Pedagogy First!

Introduction: Jose Lopez Mercedes

Greetings! My name is Jose Lopez Mercedes, and I teach Non-Credit ESL and Vocational ESL at the CLC. I have not taught an online class, but I have incorporated blogs such as Ning and wikis into my courses. However, I have taken a couple of online courses during my grad school and for professional development.

On-line videos, such as YouTube, are becoming a commonly used teaching tool. For example, www.eslvideo.com is a free website where instructors can easily and quickly build quizzes from YouTube, Bip.tv, TeacherTube, or other video-hosting website and add them to their own website or blog.  Creating a quiz video is just a few clicks away. For step-by-step instructions on how to create a quiz video go to: http://www.eslvideo.com/create_quiz_tour.php.

Also, there are many quiz videos in the website’s library already made for ESL instructors, and they are arranged by skill levels, film, trailer, music videos, film and TV, listening and comprehension, grammar, and TV commercials. In addition, the site allows teachers to track students’ quiz scores by simply filing out the “Join a Class” form. Visit this link to see the tutorial http://www.eslvideo.com/manage_classes_scores.php.

I’m really excited to be part of the Online Teaching Certificate and I am looking forward to learn from all of you.

Ciao!

Hello. I am Andrea Petri and I teach Italian (well, you may have already guessed that…). I am very excited to start this journey. I definitely feel that when using the internet, a good guide is necessary. Therefore, I am looking forward to all the weekly assignments in order to discover as much as possible, without loosing my mind!

I have been experimeting some tools in my on-ground classes. I started with a blog (from Blogger), but I switched very soon to a Ning Social Network: In-Italia. I started incorporating Blogs and Social Networks in my on-ground classes mainly because my idea is that technology nowadays is part of basic skills. I have been using Ning for a couple of semesters and I think it is great when it is running, but I have encountered some problems when people want to sign up. I will probably use another social network next semester, and therefore I am investigating some alternatives.

I checked some educational blogs on the internet and I was impressed by the huge amount and variety of them. I really liked “I want to teach forever”, and I have it in my Google Reader.  I look forward to discovering more blogs and to working with all you.

And I should really be the last one to post for week one...(sorry Laura and Rick).

Where to begin? Lost in a sea of online goodies!

Hello, I teach HIPAA in the Medical Administrative Program (MAP) and I currently only teach online.  I am very excited to see what an online class can be.  I have assignments and course information posted but the student interaction and panache are sorely missing. 

I have taken a peak at a few of the online sites and boy, am I jealous!  I can't wait to get started with the various tools.  My first goal of the semester is to get the class discussion forums to be more intuitive and user friendly and allow for peer feedback as well as additional discussion.  My first attempt (yesterday) has not gone over very well, and I will be thankful if I can just get the next case study in a format that is user friendly and interactive.

Goal 1: Comprehensive Discussion Boards

Goal 2: Interactive/multimedia presentation of the material (I am a little envious of Jim's How to Post video with his picture in picture).

I look forward to an very educational (for me) semester!

2 Cents Worth

Hi, my name is Richard Ma.  Recently, in an internal department reorganization, I was reclassified from my previous position as Instruction & Outreach Librarian to Distance Education & Outreach (we hired a new Instruction Librarian--Steven Deineh).  The department recognized the need to continue to provide library services to our fourth campus--”CyberCoasta”--so we decided I would be a good fit for this liaison position.  I am ecstatic to have this opportunity to try to assist online and hybrid instructors with integrating and embedding library resources into their curriculum.  I am determined to get to know as many online instructors as possible, and what better place to survey the landscape than in the realm of POT?   I am especially ecstatic to be part of Cohort #3....so “hello” everybody.

One of the first things that jumped to mind when I was previewing some of the components of our Learning Pathway for this first semester is the similarity to the California School Library Association’s “Classroom Learning 2.0.”  I had participated in that learning experience when web 2.0 technologies were first coming on stage a few years back, especially at the K-12 sector. I had previously served for 12 years as a librarian and RDG/LA instructor at a middle school, so finding out about creating avatars, using Flickr, incorporating wikis into the learning process, etc...made a big difference in my being able to help students.  A noticeable distinction between POT and Classroom Learning 2.0 is that the former focuses more on pedagogy, which I believe to be the heart of any good training program.

