Highlights and Lowlights of Converting a Traditionally (F2F) Taught Technology Class for K-12 Educators into an Effective Hybrid Class

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Highlights and Lowlights of Converting a
Traditionally (F2F) Taught Technology Class for
K-12 Educators into an Effective Hybrid Class

• Sharon Lantz
• Sharon.lantz_at_rrcc.edu
• Coordinator, Faculty RRCC
• K-12 Teacher Education Department
• http//www.rrcc.edu/education/

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Agenda

• Hybrid What and Why?
• Goals and Objectives of the Class
• Who Enrolls in the Course
• Goal and Objectives
• Text, Software, Hardware, and Web Site
• Changes from F2F
• Lowlights
• Future changes?
• Highlights
• Student Comments
• The fun part Giveaways!!

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What is a Hybrid Class?

• Hybrid classes are a combination of online and
  classroom instruction. 
• Some traditional face-to-face "seat time" has
  been replaced by online learning activities.
• A hybrid course is designed to integrate
  face-to-face and online activities so that they
  reinforce and complement one another, instead of
  treating the online component as an add-on or
  duplicate of what is taught in the classroom.

Hybrid Class
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Why Change to Hybrid?

• Recommended by EDU Advisory Board we change to
  this type of format to compete with online
  courses from 4 year schools for teacher
  recertification
• Give students more options
• Kept day section as F2F and converted night class
  to hybrid Fall 2007

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Who Enrolls in EDU 261 Teaching Learning and
Technology?

• Students seeking
• Associate of Arts (AA) with an emphasis in
  Elementary Education or Secondary Education
• An Associate of Applied Science with an emphasis
  in Early Childhood Education or Paraeducation
• Certified Teachers
• Recertification/Relicensure credit (3 credits)
• Can earn Graduate level credit from Colorado
  School of Mines
• Majority of enrollment in hybrid class

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Goals of Class

• Prepare students to integrate technology into
  their teaching curriculum.
• Support standards-based instruction and enhance
  student learning.
• Based on the Colorado Content Standards for
  Teachers. Standard Seven Knowledge of
  Technology The teacher is skilled in technology
  and is knowledgeable about using technology to
  support instruction and enhance student learning.

Objectives
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Text, Software, Hardware, and Web Site

• Text Packet of Lesson Plans developed by
  instructor. Lesson plans
• Cover K-12
• Are cross curriculum
• Based on the Colorado Content Standards
• Demonstrate how to effectively use technology in
  the K-12 classroom
• Utilize a multitude of software

• Hardware at home
• Computer with internet connection (preferably not
  dialup)
• Speakers
• Web Site for the Class

• Software

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Software to be taughtSuggested by the local
school district

• Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, Excel,
  Publisher
• Can use OpenOffice or Google documents

• Educational Software

• Inspiration Graphic organizer

• Timeliner Visually organizes information on a
  timeline or number line

• Graph Club Create graphs for elementary level

• Capture, edit, and share exactly what you see on
  your screen fast
• Demo of Snag it

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Changes made from F2F to hybrid class

• PowerPoints
• Posted Monday of online week outlined exactly
  what had to be done for the week
• VERY specific directions
• Oral greeting of the week (using Audacity)
• Questions of the Week vs. of the Day
• Software
• Students were given demos of some of the
  educational software (Inspiration, Timeliner and
  Graph Club)
• Written and Oral directions using Camtasia
• Online tutorials for which RRCC is paying a
  yearly fee
• Lesson Plan Projects Completed during online
  weeks
• Storyboards for each project associated with
  lesson plans
• Research for all the projects
• Search for graphics to be saved on memory stick
• Collaboration among group members
• Grading the journals using the ink feature on
  the tablet PC
• Web Discussion Boards
• Web site Calendar
• Grade Book
• Electronic Portfolios

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Lowlights Of The Hybrid Course

• Time consuming for course redesign
• Good teaching is central
• Technology is secondary
• Technology (Instructor)
• Learning the software programs
• Changing to Vista
• Student expectations/problems
• More work than they expected
• Slow computers at home/speakers
• No access at home to Microsoft products
• Lack of communication between group members no
  specific place on Blackboard
• Instructor must constantly be on-call via email
• Addition of one more F2F class at end of semester

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Okay, What to Modify/Change?

