WebinarsUniversity of MichiganMACUL 2010Presenters:Melanie Aho, Jen Aniano, Jenny Armstrong, Bob Ause, Stella Gorlin, Kendra Munro, Liz Kolb and Jeff Stanzler

Why Webinars in TE? Michigan High School “online learning” experience requirement

50% of high school students will be taking online courses by 2019

Job Opportunities-49 states have virtual schools In the Cobb County (Ga.) School District, about 190 out of 6,838 teachers

teach online courses during regular school days and participate in two or three faculty meetings annually—also held online—and one face-to-face meeting with administrators that focuses on district policies and procedures.

20% are stay at home moms or retirees 80% are classroom teachers that teach online in evenings/weekends

Online learning students performed better on standardized tests than face to face students. 2009 SRI Study

More Information on Online Learning at http://www.inacol.org/

Michigan Virtual High School is Hiring!!! AP Calculus AB (EX)*

AP Calculus BC (EX)*

AP Chemistry (DC)*

AP Psychology (CE)*

Earth Space/Science (DH)

Health (MA)

Native American History (RX)

Latin (FD)

Music Appreciation (JQ)

Japanese (YT)

German (FB)

http://www.mivu.org/AboutUs/JobsMVU/tabid/183/Default.aspx

Online Teachers Need Training While districts are using online teaching more and

more, administrators emphasize that not all teachers are qualified to teach online.

“I think there is a sense out there that if you’re a good classroom teacher you can translate that automatically into an online learning environment, and we don’t share that sense,” asserts Liz Pape, president and CEO of the nonprofit Virtual High School Global Consortium. Strong written and oral skills to communicate with their

students Be motivating Have to be comfortable teaching electronically Have an interest in technology tools and using them

creatively as a vehicle to teach

Our Assignment…Research a web2.0 site for teaching

Develop a lesson

Present a live 20 minute webinar on the web2.0 resource and the lesson

Must engage the participants in the webinar (not a static lecture)

Create a screencast of “how to” use the web2.0 resource (not in the webinar) http://screencastomatic.com

Why DimDim for Webinars? FREE!

Up to 20 participants at one time

Screensharing

Audio and/or Video

Interactive whiteboard

Chat room

Archived

Set up show early, widgets, RSS, and other sharing feed options

No account needed to participate

How to use DimDim The (second) best way to learn is to see it in

action! How to schedule a meeting www.dimdim.com

Feel free to join in at http://www.my.dimdim.com/melaho

Key to success: Practice!

Pros and ConsWhat’s great about DimDim

Ability to connect and share your desktop with users anywhere! Online office hours

Chat room and interactive tools allow everyone to participate

What’s not so great Technical problems can be frustrating for all

ExamplesTeaching how to use Museum Box in social

studies. (BA)

Teaching how to use Museum Box in science classes. (BA)

Your task:

Create a time capsule of your autobiography for future historians using Museum Box

Before you begin to add artifacts to your box: From the homepage, press START

Click on the SAVE link in the upper right hand corner – this will take you to the login page

Click on JOIN FOR FREE

Choose a username and password and in the textbox for School/Organization, type Pioneer High School

Click on Pioneer High School and then click on JOIN MUSEUM BOX

Title your museum box with your name and press SAVE

You can now create your museum box!

What should my time capsule include?A photograph or image of your choosing (if you

do not have any pictures on your computer, you can use the images in the photo gallery on Museum Box)

A short text biography

A link to a website that you think represents who you are in some way (this could be related to music, culture, literature, science, movies, etc.)

A short piece of information that you think a future historian should know about our society

When you are ready to submit: Click on the SUBMIT button in the upper right hand

corner

Click on SUBMIT MY BOX

Click on OK

Return to the homepage and click on MUSEUM BOXES

In the Choose a school drop-down menu, type Pioneer High School

You should be able to see your museum box as well as those of your classmates – take a peak to see what others have done!

Choosing a web2.0 tool Make exploring web2.0 tools a part of your

personal professional development. (Try out one a week!?)

Consider the capabilities of the tool and how it might address a facet of your discipline or a component of your curriculum.

Try out some of your lessons or activities using the tool.

Make up a lesson for implementation and then try it yourself. (The plan for using Museum Box versus the actual use, the case of Earth Science 6.)

Choosing Museum Box for science classes My social studies colleagues showed me this tool. In

other words, get suggestions from your colleagues!

Excellent tool for organizing, grouping and categorizing information.

Looks like a biologist’s or geologist’s sample box

Example of Biology uses: cell types, physiological systems or taxonomy of living things.

Example of Earth Science uses: classify and illustrate rock types.

Double use: Students generate the “box”. Students use the completed box to study and review or in assessment.

Conducting a Webinar on Museum Box Make it interactive, just like good classroom

teaching.

Demonstrate the basics of the web2.0 tool.

Provide a lesson plan that the participants can follow during the webinar and take away with them to explore on their own afterward.

Elements of a 30-minute webinar Orientation to the web2.0 tool – 10 minute

Home page Getting signed up Basic skills

Activity for participants – 15 minutes Webinar teacher is on hand to answer questions Participants do simple tasks within the tool so they can see

how easy it is to get started. Polished product not necessary

Conclusion Applications of tool in various courses (concrete examples) Questions and answers

How I prepared to lead a webinar. Preparation for this was like for a class that

involved teaching a new skill or technology. Learn the tool well – Museum Box (Development of

the Screencast tutorial about how to use Museum Box was very helpful here.)

Develop a simple task for the participants that allowed them to experience the basic actions. (Good strategy for teaching any new technology)

Tried the activity myself, and developed an example that I could demonstrate during the orientation section of the webinar.

What Worked Well The webinar was interactive with a few students as

individuals, i.e. they were at their own computer working, not in a classroom where they could interact/distract one another.

Providing the students with the webinar lesson plan in advance allowed them to plan ahead and anticipate what they would learn. It also allowed them to set up their computer and internet browser. (Students could come prepared to class!)

Webinar is recorded for later viewing and review by those who participated and those who missed it.

What Did Not Work Well Technical difficulties arose that were frustrating.

Sound would cut out on various participants. They would have to exit the webinar and return, or click a few reset buttons. In either case they missed something.

One person conducting the webinar using Dimdim or another tool requires multi-tasking that takes some getting used to. Practice helps.

The person conducting the webinar needs to plan ahead; no “winging it.” The teacher must invite participants, prepare the lesson and anticipate what novice users will struggle with, both conceptually and technically.

Technical difficulties are like challenges in the classroom. They are frustrating and can get you off track. The advantage of webinars is that they are recorded for play back at a later point.

How to use webinars in K-12Webinars allow teachers and students to interact

as opposed to on-line courses that are non-interactive.

In on-line courses, students receive the information and have to figure out what to do from written instruction. Interaction in on-line courses occurs via e-mail. In webinars interaction is a chat comment away and can even involve verbal communication in some sites.

Virtual office hours. On-line tutorials.

Reaching distance learning students.

Helpful LinksAnother Free webinar option

http://www.wiziq.com/

How to Use DimDim tutorial

http://tiny.cc/dimdim686