My foray into online education started nearly a decade ago when I attended a conference and learned that a fledgling BlackBoard was giving K-12 instructors free but limited access accounts.  I jumped at the opportunity of using the OMS with a group of AVID students in a hybrid structure.  Fast forward a few years to when I began an online degree, and lo and behold, I was on the receiving end of BB.  Since then, I have taught using what was then WebCMS and the current iteration of BB.  I look forward to exploring other web-based course management systems, such as Moodle, and of course, I look forward to gaining as much as I can from this training program.  I am currently exploring and creating using Prezis coupled with Camtasia and would love to find a simpler method of producing content, especially for library resources and databases.  Here’s one sample on finding the source of an electronic article for APA citations:  <http://hub.miracosta.edu/library/LibGuides/Videos/DOI/doi.html > (Sorry about the narration.  I stink at it.)

One educational blog (library related) I occasionally view is “info-mational” by Char Booth. Char is quite active in the library community and works for UC Berkeley as their Distance Learning Librarian.  She is on the forefront of instructional technology and emphasizes the use of technology to enhance teaching, rather than the use of the tools because they are cool or because they are the latest fad.  Sometimes eclectic, her blogs are nevertheless introspective and touches a wide spectrum of issues.  One blog, dated May 7, 2010, ties a Slideshare presentation and a Prezi to introduce her new book, Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning:  Instructional Literacy for Library Educators.  It’s worth examining.

A recent Google search on the keywords “educational blogs” yielded 16 millions results, ranging from K-12 to the community college and university settings.  Examining several of the top hits showed a disparate landscape.  Some blogs were just too cluttered.  Other “educational” blogs interjected political statements.  Some included writings on personal family vacations.  But for the most part, most educational blogs shared good ideas and reflections. One I just discovered is “2¢ Worth: Teaching & Learning in the new information landscape…”  In addition to the content, I enjoyed the good use of white space (rather than the eye-distorting black background found on other sites).  The topics graph on top is useful since it shows the aggregate blogs per subject.  There are four categories for how the blogs are organized:  “most commented”; “recent comments”; “blogroll”; and “archives” which are organized monthly.  More importantly, the author has kept his blogs up to date.   An RSS feed and a search box are included, and the list of recommended books (with the book covers) is also a nice touch.

As we progress weekly, I would love to hear ideas on how to better integrate library services to MCC’s online community.  That’s going to be a point I’ll be hammering every time I blog.  LOL. I can be reached at 760.795.6851, rma@miracosta.edu, or please drop by my office (Room 1205) on the first floor of the OCN Library & Information Hub if you have an idea or if you just want to chat.  Thanks.

Continuing Cohort #2: Wordpress site for SEC class

Hi all!

I am in Cohort #2, so I’ll be applying what we did last semester to a class and helping out everyone along the way!

My application will consist of using a Wordpress blog with my History 103 class at San Elijo. I was one of the several MCC instructors who loved Ning, and that’s where I ran my 104 class last spring (I think you can still see it here http://104sec.ning.com/ -- maybe not after Sept 6).

I do not like paying for online services. I am a public employee at a public institition, and feel that companies should give back to the people by offering learning products freely to public school teachers, including myself. I also don’t want my sites to have ads on them.

Though I explored a number of options, none gelled this summer. I am still trying to archive my Ning using grou.ps, which was my first choice alternative. After weeks, that archive is still not complete -- I lost my Groups (kind of ironic, huh?) and could not reconstruct their activities (which upset me because I wanted to show them for my Peer Review evaluation this semester).

So this summer I set up my own Wordpress blog on a rented server, and immediately ran into trouble.  Allowing my pedagogy to lead, I wanted what I had in Ning: areas for groups to work, places for students to post their homework thesis, the ability for student groups to post images. I ended up having to find a good theme (Atahualpa) that had things that looked like tabs for posting theses, and plug-ins so they could add images and see a toolbar (even though, in this case, the toolbar is in Russian!).

The site is here: http://lisahistory.net/wphist103/ . The students have already successfully logged in (almost everyone) and posted (most of them) -- I have the post prompts for each week’s homework set to appear a few days before they’re supposed to post. I have also tied in one blog page to Engrade, where I keep the gradebook, so it’s my own little course management system.  I tend to try new things with an on-site class first, so that when things go wrong we can talk about it in class. So far so good.