• First day, specify hardware/software needs
• Develop a group section in Blackboard (Group
  Manager)
• Post a matrix at beginning of semester of exactly
  what is due and when (suggested by student)
• Every online week, have an audio hello
• Schedule three F2F weeks at the beginning of
  semester (and the end) before starting online
  weeks

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Highlights
Statistics

• Fun for me- made me think!
• Good pedagogy has to be a reason to use the
  technology
• Make sure off week work is NOT just busy work,
  but relevant!!
• Overall, great student responses

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Student Comments

• The only thing I did not like about the class
  was the amount of work we had on the off weeks.
• The most difficult part for me was not having a
  very organized list of all of the assignments.
• In my case, lack of computer skills and being a
  hands on learner I needed more class time just
  for the hands on.
• The difficult thing about the hybrid class is
  not having the teacher there when I had questions
  about software.
• this class would have been better for me if we
  were to have actually met in class more often. I
  lost some focus during the long stretches
  between.
• My home computer did not work the same way the
  school computers did and much of the information
  was blocked or took a very long time to do.

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Student Comments

• As far as the class goes I really did enjoy it. I
  am not a person who likes hybrid or online
  classes but I did like this one.
• Everything that I needed for this class was on
  the web site and it was very easy to get my
  hybrid classes done. Thank you so much.
• The weeks at home allowed me to work at my own
  pace which was nice. I was able to do some
  reviewing as well as take my time with the new
  work for this class.
• I really thought it worked well and thought
  that having the tutorials you made available
  really helped to walk me through the process of
  each project.
• having us do the activities (hands-on) is a
  great plan as not only do we get to know the
  program better that way, but we also have to
  think like the students we would be presenting it
  to.
• I like the idea of a hybrid. Especially with the
  group work that we have done, it gives you an
  opportunity to feel like part of a group, but
  also the opportunity to work very independently
  and manage your time a little differently.
• The hybrid class makes you better prepared for a
  full online course.
• the flexibility to learn some in the classroom
  and then come home and be able to work alone to
  expand and learn more about various software
  programs.

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Now the Fun Part

• Drawing for two 2GB Flash Drives donated by Red
  Rocks Community College.
• Loaded with Audacity, Firefox,
  Open Office and Sudoku
• Random Number Generator
• Demo copies of Inspiration, Timeliner, Graph
  Club, Camtasia and Snag it.
• Questions???

Thanks for Attending
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Bibliography

• http//www.rrcc.edu/education/
• http//audacity.sourceforge.net/
• http//www.techsmith.com/camtasia/features.asp
• http//www.inspiration.com/
• http//www.tomsnyder.com/
• http//www.google.com
• http//www.openoffice.org/
• End the Divide Between Traditional and Online
  Instruction http//chronicle.com/free/v48/i28/28a0
  3301.htm
• PEDAGOGY and TECHNIQUES http//teachvu.vu.msu.edu/
  public/pedagogy/hybrid/
• http//www.e-colorado.org/

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Question of the Week

• Questions more involved included subjects not
  able to cover in class i.e. wikis, blogs,
  social bookmarking, phishing, etc.

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Use of Calendar
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Web Discussion Board

• Topics included introducing themselves,
  scavenger hunts, and continual feedback how the
  hybrid class Was or Was Not meeting their needs.
• Some discussions were conditional (only visible
  to others in their group)

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Online Grade Book
Kept a running total of their grades. The
students LOVED this! I do this for all
classes-not just online or hybrid classes.
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Electronic Portfolios

• Students in EDU 261 must keep all projects and
  journals on a memory stick.
• Four year schools require EDU majors have an
  electronic portfolio, but each school uses
  different software (students have to pay).
• Free on-line tool for registered users to create
  customized electronic portfolios. 
• Free for college students in Colorado
• Next year, students will develop their portfolio
  at e-colorado