This week we had two trainings for teachers from 6-9 on Tuesday and from 4-6 on Wednesday. It was only supposed to be an hour, but we had technical difficulties on Tuesday. We had test run the training on Monday and it all worked out, but Tuesday teachers had difficulty logging into blackboard. So instead of using blackboard, we decided due to numbers in the training to use google hangout.
From the reading this week, to conduct an online course, it's important students know how to use the technology programs. I think when we do these trainings over again, in our needs assessment one of the questions is what technology program do you prefer for online trainings? If majority of the students "teachers" say they have never heard of using blackboard before, I don't think we should use that program. First our team who was conducting the trainings didn't know how to use blackboard. We watched a tutorial video I found on Youtube on Monday, sent it to teachers and training ourselves the night before the training, on how to use the blackboard system.
I felt more relaxed and relieved when we moved our training into google hangout. I was familiar with the tool and I could focus more on the topic I was training teachers on than, the tool I was using to communicate with everyone. We only had one teacher attend both of our trainings. I'm not sure why this happened. I'm wondering if the time didn't work for the teachers or if they knew we were going to record the training and send the link afterwards. With grades due this Friday and Spring Break next week, I think teachers are extremely busy and didn't have time for our training. So, to be able to watch the training on their own time worked out better for them.
I hope teachers are prepared and have gone over the expectations about Givercraft to their students. My plan is to go into the world today and see if there are any teachers that need extra help getting their zone (world) ready. We are asking a lot from the teachers this time around. First time we did Givercraft, we created the world. The teachers are required to set their boundary and flatten out their world for their students. I'm wondering how this will go, especially with the teachers that have never used MinecraftEdu before.
This week I conducted the training to the teachers in the hangout and also trained the teacher at my school. He was unable to attend the training and had asked to meet to go over the topics. I met with him two days. The first day I did my training and let him practice. He missed the second training, which was over the teacher responsibilities, so I made sure he had the documents and asked him to read over the responsibilities and requirements...etc then if he had any questions to ask me the following day. I met with him after school and we went over the question he had. I also showed him another teacher tool (fill and clear) to use when making his zones. I think the teacher at my school is ready. He has never used MinecraftEdu before. I assured him, if he needed support to call me and I would find coverage and come help him. I hope everything goes well. A lot is riding on this. Givercraft itself, responsibility of informing my teacher about this activity, administrator at my buildings approval and IT.
As I read my colleagues blogs, I noticed a theme. To have a successful online course, objectives need to be clear for students. Students need to be organized and they need to have a set schedule to study and complete assignments. There is only so much instructors can do to help students. It comes down to the students being drive and wanting to learn. The other part of the theme was to have a support system in place. If a student is needing extra support, to contact them personally and give help. Ali mentioned emails, phone calls, twitter, google hangouts...etc I think these are great tools to use to give feedback to students and make sure everyone is staying on task. Matthew mentioned how it's important for students to be well organized and to give students the opportunity to see assignments well in advance. This can let students know what is coming up or work ahead so they do not get behind.
In our differentiation course, a team is creating a help system for the teachers in Givercraft. This is a meeting place for extra support, questions, concerns or a debriefing session after each Scenario or time their students are in MinecraftEdu. With an online course, I think it's important to have a place to communicate concerns or any questions on the topics being discussed. We did this after our training. After the teacher logged off, our team met and debriefed on how we felt the trainings went. We also decided to create our evaluation survey for the teachers to fill out regarding our training. We collaborated and thought of questions to ask. I took the initiative and started creating the survey on surveymonkey.com while sharing my screen for all of the team to see what was being created. We worked together and sent our survey out to teachers. I haven't seen any responses yet, which is a little disappointing. I hope we get some response back to know what went well for teachers and what we need to change for the next time.
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