WEEK:four

Team Fozzie Online Assessment Tool Box 
Our group was able to explore several tools for online assessment. The tools are varied with unique benefits, challenges and application possibilities. We now have a tool box that equips us with a variety of tools. Each tool has been broken down to determine what type of activity it would best assess. We now know that survey monkey can be used for quizzing, blogger can be used for students to reflect, Vyew can help with collaborative work and Audacity can be used in making online discussions more personal. In the end, we all feel slightly more equipped to appropriately choose online tools for activities and, are more prepared to purposefully use these tools to aide students in their online learning.

Click to see the WEEBLY that we created in order to share all the great tools that we researched. 
 

MORE TOOLS THAT WHERE DISCUSSED 
Additionally, other teams produced toolboxes and shared their research with the class. This was extremely beneficial and allowed me to learn about online tools exponentially. Many tools were discussed this week. However, I have found that for sanity sake, I must focus only on technologies that I believe will work best in my classroom, and forget the ones I will not use. Some of the tools shared by my peers that I would try in my classroom are as follows:

• Google forms for surveys & quizzes

Helpful Links

The following link takes a close look at how the information is translated onto the spreadsheet and shows an example of a substantive written question/response.

https://sites.google.com/site/gfexamples/use-of-identifier 

In the following link you will find helpful information (slides 15-20) and information about the use of a grading application listed in the drop-down window under “gadgets.”   When activated, this application provides a comprehensive grading feature to be used along with Google Form (slide #12).  

https://jagmail.southalabama.edu/images%5C32_Ways_Faculty.pdf 

Google Forms Home Page: http://www.google.com/drive/apps.html?usp=ad_search&gclid=COb74t_Hsb0CFVKDfgodk0AAAQ 

At this site, you will find Google Docs, and as you scroll down you will locate Google Forms listed with a green icon to the left of the heading, “Forms”  click on “Create” and experiment with your new form.  

• Mural.ly for online collaborative brainstorming & presentations

Helpful Links

Mural.ly website

Design in action 

Getting started with Murally

• Blogger for reflection & portfolio & teaching

Helpful Links

http://Blogger.com

http://blogger-videotutorials.blogspot.com/

• EyeJot for Video Messages

Helpful Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1eZyTeB-cc

• Weebly for website or blog or presentation

Helpful Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn6prJTBKJY

WEEK: three (continued)

The perfect storm... too much or a dream come true?
If we learned anything from reading and discussing "30 emerging technologies for e-learning." — Bonk, Curtis. (2004) it is that the possibilities for online assessment are expansive and in a constant state of flux. For some, this can be overwhelming while others may find this to be an assessment paradise of never ending possibilities. Our group discussed this perfect storm of technologic possibilities in assessment. Our discussions led us to a realization that while we may have the confidence to go where no educator has ever gone before that we must be careful not to overwhelm educators and students with technology, and we must be evermore careful to use technologies appropriately.  

Objectives should inform the choice in media
Useing technologies in online assessment takes careful planning. It is all too easy for educators to get excited about technology and completely disregard what they wanted students to accomplish to begin with. Moreover, reading some articles and checking out some websites such as THIS HOW TO WRITE OBJECTIVES helped us consider how to choose an online assessmnent more appropriately.  Technologies should be chosen based on their abilities to aid the students in their achievement in the pursuit of learning objectives that are carefully created with the end result in mind. Other helpful links where SMART OBJECTIVES, and WHERE DO I STAND. 

WEEK: three

Team Fozzie Bear was born and we set forth to practice our collaborative learning skills. We challenged ourselves in discussions concerning online assessment techniques and online collaboration tools. It was difficult at first to work with people in different time zones and with different (all very busy) schedules. We needed to get very organized and decide what was the best way to contact each other and figure out how each persons unique skills and schedule could help or hinder the collaborative process. We quickly chose a leader and determined how we would communicate together. We chose/assigned tasks for each group member, and used discussion forums to share our learning. I imagine if I was to use online group learning I may use blogger, Google Docs, Google Hang Outs and Google plus to help my high school students be successful in their quest for knowledge.
It isn't that Google is the only online tools to use... but I find it so much easier if everyone is using similar tools in the group and if all of the tools are centrally located. A Google account and all its many tools are free and easy to obtain.
I would ask/teach students how to use Google's free tools for communicating via emails, live chat and video chat, and I would show student how to collaborate on document/presentation in live time with the option to live chat at the same time.
There are many great tools out there and I am learning as I go, but Google tools are by far the most convenient free tools that I have found so far, and they are great for collaborating in multiple modalities in real time or otherwise.
However, the group decided to use Weebly. I have never used this, but I am looking forward to trying it out and I will be discussing this next week after getting some experience with it. 

WEEK: two

This week I read about the uses and benefits of blogs in education. I created a blog for this class in an attempt to catalog artifacts, reflect on learning and share new knowledge concerning online assessment. The readings led me to several realizations on how blogs can be used in the classroom, and I have made a choice to implement blogs in a few new ways.

WEEK: one

•  I learned about "netiquette", and how to be respectful, honest and insightful while participating in online discussions. I found a helpful website that helped me think of ways to be respectful online.  

• We all contributed to a class wiki. I have never edited a wiki before, so it was a little rough going at first. Once I got onto the wiki it was easy and I can see how this type of collaboration could get students engaged in their learning.

•  I learned that a simple student survey can be used as an assessment and a tool to quickly get to know your students needs. It is easy to make surveys through SURVEY MONKEY , Google Forms and many others sites/apps. 

•  My personal favorite activity was a discussion that asked the question what movie has a deep meaning in your life. This was a creative way to get to know each other. It was a little difficult to choose just one movie. However, it was a chance to reflect on my life and it was very interesting to read all the other responses. 

ABOUT: me

I am an art and design teacher taking the online assessment class at UW Stout. I teach face to face at the high school level, but I use online tools in my teaching frequently. 

This is my second class in the UW Stout online instruction series. I took the INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN: e learning class last summer and made a blog as well. I am excited to learn more from this class and hope that one day I might be able to teach online classes. 

For now, I enjoy teaching face to face art and design classes at Cary-Grove HS in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and I use the techniques from these online classes to help design and assess digital learning in my art and technology classes. 

CHECK OUT THE BLOGS I USE WITH MY STUDENTS AT:
http://wisservat.blogspot.com/
http://wisserdesign1.blogspot.com/