FAQ sheet - Algebra 2 online class
1) What type of technological requirements do I need to attend this class?
Answer: First, you need a Mac or PC computer with Safari or Firefox browsers. If you need more information about it, please contact the online services. If you do not have a computer you can use one at the library. Second, you need to create an account at Desmos graphing calculator , Desmo calculator. You need Desmo Calculator to graph functions. Finally, you also need to create an account at Khan Academy, Khan Login Page in order to do your practice skills set.
2) What is the most important advice, in order to succeed in an online class?
Answer: Make sure you read the Syllabus several times at the beginning of the class. Keep up with your work on a weekly basis. Get help when needed, ask tons of questions. Manage your time wisely. If necessary, find an online study buddy. Don't forget to have fun too!
3) How do I get access to the class materials?
Answer: Every week I will post the links for the lecture notes, videos, quizzes/exams, projects including the rubrics. You can easily download the materials and print them if you need hard copies (Do not forget to Click on printer friendly format.)
4) How can I contact the instructor if I need help?
Answer: You can post any questions through the Forum. At the beginning of the class, I will create a class group where students can upload their HW solutions by taking pictures of them. Weekly, I will provide an hourly face to face time. Be sure to check for the correct time zone, World Clock - Time Zones
5) Can I make up missed assignments?
Answer: Yes, you have until the end of the week, prior to the final exam to turn in all the assignments except online quizzes/exams. However, you can retake quizzes until the end of each unit. Please check the calendar for all the assignments and important dates. It is advisable to write down all important dates or print out the calendar. In case of illness or family emergencies please email me, magalhaes_claudia@hotmail.com ASAP to make the necessary arrangements.
6) How do I find out about my grade?
Answer: Grades are updated on a weekly basis. For quizzes and tests you will automatically receive your score with feedback about the incorrect questions. You will be able to print the tests and quizzes. For projects, I will provide the scores as written on the rubric. If you have any questions, please email me.
7) Can I use a calculator for tests and quizzes?
Answer: Yes, including Desmos.
8) Are the exams including the final opened book?
Answer: Yes, but most exams are time limited so you need to manage your time wisely.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Week 8
This week's topic consisted of learning Web 2.0 tools and skills that can enrich the online classroom by making it more interactive and engaging. Also, those tools can help initiate social networking and increase collaboration among the students and teachers.
As the week went by, my tool box became larger as I incorporated new tools such as Eyejot (http://corp.eyejot.com/) . Eyejot is a paid tool which you can easily create and send a mail video to anyone that has an iPhone or iPodTouch. Screenr (https://www.screenr.com/) was another tool that I added to my tool box. The good news is that it is free and you can record anything from the screen on your computer (Mac or Windows).
I had also the opportunity to get reacquainted with Prezi, an interactive presentation software. This software is user friendly and it has great features even in the free version. For example,to boost your presentation, you can insert images, YouTube videos, files, power points. visual effects, and music. In addition, your presentation can be done remotely. Since I invested most of my week learning how to navigate with Prezi, I decided to use it to create an example titled, Seven Great Web 2.0 Tools for Students. I selected seven current tools that can assist students to become more efficient learners. Topics varied from how to organize your resources using online binders (LiveBinders) to how to format bibliographies and citations (EasyBib). I even considered a dictionary tool, Forvo that teaches the correct pronunciation of any word in the world. This is a tool that my family will use frequently because we are trilingual: Portuguese, English and Spanish. We are always debating in how to correctly pronounce new words in those languages. Below is my Prezi presentation.
Seven Web Tools for Students
I will leave you with a link of a slideshare done by Rafael Scapin, Ph. D Coordinator of Educational Technology of Dawson College about The best 20 Web Tools to Boost your Teaching (2013-2014). I hope that you enjoy it! Best 20 Web Tools for Teachers
As the week went by, my tool box became larger as I incorporated new tools such as Eyejot (http://corp.eyejot.com/) . Eyejot is a paid tool which you can easily create and send a mail video to anyone that has an iPhone or iPodTouch. Screenr (https://www.screenr.com/) was another tool that I added to my tool box. The good news is that it is free and you can record anything from the screen on your computer (Mac or Windows).
I had also the opportunity to get reacquainted with Prezi, an interactive presentation software. This software is user friendly and it has great features even in the free version. For example,to boost your presentation, you can insert images, YouTube videos, files, power points. visual effects, and music. In addition, your presentation can be done remotely. Since I invested most of my week learning how to navigate with Prezi, I decided to use it to create an example titled, Seven Great Web 2.0 Tools for Students. I selected seven current tools that can assist students to become more efficient learners. Topics varied from how to organize your resources using online binders (LiveBinders) to how to format bibliographies and citations (EasyBib). I even considered a dictionary tool, Forvo that teaches the correct pronunciation of any word in the world. This is a tool that my family will use frequently because we are trilingual: Portuguese, English and Spanish. We are always debating in how to correctly pronounce new words in those languages. Below is my Prezi presentation.
