I commented on a blog titled Metamorphosis, about how online learning came to be and a short snippit of what an online program can do. The following is a link to the blog. http://infopop.blogspot.com/2006/08/metamorphosis-short-story-about-how.html
After reading this I thought back to my high school days and my high school English teacher. We were required to be a member of blackboard and complete several activities online, on top of what we did during our regular class time. Needless to say, it was a demanding and very time consuming class that I hated, as any high school student probably would. While I hated it then, I now know that it is that class that gave me a foundation for online classes. I was one of the few who knew what to do in college when I took my first official online class. So, all of this has got me thinking what I can do as a teacher to give my students a foundation because online learning is only going to continue to grow and become more and more popular. I struggle with ideas for my class because I am a first grade teacher and I feel that the age of my students puts some limitations on what I can do. Having students post comments in a blog, or participate in a class online system aren’t really feasible. I’m trying to think of ways to expand things that I am already doing. For example, I show my students (with the help of a projection screen) how to use a search engine and have explained to them its purpose. They have computer class once a week where they are learning and practicing to type. Those are just a couple examples that I am hoping to build one. Anyway, great article by Shula. It really got me thinking.
