Using Groups Online
Filed Under Teaching and Learning | Leave a Comment
I have been using Team Based Learning (TBL) in my face-to-face (F2F) classes this past semester. The course admin tab of our eCollege CMS (course management system) allows us to set up groups for our online classes.
I always assign groups in my classes. I feel like this might be a little more difficult in an online class, but certainly not impossible. I use my “Shapes We Live By” presentation exercise to break groups by square, triangle, circle, and squiggly line. I think I can do this same thing with a short intro video and then a Google Form or a Survey Monkey to help me ask appropriate question such as technology level, number of courses taken, time constraints, etc. Along with the orientation chat and class discussion/VoiceThread introductions, I think that I can do a good job in assigning their groups (these are for the entire semester).
While our CMS does provide tools for group use, I really see another tool such as Wiggio for group communication.
Here are some ideas from the session:
- Create a “FishBowl” between the groups
- Make a group presentation — have them create a “product” from their research/discussion
- Include stellar student examples and a grading rubric in assignment requirements
- Solicit feedback from student on how the process is going — and use it to tweak the course
- Use peer evaluation carefully (the TBL folks call this Team Maintenance). This should be used for improvement for the student.
- Help students identify the skills they need/use in TBL
- Try to make it so groups/students report simultaneously
- Make them quailify their “I agree” comments
- What size should the groups be for online courses? TBL suggests 7-9, Cindy uses 3-4
After this session, I feel more confident that I can make TBL work in my online classes for Fall 2009. Watch for how this works!
Lemonade???
Filed Under Technology | Leave a Comment
After taking my mother to the doctor on the wrong day and having her walker break when it fell out of the van when I got her home, I was not looking for my day to go any better when I returned to the AT&T Store to try to get my iPhone issues resolved.
With no fight left in me, I returned to the AT&T store. This time, I was treated like a real customer! Norma and James were completely professional, courteous, and prompt in resolving my issue without any cost — the way it should have been the first time!
Maybe you do get Lemonade once in a while when life keeps handing you those lemons!
The Electronic Lemon!!!!!!!!
Filed Under Technology | Leave a Comment
Finally got to talk to a nice girl representing Apple from their customer support expert.
She did some troubleshooting and had me reset several times — with no luck!
My options were:
Option #1 - to have a box shipped out to me and return my phone
Option #2 - have a new phone shipped out to me and return my old one once I got it.
Since I no longer have that land line…I needed to pick option #2.
Guess what? Option #2 costs $29 unless you buy their $70 Apple Care Plan (then they will deduct the $29 from the plan). AND, they will charge your credit card $499 and reverse the charge once you return the phone.
Can you say, “rip off?” I have a defective phone that will cost me $30 no matter what to get fixed. (It really is not the money — it is the principle at this point)
I have never before had an “Electronic Lemon” such as this!
The iPhone Saga
Filed Under Technology | Leave a Comment
Got my iPhone a week ago. At first, I could not get the phone activated. It kept saying that it was waiting for activation and that could take some time…after 24 hours, I called AT&T. I got through in less that 3 minutes, and after rebooting about 4 times; I was all set up! I had wonderful fun exploring the features. My daughter grabbed the phone and started playing some music on it. I didn’t have any music loaded so I was afraid she had bought something from iTunes. Luckily, she had just found the song preview in iTunes (did I mention she is 7 years old?).
A week later, I recorded a podcast episode on the iPhone and its educational possibilites with my friend Doug McKay. After that, the microphone on the phone quit working. Callers can not hear me unless I put them on the speaker phone. I did a Google search and found other users with similar issues. I did a reload from iTunes and I also did a hardware reset. Neither improved my iPhone.
Off to the AT&T store I went. Guess what? They said they could exchange my one-week-old phone, but it would cost me a 10% restocking fee ($30). A restocking fee for a defective phone?????? Get real! The customer representitive told me I could send it to Apple and they would send me a new phone before I had to turn in the old one. I expressed concern being without a phone because we dropped our land line in order to justify the expense of an iPhone.
Found www.apple.com/support/expert and proceeded to get Apple to call me. I had no longer submitted my request when the phone rang!!! It was a recording, but I followed the instructions. Then, a busy signal came on. I hung up and tried to schedule a time for them to call me tomorrow. That page got an error on the web saying that my request could not be completed at this time. So…I selected — I’ll call them later. We’ll see how that works!
At this point I am very frustrated, but not ready to give up on the iPhone nor the people who try to support it. Yet…anyway.
Error while trying to run project…Could it be that simple?
Filed Under Visual Basic.NET | Leave a Comment
We were getting the error: "Error while trying to run project. Could not load file or assembly for…" Turns out that the project name had an apostrophe in it! Took it out, and it worked like a charm!
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OnStar to the Rescue!
Filed Under Innovations, Technology | Leave a Comment
Trying to be “green,” I reached over my seat to get the canvas bags I had for grocery shopping. Somehow, while I was doing this, my car keys ended up in the front seat now behind a locked car door!
Never fear, OnStar is here! Now, what was that number? I dialed 800-4OnStar. Got a busy signal. Figured OnStar shouldn’t be busy so I called my husband. He looked up the number — it was 888 not 800! He called for me — I guess I also needed a password I didn’t have.
It did work just like you see in the commercials! My car was unlocked in seconds.
Thanks, OnStar (and hubbie, too)!
Listened to my Podcast on Tivo!
Filed Under Podcasting, Teaching and Learning | Leave a Comment
I have been a fan of Tivo for quite some time. I just found out that I could listen to any podcast (including my own) from my TV! I went to the Music, Showcases menu option from the main Tivo menu. I went to Podcaster and then to the last entry which says to Enter URL. I put in my desired URL: http://dougandlori.podbean.com/feed (the /feed is important), and up popped my podcast complete with picture! I called into my blog through Jott to make sure I remembered to blog this! That is my latest technique. Jott won’t record the entire blog entry (the free version, anyway), but it gives me enough to remember what I wanted to say.
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SuperKeys
Filed Under Teaching and Learning, Technology | Leave a Comment
SuperKeys - The Ultimate Keyboard Supercharger from Vellosoft
This was recommended to me when I saw it used “accidentally” in an online chat meeting. I am going to give it a try for my online orientations for my classes. Now, I have a Word Document with what I would like to cover in my online chat — and then I cut and paste everything in. I think this is the tool I have been looking for!
Make a Link to the iTunes Store
Filed Under Podcasting | Leave a Comment
You learn something new every day!
Here is a link creator for making a link to the iTunes Store: http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStoreServices.woa/wa/itmsLinkMaker
I did that with my NET214 podcast:
It generated this:
<a href=”http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=294937255“><img height=”15″ width=”61″ alt=”Lori Walljasper - Perceptive Petal” src=”http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61×15dark.gif” /></a>
Alice 3.0 Beta Tester
Filed Under Boise State Class, Computer Graphics/Game Development, Programming | Leave a Comment
I am very excited that our new class CIS 159 Programming in Alice will be beta testing Alice 3.0 software. You may have been following my earlier post: http://www.perceptivepetal.com/wordpress/?p=156
We made the final cut, and I’m heading out to Carnegie Mellon University in January to prepare for the testing. I am very thankful and excited to be a part of this.
keep looking »