Time for Introductions!!! (finally)

Welcome (again) to EDC922 - eBooks and Digital Content

This is our class blog. It will serve as our discussion forum, connection to each other, and the main webpage you will be accessing. If this is your first visit, then please first read the entry below (titled, 'Practice Session') and follow the instructions there--- then return to this one.

 The content here should keep you pretty busy--for now you only need to know a few things.

This blog can be viewed by anyone, but will only allow the participants of EDC922 to interact with it. When you would like to respond to someone or comment upon a session, just click on the 'comment' link below each of my postings (you should sign up for a Blogger account ASAP and choose a 'User Name' that is easily identifiable) until then choose the 'anonymous' button under 'choose an identity'; I'm sure some of you have already begun to practice a little.

In the left-hand margin you will see links to individual lessons (accessible every Tuesday).



If you need to contact me then please email me at DaveFontaine1@gmail.com.

This blog, in addition to its use as an interactive communication tool, will also be where you can access and download your weekly sessions. The presentation links to the left will be accessible on a week-to-week basis (Tues.  afternoons). I've said it before, but it bears repeating---When attempting to download always choose 'save' rather than 'open.'

The syllabus is also linked to the left. Google has a free service that allows you to just upload any Word document and with one additional click it gets published online with its own URL. The course syllabus is an example of how easy it is to use, and we'll practice with this tool before next week.

One more aspect that will be unique about this course is that I support a completely collaborative teaching philosophy. Following that mindset, I will keep your assignments, comments, and reflections viewable and accessible to future participants of this course. The 'goal' of that is:

1. For future participants to gain from the collective knowledge of your experiences;
2. Use what you have done; and
3. Incorporate new ideas into their classroom.

The bonus for you, of course, is that this information will also always be accessible for you. This way, in the future (many semesters from now) you may revisit this site and benefit from the ideas of all participants. In this way---YOU will gain from all the 'learning speedbumps' of those that have come after you--even though they are not currently enrolled in this course.
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Some of the content for our sessions is also covered in my "Blogs and Wikis" course. Where that is the case I'll also give you a link to the 'comments' of past participants about that topic.

Before we go any further I would like each of you to practice using this forum and introduce yourself. We will be spending the semester together, so it is important to learn as much about each other as possible. Click on the 'comment' link below this posting, then you may click the 'anonymous' button and write a few paragraphs about yourself. (If you are feeling bold you may sign up for a Blogger account now and use the 'user name' that you create when you 'comment' rather than choosing 'anonymous.')

Please include:
-your name
-email address (so that you may contact each other directly if needed),
-your educational background,
-teaching history,
-current teaching position with location, and lastly
-what you hope to come away with when this semester is over, along with any additional information about you that you wish to share, like your motivation for choosing this course...

After you have finished posting this profile, come back to this page and read the '922-Session 1' posting (below this one), then find the 'Session 1' link (along the left-hand margin), download it, and view it. When you are finished with the session please click on the 'comment' link again and add any comments, insights, or reflections you have for Session 1, under the Session 1 posting.

Sometimes it takes a little while to get the hang of using this forum. I have taken this into consideration by reducing the workload of the first session. (Of course, if you get distracted easily, then you could spend hours exploring.)
Week 1's primary goal is to make sure everyone is on the same page and skill level before we sink our teeth into the meat of this course. However, if you run into any 'techno-speedbumps' then please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Everything here is licensed by Creative Commons. This means that you have complete authority to download, save, share, and use all of the lessons in your classroom, but are prohibited from any commercial uses.

You will notice that each slide of the PowerPoint presentation has the narration transcribed in the 'notes section' of each slide. This is because each semester we have teachers from around the world taking this course. We've had teachers from Canada, China, Alaska, California, Phillipines, Sudan, Singapore...taking my courses (And they may need help understanding my "Ro-diland" accent) but more importantly, the transcribed narration allows you to take these slides and use them in your own classroom. (or, if you find my voice putting you to sleep, you can just read the slides instead)

Good luck this semester! I look forward to working and collaborating with you.

Dave Fontaine
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STOP--DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU HAVE FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE.

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922-Session 1 "eBooks-What They Are and What Do They Look Like!!!"

This semester will take us onto a new path!

A path that leads to more collaboration--

more cooperative learning---

and more opportunities to create differentiated instruction and visual learning---all with the goal of helping foster literacy, and learning, for our students.