Seven Web Tools for Students
I will leave you with a link of a slideshare done by Rafael Scapin, Ph. D Coordinator of Educational Technology of Dawson College about The best 20 Web Tools to Boost your Teaching (2013-2014). I hope that you enjoy it! Best 20 Web Tools for Teachers
Friday, October 17, 2014
Week 7 - It's All Too Much: Class Resources and Intellectual Property
I loved the title of Week 7 and I agree with Lisa about "It's All Too Much". I had a hard time digesting all the information about intellectual property, especially understanding all the details about the laws. I guess for my online classes, I will use open sourced online materials and the traditional copyrighted textbooks that students purchase.
I enjoyed the article about the accessibility issues. First, I am a strong believer that everyone should have equal opportunity and equal access to the materials available in the internet including disabled people. Second, this issue affects my personal family. My mother who has been a ferocious reader since her childhood has been diagnosed with macular degeneration. Now, she will be able to access free printed portuguese materials with large print through the Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive.
I will definitely be making use of the free open educational resources. For my practice, I would use the college open textbooks from College Consortium especially for mathematics and chemistry. I found a great algebra review from Geogebra which uses interactive online activities using a "procedure-based" dynamic approach. Students are in control of their learning by creating their own problems in the areas that they need extra practice and review. When necessary, the activity shows the next steps with hints and explanations to the students. All solutions are presented in steps with answers. A printable version is available, The downside of this resource is that you need Java to have access to the activity and ten correct answers to master the skill. The link is http://archive.geogebra.org/en/wiki/index.php/Self-Assess_Algebra_Review
I am in favor of implementing the open textbooks not only at the community college level, but throughout the K-12 public schools. It would save money that can be allocated into other educational programs such hiring more aides and would provide free high-quality online textbooks to all the students. If the students have the access and training to the proper technology and tools, the later action can help reduce the achievement gap amongst the poor and minority students.
Instead of creating my own Mind Map, I decided to post a link of a Mind Map from mindmeister for 50+ free learning websites for Elementary School Students, Mind Map, How I would have liked to do it. This Mind Map represents what I would like to have done, but mind mapping does not fit my thinking style.
I enjoyed the article about the accessibility issues. First, I am a strong believer that everyone should have equal opportunity and equal access to the materials available in the internet including disabled people. Second, this issue affects my personal family. My mother who has been a ferocious reader since her childhood has been diagnosed with macular degeneration. Now, she will be able to access free printed portuguese materials with large print through the Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive.
I will definitely be making use of the free open educational resources. For my practice, I would use the college open textbooks from College Consortium especially for mathematics and chemistry. I found a great algebra review from Geogebra which uses interactive online activities using a "procedure-based" dynamic approach. Students are in control of their learning by creating their own problems in the areas that they need extra practice and review. When necessary, the activity shows the next steps with hints and explanations to the students. All solutions are presented in steps with answers. A printable version is available, The downside of this resource is that you need Java to have access to the activity and ten correct answers to master the skill. The link is http://archive.geogebra.org/en/wiki/index.php/Self-Assess_Algebra_Review
I am in favor of implementing the open textbooks not only at the community college level, but throughout the K-12 public schools. It would save money that can be allocated into other educational programs such hiring more aides and would provide free high-quality online textbooks to all the students. If the students have the access and training to the proper technology and tools, the later action can help reduce the achievement gap amongst the poor and minority students.
Instead of creating my own Mind Map, I decided to post a link of a Mind Map from mindmeister for 50+ free learning websites for Elementary School Students, Mind Map, How I would have liked to do it. This Mind Map represents what I would like to have done, but mind mapping does not fit my thinking style.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Week 6
Hi again and sorry for the delay. I had a busy week with my teenager son since my husband is out of town in a business trip in Brazil.
As a educational therapist specialized in teaching high school math I will focus on mainly on four students activities that I might use in an online class as described below.For all of the activities you should provide accommodations for students with disabilities or other special needs.
1) Ice Breakers - This is a great initial course activity to create a online community among the students. After this activity students should fell more comfortable in interacting with other students and be willing to participate more in the virtual classroom. Ice breakers can be asynchronously (videos or written form) or synchronously. One example of a synchronous activity is meet and greet through Skype where I would initially introduce myself and then the students would do the same. Prior to this activity I would provide instructions including time of the event with time zones and directions (tutorial) in how to use Skype. The format of the activity can be formal with a set of prior questions given to students or informal with only some guidelines. Students with visual impairment will use audio tools to record his/her voice.
