Saturday, February 22, 2014
Is it all worth it??? Yes!
Maintaining an online presence consistently, when not teaching online exclusively, is hard! Ever since I got my masters in online teaching and learning I have known this. While having the ability for my kids to access learning online is important and saves me (and them) a lot of grief it is also very time consuming. Recently a colleague of mine asked me how much time I spend outside school working on school, and I said I average 10 + hours a week at least and he asked what I was doing during those hours. Of course, most of the time is spent grading and planning, but 1 1/2 - 2 hours of that is also preparing my online presence. He was surprised by the amount of time I spent developing my online resources and wondered if it was worth it? As I thought about what my online content added to my classes and the time I spent preparing them I realized that it truly is worth the time put in! My kids have access to all the notes given in class, all of the assignments I hand out in class, links to important information and resources beyond what I teach in class, videos that we watch in class, a calendar detailing homework assignments for everyday of the school year, access to the gradebook and blogs. It takes me a lot of work each week to get this all up and going but when I think about the time this saves in the big picture its worth it! I don't have to print out extra homework assignments for kids if they are missing them, they can, I don't have to spend time reteaching notes, the kids can look them up themselves and review them at their own convenience. I don't have to provide books in class for research for long periods of time as resources are available online 24/7, and I don't have to spend a ton of time catching up kids if they are absent, the information is available to them the day they are out, they simply need to access it from home that evening to get caught up! The 2 hours I spend preparing this resource probably saves me 3-5 hours worth of grief weekly and probably saves my students time as well in the big picture. Again, it's not easy to maintain an online presence, its hard work! But the time it saves me in the big picture makes it worth it!
Friday, November 15, 2013
The Importance of Hub Maintainance and Technology in General!
I just got back on the job from a month off due to having back surgery! Although I had a great sub who did a great job covering my classes, my students really had a tough time keeping their stuff together and I am currently dealing with some of the worse grades, on average, I've ever had. At first I blamed it on the kids taking a month off while I was recovering, but now I really feel that it was my inability to keep them updated via my hub!
My kids (and parents, and administrators) have all gotten to rely on having the website for reference and support and I was not able to keep up on it during my recovery. There was no homework calendar, no weekly update, no links to the assignments on Google docs and no follow up with kids about whether or not their online assignments were received or not. While the last two weeks have been frustrating getting it all up and going again, and getting the kids caught up I have really had some time to reflect on how important this online endeavor really is!
While some people say that technology is dangerous and has a tendency to suck our kids in (which, admittedly, can be true and is a little scary at times), but it is also their reality and something that they have/are going to have to learn to rely on and it is our responsibility to develop and MAINTAIN a "hub" for them throughout the year. They make their lives, and ours, that much easier! They improve communication, give kids easy access to their work and resources, and keeps us from having to print and reprint worksheets and other assignments as our kids are absent or absent minded!
While I am tired from these last two weeks of catch up, I feel refreshed in knowing that I am doing what is best for kids! This technology thing is not going away and we are learning things through this course that will help our kids succeed now and in the future!
My kids (and parents, and administrators) have all gotten to rely on having the website for reference and support and I was not able to keep up on it during my recovery. There was no homework calendar, no weekly update, no links to the assignments on Google docs and no follow up with kids about whether or not their online assignments were received or not. While the last two weeks have been frustrating getting it all up and going again, and getting the kids caught up I have really had some time to reflect on how important this online endeavor really is!
While some people say that technology is dangerous and has a tendency to suck our kids in (which, admittedly, can be true and is a little scary at times), but it is also their reality and something that they have/are going to have to learn to rely on and it is our responsibility to develop and MAINTAIN a "hub" for them throughout the year. They make their lives, and ours, that much easier! They improve communication, give kids easy access to their work and resources, and keeps us from having to print and reprint worksheets and other assignments as our kids are absent or absent minded!
While I am tired from these last two weeks of catch up, I feel refreshed in knowing that I am doing what is best for kids! This technology thing is not going away and we are learning things through this course that will help our kids succeed now and in the future!
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Kicking off my Inspired Learning experience
Hi,
To begin with I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Eric Andrews. I am a middle school science teacher at GMS in Littleton. This is my second year at Goddard, but my 10th year in teaching, with 8 years in Cherry Creek School district. I have my BA in Biology with a minor in Education through MSCD, and my MA in information and learning from UCD. The title of my masters degree does not really give anyone an idea about what my area of specialty is, so I usually tell them that I have my masters in online learning and can make a really good online learning environment to either completely teach my classes online, or simply to provide a great learning environment for additional support for my students.
That said, I am really excited about taking this course, not because I am struggling to figure out how to approach learning with an emphasis on 21st century skills, but rather to bring my background and approach to my online endeavors more in line with the protocol of the district. In the years after completing my MA I had access to a LMS (Learning Management System) called Moodle that I used as my HUB in CCSD. For me it was the perfect platform as it had all of the tools I felt I needed to support my classes. Once I moved over to LPS that was a resource that was no longer available to me so I took a year off of having such a large presence online (which worked out because I was so busy in the new school/district that I would not have had the kind of time I needed to make the online site worth while for the kids:). Now, with year 2 kicking off, I am ready to, again, create and maintain a positive online presence. I have met with Dana to get some pointers about how I could build my HUB in Google sites, and have begun developing my own version of a LMS for my students. This class is going to help me continue to develop that site and enhance it so my students can again have access to as much support as possible to make their year in my science classroom successful.
In the first 3 weeks of school I have developed a very user friendly HUB that the students are beginning to utilize, their parents are visiting and commenting on, and I am feeling confident in. I am excited to see the resources that will be shared with us as the year goes on and to develop an even more helpful online learning environment for my students!
To begin with I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Eric Andrews. I am a middle school science teacher at GMS in Littleton. This is my second year at Goddard, but my 10th year in teaching, with 8 years in Cherry Creek School district. I have my BA in Biology with a minor in Education through MSCD, and my MA in information and learning from UCD. The title of my masters degree does not really give anyone an idea about what my area of specialty is, so I usually tell them that I have my masters in online learning and can make a really good online learning environment to either completely teach my classes online, or simply to provide a great learning environment for additional support for my students.
That said, I am really excited about taking this course, not because I am struggling to figure out how to approach learning with an emphasis on 21st century skills, but rather to bring my background and approach to my online endeavors more in line with the protocol of the district. In the years after completing my MA I had access to a LMS (Learning Management System) called Moodle that I used as my HUB in CCSD. For me it was the perfect platform as it had all of the tools I felt I needed to support my classes. Once I moved over to LPS that was a resource that was no longer available to me so I took a year off of having such a large presence online (which worked out because I was so busy in the new school/district that I would not have had the kind of time I needed to make the online site worth while for the kids:). Now, with year 2 kicking off, I am ready to, again, create and maintain a positive online presence. I have met with Dana to get some pointers about how I could build my HUB in Google sites, and have begun developing my own version of a LMS for my students. This class is going to help me continue to develop that site and enhance it so my students can again have access to as much support as possible to make their year in my science classroom successful.
In the first 3 weeks of school I have developed a very user friendly HUB that the students are beginning to utilize, their parents are visiting and commenting on, and I am feeling confident in. I am excited to see the resources that will be shared with us as the year goes on and to develop an even more helpful online learning environment for my students!
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