"Teasing" Folks Into Online/Blended Learning

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Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1097] Re: "teasing" folks into online blended learning
From: Holly Dilatush-Guthrie Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us
Date: Mon May 14 16:32:41 EDT 2007

Thought/Idea?: Many PD opportunities (if not most) conclude with some sort of evaluation -- and often the style/format of those evaluations are similar/repeated -- perhaps the evaluation portion of direct, face-to-face PD opportunities could (fairly easily) be online and planned during the last half hour of an event, with registration onto online component a required task during the break/lunch/etc and then the RE-entering of the site (good practice, and we all know repetition helps!) to complete the evaluation could be the final task of the day.

This would help ensure that participants left their correct emails, provide a database of contact info of confirmed participants, give a 'teaser' of what an online experience could be -- and provide evaluation.

A very simple Moodle could be set up -- with the evaluation including a link to a survey AND a question or two on an interactive discussion --

and with minimal adjustment -- it could be used again and again -- setting up new groups on the same Moodle or (easily) copying the outline/framework of one course to another new Moodle.

Has anyone tried anything similar? What do you think? FYI, this idea came to me while reading posts today -- it is not a well-thought out idea -- does it have promise?
Holly

"No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides."
Holly Dilatush
ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
Charlottesville VA 22903
(434) 245.2815 office
(434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
http://theHsmile.org ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management systems/virtual classrooms)]
http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org
"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and nurture in nature."

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1120] Re: "teasing" folks into online blended learning
From: missy slaathaug missythird at gmail.com
Date: Tue May 15 15:07:39 EDT 2007

I think this is a very cool idea, Holly. When I tried to start up a blog for ESL teachers here in SD, it limped along and then finally expired. A few teachers complained that they didn't know how/couldn't figure out how to sign up and post comments. Many never even tried. We should have introduced it at a F2F session, and then required everyone to sign up and practice posting. Your idea sounds very intriguing, even if it isn't fleshed out yet. . .

Missy Slaathaug
Pierre, SD

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1125] Re: "teasing" folks into online blended learning
From: Leslie Petty lpetty at twmi.rr.com
Date: Tue May 15 17:29:06 EDT 2007

Missy,
We've had good success using a similar approach with the introductory course we offer at Project IDEAL. We use the FTF intro session to get all of the course participants familiar with the online platform. One of the things we do is practice at using the discussion, with everyone practicing posting comments. We also talk about how the goal is to have the online discussion mirror a FTF discussion, and get people thinking about what that might entail. Some people take to it very quickly, but for others it remains a more challenging task.

Leslie

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1130] Re: "teasing" folks into online blended learning
From: Aiden Yeh aidenyeh at yahoo.com
Date: Tue May 15 23:01:21 EDT 2007

Hello Missy,

Meeting the teachers/students f2f and laying out the guidelines and the how to's is a crucial step in making sure that everyone gets involved and understands how things work.

In my case, I would also prepare a visual step-by-step instruction i.e. how to create an account in Blogger, how to post comments, etc. Visuals make it easier to accomplish a task. To do this, I would take a screenshot (on your keyboard, click CTRL + PRT SC [control + print screen] ), and save it as .jpeg and upload it on Bubbleshare (or any photosharing website). You could add an audio recording or text to match the visual. I'd repeat this process until I finished all the steps.

Bubbleshare: http://bubbleshare.com/

Here's an example, I used this in my World Englishes class last semester, http://multienglishes.blogspot.com/2006/09/welcome.html

I hope this helps.

Aiden Yeh

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1146] Re: "teasing" folks into online blended learning
From: Barbara Dieu beeonline at gmail.com
Date: Wed May 16 12:31:06 EDT 2007

For teachers who attend sessions or workshops online and also with my high school students, whom I meet in class but who are also learning how to use the different Web 2.0 tools, I have a number of screencasts and tutorials I put on a wiki page in case they need to recap later on at home. You will notice that most of these tutorials are not mine - they have been made by other educators around the world, so no need to reinvent the wheel - it is just a matter of finding them online.
See:
http://openwebpublishing.wikispaces.com/FAQ2

Some time ago, I made a little booklet online for teachers to learn how to use blogs but it must be outdated by now as Blogger has changed its dashboard since then. You can always have a look at how it was done:
http://beewebhead.net/blog04/
Aiden has done the same with Bubbleshare.

I find wikis easier to blogs for posting tutorials and links as other teachers can add to your resource list. I use blogs mostly for comments. It is important for learners to document their learning journey on blogs and have other people read and comment on it.
Examples:
Teachers:
http://lainemarsh.wordpress.com/
http://namckeand.wordpress.com/

EFL High School Students:
http://klara22.wordpress.com/evaluation-06/
http://maela08.wordpress.com/evaluation-2006/

I also find it useful to have a list of technical benchmarks covering what should have been completed after a certain time so they can check before being evaluated.
Example:
http://lycee.wikispaces.com/2nde1

Warm regards from Brazil,
Bee


-- Barbara Dieu
http://dekita.org
http://beewebhead.net

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1150] Re: "teasing" folks into online blended learning
From: Leslie Petty lpetty at twmi.rr.com
Date: Wed May 16 14:07:40 EDT 2007

Bee,
Thanks for a great set of resource. A lot of these were new and are quite useful. I also like your thoughts on when you prefer to use a wiki or a blog.

Leslie

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