CEDo 555 - Professional Portfolio Session 1

Our school district does not use professional profolios as this time, however, after my performance evaluation I was asked to put together a document simular to a portfolio. I am planning on utilizing what we are learning in this class to put my eportfolio together and using it for administration in my district. This could be a good example to them what can be accomplished and how it could benefit students as they proceed through school. I will be using Google Web and that is what I am promoting at work at this time. We are educating staff more on how Google docs can create a new way to work collaboratively for staff and students.

CEDo550 Week 6

The final week of class is here and WOW what a class this has been. I have learning much about the online learning not only the skills to educate students with online learning but also the laws and requirements.

My students are gaining 21st century skills by our school district taking on virtual school learning but doig an online pilot program for the 2011-12 academic year. The virtual class will be in classroom instruction but with technology learning.

I understand the Virtual Schools Legislation in Wisconsin and am concerned really about the law concerning the attendance issues. Students do not have to follow the laws completely...there are still expectations, but the students are not held to the standards as all other students.

During the module I was excited to learn about how to create an online class and use the tools to be successful.

CEDO 550 Week 2

This weeks work was so helpful to make me more comfortable with online learning and the tools to be used. Eluminate is a tool that we have used since the beginning of this Masters degree, however, with the tools learning and the breaking in groups has helped me feel more comfortable with online learning. I can see how breaking students into small groups helps people feel more comfortable. Online learning and facilitating can be intimidating because of the fear of what others think of something that you say, even though you cannot see them face-to-face, you are still speaking to individuals. The one good thing is online learning can also give that "shy" student the opportunity to speakout. I am getting more comfortable with this.

When implementing a new program of online learning, I am learning that there are many steps that must be thought through before the program goes into effect. Topics such as cost, who would benefit from online learning, educating facilitators to be successful, and having the technology to support the courses. Students must be motivated and disciplined in order for them to be successful and they will be missing the social aspect of having peers and students on-hand. If all these are taken into consideration, an online learning program could be extremely effective. I am excited about the new learning ways of the 21st century, I hope I am one of those successful facilitators one day.

CEDO550

First week of Online Facilitation and I am so excited about this class. The first session was learning tools that have always been in the vitual classroom but never shared with us what they all can do. Elluminate has so many options to facilitate. I am very happy to learn how we can use them as facilitators when the time comes. Breaking participates into small groups and interacting with eachother on assignments with the instructor jumping into help is a great way to have students learning with each other and get familiar with interacting with sharing screens.

All through the sessions I am more of a quiet student who doesn't jump in a lot, but now with this class I can tell I will be more comfortable with this type of learning. This is where I am hoping to take my career with online learning and facilitating...after all it is the learning style for the 21st century learning. Learning tools and dos and don'ts of elearning is going to be exciting!

CEdO540 Week 5

Well...this week has been filled with lots of reports. I would much rather continue writing reports and incorporating statistic graphs than sit and figure out problems which involved mean, median, etc. During my job I am continually researching data and I do enjoy this this portion of my job. Though a lot of work is involved and users need to understand the data they are looking at and/or comparing, it is interesting to learn how different websites show different statistics.

I am still fearful of the formulas involved. Thank goodness for Microsoft Excel, the program makes things so much easier when it come to compiling data, formulas, and graphs.

CEdO540 Week 3 Statistics/Surveys

I am enjoying this course because of the surveys. It pertains to so much of what we are working on in my position. It is so important to get information/feedback about how our school population. In order to achieve school improvement the community population is important. At work our current project is to assess individuals to see how our school improvement team can meet the needs of the school.

The part of this class I am struggling with is the statistics part of this. I understood during my undergrad but this one is throwing me for a loop. Watch out Bill, I will be tapping into your knowledge this week during group. I know I know it, but just to remember it is driving me crazy. Probably doesn't make sense stating it that way, but that is how I feel these numbers are making me feel...no sense. HELP!

Week 2, CEdO540 - Surveys

After researching the amount of programs that are offered for surveys, it is interesting to learn the difference between them. I am a bit familiar with SurveyMonkey because that is what our school district utilizes for many different types of surveys. They produce surveys to the community to find out what they are seeking from the district, performance evaluations for administrators, parent surveys for ways to have school improvement.

A new way of a survey so we can collect additional data, the district set up a Blog. It allows the team of our school improvement to evaluated comments made by individuals and allow for a collaboration time for community members, parents, students, and staff. It has created interesting information for the team to evaluate. Also having a Blog allows for vital information to be posted to the team so they know agendas, tasks that need to be completed prior to a meeting, etc. It has brought a new view to survey for me.

I look forward to venturing further into what surveys offer and how many more there are out in the cyberworld.