Engaging Students in K-12 Online

LearningTeaching is not a spectator sport!

From bricks to clicks… and beyond

Welcome to the new normal, but first we must take a trip down the not too distant memory

lane.

The Genesis of “The Web”

In the beginning there was an expansive void….

Web 0.0

From a historic point of view 1990/1991 is the official birth of the (commercial) Internet, which was available to the general public. From this date on you see a lot of technical and infrastructural evolution.

Web History 101Web 1.0 – The static web & shopping carts

Experts call the Internet before 1999 “Read-Only” web. The average internet user’s role was limited to reading the information which was presented to him or her. The best examples of this 1.0 web era are millions of static websites which mushroomed during the dot-com boom. There was no active communication or information flow from consumer (of the information) to producer (of the information). But the information age was born!

But wait there’s more

The first shopping cart applications, which most e-commerce website owners use in some shape or form, basically fall under the category of Web 1.0. The overall goal was to present products to potential customers, much as a catalog or a brochure does — only through a website retailers could also provide a method for anyone (anywhere in the world) to purchase (their) products.

Web History 101

Web 2.0… The lack of active interaction of common users with the web lead to the birth of Web 2.0. This era empowered the common user with a few new concepts like Blogs, Social-Media & Video-Streaming. Publishing your content is only a few clicks away! A few remarkable developments of Web 2.0 are; Twitter, YouTube, EzineArticles, Flickr, and Facebook.

And then…..

Web 3.0 – The semantic executing web

Web 3.0 will be a “read-write-execute” web. It seems we had everything we had wished for in Web 2.0, but it is way behind when it comes to intelligence. Perhaps a six-year-old child has/had better analytical abilities than existing search technologies! The keyword based searches of web 2.0 resulted in an information overload. The following attributes are going to be a part of Web 3.0: Contextual searches, tailor made searches, personalized searches, evolution of 3D Web, and deductive reasoning.

The Future is Now

Web 4.0 – Open, Linked and Intelligent Web

Although Web 4.0 still is in developing mode and the true shape is still forming, first signals are in that Web 4.0 will be about a linked web which communicates with us like we communicate with each other (like a personal assistant). Web 4.0 is called the “symbiotic” web. This Web will be very powerful and fully executing.   Web 4.0 will be known as the read-write-execution-concurrency web.

What does this imply for you as teachers, administrators, and course designers?

Elements of Quality Virtual K-12 Course

DesignsCreating Significant Learning Experiences for Digital

Native Students

Questions to ask yourself

What is the key information?

What are the key ideas?

What kinds of thinking are important? Critical thinking, Creative thinking, Practical thinking?

What skills do the students need to learn?

What complex projects do the students need to manage?

What connections do the students need to make among ideas in this course?

What should students learn about themselves? Others?

How are you going to engage inquiry and skill in developing self-directed learning?

Keeping Students Engaged

For an entire class:eClicker – free application features a means of polling classes during lectures by send a signal via wi-fi to any enabled device in the room.

i-Prompt Pro – free app that acts as a teleprompter for location reporting, infomercials, video blogs etc.

For the learner:

To keep students engage while learning, be sure to include the following components:

Listening,

Speaking

Reading

Writing

These strategies are helpful for Native English Speakers and Language Learners

Encourage Listening Skills and Verbal Interaction

http://www.eslcafe.com/ – free tools such as hint-of-the-day, idioms, phrasal verbs, pronunciation power, quizzes, slang and student forums

Educreations – free app turns the iPad into a recordable whiteboard. Uses voice recording, realistic digital ink, phots and text while learning a concept

http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/ – provides language partners to improve your English skills, online practice lessons, chat rooms and other resources

Provide Ways to Practice Literacy Skills

http://www.englishmedialab.com/ – free online lessons and videos ranging from beginner to advanced, grammar exercises, vocabulary, and pronunciation activities

http://www.educanon.com – free interactive video site what permits you to bring in your own videos and create stopping points with questions/answers along the way

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/make - free website that includes kids games, listening activities, reading games, online writing practice, and grammar games

Promote the Development of Writing

Skillshttps://storybird.com/ – free interactive website that provides tools to write books while teaching media literacy and online social interaction. You can create assignments and lesson plans for monitoring.

WorldLingo – app that provides several online translators used to translate text, documents, websites and emails

http://www.parapal-online.co.uk/ - free online English lessons for improving writing, listening, reading, vocabulary, and grammar

Provide Vocabulary Support

http://livemocha.com/ – free language learning tool with online interactive lessons, language partners, user created courses. You can submit text and audio files to native speakers for corrections and edits.

https://cramberry.net/ – free online flashcard site which records your progress so you can study more effectively

Popling – free app makes flashcards that pop up on your computer throughout the day.

Interactive Lesson Plan

Cinderella Around the World

Students will develop an understanding of how fairly tales originate and modify according to different cultures while learning from another’s perspective via ePals.

Activity

Students will listen to the classic Cinderella story online or read by their teacher.

Students will discuss the story elements with their classmates. Also, videoconference other students, if available.

Students will read the traditional Cinderella from the country of their Epal.

Students will collaborate in writing via email to compare details of the story

Communication Topics:Story name

Name of main character

Family members

Magic in the story

Animals that helped the main character

How main character proved her identity

Whom the main character loved

What happened to evil characters

How the story ended

EXTRAS

Pick favorite version and write about it

Create a new Cinderella story

Discuss the collaboration components

Preparing Millennials for Self-Paced

and Collaborative Learning

Assess teaching methods.Collaborative experiences, role playing, case studies,

brainstorming, discussions, simulations, experiential and group projects with real life purposes.

Focus on continuous improvement and enhancements to meet individual needs.

Increase student autonomy.

Examine resources and content formats.Online, flexible, and self-paced resources.

Short, multi-media based presentations.

Preparing Millennials for Self-Paced

and Collaborative LearningAny time, any place learning through the use of

Learning Management Systems – Blackboard, Moodle, Schoology, cloud-based, and open-source resources.

Smart phones and mobile devices.

Tech Trends for learningTech-based monitoring of student progress.

Web-based assessments.

e-Portfolios.

Educational gaming.

Social networking for learning and collaboration.

Adaptive environments.

Electronic, interactive textbooks.

Simulations.

Preparing Millennials for Self-Paced

and Collaborative Learning

Generation Z Trends which may influence teaching and learning:

Social Media.

Human connections viewed as important.

Skill gaps with technical skills.

Global mindset, local reality.

Infinite diversity.

ReferencesPeters, L. (2009). Global education: Using technology to bring the world to your students. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Wiseman, J. (2013, March). ELLs as digital natives: 21st century tools for sheltered ESL classrooms. Paper presented at the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Dallas, TX. Retrieved from http://www.mastersinesl.org/blog/instructional-

technology-tools-in-the-esl-classroom/

Contact Information

Dr. Kathryn Baur - katie.baur@lamar.edu

Dr. Jennifer Butcher - jbutcher@lamar.edu

Dr. Babette Eikenberg - beikenberg@lamar.edu

Dr. Diane Mason - diane.mason@lamar.edu

Lamar UniversityBeaumont, TX United States