Shu-NCrew

In 1971, Albert Mehrabian defined communication as being made up of three things -words, tone of voice, and body language. He then clarified that our tone makes up 38% of our communication, and body language makes up 55%. In effect, we only need words for about 7% of the total message. Consider what this means for students who are not used to communicating in written form -then consider what it means for teachers who aren’t used to communicating solely in written form, which is often what online teachers do!

Not every teacher out there is an English teacher with perfect grammar and gift for words.  That’s ok; not everyone has to be a wordsmith to be a great online teacher.  The trick is to remember that how you come across in your writing is who you are to your online students -it’s 100% your identity.  The introduction calls at the beginning of the course are important too -don’t call students when you’re tired or stressed.  But students ‘hear’ your voice more in the daily announcements than anywhere else.  This article is about how to take advantage of this fact and use it to the students’ advantage.

What teachers have to understand in online education is that a teacher’s identity doesn’t exist behind a desk or in a classroom -it exists in the mind of the student, and the teacher’s identity is completely based on the perception of the student.  This perception can only come from the words and the punctuation on a page or sometimes the voice on a telephone.

This is a powerful tool if online teachers understand it and use it to the advantage of their students.  Online teachers are never frustrated.  Online teachers are never negative, sarcastic, stuffy-headed, or angry about outside issues.  Face to face teachers, however, have the distinct disadvantage of being human.  Here are some ground rules for using this powerful concept:

1.  Never, under any circumstances, ever, be sarcastic:  Why?  When teachers are kidding around with their face to face students, it’s obvious they’re joking because of body language and tone.  When teacher identity exists in a student’s head and there is no body language to go by, sarcasm can sound like nasty negativity.  In one kid’s head it might sound funny, but in another kid’s head it can sound downright mean.  It all depends on who that kid is and what experiences the kid has had with teachers in the past.

2.  Always be positive, supportive, and enthusiastic.  Always.  Why?  Even if you’re writing to say that Little Johnny hasn’t logged in for a month and he’s failing, the purpose of the phone call is to get Little Johnny to do the work in class and be successful.  If your tone is positive, supportive, and enthusiastic, then Johnny is motivated.  If your tone is accusatory and negative, then the purpose of the communication gets muddy.

3.  In announcements, always praise how awesome the kids are and how great they’re all doing.  Psychologically, teenagers want to fit in.  In most cases, the students in the course are spread across the state.  How they’re actually doing is irrelevant.  What you’re saying is ‘be like everyone else.’  If you pay attention to advertising, you’ll know that this is a powerful message for teenagers.  If Little Johnny feels like he’s the only one falling behind, he will be much more motivated to catch up.  Again, it’s perception we’re capitalizing on here.  It doesn’t matter how the class is actually doing.  In the announcements, everybody is ‘the best online students you’ve ever had!”  This is also known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

4.  Always cc’ parents and dla’s on emails to students.  Why?  If your tone is always positive, supportive, and enthusiastic, then it won’t feel like you’re telling on a student.  Instead, the magic words are ‘I’m including the adults who are your support structure on this email so we can get you some help to make sure you’re successful.’  Remember, it’s not about telling on Little Johnny; it’s about helping him succeed.

5.   Last, be transparent and be viral.  Tell students about the concept of being positive, supportive, and enthusiastic.  Don’t respond to what they say if they email you when they’re frustrated.  Instead, respond to how they said it and address the issue directly.  Encourage them to contact you before they get so frustrated in the future, and then explain to them that being popular and getting what you want via written communication requires a positive, supportive, and enthusiastic tone.  Really make them understand that being withdrawn and acting all ‘cool’ in school comes off as slack and uninvolved in online education -nobody is going to see fashionable clothes, but classmates will hear a kind word.  Assure them that being positive, supportive, and enthusiastic will make other students want to know what they have to say!  Modeling this kind of communication requires patience, because it’s easy to fire back when you, as a teacher, get an email from a student that feels like the kid is using an inappropriate tone.  Take a deep breath, and remember that students are new to written communication, and the tone that appears in the email is a reflection of the student’s frustration due to pressure to succeed.  Approach the student with the knowledge that you can make the frustration go away and you can help this student communicate better.  This is a key concept for online teaching, because written communication is crucial in this job.

Here is a very small and simple tutorial on how to do something spectacular this holiday season to wow your family and guests. Have a maintenance free virtual fireplace and all the holiday music you can shake a stick at.  Just click ‘Shu’ below!

