The most dangerous thing the educated can do is assume. The educational system is comprised of educated people and for years they have assumed to know what students need to accomplish to achieve success. The path to success in education was charted to be the same as the one the educated have taken. A system not only designed by the keeper of the system but studied extensively and evaluated by the same. For hundreds of years the model used produced a percentage of students that ventured lockstep through the system until they graduated from the post-secondary school. These students were deemed successful. The unsuccessful students who fell out of step were trained by the system to take their place on the factory floors (Van Duzer, 2006).
The information age came and a society that valued education changed, yet the education system failed to keep up with the change (Hiltz & Turoff, 2005). It has almost become a cliché for many writers, politicians, and the mainstream media to portray education as an institution which does not recognize the changing world, students and technology. Fulton (1989) states that "classrooms of today resemble their ancestors of 50 and 100 years ago much more closely than do today's hospital operating rooms, business offices, manufacturing plants, or scientific labs" (p.12). Molebash (1999) further clarifies by stating "If you put a doctor of 100 years ago in today's operating room, she would be lost, yet if you placed a teacher of 100 years ago into one of today's classrooms she wouldn't skip a beat" (¶7). The educational system's lack of change has resulted in a dropout rate of 9.4% in 2005. In America, 60 % percent of minorities do not complete grade twelve (Jukes, 2008). Only 28% of grade 12 high school students believe the school work is meaningful. A mere 21% believe their courses are interesting and only 39% believe that school work will have any bearing on their success in later life (Wirt et al., 2002).
During the last three decades there have been many attempts and initiatives designed to change this situation and all but a few have experienced a low adoption rate. While governments, universities, schools, teachers and parents struggle to find the methods, pedagogy and training which will allow them to address these poor statistics they use authentic assessment, achieve excellence in education, leave no child behind, educate the whole child and make sure that they provide an education that makes a difference. Shirley & Hargreaves (2006) confirm:
Every few years in American education a new slogan is coined as the Next Big Thing. Total quality management, shared decision-making, and outcomes-based education all once marched across the educational landscape, grabbing headlines, filling copy--yet they left little improvement in pupil learning in their trail (¶ 1).
All the 'Next Big Thing' programs are expensive initiatives driven by government and education administration. Some have produced short term targeted results but do not recognize that throwing money at it will just result in a more expensive system. It will still not be meeting the needs of the students (Van Duzer, 2006). Jukes (2008) clarifies:
Despite the fact that there are more than 40 years of solid research on how learners learn best, of how the brain functions, of what instructional models are most effective, this research has not been widely accepted or integrated into most classrooms to better help today's learners and their learning and communication preferences. Nor is it reflected in many of the assumptions that are the foundations of public education today (p. 24).
The burning problem is the fact that, although governments recognize the need for change, they have not recognized that educational systems should and must reflect the societal changes that have occurred over the last decade. Levine (2006) posits that "the challenge facing education schools is not to do a better job at what they are already doing, but to do a fundamentally different job" (p.105).
Education reform is a necessity and can only be achieved by wholesale change in the approach to educating a student who is substantially different than the student for whom the traditional education was designed. These students are consumers of education and the information age allows them the opportunity to "create, consume, remix, and share material with each other" (Raine, 2006, ¶ 3). They are also bringing new expectations to the education system. Of all the system changes that have been tried over the last 100 years the only one that has experienced huge uptake is online education, which is a form of distance education. Though distance education has been around for 100 years (Moore, 2003), but with the advent of personal computers and the dawn of the information age has moved distance education into the mainstream and this alternative mode of education is beginning to influence the status quo. Heller (2005) explains that this "matrimony of education and computer - [is] truly a marriage made in heaven, because the computer has become the ultimate bridge of communication, bringing tutors and students together, no matter the time, no matter the place, no matter the distance" (¶1). Watson (2007) states that "38 states have now established state-led online learning programs, policies regulating online learning, or both. Enrolments in online courses have surged in the past year, increasing by as much as 50% in some states" (p.5).
This rapid growth has left researchers scrambling to try to fill the void of empirical research on K-12 e-learning. Much of the current research was aimed at administrators, parents and teachers (DiPietro, Ferdig, Black & Preston, 2008). These education stakeholders have assumed to know the wants and needs of the students, their clients. This assumption has not served them well because the students are beginning to act like consumers (Oliver, Osborne & Brady 2009) and are taking their educational funds elsewhere. E-learning removes the barriers of time and distance making it more accessible which has allowed interested students the ability to search for a system that better fits their needs. The brick and motor school in the past has had complete autonomy over the students, very similar to the only-game-in-town concept. Now with e-learning, students can opt for the alternative and this new game has threatened the traditional autonomy. Students, by choosing, are making a statement which the educational community can embrace as an opportunity to study these clients.
The development and growth of e-learning in the post-secondary education system has been attributed to the institutions' attempt to reach a new market using what was viewed as a cheaper method of education as well as the educators' assumption on how education should be delivered (Abrami, Bernard, Wade, Schmid, & Borokhovski, 2006). E-learning in the K-12 system started simply as a different way of handling the traditional approach to education in an altered fashion for a finite group of clients that were already in the system. So it did not increase the client numbers but rather changed the way education was delivered. It was embraced and students are seeking out e-learning in record numbers which continue to increase (Archambault & Crippen, 2009; Powell & Patrick, 2006). The growth is attributed to the benefits of online education as described by the educated. These benefits were classified by Barbour and Reeves (2009) by reviewing the literature in 5 main areas, including "expanding educational access, providing high quality learning opportunities, improving student outcomes and skills, allowing for educational choice and achieving administrative efficiency" (¶ 5). Barbour and Reeves (2009) further explains the fact "that these benefits are realized through virtual schooling remains in doubt in the minds of some critics, and the research to support these conjectures is limited" (¶ 6). These five benefits are not dissimilar to the ones that were used as motivation to create many of the government's "next big thing" yet those did not have the same uptake as e-learning has displayed. The one stakeholder of the educational system that has not been asked is the students. Is it possible that E-learning is providing something to some students that they could not find in the traditional brick and mortar school? Some of the once captive audience of the only-game-in-town has opted for the new game. Why?
References
Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R., Wade, A., Schmid, R., Borokhovski, E., & Tamim, R. (2006). A review of e-Learning in Canada: A rough sketch of the evidence, gaps and promising directions. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology. 32(3), 1-70.
Archambault, L., & Crippen, K. (2009). K-12 distance educators at work: Who's teaching online across the United States. Journal of Research on Technology in Education. 41(4), 363-391.
Barbour, M. K., & Reeves, T. C. (2009). The reality of virtual schools: A review of the literature. Computers and Education, 402-416.
DiPietro, M., Ferdig R. E., Black E. W., & Preston, M. (2008). Best practices in teaching K-12 online: Lessons learned from Michigan Virtual School teachers. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 7(1), 10-35.
Fulton, K. (1989). Technology training for teachers: A federal perspective. Educational Technology, 29(3), 12-19.
Heller, H. (2005). A new Age of Education and Tutoring. Retrieved October 1, 2006, from http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159901657
Hiltz, S. R., & Turoff, M. (Oct 2005). Education goes digital: The evolution of online learning and the revolution in higher education. Communications of the ACM, 48, 10. p.59(6). Retrieved September 30, 2009, from Academic OneFile via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE
Jukes, I. (2009). Understanding Digital Kids. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.
Levine, S., (2006). Making Distance Education Work. Okemos: Lulu Press.
Lowes, S. (2008). Online teaching and classroom change: The trans-classroom teacher in the age of the internet. Innovate: Journal of Online Education, 4(3), 1-5.
Molebash, P. (1999). Technology and Education: Current and Future Trends. Retrieved June 19, 2008, from IT Journal : http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/itjournal/1999/molebash.html
Moore, Michael Grahame (2003). Editorial: The handbook of distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 17(2), 73-75. Retrieved October 01, 2009, from http://www.informaworld.com/10.1207/S15389286AJDE1702_1
Oliver, K., Osborne, J., & Brady, K. (2009). What are secondary students' expectations for teachers in virtual school environments? Distance Education. 30(1), 23-45.
Powell, A., & Patrick, S. (2006, November). An International Perspective of K-12 Online Learning: A Summary of the 2006 NACOL International E-Learning Survey. Retrieved September 29, 2009, from International Association for K-12 Online Learning: http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/InternationalSurveyResultsSummaries.pdf
Prensky, M. (2006). Learning in the digital age - Listen to the natives - The digital natives -- The kids -- Are restless, and the digital immigrants -- The adults -- Must reconsider how to reach them. Educational Leadership: Journal of the Department of Supervision and Curriculum Development, N.E.A. 63(4), 8.
Raine, L. (2006, May 07). How the Internet is Changing Consumer Behavior and Expectations. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from Pew Internet & American Life Project: http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Presentations/2006/2006%20-%205.9.06%20SOCAP.pdf.pdf
Shirley, D., & Hargreaves, A. (2006, October 4). Oregon Department of Education. Retrieved November 23, 2007, from Data-Driven to Distraction, Why American Educators Need a Reform Alternative - and Where They Might Look to Find It.: http://www.ode.state.or.us/opportunities/grants/saelp/data-driven-to-distraction,-as-published-in-ed.-week-.doc
Van Duzer, E. (2006, March 10). Overcoming the limitations of the factory system of education. Retrieved September 29, 2009, from Education Resources Information Center: http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1b/c2/1f.pdf
Watson, F. J. (2007, April). A National Primer on K-12 Online Learning. Retrieved August 15, 2009, from North American Council for Online Learning: http://www.kaplanonlineschools.com/pdf/NACOL%20A%20National%20Primer%20on%20K-12%20Online%20Learning.pdf
Wirt, J., Choy, S. P., Bae, Y., Sable, J., Gruner, A., Stennett, J., et al. (2002). The condition of education 2002. NCES 2002-025. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Center for Education Statistics.
Showing posts with label Essay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Essay. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Thursday, 23 July 2009
What makes SCCS so special.
A reality in our dynamic and complex society is that students need to be given the opportunity to conquer challenges and embrace their futures. A future in which information and communication technology have become a reality for education. The goal of the cyber school, like all other schools, is to put student learning first. The shift in the educational process from teacher centered instruction to student centered learning will allow students to learn and demonstrate mastery of technology to access, process, organize, communicate and evaluate information to answer questions, to solve problems and to create knowledge . This project allows students the opportunity to complete courses via the internet, engage in critical and creative tasks that are authentic, challenging, multi-disciplinary and global in nature. It also allows students a chance to explore diverse resources and learning opportunities beyond the traditional formats and locations.
The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School is continually searching for new ways to aid in the development of online education and education as a whole. We grow in size each year and with that growth comes change. We embrace change and look forward to sharing our ever changing cyber world with you.
As a result our innovative programs have developed over the years. The following is a simple description of some of the main innovations we have developed over the past 8 years.
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School - Innovative, Unique, and First-Class Education
High School
1. Students can start their courses at any time.
2. Students have 150 calendar days to finish a course and can work on the course 24 hours, 7 days a week.
3. Students can even take their final exams online.
4. Students can achieve a regular grade 12 standing without ever stepping foot inside a brick and mortar high school.
5. Students can easily upgrade marks needed for University.
6. Allows students to experience the independence needed to succeed in post-secondary educational environments.
7. The online courses and classroom allows students from a variety of different situations the opportunity to contribute actively in class discussions and complete courses.
8. Hybrid courses to educators in other locations who would like to use the Cyber School courses to expand and enrich their own courses or to provide a course that may not be offered in a particular school.
9. All students involved in Cyber School have access to an Online Chapel and Student Lounge monitored by our own Chaplain and school counselor.
10. Over 3400 have taken Cyber School courses.
Cyber Planets- elementary School
1. Cyber Planets are for students in grade 2-8..
2. Cyber Planets filter and categorize all activities and resources by grade and subject area.
3. Cyber Planets include locally developed technology lessons using video audio and text.
4. Grade 7 & 8 Cyber Planets include locally developed math resources.
5. Over 3500 students use the Cyber Planets.
Learning Communities
1. Learning Communities serve as a collection of useful resources for grade levels from kindergarten to grade 12.
2. Learning Communities encompass all subjects; from Physical Education to Aboriginal/First Nations Education.
3. The resources are for both online uses as well as printable copies for classroom use.
4. There are over 85 participants in each of the over 40 Learning Communities.
Blogs
1. SCCS is now hosting blogs for educators, schools and parishes
2. Blogs allows for a simple way to communicate, via web site and or email, with students, parents and the community.
3. SCCS Hosts image archives and time capsules in blog format
TADO (Teaching and Developing On-line)
1. Started by SCCS Staff in January 2005
2. TADO's goal is to provide a location where K-12 online educators, developers and administrators can gather.
3. This virtual community offers environment conducive to communication, resource sharing and team building.
4. Currently the TADO has members from four different continents around the world.
TADO PD Lounge
1. An on-line PD regarding educational technology integration and software tutorials. The Lounge offers guided and self-directed on-line courses. The lounge is open to educators around the world and is a partnership with other school divisions.