 Here is a taste of the excitement that awaits you when you download our first session.

Good luck and take plenty of notes because I don't want to miss any of your ideas, excitement, and insights when you post your comments!

Here is a copy of Session 1 if you want to view it online w/o the download

922-1

More PowerPoint presentations from DaveFontaine

You may also read past participants' comments here and here. Some people find reading them before the session helps with their perspective.

Have fun!

Dave

PS-If you have any trouble downloading any of these sessions from the link on the left, then I've got backups on Authorstream.com. Just visit the link and type in edc922 in the search box, then view the most recent session, or click here to go to Session 1 directly.

Practice Session

Welcome to EDC922---"eBooks and Digital Content"


Throughout these 10 weeks we will be covering a vast amount of information (but don't be too intimidated). Information and new developments about this content are exploding exponentially, so it's a challenge for even me to stay current.


New sessions will be posted once a week (by the end of business on Tuesday), but this week only,  the first session won't go up until Saturday night to give everyone enough time  to try this practice session and work out any technological trouble). 


***Also, b/c this weekend is a holiday weekend for those of us in the States, there will be some flexibility on the deadlines for next week, so don't stress about this if you have plans to climb the White Mountains this weekend (if you do, you may see me up there).

Please keep in mind that there are new developments and trends in online information every day, therefore we may have to be flexible when interpreting the syllabus. This may mean some modifications, changes and condensing of information. I've already made changes to our first session's content.  

To ensure that we are covering the most current skills and content, I will be assimilating and collating information right up until the moment I post a session. This means that each session's link (over in the left-hand margin) will not be accessible until its respective Tuesday. Even so, there may be times during a session when a cited link is dead. If that is the case, I will try to keep saved copies of all the information. Just email me (davefontaine1@gmail.com) and I will forward the data to you.

During the first few sessions we will be covering foundational skills. This is to ensure that we all have the basic essentials ‘down pat’. Once this is covered, we will pick up the pace and begin to delve into the mechanics, nuances, and meat of our course.

To ensure continuous accessibility to the information within these presentations I suggest you immediately download, and save the sessions, to your computer.  Not every session will be downloadable, but many will be. I cannot emphasize this enough. Along the left-hand margin, there will be a link for each session. When you click on this link you may be prompted to 'save' or 'open' the session.

Always ‘save’ it to your desktop (or in a folder somewhere on your computer). Previous class participants have found it easiest to organize if they create a folder and store all the sessions in one place. Another option would be to right-click on the link and choose, 'save target as.'

‘Saving’ the sessions will decrease problems relating to your bandwidth. Also, although it may take a while for a presentation to download (up to 10 min. or more depending upon the speed of your connection) it will be much easier to toggle between a PowerPoint and the Internet if you have it saved to your hard drive. Weekly sessions will also become portable if you save them to a thumb drive, so if you want to take them from home to work, or vice-versa that will be easiest.

Additionally, you will need to have access to a computer that has PowerPoint version ’97 or above to view the presentations. (As a last resort I will also upload a copy each week's session to an online service where you can stream it live. You will find that link at the bottom of each weekly posting.) If you cannot hear the sound on them it is possible that the “wave” element of your volume is either on ‘mute’ or not turned up enough. 

Some of you may have already noticed that I teach this course completely from a blog.  This will help those of you who have little, to no, experience with blogs.  You get to practice, participate, and maybe even create your own after this class is finished. I'll give you all 24 hours to practice with this a little and contact you Sat. night with our first official weekly session, so look for an email from me.

Please remember that we are all educators, and that this is a collaborative course. So, as you post your reflections and comments we will all be responding to you. Therefore, timely responses are imperative. After you have posted your weekly assignment, make an effort to return again later to read and comment about other participants’ assignments.

Once again remember that we are all perpetual learners; constantly growing. I hope to learn as much from you---as you will from me.

Now I would like you to try a practice download. Saturday evening I will update this page with information about our first session. Along the left-hand margin you will see the words "PRACTICE SESSION." Please try to download this session to your computer, strictly following the directions above.

Once you have been successful with this process, you may also download the syllabus, but truthfully, I will be updating it weekly, so it might be a better idea if you just save a shortcut to the live version.   There isn't a required, purchasable text, but for those of you that want to more depth on blogs and wikis then I recommend Will Richardson's book.  Don't worry if it takes a week to arrive.

