User:Vtaylor/Write now

-- questions, followup

2023.10.1 Reading and Writing in CIS courses - Students have requested more instruction via videos and powerpoint, I'm not going to do that. Yes, I could make videos but I really don't like being on-camera. The current textbook comes with access to explanation videos provided by the author. Additionally there are thousands of videos available - some are suggested or they can search on their own. However, there are more compelling reasons to stick with the written instructions and text-based discussions. For many students, English is not their first language so written instructions are better. Assuming students locate them and actually read them, they are always available, less chance of misinterpretation. They can be edited, copied, printed and scanned. Information can be found within the page with a visual scan or the Find search. And as part of my ongoing campaign to ensure that students have basic literacy as well as digital literary skills, they can jolly well read the print and figure it out. In an effort to promote curiosity, students are actively and regularly encouraged to ask questions - of class mates, project group, even me.

2023.10.1 Quizzes for Assessment - It is a sad state when students request quizzes. Pick an answer - right or wrong. With really well designed quizzes there is some diagnostic value in this. If a student actually worked through a problem and missed some step or information, that shows up in the answer they selected. However, there is no way to prevent lucky guesses. Test prep courses teach how to increase successful guessing although it is usually described as ways to reduce the likely choices for the right answer. There is another way. No wrong answers is the objective. Show up and do your best. Cover the requirements in your own way. There is some minor risk of cheating, often by copying the work of others but that is usually detectable. For everyone else this is a more productive learning opportunity that encourages including personal interests and expression.

professional education 2023.3.30 . get paid for work you enjoy rather than give it away - Adrianne at 1 million cups. Maybe not paid but more social benefit impact - weEducator online teaching learning . Move into professional development. Publish articles in the https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/Newsroom newsletter ~500 words + summary . monthly

Exploring How Wikipedia Works

Summary: Learning more about Wikipedia in an online class discussion. Students find an article on a topic of interest to them, explore the History and Talk pages and view the profile of an editor. They write a summary of their findings to share in the class discussion.

For my online college class Computers and the Internet in Society, we rely on sharing articles, podcasts and videos to cover the broad range of topics in the course outline. Besides learning to search effectively, review sources and content critically and write appropriate summaries, students are often presented with Wikipedia references. For years they have been taught that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information. "Wikipedia can't be trusted because "anyone" can say anything so it must not be true." So getting these young adults to reconsider what they "know" about Wikipedia has been a challenge.

Discussion activity

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/ is an online open-source reference "book" that hosts about 6 million articles contributed by thousands of volunteers. Wikipedia receives 18 billion page views per month. Find a Wikipedia article for a topic that interests you. Look at the History and Talk (links in the page header - these are separate pages) for the Wikipedia page you select. In the History page for the article you select, find a contributor with a profile and read their profile. In the Talk, see if there is any discussion or controversy. In the Wikipedia and Trust discussion provide the link to page you reviewed and a brief summary of the story behind the story including information from the History and Talk pages.

Topics chosen include entertainment celebrates and notables, sports and athletes, video games, historical and cultural events, and places. As a number of students are international students, they often look for articles related to their home countries. They love to find "errors". Many are surprised by the thoughtful discussions in the Talk. They are impressed by the extensive contributions made by many editors.

For additional related activities, students are encouraged to learn more about Wikipedia from the background information at Wikipedia:About.

Examples of these explorations

• Let's Dance (David Bowie song) - This article is about the song Let's Dance by David Bowie. The authors give a very detailed rundown of the whole song. From it's history, to it's music videos and live performances. In the History tab I check out the Wikipedian I found that made the most entries and also created this article. Zmbro has made a lot of contributions to many articles related to music and seems to be pretty legit! In the Talk section I couldn't really find any controversy which to me, proves how accurate the creator was in their research. --NL w23
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Dance_(David_Bowie_song)

• Madagascar - When i looked at this page it only took me a few moments to find some incorrect information such as: it says that the second largest island country is Madagascar when it is in fact japan that holds that place and not Madagascar. --MM w23
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar

• Talk:Soyuz (rocket family) - The main controversy I found was about units for a measurement related to rocket and jet engines. One user apparently found the use of seconds for this measurement annoying and wanted to use the less common kgf*s/kg. In a different article, the debate looked like it got quite heated. It does show that the people contributing to the article are really invested in getting the information as correct as it can be.
  User:MalnadachBot - I thought this contributor was pretty interesting because it is a bot. Its job appears to be going around cleaning up syntax errors in articles, and the profile has a list of tasks it has completed and tasks that are in progress. --TM w23
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Soyuz_(rocket_family

Valerie Taylor, Instructor, Online Education / Computer Information Systems, DeAnza College. taylorvalerie@deanza.edu

dev biz

2023.3.30 . devbiz contract usrep - Caroline plans to sell her established residential cleaning business. Her husband will continue to operate the commercial cleaning business. Friend in India ? contract developers. Provide nOrth American representation - business development consulting ? feasibility, specification, customer support, link to development team, testing,

2022.12.13 - ChatGPT possibilities for learning. DeAnza colleague suggested that ChatGPT could impact teaching and learning. However interesting possibilities, more like my original thinking from early 2000s - learner direction + curator / facilitator / subject matter expert / agent + "system" recommended resources / OERs to learning paths. ChatGPT responses don't include links or references to sources. Ideally, the learner should have the option to directly access prior work, more that just the selected information in the response. It's important to have to sort through other sources / resources. The curator provides another way to view the subject that includes their personal selections based on understanding and tastes. Learners need and want some guidance but also should have the opportunity to discover the bigger picture and make their own connections based on personal interests and preferences. I am thinking that I can set up some OERs based on Question Formulation Techniques to include in learning. . ChatGPT links . try it . What engineering projects are suitable for kids in grades 4-6? . What engineering concepts can be demonstrated to grades k-3? . What basic engineering concepts should everyone know?