2. To provide effective on-line pd for all educators using video and printable tutorials.
3. To stop re-inventing the wheel and instead develop an community of sharing.
With all of these developments The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School serves to break the cultural, spiritual, and spatial barriers that are presently straining our society.
The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School is continually searching for new ways to aid in the development of online education and education as a whole. We grow in size each year and with that growth comes change. We embrace change and look forward to sharing our ever changing cyber world with you.
As a result our innovative programs have developed over the years. The following is a simple description of some of the main innovations we have developed over the past 8 years.
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School - Innovative, Unique, and First-Class Education
High School
1. Students can start their courses at any time.
2. Students have 150 calendar days to finish a course and can work on the course 24 hours, 7 days a week.
3. Students can even take their final exams online.
4. Students can achieve a regular grade 12 standing without ever stepping foot inside a brick and mortar high school.
5. Students can easily upgrade marks needed for University.
6. Allows students to experience the independence needed to succeed in post-secondary educational environments.
7. The online courses and classroom allows students from a variety of different situations the opportunity to contribute actively in class discussions and complete courses.
8. Hybrid courses to educators in other locations who would like to use the Cyber School courses to expand and enrich their own courses or to provide a course that may not be offered in a particular school.
9. All students involved in Cyber School have access to an Online Chapel and Student Lounge monitored by our own Chaplain and school counselor.
10. Over 3400 have taken Cyber School courses.
Cyber Planets- elementary School
1. Cyber Planets are for students in grade 2-8..
2. Cyber Planets filter and categorize all activities and resources by grade and subject area.
3. Cyber Planets include locally developed technology lessons using video audio and text.
4. Grade 7 & 8 Cyber Planets include locally developed math resources.
5. Over 3500 students use the Cyber Planets.
Learning Communities
1. Learning Communities serve as a collection of useful resources for grade levels from kindergarten to grade 12.
2. Learning Communities encompass all subjects; from Physical Education to Aboriginal/First Nations Education.
3. The resources are for both online uses as well as printable copies for classroom use.
4. There are over 85 participants in each of the over 40 Learning Communities.
Blogs
1. SCCS is now hosting blogs for educators, schools and parishes
2. Blogs allows for a simple way to communicate, via web site and or email, with students, parents and the community.
3. SCCS Hosts image archives and time capsules in blog format
TADO (Teaching and Developing On-line)
1. Started by SCCS Staff in January 2005
2. TADO's goal is to provide a location where K-12 online educators, developers and administrators can gather.
3. This virtual community offers environment conducive to communication, resource sharing and team building.
4. Currently the TADO has members from four different continents around the world.
TADO PD Lounge
1. An on-line PD regarding educational technology integration and software tutorials. The Lounge offers guided and self-directed on-line courses. The lounge is open to educators around the world and is a partnership with other school divisions.
2. To provide effective on-line pd for all educators using video and printable tutorials.
3. To stop re-inventing the wheel and instead develop an community of sharing.
With all of these developments The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School serves to break the cultural, spiritual, and spatial barriers that are presently straining our society.
Friday, 15 May 2009
Cyber school issues 2003
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School September 19, 2003
These are just a few of the things simmering here in the cyber school. I am not sure who I need to contact to assist us in making some of these happen. Some are world-wide issues, some are provincial-wide, some are city-wide, some are system-wide, some are school-wide and some are building issues. So, I sent it to everyone who might be able to help. It none of these issues pertain to your portfolio, I hope it was a good read :)
If you need clarification on any of these, please do not hesitate to come by and visit. You can see the new improved cyber school, the renos are almost done.
Challenges around day to day functioning of the cyber school.
First Secretary (get one hired)
Second Secretary (see if we can keep the above)
Own school (is this in the plan, principal, assistant principal etc.)
Staff President (does being our own school, free up grant money for this, department head)
Photocopy Machine (need to see if we can hook this up to the internet. Contract issues, missed on original order)
Air Conditioner Noise and downstairs machine (health issue)
Printer for Downstairs (not needed if the photocopy issue can be resolved)
Mailing address (would make the administration of snail mail easier)
Advertise the Christian Ethics courses ( need to let people know)
Policy for Hybrid courses (high school F2F courses using cyber school material)
Christian Ethics in our high schools (Can our students take this subject?)
Developers Contracts (do we need one)
These are just a few of the things simmering here in the cyber school. I am not sure who I need to contact to assist us in making some of these happen. Some are world-wide issues, some are provincial-wide, some are city-wide, some are system-wide, some are school-wide and some are building issues. So, I sent it to everyone who might be able to help. It none of these issues pertain to your portfolio, I hope it was a good read :)
If you need clarification on any of these, please do not hesitate to come by and visit. You can see the new improved cyber school, the renos are almost done.
- Challenges arising from Cyber School -The Next Generation Document
- Grade 4/5 computer content (elementary school policy and procedures. Boklaschuk, Kelli wondering how to proceed has 15 elementary school classes interested ) Recommendation 1.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- Build parish communities through Cyber School. (Interest has been shown) Recommendation 3.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- Building Christian Ethics Hub (Youth minister is interested) Recommendation 3.0 Cyber School Next Generation
- Advertise for the out of school students ( need to design a game plan, could be money maker) Recommendation 4.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- Adult education (many requests, can we get permission to teach them or partner with Siast) Recommendation 5.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- International Student Overlap (can we work better with this program) Recommendation 6.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- Native Course for the north ( had a person come down and visit would like to know how to proceed) Recommendation 7.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- Blog (syndicated e-newsletter) approval (online community and conference) Recommendation 9.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- Build F2F school communities through Cyber School. (Holy Cross has approached us to develop this) Recommendation 9.0 Cyber school Next Generation
- Saskatoon Business College Contracts (needs to get it signed, proposal sent in on June 17, 2003 . Other businesses waiting to see how this works) Recommendation 10.0 Cyber school Next Generation
Challenges around day to day functioning of the cyber school.
First Secretary (get one hired)
Second Secretary (see if we can keep the above)
Own school (is this in the plan, principal, assistant principal etc.)
Staff President (does being our own school, free up grant money for this, department head)
Photocopy Machine (need to see if we can hook this up to the internet. Contract issues, missed on original order)
Air Conditioner Noise and downstairs machine (health issue)
Printer for Downstairs (not needed if the photocopy issue can be resolved)
Mailing address (would make the administration of snail mail easier)
Advertise the Christian Ethics courses ( need to let people know)
Policy for Hybrid courses (high school F2F courses using cyber school material)
Christian Ethics in our high schools (Can our students take this subject?)
Developers Contracts (do we need one)
Monday, 20 April 2009
SCCS History Request for second secretary 2003
August 26, 2003
Re: Second Secretary for Cyber School.
At present our secretary is only starting to make a dent in the work that has been accumulating over the summer. During the last school year we have entered 1000 + students into the Mat data bank. This takes approximately 10 minutes per student to verify the information.
To put this in perspective:
A normal high school registers between 200-300 new grade nine students. The rest of the students are just returning. The majority of our students are new and even if they only require one course we still need to collect all the information. In other words we are registering 3 to 4 times then most high schools. It starts to explain why Tanya was experiencing carpal tunnel sydrome.
I have noticed that the majority of my day is doing data entry, tracking students, and answering e-mails and the phone. It is my feelings that you are currently paying a large amount of money for me to do secretarial work. I believe communication issues will continue to increase, presently I answer approximately 20-30 e-mails a day...and when answering the phone all day approximately 3-4 messages accumulate on my message manager. If I am not in the office...18-20 messages. This pressure does not allow me to do the things I have been hired to do, such as assisting developers, talking to our division schools, developing policies and the vision. The type of secretary work needed is very specific to the job, such as data entry, WebCT related, answering the phone with answers to the many questions. Support by a second secretary will help to fill the gaps.
The fix, a second full time secretary.
• this will allow me to do administration
• this will allow the developers some support in typing
• this will allow the teachers to teach and not spend their day chasing delinquent students
• this will give a voice to the school
• this will allow us to support the home schools with accurate information when they request it.
• this will allow us never to experience the problems arising from having a secretary request leave.
As the numbers grow, the task of tracking students is becoming unmanageable without the support. Please consider this request, putting it off will only compound the problems. I hate to continue to ask for more but this is a very pressing need. Tanya's request for leave has just pointed out the need for a second secretary. The skills required to do Tanya's position cannot be filled by a temporary secretary. Someone with those skills will be seeking a full time position. If it was possible to hire a second permanent secretary it would be possible to find the quality of person needed. For the short term until Tanya returns we can make due with one secretary but upon her return keeping her replacement would lift some of this pressure. It would mean we are offering a full time permanent position to her replacement making it possible to gain a skill individual.
Please quickly consider this request... I have 400+ requests for courses that I will need to register by September the second and my typing fingers are starting to hurt.
Thank you in Advance
D. Cannell.
Re: Second Secretary for Cyber School.
At present our secretary is only starting to make a dent in the work that has been accumulating over the summer. During the last school year we have entered 1000 + students into the Mat data bank. This takes approximately 10 minutes per student to verify the information.
To put this in perspective:
A normal high school registers between 200-300 new grade nine students. The rest of the students are just returning. The majority of our students are new and even if they only require one course we still need to collect all the information. In other words we are registering 3 to 4 times then most high schools. It starts to explain why Tanya was experiencing carpal tunnel sydrome.
I have noticed that the majority of my day is doing data entry, tracking students, and answering e-mails and the phone. It is my feelings that you are currently paying a large amount of money for me to do secretarial work. I believe communication issues will continue to increase, presently I answer approximately 20-30 e-mails a day...and when answering the phone all day approximately 3-4 messages accumulate on my message manager. If I am not in the office...18-20 messages. This pressure does not allow me to do the things I have been hired to do, such as assisting developers, talking to our division schools, developing policies and the vision. The type of secretary work needed is very specific to the job, such as data entry, WebCT related, answering the phone with answers to the many questions. Support by a second secretary will help to fill the gaps.
The fix, a second full time secretary.
• this will allow me to do administration
• this will allow the developers some support in typing
• this will allow the teachers to teach and not spend their day chasing delinquent students
• this will give a voice to the school
• this will allow us to support the home schools with accurate information when they request it.
• this will allow us never to experience the problems arising from having a secretary request leave.
As the numbers grow, the task of tracking students is becoming unmanageable without the support. Please consider this request, putting it off will only compound the problems. I hate to continue to ask for more but this is a very pressing need. Tanya's request for leave has just pointed out the need for a second secretary. The skills required to do Tanya's position cannot be filled by a temporary secretary. Someone with those skills will be seeking a full time position. If it was possible to hire a second permanent secretary it would be possible to find the quality of person needed. For the short term until Tanya returns we can make due with one secretary but upon her return keeping her replacement would lift some of this pressure. It would mean we are offering a full time permanent position to her replacement making it possible to gain a skill individual.
Please quickly consider this request... I have 400+ requests for courses that I will need to register by September the second and my typing fingers are starting to hurt.
Thank you in Advance
D. Cannell.
Friday, 10 April 2009
Cyber school questions December 2 2002
The future.
Is the system we are using now not working?
Home School needs to be more involved?
Control?
Ownership?
Home School Registration:
Resources needed.
Preparation Course for each high school. (Is a student suitable for online learning?)
People in the know needed in each school.
Forward registration information on each student
Reporting system designed for each school. (Mid term marks)
Success rate will increase with active contact in each school.
Cyber school teaches doesn't administer.
Limits entry to two points (loss of flexibility)
Limits exits to two points
Class loads will be easier to predict. Staffing will be more difficult.
Referral students are harder to refuse.
Marks are used for school averages, awards and university entrances.
Deadlines within each school will apply. (Should be common.)
Problems will be forwarded to Home School administration.
Discontinues will come from the Home School
Prerequisite checks will happen at the home school.
Information on the Web Site need to be shared with the students.
Check students have a working email address for next step...course address and passwords
School intuitive or system intuitive.
