Welcome to another Friday and a look around at some great blog posts from Ontario Edubloggers. At least I think/hope it’s Friday. All the days seem the same anymore. My biggest fear it to post this on a Thursday or do a #FollowFriday on a day that isn’t Friday.
This is kind of a public service for those new to using a computer for serious things other than game playing or a refresher for those of us who know everything (or at least did at one time) and have forgotten but still think you can leap tall buildings. See the link in Tim King’s post about the Dunning-Kruger Effect if you think that’s you.
Tim’s post has seven things to check out. I hope that you never get to having to do #7 since both Microsoft and Apple have had some buggy updates as of late. Chances are, you’ll never have to get past #1 on his list.
Of course, one of Tim’s suggestions assumes that you have two devices, one of which isn’t working properly, to solve some problems.
Barring that, there are those that you can reach out to via your network if all else fails. I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t empathize when a colleague has an issue and offer support. Personally, I’ve helped out a few people and don’t mind if I have what I think might be a solution to their problem.
If the device in question is on loan from a school district for home use, there may be some restraints on what you can do by yourself.
Thanks to Sheila Stewart, I now have this earworm.
Sheila uses this post to share her present feelings and to pose a couple of hypothetical questions that will ultimately be answered as we go forward.
She notes that she finds comfort in music. I suspect that she’s not alone. I tend to have music on all the time anyway and I can understand that.
I especially like finding new music which is what this post did for me. It’s not the sort of song that you’re going to put on while you’re doing a workout though. The best part though, is that it sparked a bit of a private communication between myself and Sheila. That was great
We used the song as the intro to the This Week in Ontario Edublogs podcast this past week.
Authors, Mathematicians, Researchers, And Scientists: Are We Calling Them By Name?
So this post, from Aviva Dunsiger, started with a little popularity poll that she posted to Twitter to find out what people were eating for Easter. Thank goodness for blogs; I didn’t see the post when it originally went out but did catch it later on Aviva’s blg. FWIW, we had ham steak, brocolli, and potatoes with peach crumble for dessert. Normally, our house is filled with people and there’s a much more diverse menu but this year there was just the two of us.
I’m glad that Aviva didn’t call this a statistics exercise because there certainly was a limited sample size and audience. She did get the attention of @jennzia who offered some suggestions for a much richer approach.
Aviva did mention the use of professional terms like “scientists”, “mathematicians”, “authors and illustrators” and “researchers”.
I couldn’t resist – “I’m not a scientist but I play one at school”.
And that’s not a bad thing.
This was a short and to the point post from Lisa Corbett.
I found it rich in successes with things done on time (teachers love noting the time …) and kids remembering passwords after being away from school for three weeks. These are major successes.
Lisa also indicated that she had created a video to help families log in. From her description, there was a bit of a learning curve with the video taking 45 minutes and she’s confident that the next ones will go quicker.
There is another element that I can help but notice – Lisa’s class won’t be unique in having this experience. Now is absolutely the time for teachers to share resources. It lightens the load and the stress of doing everything yourself.
Apparently Lisa listened to the Wednesday voicEd Radio show because she did respond acknowledging how she appreciates it when people share and she’s made a connection with Melanie White for future ideas.
Folks, this is heart-warming – this is why we make connections to other educators. There is so much love and support at times.
Reflections: Week #1 Of Remote Learning
Rola Tibshirani shares how her Week #1 went.
In the classroom, we practice being passionate about each other and be forgiving to oneself when struggling. We support our feelings that no one is left alone to struggle nor to be overwhelmed.
This is an inspirational post where she outlines what the reality is in her regular face-to-face classes. It reads like a what’s what in terms of planning and implementation.
At least under normal conditions.
But, as we know, these are not normal conditions so it will be interesting to follow Rola and see how successful she can be moving forward.
I really like the fact that she closes the post with a message of mindfulness and self-caring. She includes a Twitter message from Kevin O’Shea about fatigue setting in.
It’s wise advice for all.
Well, Peter Skillen does for one.
Me for another.
I’ve been using all this time at home trying to find things to stay engaged. I did clean up my workspace to the point where I can’t find anything anymore. In addition to my regular habit of blogging, I have done a bit of programming. It’s nothing serious; I just get a kick out of putting together some instructions and pressing run to have the computer do something. It remains a mental rush and piece of satisfaction after all these years.
So, Peter does restate his personal philosophy of learning and coding in particular as a way to introduce the learner to his current passion – working with Code to Learn with details about how to get involved with the coding, examples, and links to upcoming learning webinars. Past sessions are online so you’re never without.
Online Learning in a Hurry – a Course in a Hurry
Online learning has become a priority for everyone in education and the University of Windsor’s Dave Cormier wasn’t left out.
Now, however, we at UWindsor Office of Open Learning (OOL) find ourselves facing the idea of ‘teaching teachers to teach online,’ not for few final weeks of emergency remote teaching, but for a term. At least.
Dave has taken to his blog to explain the process of putting this all together, well, in a hurry. Isn’t everyone in that boat?
The result is a combination of synchronous and asynchronous times. The structure for the synchronous is
- Introduction to Online learning
- Thinking through course goals online
- Finding content (includes learner/web as content)
- Creating content (includes lecture/text etc…)
- Assignments and assessments
- The student experience (reflection on their experience in the course and what that tells them about how students will experience it.
This isn’t a quick process and you can tell from a read that there is a great deal of thought that has gone into this.
Beyond this, the University of Windsor is also offering advice for K-12 educators through three online webinars. Details here. Registration required.
I hope that you can set aside some time to click through and read these posts in their entirety. As always, there’s great advice there from educators here in the province.
Then, make sure that you follow them online via Twitter.
- Tim King – @tk1ng
- Sheila Stewart – @sheilaspeaking
- Aviva Dunsiger – @avivaloca
- Lisa Corbett – @LisaCorbett0261
- Rola Tibshirani – @rolat
- Peter Skillen – @peterskillen
- Dave Cormier – @davecormier
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doug -- off the record 
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