Reflections of Online Dr. Z

As I pointed out in my last posting, I am experiencing a new world this semester in that I am teaching ALL of my courses online. I have taught online courses in the past, but have always taught 1 or 2 in the classroom face-to-face with my students.  

This has been exciting but also challenging so I thought that I would chronicle my adventures through a blogging opportunity. In a previous posting, I asked my readers about whether I should create this additional blog in either WordPress or Facebook.  A variety of answers emerged.  Some suggested a Facebook Fan Page.  Others underscored the wonderful opportunity to learn WordPress.  One reader, a student in our program, suggested that this wife has had the most success by using both media.  She has a Facebook Fan page and a WordPress blog.  Whenever she posts to the WordPress blog, it will automatically appear on her fan page in Facebook.  All great ideas.

Finally, a golden word came from a friend of mine - CoolCatTeacher (Vicki Davis).  She suggested that I just use Dr. Z Reflects since it is already an active blogging venue.  I thought about this.  I considered my lack of consistency in posting to Dr. Z Reflects and how, if I started another blog, it would probably get worse instead of better. At least if I used Dr. Z Reflects, I would have a consistent topic for posting . . . but I wanted to have some exclusivity with this other blog - Online Dr. Z - so that those who were interested in online teaching would be able to just read those postings.

Suddenly, it dawned on me.  What if I could create a button that would search Dr. Z Reflects and return only those that were labeled with Online Dr Z.  Well, after some soul searching and web searching I found a way to do this.  You will see that I have created a button at the top of the right column. When you click on that, it will search for the Online Dr Z label and share those with you.  I know that the graphics are wonderful, but at least it seems to work right now.  

Give it a click and see what happens.  This will be an interesting experiment.  I have decided to commit to posting at least two posts per week for Online Dr. Z.  Additional Dr. Z Reflects postings will happen as well. 

Let's see what happens.   It should be fun . . . what do you think?

Z

I Need Your Help: WordPress or Facebook?

This semester I am teaching completely online.  I am finding it to be quite challenging and have been thinking about chronicling my journey. I want to write a journal of my experiences in teaching all of my classes online this semester and I am trying to select the medium. 

I will discuss what I have done, how I have organized it, my challenges, how I am doing things, my strategies, etc. I hope that this can be something that will help me organize my thoughts as well as provide a venue for ideas, suggestions and commiseration from other educators.

My challenge is the medium. I was all set to make this an opportunity to learn more about WordPress and how I can use it when hosted through my GoDaddy account. Conversely, it would be quite easy to set up an open facebook group. What are the advantages/disadvantages of each? Which could I use to connect with more people?

What are your thoughts?  What are your experiences?

Z

240+ Apps for Teachers Resources

Which apps should you use as a teacher?   I don't know - - - it all depends . . . It depends upon what you want to achieve, how you want to achieve it and who you want to achieve it with ...

I was just wandering the web when I ventured upon a few sites that provided sets of apps for teachers.  These really opened my eyes so I thought I would share them with you as well.

Rasmussen Colleges's 100 Apps for Teachers - This is a vast collection of apps that are divided into the following groups: Classroom Learning, Communication Tools, Personal Organization, Reference, and Teaching Tools.  You are likely to find a jewel in this collection. I found iBrainstorm and it looks a great tool for collaborative creation.

Apps for Teachers - A list of 8 apps that will address many of the typical tasks of a teacher including grading essays, taking attendance and managing documents.

50 Fab Apps for Teachers - This list by Scholastic is grouped by subject area.  They include language arts, math, science, social studies, music & art, special needs, lesson planning, classroom management, and communication & organization.  Some are free and some are a nominal fee. 

84 iPad Apps to Share With K-12 Teachers and Students -  This is a single page where Richard Byrne (of Free Tech 4 Teachers fame) has parked 4 slide decks of 21 best apps for PK-2nd grade, 3rd grade - 5th grade, Middle School and High School.  As always, Richard has effectively searched the field and gleaned a useful collection of apps for us to use.   

I hope that this collection of almost 250 app references is useful to you and your educator colleagues. Which ones did you discover and ultimately use?  What would you suggest for others to use?

Share this posting with others so that they can add to their collections of App-ropriate Apps.

Z

Do Students Keyboard Faster on iPads or Computers - Research says . . .

http://www.bradycline.com/2013/in/ipad-typing/

While the research that compares keyboarding speed between ipad virtual keyboards and regular real-world keyboards is sparse, here is an article about some research that Brady Erin Cline did with his students, Typing: iPad vs Computer.  They were grades 3 - 6 (8 to 11 years old)

He found that his elementary students DID NOT type faster on the traditional keyboards than on virtual flat screen keyboards.   He found that they were about even in their speeds between the two venues.

He cited another study where young adults typed considerably faster on traditional keyboards (Chaparro et al., 2010)  

The limitations with these studies are that they are small populations and they both have to contend with familiarity with the new medium.  Either way, they are interested studies that should be followed up with additional studies that would compare these types of keyboards. 

Do you know of any studies that compare keyboarding effectiveness and speed on virtual and traditional keyboards?

Z

Wonderful Symbaloo WebMix of Keyboarding Resources

Just found this Symbaloo for Keyboarding created by Mr. Dean.  It is a wealth of keyboarding resources.  Check it out.

Infographic on How Google has Changed Researching for Grad Students

Source: GradSchoolHub.com

How Rube Goldberg Led Our 6th Graders to Pursue Their Passions in STEM (STEAM)

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=3061

Last May, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks with 6th graders in Waverly-Shell Rock Middle School in Iowa.

I had the wonderful opportunity to work with 6th graders for a few weeks.  We explored the Crazy World of Rube Goldberg using Problem-Based Learning.

It was my pleasure to share this at the ITEC fair in Des Moines this month.  I was joined by the 6th grade teacher and 3 of the boys who participated in this session. The guys did a great job of presenting their thoughts and actions as they were engaged in this process. 

I also took this presentation and turned it into a video. I submitted it to the K-12 Online Conference and they accepted my proposal. My video was just posted on the K-12 Online Conference. It is an honor to be included in this group.

How Rube Goldberg Led Our 6th Graders to Pursue Their Passions in STEM

Join me in the journey our 6th graders took into the Crazy World of Rube Goldberg. You will experience the fun they had developing “complex chain reactions to accomplish simple tasks.” Using a Problem-Based Learning format, these students explored physics while they built contraptions to drop a marble in a bucket, dip a chip in salsa, pop a balloon and even create a banana smoothie. Dr. Z shares how the inventors expressed their experiences through KidBlog and how these activities aligned with Common Core Standards in Science, Technology and Writing. It’s 20 minutes of fun and exploration into exciting ways to learn.

I would love to hear your reactions and suggestions about this learning experience.

Z