-from Shu:

Tags: Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Directories, Holidays, Home and Garden, Languages, Programming, Shopping

For years I’ve taught writing online just like I’ve taught writing face to face.

this is the slow way

Typical face to face run-through: A student turns a paper in while in a face to face class, and I write all over it in red ink, giving the student tons of valuable feedback. The student gets the paper back, looks at the grade on the top, and then crams it into the trans-dimensional black hole he carries around on his back. The time I’ve spent reviewing the paper -not satisfying. Typical virtual run-though: student turns in paper, and I use Word’s track changes function or the comments function to write all over it. I’ve also used screenjelly to give individual 3-minute feedback screencasts for individual papers. The student looks at the grade book to see how he did, and he ignores the feedback almost every time. I’ve even set up easy extra credit opportunities embedded in the feedback to see if they’re reviewing the feedback. They aren’t. As every English teacher knows, the value of the paper is in that feedback -it’s the learning that’s going to take place. How do we show them that consistent errors can be remedied, improving and maturing the writing process manually? That was the question I wrestled with when I came up with this new process using google docs.

Gotta Love Google!

Imagine using student work as the canvas from which they learn and collaborate. Imagine showing them, using their own writing, how to write better… then giving them work to show their learning… using their older writings! Imagine getting them to collaborate with people in the community like parents and other students! This is all possible. This will make the process relevant. First, remember that this is like coaching and evaluation -the google doc is where the coaching happens, but the evaluation is still happening in the LMS -in this case, blackboard. In short, students will still turn in their work like they always have through blackboard. Second, there are going to be some how-to’s. Here are the things students will have to be able to do. 1. They must get a google account. 2. The must open a google doc and make it a public document, editable by anyone. Then they must get the url for that doc and share it with their teacher. In all reality, this’ll take about 5 minutes to learn how to do. They probably already know how to do this. The concept is fairly basic. A student produces a paper in rough draft form, and then his teacher gives him feedback based on the paper. The student continues to work on it until it’s polished, and then he turns it in. Then, rather than coming up with a new document, he writes his next paper directly under the first one in the google doc. All the while, the teacher is leaving feedback. Personally, I’d use google sidewiki for this.  It’s pretty awesome. Here is a quick explanation: It’s not entirely necessary to use sidewiki though; instructors can also use the ‘comments’ feature in google docs. If it were me, I’d make sure to include canned screenjelly presentations in my comments for direct instruction. As the course progresses, students begin to correct consistent errors in every paper, not just the current one. As their writing improves, so will each and every writing product. The instructor would naturally give credit where credit is due as old writing products improve. Students will see the relevance of feedback in this way. Below is a nuts and bolts tutorial on how this will work. How to share a google doc: Keep in mind, the feedback is the most important part of this process. Using google sidewiki, anyone can give feedback on the paper and the student can change the paper as a result of the feedback he’s given. Two ways a teacher might give feedback are using google sidewiki and also using the add comments feature of google docs. Here is a tutorial on these methods: Students might not be able to access google sidewiki via a toolbar link due to their technology departments protecting them from innovation, but that’s ok. They will be able to see comments using this tool after they enter their url: http://digitalinspiration.com/tools/google/sidewiki/ Last, there is also a tool you can use that’ll make this all work.  Asking students to email you every time they update or revise their work is, in my opinion, asking too much.  Instead, use this little tool to make any web page work like an rss feed.  Every time it changes, you get an update in google reader… which, of course, is free with your google account!  Here is

how it works: This process is still in development, so I’m looking forward to hearing developmental ideas and encouragement in the comments. Thanks everyone! shu

Tags: essay writing, Google, Google Doc, google reader, Microsoft Word, online learning, revision, Search Engines, Searching, teaching writing, technology, Web page, writing process

When I started working full time from home, I thought about how wonderful it would be to work right beside my kitchen with all the technology I needed in one place -my office. I thought how great it would be to be able to be mobile without necessarily having to go anywhere.
I work out with my wonderful personal trainer, Tara Wind, a few times every week, but I’m just not dropping the weight fast enough. I don’t think an hour of working out a day is enough when I’m sitting on my rear end for the other 23 hours.
Today, in virtual teacher fashion, I devised a more interesting way to approach moving these old bones on a regular basis. It involves a timer and a virtual exercise wheel, and the video below will explain the basics of the idea in less than 3 minutes, thanks to screenjelly.
Right now the exercises are basic. I’m planning to work with Tara (I’m sure she’ll help!) to get more specific and even educational on the exercise descriptions. If you use this tool, make a note on the comments. Also, make a note on the comments if you’d like to see any new exercises included in the list of random exercises the wheel might land on!

Here are some helpful links:
Timer: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch/
Presentation embedded below: http://screenjel.ly/p45mBsqU6CI
Link to the workout wheel spreadsheet: bit.ly/4tgbWB

Tags: exercise, workouts for virtual teachers

I’m piloting this new idea in my Blackboard class right now, and it’s one I approached carefully. Teachers should add a www.groupboard.com whiteboard in announcements so that students have instant access to live chat with each other in online classes. Basically, www.groupboard.com allows you to have an online interactive white board with chat features in your announcements -I use them as a permanent announcement and add the regular announcements below it.
When kids login, they see how many other students are working on the class at that time. They can collaborate, tutor each other, and help with course issues!
Keep in mind that some students don’t do well with anonymity in online classes, so make sure you preface this feature with a reminder to stay positive, supportive, and enthusiastic to make great online friends. Keep checking on the class periodically and scan the chat lines to make sure everyone is playing nice.
Because this is such a great tool, I’m going to add a great screencast below going over it and some of its potential.  Enjoy, and I’m sure you can see how valuable a tool this will be for your students in an online class!

