My First Online Course

Well, my first completely online class will soon come to an end.  It has been an interesting journey.  I have concluded that I would prefer a hybrid class.  Getting together with the rest of the class to collaborate face to face once or twice would be nice.  For myself, it would be easier to address questions about the Web 2.0 tools face to face.   

Pavcsk

The video about the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School was interesting.  This school is a hybrid program.  Sometimes the students are in a class setting, sometimes they are working at home.  This looks like a good program if a family can afford to have one parent stay home with their child.  I wonder where the class settings are located?  Is there a school building in each county?  This school doesn't match my idea of online school.  From The World is Open (Bonk, 2009) I envisioned virtual schools as totally online.  I can see how the PAVCSK can provide a wonderful education for some students.  However, I don't see it as an option for a lot of families. This appears to be a program that wouldn't work for lower SES.families.

NASA and MMORPG

I was researching massively multi-player online role-playing games.  This MMORPG by NASA looks interesting.

http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmo/

I Have Wrapped my Brain Around the "Techonomy."

It may look like I merely copied the taxonomy information from the edorigami website.  However, that is not the case.  I have synthesized the information, and ultimately have acquired a better understanding of the concepts.  I had never heard of some of the technology tools that were suggested for use.  I had never heard the term mind mapping,  I became familiar with Google Sketchup, comic life for education, and delicious.  I look forward to using some new tools in the classroom this year.   

If Spellcheck isn't Available, Please Use a Dictionary!

A lot of people on the Internet don't know when to use the letter "z" instead of the letter "s". Look at how many times people misspell categorizing, synthesizing, internalizing, recognizing, analyzing, etc.  It is incredible. Interestingly enough, the word "paraphrasing" does use the letter "s"!  OOps - Dr. G told me that using the "s" is the British spelling.