Laura on listening

2022.11.24 - Mises - why girls don't do stem "personality" . so disappointed this is such bullshit https://mises.org/wire/its-not-discrimination-even-when-government-claims-otherwise . When there are jerks like this writing stuff like this, it is sad and frustrating. Especially coming a the day after Laura posted to FB . 2022.11.23 Laura - "It’s the end of 2022, and yet just today, on three occasions, men felt the need to claim my words as their own. Twice, I was echoed verbatim as though I hadn’t spoken. The third time, my idea was dismissed, interrupted, then restated by a male colleague … and was lauded as a great idea. " . Been there, been the recipient of that for more than 50 years since becoming aware of this "practice". The most helpful personally was when a supportive clued-in male colleague called these out. No wonder most women decide they don't need the hassle and find something else they would rather do than fight this. It isn't that they don't love science, technology, leadership, can't deal with failure, ... they do AND they know that sticking around these folks won't fix the problem. Women have worked for centuries trying. Sure there are significant successes now and then - women can vote and do. Women are world leaders and corporate heads - limited but not zero. . High school - wasn't big into boy / girl thing took math science don't remember being unusual but must have been . University mostly girls as faculty was small and misunderstood although actually honors science and pretty demanding. . From all accounts big ego guy jobs - airline pilots, were really bad for women. . Working with geeks is less bad. Many are sub-clinical Asperger's so this just isn't an issue. .

.. research teaching stem to girls differently - girls schools, subjects, ratio m:f in discipline, projects, outcome, work environment, swe . academic programs - engineering, math, physics, chemistry - by guys for guys egos .

2022.11.11 Hurricane Nicole less wind and rain big problems for many communities . many beach hotels condos damaged

2022.9.28 hurricane Ian hits FL for us - lots of rain road flooded north gate bridge under 5 ft of water. 3 roofs seriously damaged 30 more needing repairs joy of condo living assessment coming soon bizarre rules about not using roof reserves to put toward major roof repairs as it isn't the scheduled roof replacement even though this will set the replacement fund for these roofs. 4 days without power generator worked fine for coffee and refrigerator without needing to run all the time . mess for ft myers, west coast . flooding in several daytona area communities

Journalism writing https://www.coursera.org/learn/writing-editing-structure/supplement/jGAwA/teaching-style-resources

2022.11.26 still making progress with each visit to tlanta though slow going and will take more time . 2022.10.31 - continuing saga . Deb is improving . significant chronic pain, limited mobility, unable to raise toes in left foot so walking is more of shuffle . ? sept - neighbor recommended Georgia Chiropractic Neurological Center - Dr. Erik Ellis . problems stems from anesthesia from prior surgery - brain doesn't reconnect properly . need to retrain the missing connections . will take several month with 2 sessions weekly . mon / tue through dec 2022 . ? weeks . starting to see improvement lifting toes for example

2021.8 yikes. guess I'm ready to move on. Lots to do but need something bigger - more interesting and important to work on.

2021.8 "because I'm old..." It is ok to have limitations or to choose not do do something, but prefacing the explanation with reference to old age and decaying body function is unnecessary. It is great when someone takes on challenges that are appropriate for their current physical and cognitive capabilities. We don't need all the explanation or the reminder of the obvious. We are respectful and accommodating already. What more do you want from those who are already working to be supportive? How are you reciprocating?

2021.8 "I" stories get old. When there is a lull in the conversation, providing an "I story" from the distant past is sad. How much do we need to know about how clever you are, how wealthy you are, how talented you are... especially when the same ones are brought out time after time. Sorry it just detracts from otherwise pleasant visits where we all share experiences and contribute.

2021.5.31 Who knew? Mike was pissed off because I asked how his project was going. This is considered rude, controlling and ... British people don't do this - ask about you as the start of polite conversation. One is to offer something. Could have fooled me. I just assumed that if you don't ask about anything I'm doing for 50+ years, you really aren't interested. For us, it was impolite to talk about yourself unless asked. Bragging on yourself was considered very bad manners - something WE didn't do.

2021.3.20 My to Me - way too long and ?? but brings up some interesting points and memories as someone who has been involved in the web throughout its history. Many miles with references to some of the "classics" - blink, marquee, ... Lots of new news. As a very occasional Instagram accessor and never uploader, I had no idea that there were restrictions on links, or how younger users were not familiar with the notion of authoring links. Need to look into some of the references about A HREF going away and the browser extensions necessary for links, even in Firefox?? How bad is this transition away from content authoring as my web space with links? I realized that I can think of lots of personal sites, but how many of them are just personal writing? Are there still personal sites that link to other resources of interest? I know some sites with lots of links, but they are mostly really old. I frequently "publish" lists of links tho engineering4kids.org and several to lectriclibrary. Are there other current living sites? I sure hope so. What counts? Pintrest lists? Pro-sumer moms sites that provide advice and activities with links to their prior work? Academics writing informally? ..diigo personal

2021.3.1 Learning loss - What usually happens in school over the course of a year? How different has this year been? Most kids in Florida had the option to go to school. Although there have been plenty of adjustments - sanitizing, distancing, ... kids still have somewhere to be and someone overseeing their activities for a big portion of the day. For kids who aren't attending school physically there are many more unknowns - kids don't "attend", have their cameras and mics off if they log in, ... There are those who say kids are always learning something, maybe not what would have been offered in normal course work. Broadly speaking, that is true. However, it seems unlikely that some basics of reading, writing and learning to learn are happening. This is a significant "loss" regardless of what else may be learned through self-directed exploration, family and friends interests and leadership.

2020.2. 5 Virtual Science and Engineering Fair - RocketJudge Category: Environmental Engineering (ENEV)

#H-17-ENEV-2 Can a filter made using household materials be made lighter and portable? 78

Some good work here. Needs a stronger introduction and overview of the project in the documentation and in the interview. It wasn't clear why a lighter version was needed. The details for the methodology were very thorough. The diagrams and photos were provided, through some organization would have been helpful.

Overview - Although the main problem wasn't very clearly stated, there were some interesting ideas here. Great demonstration of the Engineering Design Process working toward a better solution through multiple iterations including trying some ideas that didn't work.

