Building Online Learning Communities

Kelly McCaffrey

Most Useful Tools

• Google Docs - embedding my Voki onto Google Sites was easy and it saved me a lot of time. Saving my lesson plans to Google Docs allowed me to share them easily.

• Edmodo – I look forward to adding more to my Edmodo throughout the school year and sharing it with my parents.

• Tikatok – This was a lot of fun to explore with. I hope to work with the computer teacher this coming school year so that my students can create their own books!

• Rubistar – I love the variety of options that this site offers.

• Voki - This was a great way to add a personal touch to my web page!

Tools for the Future

• Lino – I hope to spend more time exploring with this site to see how I can utilize it.

• Hotchalk – I love the lesson plans that are shared on this site. I am going to use one of the lessons for my ABC center in my classroom.

• Kathy Schrock’s Rubrics – I plan to revisit this site throughout the school year for creative ideas that I can integrate into my lessons.

• The Educator’s Reference Desk – this is another site that I will bookmark on my computer at work!

Online Learning…Do I Continue?

“Building Online Learning Communities” is the first online course that I’ve taken. I was both skeptical and optimistic about taking this course. Skeptical because I’m used to face-to-face instruction as well as face-to-face conversations with my classmates and I thought that I would be left to my own devices to figure things out. Optimistic because I can see where technology is rapidly headed in our schools and I wanted to learn new things that I can use with my students. As educators, it is imperative that we stay on top of things with technology.

Overall, I learned that it’s good to step outside of your comfort zone and explore what the online world has to offer. I was certainly not “left to my own devices”. In fact, my questions were answered more immediately than if I were taking a weekly class. I will definitely be taking more online courses in the future!

THE OVERALL CHALLENGE FOR ME WAS FIGURING OUT HOW TO CREATE AND SHARE MY WORK. I WAS DETERMINED TO FIGURE THINGS OUT ON MY OWN AND THEREFORE SPENT SEVERAL HOURS AT A TIME TRYING DIFFERENT THINGS BEFORE I WAS ABLE TO PRODUCE ANY RESULTS..

Challenges

MY SUCCESSES ARE MY END PRODUCTS. THROUGH EXPLORING AND A LOT OF TRIAL AND ERROR, I WAS ABLE TO PRODUCE SEVERAL DIFFERENT ONLINE PIECES THAT I CAN USE IN MY CLASSROOM. OVERALL, I AM MORE CONFIDENT WITH CREATING AND SHARING WORK ONLINE AND AM EXCITED TO SHARE WHAT I’VE LEARNED WITH OTHERS.

Successes

What I’ve Created…Online Learning Communityhttp://www.edmodo.com/mccaffrey-valley#

What I’ve created…Rubricshttp://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&module=Rubistar&rubric_id=2069693&

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&module=Rubistar&rubric_id=2069660&

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&module=Rubistar&rubric_id=2069657&

What I’ve Created…Lessonshttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1hg1uWr3qHpnn-kK4OzfKyVfQSuvNrJiDdFfd4Ybpvys/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hg1uWr3qHpnn-kK4OzfKyVfQSuvNrJiDdFfd4Ybpvys/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

What I’ve Created…Assessmentshttp://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/LTE2NTk0ODM0Nzc

http://yacapaca.com

http://obsurvey.com/S.aspx?id=D03B3A57-90DB-4868-A81B-F7A0631F306E

What I’ve Created…Differentiated Productshttps://sites.google.com/site/mywebpagevoki/

http://www.tikatok.com/uploads/pdfbook/hires/all-about-me-1344e26f6a1db30e5_19800714.pdf