What I Think I Know About Online Learning

From what I think I already know about Online Learning, it is when students use online resources to complete their learning through an online course set up. Online courses have a structured page or LMS (Learning Management System) which contains all of the resources that student need build on the courses content. Student then work through different assignment, discussions, projects, and so on to gain the knowledge that they would receive as if they were in a brick-and-mortar classroom. Students each have access to this course page and log-in to complete the required course work to receive a grade, point amount, complete/incomplete, or whatever the instructor of the course has deemed necessary to show content knowledge in a specific area has been achieved.  

Online learning takes place in an online forum/LMS, some examples would be Blackboard, Moodle, Google Classroom, or a district/school provided platform. All and any student can take part in online learning. One of the main reasons my students take online courses is for credit make up. I also have student who participate in online courses for college credit because they are advanced in specific subject areas, in which the school district does not offer a course high enough for them to take on-site. Last, I have student who take online course because of family, illness, and time reasons. This allows them to complete classes online where they may lose credit because they are unable to attend face-to-face courses regularly.  From my experience, both as a teacher and as a student, there are many different types of courses offered. I know that with the growth of online classes new classes are being offered online every day. 

Good Source or Not...That is the Question???

In my classroom, we discuss the importance of using reliable sources to back our standings and what information is useful. You would be surprised how many students do not realize how Wikipedia works. 

While I know that in a real life situation, getting a quick answer can be recovered from almost any Google search, I tell students that when writing academically or for professional purpose, backing for their information and ideas should be found from multiple sites not just from the first site that pops up when using a search engine.  With that said I will allow my students to use Wikipedia as long as they can back up their information from multiple reliable sources and sites. 

As for Youtube, I use Youtube all the time in my classroom. Although these videos can be posted by anyone, I do my research before selecting a video to use for lecture or for student use. Since I am already aware of the topic that is being covered, I am able to select what video is the most beneficial to the lesson or tool being covered. In the end, as long as the source is representing information in the proper way and with a reliable standing, its use in the classroom is a valued source of information. 

Who I'm Following- Blogs & Twitter

Blogging

The first blog that I selected to add is: Moving at the Speed of Creativity. This blogs offers many creative uses of multimedia to help students. This blog will help keep track of the ever changing technology that is useful and innovative in the classroom.

The second blog that I have selected to add is: Educational Technology & Mobile Learning. This blog has a host of helpful hints, tricks and resources for educational technology in the classroom. Because I teach a variety of classes, this site has a bit to offer in many different arenas. 

The third and last blog I have selected to add is: Classroom 2.0 (http://www.classroom20.com). I found that this blog works better as a website that in the Feedly RSS. This is a teacher networking and communication site. The thing that attracted me to this blog was how each different topic has its own category and how easily the blog was to navigate.

Networking 

@EdTech_K12- Resources on trends and issues facing K-12 educators

@edtechdigest- Trends, tools, connections with education 

@edtechtimes- Daily updates and connections to education technology

@coolcatteacher- Helpful tips and Best teacher blog winner 

@MindShiftKQED- Future of learning, tech trends, technology 

To be honest, I have not used these tools to much this semester. It is not because I do not feel they are useful, because I do. For me the issue is of not enough time in the day. For all great tools, you must make time to use and understand them more. I have not had the opportunity to get more acquainted with the tools to better develop a time to incorporate it in to my schedule. Because this is my first time using both of these tools, they are not something that I am use to using or updating. I am happy that I am adding different blogs and resources to my bag-o-tricks and following others in my field to see what they are doing and thinking. I hope that I am able to begin catching up on posts that have caught my attention in the near future and working these tools in to my routine more.