Needs the support of all schools.
Cyber School offer courses for every school.
Result is not a part of Holy Cross...part of each school.
Cyber School System
Needs resources
More flexible entry
Each year dealing with over 1000 students...800 who are new.
No history on the students.
One preparation course.
Incomplete registration forms
No way to check prerequisites
E-mail address check
Up to date information limited voices
Single semester or both semester classes
Easier to implement changes
Need for common rules between high schools.
School intuitive or system intuitive. (Christian Ethics)
Midterm reports and final reports mailed home.
Final grade marks submitted from one location (Sask Learning)
Control...
Will allow for future targets...design one system for all.
Duplication of services...
Access to student data needed
Moves some ownership to the home.
Both system can work....need more input from home schools. Meetings with Principals then with contacts are a must.
Cyber School part of Holy Cross?
What do we gain by being part of Holy Cross?
What do we gain by not being part of Holy Cross?
Has perception of being part of Holy Cross stopped other schools from taking ownership.
A concern for the developers...Home school...clarification.
A concern for myself...administrator for Holy Cross...cyber school...clarification.
Mailing address.
Blue Box.
Parking.
Space...
Budget...separate.
Entrance separate.
Hours...
Cyber Staff meeting very difficult.
Commitment at home school cuts into development and teaching time at the expense of family life.
Voice for cyber school...difficult for Holy Cross Principal to wear both hats.
Is the system we are using now not working?
Home School needs to be more involved?
Control?
Ownership?
Home School Registration:
Resources needed.
Preparation Course for each high school. (Is a student suitable for online learning?)
People in the know needed in each school.
Forward registration information on each student
Reporting system designed for each school. (Mid term marks)
Success rate will increase with active contact in each school.
Cyber school teaches doesn't administer.
Limits entry to two points (loss of flexibility)
Limits exits to two points
Class loads will be easier to predict. Staffing will be more difficult.
Referral students are harder to refuse.
Marks are used for school averages, awards and university entrances.
Deadlines within each school will apply. (Should be common.)
Problems will be forwarded to Home School administration.
Discontinues will come from the Home School
Prerequisite checks will happen at the home school.
Information on the Web Site need to be shared with the students.
Check students have a working email address for next step...course address and passwords
School intuitive or system intuitive.
Needs the support of all schools.
Cyber School offer courses for every school.
Result is not a part of Holy Cross...part of each school.
Cyber School System
Needs resources
More flexible entry
Each year dealing with over 1000 students...800 who are new.
No history on the students.
One preparation course.
Incomplete registration forms
No way to check prerequisites
E-mail address check
Up to date information limited voices
Single semester or both semester classes
Easier to implement changes
Need for common rules between high schools.
School intuitive or system intuitive. (Christian Ethics)
Midterm reports and final reports mailed home.
Final grade marks submitted from one location (Sask Learning)
Control...
Will allow for future targets...design one system for all.
Duplication of services...
Access to student data needed
Moves some ownership to the home.
Both system can work....need more input from home schools. Meetings with Principals then with contacts are a must.
Cyber School part of Holy Cross?
What do we gain by being part of Holy Cross?
What do we gain by not being part of Holy Cross?
Has perception of being part of Holy Cross stopped other schools from taking ownership.
A concern for the developers...Home school...clarification.
A concern for myself...administrator for Holy Cross...cyber school...clarification.
Mailing address.
Blue Box.
Parking.
Space...
Budget...separate.
Entrance separate.
Hours...
Cyber Staff meeting very difficult.
Commitment at home school cuts into development and teaching time at the expense of family life.
Voice for cyber school...difficult for Holy Cross Principal to wear both hats.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Year end report June 26 2001
The following report is a ramble of thoughts and ideas . . . my goal is not to offend, it is to express my views. You English types, please excuse the grammar, spelting mistakes and run on sentences.
This year has been a whirlwind of fun and growth. We are at the stage where we are moving forward very quickly and growing at a speed that is hard to contain. Daily we are getting questions and word of mouth is advertising the project around the system. We have 106 students registered for the first semester of next year already and will see that number climb up to more than 150 by the beginning of the semester. I am very excited about the development of the courses and the level of courses we are getting. I am a little concerned about a couple of things. As this list grows, it should be known that these are not major problems and is part of the growing process. Also it is nice to know we are at the same stages or a little ahead of most other partners who are venturing down this path. Ok, to the concerns, many of the misunderstanding and frustrations this year have come from a lack of communication. The filtering down of information from SaskEd to the Superintendents to the principal to the assistant principal and then finally to the developers has left a lot to be desired. I am not pointing fingers at any of these parties it is just something that has been a source of frustrations for all involved. On a personal level, I am very uncomfortable entering into a meeting with SaskEd or any partners without all the facts. This being a new venture makes it very hard to have all the facts but we are fast approaching the state where if we are going to be looked upon as the experts we need to start to make some of those decisions. The wheels turn slow and my patience is not what it once was so it makes it very difficult to be on the phone with parents who have children interested in being part of the project and I am stammering because I don't know the answers, some of this is bound to happen but some of it is just a lack of planning. It might be an area that I am lacking in and I should be more forceful in obtaining the answers from SaskEd, Principals or the Superintendents. Again Just a Growing Pain
SaskEd has been scrabbling to find answers the same as we are and they are recognizing some of the things that we have suggested but they are also changing the rules or we did not know the rules and this has created a source of frustration for the developers. It might be because we have three of us who are communicating with them or SaskEd and we are not communicating enough. The statement was made at the SaskEd meeting "You at the Saskatoon Catholic have taken the money and used it for something that we did not want, now it is time for the contract that you signed to be honoured." This has caused a little stress, but I do believe it has to do with the way the communication has been set up. Again Just a Growing Pain
My lack of ability to find time to become more a part of the Holy Cross staff has been a source of concern, I very much enjoyed the coaching so I got a chance to meet some students but the workload has made it near impossible for me to give anything to the administration team at Cross. I am thankful to Dennis for allowing me this, I do realize I am 25% assigned to Holy Cross. As we revisit this, realistically with the cyber school job the way it structured I cannot give that 25% to Holy Cross, if this is an expectation then my job at cyber school has to change or the 25% has to, something has to change.
The secretarial time assigned to the cyber school has been a great thing. She has been a great help and has taken part of the load off my shoulders. However, she has not been able to assist the developers with their workload, which was the original plan. Having a secretary that is assigned to Holy Cross and Cyber School did not work because the busy time at Holy Cross is the busy time for us then we did not have the secretary. I like the solution where we have a full or half time secretary that will be assigned only to the cyber school, so thank you in advance for this. Not having the secretary at the beginning of the school year will cause some problems, but I am aware of the reasons why this was not possible and I am very excited about the fact we are getting a secretary.
This year I went through the steps of becoming certified for WebCT and have found that to be a very interesting process, expensive, but interesting. A certified trainer for WebCT is paid 650-1000 dollars a day plus expenses so when we are offering my services let us make sure we get part of the money back that we paid for certification. The province is starting to lean toward WebCT and in no time we will have a large number of people around who are using it.
Maintaining the machines and network has been a lot of fun each of the developers has taken responsibility for their own machine and the group of techies at the board office has done a wonderful job keeping the server up and running. We had a total of four days where our cyber school service was not up and running for the first year this is a remarkable achievement.
Our developer's surveys and Warren Noonan's survey have found the same thing. Our first year has been a very successful venture. The number of students taking classes and the needs that we are meeting within our own system in my opinion makes this a successful project. A lack of benchmarks and goals has made it difficult in deciding if we have been successful or not. This is one of the many problems encountered as we head off into uncharted territory. I had my own set of goals for the course I have developed and for the cyber school and they have been achieved.
The developers as a group have been outstanding, to be placed in such tight room and to have not killed each other is a testament to the type of people involved. They have given over and above what has been asked of them and have done very little complaining. My one concern is my lack of ability to give each one of them the attention they sometimes need. They are very good at building on each others strength and this I think has made the synergy in the room something to see. We are all looking very forward to our new pod and the ability to see daylight.
I have voiced my opinion about the development time the developers need to complete courses. I believe the 25% release that we give our developers is not enough time but the pay off for the developers, I think off sets this deficiency. The other supports that have been put in place have helped, the High Speed at home, nice chairs, learning skills and good machines. Machines at home are still a concern for some of the developers and my understanding is that it is being looked into. I am not comfortable with the amount of time that was given to Christian Ethics. We have set a formula for release time and to change that now is not a good plan with some of the developers who have already given their summer and evenings trying to complete their courses. If this is a new formula we are going to start to apply then we need to know this. Realistically a person cannot develop more then two courses in a year, giving more release time will not change this. The developers old and new are asking questions and I still do not know the reasoning.
We are looking forward to the introduction of women into the pod, I have talked to some of the developers and they said they will clean up their act. We might have to divide the new pod into two areas one for the fairer sex and one for the others. I am not sure which group some of the original developers would fall into.
I am excited about starting to look at part of the international market this project might be able to tap into, but it needs to be an organized effort and we need to set a plan in place. I think this could be an area that will assist us in our overall plan for the cyber school.
Ownership is an issue that needs to be resolved, I am very aware that it is black and white in some people's eyes but it is not for everyone and to avoid future issues we need to make a concerted effort to clarify this issue.
I have heard that we are getting to the stage where we are tapping out our system for teachers that we can afford to release for the main stream to work in this area. I think the way some people are viewing this project is that it is outside of our mandate and we need to treat it differently. If we open a new school in our system we would staff that school to fit its needs, I am wondering why this is viewed differently. If we are teaching 200+ sections in our system to our students why is this not viewed like any other program. I do not know of another area in our school system that is treated like this. I have on many occasions been told well we have to make sure this happens or that happens or this project will not continue or if we do not get to the stage where SaskEd is . . . Again, these are outside factors that we cannot control we can influence and should do everything in our power to influence but we need to plan for success. To build a project while the whole time covering our butts so that if it fails, we will be prepared for it is not the way I function, beyond a shadow of a doubt if we plan for success we will be successful. I am not sure what we have to do to get to the stage where we will be able to view this project as something other then a pilot. It is meeting the needs of students, the caliber of education has not dropped, it is not costing us any more to offer classes this way then it does to offer them in a class, so what is needed to get this to the stage where we will quit wondering if it is going to be a success. I have heard from all levels and I am as guilty as the next person that I wonder if the students are going to be able to learn this way, I wonder if . . . We will continue to hear this from the people who are not sure of what this project is all about, but if you are involved with this project you need to educate yourself to the stage where you believe in this project or you need to step out of it and let some get involved who believes in it. This is not pointed at anyone in particular but if you are reading this and you can see some of these characteristics in yourself, then talk them out and get passed them or this project is going to remain in the pilot stage forever. We will continue to be successful. If you don't believe, we are successful or going to continue to be successful then you need to re-evaluate your role in this project.
In conclusion, I have done presentations all over this province and all over Western Canada and the standard response from people as we explain what we have achieved is WOW. We need to build on this feeling.
\||||/
( 00 )
----oOO----(_)----------
| Cyber |
| School |
-----------------oOO----
|__|__|
|| ||
ooO Ooo
This year has been a whirlwind of fun and growth. We are at the stage where we are moving forward very quickly and growing at a speed that is hard to contain. Daily we are getting questions and word of mouth is advertising the project around the system. We have 106 students registered for the first semester of next year already and will see that number climb up to more than 150 by the beginning of the semester. I am very excited about the development of the courses and the level of courses we are getting. I am a little concerned about a couple of things. As this list grows, it should be known that these are not major problems and is part of the growing process. Also it is nice to know we are at the same stages or a little ahead of most other partners who are venturing down this path. Ok, to the concerns, many of the misunderstanding and frustrations this year have come from a lack of communication. The filtering down of information from SaskEd to the Superintendents to the principal to the assistant principal and then finally to the developers has left a lot to be desired. I am not pointing fingers at any of these parties it is just something that has been a source of frustrations for all involved. On a personal level, I am very uncomfortable entering into a meeting with SaskEd or any partners without all the facts. This being a new venture makes it very hard to have all the facts but we are fast approaching the state where if we are going to be looked upon as the experts we need to start to make some of those decisions. The wheels turn slow and my patience is not what it once was so it makes it very difficult to be on the phone with parents who have children interested in being part of the project and I am stammering because I don't know the answers, some of this is bound to happen but some of it is just a lack of planning. It might be an area that I am lacking in and I should be more forceful in obtaining the answers from SaskEd, Principals or the Superintendents. Again Just a Growing Pain
SaskEd has been scrabbling to find answers the same as we are and they are recognizing some of the things that we have suggested but they are also changing the rules or we did not know the rules and this has created a source of frustration for the developers. It might be because we have three of us who are communicating with them or SaskEd and we are not communicating enough. The statement was made at the SaskEd meeting "You at the Saskatoon Catholic have taken the money and used it for something that we did not want, now it is time for the contract that you signed to be honoured." This has caused a little stress, but I do believe it has to do with the way the communication has been set up. Again Just a Growing Pain
My lack of ability to find time to become more a part of the Holy Cross staff has been a source of concern, I very much enjoyed the coaching so I got a chance to meet some students but the workload has made it near impossible for me to give anything to the administration team at Cross. I am thankful to Dennis for allowing me this, I do realize I am 25% assigned to Holy Cross. As we revisit this, realistically with the cyber school job the way it structured I cannot give that 25% to Holy Cross, if this is an expectation then my job at cyber school has to change or the 25% has to, something has to change.