Poster - As the project from last year was the Control, there should have more information about that version. The graphs were neat but somewhat inconsistent - Control in some, not in others. No lists of actual values as an accompanying table or on the graphs. Bar chart was more appropriate for comparing values from separate prototypes. Add captions to photographs - what am I looking at?

Logbook was very detailed and included records of all the data from the test. The interview was ok but answers tended to lack detail or enthusiasm for the project. There were some good comments about how his dad had helped with items that required additional hands.

#H-17-ENEV-3 How can I make a device to get trash out of the Indian River Lagoon? 91

Great project. Local problem with good solution that is cheap and easy to build and can be used by any kayak-er. Good description of the problem. Followed the Engineering Design Process to make modifications to improve the design. Good description of initial design problems and how these were addressed and the device was modified for improved performance.

Poster and Logbook are very thorough with accurate descriptions, photos with captions, diagrams and data tables. No charts but they would not have added much other than to demonstrate an other way to represent data. The replies to the questions in the interview were well presented. Having the device available to show during the interview was a good addition for clarification of the explanations. Only correction - this is an Engineering project. Science discovers what is. Engineering is making things and making things better.

#H-4-ENEV-1 How to control pests without harming the environment 42

From the interview and the other materials presented, this is a Science project, not an Engineering project. The student (and her mom) have some interest in a problem - dealing with pests without using chemical pesticides. Many of the elements of the project - constructed solution, testing, design modification, iteration, data collection, were not included in the project submissions.

#M-18-ENEV-2 A solution to make food with the sun. 65

Some good ideas here. This is a well documented science fair project. The presentation of the methodology and the data were good. Nice charts and data tables. However, some of the steps normally associated with the Engineering Design Process - original prototype design, testing and analysis to direct iterations and improvements were not included. Starting with 3 setups and conducting test is usually associated with the science discovery methodology.

In the interview, in response to the question about modifications, Josh did describe some changes that he had to make to his experimental set-up so there was some Engineering involved.

Virtual Science and Engineering Fair - RocketJudge Category: Environmental Engineering (ENEV)

• Representation of Data/Design - accurate application of mathematics for analysis; clarity of graphs/charts; appropriate representation of graphs/charts
• Log Book - detailed observations/entries; sketches/diagrams; dated entries; evidence of research bibliography (at least 3 sources)
• Interview - clear, concise, thoughtful response to questions; understanding of science concepts; degree of independence; lessons learned; ideas for future research; if team, both members demonstrated significant contribution to project
• Display - logical organization of project content; tells story of project; shows student learning
• Creativity - project demonstrates imagination and inventiveness; project opens up new possibilities or new alternatives
• Testing/Modifications - systematic data collection; evidence of testing, analysis, and modification of prototype; rationale for modifications; final design is supported by data
• Design and Methodology - well-designed plan for prototype and testing; explanation of limitations; explanation of alternatives
• Research Problem - clear and focused; description of practical need or problem to be solved; real-world application

http://hackeducation.com/2019/12/31/what-a-shitshow - some of these make a good point. On others, I beg to differ.

2020.11.8 6. "Everyone Should Learn to Code" - There are a lot of opinions about this because there is so little explicit definition of what is meant and what the outcomes would actually be. Computer science, programming, systems development, coding - no generally accepted understanding of any of these across broad populations of computer scientists, educators, ed tech marketers, journalists, politicians, ... Does everyone need to be a trained programmer? No, probably not. Is coding a way to introduce or represent critical thinking, problems solving, iterative design, engaging learning, using technology? Sure, why not. Is it replacing any critical learning objective or standardized test prep teaching moment? Kids across all grade levels spending some time doing interesting activities, experiencing trial and error, producing something "tangible" on their own and getting a certificate of completion. How bad can that be? No one is under the allusion that this will qualify anyone as a computer scientist at the end of an hour, but it just might spark some interest that might otherwise go unnoticed.

2020.11.8 98. "Rich People’s Kids Don’t Use Tech" - The kids of influential (and wealthy) Silicon Valley leaders - academic (Stanford), corporate, venture capital, legal and philanthropic certainly had access to ed tech. Some of the individuals mentioned were quirky but they seem otherwise pretty normal parents for the time. Steve Jobs drove his daughter to the video rental store in their minivan late Saturday afternoon the same as everyone else. There were a number of significant grants to schools to implement ed tech and provide training and support for teachers and administrators. Some "students get to use digital tools for creative exploration; ... students get to use theirs for test prep." More accurately, some kids are "practicing" basic math skills, like counting and the foundations of reading - letter recognition. Many kids - poor AND affluent, although they are more often "poor", come to school without even the most rudimentary learning skills. Much of the ed tech on offer claims to bridge these gaps (without much success). This is a massive problem, not one that can be resolved with ed tech, despite their claims to the contrary.

2020.11.8 99. The Promise of “Free” misses the point that there really are good web citizen that do make all kind of things available without charge - Wikipedia, Wikieducator, all the open software and content. Most to have to expend significant limited resources to defend against those wanting to take advantage of these well meaning "innocents" to truly want others to benefit from their work often without credit or compensation. Teachers, learners, everyone is welcome to take advantage of these resources and use them with the understanding that these are freely contributed for now, but probably not for ever. That's ok, understanding that the world changes and something new, better, more relevant may come along for the providers and/or the users is actually a very good thing.

2020.11.4 - Audrey's rant was "interesting". It highlighted how messed up the US is at this time, that people who are being asked to provide commentary on education to a global audience can be so "traumatized" - to use her word, that it seriously detracted from the time and focus of the opportunity to speak to a broad audience on this important subject. She eventually go back on track, but it was pretty disconcerting, none the less. 2020.11.6 Stephen Downes had a link to the transcript which lead me to her site and the 100 list.

