Knowledge is Power!

I am finding reading, researching, and immersing myself in online learning to be the most helpful regarding preparation for becoming an online educator.  To me, knowledge is power, and until I feel intelligent on the topic, I am hesitant to talk about it or try new things in that regard.  The TACCLE readings are, to me, a source of comfort because they contain research-driven advice and guidelines, so it seems to be the "right" way to teach online.  I like having a clearly correct direction to go when embarking on a new endeavor, but it's also nice when there is some wiggle-room for creativity once one is ready. 

As are many people, I am also a hands-on learner, so the best way for me to learn how to teach blogging is for me to actually blog.  On this same note, I found the one-on-one vRoom/We Collaborate session with Louis daunting at first, but it really gave me some confidence that I could pull this off if asked to.  It was exciting!

This all tells me that I need to allow my students a safe environment to be a hands-on learner with the technology because I think much of it will be new to them, too.  I think having a how-to section in Moodle may also help my students feel confident because they will have a resource for questions right at their fingertips.

What I Still Need to Learn about Online Learning

The list of what I still need to learn is endless, but the opportunities with online learning are limitless, too.  I would like to learn how to best use online teaching and learning as an intervention for struggling students, even if the class itself is not an online class.  I have so many students who refuse to work during class, so a potential intervention could be working with them beyond the classroom.  However, motivation would be a real issue, I believe, since there would be very little face-to-face accountability, unless I'm missing something.  Of course, regular communication through programs like Skype would help, but I don't believe it would be an answer.  Is it an online class if it takes place in the classroom with a teacher, but all work is done online?  With our population, it seems that this is the only way to make it a successful academic intervention for low-performing students.  Perhaps online learning would be best for high-achieving students as advanced credit attainment rather than credit recovery? 
I also wonder if online teachers would be set up for failure if they are expected to teach both traditional and online classes rather than specialize in just online teaching.  It seems like until we attain a level of comfort with online teaching, that should be the focus for teachers rather than a new endeavor to add on to traditional teaching.  If this is the new wave of education, then I am willing to jump in and ride it out, but I am hoping for lots of support along the way.

Video Conferencing (in?) the Classroom

In anticipation of earning my online teaching endorsement, I have been thinking about how this will all look.  Will I teach from the comfort of my own home, using technology like video conferencing?  Or will I have kids in a classroom that I will monitor as they work on assignments online?  I feel like that is already what I am doing by using Moodle in my Multicultural Literature class, so it seems like that would be a waste of my online teaching endorsement.  I am trying to figure out how to use video conferencing if this is a true online course, as this seems to be the best way to make connections with the students so that they can see that I still care about them and want to know them.  I believe the students who struggle with the traditional classroom structure seem to be prime candidates for online courses, and these are also the students who thrive with a teacher who they trust and who cares about them. 
After video conferencing with Louis, I realized that online courses can still have a face-to-face component.  I felt that I got to know Louis a bit from that half hour session, and because it was one-on-one video conferencing, I also felt that he got to know me a bit better.  I would definitely use video conferencing for this reason alone.  However, these kids would need more one-on-one attention than a half hour conference, so it would need to be frequent, perhaps even weekly. 

I taught summer school last year, and video conferencing would have been awesome for that venue.  If I teach summer school this year, I plan to use it with the kids who don't show up on a regular basis.  This way, they can still complete work from home and talk to me about it online.  I also plan to use Google Docs for the same reasons.

Browsers and Social Bookmarking: A Recipe for a Headache?

I realize that I need to be up to speed on technology, and in many cases, I'm not too bad with it.  However, social bookmarking threw me for a loop.  I understand the concept, mostly, but comparing the various social bookmarking sites actually confused me more and made me doubt any understanding I had.  While I appreciate the offer to call Louis when we are struggling, I didn't call him for this because I fear I would have had him on the phone all day today, and I still would have unanswered questions that I probably don't even know I have yet.  I will give it a good faith effort to try using Diigo, mostly because I do get annoyed that I save something as a favorite on one computer, but then it is not saved on another computer; therefore, social bookmarking would be wonderful for this.  I will need to be hands-on with this new-to-me technology before I can truly decide if it is a worthy headache.  I will first try sharing my bookmarks with colleagues for the purpose of collaboration before trying to use it with students so that I am assured that I know the features and how to best use it.  Once I get to a point of comfort and confidence and am ready to go live with students, I plan to use it for research purposes with my Multicultural Literature class.  I may begin by simply assigning them to create a social bookmark for a particular culture, or I may ask them to visit my bookmarks and synthesize the information from them.  It will take a leap of faith on my part!

Regarding browsers, this is a matter of me stepping outside of my comfort zone, too.  I am so familiar with Internet Explorer that I have never really tried anything else.  Conducting research on the other four browsers, though, has made me think that maybe all the little annoyances that I get with Internet Explorer do not have to be; I could try another browser, and the problems could disappear.  I know that some of my students' browser of choice is Mozilla Firefox, with which I am only slightly familiar, but they seem to have success with it, especially when Internet Explorer fails.  I think I need to be at least basic to proficient with each of the "major" browsers so that when my students use them I can work with them.  Yet another task to master.  When will this get easy for me???

Life and Online Learning

True confession:  I am overwhelmed by this course and how to manage it with life.  In the last two weeks, I had my daughter's fifth birthday party, another course I am taking, and Thanksgiving (like everyone else), and although there was a constant red flag in my mind that I needed to do work for this class, true to my nature, I procrastinated and put other obligations first.  This is, unfortunately, quite easy to do when the course is online.  This leads me to wonder how high school students would fare with an online course.  I think there would have to be more meetings online between the students and the teacher than we have for this course.  Also, there would have to be more deadlines in between with reminders sent to students via e-mail or some other form of communication.

Another aspect of this course that is troubling to me is that I have to figure out for myself things such as blogging, to which I am new.  I am decent with technology, but when it comes to work for a class, I want to earn an A rather than just get the work done.  This seems like it will be a bit more challenging due to the nature of an online course.  I wonder how I would convey this to my future online students so that they understand the degree to which they must self-motivate and work.  It will be vital to break the common misconception early that online courses are easy.

I am hoping to refine my time management skills through this course.  Also, I want to soak up as much knowledge and skill in regards to technology as I can.  I feel that this is my chance to really practice things such as blogging, google docs, and whatever else is in store for us.  Without being assigned to do it, I don't know that I would have tried blogging.  I think it has potential, though, for both classroom use and personal use.  In the classroom, I could see assigning my students to post on a blog as a form of a book club or literature circle activity.  I also envision requiring blogging as a way to kick up a notch my Honors English class; I am just not sure how yet, other than the book club idea, which could be for my Inclusion classes as well. 

I did a bit of searching online to see how other teachers use blogging in the English classroom, and another idea I got was to build a creative story as a class.  Sounds cool.  I also found a website that has some useful tips on it for beginning teacher bloggers:  http://www.inspiringteachers.com/classroom_resources/monthly_columns/new_teachers/blogging_is_beneficial.html