Lisa

Introductions

Hello fellow Cohort 3 members from the land of sabbatical.  Sabbatical, wonderful, now what was it I was going to do?  As I re-read my approved proposal I wonder how am I going to accomplish all that I set out to do?  My name is Sue Simpson and I am a faculty member in the Nursing and Allied Health Department.  During my tenure at MiraCosta this department has grown and spread like the H1N1 virus.  We now proudly offer a full nursing career ladder that begins with the Certified Nursing Assistant and climbs to the top rung; the Associate in Science Registered Nursing Degree.  This sabbatical is allowing me to step out of the role of nursing instructor (sort of) and back into the hospital as a bedside nurse as well as developing materials for the on-line components of two of our RN classes.  Yup, a lot of work ahead.  When Jim first sent me the information about TypePad I played with it, created my own blog, publicly vowed to update it and........well never did.  Rather that blogging about my spectacular summer I posted photos on Face Book instead.  I will have to re-commit myself to my blog as I don't want to disappoint my 5 fans.  But, I'll get to that later.  Today I found myself deep deep in the world where blogs and nursing meet.  Exciting stuff out there.  I did find a very interesting clearing house  where a number blogs by nursing educators are listed. As you all know one blog posting leads to another to another and so on.  Eventually I ended up at Nurse Story where Teri Schmidt, experienced nurse practitioner, educator, and is currently finishing her PhD, talks about pod casting in the nursing education arena.  I think this is a blog I need to sign up for a RSS feed. Now all I have to do is read it!

A New Semester, A New Opportunity!

I teach in the Behavioral Sciences, and have offered online courses at MCC for the past four years.  So I'm still feel new to all this.  I've been fortunate to have many avenues available for professional development as an online instructor, including a recent sabbatical to explore topics of accessibility, multimedia, Creative Commons licensing, locating online instructional resources, and the instructor development and sharing of ebooks.

 
A screenshot of the ebook version of my Behavioral Statistics Workbook, hosted on Crocodoc.com.
 

This semester I will be including (for the first time) an ebook option for my students.  Importantly, there will be a designated 'online community ebook' that all students have access to, can read, and even add comments (to indicate questions they might have).  I or other students can then reply to the questions raised (directly within the community e-book), using either a text or video response.  Then anyone else reading through the online community ebook can see the questions raised by the class and the responses.  I can opt to be notified via e-mail whenever a student asks a questions about the text.  Why bother?  I am interested in reducing student costs... the e-book option for the students is free (students can either purchase the printed version from the bookstore, or have their own ebook version).  I also wish to make it easier for students to request help with the content in the course.  In my 'Ask A Question' discussion forum on Blackboard, most questions are about course format... even though it is clear students also need help with course content.  Thus making it easier for them to ask questions as they are studying (by posting their question directly within the online community ebook as they read) seems like a worthwhile direction to explore.  Note that students have the option to view their own comments only - or those of the whole class.  I look forward to reporting back on how this online community ebook experiment works. 

I would recommend two blogs.  Having attended Michelle Pacansky-Brock's @One's Building Online Community with Emerging Tools, I would recommend her blog MPB Reflections for those interested in recent developments in online education.  Having benefited many times from the insights shared, I'd recommend Lisa's (Online) Teaching Blog by our own Lisa M. Lane.

My appreciation to Jim Sullivan and Pilar Hernandez for working with Lisa Lane to make this Program for Online Teaching Certificate pathway available.  I am looking forward to journeying with everyone on this certificate path - which is great for the first time and the returning online instructor.  Having the opportunity to continue to learn from my colleages, which is at the heart of this certificate program, is a wonderful gift.  Looking forward to learning from everyone's posts!

Robert

Week 1: Here's To New Beginnings

Welcome to a new academic year on Pedagogy First. I am thrilled to be your tour guide again this year (for those of you who returning), and I look forward to reading the insights, ideas, and questions of our newest community members (yeah, yeah, let's have a shout out for Cohort #3!!).

Each week I will be posting a prompt with some reminders here at the top of the blog. All work in response to that post (and in response via comments to your fellow bloggers) is due by the following Wednesday. So for week one, the prompts are up by September 1 and you have until September 8 to respond to them.

