My July 31 blog was about me getting worried about my presentation to a bunch of academicians over at my Unive during our Aug 4 Faculty Congress.
Well, I was able to cook up versions which you can find here:
a) Text Version @Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/site/iteacherguroako/engaging-learners
b) Dry Run recorded version @WizIQ: http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/594358-upou-faculty-congress-session-2-engaging-learners-dry-run
c) Tutorial Version @WizIQ: http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/159230-UPOU-Faculty-Congress-Session-2-Engaging-Learning
d) Bloglike-After-the-Presentation Version is as follows
I've been a school teacher for 20 years now. I love the idea of fixing classrooms to make it a conducive place where children learn and this includes: posting their works, visual aids and other printed matter; creating spaces for displays; choosing and arranging instructional resources and other materials. Part of the room preparation is visualizing small group and individual activities to make room for both collaborative and independent learning. I am able to think through my lessons when immersed in this kind of environment. The best part of classroom teaching is the fact that I still get to take the kids out anywhere on a trip, or even bring them to the outdoor area to extend their learning then come back to the classroom and learn together.
Hence when I took a leap from basic education to online teaching at the higher ed level, I found my Moodle classroom such a bore. To me then, it felt like a cubicle, with files of folders, a mere storage of documents with a table in the middle for those who happen to drop by and consult. Sometimes, I even felt like I was merely talking to myself and getting guilty for doing such a lousy job at online teaching. If I were just some government employee, I can simply be content with this set up... besides I get paid at the end of the day. I have other lives to live anyways, why bother.
But I am a teacher...I am nothing if I don't see or feel the presence of my students. How do I engage them to be able to deserve my pay? Am I even worth my title: Assistant Professor=Prof V to some? Am I cut out to teach at the higher ed in the first place?!?
Why should I even allow my Moodle course site to limit what I want to do? A good colleague of mine (a favorite in fact) showed me Google sites and it has been my toy for 2 years before I finally decided to set up a supplementary course guide/course site to make me visually engaged as a teacher. Putting my course out there, makes it visible and even open to criticisms but who cares? I want it out there like some poster/display students can view anytime. I take it as a challenge to improve and build on my course every now and then.
I just don't know whether my students find that good--the idea of moving back and forth from Moodle to Google Sites. But then, let them move with me and explore as well. Nothing to lose.
From another good colleague (in my top 5 faves), I learned a few tricks from his Science Tech & Society course site at Moodle when he gave me permission to view his classroom. Of course it made clear to me that he was doing something I didn't so why rest on what I have. Then from a younger colleague teaching Photography via Moodle, I also asked for access, to check whether my course site is as good as his and if there was a trick I haven't learned yet....(yeah, I'm a competitive female!) I mean, who wants to be labelled as an old, boring faculty member. I managed to discover < > = 'toggle html source'. My course now has interesting images and embeds of sorts...like some chocolate cake.
But you see, even as a basic ed teacher, visuals aren't enough. Discussions over at my Moodle DB's can be reliable to some extent, but the slideshow which go with the forum and past F2F lectures still seem static to me. I don't even know what to say over a moodle/google/skype chat as my chatbox is my space for socialization with colleagues and a few students. As for FB, never mind...I'd rather hangout in our Community Site, a virtual forum mounted on phpbb for other purposes which serve the program and the undergrads I'm handling...not my verrry busy grad level students. Besides, running a class in the hallway or some cafe/bar can be too distracting.
At last...WizIQ :) :) :) Here comes the icing+filling on my Google Site/Moodle chocolate cake. Yessss, I can run lectures and share my research finds to students. I get direct feedback and comments, and for once be the one to receive stars=ratings for my teaching performance. I hear student voices and chatter (rooster crowing as well), it makes me feel alive. I review the recorded versions of my classes and I get to examine my facial expressions and oral language. (And boy, I need to practice and so I do pilot tests/ dry runs, lol).
With a few cosmetic touches, I look cute enough to draw attention and sustain it with good content delivery via my powerpoint and screenshare. I get to set the tone and at the same time, sense my students' presence, so I know when it's time to brainstorm and listen to their concerns as I pass on the audio control. When I need to scratch my nose, I turn off my video and the class goes on as usual. They hear me sniffle of course but hey, that makes me more human! And they're free to sniffle back by the way. One time, my son kissed me goodnight and of course I heard an "awwwh' from the background.
