My Emerging Info Pro Course…
My new position has been to say the least, quite challenging. The high school has been quite a change for me since my many years with elementary students (move from a half hour lesson to a full hour, for example). My Information Processing 9 course has been a great part of that challenge.
Since my involvement in Alec Couros’ EC&I 831 course, I decided to move away from a more traditional lecture/ optional CMS course delivery system with the traditional view of “type, type” to one that includes issues and topics in today’s digital world. I do not have a blackboard/whiteboard. I have a projector in the lab with my laptop/ Sunray. I have set up a course wiki and I have just set up a school blog passcode with Blogmeister. I have learned not to trust streaming with video..download and play the video in flash…
As we move through topics, I ask the students to explain to me what they have just learned, then I type the content in the wiki..hopefully soon each one can come up and edit it themselves. Most of the time they phrase the lesson objectives better than I can! Sure the typing/document formatting/spreadsheet work will still be there, but it will certainly be a different experience in Google Docs (I hope). I am also looking forward to blogging on issues such as Digital Citizenship and Media Awareness and working with Web 2.0 tools (like Mind42)
It’s not perfect, but it’s my first run at it. Please check it out… Comments are certainly welcome.
Open, editable, transparent … gotta love it. It looks like you are doing some really neat things here, and I’d sure like to hear what your students think about it as they go through the experience.
Thanks for pushing along your ideas into action. I look forward to seeing where this goes.
Cheers.
Hello,
I enjoy your blog. I have something to offer you but unfortunately I can’t find your e-mail. Contact me, please. Wait for your reply.
I am very intrigued by wikis. In your situation, it sounds so beneficial. It really gives the students more responsibility for their own learning. I also agree that students can so often word things better than we, the teachers, can! Providing them with the opportunity is key!
Impressive. I have been working on setting up a similar type of classroom. Where the students can solve problems together and post using blogs and wikis. It has been frustrating but I have already learned so much. Do you find that they are more enthusiastic about their learning?
I have found that the online approach, especially with the abundance of video and the opportunities to share their experiences has made for some great classes! I also need to add that I have found the amount of work I have needed to do to maintain the class (considering this is all new to me!) to be quite minimal! There are so may applications on the wiki, online tools, etc. that just make those everyday jobs so much easier. My answer to most of their enquiries is “Check the WIKI!”