Week 9

FAQ-sheet; Educational Psychology 100% online class

Question 1)    I can't get into the online web page. How do I join the class.

Ans :          Please contact the Contact Online Services ExtensionOnline@edu (xxx) xxx-xxxx They will assist you with formatting your software and settings on your computer. This usually takes a week, so what I can do, is e-mail you a link to my first weeks lectures and assignments.

Question 2)   I don't have the text book yet and do I have to read all of the first chapter? 

Ans:          Many students do not receive the text book until the second week. You can start by reading the notes, watching the videos and developing your ideas through research on the first weeks topic. Once you receive the text you should try to read as much as you can of the first chapter. The text has interesting information and goes into depth on each topic.

Question 3) How do I contact you other than e-mail or through the web page.

Ans:           you can text me through google hangouts or google plus.

Question 4) How do we meet online.

Ans        4) we connect through google hangouts. By the end of the first week I will be giving optional meeting times, you can pick any of the meeting times and connect through google hangouts, it uses video and voice. We can also set up a group meeting.

Question 5) I learn best through lectures and am having trouble with all of the reading.

Ans        5) You can watch the videos available to you. They are directly related to each chapter and it's topics. Once you have done that join us for a face to face hangout session, and we can discuss the topics. 


Question 6) where do I find the videos and the research


Ans 6)  Go to the left column and you will find resources. Click on it and the the web links will be on the right side.

Question 7)  How do I know when to hand things in?

Ans 7) Look at the syllabus the schedule is on their,  I also post due dates and meetings on the Calendar. Please check the calendar on a regular basis.

Week 8

This week I decided to use Prezi. for my visuals. I am currently teaching a pre-Algebra class at the college level. The class is mostly for students with a specific learning disability. The rest of the class is a group of mixed students whom for one reason or another has either forgotten all of their math from high school or decided not to take the entrance test to college. I have one student who had a stroke.

With this mixed bag I have been trying to unravel how to teach so math makes sense to them. Some need the concept then the steps, others need the opposite and the student (who is very young 18 or 19 at the most) who had a stroke needs constant review and can not make jumps to combining steps. Now that I am in week 5 of the class I am transition the class to stations and packets to work more individually with the students. The first four weeks was revue of elementary math.

What I have gotten from this class is what I put in Prezi. What do the majority of students have trouble with, no matter the reason, in math (population 19 students).

Images for me are very important. I use videos online web pages pictures anything one can look at and gather information from that is not a whole bunch of words in paragraphs. So that is why I used Prezi, because the words are their without any images but circled and grouped. I believe this helps categorize the ideas.

pre Algebra notes on students in circles

Week 7

This weeks reading, Video and links were great (not that all the other weeks weren't great too). First of all the TED talk was up my ally. I love clips like those and you tube now takes down anything with a whole song on it using digitized recognition software. In my opinion he is correct in what he is saying.  Finally if a person does decide to create a piece and has the money to pay for the copy right license, they also have the problem that you tube or other host pages, will take down their work, then the creator of the piece has to petition to put it back up (source my son who reads up on these things).

As far as the web links the free ebooks are really useful. I have used the k-12 open text books and now I am looking into the college ones. I followed the link to the  California Community College Consortium page and then to a video by De Anza college instructors talking about open book.

This was an eye opener! I just started teaching a basic math class at a community college, and most of my class could not buy the book (the department has some books available to loan to low income students), and the ones that could, finally did in the second week. I was happy to see that instructors are considering these options.

After the links I looked for a book in pre Algebra and found a clearly written one, good clear steps and hands on activities:
Open Book pre Algebra

My mind map:

My mind map got as confusing as my mind. Under all of those links I had other links, such as video clips not whole videos when teaching online. Text book has the open source book.  Can't see them though.

Week 6

My online students get activities linked to the topic, including (hopefully fun) videos done by other math teachers about the topic I teach.

 I also include Forum questions that are designed to strike a conversation amongst the students. In my post certificate classes I seem to have a good response and can really get students discussing. The fact is that they are in a course out of their own personal interest. Therefore a discussion is what they crave.

The rest of the courses are less interactive and more research, text reading and practice based.


I am including a video I use for my math students.My favorite online math teacher is YAY math.


Here is an example:

Week 5

This weeks activities and reading reminded me of my attempt at getting a PhD in psychology in an online program. I was all gone ho about how I could increase my skills and become licensed to not only test children for specific learning disabilities, but also to put my psychology letter behind it so that it would be considered legitimate.
Biggest first step was finding a program that fit my needs. A program that aloud me to work any day of the week from anywhere. So I looked through many and found one that fit my needs. I would be able to move about freely without having to show up on campus, I would be licensed after taking the california licensing exams and I would be able to use the degree for what my goal was.
Taking the first course: This was the most impersonal system I had ver been in. Not only did it have the typical issues of being online (which I expected) but no interaction with anyone else, not even the instructor. So here I was reading about different methods, watching videos, doing research and posting statements and comments. The problem was that my statements and comments were to people who had taken the class several months or years before and my posts would be answered by the next soul that would come by who knows when. When I wrote my paper I picked a method that was very interactive with the client and would allow them to come out of their shell through questions given by the psychologist (design to trigger a response). I finally got feedback for my essays and the program specifically promoted behavioral modification (something I run from in my own practice as an educational therapist)  and I was told not asked how it is all done today.
At the end of the course I left the program and I still have not (but hope to soon) picked a new one.

The feeling was one of confusion, loneliness and criticism. I hope in my courses to instill a more sense of community and interaction amongst my students. I promote speaking to each other about their students and techniques they may pick to help their students with basic cognitive skills to support their academic skills.

Techniques by educational therapist may not fit the mainstream way, sometimes this may mean  running outside, swinging, climbing, pushing and pulling, working on timing all as the end goal to teaching academics. If the adult students in my class have a community that can give them feedback, they then can decide with confidence, what and how they will help their own students need to succeed.

My steps included for the integrated sensory class:
two face to face classes to learn the exercises hands on
online discussion about the students they are working with and what they are trying to do to help them in the long run.
materials to read
research
exercises to read about and try.
reflection on their studies and group conversation (virtually or in the classroom).

A long slide show (but well done) on online course and community:
building-community-in-online-learning-classes