The secretarial time assigned to the cyber school has been a great thing. She has been a great help and has taken part of the load off my shoulders. However, she has not been able to assist the developers with their workload, which was the original plan. Having a secretary that is assigned to Holy Cross and Cyber School did not work because the busy time at Holy Cross is the busy time for us then we did not have the secretary. I like the solution where we have a full or half time secretary that will be assigned only to the cyber school, so thank you in advance for this. Not having the secretary at the beginning of the school year will cause some problems, but I am aware of the reasons why this was not possible and I am very excited about the fact we are getting a secretary.
This year I went through the steps of becoming certified for WebCT and have found that to be a very interesting process, expensive, but interesting. A certified trainer for WebCT is paid 650-1000 dollars a day plus expenses so when we are offering my services let us make sure we get part of the money back that we paid for certification. The province is starting to lean toward WebCT and in no time we will have a large number of people around who are using it.
Maintaining the machines and network has been a lot of fun each of the developers has taken responsibility for their own machine and the group of techies at the board office has done a wonderful job keeping the server up and running. We had a total of four days where our cyber school service was not up and running for the first year this is a remarkable achievement.
Our developer's surveys and Warren Noonan's survey have found the same thing. Our first year has been a very successful venture. The number of students taking classes and the needs that we are meeting within our own system in my opinion makes this a successful project. A lack of benchmarks and goals has made it difficult in deciding if we have been successful or not. This is one of the many problems encountered as we head off into uncharted territory. I had my own set of goals for the course I have developed and for the cyber school and they have been achieved.
The developers as a group have been outstanding, to be placed in such tight room and to have not killed each other is a testament to the type of people involved. They have given over and above what has been asked of them and have done very little complaining. My one concern is my lack of ability to give each one of them the attention they sometimes need. They are very good at building on each others strength and this I think has made the synergy in the room something to see. We are all looking very forward to our new pod and the ability to see daylight.
I have voiced my opinion about the development time the developers need to complete courses. I believe the 25% release that we give our developers is not enough time but the pay off for the developers, I think off sets this deficiency. The other supports that have been put in place have helped, the High Speed at home, nice chairs, learning skills and good machines. Machines at home are still a concern for some of the developers and my understanding is that it is being looked into. I am not comfortable with the amount of time that was given to Christian Ethics. We have set a formula for release time and to change that now is not a good plan with some of the developers who have already given their summer and evenings trying to complete their courses. If this is a new formula we are going to start to apply then we need to know this. Realistically a person cannot develop more then two courses in a year, giving more release time will not change this. The developers old and new are asking questions and I still do not know the reasoning.
We are looking forward to the introduction of women into the pod, I have talked to some of the developers and they said they will clean up their act. We might have to divide the new pod into two areas one for the fairer sex and one for the others. I am not sure which group some of the original developers would fall into.
I am excited about starting to look at part of the international market this project might be able to tap into, but it needs to be an organized effort and we need to set a plan in place. I think this could be an area that will assist us in our overall plan for the cyber school.
Ownership is an issue that needs to be resolved, I am very aware that it is black and white in some people's eyes but it is not for everyone and to avoid future issues we need to make a concerted effort to clarify this issue.
I have heard that we are getting to the stage where we are tapping out our system for teachers that we can afford to release for the main stream to work in this area. I think the way some people are viewing this project is that it is outside of our mandate and we need to treat it differently. If we open a new school in our system we would staff that school to fit its needs, I am wondering why this is viewed differently. If we are teaching 200+ sections in our system to our students why is this not viewed like any other program. I do not know of another area in our school system that is treated like this. I have on many occasions been told well we have to make sure this happens or that happens or this project will not continue or if we do not get to the stage where SaskEd is . . . Again, these are outside factors that we cannot control we can influence and should do everything in our power to influence but we need to plan for success. To build a project while the whole time covering our butts so that if it fails, we will be prepared for it is not the way I function, beyond a shadow of a doubt if we plan for success we will be successful. I am not sure what we have to do to get to the stage where we will be able to view this project as something other then a pilot. It is meeting the needs of students, the caliber of education has not dropped, it is not costing us any more to offer classes this way then it does to offer them in a class, so what is needed to get this to the stage where we will quit wondering if it is going to be a success. I have heard from all levels and I am as guilty as the next person that I wonder if the students are going to be able to learn this way, I wonder if . . . We will continue to hear this from the people who are not sure of what this project is all about, but if you are involved with this project you need to educate yourself to the stage where you believe in this project or you need to step out of it and let some get involved who believes in it. This is not pointed at anyone in particular but if you are reading this and you can see some of these characteristics in yourself, then talk them out and get passed them or this project is going to remain in the pilot stage forever. We will continue to be successful. If you don't believe, we are successful or going to continue to be successful then you need to re-evaluate your role in this project.
In conclusion, I have done presentations all over this province and all over Western Canada and the standard response from people as we explain what we have achieved is WOW. We need to build on this feeling.
\||||/
( 00 )
----oOO----(_)----------
| Cyber |
| School |
-----------------oOO----
|__|__|
|| ||
ooO Ooo
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Chapel Resource May 15 2002
The Virtual Chapel Resource
The World Wide Web continues to gain popularity as an instructional medium for high school students. Recognizing this, Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School offers cyber courses taught by teachers in our Catholic high schools. Cyber Classes create an environment which will motive and inspire students to become knowledge builders . Through the use of technology and the Internet, the student will inquire, encourage, discourse, collaborate and engage in active learning with their peers and their instructors. The Internet enables education to occur in places where it normally does not. It extends resources where there are few, expands the learning day, and opens the learning place. The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School has experienced how the Internet connects people, communities, resources, adds graphics, sound, video, and interaction to give teachers and students multiple paths for understanding.
The proposal is to create a virtual chapel resource. This will be a gateway to resources for students and teachers. Using the presentation tools we have developed we would like to develop a chapel for students within the cyber courses as well as the students in the face to face classes.
Rationale for Chapel
• The Cyber Christian Ethics courses have created a large amount of resources that would be useful to all students in SCCS and would also be of benefit for students in regular classes.
• Sharing of Daily Readings
• Sharing of Daily Psalm
• Sharing of Daily Responsorial Psalm
• Sharing of Daily Gospel
• Sharing of the Daily Motivation message
• Repository of Christian acceptable web sites.
• Access to Clergy
• Access to STM college
• Access to information about becoming a Priest or Nun
• Christian Frequently Asked Question Area
• Sharing of Christian articles
• Discussion where students can share dedications
• Discussion where students can share intentions
• Discussion where students can share prayers.
• Sharing of web site evaluation criteria.
• Sharing of relevant web sites
Cost of building a chapel
• resource person and technician (could be the same person )
• .25 teacher wages for a year.
The World Wide Web continues to gain popularity as an instructional medium for high school students. Recognizing this, Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School offers cyber courses taught by teachers in our Catholic high schools. Cyber Classes create an environment which will motive and inspire students to become knowledge builders . Through the use of technology and the Internet, the student will inquire, encourage, discourse, collaborate and engage in active learning with their peers and their instructors. The Internet enables education to occur in places where it normally does not. It extends resources where there are few, expands the learning day, and opens the learning place. The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School has experienced how the Internet connects people, communities, resources, adds graphics, sound, video, and interaction to give teachers and students multiple paths for understanding.
The proposal is to create a virtual chapel resource. This will be a gateway to resources for students and teachers. Using the presentation tools we have developed we would like to develop a chapel for students within the cyber courses as well as the students in the face to face classes.
Rationale for Chapel
• The Cyber Christian Ethics courses have created a large amount of resources that would be useful to all students in SCCS and would also be of benefit for students in regular classes.
• Sharing of Daily Readings
• Sharing of Daily Psalm
• Sharing of Daily Responsorial Psalm
• Sharing of Daily Gospel
• Sharing of the Daily Motivation message
• Repository of Christian acceptable web sites.
• Access to Clergy
• Access to STM college
• Access to information about becoming a Priest or Nun
• Christian Frequently Asked Question Area
• Sharing of Christian articles
• Discussion where students can share dedications
• Discussion where students can share intentions
• Discussion where students can share prayers.
• Sharing of web site evaluation criteria.
• Sharing of relevant web sites
Cost of building a chapel
• resource person and technician (could be the same person )
• .25 teacher wages for a year.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Meeting agenda in March 21 2001
Meeting Agenda with Superintendents.
When do we split the classes?
How many students is a full classes?
Do we have a waiting list?
What is the deadline date for allowing students to take cyberschool?
Do we allow full time cyber students?
School Colours?
Sports teams?
When do we know about the next set of developers?
Do we have a priority list?
Do we allow people to audit the course?
Do we want to build partnerships with University...Siast...who will co-ordinate this process?
Do we want to communicate with SaskEd the courses we have and are planning to develop so they do not do the same ones?
Ownership of courses....contract?
Giving SaskEd the right to put these courses on a non-secure server?
Partnership between International Student program and cyberschool?
Teacher/Parent Interviews...necessary or not?
Last day to drop class?
How many courses should a developer do?
How many courses should a developer teach?
Do we limit the number of elementary students taking courses?
If so how?
Do we set the prerequisites based on SaskEd?
Do we need a counselor on-line?
Do we allow students to retake classes...do we charge them twice?
Do we have a double standard...in system out of system?
Do we have end dates?
Do we have start dates?
Grad for the student who finishes their high school at cyber school.
New area (upper...lower)?
Photocopy machine in the new area?
Secretary number of hours?
Money collection....letters sent to Dave
Exchange course area...is it valuable enough to pay for the registration spots?
The following types of students are taking classes at the cyberschool. How do we deal with each of them?
Registered In SCS
Elementary students
High School students
Homeschoolers
Not registered in SCS but registered elsewhere.
Elementary students
High School students
Homeschoolers
Upgraders
Not registered anywhere
Elementary students
High School students
Homeschoolers
Upgraders
Students registered at schools that are not Sasked schools
Native Reserves
When do we split the classes?
How many students is a full classes?
Do we have a waiting list?
What is the deadline date for allowing students to take cyberschool?
Do we allow full time cyber students?
School Colours?
Sports teams?
When do we know about the next set of developers?
Do we have a priority list?
Do we allow people to audit the course?
Do we want to build partnerships with University...Siast...who will co-ordinate this process?
Do we want to communicate with SaskEd the courses we have and are planning to develop so they do not do the same ones?
Ownership of courses....contract?
Giving SaskEd the right to put these courses on a non-secure server?
Partnership between International Student program and cyberschool?
Teacher/Parent Interviews...necessary or not?
Last day to drop class?
How many courses should a developer do?
How many courses should a developer teach?
Do we limit the number of elementary students taking courses?
If so how?
Do we set the prerequisites based on SaskEd?
Do we need a counselor on-line?
Do we allow students to retake classes...do we charge them twice?
Do we have a double standard...in system out of system?
Do we have end dates?
Do we have start dates?
Grad for the student who finishes their high school at cyber school.
New area (upper...lower)?
Photocopy machine in the new area?
Secretary number of hours?
Money collection....letters sent to Dave
Exchange course area...is it valuable enough to pay for the registration spots?
The following types of students are taking classes at the cyberschool. How do we deal with each of them?
Registered In SCS
Elementary students
High School students
Homeschoolers
Not registered in SCS but registered elsewhere.
Elementary students
High School students
Homeschoolers
Upgraders
Not registered anywhere
Elementary students
High School students
Homeschoolers
Upgraders
Students registered at schools that are not Sasked schools
Native Reserves
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Historical stats... 2001
February 19, 2001
Statistics from the Registration Survey
Total number of responses...85
Are you presently in school?
