5 Common Mistakes Online Students Make

Today I have Coleen Torres as guest blogger. Please be sure to check out her unique guest post. Guest posts are always welcome, please contact me.


Coleen Torres writes, Online learning has its advantages and disadvantages. Ask an experienced online learning student and they will tell you that online learning beats classroom learning. Many students starting out online tend to handle the online course as if it were an actual classroom. In online learning you can’t do this, here are common mistakes students make starting out and how you can avoid them.

Wikipedia: Just because you are online more does not mean sites like Wikipedia are your new textbook resource. In actual classrooms Wikipedia isn’t always the best source and online, it holds true. Stick with the textbooks that are assigned, most are now online making it easier on the student.

I’ll do it later: You may get away with this in your actual classroom but in online learning there is no place for procrastination. One of the benefits of online learning is being able to be control of when and how you want to study, do assignments or take tests. It is very easy to get behind in an online course. Set a daily schedule and stick to it.

Not asking for help: Just because your instructor is not standing in front of you doesn’t mean he or she is not available. In fact online learning instructors are probably easier to get in contact with rather than an actual classroom instructor. Most instructors you can contact via email, messenger, Skype, phone and group chats. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your instructor, keep an open line of communication and ask lots of questions.

Skipping lectures: This doesn’t work in an actual classroom and certainly doesn’t work in online learning. Do not skip readings, quizzes or live lectures, this can harm your grade. In fact, skipping online lectures and reading can really put you behind and make learning difficult.

Not interacting with other students: Engage with your peers. They will be your second line of communication if for some reason the instructor is unable to help you at that moment. Group chats or email with several students, interact on the discussions boards. Be courteous and respectful of other students and their comments and opinions.

Stay ahead, use your textbook and when in doubt, ask your instructor. Online learning has many benefits and can help you excel in your education. Happy learning!

Related links

Take a closer look at Phone TV Internet's Blog 
Book Marketing Makeover: Using Twitter to Promote Your Books

Checking In On Foursquare, Explore the Local World 

This is a guest post by Coleen Torres from local phone service.

You can find more about Coleen at her profile.

Many thanks to Coleen.
Enjoy your reading!

5 Common Mistakes Online Students Make

Today I have Coleen Torres as guest blogger. Please be sure to check out her unique guest post. Guest posts are always welcome, please contact me.


Coleen Torres writes, Online learning has its advantages and disadvantages. Ask an experienced online learning student and they will tell you that online learning beats classroom learning. Many students starting out online tend to handle the online course as if it were an actual classroom. In online learning you can’t do this, here are common mistakes students make starting out and how you can avoid them.

Wikipedia: Just because you are online more does not mean sites like Wikipedia are your new textbook resource. In actual classrooms Wikipedia isn’t always the best source and online, it holds true. Stick with the textbooks that are assigned, most are now online making it easier on the student.

I’ll do it later: You may get away with this in your actual classroom but in online learning there is no place for procrastination. One of the benefits of online learning is being able to be control of when and how you want to study, do assignments or take tests. It is very easy to get behind in an online course. Set a daily schedule and stick to it.

Not asking for help: Just because your instructor is not standing in front of you doesn’t mean he or she is not available. In fact online learning instructors are probably easier to get in contact with rather than an actual classroom instructor. Most instructors you can contact via email, messenger, Skype, phone and group chats. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your instructor, keep an open line of communication and ask lots of questions.

Skipping lectures: This doesn’t work in an actual classroom and certainly doesn’t work in online learning. Do not skip readings, quizzes or live lectures, this can harm your grade. In fact, skipping online lectures and reading can really put you behind and make learning difficult.

Not interacting with other students: Engage with your peers. They will be your second line of communication if for some reason the instructor is unable to help you at that moment. Group chats or email with several students, interact on the discussions boards. Be courteous and respectful of other students and their comments and opinions.

Stay ahead, use your textbook and when in doubt, ask your instructor. Online learning has many benefits and can help you excel in your education. Happy learning!

Related links

Take a closer look at Phone TV Internet's Blog 
Book Marketing Makeover: Using Twitter to Promote Your Books

Checking In On Foursquare, Explore the Local World 

This is a guest post by Coleen Torres from local phone service.

You can find more about Coleen at her profile.

Many thanks to Coleen.
Enjoy your reading!

What Do Tomorrow's Classrooms Look Like? by Vicki Davis

Blending online learning with traditional lessons invites teachers to reinvent the classroom.

Photo: Vicki Davis  

Vicki Davis writes, "Right now, online learning and face-to-face learning are seemingly distinct, opposite choices in K-12 schooling. You're either in the school room or at home learning online. But this is changing -- the online classroom will soon supplement face-to-face learning, and students will move easily between both environments, benefiting from the strengths of each."