2020.11.6 Listening to the podcast with Audrey Watters got me thinking... Grading and feedback for coding projects. How can I help? The Web Development class has a couple of core objectives as required by the college and our transfer partner universities. Beyond that, student have their own learning objectives. These include but are not limited to: getting an A, preparing for a career in web development, adding to graphic design skills, 4.5 CIS transfer credits toward an AA degree or certificate, something new and different to do during these weird Covid mobility limitations. What are your expectations and requirements for the Coding projects? How much of the grade should these represent? How should they be assessed? How much feedback is appropriate? Is the feedback helpful? I'm considering separating feedback from grading. Whatever you turn in gets the grade you think it should get. If you want feedback or have questions, that is a separate "transaction" and does not influence your grade for the coding project. What do you think? Would you be ok with this? What guidelines would need to be in place? How much should a coding project be "worth"? What questions do you have about this? 2020.11.7 ... I posted this for discussion in my class. I have been pretty direct with coding projects. Very specific requirements, points for including them and having them be more or less correct. This is a lot of work for me which I'm ok with. But is this what the students want or need? Am I going down this rat hole - choice vs freedom? I have seen my job as ensuring that students come away with a pretty good working knowledge of web development - the process, the practice, knowledge of specific components, and a general appreciation for the web and web users worldwide addressing accessibility and device limitations. In the beginning this was pretty straightforward. There wasn't a lot to HTML, CSS didn't exist, text with a few images was a big deal and moving files around wasn't too scary for anyone brave enough to want to develop a web page (singular). We have come a long way in the intervening 20+ years. Depending on the feedback from students and asking around, I may keep the rubrics, but skip the associated points - formative feedback. But what should the coding projects be "worth" as a percentage of the total grade for the course. Submit a project - get the points for completion? No judgement, no partial points? Student "justifies" points? From previous experience on group projects in CIS2, students who do good work are sometimes modest or overly self-critical. Poorer performers often have an unrealistic estimate of the value of their work. Having students reflect on their work is good but that can't be the soul determination of the "grade" if there is much at stake.

2020.9.7 slightly ahead of our times. We have managed to be ahead of the trends - sailed multi-hulls when the were viewed with disdain by SFYC mono-hull sailing members (now they are taking cruising vacations in massive cats), flying light sport airplanes, Next big thing - I hope - converting back to CDN in the Canadian accounts. Mike is pretty good at these things, just way too early in some cases. Called it well for getting the boat stored in Grenada and getting back to the US while the getting was good. Many other cruisers got stuck on their boats in the Caribbean with no way off the boat or off the islands.

2020.9.7 either / or - It is remarkable how binary all reporting has become. Listened to a CBC podcast talking with CBC Washington staff reports about the US election. There were only two reasons that people would vote - either Trump is their guy and the want to keep him OR they want Biden. The possibility the someone might be voting for "anyone but Biden" isn't a possibility in their minds.

2020.8.18 back to school - reading a piece about NYC schools. The school board put out some models. Schools have to submit plans that must be approved. Several schools outlined remote only with open buildings with supervision -- and resources? Their point - all kids get the same instruction. Teachers only have one cohort. Kids in the building as necessary. Some of the "models" were really difficult to implement - teachers having cohorts of students on different days. Students with disabilities have two teachers - how is that going to work? Some times looking at the extremes provides the solution. The extreme of hybrid or blended is all remote teaching with the option to go to a supervised place - the article talks about building. This returns to the question that comes up - what exactly is this building for? More than a classroom with one teacher teaching reading and writing to 20-30 kids from 9-3 weekdays. In another article talking about Danish school kids going back, they kept kids in ohorts of 10-12. Lots of hand washing. Outdoors as much as possible - parks wer reserved for school classes 9-3. They used other spaces including hotels? museums. Apparently ti worked out pretty well. No face masks except on public transit - not an issue for most Americans because there isn't any useful public transit. In any event it will be interesting to see the outcomes. Kids need to learn to read and write. They need to be curious, self-organizing and critical thinkers. They need to learn how to learn. One webinar talked about strategies - for reading but that can be extended to any learn activity.

2020.8.12 if I were a fairy godmother ... not only would I give all kids the gift of curiosity. I would rewrite everything STEM as Engineering. Makes me crazy that each of the letters are siloed and the notion of any sort of integration among the parts is a radical idea. If there is any integration or co-mingling, it is usually to bring in A for art or language ares or even music. Just take a deep breath and take a big step back and what do you see? Engineering everywhere. Most scientific discoveries would not be possible without some engineering - tools, instruments. Taken individually s and m aren't very interesting to most kids. Where is there a compelling story for a problem that is of interest to anyone, let alone a 10 year old. I love that some folks like the Boston Museum are working on this - Novel Engineering for example. Taking a kids book and examining the problem and an engineered solution. However, to continue their work, they charge for their products and services. The costs limit the reach of their products and rule out any likelihood to getting to some schools where the information could be most impactful. There are many other free resources. Some have pretty good visibility. -- I'm still looking for educators who can start with engineering and breakout the s, m and t as a whole curriculum.

https://www.1mwis.com/post/5-things-i-learned-5 harlotte Whitton’s words: “Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.”

2020.8.11 https://www.sharpthebuilder.com/blog/teaching-stem-for-remote-learning One big change I am seeing with remote learning in general, not just STEM is choices being taken away. Oh dear - It was pretty clear from the outset of emergency remote teaching that they didn't get the possibilities or how to capitalize on this new learning opportunity. Trying to "teach" a classroom course and curriculum via Zoom or Teams for seven hours a day just isn't going to work for anyone. It isn't that better solutions and models aren't available. But everyone knows that virtual schools are bad - only 30% of students complete / graduate / ?? whatever the metric is. But that doesn't mean that there can't be successful implementations. It is sooo complicated. These were the same criticisms leveled against online higher ed courses and MOOC (that aren't technically MOOCs). After 20+ years there is greater acceptance of the format. Back to the removal of choice and options - what is happening here? Re-framing activities with options and choices provide flexibility that is essential for the learners and their support - families, pod-school leader, sibling and the time an place available. Why would you eliminate choice at a time like this? Fear, uncertainty and doubt. Now is the time to help kids and their others make the best of whatever their circumstance - use what they have, find something / anything of interest and work with that. Support, help, problem solve, guide, facilitate - get personal, thrive. Is this different that following the curriculum map set out by the district? Heck ya. Is it a lot of work? Is thinking creatively and working smart more work? Is revising and updating in response to new information - new best practices, seeing what works, what doesn't. Once the framework is laid out, then it is really interesting and challenging to expand, enhance, ... to be more engaging, more inclusive so learners are more confident and successful. There are still learning objective / student learning outcomes to consider. So what is the real reason for including this? Who cares? How will this serve the learner, the community and society in the long run? Being able to read, to be functionally literate. Basic numeracy and math facts. knowing how to learn to be a lifelong learner. -- what choices are being taken away? Why? what is the root caue? what can be done to reverse this trend? who are the thought leaders / gatekeepers? are there others who get it and are promoting a more appropriate plan?

