• Why do I receive dirty looks when asked if I have my masters?
• Why do people instantly chuckle when I state that it is from Boise State University.  So what if it is 1,974 miles away and would take 1+ days if I didn’t stop the car?  This is the new global society.
• Why do I have to explain how I accomplished this to every single person?
• Why does everyone think that an ONLINE degree has lost credibility?  I just don’t get it at all.  Obviously, I have had this boiling over a little bit.

Here are some highlights of my experience…

• I received instruction in the topics of Internet, Technology in the Classroom, Quicktime, Instructional Message Design, Evaluation, duties of a Technology Coordinator, Computer Networks, and many other Web 2.0 topics.
• They allowed me to supplement my education with a practicum and transfer credit, which I appreciated A GREAT DEAL.  It seems like many institutions discourage the practice.  I attended the K12 Online Conference 2006 and transferred the credit back to Boise State University.  The practicum was a combination of my instruction at a technology camp for 5th to 8th graders, attendance at a summer institute for computer science, and a full detailed yearly plan for my AP Computer Science A course.  They are time zones away; however, they still allowed my local activities to count for some graduate credit.
• I did not have to go at the pace of my cohort.  It is popular around Ohio to join a cohort and take 2+ years to finish the graduate degree.  I finished my graduate degree in 4 consecutive semesters, all of which were during my first year of teaching.  Obviously I was able to COMPLETELY load up my Summers.
• Believe me, I felt the pressure of assignments and presentations.  In my opinion, it is much more time consuming preparing a presentation online.  You have to adjust the microphone settings, video settings, and then after you have submitted the presentation, make sure it runs smoothly via internet delivery.

This is not a salespitch, this is an explanation and some questions for those out there that give me the dirty/weird looks.  I know there are a great deal of people who believe online education is a complete loss of educational opportunities.  I am one who does not believe in an online HIGH SCHOOL education.  Does this make me a hypocrite, not at all.  I can only imagine how convenient an ONLINE degree would be for people with full families and jobs which put food on the table for all household members.  Feel free to comment on my ramblings (or BLAST me if you think I am a complete fake because my diploma comes via an online education).

GO BRONCOS!!!

There are still two weeks left in the school year, but time has really flown by at an frenetic rate.  It has been a great year, with many learning opportunities for the students and myself.  The great thing about teaching is that you are always learning, not at a workshop or institute necessarily, but from the students.  I can really see the point of Web 2.0 more than ever before.  The K12 Online Conference really helped me tie together the loose ends.  If you have not looked at some of the sessions from last year, visit the conference blog.

The organizers are starting to rumble for this upcoming conference in October.  I took the conference for graduate credit this time around; in turn, I learned a great deal about Web 2.0 tools and developed my own blogging skills further.

Post AP Computer Science Examination Time

There has been some talk on some major contributors in the Computer Science Education area about what topics, activities, and resources they are using AFTER the AP examination.  Brian Scarbeau is showing episodes the CODE ROOM as a way of entertaining students.  I really think it is a great idea.  David Jacobus is showing the students ASP.net using the Microsoft curriculum called Curlique.  Alfred Thompson points out that another teacher is teaching some XNA after the test.  All of these individuals have a great deal of experience compared to me, but I took the chance to do something completely different. 

I really only had about three weeks for post-AP exam activities with the class.  The first week was spent learning about applets.  At the end of the week, we were discussing layout managers, panels, frames, etc…  All of the sudden I received an email from the Technology Directory.  Every year, the district orders computer kits for the Computer Hardware class so they can learn how to put computer systems together.  Tasks include unpacking all material, hooking up all internal connections, adding all peripherals to the barebones computers, and maintaining their work area.  This year, they ordered a few more systems than the Computer Hardware has on their roster.  So my AP Computer Science A students combined with the Computer Hardware class (both are the same period) to build actual comptuer sytems.

I went home after making the decision to allow them to join in the making of computers systems, and I really felt great about my decision.  Here, we have been hammering at computer code the entire year, I felt we could take one week out of the time to actually build the device we depend so much on in class.  It is one thing if you have an infinite loop, but what if your jumpers are not configured correctly and the restart button turns into the power button.  What if the hard drive is not partitioned?  Part of the Computer Science A curriculum is learning about computer hardware.  My class truly learned, use sensory learning, instead of reading it in a book. 