Once I tried an F2F, with the live class (like a webinar) for other students who couldn't be with us. In the future perhaps, I should invest in an external mic, or be better skilled with simply switching headsets from me to others in class--that should still do.
During my earlier trial stints at WizIQ, I used the media player to show one of Enrique Iglesia's milder videos so we can listen to the lyrics of Heartbeat for my session on Poetry 4 Beginners, a class I set up with my labrats specifically to test the WizIQ features. Now I get to enjoy entering my class 15 minutes earlier to upload content while I play the music of Ke$ha (hmmm, I can make my own MTV here at WizIQ!!!..if only it can make my video space bigger to occupy the whiteboard space).
Lately, I've been into watching recorded classes of exemplary teachers at WizIQ and learning lots about their teaching styles and how they skillfully manage the WizIQ live classroom features and simultaneously manage their online teaching whilst students manage their online learning.
Recently, thru WizIQ, I learned about IT4ALL=Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning where I participated in a class to learn more about Personalized E-Portfolios. With classmates from different parts of the world, I got to benchmark what I know and learn additional tools for mounting my own ePortfolio whilst encouraging my student-teachers to come up with their own. I now have research blending with teaching and my own learning. It's making me whole and scholarly, naxxx.
Yes, it is quite obvious I now enjoy having my class at Moodle and adding more apps at my Google Sites and to both platforms actually. Now and even more with WizIQ, it seems that my classroom teaching is complete. This is like me, setting up my class (moving furniture and doing this and that) to engage myself into teaching, and only hope that my students are equally engaging and learning with me.
I'll worry about that later on. For now, I deserve to eat my sweets. Let me have my gggggoogle, mmmmoodle chocolate cake with the WizIQ icing and eat it, too! Online teaching can be as yummmie, you see.
Wanna taste my chocolate cake? I've shared enough so go ahead and make your own with this basic recipe: Google + Moodle + WizIQ. Have funnn :)
Well, I was able to cook up versions which you can find here:
a) Text Version @Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/site/iteacherguroako/engaging-learners
b) Dry Run recorded version @WizIQ: http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/594358-upou-faculty-congress-session-2-engaging-learners-dry-run
c) Tutorial Version @WizIQ: http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/159230-UPOU-Faculty-Congress-Session-2-Engaging-Learning
d) Bloglike-After-the-Presentation Version is as follows
I've been a school teacher for 20 years now. I love the idea of fixing classrooms to make it a conducive place where children learn and this includes: posting their works, visual aids and other printed matter; creating spaces for displays; choosing and arranging instructional resources and other materials. Part of the room preparation is visualizing small group and individual activities to make room for both collaborative and independent learning. I am able to think through my lessons when immersed in this kind of environment. The best part of classroom teaching is the fact that I still get to take the kids out anywhere on a trip, or even bring them to the outdoor area to extend their learning then come back to the classroom and learn together.
Hence when I took a leap from basic education to online teaching at the higher ed level, I found my Moodle classroom such a bore. To me then, it felt like a cubicle, with files of folders, a mere storage of documents with a table in the middle for those who happen to drop by and consult. Sometimes, I even felt like I was merely talking to myself and getting guilty for doing such a lousy job at online teaching. If I were just some government employee, I can simply be content with this set up... besides I get paid at the end of the day. I have other lives to live anyways, why bother.
But I am a teacher...I am nothing if I don't see or feel the presence of my students. How do I engage them to be able to deserve my pay? Am I even worth my title: Assistant Professor=Prof V to some? Am I cut out to teach at the higher ed in the first place?!?
Why should I even allow my Moodle course site to limit what I want to do? A good colleague of mine (a favorite in fact) showed me Google sites and it has been my toy for 2 years before I finally decided to set up a supplementary course guide/course site to make me visually engaged as a teacher. Putting my course out there, makes it visible and even open to criticisms but who cares? I want it out there like some poster/display students can view anytime. I take it as a challenge to improve and build on my course every now and then.