2020.8.10 You have to establish your priorities and understand the consequences. Clearly tennis is your priority. What are you prepared to let slide as a result? Are you ok with that outcome? Do you need to adjust your priorities? If getting a B is important, it would make sense to ensure that you weren't just squeaking by. A little better margin for error would be appropriate. As it turns out, you did get a B. Next time, it would be good to be a bit more "present" in a course. Doing massive online sessions is not helpful to you as a learner as you won't get much out of the time you do put in. The course was explicitly structured so busy people could spread the work over time by doing chucks frequently.

2020.7.29 https://byxbee.wordpress.com/2020/07/29/i-heart-moocs/

2020.7.23 reading and writing It isn't clear why there is so much emphasis on being in visual contact with teachers all the time. Kids improving their reading and writing skills can be accomplished with greater dependence on reading and writing practice. And listening. A friend's granddaughter who is 8 is the proud possessor for an old dumb phone suitable for phone calls and sending texts. She is loving it, texting her grandmother in the same room while spending a week at her grandmother's house. -- I don't know if the phone has listen capabilities - to save or listen to recordings, podcasts, etc. When all phone were dumb, there were special phone numbers set up with recordings for student to listen to to get information about assignments and other notifications. They could also leave voice messages for the teacher at this number. These are rich interactive learning environments. They require minimal internet connectivity or expense. They focus on many of the primary learning skills. Maybe not as engaging as full motion videos with high productions values. But that is ok too. Learning to exercise your imagination is important too.

2020.7.22 Chatted with Dana about back to school plans. Jan has hired an eteacher - sounds like she will be on-campus going around to classrooms to -- help teacher support remote students -- requirements for students, teachers -- percentage of kids who will be doing eschool -- what do you mean by eschool -- connected time -- access to teacher - full class, small groups, individually. Learning to learn - taught, encouraged, modeled, curious

2020.7.21 CMS PreK-5 Self-Directed Summer Remote Learning Resources Pre-K Resources Literacy Resources ... https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V6ZUeAjItupipytD3eKD4ZlqaROthGhB1YiPiDXxxmw/edit#

2020.7.21 k-3 self-directed learning https://image.slidesharecdn.com/improvingself-directedlearning612-151101132533-lva1-app6892/95/improving-selfdirected-learning-through-the-use-of-learning-objects-and-personal-learning-environments-4-638.jpg?cb=1446384401 self -motivation -management -monitoring -modification For self-directed kerning with guide-on-the-side, -- old ideas - learner, agent, guide

2020.7.21 Cindy says most of her music students are guided by their parents. She would have quit piano a lot except her parents wouldn't allow her to. So much for music kids being especially self-directed and motivated to spend time on music.

2020.7.20 iLearn - Kids as self-directed learners. -- When can they start? What do kids need to get started? -- How to get every kids to take responsibility for their own learning? Is that even possible? Some kids are so motivated and curious. Others, no so much. Many of the students in my courses don't come prepared to learn - they expect to be taught. I'm not suggesting that kids are independently coming up with a learning program that will prepare them for college and for life. That's my job as the guide on the side. Thanks to Nancy, we attended a professional development program for Volusia teachers that featured a presentation on differentiation - always thought that something like this was necessary and do-able, especially with technology to support learning - but I didn't know that differentiation was a thing with a name. Yes! Someone out there gets it and they are promoting it as the next big thing. Since then I have seen many teachers and schools working at implementing this. Good teachers do it all the time, even when it didn't have a fancy name - this was their job - teaching. But this is really hard for most teachers - multi-tasking, preparation, experience, interest, methodology, administrative support, collaboration, and maybe technology - required implementation, insufficient training, inappropriate application, ... and the fundamental underlying assumption and expectation that they are TEACHING rather than facilitating, assisting and supporting LEARNING. Oh, yes, and the kids. There are plenty of examples of kids who take on amazing projects and tasks. The winners at the Google Science and Engineering competition or the Burns Science Fair for example. What is their incentive, motivation? -- What do they know about learning to learn? How did they become the self-directed learners they are? -- Is there a minimum age or developmental level for kids to start taking responsibility for their own learning? Of course, they don't see it that formally, but that is what it is. I'm still concerned for the kids at B&GC and Blue Lake who didn't seem to have any interest in anything happening academically. Some participated grudgingly in class activities in spite of remarkable efforts made to engage them by talented experience teachers. They just didn't seem to be interested in learning, or being taught for that matter. In my course, there are usually a number of students who managed to make it to lower division college without being very accomplished self-directed learners. As part of the follow on the the Digital Learning / Learning Literaries project, I include the six key skills - use, find, protect, create, solve, share, as activities for research and discussion. I am always surprised and pleased by the feedback that these are some of the most appreciated topics within the course. -- Says there is a need so how to push it back to the lowest level receptive learners? -- Is this a good set of learning skills to work on? Coverage, gaps? I think these came originally from ITSE or something similar and I adapted them for use in my DeAnza project. -- Follow up with some research. -- Ask!