Cohort #3: Joining Us for the First Time This Fall

(Along with weekly posts and comments, you will complete a mid-semester self-assessment and a summary post with links to all of your contributions to the blog at the end of the semester)

Week 1 Prompt: Introduction

• Read through the POT site & find out about the program.
• Introduce yourself to the community on the blog.
• Research and check out a few educational blogs on your own and share what you discover with our blog community.

 

Cohort #2: Began the Program in January 2010

(Along with weekly posts and comments, you will complete a mid-semester self-assessment and a summary post with links to all of your contributions to the blog at the end of the semester)

Your prompt will remain relatively consistent throughout the semester. Here is the language from your Cohort #2 page on the POT web site:

"The second semester consists of application to one online, on-site or hybrid class. Choose a class in which to implement some of the strategies you learned in the first semester. Participate weekly at the Pedagogy First! blog to (1) document your work and (2) help your colleagues."

Week 1 Prompt:

With this broad framework in mind, I recommend beginning your semester of contributions to this blog by identifying the course in which you plan on implementing the strategies you explored here last year. Tell us about the course and your big picture plans for applying your online teaching and learning ideas and pedagogies to the course.

In future posts, I will be asking you to keep us updated on how that process is going and to lend a hand offering advice, reactions, and feedback to our new community members from Cohort 3.

Thanks everyone. See you in the blogosphere!

Jim Sullivan

PS. For a helpful overview / review of the POT certification process, check out this video of Pilar's flex workshop.

 

 

Be Certifiable: POT's Online Teaching Certificate from Program for Online Teaching on Vimeo.

Hi!

Introductions!

 

Hello All,

My name is David McField, and I am a new psychology faculty.

I am comfortable with technology but I’m also influenced by the technology that was around me during my undergraduate years. For example, I was an “early adopter” of, and I am comfortable working on, websites and using email; however, I am part of the “late majority” in my adoption of blogs. While I have read a few blogs, I am not a blogger and (like a few of you) this is my first blog ever.

 

I’ve worked on Blackboard for many years and worked with other course management systems, but I have explored very few educational blogs or sites. I guess that is were I will start my Journey.  

 

I went to the only educational website/blog that I know of and that was edutopia.org. This site is intended mostly for k-12. Yet, I realize that it is a good idea to know what kids are using in k-12 because it influences what they expect to use in their undergraduate years (and beyond).  Edutopia had different articles but the article on iTunes U caught my eye. They stated that there are many useful recordings on iTunes U for educators. I’ve gone to iTunes U myself before and have found videos and recordings that I think have been very useful for my classroom. The new versions of iTunes have created a special area for iTunes U videos and recordings. It is a site worth checking out.

 

I hope that, with all of you helping me, I will be able to bring that special something that I bring to my classroom into my online milieu.

I’m glad to join you all in this journey.

Week 1 Links: A Gathering of Cool Ideas

I enjoyed the first week's conversation so much, that I decided to create an archive of all the cool links folks shared for the week. I apologize in advance if I missed any or messed up any of the links. I had to work quickly before my two kids woke up!!

Andrew:  Wise Pedagogy

Barb: Wordle / The Home School Classroom / Suite 101 / Wikipedia on Blogs / Jule and Julia / Barb's Podcasts /

Christine: The New Digital History Education 

Claudia: 8 Must have Education Apps for IPhone / Quia Site / 20 techniques for building a better website

David Detwiler: Cindy Kendall's Wiki

David Reeves: Western Civ Page 2 / Western Civ 1 /

Eduardo: Teach42 /

Julie: John Miller, Nursing Professor Blog

Laura: Clive on Learning

Leslie: Audacity / Her Audacity Experiment on Podomatic/ Leslie's Cultural Perspectives Ning / Instructional Design and Learning Theory / Connectivism / Connectivism Course /

Robert: An 8 overview of Google Wave (YouTube) / Google Wave - One Hundred Cool Things(webpage)/
The Complete Guide to Google Wave(e-book; scroll down to TOC) / Request a Google Wave account /blog by Nik Peachey / Tokbox / Blog Post on Ning / Video on Posting Toxbox Videos / Sample Tokbox Video Posting/ Robert's Video Mail Address / Useful Presentation Tools / More Useful Presentation Apps /

Pilar: The Learning Spanish Blog /  Mi Vida Loca /

Mary Jo: elearning pedagogy / integrating technology / 

Yvette: video about using wiki / technologies for teaching blog / reflective tool for students