I thought that I would take a moment during our Spring Break to clarify some of the updates and changes that we discussed during our last f2f meeting about course requirements and expectations.
Usually the mid-term is to create a informative presentation geared towards your Administration. You can see some examples from past semester participants here.
Given the unusual dynamic of having all of our participants from the same site-based cohort we decided to modify our mid-term requirements. Please find expectations below due before Session 7 (3/18/13):
Each course participant will create a 5 minute screencast using a recording tool like Screenr.com or Screencast-o-matic.com demonstrating to the class what eBook project you have completed so far. Here is an example.
Demonstration should walk us through how to find your project, what you have included so far, which specific course or courses it will support and your plans to expand and improve upon it over the next two months.
Not sure if I missed anything that we discussed, but if so, please feel free to chime in your two cents in the comments below.
Welcome to Session 6!
Before we get into the content of this week's lesson, I thought I would speak a little about the Midterm Project. There are more details in the syllabus, but in general you are to create a presentation (using the tool of your choice-a few are listed on Wikidave here) The over-riding goal of this assignment is to convey the power, influence, and benefits (for your particular setting) to your organization if they begin to embrace OER's and incorporate more Digital Content. More details can be found at the bottom of the syllabus. As I have stated in the past, I want this to be as pragmatic as possible for you, so if you have an idea that is outside of the description, and if you think that this would be more useful for you, then just pass it by me first for pre-approval.. Other than that, there aren't any restrictions on the direction you take this, just make sure that it is practical for your setting. You'll post a brief description of it under Session 7's blog posting as well as a link to where we can view the presentation (if anyone finds this too difficult, then I can walk you through it depending upon which presentation tool you use) and it will be due before Session 7 (3/18/13).
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This week we will be discussing a topic I'm sure you are all interested in. "How do we really customize this content to serve our local educational community?"
Before we address that I thought that I'd take a moment to address some possible gaps. A few of you have asked for some more examples of 'open' content for the humanities or cooking. OpenLearn is a site of free, open courses all CC licensed, so the material can be copied and shared, and you can create derivative works from them as well.
I just did a quick search for Spanish lessons and material and received these results. And these for French, so it may be worth exploring. (I use Chrome, as opposed to Internet Explorer or Safari, so it was nice when I was exploring the lessons in foreign languages b/c there was a button to translate the page. Worked pretty well from my layman's perspective.)
Another great site to access and borrow from is OpenTapestry. Give them a quick skim. One of our topics for this session is the 'personalization' of Digital Content that you cull/borrow. Read about OpenTapestry's personalization on their 'about us' page.
They have lots of CC licensed material to support all disciplines (This link takes you to just the courses available. They also have lots of great 'open content' for ELA. (They even give you directions about how to put it into your wiki or webpage).
They also have plenty of resources for those of you teaching World Languages. Here's a brief video introduction. It's a little dry, but gets good during the demo around the 30 minute mark. And here's just a cursory search for 'cooking'.
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Next we are going to continue with following along with the "Integrating Open Educational Resources in the Classroom" material created by my team of professors for a Curriki Fellowship. This session will walk you through the personalization, customization, and remixing of OER's to suit your specific goal or curricula. Let's start with Dr. Cynthia Gautreau's introduction video here. (I know she says it's the third module, but I thought that it would fit best in our S6.)
When you've finished with that I'd like you to then go through her module here. You don't have to complete every assignment here, but I would like you to reflect on questions 4a, b, and c that you will find here.
Please go through the material diligently to ensure that you gain a comprehensive level of knowledge with this content.
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Now, I debated whether or not to add this one, but sometimes my material can get rather heavy. This video is the polar opposite. Once you get through the silliness, the content is actually accurate. Who's hungry for some CC Cake?
Lastly, the dreaded mid-term. As I've mentioned repeatedly throughout the semester, my motivation for teaching this course is to have educators gain the most practical information and resources available for their particular setting. Additionally, you've all noticed that I've been keeping tabs on the workload each week b/c I realize that you all have 'day-jobs' so the last thing I want to do is overwhelm you.
So in the past I've given an in-depth mid-term assignment, but the workload was heavy. In place of that this semester I'd like you to still focus on the goals of the original midterm, but strip it down and simplify it. The over-riding goal of this assignment is to convey the power, influence, and benefits (for your particular setting) to your organization if they begin to embrace OER's and incorporate more Digital Content. More details can be found at the bottom of the syllabus. As I stated above, I want this to be as pragmatic as possible for you, so if you have an idea that is outside of the description and if you think that this would be more useful for you then just pass it by me first for pre-approval..
Our Spring Break is during the week of 3/11, so we should take the opportunity the week before that (3/4) to meet again f2f for our second of three meetings. There we can go over coursework expectations for the rest of the semester, practice some hands-on content creation, and collaboratively modify the mid-term assignment to best suit Westerly High School's needs. Let pragmatism prevail!
Please arrive with either a solid outline of what topics you'd like to realistically cover in you digital chapter or the beginnings of what you have already begun to create. (For those of you that have not gotten comfortable yet with how to start, please arrive with specific goals about what would be the most practical for your setting and we'll collaboratively get you moving in the right direction.)
This shouldn't be an overly-stressful course, so please feel free to ask questions, make mistakes, and communicate your obstacles, so that we can make this the most productive learning experience possible.