2020.7.17 here's the thing... * There are many factors to consider with school re-opening. As an observer and a long time online learning facilitator this is my perspective. Most K-8 teachers are dedicated and caring. They love what they do and kids mean the world to them. Families and administration can run the spectrum from enormously supportive to downright hostile and confrontational. There are centuries old expectations for what "school" and "teaching" should be. There are current and future visions of the global economy and workforce needs. Physical buildings, technology, personal interests, local, state and federal mandates for testing as "proof" of effectiveness of ??, local cultures, traditions, diversity, inclusion, emotional wellness,

Experience says a hybrid or blended model generally works well. In-person teaching, collaboration and socializing are important. For many learning activities that can be "technology supported", they can be done anywhere, anytime.

Some of the least successful emergency remote teaching have been attempts to replicate 6 hours of on-campus school via zoom. Yuk.

2020.7.16 https://byxbee.wordpress.com/2020/07/17/school-personal-distance-and-covid19/

School, personal distance and Covid19 * Yes, this is huge. Our neighbor is a music teacher at a K-8 school and we have another friend who teaches kindergarten. I still see my friend from the charter school - it was k-8 and has expanded as kids didn't want to leave so they are now up to grade 10 or 11 this year.

Could I write something up? Sure. There are a lot of people already doing that. It is amazing what is available to teachers and parents - articles, web sites, webinars, conferences. Some of this has been available for years with dedicated followers who are now being "discovered". Yes, there has been a mad scramble to develop and promote new stuff to fill this massive gap. I have been doing more curating than writing - finding good stuff and passing it along to folks I think would be interested.

There are some really tough problems without good answers at this point. It's complicated, and it depends...

Parents working from home with elementary kids, limited internet access, and shared devices is probably the worst case scenario. Some families rely on "school" to provide a safe place for the kids with meals and adult supervision. There are plenty of other cases that will have poor outcomes. And for some, maybe more than a few, this will be a big win. Finally time to work on topics of interest on their own schedule without all the distractions of "school".

I hope that Whitney's friends can get to a satisfactory situation where the kids are learning and the parents aren't going nuts.

We are referring to it as emergency remote teaching - a good characterization. A long time ago someone pointed out the difference between teaching and learning. It is amazing how frequently educators seem oblivious to this distinction.

Just trying to find some things that work with what is available is challenging. Some good results. Hope there will be much more forthcoming.

2020.6.30 The CGAux had traditionally offered a broad range of in-person courses for public education , boating safety as well as training Aux for roles that they perform throughout the organization. That isn't happening. First there were "stand down" orders - do nothing, do no harm. However, several enterprising souls reasoned that there were folks who were ready and willing to participating in training. The technology is available at modest cost to offer live web sessions, and the functional equivalent training could be offered while complying with all the physical distancing requirements in effect. There is interest from the higher ups. They don't necessarily how to provide these courses but they understand the concepts and a willing for individuals and local groups to utilize online teaching to provide training for public and members. Now what? Apparently there hasn't been much direction or local initiative to move ahead with adopting these new technologies and training options. H: They don't know how, so some easy to follow demonstrations will get the process started. -- who wants the training? -- what form of training do they want? -- who has been providing the training? -- what is in it for them? May well be that some of the training is available because the trainers enjoy giving it. Some of the training like boating safety is dry and in some cases poorly presented. However it is only one day and if you pass the test, you get a boating safety card ? good for cheaper boating insurance. There is definitely value to boat owners to have their boats inspected. This is a nice community service and gains recognition for the aux. Training to become a VE is available online in e-read and test format as well as in person. At lease on live webinar version with 6 sessions has been presented so far. -- what is the availability of qualified VE -- are their more waiting to be trained -- are they being utilized? boat crew? some flotillas don't have any 'assets' / boats -- why not? seems to be some issues with the system as it is currently.

2020.6.21 what to do? writing a book seemed like a good idea sometimes. Leave a legacy. A project. An opportunity to get out and talk to experts and interested parties. Make a tangible contribution to something important an interesting - engineering for kids, online teaching and learning, reading and learning to read. discover engineering - everyone knows that much of science discover happens because there are are new and innovative engineered or built items that make the discovery possible. That's interesting, broad, researchable and transformed with curation, analysis, summarization - reuse, remix. How about just snagging interesting bits from Wikipedia? No copyright issues. What would the product be - publishable book, collected into WikiEducation then printed like Come Fly With Me. Books are usually around 80,000 words. Range Scope, breadth of topics to cover - discovery wouldn't have been made without engineering to make it possible. Types of engineered tools and resources - what do they contribute to - detection, identification, observation, measurement, ... and some more interesting ideas to categorize based on the objects and their use - CERN, SETI@home. Maybe limit - fabric, textiles - spacesuits, wet suits, survival gear past, present and future. Or few big complex examples with component systems for space / air, land / earth, oceans / water - Hubble, GPS, Cousteau's Calypso. diigo to e4k - record to coverage. notes here for outlines with links to more details, examples. -- go out an play, socialize, ... talk to others rather than sit here and write stuff thinking out loud without some specific deliverable. -- or decide that a deliverable doesn't matter -- benefiting others in some capacity is important and interesting. What does that look like?

2020.6.21 Ever grateful to WikiEducator and Wayne, Jim and other early supporters for having the imagination and the resources to make this collaborative learning space available. Yes, there is a bunch of junk - mine, but others too, but there are so many wonderful resources as well. Although it is a significant processing burdent to track the number of time a page has been accessed, it is gratifying as a content sharer to see that many of my pages have been accessed 1000s of times over the years. I hope that other derived some benefit and have reused, remixed and/or redistibuted them. Some of my students have issues with these pages being outside the course management system. I have a problem with the course management system requiring a walled garden for some information beyond the FERPA requirements but likely capitalizing on access to students' information.

2020.6.21 disappointed that several key individuals haven't replied - Eddy, Jennifer, Angie. ON the other hand. Delighted to be in contact with Kim and the terrific job they are doing sending information to all the B&GC families even though access in-person is currently limited to about 12 kids - down from previous 40-59+.

