because they weren't the same. Also, it is really difficult to make a recommendation for one or two tools because each tool will fit a different purpose. I wouldn't go out and spend $200+ per year to conduct surveys/polls in my classroom but it might be a decent investment for a district/system to do so when conducting a research study or trying to gather information for a larger purpose.

CEDO 540 Week 1

As you read this post, please don't read it with a disrespectful tone/mood as that isn't my intent. As my mind is trying to understand this "foreign language" called stats, I'm also really trying to understand why this course is part of our requirements for the ME in Instructional Technology. As I was getting more and more frustrated and wondering "why!?!" I went to the syllabus to try to find some answers. Here is what I found...

"Course Description
Today using data is required throughout the educational and business communities to support decision making and to formulate projections and plan future directions. This course covers the fundamentals of technology-based data collection, analysis and subsequent use of the results to support informed decision making. The course also addresses use of data resources and data collecting on the Internet.

Background
Drawing upon the technology-based tools including available survey instruments and Internet resources, the intent of the course is that students will develop facility with basic descriptive and inferential statistical measures to learn how to interpret data meaningfully."

I've read it over many times and am still struggling with this course being a three credit course in our program. I know...I don't make the rules for this program and am sure there are great supporting reasons why this course makes up 10% of our required credits for the instructional technology program. Maybe I just need someone to explain the reasoning a bit more because I'm not seeing the clear connection. With all professional development, it sure helps when trying to get the "buy in" from the participants if they can see a clear connection to how it is relevant and will be used in the future. I'll try my best and put in my 100% effort but it really would help my attitude get an adjustment if I could see that connection.

CEDO 535 Week 6

The application that I will continue to incorporate into my professional life is...drumroll please...Twitter! I am choosing this application because I know it will continue to be extremely beneficial in my ongoing professional development and learning about technology, active learning strategies, and collaboration with and learning other best practices from teachers around the world.

SMART goal: I will continue to gather and contribute resources via Twitter once a day (weekdays) throughout the school year and at least two times a week during the summer months.

Specific - see specific goal statement above.
Measurable - This is either a "yes" or "no" evaluation if it was done or not.
Attainable - This goal is attainable as I have access to the Internet via my laptop & wireless as well as at least 10 minutes a day to scan through the tweets from the day (save as "favorite" if no time to save/tag on Diigo).
Realistic - This is doable...something that can be done over lunch or to start out my day while I'm reading emails and getting ready for the day.
Timely- This is an ongoing goal that I will continue to do.