Online Learning...Ready, Set, Go!

Last night was our first webinar for the Masters in Educational Media and Technology program. Today I sent a few e-mails to fellow classmates. They are a fairly diverse group - not all educators. I am still waiting for some of the items (like a video camera) to arrive that were part of our tech package. I can't get my iChat to work. I may have to break down and call support tomorrow, but I was trying to solve the problem myself.

The masters program looks well-planned and very in-depth. I am wondering what I will be able to do with it when I'm done. This year I plan to try out things in my classroom. I think I will especially focus on returning to Moodle and using that as a tool. Our biggest problem with Moodle was getting everyone enrolled. No matter how much effort we put into it, we always have some students whose attempts to set up an account fail. They do things correctly, but the process breaks down. We've had some students create extra e-mail accounts to try to get their Moodle account set up, but even that doesn't always work. I think I will have to contact the ISD and prepare for possible problems ahead of time.

Also, this year we will be teaching classes as 6-week sections. I like that for several reasons, but it will require a complete restructuring of my classes, rethinking how to use projects and research with direct teach opportunities. And I have a few as-yet-to-be-named classes. I have no idea what they will be or what access I will have to computers for them. I probably won't find out until August, right before we go back to school.

Still, if I incorporate the things I learn through Full Sail University's program in even half of my classes, it will be a good thing.  It will be a great chance to try some things out and see what works best.

Social Media in the Classroom

I watched this really interesting video recently as part of a webinar I attended. I'd like to share it with you.



If you go to  http://socialnomics.net/2010/05/05/social-media-revolution-2-refresh/ you can watch the video and read a script, which I found useful since it contains all of the statistical information mentioned in the video.

Let me know what you think.