Yes....75 No....10
How did you hear about the cyber school?
Television.................................0
Radio.......................................1
Newspaper..............................2
Internet....................................4
Presentation.............................7
Newsletter.............................18
School Notices......................29
Friend....................................32
Teacher.................................48
What level of computer user are you?
Below Average.....................1
Advanced.............................13
Above Average....................30
Average................................42
What kind of computer do you have at home?
Mac........................................0
Other......................................3
Windows.................................82
How many years have you been working on computers?
0-1.....................................3
1-3.....................................25
3-5.....................................19
5+.......................................39
How many hours do you spend on the internet per week?
0.........................................2
1-3.....................................21
3-5......................................22
5-10....................................27
10+......................................14
Can you type more than 25 words per minute?
Yes........................................49
No.........................................3
Maybe...................................33
What course other than the ones presently being offered would you like to see on-line.
History....................10
Christian Ethics.........6
English A30..............6
Computer Science....6
Biology.....................6
Math B30.................6
Math A30.................5
Math C30.................5
Chemistry.................5
Science 90................5
Math 10....................4
Info 20......................3
Law 30....................3
All others mentioned had only one vote.
Statistics from the Registration Survey
Total number of responses...85
Are you presently in school?
Yes....75 No....10
How did you hear about the cyber school?
Television.................................0
Radio.......................................1
Newspaper..............................2
Internet....................................4
Presentation.............................7
Newsletter.............................18
School Notices......................29
Friend....................................32
Teacher.................................48
What level of computer user are you?
Below Average.....................1
Advanced.............................13
Above Average....................30
Average................................42
What kind of computer do you have at home?
Mac........................................0
Other......................................3
Windows.................................82
How many years have you been working on computers?
0-1.....................................3
1-3.....................................25
3-5.....................................19
5+.......................................39
How many hours do you spend on the internet per week?
0.........................................2
1-3.....................................21
3-5......................................22
5-10....................................27
10+......................................14
Can you type more than 25 words per minute?
Yes........................................49
No.........................................3
Maybe...................................33
What course other than the ones presently being offered would you like to see on-line.
History....................10
Christian Ethics.........6
English A30..............6
Computer Science....6
Biology.....................6
Math B30.................6
Math A30.................5
Math C30.................5
Chemistry.................5
Science 90................5
Math 10....................4
Info 20......................3
Law 30....................3
All others mentioned had only one vote.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Cyber proposed budget 2001...
This is not what I got if I remember correctly but it is interesting to see the way the brain was working eight years ago,
January 22, 2001
Budget for Cyber School
1.) Software 500.00
2) Projector 4000.00
3) Webct Licence 1000.00
4) Secretary's machine 2000.00
5) Printer cartridges 5 X 125.00
6) Webct Certification 4000.00
7) Computer Paper 400.00
8) Office Supplies 500.00
9) Developer's Travel 3000.00
10) Developer's Conference registration 3000.00
11) Development of new Courses 85,000.00
12) Brochures and Advertising 1500.00
13) Business Cards 150.00
14) Letterhead and envelope 250.00
15) Telephone Long distance 200.00
Renovations...10,000 wiring and millwork 10000
Office supplies 11 teachers desks. 11 X 200 5000
Office chairs 3 300 X3 900.00
New developers machines 3 X 2000 6000.00
January 22, 2001
Budget for Cyber School
1.) Software 500.00
2) Projector 4000.00
3) Webct Licence 1000.00
4) Secretary's machine 2000.00
5) Printer cartridges 5 X 125.00
6) Webct Certification 4000.00
7) Computer Paper 400.00
8) Office Supplies 500.00
9) Developer's Travel 3000.00
10) Developer's Conference registration 3000.00
11) Development of new Courses 85,000.00
12) Brochures and Advertising 1500.00
13) Business Cards 150.00
14) Letterhead and envelope 250.00
15) Telephone Long distance 200.00
Renovations...10,000 wiring and millwork 10000
Office supplies 11 teachers desks. 11 X 200 5000
Office chairs 3 300 X3 900.00
New developers machines 3 X 2000 6000.00
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Report October 30 2000
October 30, 2000
Please excuse the grammar and spelling in this informal report.
Midterm Report
Well, let me tell you how much fun this has been, this has been the most exciting, frustrating fun education experience I have ever been involved with. This form of education is unbelievable both for the teacher and also the students. Certain things that we thought would happen did and other things have surprised us, we are so far into the unknown that every day is surprising us with new achievements and challenges.
We have registered more than one hundred students, with a drop out rate of about 12 percent. This is slightly higher than I thought but just reminds us that this type of schooling is not for everyone. Some of the Sask Ed. people were mentioning that the correspondence school that has a drop out rate of 50+ percent. I believe ours is so much lower because of the teacher being available and the efforts to make the students feel like they are part of a class. We are teaching the three classes and on October 15 stopped registering students for this semester. All students registered after this date have been moved to the second semester. This will allow us to do some catch up when it comes to updating and finalizing the look of the courses. We are still working an in-human number of hours, but the payoff has been the fact that the courses are becoming more and more interactive. Students are starting to settle into a routine and are spending time learning. The discussion board area is the most interesting tool in the information processing class while the chat room seems to be more of a fluff tool. More of a social tool than an educational one. The marking of the tests has gone smoothly and most of the other tools work very well.
The turn over to the new server was a major improvement in the ability for us to work on-line. It is so much faster and more exciting. This is something we must keep in mind, the faster we can make things for the developer the happier they will be. The newer machines and chairs make the work a little easier.
Ken and Tony are both discussing the concern about their home computer. The two of them are spending a lot of hours at school because they do not have an acceptable machine at home. Therefore we are supply high speed at home to people who do not have machines to use it. Maybe this is something that we have to address in the future. Where do we stop supplying the tools for developers and presenters? What is needed to make their lives easier?
We may want to look at putting together a team of technical people to support the developers. The release time that we have been given may not have been enough. The learning of the computers skills and programs is starting to drag on the developers and making it difficult for them to keep the hours down. The learning curve is not getting smaller, it just keeps expanding based on newer, faster and better technology that someone has to learn and then teach the new stuff to the developers. This cannot be done if they are still trying to complete course material.
The room we are working in is a little tight...developers are back to back but the brain trust in this room is very very scary. We could take over the world if we could just find the time.
Dave Elder is finding teaching and extracurricular is getting in the way of him developing. He is getting very good at using some of the newer technology. He is using the high speed at home extensively.
The new developers have all been matched up with one of the vets and they seem to be working very well as teams...not a bad thought for the future. Having all the developers in one room has been a good idea...it has allowed us to brain storm ideas and work through problems collectively.
Administration wise...the registration procedure is getting cleaner but it is still very hard to keep track of students. Students who have decided to drop or change schools tend to throw curves into the process. We are building a filing system and data bank to keep track of these students. All the planning is keeping in mind that it needs to work for schools outside our system as well. At first I thought that the secretary would be good to have and would allow us to support the developers. To date the secretary has been only working on administration. It may be necessary to increase her to a ½ time secretary to assist in keeping contact with the contacts at the schools. We might also need to get her a machine to work on in the pod area. We think it might be necessary to meet with the people in each building that are responsible for the cyber school to see if there is any way we can make the registration and reporting period better. It still seems to be clunky and students do fall through the cracks. Since this time, I have gone to each of the high schools and have some ideas on how to make this process better.
The students are starting to find that this method of education is very exciting and they are starting to sell the courses for us . . . they talk and they are our best form of advertisement . . . however they are still inside our system . . . when we go outside we need to have a coordinated concentrated method of advertising and it might cost us some money. I am planning for this day.
I have started the process of becoming certified in WEBct. This is going to be a long and expensive process but I agree that it is a necessary one. I will make this happen.
A final story before I sign off...
I called a student named Zoe thinking this was a girl...I dialed her home number to see why she had not been on line for a large number of days. I asked if I could speak to Zoe...if she was home. The mother was very silent for a period and then stated that Zoe was a guy...I proceeded to tell her that this was his teacher and that this might be one of the drawbacks of this education. But it certainly eliminates sexism in education.
A final thought...
I also got an e-mail...it stated...I thought this was going to be fun...it is not I quit. It is important that we let the students know this is still a course and they will be expected to do 120 hours of work...it is not a video game.
Please excuse the grammar and spelling in this informal report.
Midterm Report
Well, let me tell you how much fun this has been, this has been the most exciting, frustrating fun education experience I have ever been involved with. This form of education is unbelievable both for the teacher and also the students. Certain things that we thought would happen did and other things have surprised us, we are so far into the unknown that every day is surprising us with new achievements and challenges.
We have registered more than one hundred students, with a drop out rate of about 12 percent. This is slightly higher than I thought but just reminds us that this type of schooling is not for everyone. Some of the Sask Ed. people were mentioning that the correspondence school that has a drop out rate of 50+ percent. I believe ours is so much lower because of the teacher being available and the efforts to make the students feel like they are part of a class. We are teaching the three classes and on October 15 stopped registering students for this semester. All students registered after this date have been moved to the second semester. This will allow us to do some catch up when it comes to updating and finalizing the look of the courses. We are still working an in-human number of hours, but the payoff has been the fact that the courses are becoming more and more interactive. Students are starting to settle into a routine and are spending time learning. The discussion board area is the most interesting tool in the information processing class while the chat room seems to be more of a fluff tool. More of a social tool than an educational one. The marking of the tests has gone smoothly and most of the other tools work very well.
The turn over to the new server was a major improvement in the ability for us to work on-line. It is so much faster and more exciting. This is something we must keep in mind, the faster we can make things for the developer the happier they will be. The newer machines and chairs make the work a little easier.
Ken and Tony are both discussing the concern about their home computer. The two of them are spending a lot of hours at school because they do not have an acceptable machine at home. Therefore we are supply high speed at home to people who do not have machines to use it. Maybe this is something that we have to address in the future. Where do we stop supplying the tools for developers and presenters? What is needed to make their lives easier?
We may want to look at putting together a team of technical people to support the developers. The release time that we have been given may not have been enough. The learning of the computers skills and programs is starting to drag on the developers and making it difficult for them to keep the hours down. The learning curve is not getting smaller, it just keeps expanding based on newer, faster and better technology that someone has to learn and then teach the new stuff to the developers. This cannot be done if they are still trying to complete course material.
The room we are working in is a little tight...developers are back to back but the brain trust in this room is very very scary. We could take over the world if we could just find the time.
Dave Elder is finding teaching and extracurricular is getting in the way of him developing. He is getting very good at using some of the newer technology. He is using the high speed at home extensively.
The new developers have all been matched up with one of the vets and they seem to be working very well as teams...not a bad thought for the future. Having all the developers in one room has been a good idea...it has allowed us to brain storm ideas and work through problems collectively.
Administration wise...the registration procedure is getting cleaner but it is still very hard to keep track of students. Students who have decided to drop or change schools tend to throw curves into the process. We are building a filing system and data bank to keep track of these students. All the planning is keeping in mind that it needs to work for schools outside our system as well. At first I thought that the secretary would be good to have and would allow us to support the developers. To date the secretary has been only working on administration. It may be necessary to increase her to a ½ time secretary to assist in keeping contact with the contacts at the schools. We might also need to get her a machine to work on in the pod area. We think it might be necessary to meet with the people in each building that are responsible for the cyber school to see if there is any way we can make the registration and reporting period better. It still seems to be clunky and students do fall through the cracks. Since this time, I have gone to each of the high schools and have some ideas on how to make this process better.
The students are starting to find that this method of education is very exciting and they are starting to sell the courses for us . . . they talk and they are our best form of advertisement . . . however they are still inside our system . . . when we go outside we need to have a coordinated concentrated method of advertising and it might cost us some money. I am planning for this day.
I have started the process of becoming certified in WEBct. This is going to be a long and expensive process but I agree that it is a necessary one. I will make this happen.
A final story before I sign off...
I called a student named Zoe thinking this was a girl...I dialed her home number to see why she had not been on line for a large number of days. I asked if I could speak to Zoe...if she was home. The mother was very silent for a period and then stated that Zoe was a guy...I proceeded to tell her that this was his teacher and that this might be one of the drawbacks of this education. But it certainly eliminates sexism in education.
A final thought...
I also got an e-mail...it stated...I thought this was going to be fun...it is not I quit. It is important that we let the students know this is still a course and they will be expected to do 120 hours of work...it is not a video game.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
This was the SCCS secretary in 2000
SCCS Secretary
• Two hours a day in the afternoon.