2020.6 Eddy Angie 6.3 Dana Jennifer 6.6 Linda Kim

something important and interesting . to whom? why?

greater good open education kids guide path * lectric library book * e4k * remote learning coach * phones access tsl * teachers as learners * why won't / don't teachers use lessons provided ? start + > use ? tpt

daily 4/wk * minutes email coach 0mins note weekly spreadsheet * question header for tomorrow * informal -- blanks * exemplar outline headings sentences

2020.6.10 - students - transfer to Davis, Berkeley, San Jose - counselors, housing, courses, orientation * time management better easier with in-person classes always someone instructor students to remind about work * students who prefer in-person rely on others, don't have well developed study skills, dependent on system * class time required attendance * one student on the panel has been homeless all semester * like online course but prefer going to campus to do work, quiet space environment conducive to working ? social too. flexible scheduling, time to work

2020.6.10 zoom, teams - online meetings are replacing in-person meeting by necessity. Unfortunately many orf the organizers are amateurs. Just because you can have a meeting with 150+ attendees at 6pm on a Tuesday evening doesn't mean it is going to be a great experience or worthwhile. Coming in late, I had no context for the speakers but they seemed to be too casual telling personal stories without relevance to the stated meeting objectives. Many people seem to think this is bonding or some sort of replacement for socialization that is necessary to everyone's health and welfare. Is this accurate or are these time fillers than can be included in volunteer hours tracking? Did anything substantive happen while I wasn't there? I could watch the recording, I suppose. Does anyone ever watch these millions of hours of meeting recording? Other meeting, also recorded, are schedule twice a week for 2 hours, to replace in-person courses with fixed curriculum to cover in preparation for in-person training and testing. These over run by more than an hour - I don't actually know because, try as I might I have never stayed to the very end. Last session I bailed after 3:15. Why? People are in their own homes so they can stay connected. No one is waiting to close up the meeting facility at a specific time. No one is standing out side waiting to use this meeting room. No one can say they have a next meeting to get to. Many other meetings run long and into the next time slot.On the other hand there are plenty of anecdotes of these meeting being a big improvement for participants. No time commuting. No wear and tear on cars. No having to deal with public transit and expose to others. The break out rooms are being used for small groups within a larger class. Students are enjoying have time to work together in small groups so there is actual interaction. This is different and better than what s possible in-person - not in a noisy classroom, not on separate time in a coffee shop or other out of class time and location. -- recording of DeAnza students' feedback session. The Northeastern maritime videos are well done. Most are 3-5 minutes in length. They are set up on YouTube so they will play in sequence. -- links to informational background images

2020.6.9 online courses with reasonably good English proficiency - when everything is text and links, students ask questions for clarification and usually provide enough information to figure out what was confusing and direction to go with clarification / edit / rewrite. In Zoom meeting we talked about an area of confusion - keywords 1. as they apply to each module and are provided in the assignment page format for every module. 2. keywords - html meta tag as applicable to search engine optimization 3. verbal "clarification" of what was required for the coding assignment. I thought we had an understanding about the coding requirements - 2 but not 1. Assignment submitted - none of the above as "received" in verbal clarification of the requirements. These issues come up all the time. It is ok, it is an interesting learning experience for all. Getting students to take responsibility for their own learning, asking questions, getting stuck and unstuck, all good. When these are text, there seems to be a higher successful communication rate than in-person either in a classroom or in zoom. This is a good reminder that reading and writing are not going to go away anytime soon, even with the advances in synchronous technologies, and extensive inclusion of any / all forms of media - images, video and audio.

2020.6.8 expectations checking in what bugs your. going to the office or some functional equivalent once a week - a common request / need. social interaction, exchange ideas casual. time management, productive time - studies for high schools with late start showed signigicant improvement.

2020.6.8 teachers surveyed hated working remotely. That is no big surprise. Jennifer Abrams observed many years ago that about 10% of her 150 high school students were like her. That is probably a reasonable distribution for most teacher : student ratios. So what will school become now that the kids have seen par-ey? Will teachers prevail - going back to school as usual - kids having to be where they can be where teachers oversee / control the classroom and contents? Or will there be some movement towards student and family / community centered learning that better accommodates the preferences and needs of everyone other tan teachers? Apparently Brevard is considering reopening schools with limited physical access - kids with without adequate internet and technology access at home, single parent households, essential workers' kids - essentially providing childcare as well as education. These measure will allow the class size to be kept to small bubbles of contact and distancing. This will introduce some interesting dynamics and it is not clear how these will be resolved. If half the student population is remote and teachers want to be in the classroom, what will teaching and learning be like for the kids not coming to school? Are parents working from home going to be responsible for long term oversight of kids' day to day learning? That probably wont be a long term solutions. It was marginal in the emergency short-term. Online teaching and learning is different from the make-do keep the kids busy, connected and supported interactions of the past couple of months -- middle of March Spring break to the end of school in early June. What happens next? School as a place to be, a roof over their head, warm, dry, safe, with food, friends, caring adults, structure, things to do, regular physical exercise ... although the reality is that not all these "benefit" are actually available to all kids at school. -- who can't come to school and why? -- where will they go? -- whose responsibility are they? -- Good online learning environments could be provided if there is interest / demand. This brings up even more questions. Will there be parallel systems - online and in-person or some form of hybrid which could well be the best option. Teams of educators to seamlessly integrate the best use of resources and skills. Teachers who hate online are not going to be the most appropriate for that component. There are those who thrive in this environment - teachers and students. Lots of possibilities, technologies currently available to make this work if there is a desire to do so. One could be cautiously optimistic here. We will see...

