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September 15, 2001
Online Professional Development (cont'd)
Online learning
Online Learning offers rigorous instructor-led continuing education courses and certification programs, all of which lead to academic or professional credit. Before enrolling, all students must take the Student Software Orientation course, which introduces how to use Blackboard's discussion features and how to perform a file exchange.
Course Title:
Integrating Technology into the K-12 Curriculum
This six-week course targets teachers who are curious about technology integration and who want practical advice on how to amend and enhance their curriculum using technology. Each week began with a written lecture (700 words), followed by a series of timely professional readings, such as "Technology: How Do We Know It Works?" from the 1999 Education Secretary's Conference on Educational Technology. Students and instructor then moved to the Blackboard discussion area to post their responses to that week's questions.
Similar to CU's Web workshop, active, engaged discussion between participants defined this course, with students adding as many as four or five replies to a single posting. One participant's suggestion on designing an online questionnaire to find out about local history, one of her third-grade social studies standards, received several replies and comments. This kind of give-and-take was a crucial component of this course's success. For me, it meant a participant was not simply learning in a vacuum, because other participants and the instructor were all involved in the discussion. The emphasis on communication and making use of Blackboard features was evident in other aspects of the course as well; for example, a virtual chat room is available for real-time discussion, and students are required to complete a group project using course communication tools.
Students' grades were generally based on consistent participation, an online group project, a final research project (options included designing a Web page or performing a WebQuest), and completion of readings.
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