Given the details of this case study, I do believe that Lenora’s best choice would be to create her own website. Although Lenora has not created her own website before, there are now quite a number of user friendly web design sites such as weebly.com that would meet her needs and would not require her to actually know anything about programming or coding ‘behind the scenes.’ If she has access to the internet (even dial-up), then she also has access to countless self-help sites that have both written and video tutorials that can be used to walk novice website creators, such as Lenora, through the basic platform features. She may also be able to receive support from colleagues who have experience in this area. Her unfamiliarity should not deter her from trying to create a website of her own.

If Lenora’s intention is to create this website as a professional development anti-bullying resource for band teachers, then she needs to select a means of delivering this professional development content that will be timely and far reaching; a website would enable her to meet both of these criteria. One of the incredibly valuable aspects of using a website to deliver her content is that if managed well, the information shared can be kept completely up to date and thus, very relevant for practicing teachers. If Lenora were to pursue a delivery method such as a video/DVD option for her professional development plans, her information could quickly become out of date and be both costly and time consuming to update. Although the website will initially take her quite some time to establish, once completed, it can be maintained and kept up to date without putting too many time constraints on Lenora. Continue reading →

How should Benoit Decide Which Platform to use?

The first step that Benoit needs to take when deciding whether to design his Business Writing course using moodle or Blackboard Learn is to evaluate these two options using a framework such as Bates and Poole’s SECTIONS framework. Designing an online course is quite an undertaking and he would want to be sure that the platform that he selects meets his needs as the course designer, possibly as the course instructor, as well as meeting the needs of the students enrolled in the course. Being a sessional instructor in the English department at the university should give Benoit some insight into what the potential students in the course may look like. Ease of use and the reliability of the e-learning delivery system must be considered as again, this is a critical factor for both the students and the creators/facilitators. The ‘C’ (cost) portion of the framework does not really need to be considered as the university has already made the decision to make Blackboard Learn its official LMS and moodle, being a free software e-learning platform, would not deter Benoit from selecting this platform over Blackboard Learn due to the cost factor. The ‘T’ and ‘I’ sections of the framework would require Benoit to take a very close look at the teaching and learning goals, the overall instructional approach that he would like to take with the course, as well as what level of interaction the technologies enable. After doing some additional reading about these two platforms, I concluded that they seem to offer many of the same affordances and features such as a personalized dashboard, collaborative tools and activities, calendar applications, and notifications and alerts for students, while providing teachers with the ability to embed external resources, incorporate multi-media elements, and create and grade assessments, just to name a few of the common features. When evaluating the novelty of the software, Benoit will need to look at the ‘track record’ of the two platforms before making his decision. He may be able to get some specific feedback in this regard from students and colleagues that have used these platforms in the past. The final ‘S’ (speed) in the framework will be completely dependent upon Benoit himself. Regardless of which of the two platforms he selects, this will be his first experience creating an online course and he will need to invest quite a bit of time creating and maintaining the course.

An Important Question?

One important question that I think Benoit needs to ask himself is how much time can he realistically dedicate to creating a well thought out, interactive and effective online course with sound pedagogy at its foundation while also fulfilling his current teaching duties? Being that this is an entirely new professional endeavour for Benoit, he will not only need to invest time in learning the software platform he selects, but also in revamping his face-to-face course to create an engaging and successful online learning experience. This is not as simple as copying and pasting his lecture slides and handouts into an e-learning environment. Benoit will need to redesign his lessons to suit this new delivery system and engage the students in a way that draws them into a community of learning. If Benoit bites off more than he can chew so to speak, and ends up rushing the course design he will not be able to produce an effective end product. The case study indicated that Benoit has a teaching load during the time frame in which he will be expected to be creating the online course, so balancing his time and not compromising either his face-to-face classes or the quality of the e-learning course that he creates, will be critical. Continue reading →

I have examined the SECTIONS framework in some of my other course work and upon revisiting the framework again now, the ‘S for students’ portion of the model continues to be one of the most critical aspects to me personally. When I am considering implementing a new learning technology in my own classroom, this element of the model is most often at the forefront of my thinking.

As educators, we all understand how important it is to know our learners as well as we possibly can. We need to find their frustration, instructional and independent working levels as early on in the school year as possible in order to shape our instruction to best meet the needs of our learners. The classrooms of today are comprised of students with very diverse needs. It is in fact this diversity that is pushing me to include technology more and more in my classroom, as a means to individualize my instruction.
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After reviewing the ISTE standards for teachers, if I had to give myself a report card on the five skill categories I would do well in some, but would be ‘in need of improvement’ in a number of areas as well. In all honesty, I feel that many of my weaknesses stem from a lack of opportunity in regard to time, funding, and the limited technology that I have consistent access to in the educational setting in which I teach. Here are some of my thoughts after some personal reflection on where I would rate myself in regard to these standards:

#5 Engage in professional growth and leadership: I am starting with this skill area, as I feel that this is a relative strength for me. I am always on the lookout for technology related professional development opportunities and obviously I am working toward a Masters in the area of educational technology. Our school district practices a ‘train the trainer’ approach when new resources are being introduced to schools and I am one of two staff members that regularly attends these training sessions. We then return to our own school and help train (or ‘facilitate’) our colleagues in learning how to use the new resources. We are also readily available to any and all staff for troubleshooting support thereafter. Although it was a number of years ago, when Smartboards were first being introduced in our school and district, I was one of the first teachers in my own school to receive the equipment and take on the role of learning how to utilize this resource to enhance my teaching. To help myself as much as others, I developed a ‘basics’ tutorial within Smartnotebook and delivered workshops to my own staff. I also provided them with a digital copy of my tutorial so that they could use it as much as they needed to in order to be comfortable and confident using this new tool. I also presented a few larger workshops of the same nature to staffs that were getting Smartboards in the near future. I do still currently support my own staff with any troubleshooting needs with their Smartboards and projectors. I have a great deal of interest and enthusiasm in learning as much as I can about using the technology that I do have access to and I am always sharing my newfound knowledge with my colleagues to help them take advantage of the learning tools too.
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