2020.6.7 nice note back from Kim at B&GC about how they are still doing all their work during the covid shutdown. This is a new track to follow - what is the contribution of organizations like B&GC in support of kids and families that augments (or fills in for) school and classroom efforts. -- schools that the kids come from -- classroom teacher web presence. -- anyway to find out what kids' school experience has been? Kim says some kids are doing well in the new environment. This isn't news. The proponents of personalized and differentiated learning have shown this for a long time. However, it reat that this is being recognized and commented on by an important informal educator population like B&GC administrators. Plans are in place to start bringing kids back to the center - temperature checks outside before entering the building, Only 12 inside - whereas 30-40 kids would be there in a "normal" afternoon. -- activities, emphasis on academics, tutoring - can they resume? -- what do kids and families need most? -- what can be provided online to support in-person services and support? Some additional adjustments will be extended -- no fees through the end of 2020 - in email, confirm with Kim. Offered to help at a distance. Maybe this will work out. Everyone has a new appreciation for trying online / remote / distance / hybrid learning. -- what is available to classroom teachers from Volusia comparable to Brevard

2020.6.7 Seeing some changes in adult online teaching and learning. Just reading the manual which what shared on the screen has been replaced - as an experiment, but just people with occasional screen share of a diagram or picture, Big improvement. More participation. Session was recorded in its entirety. Plan to use clips to integrate with slides for other synchronous training. Finding appropriate images, video is time consuming although generally good content where available. Although a lot of the towing material was intended for actively duty, lots of food / better discussion about actual "evolution" happening. Practice demonstration of dialog in preparation for the tow was good. More introduction or scenario setup - consider trying. Understand that these things come up suddenly and crew need to be ready to respond immediately - demonstrate with surprise practice, but uncomfortable and not in keeping with learning and gradual complexity in practice.

2020.6.5 not cool to do well in school - There have been several passing references to both cultural and gender pressures to not appear to be smart or academically accomplished as the kid actually is. To what extent is this "frustrating" effort to promote reading specifically and school curriculum learning generally? Girls not wanting to appear too smart if they want to be popular - where is the point at which this is normalized or internalized? In some cases parents have intervened, even taking measures as drastic as moving the girl from the local middle school to a private school that encouraged academic rigor and excellence for all students. Fine if you can afford it and are willing to commit to 6-7 years (for younger sibling to attend the same school) of transporting the kids to school - no public transit, distance too great for kids to get there under their own steam or at least until they can drive and have a car of their own. NYC parents applying for the lotteries for the few spots in good schools requires persistence and herculean effort and dealing with the frustration of rejection because there are so few openings for the number of families applying. * In regular local classroom and after-school programs, there is a wide range of motivations and support. Kids don't come to school regularly because no one gets the kid up and out to get the bus to school. Some kids come to the after-school program that provides snack, supervision and community volunteers as tutors during homework and reading time. Some kids are there as day care while other kids' families are appreciative and supportive of the academic oversight. The administration has a tough time with the kids who are just there until they can be picked up and have no interest in the added value provided. Not only do these kids not engage but they actively disrupt the quiet nurturing environment that the volunteers and staff try to maintain. * Pronunciation, local patterns of speech can be. barriers to listening, reading and understanding. The language and phonics for introductory reading assumes speech that is considered normal or usual. However, often this isn't what these kids hear spoken and subsequently, that isn't how these kids speak. This presents a huge problem for classroom teachers, reading coaches and the kids in the class. -- studies about speech to text, pronunciation, local known vocabulary

2020.6.4 targeting tutoring have some training and a tested reading or math program for the tutors to follow. “One of the things that characterizes all successful tutoring programs is that they’re very structured, learning with tutoring at own level individually or in small groups some portion of everyday

2020.6.4 quest model - something old, something new. Perhaps this is they format for remote online learning. I have always envied online games as a format for learning - motivation, time on task, range of skills, collaboration, time management, self-pace, learner-directed. What's not to love? Most online courses and training are either totally synchronous - 2+ hour Zoom meeting with the instructor reading the pre-assigned reading material and the co-instructor manfully trying to lighten the time and engage the participants, many of who have never participated in an effective online meeting / learning experience, who need to get credit for completing the course as offered. Other training materials are mostly read material and successfully answer questions on the material - timed open book, so if you are familiar with the material and access it online with search capability, you can look up / check all the answers well within the time limit. Other training courses are slides with narration - some of the narration isn't just reading the slide text. Some include videos. Some end with a quiz required for credit. * How could these become webquests without a huge investment of time by subject matter experts (SMEs) without much time or training. ? fill out the form ? set it up in such a way that participants are also bring resources as well as contributing to the discussion - asynchronous / written. zoom now available for synchronous sessions - already schedules. pick section / present - several short ? volunteers - review session -- discuss

2020.6.3 questions Dana Jennifer Eddy twitter lowtech phone sms -- remind

2020.6.3 tutoring for kids to close the gap . studies trained tutors with known starting point and program to follow did well . computer aided not so well . some hybrid so that this is scalable . -- Barbara Bush program effectiveness -- Blue Lake effectiveness of online required 20minute / day . -- twitter # to follow . can some of global learning xprise apps ideas be used . -- after school lunch kids want to do . -- motivation. general background knowledge . only learn what you almost know . -- minimum set to almost know what will be taught . how to get there . start with basic vocabulary meaning context use relatable . make that interesting -- connections questions QFT . community group who cares doing something already -- who what

2020.6.2 teachers educator coaching remote learning TSL k-8 teaching PLC professional learning * Supporting Teacher Effectiveness Project (STEP) model. The theory of positive deviance is an asset-based, problem-solving, and community-driven approach that enables the community to discover successful behaviors and strategies from within and develop a plan of action to promote their adoption by all concerned. * not the same as remote online technology supported teaching and learning * Coaching helps district adopt remote learning school district is using instructional coaching to help teachers during a period of remote instruction, K-8 instructional coach. guidelines district uses to inform online coaching, teaching and learning, including focusing on relationships and promoting self-reflection of practice.

2020.6.2 Who do I want to be? greater good open education kids guide path * library book * e4k * remote learning coach. Some ideas. Working with a local k-6 or K-8 school media specialist to work with teachers. -- Who / What is available at from the district? -- Online resources - Twitter #edtech #oer ? remote at home -- missing needed Resources are available to curate collect and publish -- would like some direction company for feedback formulation strategizing -- how to help kids who need it most -- what holds these kids back - ways to end run problems motivate engage encourage . cognitive, sensory, emotional, and physical barriers * prior knowledge -- identify where help is wanted and work with that ? Jennifer Floyd, Cindy, Dana, Eddy, Angie -- models exemplars edutopia articles * Do teachers want help understanding integrating engineering * Remote learning coach - investigate further * Twitter resources - existing missing opportunity