2) Drill and Practice - This activity is not used frequently in adult education, but it is very useful when teaching mathematics. It is a great activity for students to practice and to master a set of critical skills required to advance and to excel in higher level mathematic courses. I normally use this activity to review a set of skills that will be used when teaching a new concept. KhanAcademy is a wonderful tool ( https://www.khanacademy.org/) where students can easily create a free account and they can practice a large amount of skills with immediate feedback in different subjects. KhanAcademy uses different formats for practice not limiting to multiple choices. This tool also avoid students to be bored since he/she can practice a new skill or advance to a new level after five correct answers.
3) Online Quizzing - I am not a fan of this activity, but it provides a quick way to assess the students' knowledge and to provide feedback about the instructor methodology. Instructor needs to have a large database of questions in many formats. Cheating can be a problem when using this activity. To avoid this problem provide an honor code and set clear cheating policies in the syllabus at the beginning of the course. Open notes quiz can also help minimize cheating. Pop quiz during a live session is another way to avoid cheating and to keep the students on their toes. A good teaching strategy is to allow students to create quiz questions so that they will have ownership over their learning process and will increase motivation to do the work.
4) Group Problem Solving Activity- I love this activity since the students will solve a problem (in my case, real life mathematics) in a group. This activity help students to develop building team skills, analyze facts, propose and test solutions, and present the solution (orally and written). Small groups of 3-5 are usually effective in online classroom. Groups can be pre-selected by the instructors or self selected among the students. Instructor should provide the students with enough background information and materials to the students so they can start to solve the problem. Timeline to complete this activity varies a lot and it will depend on the type of problem, For example, Small groups can be formed in a synchronous session and students have 10 minutes to come up with a problem solution. This is ideal when the problem involves multi-steps solutions but it is not a complex problem. For long projects, students should submit progress reports. In the beginning, the instructor should monitoring the groups closely by short live session to guarantee a smooth star. Make sure you provide a rubric and a model to help students gauge the quality of final work. Assessment should take into account the individual contribution as well as the group performance. .
Below is a link to an article about the best practices in online teaching strategies from the Hanover Research Council,
http://www.uwec.edu/AcadAff/resources/edtech/upload/Best-Practices-in-Online-Teaching-Strategies-Membership.pdf
I found a good video to introduce high school students to learning community,
As a educational therapist specialized in teaching high school math I will focus on mainly on four students activities that I might use in an online class as described below.For all of the activities you should provide accommodations for students with disabilities or other special needs.
1) Ice Breakers - This is a great initial course activity to create a online community among the students. After this activity students should fell more comfortable in interacting with other students and be willing to participate more in the virtual classroom. Ice breakers can be asynchronously (videos or written form) or synchronously. One example of a synchronous activity is meet and greet through Skype where I would initially introduce myself and then the students would do the same. Prior to this activity I would provide instructions including time of the event with time zones and directions (tutorial) in how to use Skype. The format of the activity can be formal with a set of prior questions given to students or informal with only some guidelines. Students with visual impairment will use audio tools to record his/her voice.
2) Drill and Practice - This activity is not used frequently in adult education, but it is very useful when teaching mathematics. It is a great activity for students to practice and to master a set of critical skills required to advance and to excel in higher level mathematic courses. I normally use this activity to review a set of skills that will be used when teaching a new concept. KhanAcademy is a wonderful tool ( https://www.khanacademy.org/) where students can easily create a free account and they can practice a large amount of skills with immediate feedback in different subjects. KhanAcademy uses different formats for practice not limiting to multiple choices. This tool also avoid students to be bored since he/she can practice a new skill or advance to a new level after five correct answers.
3) Online Quizzing - I am not a fan of this activity, but it provides a quick way to assess the students' knowledge and to provide feedback about the instructor methodology. Instructor needs to have a large database of questions in many formats. Cheating can be a problem when using this activity. To avoid this problem provide an honor code and set clear cheating policies in the syllabus at the beginning of the course. Open notes quiz can also help minimize cheating. Pop quiz during a live session is another way to avoid cheating and to keep the students on their toes. A good teaching strategy is to allow students to create quiz questions so that they will have ownership over their learning process and will increase motivation to do the work.
