Step by step! How to enter a virtual classroom. (Techlearning blog)

Okay, by now you have been reading blogs, you may even have left a comment or two!It is time.... time to venture out and find an online course to take part in.
Here are three I will mention in addition to podcasts at iTunes:
k12online conference
Electronic Village Online
Webheads in Action Convergence

There are two ways to take online classes. You can be a lurker. That is someone who reads the articles, tries out the activities yet stays in the background of the conversations and comments.

You can be an active participant. Someone who jumps in both feet and tries out all the activities, readings, comments and conversations.

Here is a how to: Begin by checking out the sessions offered at the k12online conference which began and ended in Oct. 2006. It does live on as blogs, wikis and podcasts and videocasts. You can view anytime, read and comment anytime or create your own blog to chronicle your journey. People will comment on your reflections or comments upon your comments. FREE
This left over activity from October is good for lurkers, you can participate and no pressure. One nice thing, you will never have to say this, I wish I had seen that this workshop was happening I would have gone! You don't have to take time off from school, you don't need to write sub plans, you don't need to travel, just do it.

Or you can check out the Electronic Village Online sessions are also good for passive participants, since it is still going on but you can join mid way and do the last half of the sessions to see if you are motivated to independently take the class, EVO happens each year in mid January to the end of February. Some of the session options include Becoming a Webhead, Blogging for Beginners, Digital Gaming and Language Learning and more. FREE. All you need is time. You will meet many people from around the planet, all looking to improve their technology skills. No travel involved. Read my article about Becoming a Webhead to see if this sounds like something you are interested in .

Or better yet, wait until May 2007 when Vance Stevens begins the next round of
WiAOC 2007: Webheads in Action Online Convergence. Here is Vance's invitation for the Convergence from November 2005. “This is a free conference. You may participate by following links here and you can enter the Moodle as a guest. Visitors are welcome. However you'll gain greater benefit from the conference by registering, uploading a picture to your profile, meeting the others whose profiles are there, and participating in the forums.” Here is an opportunity to plan ahead and participate with a group and try out some synchronous and asynchronous learning.” Vance continues , “The idea of the word 'convergence' as a variation on 'conference' was meant to highlight the fact that this conference focused the efforts of several free and open source online communities of practice. The conference was intended as a refereed event taking place completely without fees or funding, and the contributing partners had in common their open-source outlook and free distribution of educational resources and facilities.” If this sounds interesting to you make a date and get ready for this happening event.

There is also whole other set of learning you can take part in on the iTunes web site. You can download iTunes free on your windows machine, iTunes comes as part of the Apple computer operating system options. Currently, Berkley, MIT, Stanford are offering FREE university content from their professors that you can download and listen to on your computer, ipod or other media device. Not all of the content the colleges are creating are available for free through iTunes, but a great selection is available for you.
Here is a great article explaining the benefits of using college content from iTunes.

Remember, we are the Time people of the year, we no longer wait for content to be delivered to us, we create content, we create our staff development, we create our support systems, we create our own style of how, when and where this will be delivered to us.

So in the spirit of my last blog, my scariest weekend... check out the links, pick one new thing to try. Listen to a lecture from Berkley, read a blog that is part of the K12online conference. Listen to a webcast at Worldbridges.net where many of the EVO sessions reside. You can listen and lurk by downloading and listening to podcasts, or join in the chat room and chat with others while listening to live events. Where can you find some of these events? Check out Dave Warlick's http://hitchhikr.com/ a place where you can see the latest list of conferences that are happening around the planet. If you know of a conference you can add to the list. Begin by sharing.

If you would rather listen to a discussion about online classes Bob Sprankle, Alice Barr and Cheryl Oakes all discuss this topic in the latest Bit by Bit. Leave a comment if you do. Over and Out!

Techlearning blog

Step by step! How to enter a virtual classroom.

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