Today I will need to report back to the courthouse while a substitute teacher is taking care of my students on a day they are going on a field trip bowling. Perhaps the sub will need to be there tomorrow on Halloween when the kids are dressed up and too excited about that evening’s activities to bother to focus at school. I can’t complain.

I’m going to try to finish up my final paper so that I don’t have it weighing on my mind while dealing with everything else.

I wonder if we are going to have any classes in the Online Teaching and Learning program that will show us how to use Moodle. It would great to learn how to use it so I could create a beta version of the online class I’m proposing for my Final Paper. Then I could watch my students in the computer lab try to figure stuff out. I liked how Steve Krug talked a lot about usability testing. I think a more casual version (with no video cameras or Camtasia recording software) might be more appropriate for my students. I could just watch individuals as they go through a beta version of an online class and ask what makes sense and what is confusing. That seems like it would give me lots of info but perhaps I could have one student go through the class site in front of the entire class with the computer projector going for others to see. Then that student could voice their thoughts while going through it. I’m just afraid those in the “audience” might try to give unsolicited input. Hmm…

I too have experienced hostility and a lack of cooperation from a member of our group. While our project is over and I no longer need to work directly with this individual, I wonder how damaging this type of person could be for the learning experience of middle school students (for whom I will be designing an online class). Perhaps the writer in the discussion forum is right in excluding group work from his or her online class.

It might be wise for me to make group work an optional part of my online class. That way my students will not feel cursed by the negative dead weight of a hostile and uncooperative group member.

Kelly promotes the idea of teaching by results. This is when the instructor says that students need to achieve or create a certain desired result. The students are free to choose how they go about accomplishing the goal. Usually this involves giving students an example of what success would look like.

I use both methodologies but seem to lean toward teaching by actions by default since that is how I was most often taught. However, when I look back on my education over the years, I am most proud of the work I created that was results oriented: the Paul Bunyan Gets Married picture book for Mrs. Gerrard, the Latin translation of the Gettysburg Address for Mr. Moran, the Time magazine I created for the year 1957 for Mr. Marczuk, Machiavelli’s “The Prince” explained via the Brady Bunch and Snoopy, and the trashing of some arrogant philosopher’s opinions of The Oddyssey with the help of a Stickboy comic book for a UC Berkeley philosophy class. I have to smile thinking back on some of those projects.

I would like to create results-oriented projects like these for my current face to face students as well as for future online students. It’s hard to do, but I will persevere in this pursuit. The last “great” lesson plan I created was almost an accident. I allowed students to create presentations entitled “My Culture.” Students were given lots of time and freedom as long as they stuck to some simple guidelines for their presentations. Each year I am amazed at the enthusiasm students put into their work and the quality. If that were not enough, the lesson does not require much time from me. I just explain what they need to do and just facilitate the process. Even the grading is easy since I just watch their presentations during class time and then ask who contributed what if it is a group project.

Also, for the class I am creating a proposal for, I realize that offering it to residents of my employing school district would limit the number of participants. I wonder if there is a way to offer it to students throughout the entire state of California. It would be harder to contact so many school districts at first so it might be more feasible to offer the class in my own school district first. After improving it, I could offer the class to surrounding school districts. When that experience has further refined the quality and reputation of the class, it could be offered statewide. Hmmm…

That brings up the issue of funding. It would make sense for something like this to be paid for by some kind of grant which would help us overcome the issue of school district buy in. When offered a free class for their students, most districts would be pleased with the idea. Conversely, if offered a class at a financial cost, I would be seen as just another salesman wasting their time during a worldwide “financial crisis.”

Writing in this journal makes me think that in the long run, it would be best to have a more focused student population like just middle school students. However, dealing with reality, adult school students can easily pay the money to fund the entire project and I don’t have to get “permission slips” signed by parents for online work. Hmm…  Stuff to think about.

However, from my face to face teaching experience, I have found that some students are like ticks that attach themselves to a host. They survive academically by holding on to the rest of the group while contributing nothing of true value.

In my face to face class, there is an easy time-efficient way to find out what each person contributed. Well, first I get to see the students working in my classroom, in our library, and in our PC lab. I take mental notes of those just talking or playing around even after being corrected. Then I have each group present their project to the class. When finished, I ask each individual in front of everyone (can’t take credit for someone else’s work while standing in front of them) to explain what they contributed. This last week I was surprised to learn that one student had done an extraordinary amount of extra work at home and that one student in a group had contributed absolutely nothing. I was able to reward the hard-working student with a high grade and document the fact that the sluggard had done nothing.

