Online+Learning+Presentation

Week Four Presentation Summaries Melissa Stahr's Presentation Summary:

I delivered this presentation to two of my fellow fifth grade teachers. They were very receptive to the idea, as we are all working to implement more technology into our classrooms. It seems our grade level is always the first to jump on board with new technologies and due to this, they seemed intrigued. The one difficulty I had was that even through I was delivering a presentation on using an online learning module, I have never actually used one. This was a point of question for them, as they had questions that I could not answer. In hindsight, it does not make much of a ‘good sell’ to sell something that you have never implemented or used yourself.

We did go online after the Power Point presentation, and we looked up RCampus. We spent about 20 minutes on the site, as our time was limited that day, and cruised around to see what we could discover. They liked that this was a free site, as our district does not have funds available for much these days. My team did not like, however, the idea of using this exclusively as a classroom tool. We work in a Title 1 School, as 43% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Many of our students do not have internet access at home. By implementing this into our classrooms, we would be essentially excluding many of the students who would potentially benefit from it the most.

I also showed this slide presentation to my administrator, and she is already aware of Online Learning Modules. She had many positive things to say about them, based on what she has heard, but she also mentioned not having enough internet access at the homes of our students to effectively implement this at this time.

Kelley Straight's Presentation Summary: I had a very nice discussion with two colleagues and our Dean of Students. As you all might know, our school has an online curriculum where the students work at their own pace. We use Moodle for all of our courses. Rather than talking about why we should use a Learning Management System, we held a discussion about where we can improve and what we are using within the software.

The group decided that our weakest area was utilizing the forums. Our teachers have a goal to incorporate more collaboration among the students, so we brainstormed a couple of ways to use the forums. We thought that they would be useful during the group inquiry projects as well as to post discussion topics such as what we do in our courses for Walden. The issue with the discussion posts is that they should not be geared toward the particular content they are working on since our students work at their own pace. We thought that this would be a good time to incorporate some real world issues that the students could discuss. Some components that we utilize and are very pleased with are the gradebook feature, the messaging system, ability to supply various resources in one location, and the group feature so the courses can be individualized. We all agreed that we really appreciated the fact that we can differentiate all aspects of our classes through this software.

Kelley  - Your summary was posted early in the week and I have to say that my initial reaction to your summary was envy. Your colleagues seem so willing to try new things and improve the way their classrooms are run. However, after meeting with my colleagues, I realized that they are too; they simply have not been giving much of an opportunity. I think what makes a difference is understanding that technology is something which can assist you in the classroom and is not just something new you have to learn. Once teachers realize this, I think they are more likely to come on board. -  Margaret

Margaret Ridgeway's Presentation Summary: I had scheduled my presentation with my Principal and a few teachers at my school to review Rcampus.com with them. Fortunately, things do not always work out as planned. The day we were scheduled to meet, I was unexpectedly called into the central office to train for Summer standardized test remediation. Since this was the last day of the school year for teachers, I asked the trainer if I could tack my presentation on to her training so I could complete it. Our Dean of Students and three of the teachers from my high school were present, but in addition I was able to provide the information to one of the central office supervisors and a teacher from our elementary school and get feedback from all of them.

The funny thing was that I was able to kill two birds with one stone. In order to observe the participants during the meeting, I used SlideRocket so I could record the oral part of the presentation and add it as audio to the slides. Interestingly, it was that application that captured their attention first. They were so excited about being able to add audio to a presentation and post it online, that they almost did not pay attention to the topic at hand. Once I did get them on the topic of an Education Management System, however, they were very interested to learn some of the basics. I included in my presentation most of the concerns I thought they might have, and the only negative comment I heard was from the district supervisor. Her only concern was not the technology itself but the cost of setting up a district wide version of the program since our district has funding problems. I pointed out that since Rcampus is a web based system and can be used by teachers, clubs and committees individually, then there is no reason the district has to be directly involved except to approve its use. One thing I did stress with the teachers after the presentation was to check out the system and all of the features but also to remember they do not have to use all of the features right away - a step at a time is better than becoming overwhelmed and walking away. All of the teachers indicated they planned on checking out both applications and asked if I would be willing to help get them started, so I am hoping there is a door opening just a little bit.

If you would like to view my presentation and get more information on Rcampus.com, you can access it at the following link: []

Margaret, Although the software is free for Rcampus, how would your district fund the training the teachers who will teach the courses would need. Find out if there is money allotted for professional development and get online teacher training on the docket after your school decides what classes they are going to offer. Val~

Val - I wasn't considering this for use with separate online courses but as a tool for use in our regular classes. Margaret

Dan Whitney's Presentation Summary

Although my colleagues were interested in some of the features of RCampus, it was a foregone conclusion that our school will not be switching course management systems any time soon. One of our biggest frustrations is that our current system really isn’t one system; it is several different systems for email, online grade book, test data, and school and class websites. Obviously then, the one site, one login feature of RCampus was attractive to us. Another feature we liked was the EPortfolio option. Several years ago our staff decided to transition from binder portfolios to EPortfolios. Some initial progress was made, but then they system we were using didn’t work and the entire idea has been put on hold. As I said though, even though we liked some of the features of RCampus, we are not seriously looking to change systems at this time.

At this time my school is in the middle of transitioning from letter grades to standards-based grading. A major part of this transition has been selecting an online grade book program that will support standards-based grading. Several teachers piloted the new system this year and worked out some of the bugs, while the rest of the teachers will transition to the new system next year. To say that this transition has not been easy would be a bit of an understatement, but, the system is finally in place and ready to go. This is obviously not the time to switch course management systems. If we weren’t in the middle of this transition or we had worked with the standards-based grading system for a few years already, the story might be different. As it stands, RCampus appears to be a system that would benefit any school looking to adopt a new course management system, but we aren’t looking right now.

Val's Presentation Summary Both of the teachers who viewed the presentation were very much on board about creating online modules. They felt the alternative is needs to be available for high school students; especially those who need remediation in a particular course. That was really my selling point offer course that students need or have an interest in that we do not have in the school building. The fact that I had not taught or implemented an online module myself never became an issue because I did mention in the presentation that training, would be offered to the teachers interested in teaching the online course before it was implemented. The consensus is that online courses are needed and there is a desire among the faculty to implement them. The administrator felt the same however, his issues as I suspected revolved around cost.

Some of the teachers were already familiar with Moodle from other experiences, and the district is offering online summer school courses this summer. Therefore, it would not be a stretch to offer a course or two in the upcoming school year. The administrator and one of the teachers expressed interest in the actual presentation software that I chose which; was a voicethread. I had to remind them to focus on the content and not the software. Since use of the Moodle software is free the main concern was choosing the subject areas to implement first and getting the teachers the proper training before hand.