I'll reach out to Deanna and see if we can schedule that same room (227) from 3:15-6 for 3/4. Now let's get started with S5!
Let's first watch this 5 min. video on the shift to Digital and Open Textbooks.
Now, on to Curriki. A great place to start is to hear about the history and mission behind the site. One of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, joins Curriki CEO Kim Jones to talk about their efforts to make learning materials free and open to everyone on the Internet.
Now there's no sense in re-creating the wheel, so I'll follow a similar procedure to Session 4. Watch the videos below, pause them regularly, and try to re-create the instructions. When we're finished you can explore on your own.
Let's start with, "Viewing a Resource in Curriki"
Now let's look at what members can do with resources.
With all of these resources available and at your fingertips, you'll need to be assured that your access the best and highest quality information, so let's next learn about, "Reviewed Resources."
We'll skip the screencasts on how to rate and comment on resources for now, b/c that's a little more advanced, but when you're ready you can view it here.
Now it's time for the fun part---finding useful stuff. Let's start with, "Search Basics."
There are few things more frustrating than searching endlessly for a resource and not finding what you're looking for, so our next video will walk you through the "Advanced Search" options and filters.
Most of the benefits to using OER's can be increased exponentially by working collaboratively with a group of your peers, so the last video we'll watch will be on how to access and create 'groups' in Curriki.
I've always been a big proponent of pragmatism in teacher training, so for the rest of your time this week I'd like you to spend time exploring these resources and looking for material to suit your specific educational setting. Please keep track of your thoughts and reflections and post them under S5's entry.
For those chomping at the bit for us to cover eReaders and tablets---your time will be here soon. Here's some of the latest data:
Have fun!
PS-Here are the comments from past teachers that took this course: Summer '12
I know many of you are going on vacation next week, so I thought that you'd appreciate getting next week's session early. S4 is for the week of 2/18, but you may see it below now.
In Session 3's 'Readings' in the syllabus, I had you read a little about CK-12. (Based upon a comment from one of you last session, you can get carried away exploring its resources.) They currently have mostly STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subject material, but their plan is to expand soon and include the humanities, arts, and material for primary students.
There are many of you taking this course who teach in the latter subject areas, but if CK-12's model holds true, then they will have textbooks and workbooks in your disciplines w/i the next year or two.
Now you won't be taking this course in a year or two, so I'd like you to spend some time this week poring through CK-12's resources and practicing with the interface, so when that day comes you'll be the first one in your school to be using this great tool.
Let's start by watching this brief intro. video that my friend Neeru put together recently to introduce herself and CK-12.
You should be pretty excited and inspired about the possibilities at this point. I was when I first learned about them in 2008. I reached out to Neeru to explore building a collaboration and she flew me out to Silicon Valley in November '08 to meet with her, and her co-founder, about their work. I was so enthralled that I decided to add their resources to this course to help share their vision, and also to help contribute to the movement myself.
Imagine if our school districts began to use open education resources (OER) to 'collectively' write our own textbooks and curriculum material, and then began sharing them with each other. Sounds beyond reach doesn't it? But some systems and State Dept.'s of Education are trying just that. Read about Virginia for example. There's more about their plan here as well. And those are over four years old!
Now CK-12 just really began taking off around August of '08, so as I mentioned above, they don't have every discipline yet. But, like I said, they plan to broaden to other areas soon. Here's a brief demonstration to watch.
Now if this all scares you a little or you feel a little intimidated---that's justified. I'm sure that you have a lot of questions. The biggest concern I hear is about the quality of the information. We'll go into more detail about that in the next few sessions, but for now think about how many teachers stray from the textbooks in their class and instead use quality, credible information that they have screened using their professional judgment.
Now think about how much information teachers have in their heads. If they took the time to write it out, and share it freely with the world, we would have a tremendously powerful tool. I'd like you to spend the rest of your time trying to play with CK-12's Flexbooks. See if you can find one to use in your educational setting, and as I mentioned before, don't write it off so quickly b/c they don't have anything in your discipline or grade level just yet. The practice today, will pay off tomorrow.
For those of you that are really fast learners, you may watch this quick start guide.
But for most of us we want a slower (if you haven't already and want a slower step-by-step walk through) register on the site. Here's how:
How to browse for their content
Here comes the good part, "Searching" pause it as she goes through directions and try to recreate:
Basic Customization
To be perfectly honest, most people just access and use these Flexbooks, rather than make changes to them to personalize things for their educational setting, so we're going to skip the editing and creating from scratch directions, but you can watch them if you're interested, both titles are links.
When you're ready to move to the advanced stage, like adding images, links, multimedia, equations, or importing documents into your flexbook then you can view more tutorials here.
So, for those of you that think you have topics w/i CK12's database, please begin to experiment and collate your flexbook. Review the video tutorials a few times if you need to and remember, you can add additional content to these over time, perpetually improving upon your eTextbook.
For those of you that can't find content here, please focus your attention back on OER Commons (from Session 3) and begin to collate material, connect the content to CCSS, that you can use for your digital chapter or book. Remember, your over arching goal for taking this course is to create a digital chapter, multiple chapters, or even an entire eTextbook to support your discipline.
Good luck and as always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
