Group Report

Thoughts on the Focused Site

• Note 1527 stated that the the speed and effort of creating focused sites should not be underestimated.
• Note 1616 asked that by dummying it down, aren't we losing the very feature which makes the Internet so valuable?
• Note 1625 stated that in courses there always seemed to be a selection of required readings and another selection of background readings. I wonder if an approach similar to this could be used to help not overwhelm the user?
• Note 1609 stated, "I like the idea of developing " regular" and cross-curricular ideas, in an engaging online Web format, that is of benifit to both teachers across subject disciplines and for students conducting research on interrelated topics."
• Note 1608 stated, "I like the methodology of creating shared resources for teachers."
  
  In summation some liked the idea and others did not.
  
  
  Design of Sites
  
  
• Note 1729 stated that, "design is a key element of any website -- while I agree that there are all kinds of options on what it can look like, and there are some truly awful sites out there, I think that if good, basic design principles are used, particularly good web design principles, then the amount of content the site links to or lodges can be as broad and complex and diverse as the subject warrants."
  
  In summation this individual is a design expert and we should seriously consider this good advice.
  
  
  Lesson Plans
  
  
• Note 1608 stated that, "online lesson planning could help teachers to improve their teaching professions by learning how to develop online lessons." She recommended sites.
• Note 1719 stated, perhaps, online interactions (chat rooms, which are discussed in the other thread) provide more opportunity for teachers to relate their lessons together and represent a holistic picture of lessons for students."
• Note 1614 state, "the Internet is a wonderful resource for teachers, but online lesson plans are fraught with difficulty, particularly when you are searching for something in the short term: I prefer using listservs to share useful URLS. If you only have a few web addresses to look at, and they are recommended to you and annotated by a community of trusted peers, you are more apt to examine them, and catalogue them as "Favourites" for future use."
• Note 1615 asked if lesson plans for online learning any different?
• Note 1638 replied to her question:
  "From f2f I think the forum (CMC or traditional) can have great impacts on lesson plans. Just as an example, think how lesson plans for 1609 would have changed if it had been delivered traditionally in f2f setting. I would say that: 1- The lesson activities was different The CMC setting required different type of participation and group activity. 2- The evaluation methods as different The participation in lesson is a part of evaluation 3- The instructors role was different Instructors in CMC lessons are facilitators not lecturers 4- The objective was different 5- The content was different I am not sure how different the objective and content of a CMC lesson could be from a f2f lesson. Maybe, other teachers or Brian could help us on this matter. Thus, planning an online lesson is very different from planning f2f lessons and it requires skill and experience."
  
  Sharing Lesson Plans
  
  
• Note 1648 liked the idea of shared Lesson Plans:"
  What a great idea!...sharing lesson plans, units, successes and failures with colleagues. Tonight at an inservice for my staff on E-teacher (a program for reporting to parents), we learned that we can also share our report card comments with each other. What a relief to learn that we don't have to re-invent the wheel each and every year! "
  
  In summation shared lesson plans is good idea.
  
  Shared Report Comments
  
  
• Note 1648 did like the idea and as well suggested shared report comments:
  "For example, merely reading the words we can also share our report card comments with each other. What a relief to learn that we don't have to re-invent the wheel each and every year could be perceived by some as a negative."
• Note 1648 comments: "I learned that it was possible to electronically share comments (comments that are not child specific but "expectation" specific) with other teachers. For example, one of the school boards has created an entire library of comments that has been given (sold I think) to other boards to use. I'm not suggesting one report card be duplicated 30 times and just change the name. An entire bank of comments can be created and then individual comments selected from that bank for individual students. If we put our heads together we can share the load. Hope that helps! "
• Note 1711 liked the idea, "that is a done deal."
• Note 1722 did not like this idea, "seems like teacher's ability for individualism is being taken away, either by force (as in Lorie's case) or by desire (in Paul's case)."
• Note 1734 clarifies," what sharing comments for report cards really means sharing the modifications that have been made (by adding qualifiers) to grade-level expectations. If a teacher is doing a class set of reports, it will be cut-and-paste simply because they have covered the same expectations with all students in that class. Since there is only room for a few expectations to be mentioned, the teacher must try to include the "most important" ones. This means they will be pretty much the same for each student. The comments are not designed to tell about the student's progress, since it is an achievement report. This report card format is said to have been shaped by what parent representatives asked the government for."
  
  In summation it seemed that those who understaood the concept best agreed that it was a good thing to share report comments.
  
  General Comments on Professional Development and CMC
• Note 1618 comments on professional development:
  "I believe that computers and technology provide the support for the professional development that teachers need in the fast-paced environment we find ourselves in. This course is and example - many of you are teachers who without a CMC course would have difficulty taking a course in CMC. This is not to say that computers should drive the process. New Pedagogy and looking at learning in new ways should be what drives us to develop professionally."
  
  Colleagues Collection of Resources
• Click here for the sites shared by our colleagues during this thread.
  