Shu

Tags: interaction, online learning, online whiteboard, virtual school

Changing the system, changing incentive and motivation, and changing the approach we take to online education… with some interesting hypotheses. Enjoy the presentation:

North Carolina Virtual Schools has an end of course survey that collects data about student performance, student perceptions of teacher performance, and ways to improve how NCVPS reaches the needs of learners across the state.  I checked it out.  It’s a nice survey. 

Because of the perspective of the survey though, it’s difficult to ask questions that are course specific and teacher specific.  There is valuable data to be gathered about our courses and about ourselves on an individual basis, and we have plenty of reasons to want that valuable data!  In English IV, we have consistent grammar, vocabulary, and writing assignments every unit.  Do you have some types of consistent assignments?  As part of the revision team, student perception on which types of assignments are working and which types of assignments aren’t effective would be incredibly valuable!

What’s more, students are very honest in these surveys.  They’ll let you know where you are lacking and where you excel.  If you can take feedback, and I encourage you to grow thick skin and seek feedback whenever you can, then you’ll love this method as a way to way to get valuable feedback.  The video below goes over my survey on the second day I rolled it out via a url in announcements.  At this time, there are only 12 responses, but I’m hoping more and more students complete the survey!

Shu

Tags: course surveys, data driven teaching, data in education, feedback, online polling

file extensions connect files to the right programs by telling the computer which program to use to open your files!

When you hear things in trainings like ‘.swf’ or ‘.jpg,’ those are file extensions. Some have even become part of our regular vocabulary without many even knowing that they’re talking about a file extension! An .mp3, for example, is a type of file, even though now the word is becoming synonymous with ’song.’
    What is it, and what does it do?  This is important.  A file extension tells your computer what file type it’s dealing with so it knows what program it should use to open a file.  For example, can you imagine opening an .mp3 in Microsoft Word?  It just wouldn’t work.
    If you open a file in microsoft word, you’re opening a .doc file. It gets confusing when a program opens and uses a bunch of different file extensions.
    For example, why do we need .mov, .avi, .flv, etc… they’re all video types, right?  Why do we need .wav and .mp3?  They’re all audio, right?  Yes, but the difference is size in those examples.  A song in .wav is a different than the same song saved as a .mp3.  Imagine a piece of data is the size of a marble.  A file is made up of a bunch of data.  If you filled an entire classroom full of marbles and called it a song file, that would be size of a song as a .wav.  If you put a few marbles in a mason jar, you’d have the size of the song as an .mp3.  Now you’re seeing the advantage of using different file types, right?  File extensions indicate the file type -that’s important.
    How many file types are there?  Hundreds, so don’t bother trying to learn them all.  The good news is that there are way fewer that you’ll actually have to worry about, and most, you’ll find, you already know!  In the comments below, I’m going to start a list of common file types. I’m hoping folks will help out by listing file types they run into in virtual education with ’the skinny’ on each file type.  If we get a big enough list, I’ll compile it to a table and share it!

Tags: file extensions, file types

As an English teacher, I often have basic memory tasks for students to perform. They need to know the definitions of vocabulary words, and they also need to know titles, authors, eras, and origins of classic literature. It’s tough to just ask students to memorize a list, and here I have a new toy/tool for you!
Online studying via flash cards is no new thing. If you really wanted to, it would be possible to just create a series of questions and answers on powerpoint and send it to your students as a study tool. But what CoboCards.com allows students to do is create flash cards collaboratively and then actually study collaboratively.
There is a tool that allows teachers to see how many students have contributed to the flash cards library, and there is a feedback tool that tells students exactly how they’re doing on important concepts… especially valuable for those EOC classes!
Check out the tutorial below to see some of the basic functions of this impressive online flashcard site, and keep in mind that there are more in-depth tutorials on the site!

What do you think?
-Shu

Tags: collaboration, flash cards, online education, online learning, study tools, virtual learning

Most of the tips and tricks we’ve gone over here so far have been specifically for online teaching and learning. Today’s tip is a wonderful tip for online teachers, and it’s also a great tip for busy professionals of all kinds!  The desktop background you have right now is probably pretty  and stylish, but your desktop background can be functional too!  If you are using XP, you can use a google calendar as your background, which will keep you mindful of your deadlines as well as your timeline.  Using this tutorial can help development teams stay on task. One question -does anyone know how to use this method to link multiple Google calendars so that if, say, the English IV team has a calendar, there is an NCVPS calendar, and then you also have a personal and a professional calendar, all 4 can be on your desktop? I’ll put some thought to it and see if I can come up with a part II to this tutorial.

Enjoy,
Shu