Captivate 8

The Captivate 8 project has been quite a journey for me.  When I first tried to open it at home, I found that neither of my home computers could accommodate the free trial download.  I didn't want to give up on the project, so I went to work.  Because I work at a school, downloading a trial application as big as Adobe Captivate 8 required special permission from my network administrator. That took days.I have hit lots of snags, but I've learned a few things in the process. 
Even though this assignment has been a real challenge for someone ungifted in technology, I have learned a lot and see how cool this tool could be for creating learning experiences. 

Before you start your review of the JAG 37 Core Competencies, watch a nice message from Kid President.
http://youtu.be/l-gQLqv9f4o

Here's my video presentation of the 37 JAG Core Competencies:
http://youtu.be/SenjWFGl0l0

Adobe Captivate 8 is an amazing tool to use for creating dynamic, high definition, and most importantly, interactive presentations.
In education, Captivate is used for all types of elearning, but Captivate 8 has a feature where it is adaptable to all types of tablets and cell phones.
From a presenter's standpoint, I really like the ability Captivate 8 has of uploading an old Powerpoint and making it an interactive presentation.  I also really love that you can upload a YouTube video and post it directly into your presentation.  Once completed, there is a button in the bottom right hand corner that allows you to upload your entire presentation to YouTube.
Because of the test building tool, it is a great product to utilize for immediate feedback in the classroom to assess current knowledge around any given subject.
I have watched the videos and read about it, and I cannot wait to test it using the trial.

M8 Training Needs

Write a blog post that describes a process that you use (or others use) to develop lessons or training. In this post you may decide to include the following. 

• A method you use to write appropriate learning objectives
• A method you use to establish the need for training or a lesson 
• Critique on the four step process outlined in this class - pros / cons (see captivate presentation above)
• Describe / critique another process for developing a learning lesson or training. 
• Review an article on how to develop online learning lessons or on demand training modules 
• Synthesize content that you learned from another course on this topic. 

The method that I've been using this year is called copy what others have done :).  The teaching of modules is based in Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis).  

Because I am new at my job as a classroom teacher and I'm also new at learning the content for the JAG Program, I thought it would be a good idea to follow their module content until I had some experience.  JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates) is also a model program with a lot of rigor built in so I am mostly sticking to the lessons they have outlined.  I do have leeway when it comes to the order in which lessons are taught.  Those decisions are based on the students' aptitudes, interests and abilities as well as their ages and plans after graduation. I also have leeway into the way lessons are delivered.  I try to incorporate lots of activity and lots of technology.

 

Learning Analytics

Module 7 Blog Post  

Learning Analytics

1. Is your organization currently using Learning Analytics? If so, how?

My school is not officially using Learning Analytics, but they are collecting student profile, proficiency, grades and family information into an interface called Infinite Campus (IC).  The IC system is based mostly on hand-entered data figures.

I did not think that I was using analytics until I learned more about what they were.  I am putting together more detailed profiles of students gathered from the district's Infinite Campus tool plus real-time online instruments like learning style inventories, career interest inventories, unit practice games.  I have been doing all of it to get a complete picture of the students for them to use to move forward with a plan for their future.  

2.  Is your organization planning to use Learning analytics? If so, how?

I hope to use use LA more officially and effectively, but I definitely need some guidance and training/practice to do it well.  

3.  Explain how you may use Blogger Analytics (basic analytics in Blogger) to understand your learners.  

I have done some research on using analytics for blogging, but I am unsure on the benefits of blog tracking for my using preference.  I do want to explore how to apply it to my current classroom.  

Learning Analytics

Title:  Review of Greller and Drachsler article: Translating Learning into Numbers:  A Generic Framework for Learning Analytics.

Citation:  Greller, W., & Drachsler, H. (2012). Translating Learning into Numbers: A Generic Framework for Learning Analytics.  Educational Technology & Society, 15 (3), 42–57.