  In summation, I thought that participants would have enjoyed building this site of shared resources, but I do not think so. They may have found it confusing despite my attempts to clarify.
  

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  THREAD 4 - COLLABORATIVE TEACHING
  Important: Click here to refer to any notes that relate to the Web KF project.
  
  
• The discussion of Collaborative Teacher within thread four of the Week 7 Moderation Group on Teachers and CMC provided a range of thought provoking questions, concerns, reflections, further questions and discussions which advanced the knowledge building and idea exploration of this issue.
  
  The introductory note entitled Thread 4 - Collaborative teaching was read 83 times by 16 members of the course during the period of October 19 to November 4, 2001. This thread contained 4 questions for discussion and 6 external web resources to support the discussion. A listing of 29 additional weblinks on Collaborative Teaching were also posted in the reference section for further knowledge building in this area. The posts furthered the exploration and collaborative knowledge building discussion of this issue through the variety of perspectives put forth.
  
  In Note #1620, An advantage of collaborative teaching, the contributor felt that instructors' teaching styles, usually, have great influences on students' learning styles. In other words collaborative teaching between teachers fosters collaborative learning among students who may emulate the direction taken by the course instructors. The implications of this in fostering life skills in a society that places value on the symbiotic relationship between individualism and being a team player is incalculable.
  
  On the other hand, in note #1623, High expectations negate collaboration the contributor wondered (w)ith the pressures on teachers to become technological literate can they truly experience the collaborative nature of CMC? As Feenberg states that most learn by actually watching others and experiencing those functions. How can teachers learn collaborative techniques if they are being pressured into utilizing this technology? This post raise the dilemma of motivation, time, chaning pedagocical practices and the readiness of teachers to embrace a new way of educating in the 21st century.
  
  The moderation leadership group leader on this topic intervened at note #1703, Get to Know Collaborative Teaching with further questions to encourage further postings on this issue as well as words of encouragement for participants.
  
  In note # 1731, Collaboration and Teacher Development, the contributor shared prior experience wih collaborative teaching and on the minus side find it challenging to give up some of the control over something that I am teaching -- and that's what collaboration can feel like -- a loss of control over the final outcome or the quality of what is delivered while on the plus side found that collaboration with others, particularly if it is a subject that you are both comfortable, is a great learning experience for both the students and the teachers. This post certainly raised interesting issues on collaborative teaching and its impact on teacher' control, students' learning experience and knowledge building.
  
  Note #1737, collaborative and team teaching provides a basis for comparison between collaborative and team teaching, as well as raises the issue of time, place, accessibility and accountability in the CMC environment. The contributor noted true collaborative teaching happens when two or more teachers are knowledgeable about and share with the students on the same subject. Often we see, hear or read examples about collaborative teaching where a course is taught by three instructors but each of these instructors takes one or more classess (topics) and the other instructor is not participating in that class. I think that is actually team teaching...CMC lends itself well to collaborative teaching because while you may have 1 teacher as the lead moderator or facilitatior it is very easy to have other teachers become invovled in the discussion. This is now not limited by time and place and each teacher does not have a huge time committemnt to be "in Class" when their colleague is teaching. I have done some collaborative teaching within a team teaching environment and find that it can be quite time cosnsuming. I find it stimulating though and feel that it brings a level of accountability into your teaching that isn't there if you are in a classroom alone.
  
  Taking the discussion a step further, and in a significantly interesting direction, the contributor in Note #1739, Collaboration on 1609, looks at the nature of schools and teacher interation therein. The post raises several issues including the problematic nature of face-to-face teacher-teacher interaction/collaboration which in turn lead to schools becoming schools as sites of individualism, marginalization and disengagement. This view contrasts with the vibrant and spirited discourse that teachers can engage with communities of teachers across the globe in asychronous and synchronous settings using a computer to facilitate such interactions. The contributor puts forth the position that teachers can spend their working days in school buildings where dozens of other colleagues are located, but have only minimal interaction and no collaboration with these people. Then we find that we can interact and collaborate by sitting alone at a computer making virtual contact. This strikes me as bizarre. I would not use it as an argument that CMC communication is bad, but the very situation that some of you have been describing points, I think, to a deep-seated sickness at the heart of schooling and the place we see schooling and teaching occupying in our society. A parallel might be if we told lawyers that they must spend their entire working days in court. If they wanted to consult with colleagues or research their cases, they would be free to do that at night on the Internet. Bizarre. And yet this is the scenario that we (we being society) have painted for teachers. I see the virtual contact not so much as a cure for the problem, but as a symptom that makes the sickness evident.
  
  It can also be inferred based on the quantity of posts that while this topic did not generate a significicant amount of responses, the quality of the responses that were generated advanced our understanding of Collaborative Teaching. This summary demonstrates that the discussion of Collaborative Teaching was useful but far from complete as this topic is one with the scope for further inquiry and action research.