For the next phase of the same course, I removed the sluggard from his group and informed him that he would now be working alone to earn his individual grade. He seemed shocked. Obviously he had never been trained in what a work ethic is since I’ve never actually seen him do any amount of work worthy of someone of his intelligence and abilities. Sadly, many elementary schools “pass” students along to the next grade level regardless if they actually passed or not. Some say they do this in the best interests of the student who might suffer “socially” if “left behind.” Perhaps I am cynical but I believe many elementary teachers pass these students along in order not to suffer through another year of passive agressive behavior from that same sluggard. This is a disservice since students are retained in middle school and high school if they do not pass their classes. Students who are sent to middle school without the proper skills and work habits are obviously more likely to fail.

One final note in my rant. We are a capitalist nation that believes each person should be paid for their individual work. While I don’t think our system is perfect or even ideal, it does seem preferable to a communist system that pretends to pay everyone the same wage regardless of work ethic or contribution. It seems strange that we “teach” our young students in elementary school that there is no difference in life for the hard working and for the sluggard. Then when they become 18 students find out that all the rules have changed. Education, housing, food, etc., are no longer free. In effect our society has tacitly accepted the idea that it is okay for some people to be homeless and/or have no health insurance. Which people? Well, those not earning the higher rewards (pay and benefits). It would show greater love and kindness to teach people about this reality early on through proper grades, etc.

Oh, just so there is no confusion about this subject. I have been pleased with the contribution of all my group members for Mini Project #2. I think each one should receive a good grade. I’m just saying that the general practice of giving all members a group the same grade in a face to face class is not wise. If one of my colleagues in my middle school tried it, I would just smile and wait to see how they deal with some very irate parents who feel frustrated that their children’s grades are being pulled down by a few slackers.

Krug’s words ring so true that I think, “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that before?” So many of his comments made me feel that I need to overhaul my class website and a technology tutorial site I created for my students. I’m made to think about students raising their hands on a daily basis asking me, “Mr. Riviere, how do I download music for my video?” I then have to show them a link which not only would require them to think, but they would have to speculate in a big way to figure it out since I’ve unwittingly “hidden” the information so well. I’m embarrassed by the need for renovation in my sites, particularly the tech tutorial site.

Speaking of that site, one lesson I have not read in Krug’s book but one I will take to heart is this: “When creating a web site, make sure that it is as easy as possible for the webmaster (me) to modify it in light of new insights and new demands.” While modifying a regular html site with Dreamweaver does not take much time, my site created with Flash is a big burden to modify. I thought my students would be impressed by the cool sounds and movements but they are way more focused on the practical value offered to them; where is the exact information they want or need to work on their digital creative masterpiece?

The last online class I had at a different college was not organized so well. Assignments for a particular week were never revealed beforehand and often were posted after the week had already started—thus limiting a student’s time to complete the work and adding unnecessary stress for us who also work full-time jobs along with being a full-time spouse and parent. I don’t want to even mention the “grading” in that class. Essentially we were told that “everything” would be added up for a final grade at the end but we were never given any feedback in the form of grades or comments from the instructor in the meantime. Pretty meaningless.

Anyway, I will try to emulate our current instructor’s disciplined system. As an instructor I will receive the benefit of knowing I am giving my students the best chance for success while making my own workload more balanced and reasonable on a weekly basis.

I guess this feature could be useful to write notes for future reference like one’s weekly schedule for completing all the assignments on time. It would be more useful if actually used if it could be accessed in the left column…Oops! That would create more clutter which I have ranted about! Oh, before I forget, I reserved “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug at my local library.

Pitt, etc., in “Training Professional Workforce Educators Online” helped me to see the discussion boards in a new light. I have endured many face to face group discussions dominated by a few bold but unenlightened people. The discussion board is an equalizer. Uh oh. I just remembered an t.v. show from a long time ago called “The Equalizer” which featured a 50 year old, out-of-shape vigilante who somehow could run down skinny 18 year old thugs and bring some “justice.” Okay, sorry to go off topic. Anyway, the discussion board acts as an equalizer in allowing the shy, less assertive students to share their thoughts. I like that. By requiring participation in discussion boards, online classes actually have a very valuable advantage over in person classes.

More important than that, I’m happy to have learned some things along the way. I find it interesting that organizations that are NOT having a problem with teacher buy in for creating and teaching online classes have an excellant system set up. UC Berkeley Extension and Insight Schools (owned by The Apollo Group that also owns the University of Phoenix) both have similar systems. The school pays certain people to create the online classes before hiring instructors. The instructors are eager to work as online instructors since that is the job they apply for.

It sounds simple but the separation of the creation and teaching of online classes makes online learning so much more practical. Of course, ideally in the future, it would be great for the creators of the courses to be getting input from the instructors if the instructors have strong feelings as to the content.