Dorothy DeGroot Visits With Us Regarding Moodle

We were lucky on a day with icky roads to have Dorothy DeGroot from Prairie Lakes AEA join us. She walked us through setting up a class on Moodle. Although we have the newest version and she works with an older version, it was very helpful. Our group was able to discuss some things that we believe should be similar in each of our classes including:

• Shell - Look and feel of the class
• Introduction to the Moodle Atmosphere
• Discussion Forum rubric (which we will begin working on)

Having the time to discuss these things and bounce ideas off of Dorothy was great.


Follow Dorothy on Twitter: @dedgroot1

Dr. Scott McLeod's Visit

One word explains the conversation with Dr. McLeod: AWESOME!

Many things to think about after we ended our conversation:

1. If you can be replaced by a machine, you will be.
2. Do what you do best and link to the rest.
3. Interactions and dialogue needs to be authentic in online learning.
4. 1st tutorial that is given to our kids taking the online class should be about Successful Online Learning
5. In a one-to-one environment: Devices should be productive NOT consumption devices
6. 40% of school districts in Iowa are 1:1
7. Start with questions not answers
8. Define what online learning looks like here at ELC!

Dr. McLeod also put some resources on his website, Dangerously Irrelevant.
Click here to access them!

What did you learn from Dr. McLeod? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

25 Marvelous Ways to Moodle

Today I was available to attend a Free webinar hosted by www.pdtechu.sqooltechs.com. Dr. Diana Dell was the presenter. She is an educational technology consultant.

Her topic was ways to use Moodle! Since this is the platform we will be using for our online classes next year I thought it would be good to see other ways to use it! It was awesome! Here are the 25 ways:

Forums

1. Role Play
2. Book Clubs/Literature cirlces
3. Sub-Hub
4. All About Me
5. D.O.L.
6. Project similar to "Flat Stanley" to use during breaks
7. Enable Students to Rate Posts

Chat
When using paper only the teacher is able to see the information. When using Chat the WHOLE class can learn from eachother! Students can learn more this way!

1. Collaborative TV Watching
2. Create a back channel during lectures
3. Collaborative Note Taking
4. Chat with professionals
5. Student-generated study guide
6. Live chat a book or movie
7. Create a progressive poem or story
8. Summarize a lesson
9. Vocabulary building
10. Foreign Language Learning

Searchable Glossary
When comments are enabled, discussions can take place. It is okay for the teacher to be a co-learner! The glossaries are searchable! Can be a great source of review for students.

1. Getting to Know You Activity
2. Collection of Websites
3. Book Reviews
4. Publish Research Projects
5. Collaborative Chapter Summaries
6. Language Learning
7. Virtual Zoo
8. Favorite Poems Collection/Poem Showcase

If you have any questions on these, let me know! this is just the basics of my notes taken during the webinar.

You can follow Dr. Diana Dell at @dianadell.

Dr. Scott McLeod

We are very excited that Dr. Scott McLeod will be joining us on Wednesday, January 16 for professional development.

You can follow him on Twitter @mcleod.

I absolutely love his blog: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/

We are looking forward to Dr. McLeod's expertise that he will bring!

Estherville Daily News Article & Editorial

Below are two links from the Estherville Daily News concerning our online learning requirement.

1. News Story
2. Editorial

Meeting #4

Today we are working on updating our course descriptions for our online opportunities. We are also beginning the process of laying out our online classrooms. A couple of questions we are pondering:

1. How will our units be laid out?
2. What resources can we incoporate into our online classroom?

Meeting #3 with Theresa Zeigler

Today we met with Theresa Zeigler from Iowa Lakes Community College. She is the Director of Distance and Global Education. From our questions posted on Meeting #2 post, here are some of the answers:

1. What is the policy for technical issues that may arise and affect students? Through the college they do not have many technical issues and we are hoping we do not either. There is a Help Desk that the students can use if they run into technical difficulties. We will be in a proctor situation the majority of the time when students are working on their class and hopefully will be able to answer the questions as they arise.
2. What policies do you have for online coursework? Theresa emailed us the Ethics Statement that the college uses. We will need to come up with a statement. She suggested that we quiz over this information early in the course to make sure the students read the material and do not just agree to it.
3. Do they cap classes? 28 students per section of a course. Teachers can teach up to 22 credits as a full time instructor. I think we sit good at what we plan to offer.

Theresa brought much more than just answers to our questions. She is very knowledgeable in this area and we will be in constant communication with her over this process.

Some good websites she brought to our attention:

• HippoCampus
• TBR Mobile Apps
• Iowa CC Online Resources
• Students - Is Online Learning for You?  

Other good tips Theresa shared online learning:

• Start with a Meet & Greet Discussion Thread
• Limit videos to 3-5 minute segments otherwise students will tune out
• Set up the class unit by unit
• Student Ethic Statement

It was a powerful day with a lot more thinking and learning ahead of us! I am very excited about the opportunities this will lend to our students!