• Working in the Pod.
• From 1p.m. until 3 p.m. because that is when we will have seven people in the room.
• At the moment the teachers have not built an extensive quiz base to eliminate the need for textbooks. The hold up is strictly transcribing all the questions they have developed over the years of teaching.
• Email schools throughout the province with promotional material
• Burning of CD for courses.
• Glossary bases for each of the courses need to be typed to build a science, computer, math, english and other subject area data bank that can be accessed by the students.
• Each school needs to be sent a list of their students.
• Develop a more streamline hard copy of the registration procedure for the schools.
• Hard copies of students records need to be filed.
• Midterm marks and final grades need to be printed and mailed.
• Schools need to be sent the results from their students.
• A data bank of students needs to be developed and maintained.
• Daily prayer needs to be collect from the different sources and placed online.
• Typing of text for the courses.
• Assisting in the development of a recording method to track teachers' behaviour online.
• Faxing and photocopying.
• Assist in the contacting of other school boards.
• Assist in the development of a tour to advertise this project.
• Assist in the development of a brochure for the hearing, and visually impaired.
• Transcribe audio files to text for impaired and to assist some files.
• Assist in the collection and organizing data collected from the students about their online behaviour.
• Assist in the contacting of guest speakers for the school.
• Assist in the searching of the web for web sites that pertain to online subject areas.
• Organization of software that is used for SCCS, make sure we have backups of all software.
• Assist in the building of icon data banks that will pertain to subject areas.
• Assist in the development of a manual that will be used to orient new developers.
• Develop a student handbook that will assist them in orientating.
• Help with updates on the SCCS web page, add research when found.
• Develop a procedure manual for the registration of students.
• Help develop a copyright policy.
• Help develop a contract for developers.
• Two hours a day in the afternoon.
• Working in the Pod.
• From 1p.m. until 3 p.m. because that is when we will have seven people in the room.
• At the moment the teachers have not built an extensive quiz base to eliminate the need for textbooks. The hold up is strictly transcribing all the questions they have developed over the years of teaching.
• Email schools throughout the province with promotional material
• Burning of CD for courses.
• Glossary bases for each of the courses need to be typed to build a science, computer, math, english and other subject area data bank that can be accessed by the students.
• Each school needs to be sent a list of their students.
• Develop a more streamline hard copy of the registration procedure for the schools.
• Hard copies of students records need to be filed.
• Midterm marks and final grades need to be printed and mailed.
• Schools need to be sent the results from their students.
• A data bank of students needs to be developed and maintained.
• Daily prayer needs to be collect from the different sources and placed online.
• Typing of text for the courses.
• Assisting in the development of a recording method to track teachers' behaviour online.
• Faxing and photocopying.
• Assist in the contacting of other school boards.
• Assist in the development of a tour to advertise this project.
• Assist in the development of a brochure for the hearing, and visually impaired.
• Transcribe audio files to text for impaired and to assist some files.
• Assist in the collection and organizing data collected from the students about their online behaviour.
• Assist in the contacting of guest speakers for the school.
• Assist in the searching of the web for web sites that pertain to online subject areas.
• Organization of software that is used for SCCS, make sure we have backups of all software.
• Assist in the building of icon data banks that will pertain to subject areas.
• Assist in the development of a manual that will be used to orient new developers.
• Develop a student handbook that will assist them in orientating.
• Help with updates on the SCCS web page, add research when found.
• Develop a procedure manual for the registration of students.
• Help develop a copyright policy.
• Help develop a contract for developers.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Job offer for me in 2000
May 24, 2000
At this time, I have been presented two proposals for my position for next year. In a nutshell, two possibilities, I become assistant principal at Holy Cross (.75 admin, .25 cyber admin) or I remain project leader at SCCS (.75 admin .25 teacher).
So like most things in my life I weighed the positives and the negatives and decided to stay as the project leader for the cyber school. In time I did become the administrator for the cyber school but not right away.
The Assistant Principal Positives.
The Cyber school Positives
The Assistant Principal Negatives.
The Cyber school Negatives
The most logical and best thing for the system is for me to stay as project leader for one more year. The only reason I am not being given that position is because the administration gave me their word that the cyber school will not stay in the way of my career. I appreciate the fact they are men of their word but me leaving will hurt the project, and a year from now it will not. I will be taking a large pay cut by not taking the A.P. position. The difference is about 8 thousand dollars over the year. What kind of a person would I be if I took the A.P. position and let 6 months of work fall behind. At the same time they know that if I take the A.P. position I will be making sure the SCCS position is working fine, which will result in me spreading myself very thin or not doing justice to either position. The fact that I have been guaranteed a A.P. position in the 2001-2002 year is a positive development but who will that effect if there is no movement in that year.
At this time, I have been presented two proposals for my position for next year. In a nutshell, two possibilities, I become assistant principal at Holy Cross (.75 admin, .25 cyber admin) or I remain project leader at SCCS (.75 admin .25 teacher).
So like most things in my life I weighed the positives and the negatives and decided to stay as the project leader for the cyber school. In time I did become the administrator for the cyber school but not right away.
The Assistant Principal Positives.
- Good for my career.
- Working with Dennis
- Understand Holy Cross after 6 months
- Wage
- Large Learning Curve.
- Understood by all
- Has the cyber school housed here.
- Back in main stream.
The Cyber school Positives
- A new unique initiative.
- Computers
- Working with the teachers involved.
- See course working.
- Finish project.
- Bring new leader up to speed.
- Flexible hours
- Develop vision.
- Large learning curve
- Understanding of whole system.
The Assistant Principal Negatives.
- In same building as Cyber school
- Unknown workload.
- Masters
- Computer
- Will not do justice to both.
- Mentally not possible to commit to both.
- Setting SCCS back a year.
- Selfish
The Cyber school Negatives
- Wage
- Unknown elements.
- Politics from downtown.
- Hours
- Lack of technology at home.
- Not understood by all.
The most logical and best thing for the system is for me to stay as project leader for one more year. The only reason I am not being given that position is because the administration gave me their word that the cyber school will not stay in the way of my career. I appreciate the fact they are men of their word but me leaving will hurt the project, and a year from now it will not. I will be taking a large pay cut by not taking the A.P. position. The difference is about 8 thousand dollars over the year. What kind of a person would I be if I took the A.P. position and let 6 months of work fall behind. At the same time they know that if I take the A.P. position I will be making sure the SCCS position is working fine, which will result in me spreading myself very thin or not doing justice to either position. The fact that I have been guaranteed a A.P. position in the 2001-2002 year is a positive development but who will that effect if there is no movement in that year.
Maybe the difference in salary can be made up somehow if I decide to stay with the Cyber School? Pay for my masters?
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Revised job description 2000
One month after the first attempt at a job description for the cyber school administrator we put together this more professional one.
Professional Staff, Duties and Responsibilities
Cyber School Administrator.
The duties of the administrator shall be carried out under the direction of the assigned principal.
• The chief responsibilities related to the Instructional Program are:
• Foster development of courses and programs compatible with the philosophy, goals and objectives of the cyber school.
• evaluate and adapt programs with a view to students needs in this environment.
• co-ordinate development of courses across subject departments and schools.
• organize and facilitate inservice programs for staff.
• assume responsibility for student timetabling
• assist in teacher timetabling in schools
• assist in the preparation of the instructional budget
• supervise teachers, with emphasis on gaining insight into teacher and student needs in the instructional program and on adapting and improving teaching techniques for this method of delivery.
• The chief responsibilities related to the operation of the cyber school are:
• Student Services
• Student extra-curricular programs
• chaplain services
• reception of students
• information
• health, safety and security
• Attendance
• develop and maintain policy
• determine procedures
• maintain records
• Student Behaviour
• promote an atmosphere which will foster desirable student teacher relationships
• oversee supervision of students
• develop and maintain policy regarding rules and expectations with respect to conduct
• Record and report teacher absence
• Exercise general supervision of the facilities of the cyber school.
• Assist in the preparation of school budget
• Supervise teachers with emphasis on gaining insight into teacher and student needs in the instructional program and to improve teacher online teaching techniques.
Professional Staff, Duties and Responsibilities
Cyber School Administrator.
The duties of the administrator shall be carried out under the direction of the assigned principal.
• The chief responsibilities related to the Instructional Program are:
• Foster development of courses and programs compatible with the philosophy, goals and objectives of the cyber school.
• evaluate and adapt programs with a view to students needs in this environment.
• co-ordinate development of courses across subject departments and schools.
• organize and facilitate inservice programs for staff.
• assume responsibility for student timetabling
• assist in teacher timetabling in schools
• assist in the preparation of the instructional budget
• supervise teachers, with emphasis on gaining insight into teacher and student needs in the instructional program and on adapting and improving teaching techniques for this method of delivery.
• The chief responsibilities related to the operation of the cyber school are:
• Student Services
• Student extra-curricular programs
• chaplain services
• reception of students
• information
• health, safety and security
• Attendance
• develop and maintain policy
• determine procedures
• maintain records
• Student Behaviour
• promote an atmosphere which will foster desirable student teacher relationships
• oversee supervision of students
• develop and maintain policy regarding rules and expectations with respect to conduct
• Record and report teacher absence
• Exercise general supervision of the facilities of the cyber school.
• Assist in the preparation of school budget
• Supervise teachers with emphasis on gaining insight into teacher and student needs in the instructional program and to improve teacher online teaching techniques.
Monday, 9 March 2009
SCCS Job Description 2000
Job Description for Project Leader 2000-2001
Darren Cannell
Teaching one section online in first semester and one online and one in a classroom, if time permits in the second semester. Information Processing 10 for all sections
The remainder of the time would be spent administering this project.
Administration Duties
1. Register the use of WEBCT
2. Monitoring the behavior of the students, teachers and adults online.
3. Co-ordinate the online guests within the School community and in the individual courses.
4. Co-ordinate daily prayer.
5. Co-ordinate announcements.
6. Answer e-mail from the school.
7. Co-ordinate the necessity for students to come in to write a test.
8. Assist in the need for onsite labs or field trips.
9. Maintain the Website.
10. Assist students, developers and others in the copyright problems that the school might encounter.
11. Develop a common set of rules for the school. (I.E. language in the chat rooms)
12. Develop an common introduction to webct courses
13. Publish a newsletter for the online students.
14. Develop backup plan in case of network problems
15. Develop a method of handling technological problems that students will encounter.
16. Review the webct platform at the regular intervals for patches and newer versions.
17. Attend meetings and conferences in search of a better platform.
18. Upgrade equipment and techniques to stay at the cutting edge of this type of education.
19. Co-ordinate the equipment differences that might be need for courses. (I.E. art class might need a scanner)
20. discipline of students
21. develop disclosure policy when working within chat rooms
22. mark submission for catholic students
23. evaluation of course content
24. extra curricular involvement (when does a student become a catholic school student or a public school student)
25. Counselors online?
26. Priest online?
27. Supervision of the Chat rooms in the school.
28. Use of courses in others classrooms
29. Co-ordinate registration of students.
30. Co-ordinate electronic registration of students within classes.
31. Distribution of passwords to students
32. Develop method of students entering the school via home page....sign in page...?
33. Registration of software need for each of the courses. I.E. Microsoft word for Information Processing 10 and Corel WP for Information Processing 20.
34. Register our site online with search engines around the world.
35. Co-ordinate students registration at different times of the year.
36. Develop an e-mail group within the schools to keep counselor, vice principal and principals informed of developments.
37. Talk to principals about the next round of teachers.
38. Assist in the technological abilities of the teachers.
39. Co-ordinate the master timetable of the school. (When teachers will be on-line. Making sure they are available to the students)
40. Assisting teachers in developing good online teaching techniques. (How best to help a student when he has this problem.....?)
41. Make sure the approach of courses is a global community approach.
42. Develop methods of using the internet to the fullest.
43. Assist developers in choosing the appropriate software for their courses.
44. Search for sites that might be of use to the different developers.
45. Review literature for possible online teaching research.
46. Work on searching for the best compression techniques to make our lessons bandwidth friendly.
47. Search for possible grants that can be applied to the school (I.E. Artsmart for a big screen for the board office)
48. Talk to parents who might have questions about the program.
49. Talk to parents who might have problems with course or instructors or procedures.
50. Setup teacher parent interviews schedule.
51. Do student home visits for teachers who might be having a problem with a student.
52. Design a tool to evaluate the project.
53. Administer the surveys to children
54. Administer the survey to parents
55. Administer the survey to teachers
56. Summarize the results and forward to the appropriate parties.
57. develop a long term plan
58. develop a long term time line
59. budget funds to make this possible.