I just don't know whether my students find that good--the idea of moving back and forth from Moodle to Google Sites. But then, let them move with me and explore as well. Nothing to lose.
From another good colleague (in my top 5 faves), I learned a few tricks from his Science Tech & Society course site at Moodle when he gave me permission to view his classroom. Of course it made clear to me that he was doing something I didn't so why rest on what I have. Then from a younger colleague teaching Photography via Moodle, I also asked for access, to check whether my course site is as good as his and if there was a trick I haven't learned yet....(yeah, I'm a competitive female!) I mean, who wants to be labelled as an old, boring faculty member. I managed to discover < > = 'toggle html source'. My course now has interesting images and embeds of sorts...like some chocolate cake.
But you see, even as a basic ed teacher, visuals aren't enough. Discussions over at my Moodle DB's can be reliable to some extent, but the slideshow which go with the forum and past F2F lectures still seem static to me. I don't even know what to say over a moodle/google/skype chat as my chatbox is my space for socialization with colleagues and a few students. As for FB, never mind...I'd rather hangout in our Community Site, a virtual forum mounted on phpbb for other purposes which serve the program and the undergrads I'm handling...not my verrry busy grad level students. Besides, running a class in the hallway or some cafe/bar can be too distracting.
At last...WizIQ :) :) :) Here comes the icing+filling on my Google Site/Moodle chocolate cake. Yessss, I can run lectures and share my research finds to students. I get direct feedback and comments, and for once be the one to receive stars=ratings for my teaching performance. I hear student voices and chatter (rooster crowing as well), it makes me feel alive. I review the recorded versions of my classes and I get to examine my facial expressions and oral language. (And boy, I need to practice and so I do pilot tests/ dry runs, lol).
With a few cosmetic touches, I look cute enough to draw attention and sustain it with good content delivery via my powerpoint and screenshare. I get to set the tone and at the same time, sense my students' presence, so I know when it's time to brainstorm and listen to their concerns as I pass on the audio control. When I need to scratch my nose, I turn off my video and the class goes on as usual. They hear me sniffle of course but hey, that makes me more human! And they're free to sniffle back by the way. One time, my son kissed me goodnight and of course I heard an "awwwh' from the background.
Once I tried an F2F, with the live class (like a webinar) for other students who couldn't be with us. In the future perhaps, I should invest in an external mic, or be better skilled with simply switching headsets from me to others in class--that should still do.
During my earlier trial stints at WizIQ, I used the media player to show one of Enrique Iglesia's milder videos so we can listen to the lyrics of Heartbeat for my session on Poetry 4 Beginners, a class I set up with my labrats specifically to test the WizIQ features. Now I get to enjoy entering my class 15 minutes earlier to upload content while I play the music of Ke$ha (hmmm, I can make my own MTV here at WizIQ!!!..if only it can make my video space bigger to occupy the whiteboard space).
Lately, I've been into watching recorded classes of exemplary teachers at WizIQ and learning lots about their teaching styles and how they skillfully manage the WizIQ live classroom features and simultaneously manage their online teaching whilst students manage their online learning.
Recently, thru WizIQ, I learned about IT4ALL=Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning where I participated in a class to learn more about Personalized E-Portfolios. With classmates from different parts of the world, I got to benchmark what I know and learn additional tools for mounting my own ePortfolio whilst encouraging my student-teachers to come up with their own. I now have research blending with teaching and my own learning. It's making me whole and scholarly, naxxx.
Yes, it is quite obvious I now enjoy having my class at Moodle and adding more apps at my Google Sites and to both platforms actually. Now and even more with WizIQ, it seems that my classroom teaching is complete. This is like me, setting up my class (moving furniture and doing this and that) to engage myself into teaching, and only hope that my students are equally engaging and learning with me.
I'll worry about that later on. For now, I deserve to eat my sweets. Let me have my gggggoogle, mmmmoodle chocolate cake with the WizIQ icing and eat it, too! Online teaching can be as yummmie, you see.
Wanna taste my chocolate cake? I've shared enough so go ahead and make your own with this basic recipe: Google + Moodle + WizIQ. Have funnn :)
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