My school recently moved to Moodle to have a place for teachers to post their lesson plans/assignment and a way of communicating between the different committees we have established this year. Since I am responsible for training the teachers, I thought it wise to take a course in Moodle!

One of our assignments was to Google the benefits of eLearning and share our findings with the class. Of course, I have to be different and I was curious to see what members of my PLN thought benefits of eLearning were in relation to their experiences. So, I used Twitter to pole my network and asked:

“I’m taking an online course & we’re to gather 3 benefits of eLearning. We’re to use Google, but I figure asking you guys is more practical. Benefits from your own classroom experiences or participation in global projects are what I’m really looking for…any words of wisdom?” These are the responses I received. I was hoping for more, but these were great.

Thank you to all who responded to my request. I appreciate your taking the time. If anyone has any additional benefits to share, please feel free. Your responses don’t have to pertain specifically to the K12 education. Just tell what you believe the benefits to eLearning have been for you!

The Periodic Table of Videos – Thanks to Cali Lewis over at GeekBrief.TV for sharing this cool site. What makes this periodic table great is that there are short videos describing each element and/or showing an experiment using the element.

National Geographic: Wildlife Filmmaker – “Make a custom nature film with animal clips, sounds, and more. Then share your masterpiece with friends.”

ThinkQuest: Math Movies: Math for Everyone – “Have you ever wondered how mathematics is actually applied in everyday life? Do you like games and movies? Are you looking for ideas for your science project? … Are you a teacher looking for lesson plans and fresh teaching idea? Welcome to Math Movies.”

Tony Vincent over at the Learning in Hand blog posted the following: “How to Cheat” – he provides examples of YouTube videos that show students methods on how to cheat. As Tony says, we don’t want our kids to see these videos, but they are out there nonetheless. As teachers, we need to be familiar with them, too, so we can prevent the use of them in our classrooms.

Another great post by Tony Vincents is “Video Podcasts Free Up Class Time” – “… video podcasts to remove lecture from class. Viewing podcasts made by teachers is given as homework so teachers and students can focus on hands-on activities and direct problem solving during class time. For students without Internet, they can copy episodes to a flash drive. Those without computers can take home DVDs to play on their televisions.”

BibMe – a free online bibliography maker in MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian formats.

Great TeacherTube video brought to my attention by Vicki Davis via Twitter a while back with teachers who tell how they are going to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom: Today

Today, all Aiken County Public School teachers and administration were required to attend a mandatory inservice to hear Dr. Ben Caron, author of Gifted Hands and Think Big. I was looking forward to hearing Dr. Carson’s address and was not disappointed. A few of the tidbits I remember (hopefully correctly – any errors are my own) and/or wrote down include:

In response to parents bringing their kids in to be diagnosed with ADD – Yes, they do have ADD because of your plopping them down in front of TVs as soon as they can sit up. For allowing them to spend all their free time on computers and video games. Parents, wean your kids off of technology (TV, computers, video games, etc.) and start spending quality time with your kids. Get them reading, involved in sports, and make connections with your kids to slow their minds down. Parents are the ones who are ADD – they aren’t paying attention to their kids.

“There is no such thing as useless knowledge.” Learn anything and everything you can. READ! Reading leads to learning.

“Teachers are the ones who tell you why you CAN do something, not why you CAN’T.” Don’t focus on students limitations, have higher expectations for them. Also liked that he said stop making excuses – no matter what the student’s situations/limitations, they have a brain and they can use it. Excuses only hold them back.

Peers = People encouraging errors resulting in stupidity. Dr. Carson told of how after discovering his capacity to learn in elementary school and middle school, he entered high school. He faltered his freshman year by listening to his peers instead of following his own path.

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Carson’s address and thank our district and community leaders for arranging to have him come and share his experiences, thoughts, and beliefs with us.

I’ve taken some time off from the Odds & Ends posts, as well as with reading my RSS feeds. Hey, I deserve some time off for summer vacation, too! However, I’m ready to get back to sharing. Here are some articles and blog posts I’ve found interesting:

Washington Post - “Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border” – “Big Brother Is Watching”. Just another reason to ensure our students are reading 1984, and discussing the implications of these types of policies to the average citizen. “No, Mr. Smith, I don’t have to give you a reason why I’m taking your laptop/cellphone/iPod. Nor do I have to give it back anytime soon or at all. Just another way we’re stomping all over your civil liberties keeping America safe from terrorists.”

Endgadget – “Local public school students get assigned Zunes” – Students in Missouri are getting Zunes to assist them with their learning. It will be interesting to see the results of the study.

NYT.com – “Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?” – Thoughts anyone? Getting students up to grade level is important, but at what cost? What concerned me is this statement: “The special classes, which are limited to 15 students and follow a pared-down curriculum of reading, writing and arithmetic, are called the Gift of Time and come with extras like tutoring and field trips to a local farm.” Eliminating arts (again!) as a sacrifice to “the basics” – what student would look forward to that every day?

Washington Post – “The Odd World of E-School Teachers” – an interesting article about virtual schools and teachers who teach them. I’m all for providing opportunities for students to learn at their own pace and environment, but what is the cost to their education? If all of the “classes” are via computers, you’ve lost that face to face interaction that, for me, seem vital to connecting with your students. Maybe they do some Skype type interaction?

Steve Dembo – Teach42 blog – “Aaahhh, the joys of being a teacher” – Just for fun, take a look at these examples of student answers on tests. Boy, I wish I was as creative as these kids when I was in school – who am I kidding, I wish I was this creative now!