Some time in the middle of all this I would like to coach or assistant coach a senior girls volleyball team.
Darren Cannell
Teaching one section online in first semester and one online and one in a classroom, if time permits in the second semester. Information Processing 10 for all sections
The remainder of the time would be spent administering this project.
Administration Duties
1. Register the use of WEBCT
2. Monitoring the behavior of the students, teachers and adults online.
3. Co-ordinate the online guests within the School community and in the individual courses.
4. Co-ordinate daily prayer.
5. Co-ordinate announcements.
6. Answer e-mail from the school.
7. Co-ordinate the necessity for students to come in to write a test.
8. Assist in the need for onsite labs or field trips.
9. Maintain the Website.
10. Assist students, developers and others in the copyright problems that the school might encounter.
11. Develop a common set of rules for the school. (I.E. language in the chat rooms)
12. Develop an common introduction to webct courses
13. Publish a newsletter for the online students.
14. Develop backup plan in case of network problems
15. Develop a method of handling technological problems that students will encounter.
16. Review the webct platform at the regular intervals for patches and newer versions.
17. Attend meetings and conferences in search of a better platform.
18. Upgrade equipment and techniques to stay at the cutting edge of this type of education.
19. Co-ordinate the equipment differences that might be need for courses. (I.E. art class might need a scanner)
20. discipline of students
21. develop disclosure policy when working within chat rooms
22. mark submission for catholic students
23. evaluation of course content
24. extra curricular involvement (when does a student become a catholic school student or a public school student)
25. Counselors online?
26. Priest online?
27. Supervision of the Chat rooms in the school.
28. Use of courses in others classrooms
29. Co-ordinate registration of students.
30. Co-ordinate electronic registration of students within classes.
31. Distribution of passwords to students
32. Develop method of students entering the school via home page....sign in page...?
33. Registration of software need for each of the courses. I.E. Microsoft word for Information Processing 10 and Corel WP for Information Processing 20.
34. Register our site online with search engines around the world.
35. Co-ordinate students registration at different times of the year.
36. Develop an e-mail group within the schools to keep counselor, vice principal and principals informed of developments.
37. Talk to principals about the next round of teachers.
38. Assist in the technological abilities of the teachers.
39. Co-ordinate the master timetable of the school. (When teachers will be on-line. Making sure they are available to the students)
40. Assisting teachers in developing good online teaching techniques. (How best to help a student when he has this problem.....?)
41. Make sure the approach of courses is a global community approach.
42. Develop methods of using the internet to the fullest.
43. Assist developers in choosing the appropriate software for their courses.
44. Search for sites that might be of use to the different developers.
45. Review literature for possible online teaching research.
46. Work on searching for the best compression techniques to make our lessons bandwidth friendly.
47. Search for possible grants that can be applied to the school (I.E. Artsmart for a big screen for the board office)
48. Talk to parents who might have questions about the program.
49. Talk to parents who might have problems with course or instructors or procedures.
50. Setup teacher parent interviews schedule.
51. Do student home visits for teachers who might be having a problem with a student.
52. Design a tool to evaluate the project.
53. Administer the surveys to children
54. Administer the survey to parents
55. Administer the survey to teachers
56. Summarize the results and forward to the appropriate parties.
57. develop a long term plan
58. develop a long term time line
59. budget funds to make this possible.
Some time in the middle of all this I would like to coach or assistant coach a senior girls volleyball team.
Friday, 6 March 2009
SCCS Meeting notes 2000
March 21, 2000
The first part of the meeting was personal information for myself about my situation and where it might progress to in the future. Dennis and I will be writing up a job description for the second year of my involvement in the project.
We confirmed that WebCT will be the platform that we will use for the first year of Cyber School
We agreed that the internal and external webpages seem to be working fine. The internal being just for the involved parties in the development. The external was for the general community and was receiving 15 hits per day. Talked briefly about the content on both and will email most of the reports from now on to the interested parties.
Showed some of the course material, his biggest concern is the staff of the cyber school. Dennis and myself will worry about the courses.
Sasktel meetings, brought him up to speed on the meetings that have happened between Sasktel and myself and reinforced the fact that we have the resources internal to do this alone with no partnerships. On a personal note have informed of the job offers and have confirmed the fact that I will be sticking with this project.
Brochure and Posters we talked about the process briefly and the distribution of both of these will be left up to Dennis and myself.
We discussed briefly the necessity for support people, secretaries, tech, administration to assist the developers in the development of their courses. It was stated that if this is needed Dennis needs to co-ordinate this and put in a budget to cover the cost.
Except for formal press releases....Dennis and myself will be co-ordinating the advertisement of this project.
We discussed my reports, I explained how I was not attempting to hurt anyone's feelings or to be overly negative. I will continue to write and email the reports. It is important that whom ever reads the reports knows that this is my method of thinking and the thoughts are ever changing.
We discussed the budget for the courses and it is Dennis who has to include the costs in his school budget, the finer points of how this will work will be discussed at a later meeting.
A proper press release will probably happen in September when there are some students involved.
We discussed the second round of teachers and it will be necessary to as a group decide what the next group of courses will be.
The first part of the meeting was personal information for myself about my situation and where it might progress to in the future. Dennis and I will be writing up a job description for the second year of my involvement in the project.
We confirmed that WebCT will be the platform that we will use for the first year of Cyber School
We agreed that the internal and external webpages seem to be working fine. The internal being just for the involved parties in the development. The external was for the general community and was receiving 15 hits per day. Talked briefly about the content on both and will email most of the reports from now on to the interested parties.
Showed some of the course material, his biggest concern is the staff of the cyber school. Dennis and myself will worry about the courses.
Sasktel meetings, brought him up to speed on the meetings that have happened between Sasktel and myself and reinforced the fact that we have the resources internal to do this alone with no partnerships. On a personal note have informed of the job offers and have confirmed the fact that I will be sticking with this project.
Brochure and Posters we talked about the process briefly and the distribution of both of these will be left up to Dennis and myself.
We discussed briefly the necessity for support people, secretaries, tech, administration to assist the developers in the development of their courses. It was stated that if this is needed Dennis needs to co-ordinate this and put in a budget to cover the cost.
Except for formal press releases....Dennis and myself will be co-ordinating the advertisement of this project.
We discussed my reports, I explained how I was not attempting to hurt anyone's feelings or to be overly negative. I will continue to write and email the reports. It is important that whom ever reads the reports knows that this is my method of thinking and the thoughts are ever changing.
We discussed the budget for the courses and it is Dennis who has to include the costs in his school budget, the finer points of how this will work will be discussed at a later meeting.
A proper press release will probably happen in September when there are some students involved.
We discussed the second round of teachers and it will be necessary to as a group decide what the next group of courses will be.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Discussion Paper 2000
Darren Cannell
Cyber School
February 23, 2000
Discussion Paper
This paper is an attempt to put in writing my vision and create some direction for this project. This is by no means a final copy and is a working ever changing thought in written form. This will assist all parties involved to consider the direction and possibilities of the project.
At the present time we have six or more visions of where this project is going. This is not a bad thing, this is a great indication of how dynamic and interesting this can be for all involved. I think that it is important for all interested parties to get together and try to develop a common vision. For the sanity of the people involved this is a necessary step. Trying to make a project for six different views has been an impossible task for myself. I have found it frustrating and just a little unnerving. I have found myself questioning what I am allowed to say and what I am not. This I think has come from numerous misconceptions on my part.
My first misconception was that as project leader my vision was the one that we were moving on. A one-sided unrealistic view but still a view that I had started with. Since that time I realize that I was not the only one with this perception. Most parties involved in this project have approached this with the same one-sidedness. This is the first of my misconceptions that I think we need to work on, it is an easy one to fix. We need to sit down and work out a short term and long term plan for the project as a team. The group that we have should be able to work towards this goal.
My second misconception was my role in this project, in my eagerness to help, I have found that I have overstepped my role due to my lack of understanding of this role. Due to this misconception I felt that I am not to take the initiative in the development of anything but the courses and the rest will be handled by others. This however is a prime example of why I think it is necessary for the team to sit down and develop a common plan and then work as a team towards this. In this planning I think we need to establish who is going to do what and then it will be easier to implement this project.
The third misconception that I was working with was that in the beginning this project was going to cost money, but it was going to be a money maker after it started. This was the most costly of all the misconceptions that I have had. We are at the present time working with the idea that we will be at a no cost stance when the project starts with students. This is a hard thing to do because of the eleventh class option, and the fact that for it to be cost free you will not have a project leader of some sort. This for me has being the cause of some stress. I realize that the project cannot just be one person but I feel that I have the best set of tools to assist in the start up of this project. I was under the impression that this was something that was felt by more people than myself.
The fourth misconception that I had was that I was to try to keep ahead of the planning of this project and assist the people involved to plan for the possible problems that we will be encountering. Since I have started, I have been confused as to whom I am to pass this information on to. I had not idea of the chain of command in this project, this stems directly from the structure established from the beginning. Certain aspects of the project belong to one superintendent others to another superintendent. This makes for a real mixing of messages for the planning process. The statement, just develop the courses and let us work on the rest of it, might be perceived as support, but is not realistic when trying to develop the courses. Some aspects of the development hinge directly on the decisions that are being made, so a more open line of communication is necessary.
A prime example of some of the frustration I am feeling can be best explained by the planning of the brochure. The following steps have been used to develop the brochure:
I spent four plus hours developing a brochure, passed it on to another to proof-read content and to return to myself. It was forwarded to another, recommendations were made and revised the content based on suggestions, it was then passed on to another and at that time I was informed that the style was not acceptable and it would be a complete re-write. This copy was then passed back to myself and suggested that I should think about adding pictures to it. I had spent four hours making the first design and I am now asked to start over again, this is a frustrating procedure because I do not understand my role. One person is telling me to develop a brochure so I did, revisions were expected but to have the whole design scraped and to start over was a waste of everyone's time as well as mine. A little pre planning would have made it easier and not a duplication of work. A registration form was placed on the back of the brochure and this is a duplication of the work we have been working on. We have developed a registration form as well. We need to try to co-ordinate some of the jobs so that we are not reinventing the wheel. I devised a method of informing the school of the project based upon what I thought was necessary, and then proceeded. This may not have been my place.
Some of the problems that we are encountering in the beginning are because of the newness and original nature of this project. However it is my belief that some of the stress and problems can be avoided by developing a definite chain of command and then assigning the jobs to the involved parties.
Cyber School
February 23, 2000
Discussion Paper
This paper is an attempt to put in writing my vision and create some direction for this project. This is by no means a final copy and is a working ever changing thought in written form. This will assist all parties involved to consider the direction and possibilities of the project.
At the present time we have six or more visions of where this project is going. This is not a bad thing, this is a great indication of how dynamic and interesting this can be for all involved. I think that it is important for all interested parties to get together and try to develop a common vision. For the sanity of the people involved this is a necessary step. Trying to make a project for six different views has been an impossible task for myself. I have found it frustrating and just a little unnerving. I have found myself questioning what I am allowed to say and what I am not. This I think has come from numerous misconceptions on my part.
My first misconception was that as project leader my vision was the one that we were moving on. A one-sided unrealistic view but still a view that I had started with. Since that time I realize that I was not the only one with this perception. Most parties involved in this project have approached this with the same one-sidedness. This is the first of my misconceptions that I think we need to work on, it is an easy one to fix. We need to sit down and work out a short term and long term plan for the project as a team. The group that we have should be able to work towards this goal.
My second misconception was my role in this project, in my eagerness to help, I have found that I have overstepped my role due to my lack of understanding of this role. Due to this misconception I felt that I am not to take the initiative in the development of anything but the courses and the rest will be handled by others. This however is a prime example of why I think it is necessary for the team to sit down and develop a common plan and then work as a team towards this. In this planning I think we need to establish who is going to do what and then it will be easier to implement this project.
The third misconception that I was working with was that in the beginning this project was going to cost money, but it was going to be a money maker after it started. This was the most costly of all the misconceptions that I have had. We are at the present time working with the idea that we will be at a no cost stance when the project starts with students. This is a hard thing to do because of the eleventh class option, and the fact that for it to be cost free you will not have a project leader of some sort. This for me has being the cause of some stress. I realize that the project cannot just be one person but I feel that I have the best set of tools to assist in the start up of this project. I was under the impression that this was something that was felt by more people than myself.