Photo: The Atlantic  

The "flipped" classroom is one way of blending the traditional classroom with online learning. A teacher "flips" the traditional method of face-to-face lecture and homework: delivering lectures and typical "classroom" content via an online platform for homework, and devoting in-class time to the kinds of activities that would normally be considered homework. This isn't just about lecturing on video. Our creativity is called for. What kind of material is best learned at a customizable pace online? What kinds of experiential activities will best help kids to apply their learnings? 

Read more... 

Flat Classroom Conference Qatar Opening 



What is the Flat Classroom Project?
Flat Classroom® Project is a global collaborative project that joins together middle and high school students (typically grade 9-12, 14-18 years old).

The Flat Classroom project is redefining excellence in education. Schools and higher education are moving to online education, blended learning, and e-learning, redefining education as we know it. Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds will take your school online one teacher at a time.

 Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds

Related link
You’re invited to the Flat Classroom Book Club!

About Vicki Davis
Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) is a teacher, Mom, cofounder of the Flat Classroom projects and author of the Cool Cat Teacher Blog and the new book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds.

Source:The Atlantic

What Do Tomorrow's Classrooms Look Like? by Vicki Davis

Blending online learning with traditional lessons invites teachers to reinvent the classroom.

Photo: Vicki Davis  

Vicki Davis writes, "Right now, online learning and face-to-face learning are seemingly distinct, opposite choices in K-12 schooling. You're either in the school room or at home learning online. But this is changing -- the online classroom will soon supplement face-to-face learning, and students will move easily between both environments, benefiting from the strengths of each."

Photo: The Atlantic  

The "flipped" classroom is one way of blending the traditional classroom with online learning. A teacher "flips" the traditional method of face-to-face lecture and homework: delivering lectures and typical "classroom" content via an online platform for homework, and devoting in-class time to the kinds of activities that would normally be considered homework. This isn't just about lecturing on video. Our creativity is called for. What kind of material is best learned at a customizable pace online? What kinds of experiential activities will best help kids to apply their learnings? 

Read more... 

Flat Classroom Conference Qatar Opening 



What is the Flat Classroom Project?
Flat Classroom® Project is a global collaborative project that joins together middle and high school students (typically grade 9-12, 14-18 years old).

The Flat Classroom project is redefining excellence in education. Schools and higher education are moving to online education, blended learning, and e-learning, redefining education as we know it. Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds will take your school online one teacher at a time.

 Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds

Related link
You’re invited to the Flat Classroom Book Club!

About Vicki Davis
Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) is a teacher, Mom, cofounder of the Flat Classroom projects and author of the Cool Cat Teacher Blog and the new book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds.

Source:The Atlantic

Free Webinar: The Art of a Flipped Classroom – Turning Learning on its Head

Check out this FREE online webinar below.

Sign up for this free webinar to learn more about Flipped Learning and what it might mean to your school/classroom. This overview will introduce participants to the concept of Flipped Learning: Where educators are actively transferring the responsibility and ownership of learning from the teacher to the students.

Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Time: 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT
Duration: 1 hour

Hear from pioneers in the field as they discuss how teachers become guides to understanding the content rather than dispensers of facts, and students become active learners rather than receptacles of information. When students have control over how they learn, the pace of their learning, and how their learning is assessed, the learning belongs to them.

Flipped learning happens when the teacher’s lecture is delivered to students via video prior to class. Then traditional class time is used for active problem solving and one-to-one or small group tutoring with the teacher. Students can watch the short video lectures as many times as they wish to grasp the content and then come to class ready to jump into the lesson, answer questions, work on collaborative projects, and explore the content further. Teachers are embracing Flipped Learning in elementary and secondary schools for all disciplines.

Find out what the technology requirements are and then quickly and simply implement this growing trend in your classrooms. This session is sponsored by two of the major supporters of this ideology: EduVision by JDL Horizons and TechSmith, maker of Camtasia software. 
For more information about the technical needs to flip your classroom, contact Tom Lapping. 

What you will learn:

• How teachers are embracing Flipped Learning in elementary and secondary schools for all disciplines.
• How this initiative, started by teachers, is quickly spreading as a new way of teaching and learning.
• How the Flip can be done on a budget with fast results in student achievement.
• Best practices for starting a Flipped program in your school or district.
• Information on the Flipped Learning Conference this June in Chicago.

Attend this webinar 

Related link
Attend the Flipped Class Conference, June 18-20.

Free Webinar: The Art of a Flipped Classroom – Turning Learning on its Head

Check out this FREE online webinar below.

Sign up for this free webinar to learn more about Flipped Learning and what it might mean to your school/classroom. This overview will introduce participants to the concept of Flipped Learning: Where educators are actively transferring the responsibility and ownership of learning from the teacher to the students.

Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Time: 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT
Duration: 1 hour

Hear from pioneers in the field as they discuss how teachers become guides to understanding the content rather than dispensers of facts, and students become active learners rather than receptacles of information. When students have control over how they learn, the pace of their learning, and how their learning is assessed, the learning belongs to them.

Flipped learning happens when the teacher’s lecture is delivered to students via video prior to class. Then traditional class time is used for active problem solving and one-to-one or small group tutoring with the teacher. Students can watch the short video lectures as many times as they wish to grasp the content and then come to class ready to jump into the lesson, answer questions, work on collaborative projects, and explore the content further. Teachers are embracing Flipped Learning in elementary and secondary schools for all disciplines.

Find out what the technology requirements are and then quickly and simply implement this growing trend in your classrooms. This session is sponsored by two of the major supporters of this ideology: EduVision by JDL Horizons and TechSmith, maker of Camtasia software. 
For more information about the technical needs to flip your classroom, contact Tom Lapping. 

What you will learn:

• How teachers are embracing Flipped Learning in elementary and secondary schools for all disciplines.
• How this initiative, started by teachers, is quickly spreading as a new way of teaching and learning.
• How the Flip can be done on a budget with fast results in student achievement.
• Best practices for starting a Flipped program in your school or district.
• Information on the Flipped Learning Conference this June in Chicago.

Attend this webinar 

Related link
Attend the Flipped Class Conference, June 18-20.

News Literacy Project helps students sort fact from fiction in the digital age

Here's what's new on eSchool News site today.

Site of the Week

http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org

The News Literacy Project (NLP) is a national educational program that taps experienced journalists to help middle and high school students “sort fact from fiction in the digital age.”

According to its website, the project teaches students critical-thinking skills that will help them become smarter consumers and creators of information across all types of media. It shows students “how to distinguish verified information from spin, opinion, and misinformation—whether they are using search engines to find websites with information about specific topics, assessing a viral eMail, viewing a video on YouTube, watching television news, or reading a newspaper or a blog post.”

Working with educators, students, and journalists, NLP says it has developed original curriculum materials “based on engaging activities and student projects that build and reflect understanding of the program’s essential questions. The curriculum includes material on a variety of topics … that is presented through hands-on exercises, games, videos, and the journalists’ own compelling stories.”
Read more...

Source: eSchool News

News Literacy Project helps students sort fact from fiction in the digital age

Here's what's new on eSchool News site today.

Site of the Week

http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org

The News Literacy Project (NLP) is a national educational program that taps experienced journalists to help middle and high school students “sort fact from fiction in the digital age.”

According to its website, the project teaches students critical-thinking skills that will help them become smarter consumers and creators of information across all types of media. It shows students “how to distinguish verified information from spin, opinion, and misinformation—whether they are using search engines to find websites with information about specific topics, assessing a viral eMail, viewing a video on YouTube, watching television news, or reading a newspaper or a blog post.”

Working with educators, students, and journalists, NLP says it has developed original curriculum materials “based on engaging activities and student projects that build and reflect understanding of the program’s essential questions. The curriculum includes material on a variety of topics … that is presented through hands-on exercises, games, videos, and the journalists’ own compelling stories.”
Read more...

Source: eSchool News

Video becoming a key tool in teacher training, evaluation

Photo: Meris Stansbury

Meris Stansbury, Online Editor writes, "In today’s news, 360-degree cameras are capturing student interest and teacher strengths and weaknesses. Using cameras for teacher evaluation and training comes as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching Project (MET)."

Photo: eSchool News

As teacher training and evaluation take a front seat in the nation’s education reform agenda, a growing number of schools are integrating video into the process.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project notes that once-a-year teacher evaluations are not enough to help teachers improve, and that multiple observations by trained professionals should be combined with other methods such as student test scores and classroom surveys.

Preliminary results from the two-year study were posted in early January.
Read more...

Related link
Empowering Education with Video

Source: eSchool News 

Video becoming a key tool in teacher training, evaluation

Photo: Meris Stansbury

Meris Stansbury, Online Editor writes, "In today’s news, 360-degree cameras are capturing student interest and teacher strengths and weaknesses. Using cameras for teacher evaluation and training comes as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching Project (MET)."

Photo: eSchool News

As teacher training and evaluation take a front seat in the nation’s education reform agenda, a growing number of schools are integrating video into the process.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project notes that once-a-year teacher evaluations are not enough to help teachers improve, and that multiple observations by trained professionals should be combined with other methods such as student test scores and classroom surveys.

Preliminary results from the two-year study were posted in early January.
Read more...

Related link
Empowering Education with Video

Source: eSchool News