The article presented by Netherland researchers Greller and Drachsler in 2012 provides a basic framework for success with Learning Analytics (LA) using the following six dimensions:
Stakeholders, objectives, data, instrument, external constraints, and internal limitations.

The authors lay a great foundation with an easy-to-understand dimensional framework and matrix with a representative graphic that serves to expand knowledge of learning analytics in a systems-based setting.

The authors try to fairly represent the advantages using LA to benefit and personalize teaching and learning. Another benefit is in the capturing of real-time authentic data, but they also bring an excellent point about the technical challenges of capturing pure information that is free from bias.

Greller and Drachsler also address the ethical concerns with data usage and the ability to use the information for quality assurance in teaching and learning.  They warned that the data can be easily abused in the wrong context for teacher performance and student learning.  Authors also offered a resource to address the ethical issues in data collection through the Association of Internet Researchers.
I appreciated the practical idea of utilizing LA to create a Drop Out Analyzer that assesses students' potential of dropping out which could be a very useful tool for identifying and retaining struggling students.

I thought the article was very well written and the project and thought were very well executed.  Authors provided a well-rounded look at the pros and cons of using LA.

The technology is moving so fast around LA that some of the information could be outdated because the article is two years old.  

Review of Hewson's "What size is your digital footprint?"

Hewson, K. (2013). What size is your digital footprint?  Phi Delta Kappan, 94 (7), 14-17.

"If it takes a village to raise a child, wouldn't it also take a village to raise a teacher?"  This is the question posed by Kurtis Hewson as he begins his article.  His focus is in providing emerging new teachers with a network of support through the concept of PLNs (Personal Learning Networks).  Hewson supports the use of PLNs to boost all teacher learning opportunities, but he especially espouses the idea of education majors being taught to connect and expand their digital footprint before they enter the profession of teaching.  New teachers are lacking support in their first year, and end up 'feeling isolated, disconnected and floundering".  PLNs would allow burgeoning teachers to increase their chances of success in their first year(s) by having an online professional and social network.  It also provides a source of continual professional learning which benefits teaching and learning overall. 

While PLNs are relatively new, Hewson's look at PLNs as part of the college curriculum for education majors is a fresh idea and worth spreading.

The article is short but well written, and it provides merely a cursory glance at a very relevant topic.  

In my search for PLNs, I could not have found a topic any closer to my blogging interest.  I really wanted more information from the author about how to best implement it as well other articles that provided more information. 
 

Unwritten rules

Meltdowns

photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/5792547940/">sean dreilinger</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

The last week has brought me many new lessons.
The meltdown challenge week

I have lots of education and experience working with students in a positive supportive environment.  This past week, however, I was tested like I've never been tested before.  I had two separate occasions where students were very angry and even insubordinate during class.
I am trying to create a successful learning environment for all of the students.  It is hard to do that when you have an openly hostile student.  I did have to call in back up in one instance.  Calling in back up though made me feel like I couldn't my classroom and I felt like I had failed somehow. 
I have read all the paperwork on the students (IEPs and BIPs) and I've consulted with the teachers of record, but I feel ill-equipped to handle the melt-downs. 

I need to know the unwritten rules.  Who do you call and when?  Do administrators frown upon you when you call in back up support?  What works?

Is it time to overhaul education? What does that mean to a brand new teacher?

Is it time to overhaul education?

Will Richardson's TED talk was very compelling.  He gave some great examples of how access to on-line learning is revolutionizing our world.  The entire time he was speaking, I was framing his words in my mind with "how I can deliver his message to my students"? 

Many of my students have failed proficiency tests, are credit deficient, have low GPAs, and are at-risk of dropping out of school.  They are the epitome of a failed system.  They are not, however, failures.  They are future entrepreneurs, inventors, soldiers, business owners, politicians, farmers, and firemen (like the one Sir Ken Richardson spoke of in http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity) that make our communities function.

