Strong Communication is Key to Successful Online Learning

How can teachers in an online environment ensure successful communication? There are four skills that every online teacher must have.

1. An effective online teacher must be able to facilitate interaction and act as a motivator, guide, mentor and listener to the students.
2. An effective online teacher needs to be responsive to student and parent questions by maintaining open communication.
3. An effective online teacher must know web-based technologies that provide collaborative learning for the students.
4. An effective online teacher must be knowledgeable in synchronous and asynchronous instruction.

In addition to the above skills iNACOL also looked at what communication practices and policies help to make a successful online school. The report focused on three types of communication:

1. Communication between teachers and students.
2. Communication between teachers and parents.
3. Communication between students.

It is best for online teachers to have multiple ways to share information with parents and students since not all parents have access to technology. The iNACOL article found that:

1. Online teachers need to be multifaceted, facilitating instruction through synchronous and asynchronous technology. Teachers need to also provide tutoring to students, lead discussions, and evaluate student activities.
2. Online teachers need to utilize online communication, email and phone calls as needed.

To read the entire article from iNACOL please go to http://www.inacol.org/forum
Strong Communication is Key to Successful Online Learning
Posted October 6, 2009, by Allison Powell at iNACOL

It’s Time to Get Serious about Creativity in the Classroom

Freedom within a structure – what does that mean to you? How about making an assignment clear and focused, while allowing students the freedom to decide how to accomplish the task. That’s how an art teacher describes art as a creative place to develop creative minds.

When we ask students to learn long division the students are taught to follow certain steps that will help them understand how to arrive at the correct answer. That’s replication. When students are shown how to weave paper to make designs many students will replicate exactly what was shown. Students need some traditional learning to build valuable foundation skills and students need to develop creative minds.

According to the article one way to nurture and develop real creativity is to ask students to use their new skills to accomplish an assigned, more complex task and to allow students to be creative in the application of the new skills. Find ways that will allow all diverse learners to be successful. Structure assignments to allow students the freedom to be innovative and creative then watch what students will produce.

How can you develop creative minds in your class? What technology could your students use to think outside the box to complete more complex tasks and apply new skills?

To read the entire article please go to Edutopia:
http://www.edutopia.org/freedom-structure-balance-classroom

Can Retiring Boomers Transform Schools?

Teachers who retire from STEM fields could be placed in “learning teams” with classroom teachers to bring real-life lessons into the classroom instruction and give teachers some valuable support. That is the idea behind the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF), to create powerful, learning environments for students.

With a workforce of 78 billion baby boomers who are healthy and well-accomplished NCTAF suggests pairing strong professionals in STEM fields with classroom teachers to create strong learning experiences for the students.

According to NCTAF there are three forces driving change in education:

1. New Learning Age
   o Students need to develop skills in creativity and communication to be successful in a globally, integrated learning culture.
2. Open Learning Economy
   o Many network learning opportunities are available for teachers and students that can provide user-driven and user-created content.
3. Growing Number of Young Educators Learning the Profession
   o Many teachers in the first three to five years of teaching leave the profession because they feel unprepared, alone and unsupported. Other professional fields offer more opportunities for growth, to work in teams and collaborate.

NCTAF is looking for states that are adopting this 21st century strategy to be effective models for other states to follow. Think about the knowledge that STEM retirees have that could be combined with the fresh ideas and technology knowledge of our new teachers to see the possibilities of providing enhanced, real-world lessons to the students.

To read the entire article from eSchool News please go to:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=59818

Edutopia: Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media

Free resource from Edutopia

Here is a tips list from Edutopia on ways to make the most of the latest technologies and how to bring new media into the classroom. This is a list of practical ways to prepare students for 21st century success.

1. Break the Digital Ice
   a. Scavenger hunts, name games, and other introductory activities help teachers and students get acquainted so they can start building a positive learning community. Give this important classroom tradition a 21st-century makeover by integrating digital tools.
2. Find Your Classroom Experts
   a. Early in the school year, survey your students to find out about their digital smarts. You can take advantage of their technical know-how in the classroom, too, if you know where to look for help
3. Get Off to a Good Start
   a. Spend some time on self-management strategies now, and your investment will pay off all year long. A wide array of Web tools can help students get better at managing their own learning.
4. Think Globally
   a. By using online resources and new media tools for connecting, you will help your students see themselves as global citizens. One of the fastest ways to expand your students’ horizon is simply to connect your class with students who live somewhere else in the world.
5. Find What You Need
   a. Instead of digging into your own wallet, take advantage of online tools and community resources to find what you need—for nothing. One of the best-known programs is DonorsChoose.org (donorschoose.org), Public school teachers post a specific request on the Web site. Citizen philanthropists choose which requests they want to fund. Kids follow up with thank-you notes. What gets funded? Everything from musical instruments to picture books to classroom technology.
6. Make Meaning from Word Clouds
   a. Encourage lively conversation about words with the help of tools that turn text into visual displays. Wordle (wordle.net) is a free tool that turns a block of text, or simply a list of words, into a cloud pattern. Teachers across subject areas and grade levels are finding good uses for this simple-to-use tool. For example, as a prereading activity, you might use Wordle to highlight key vocabulary.
7. Work Better, Together
   a. Collaboration is a skill your students will need for the future. To help them work better together today, try using collaborative workspaces in the classroom. Google Docs, part of the Google for Educators toolkit (google.com/educators /tools.html), is one example of a secure, online place for managing work in progress. Once you help your students set up free accounts, they’ll be able to access their spreadsheets, documents, and presentations anytime, from any connected computer.
8. Open a Back Channel
   a. Creating a back channel is one strategy for inviting everyone into the conversation. Think of a back channel as a private chat room just for your classroom. Using an instant-messaging tool like iChat or Twitter for microblogging (twitter.com), students can pose questions, make observations while watching a video or student presentation, or share a dissenting viewpoint.
9. Make It Visual
   a. From document cameras to projectors to interactive whiteboards, these technologies make it easier than ever to use visuals to inspire curiosity, generate brainstorming, and engage diverse learners. Across grade levels and subject areas, good visuals help students build background knowledge as they tackle new concepts. You can use images to set the stage for a story set in a remote place or a far-away time. Primary sources from the vast Library of Congress (loc.gov/teachers) archives, for instance, help students “see” the time period for a story set during World War I.
10. Use the Buddy System
    a. Teachers can take advantage of a variety of communication tools to share ideas and strategies with colleagues.
    b. Classroom 2.0 (www.classroom20.com) appeals to both new users of Web 2.0 tools and more experienced practitioners. It’s a good place to throw out a question and get some quick answers.
    c. social-bookmarking tools like Delicious (delicious.com) enable you to organize, comment on, and share noteworthy resources.

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