The fourth misconception that I had was that I was to try to keep ahead of the planning of this project and assist the people involved to plan for the possible problems that we will be encountering. Since I have started, I have been confused as to whom I am to pass this information on to. I had not idea of the chain of command in this project, this stems directly from the structure established from the beginning. Certain aspects of the project belong to one superintendent others to another superintendent. This makes for a real mixing of messages for the planning process. The statement, just develop the courses and let us work on the rest of it, might be perceived as support, but is not realistic when trying to develop the courses. Some aspects of the development hinge directly on the decisions that are being made, so a more open line of communication is necessary.
A prime example of some of the frustration I am feeling can be best explained by the planning of the brochure. The following steps have been used to develop the brochure:
I spent four plus hours developing a brochure, passed it on to another to proof-read content and to return to myself. It was forwarded to another, recommendations were made and revised the content based on suggestions, it was then passed on to another and at that time I was informed that the style was not acceptable and it would be a complete re-write. This copy was then passed back to myself and suggested that I should think about adding pictures to it. I had spent four hours making the first design and I am now asked to start over again, this is a frustrating procedure because I do not understand my role. One person is telling me to develop a brochure so I did, revisions were expected but to have the whole design scraped and to start over was a waste of everyone's time as well as mine. A little pre planning would have made it easier and not a duplication of work. A registration form was placed on the back of the brochure and this is a duplication of the work we have been working on. We have developed a registration form as well. We need to try to co-ordinate some of the jobs so that we are not reinventing the wheel. I devised a method of informing the school of the project based upon what I thought was necessary, and then proceeded. This may not have been my place.
Some of the problems that we are encountering in the beginning are because of the newness and original nature of this project. However it is my belief that some of the stress and problems can be avoided by developing a definite chain of command and then assigning the jobs to the involved parties.
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Creation of cyber school 1999
Justification of the project.
Study the research to find in this is an educationally sound project.
Target market
Is this project going to work with students presently in our system, adults who have not finished high school and cannot find the time to attend community college, upgraders, home schoolers, bed ridden students, smaller community subject classes, out of country students, students willing to explore different methods of learning.
Not adults...mostly our school students
Target grade level
Explore the grade level that this type of education would be best utililzed at??
High school not adult
Target subjects
Which subject areas would be the best to use this method with???
All a full slat
Time line
What would be the projects begin date and suggested date for a cyber school upstart.
Second semester 1999/2000
Individual student costs
What would be the best method to ensure the students have the correct technology and software for the courses.
Yes
Board of Education guidelines
Check the boards criteria for funding to make sure the students involved in this project will recieve the same amount of funding as a normal student.
Project team members criteria
Who and what type of team will be need to fulfill this project
Tom area for computer people
Techno costs
Check with the people that know to determine the techno costs of the project.
Will have to do some research in this area
Type of Student
What is the learning style of the student that will be success at this type of project.
Check assessment
tools....parents commitment
Most of the teachers involved will not be full time.
Board will look after the board of educations guidelines
Start small think big
Christian education important aspect of project.
Not paper based correspondence type of system more interactive.
Delivery program how are we going to use the available technology
Promotion of the program.
Study the research to find in this is an educationally sound project.
Target market
Is this project going to work with students presently in our system, adults who have not finished high school and cannot find the time to attend community college, upgraders, home schoolers, bed ridden students, smaller community subject classes, out of country students, students willing to explore different methods of learning.
Not adults...mostly our school students
Target grade level
Explore the grade level that this type of education would be best utililzed at??
High school not adult
Target subjects
Which subject areas would be the best to use this method with???
All a full slat
Time line
What would be the projects begin date and suggested date for a cyber school upstart.
Second semester 1999/2000
Individual student costs
What would be the best method to ensure the students have the correct technology and software for the courses.
Yes
Board of Education guidelines
Check the boards criteria for funding to make sure the students involved in this project will recieve the same amount of funding as a normal student.
Project team members criteria
Who and what type of team will be need to fulfill this project
Tom area for computer people
Techno costs
Check with the people that know to determine the techno costs of the project.
Will have to do some research in this area
Type of Student
What is the learning style of the student that will be success at this type of project.
Check assessment
tools....parents commitment
Most of the teachers involved will not be full time.
Board will look after the board of educations guidelines
Start small think big
Christian education important aspect of project.
Not paper based correspondence type of system more interactive.
Delivery program how are we going to use the available technology
Promotion of the program.
Using Teaching Strategies
White and weight (2000) state the important elements of online education are" interaction, feedback, learner control, access to directions, help, consistency and organization, assessment and recordkeeping". (p. 1) The environment that I spend most of my working day in is the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. As the administrator my role is to educate the teacher on how to best develop and teach high school courses online.
In my attempt to achieve this goal I have developed a teaching strategy that is referred to as Continuous Improvement Framework. This framework is a series of one month tasks which suggest to the teachers of the cyber school methods of making their courses stronger. During the first year of the framework all tasks were developed and posted by the myself. The second year the teaching staff in teams developed the monthly CIFs. Each of the Cif's attempted to improve on of the important elements that are stated in the first sentence of this discussion.
The method of sharing the CIF steps and information was via a simple website. Each month's task was posted at the beginning of the month and then the expectation was that it would be completed by the end of the month. In the first year it was a difficult task to get the teachers to understand the importance of the CIF and some teachers began to fall behind in the tasks. To resolved this it was decided that a smiley icon would be given for each task that was completed. It was interesting how a adult teachers were so motivated by a simple html chart with icon. As the task master, I started to receive emails like " I finished my CIF two days ago where is my smiley".
Another interesting deduction that was made by the teachers was that for some of them this was the first online "task" they had ever done. Since many of them have never taken an online course. Many of the things that were irritating them about their online student they showed themselves, such as not reading instruction, not getting the task done on time, wondering about the speed of the smiley assessment.
The CIF website can be seen at: Http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/cif/cif.htm
The use of the CIF allowed me to emphasize the need to create courses for students which use techniques to make the courses consider the student's individual differences in learning. To clarify, I will approach it from a single course view and the two elements that I have chosen are available in all of our cyber school courses. The two elements in the cyber courses which allow the teachers to successfully use specific teaching strategies are the communication tools and the grade book. The single most important teaching strategy in cyber courses is quick response time to questions and grades. As confirmed by White and Weight (2000) who state the important elements of online education are" interaction, feedback, learner control, access to directions, help, consistency and organization, assessment and recordkeeping". (p. 1)
The four communication tools available in our learning management system are chat, discussion board, whiteboard and course mail. These are the tools that allow an instructor to build a relationship with their students. By responding quickly to any and all questions the student feels that there is someone accompanying them on their educational journey. This relationship will make them more willing to ask questions and hence limit frustration. Online courses can be viewed as too individualistic and students can feel like they are all alone. However, the communication tools will allow the instructor and peer tutors to assist in relieving this feeling. The peer tutor program is made up of past successful students who are available within the communication areas to answer non-course content questions.
The grade book and the computer marked quizzes are both responsible for quick responses to the assessment of the students. These two tools utilize the computer's ability to display and compute results. Although very labor intensive to set up, they are an aspect of a learning management system which is appreciated by both student and teacher. The students enjoy that quizzes can be marked immediately if they are multiple-choice, true and false, matching, or short answer. The grade book allows students to always be aware of their progress in a course and what they need to do. The teachers enjoy both tools because they free them up to teach and communicate with their students. They like the quiz tool because it relieves some of the busy work by doing the marking and the grade book with its formulas can calculate the student's progress for them.
White, K. W., & Weight, B. H. (2000). The Online Teaching Guide: A Handbook of Attitudes, Strategies, and Techniques for Virtual Classroom. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon.
In my attempt to achieve this goal I have developed a teaching strategy that is referred to as Continuous Improvement Framework. This framework is a series of one month tasks which suggest to the teachers of the cyber school methods of making their courses stronger. During the first year of the framework all tasks were developed and posted by the myself. The second year the teaching staff in teams developed the monthly CIFs. Each of the Cif's attempted to improve on of the important elements that are stated in the first sentence of this discussion.
The method of sharing the CIF steps and information was via a simple website. Each month's task was posted at the beginning of the month and then the expectation was that it would be completed by the end of the month. In the first year it was a difficult task to get the teachers to understand the importance of the CIF and some teachers began to fall behind in the tasks. To resolved this it was decided that a smiley icon would be given for each task that was completed. It was interesting how a adult teachers were so motivated by a simple html chart with icon. As the task master, I started to receive emails like " I finished my CIF two days ago where is my smiley".
Another interesting deduction that was made by the teachers was that for some of them this was the first online "task" they had ever done. Since many of them have never taken an online course. Many of the things that were irritating them about their online student they showed themselves, such as not reading instruction, not getting the task done on time, wondering about the speed of the smiley assessment.
The CIF website can be seen at: Http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/cif/cif.htm
The use of the CIF allowed me to emphasize the need to create courses for students which use techniques to make the courses consider the student's individual differences in learning. To clarify, I will approach it from a single course view and the two elements that I have chosen are available in all of our cyber school courses. The two elements in the cyber courses which allow the teachers to successfully use specific teaching strategies are the communication tools and the grade book. The single most important teaching strategy in cyber courses is quick response time to questions and grades. As confirmed by White and Weight (2000) who state the important elements of online education are" interaction, feedback, learner control, access to directions, help, consistency and organization, assessment and recordkeeping". (p. 1)
The four communication tools available in our learning management system are chat, discussion board, whiteboard and course mail. These are the tools that allow an instructor to build a relationship with their students. By responding quickly to any and all questions the student feels that there is someone accompanying them on their educational journey. This relationship will make them more willing to ask questions and hence limit frustration. Online courses can be viewed as too individualistic and students can feel like they are all alone. However, the communication tools will allow the instructor and peer tutors to assist in relieving this feeling. The peer tutor program is made up of past successful students who are available within the communication areas to answer non-course content questions.
The grade book and the computer marked quizzes are both responsible for quick responses to the assessment of the students. These two tools utilize the computer's ability to display and compute results. Although very labor intensive to set up, they are an aspect of a learning management system which is appreciated by both student and teacher. The students enjoy that quizzes can be marked immediately if they are multiple-choice, true and false, matching, or short answer. The grade book allows students to always be aware of their progress in a course and what they need to do. The teachers enjoy both tools because they free them up to teach and communicate with their students. They like the quiz tool because it relieves some of the busy work by doing the marking and the grade book with its formulas can calculate the student's progress for them.
White, K. W., & Weight, B. H. (2000). The Online Teaching Guide: A Handbook of Attitudes, Strategies, and Techniques for Virtual Classroom. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Learning style reflection
The biggest issue I have with all the different tests and methods of determining your learning styles is that they tend to try to make it too black and white. Perceptual Modalities examines how one takes in information through your senses, Multiple Intelligences with its seven modalities, Mind styles with its four basic learning styles, Learning Styles Indicator with its four types and Myer Briggs' sixteen personality styles all try to pinpoint one's learning styles. Until 2000 I was not aware of my learning styles, yet I still completed high school and three degrees. My study of learning styles confirmed what I already knew on a gut level. After teaching for eighteen years, it had become very evident to me that no matter what method I used to teach a subject, there were a handful of students that would need me to adapt the lesson before they would get it. As my experience in teaching improved, I noticed that I tended to use a larger range of lesson styles hence making me a better teacher. My pride made me think that what was missing was not a learning style or a lesson style but a student's maturity in being able to learn in a multitude of styles. The best students are the ones who have learned to learn no matter what their learning or lesson style. Felder (2008) states "To overcome these problems, professors should strive for a balance of instructional methods (as opposed to trying to teach each student exclusively according to his or her preferences.) If the balance is achieved, all students will be taught partly in a manner they prefer, which leads to an increased comfort level and willingness to learn, and partly in a less preferred manner, which provides practice and feedback in ways of thinking and solving problems which they may not initially be comfortable with but which they will have to use to be fully effective professionals." However for two hundred years the educational system has not changed to meet the students' needs. The students have been forced to change to meet the system. From a personal point of view, my first three degrees which were done via the traditional lecture style university class did not even come close to the best way for me to learn. Since distance learning and my master's degree I have found a system which better fits my learning style.
Felder, R. (2008, November 13). Learning Styles. Retrieved February 08, 2009, from Resources in Science and Engineering Education: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html
Felder, R. (2008, November 13). Learning Styles. Retrieved February 08, 2009, from Resources in Science and Engineering Education: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)