4) Group Problem Solving Activity- I love this activity since the students will solve a problem (in my case, real life mathematics) in a group. This activity help students to develop building team skills, analyze facts, propose and test solutions, and present the solution (orally and written). Small groups of 3-5 are usually effective in online classroom. Groups can be pre-selected by the instructors or self selected among the students. Instructor should provide the students with enough background information and materials to the students so they can start to solve the problem. Timeline to complete this activity varies a lot and it will depend on the type of problem, For example, Small groups can be formed in a synchronous session and students have 10 minutes to come up with a problem solution. This is ideal when the problem involves multi-steps solutions but it is not a complex problem. For long projects, students should submit progress reports. In the beginning, the instructor should monitoring the groups closely by short live session to guarantee a smooth star. Make sure you provide a rubric and a model to help students gauge the quality of final work. Assessment should take into account the individual contribution as well as the group performance. .
Below is a link to an article about the best practices in online teaching strategies from the Hanover Research Council,
http://www.uwec.edu/AcadAff/resources/edtech/upload/Best-Practices-in-Online-Teaching-Strategies-Membership.pdf
I found a good video to introduce high school students to learning community,
Friday, October 3, 2014
Week 5 - Online Community
Since prehistoric age humans needed to interact with each other in order to survive by hunting for food, and building shelters. Creating a community is necessary in order to transfer knowledge, values, cultures, language and it is important to be able to solve complex problems in a globalized world. A diverse and integrated community, is also relevant to bring a new perspective to the society.
In the modern day educational setting, creating community should be part of the curriculum and it is more of a challenge when dealing with an online classroom. Using tools available to the online community, can facilitate the difficult barrier between the students and the teacher created by the virtual world. As stated in Pilar's video, the importance of (identifying )the purposes before choosing the tools to use to establish a community while teaching online, is necessary to design a way for students to interact easily allowing them to surpass the obstacle of the virtual world. Pillar's comment in her video is an important point to take in account when addressing the development of an online community.
Below are the activities that I would probably incorporate in an online classroom in order to try to establish an online community:
Meet and Greet- students can use any format (video, letter, power point, avatar) to introduce themselves and share one strength and one difficulty that they had in their life (can be related to the course or not) and how they used them to improve their learning/life.
Create a private social group (mandatory)- place where students post solutions and answers, students talk about problems in classroom and strategies that helped them. Students share resources through links and articles
Group Project - create a list of tasks (or students can generate one) and ask each student to pick the task in which he/she has a specific skill (talent for). Students then have to show the steps (evolution) of the project. At the end, each student shares his/her the experience and post a blog highlighting his/her positive and negative experiences and what they would change if they did the project again.
Another group project would be that now the students would be paired. One student would be proficient at a specific skill such as making videos and the other does not know this specific skill. The skilled student has to teach the other and explain how he/she did it. The student who learned the material has to do a presentation showing what he learned giving examples and applying this skill to real life.
Below is an article about how to become a community in the online classroom by integrating cognitive and affective learning to maximizing e-learning:
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring61/woods61.htm
Finally, I am posting a video from Jenny Thomas a CTAP specialist, Creating a Community in the Online Classroom
In the modern day educational setting, creating community should be part of the curriculum and it is more of a challenge when dealing with an online classroom. Using tools available to the online community, can facilitate the difficult barrier between the students and the teacher created by the virtual world. As stated in Pilar's video, the importance of (identifying )the purposes before choosing the tools to use to establish a community while teaching online, is necessary to design a way for students to interact easily allowing them to surpass the obstacle of the virtual world. Pillar's comment in her video is an important point to take in account when addressing the development of an online community.
Below are the activities that I would probably incorporate in an online classroom in order to try to establish an online community:
Meet and Greet- students can use any format (video, letter, power point, avatar) to introduce themselves and share one strength and one difficulty that they had in their life (can be related to the course or not) and how they used them to improve their learning/life.
Create a private social group (mandatory)- place where students post solutions and answers, students talk about problems in classroom and strategies that helped them. Students share resources through links and articles
Group Project - create a list of tasks (or students can generate one) and ask each student to pick the task in which he/she has a specific skill (talent for). Students then have to show the steps (evolution) of the project. At the end, each student shares his/her the experience and post a blog highlighting his/her positive and negative experiences and what they would change if they did the project again.
Another group project would be that now the students would be paired. One student would be proficient at a specific skill such as making videos and the other does not know this specific skill. The skilled student has to teach the other and explain how he/she did it. The student who learned the material has to do a presentation showing what he learned giving examples and applying this skill to real life.
Below is an article about how to become a community in the online classroom by integrating cognitive and affective learning to maximizing e-learning:
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring61/woods61.htm
Finally, I am posting a video from Jenny Thomas a CTAP specialist, Creating a Community in the Online Classroom
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