SMARTBoard Lesson Review

In my grad class, we started looking at some SMART lesson plans on the SMART Exchange website, which has a bounty of wonderful lessons varying in subject, length, use, and grade level.

I decided to search a topic that I remember viewing in my observation classroom.  It was a lesson on telling time in an inclusive classroom.  So I typed in time and came up with this SMARTBoard Time Lesson submitted by user tleter.

Overall, the presentation is visually attractive and well put together.  What I really liked about this lesson is the ample opportunity for student involvement.  There are lots of practice questions to get students to come up and get involved.  Also, I enjoyed how the teacher instruction part of the lesson is shown in one manner and then the student practice part of the lesson has the students performing the same sort of tasks as they had been taught.  For example, on the teaching pages of the lesson, the instructions are to use the pen to draw in the hands, then later, when they practice, they are asked to do the same.

Some things I would change have to do with the consistency of the slides.  On slide 4, every other time has "o'clock" labeled.  I would keep all the same, or have none at all.  Also, on slides 7 and 10, the instructions on the page say "Type the correct time for each clock."  Unless I am unfamiliar, I do not see how one could easily type in the times.  Lastly, while I feel the interactive activities are good, I feel like there is much more that could be expanded upon.  Perhaps including some other multimedia, like a video  about telling time, would be a great addition to the lesson.

Also, I think many students may have difficulty with digital time compared to analog time, so maybe showing representations of the two forms next to each other could provide extra support.

What do you think of this lesson?  What's really great? What would you change?

Accessibility for All!

In my grad class, we are looking at the General Public License (GPL).  With GPL software, there is such a thing as free!  I am amazed that I haven't realized this before.  My brother was always the technology guru of the family and I would often tell him the woes of having no money, but needing some software.  He would always direct me to CNET Downloads where - unbeknownst to me at the time - I would download free software.  Now I am making the connection!

I think the ability to download, see and edit code, and redistribute the software is a really interesting idea.  It reminds me of Wikipedia in that no one is getting paid or making any profit by writing or sharing knowledge in this online encyclopedia.  Similarly, on Source Forge, Fresh Meat, and Open Science Project, people are coming together to collaborate on software or in the case of the latter, science projects, to create better products.  

So I looked into Source Forge for some software that I would like for free.  I was thinking about my love of music.  In one class in undergrad, I had to compose a short piece of music.  While I was using staff paper and pencil, I wanted to be able to create the music in a software program.  I used the likes of Sibelius and Finale, but these were expensive, and the free trial versions were very limited.  Sure enough, I type in music in the search bar and I come across MuseScore.  This sheet music generator has all the aspects of Finale that I enjoy, but it's free!  It plays the music, I can create notes, rests, ties, etc.  I can save, print, export, import - it's amazing!

As far as educational uses - I can think of a few.  I definitely would like to incorporate music into my teaching when I finally get into a classroom.  One way I could do this is by creating or downloading songs to sing or play on the piano.  Using this free resource - it would be a cinch!  Perhaps if I run an after school chorus or even if I want to incorporate mini music lessons into my classroom teaching, this would be a great tool to use!

What do you think of the GPL and sites like Open Source?  What cool software have you found and downloaded for free?  How could you use GPL software in the classroom?

The ABCs of PLEs - LMNOP?

Hello cyberworld!

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my absence.  But I am back now and ready to rock and roll!

So to catch up, I would first like to discuss my reaction to a very interesting read on the PLE (Personal Learning Environment) from Mohamed Amines' PLE list.  The article I read is entitled "Envisioning the Post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network" by Jonathan Mott.

My initial reaction to learning about Personal Learning Environments was what is with all of the abbreviations?  Just in skimming the passage I came across LMSs, CMSs, PLEs, PLNs and OLNs.  I guess it is constantly easier to talk about each one with the abbreviation, but I got confused, so perhaps you did to.  Here's a quick cheat sheet:

• LMS - Learning Management System
• CMS - Content/Curriculum Management System
• PLE - Personal Learning Environment
• PLN - Personal Learning Network
• OLN - Open Learning Network

Ok, we've now got that all cleared up.  I realized in my research of PLEs that there was a great deal of discussion, debate, and compromise amongst these terms.  I realized throughout my reading of this article I had some experience with LMSs - Echalk (High School) and Blackboard (College and now Grad School).  I often thought about my experiences with these LMSs as I read.  

The author points out three limitations of LMSs:

• "First, LMSs are generally organized around discrete, arbitrary units of time — academic semesters. Courses typically expire and simply vanish every 15 weeks or so, thereby disrupting the continuity and flow of the learning process.
• Second, LMSs are teacher-centric. Teachers create courses, upload content, initiate threaded discussions, and form groups. Opportunities for student-initiated learning activities in the traditional LMS are severely limited.
• Finally, courses developed and delivered via the LMS are walled gardens, limited to those officially enrolled in them. This limitation impairs content sharing across courses, conversations between students within and across degree programs, and all of the dynamic learning affordances of the read-write web."

The first point I was not made aware of until I read it! It was so true.  I can't even tell you how many times I've wanted to revisit an old class' notes or submissions after it had been erased.

The second point makes sense, and the third does as well - again, points I was not made aware of until reading this article.

So then the article talks about PLEs/PLNs.  Immediately I thought of the George Siemen's theory of Connectivism and realized how well PLEs align with the theory.  As the author stated in this article:

"Value accrues to the system as a whole because the more users or ‘nodes’ there are in a network, the more possible connections there are.”

So the benefits and weaknesses of LMSs and PLEs are wide not really complementary, but using the strengths of both, we can create an OLN. The author suggests that by taking both of these models and attempting to integrate them will result in this OLN.

I realized that the Grad course for which I am maintaining this blog (besides my own pleasure of writing blogs) is attempting to do just that, meld the two worlds of LMSs and PLNs to create an OLN.  Something that is:

• "Secure and open 
•  Integrated and Modular 
•  Private and Public 
•  Reliable and Flexible"

Or as the author put so eloquently in this article:

“However, a one-or-the-other choice between the two is a false choice between knowledge-dissemination technologies and community-building tools. We can have both.”

I know it is difficult to maintain an OLN, but if we keep trying, I know it will be excellent!

What is your experience with LMSs, CMSs, PLNs, PLEs, and/or OLNs? I would love to hear your thoughts!