Ready.Gov
Ready.gov I passed the billboard about 200 times this year on my way to work and often thought about going to the site to fill out whatever form awaits us. The sign says it helps families prepare for emergencies. Now that both of my kids are home from college, along with a third college student, and there are no restaurants for eating out and TJ Maxx is closed... I wonder about the Ready.gov site. I will probably visit soon.
I have spent the last week converting my face to face lessons to online lessons. This morning I got up and started planning how I could do my Sunday School lessons online. I feel fortunate that my work is allowed to continue when so many people can't go to their jobs. Not only can I work from home, but the prospect of preparing a course on Educational Technology in a period of "emergency remote teaching" is (sorry to say it) exciting... and riddled with anxiety.
Like everyone in my profession, I am analyzing my syllabus to see how my objectives can be met well in an online environment. In addition, I am analyzing the topics I historically cover in light of the current crisis. While most teachers have a content area like Spanish (my favorite) or Math... my job is to teach how to teach effectively using the technologies we are scrambling to utilize well in the coming weeks. I expect that I will learn far more than my students as I experience my own successes and failures and have the opportunity to observe the same in the classrooms around me (3 college students under my roof). We are living through a great educational experiment.
Ramblings...
My course is typically 2 credits and covers 7 weeks. The extended spring break has resulted in a shortened semester, so I will have 6 weeks - 12 classes. So far I have added a session on Emergency Remote Teaching, created many pre-recorded lessons using YouTube, Microsoft Stream and Screencastify, and altered nearly all of my activities. I noticed on Thursday that the video hosting sites were having difficulty loading my mp4s. Google noted that the quantity of uploads was the cause.
As a Tech in Ed instructor, I have been thankful for the opportunity to attend many training sessions (our Center for Teaching & Learning is awesome) and lead 2 workshops (K-12) and a Zoom help session (higher ed). These interactions have helped me to prepare for my own students as I see the gaps in knowledge in regard to educational technology preparedness.
I am three days from Class #1 and I have only 4 classes prepared (2 weeks). I am a little concerned that I will become sick and not have my lessons converted in time.
A few hacks...
I have spent the last week converting my face to face lessons to online lessons. This morning I got up and started planning how I could do my Sunday School lessons online. I feel fortunate that my work is allowed to continue when so many people can't go to their jobs. Not only can I work from home, but the prospect of preparing a course on Educational Technology in a period of "emergency remote teaching" is (sorry to say it) exciting... and riddled with anxiety.
Like everyone in my profession, I am analyzing my syllabus to see how my objectives can be met well in an online environment. In addition, I am analyzing the topics I historically cover in light of the current crisis. While most teachers have a content area like Spanish (my favorite) or Math... my job is to teach how to teach effectively using the technologies we are scrambling to utilize well in the coming weeks. I expect that I will learn far more than my students as I experience my own successes and failures and have the opportunity to observe the same in the classrooms around me (3 college students under my roof). We are living through a great educational experiment.
Ramblings...
My course is typically 2 credits and covers 7 weeks. The extended spring break has resulted in a shortened semester, so I will have 6 weeks - 12 classes. So far I have added a session on Emergency Remote Teaching, created many pre-recorded lessons using YouTube, Microsoft Stream and Screencastify, and altered nearly all of my activities. I noticed on Thursday that the video hosting sites were having difficulty loading my mp4s. Google noted that the quantity of uploads was the cause.
As a Tech in Ed instructor, I have been thankful for the opportunity to attend many training sessions (our Center for Teaching & Learning is awesome) and lead 2 workshops (K-12) and a Zoom help session (higher ed). These interactions have helped me to prepare for my own students as I see the gaps in knowledge in regard to educational technology preparedness.
I am three days from Class #1 and I have only 4 classes prepared (2 weeks). I am a little concerned that I will become sick and not have my lessons converted in time.
A few hacks...
- I am putting QR codes in my video lectures so that studens can scan them on their phone - this means teaching how to scan a QR earlier in my syllabus than usual.
- I have found new tools such as more editing features and stickers that I can use in Flipgrid. I am loving this app. I have used it for a couple of years, but it is great for our current scenario.
- I am using Zoom regularly to meet with others from my university.
- I am learning to use Microsoft Teams.
- As I prepare this new course, I am keeping in mind its future use as an online course.
- I am using some low tech assignments such as drawing a mindmap of the chapter/article and taking a pic to upload, as well as infographic creation in Venngage.
- A student worker will attend my live sessions to monitor the chat.
- How will I have students display their learning of presentation software like Pear Deck or Nearpod? I like to have them demo their work with "students" logged in.
- Will anyone show up for my live sessions?
- Will I be able to keep up with the grading when 180 submissions come in each Friday?
- Is Friday midnight a good due date?
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