You may order it from most online book sellers. Until then you may want to read it online (not ideal and you usually can't access the entire text), but here is the link: Wikis, Blogs, and Podcasts

You could also check your local library here.

If you run into problems, please review the directions again. It is not uncommon for participants to 'stumble' a little getting used to this forum.


If you run into any trouble after that, then please feel free to email me or call.


You'll hear from me again on Saturday.

Thank you and please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have along the way.

Dave Fontaine
eBook, eLearning, and Digital Content Specialist, NBCT
DaveFontaine1@gmail.com
401-835-3782

Final Projects

Your Final Projects are due by midnight on 4/13 est.  You are asked to upload all of your material to Curriki then post a small description below this entry while including a url to your Curriki product.  Please double check all links to ensure that they are working.  Once I review your Final Projects, I will send you a confirmation and grade.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.  I've been fielding the questions when they come in.  One recent issue was with the formatting being lost in Curriki.  Please see my response below:

"Try typing everything in MS Word and then uploading it.  I believe that way it will retain the formatting. Another alternative is to type it into a Google Doc and then 'share' it with everyone.  This option will give your document its own url which you can then paste into Curriki with an explanation."

922-Session 7--Creating an OER from Scratch

I thought that we'd start with an inspirational, opening 'comment from Angela, (a teacher from last summer's class):

Angela Tarr said...

... I feel the need to share. I just had an aha moment. To explain to my staff the basic idea of what OER is all about, I’ll give my own experience as a new teacher for an example. When I started teaching at 22, I had no clue what I was doing. I was assigned a mentor, who said, “I’m down at the end of the hall; holler if you need me.” That was my mentor program. (It’s now much more specific in the requirements of the mentor and mentee.) The only other teacher who taught the same courses I did would not share. A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. He wouldn’t give me anything other than generic advice. (Don’t smile until Christmas. Don’t let them walk all over you.)
Somehow I managed to survive. I was not a very good teacher those first few years; I struggled. After ten years of teaching, I asked to switch to another grade level when a teacher in my department quit. (Not retired, quit.) The other teacher who taught this grade level in my department shared everything. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. She said she had already done the work, why should I start from scratch? She and I had very different styles, so I wasn’t totally comfortable using her exact plans and assignments. (Since I was working on a master’s and had two young children at the time, she suggested that.) I adapted most of her materials to suit my teaching (and learning) style. Her gift of a place to start other than ground zero was huge for me. I could go to her and ask questions, observe her in the classroom, get help.
When I moved into the library five years ago, I handed fifteen years of materials over to my 22 year old replacement. I volunteered to do anything she needed me to do to get her off on the right foot. I answered questions, came to her classroom a couple of times to present introductions to units, anything she needed. In her first year she was better than I was at five or six years of experience in the classroom. I’m not taking the credit for her success; she works hard. I will pat myself on the back for giving her some tools to work with to get rolling. She’s the classroom teacher I wish I could have been.
Isn’t this what OER is all about? Sharing? Learning from the experience of others? Why should we start from scratch? (Unless we want to, or the learning situation is better served by doing so.) Granted, I didn’t have the internet when I started teaching. I could only share locally. Now we can share globally. We have amazing tools to work with. We need to use them. Our districts need to let us.

 You can read the rest of class's comments from last year, here.

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This week we'll be covering how to create an OER from scratch.  Once again we'll be accessing Curriki's "Open Educational Resources Integration" project.  For this session we'll be accessing the module created by Dr. Michael Searson, the Executive Director for the School for Global Education and Innovation.  You may read more about him here.

Mike created a CC licensed module aimed at both pre-service and in-service teachers.  His module will be particularly useful to you b/c you may very easily use it to guide yourself when you are training, or educating, others on OER's.  I've just gone through his module again and updated any dead links that I could find, but please let me know if you can't access something.  You may find all of the links in our syllabus under the Session 7's details.

Good luck and have fun!
DF

PS--Please also place your brief description of your midterm assignment under this entry's comments section.  There is a word limit, so if it is long you may have to break it up into two or more 'comments.'
Details and requirements are in the syllabus. (If you have a suggestion for modifying this to better suit your setting, then please pass your idea by me first.)


PPS--Next week is URI's Spring Break (3/11-3/18), so there won't be any class. This is good news for those of you that want a little extra time to work on the midterm.  Please complete it before Session 8 (3/20).