1. There is absolutely no slamming, hitting, kicking, or any such action on any computer unless authorized.  Students that bang on the keyboard are subject to losing their keyboarding privileges (which means they miss the points for the assignment too)
2. Unless a teacher states otherwise, there no use of any ports other than the USB on the front for flash drives.  All we need is a students touching the back of computers and causing anything from ESD to pulling the plug of the different computers.
3. As far as software on the computer, if a student encounters something like a crash they almost always notify me immediately and I write down the computer number and error that occurred.  This is very important when it comes to reporting the problem.
4. The internet is constantly monitored by myself while the students work on projects or any other sort of activity.  If I suspect that a students is doing something that would sabotage current installations they are immediately removed from the computer until I determine what action to take.

These are some of the rules I use in the classroom.  I hate to sound like a drill sargeant, but there is time for fun WHEN the technology is properly maintained.

As a heavily worked first year teacher, I have only been able to get out part of this message.  My conscience tells me that something is missing with a lot of the students and their understanding of the blogs, despite the fact that we use them at least once every two weeks to response to an article or others opinions.  After watching this video, I realized that I need to think as a student once again and wonder what it was that I WANTED TO SEE from the teacher.  Next semester I get another chance at the same web development classes and really hope to drive home the point of Web 2.0.  This may not have been as inspiring as the Ron Clark Story; however, I am going to cherish the thoughts it created in my own mind.

I really appreciate the fact that he discusses the involvement of the teacher because I know both sides of the fence.  During several summers I have worked in IT/IS departments and have seen users who are lost and user how are far advanced.  Now, being a teacher, I am a user and knowing the other side of the fence, I know what to say and discuss with the technology coordinator and the assistants.  Like the presenter mentioned, the most efficient way of getting things done in the IT world / education is to communicate with everyone involved.  I certainly can appreciate this message.

1. Content Filtering blocks many websites such as deli.cio.us and nearly all wiki environments.  My own website which contains blogs and wikis.
2. School administrators who do not support nor know anything about these technologies.  Therefore, teachers are not given extra time for the preparation of these technologies or training.
3. The on-going education of teachers in Web 2.0.  I feel that I have bought into Web 2.0 and understand SOME of the in’s and out’s of the technology.  Teachers who have shown even the slightest interest in blogs, wiki, other other technologies are intimidated nearly immediately because they feel you have to be a computer expert.

I will continue to think about ways to change the mindset of others in education.

I had some extra time at the end of one of my programming classes and told my students about Google Earth and Flash Earth.   I challenged the students to find me a picture of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.  The Stratosphere has a roller coaster at the very top of the tall structure.  The students spent the next ten minutes searching the entire area of Las Vegas for a roller coaster looking building.

The next day, I made a comment about latitude and longitude of the Stratosphere.  Eventually the students realized that using forums or online mapping software to find the actual latitude and longitude is more effective.  I realized that my students were learning.  In the future year of teaching, I need to embrace this in my web development classes.

Picture of Stratosphere on Flash Earth…

Here are my thoughts about what even 30 extra minutes could mean with my colleagues…

1. A stronger sense of self within the identity of the school.  I would be able to feel out where I stand as far as discipline, curriculum, and presentation.

2.ALL students would more likely have a strong grasp of each department and their policies.  For instance, maybe if the mathematics department used the same homework policy in each class, it would benefit the entire school because all students would know what to expect

3. I would get to know my colleagues even more, including their positives and negatives.  I would be able to bounce ideas off all of them to get feedback from people with different opinions.

If a student wanted to write a paper on the Baltimore Orioles, he or she could log onto writely or any other online word processing website.  Once done with the assignment, the student could then submit the work online to the teacher or post on their blog.  The teacher could then keep a bloglines or deli.cio.us account that allows for easy access of this content. This is something that administrators don’t have a concept of because content filtering is more important in their eyes.

There are always the students who are attempting to game while they are supposed to be finishing a project, but it is the students that want to look up information on various topics such as “breast cancer” and “blue screen of death” that are being affected.  I really get frustrated when I say something to the students like, “does anyone know which amendment is the right to bear arms?”, and the great resource called the internet is turned into an access check.  Isn’t this part of education and the internet in general?  That students should know how to find information and learn from that information?

The teacher side of me is always on the look out for student access problems that deal with vandalism or system configuration.  Part of my job is to make sure that students can use the technology available in my classroom, however, as a regular teacher, my access is limited when a student wants to go on an educational resource that has been blocked.  My rational for each side is simply not that well developed, because I never really sat back and thought about most of this filtering.  Thanks partly to Bud Hunt and the k12 online conference, I have something to think about now.  THAT IS THE POINT of blogging, wikis, and podcasts.