For the first two weeks of school I was blissfully unaware of what their scores were.  I just knew them to be very bright and capable of almost anything.  When I was able to access their scores, I just could not reconcile the students with their scores (I still can't and wish I didn't even have to consider them).  I however, cannot ignore them because many of my students must pass the proficiency tests in order to graduate.  The scores are the yardstick by which we are measured.

The Wall in Berlin

I'd say we need a new yardstick. 



Where does that leave me as a new teacher?

I must show that my students make gains by increasing their GPAs, graduating them, getting them work, enlisted in the military, or enrolled in a secondary education path. 
I must also prepare them with all the soft skills they'll need to succeed on whichever path they choose. 

It's crazy because I've been mostly overwhelmed, and feel very unprepared since I started this journey a few weeks ago.  I'm reading everything in sight and asking colleagues at every turn for advice. I learn a ton from reading posts to our class site (thanks everyone), but sadly it seems as if each teacher must sort of find their own way.  I find myself falling back on what I know, using traditional lesson plans with lots of paper, fill in the blank, and tests on knowledge gained.  The students know what to do and seem to respond by getting it done, but are they really learning?  We are entrenched in what  Mr. Richardson referred to as a "system built for a world that no longer exists" 

I think that the most important things that I can impart on my students is the "life prep" that Will Richardson spoke of.  I need to build in them the curiousity and drive that will make them successful, whatever their vocational choice.  I need to help them to learn how to learn and help them find the resources they need.

Teaching and my second act: Uprooted, and oh by the way, you have one week to learn how to be a teacher! HELP!

Change

I personally love change and have made a career out of helping people navigate change in one form or another.  I consider myself a lifelong learner and I love to explore new subjects and develop new skills.
Throughout my life, I've always been open to change and new experiences.  So, I love to travel and every place I've gone, I've asked asked myself the question: "Could I live here?"  With only two exceptions, I have said yes.  The two exceptions are/were Los Angeles (too crowded), and Las Vegas (too hot). 

Even though I'm an intreped explorer, my home location has been fixed for 31 years.  My husband and I have been looking to relocate our careers to another state and a bit warmer weather than Western Wyoming.  We were looking for a nicer climate with 4 seasons but not too far from family.

I was really worried that my opportunities for career growth were limited by the size of my community as well as my chosen profession (education and human resources).  At the age of 50, I was also worried that if I didn't make a move then my options would deplete further because of my age.  If I stayed where I was until retirement, then I was really worried about stagnating, both in my career and personally. 

Opportunity

Early this summer, my husband got an opportunity to promote and transfer with his company.  He was excited and I hoped that my prospects would grow in this new location.  The ironic thing was that it was very close to one of my least favorite places on earth (Las Vegas).  The small town he was transferred to was smaller than the one I was leaving, so I assumed that prospects would be slimmer and I would have to commute to Vegas. 

There were no jobs listed in the community and no others in close commuting distance to our new location.  Then through a family member, I heard of an opportunity (through a more than coincidental meeting in a casino) in the tiny little community to teach class to at-risk kids to help them graduate and find a career and/or go for higher education.  It sounded like a wonderful opportunity but I didn't have a job description to go on to draft my resume, so I just put one together with my skill set.  When I had my first interview, I received the job description, and it was nearly an exact fit with my resume.  Even though I didn't have a teaching degree, I was hired!  I was very excited about the idea of teaching, but I knew that I would have a lot to learn. 

Second Act

I had one week to learn the program and to get things ready for my first day of class (OMG)!!  I've been working for 3 weeks now and I can barely keep my head above water.  I'm learning every day, and I look forward to learning from others.

I need help knowing basic things like great classroom management, how to use all the technology, where to go for help, what the rules are (written and unwritten), and who to trust. 

In my first day of teaching, I told the kids a little about my wild and quick introduction to teaching, but I said that "I feel like I'm exactly where I'm meant to be." 

I'm jumping in and hoping to be the best teacher that I can be.

Second act here I come!