Planning

I spent the day today at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command.  Since I have just been appointed a new duty of coordinating for the documentation of training, I have been educated today on what that entails. I have found that the main theme today is to PLAN... Planning is not really a thing that all of us do well.  We can plan to a certain extent, but the long range plans always seem to get put off  because of the more immediate issues that demand our attention.  The irony in this statement is that those immediate issues could have likely been avoided had we taken the time to plan properly.  The planning of training, the planning of the supporting documentation and even planning for anticipated changes and the implementation of those changes are all very important tasks that seem to get put off. They say that there are different types of people in all organizations. There are the good idea people that come up with the great ideas but no concept of execution or the details... there are those who will plan to the -nth degree but never actually start anything and then there are the finishers...  I believe that over the years I have been conditioned to be a finisher.  I don't do so well thinking out of the box and I rarely have an epiphany about how things should be done... but if you can present a half-baked idea with some value, I can tell you what it will take to execute and line up all the resources to make it a reality.  The executor.  The enforcer, if you will.   Now I have to become a planner... this should be interesting...

Student Response System

I have recently been researching a tool for use in a classroom.  It is the "clicker", otherwise known as the student response system or audience response system (ARS).  I know some of you more seasoned instructors out there may have been using these little buggers for a while now, but I am new to the idea.  I really like the concept behind the system.  It is advertised to be easily integrated into PowerPoint and seems to be relatively inexpensive to implement.  The average cost of an individual clicker is about $40 to $50 depending on the system you use and the receiver can range from $250-$500 depending on the brand you purchase.  I have done estimation and determined that for a 30 person classroom (which is about average for us) it would cost roughly $1800 per classroom.  I do not know what the budget is for a K-12 school, but for a government institution, this is not a deal-breaker.  I think this is a reasonable expense for the payoff.  These little buggers can be used for formative evaluation, feedback from students and will let you know as a teacher if your message is being received.  I know in a larger classroom, it is difficult to get an answer or interaction with every student, this is one way to get that interaction.  I am including a couple of links to different clickers.  This is not an endorsement, but just the ones with which I am most familiar!! 
TurningPoint
Qomo

Time keeps on slippin...

 

Time keeps on slippin' away it seems.  This week I am mostly concerned with putting together my portfolio for graduation.  It seems that the more I work on it, the more I want to change.  It is due this week, so I think I may have to just put away my OCD tendencies and let it be.  I have all of the major components in the site and in a folder to be turned in, but I keep going back to it to tweak the design or to move a component or to change a file. I know I need to walk away and move onto the TIP assignment and let it ride.  So after this post, I'm saving everything to a disk and I'm finished.  Woo hoo!  Now onto the TIP... just a couple of weeks and the next 5 parts will be due.  Time to re-focus and drive on. 

Glogster

What is Glogster?  I am glad you asked... Glogster is yet another tool to add to the growing wealth of tools and information available to educators to enhance learning and instruction.  Glogster is a cool tool used to build posters.  This website is free for a basic account and can be used by teachers and students to express their creativity.  It is fairly user-friendly for creating posters.  There are templates available and thre are some links to tutorial type information to help you learn the functionality and how to use each of the features available.  Here is the LINK.  Hope you enjoy! 

Veteran Students

We'll just call this week a public service announcement...
For all of you folks out there that are military, former military or just know someone who was in or is currently in the military, this blog is for you. 
There are many military-friendly schools available for attendance.  When dealing with issues such as GI Bill and Tuition assistance, it is nice to have a school that is prepared to handle dealing with the VA.  The VA can be quite challenging at times and are very specific in the information they require.  When you have a school that does not cater to your needs as a former or current soldier, this can make it very stressful on the student.  I know we talk alot about technology and some about motivation for education.  Not having the proper tools and dealing with the stress of the financial aid issues not being resolved can affect how well students perform.  As a very frustrated student, I would like to share some options with all other frustrated students:  There are alternatives and military-friendly schools do exist.  I wish you all luck in your endeavors to attain your educational goals and hope that everyone has the opportunity to access the benefits that you have earned through your selfless service.  http://www.veteransadvisor.com/2010/12/15/top-25-military-colleges-for-2011/

A Pause

As an Army Civilian, we fall into a unique group.  We are a part of the military, but not.  We work side by side with military members, but are not necessarily subject to the same rules or the same responsibilities as the Soldiers.  We take an oath, but not the same one as our military counterparts.  Our educational standards are comparable but also not the same.  As trainers, we are tasked with helping our military members create better training and educational products for soldiers and military civilians too.
As a member of a military organization, when our co-workers are in trouble, as a team member, the civilians are also required to step up and lend a helping hand.  On Thursday this week, the entire Army had a safety stand down to address the issue of suicide in the military. The persistent conflict is taking its toll on the military and as an organization, we must address this issue and find a way to help our fellow soldiers that are suffering.  I know that this may not be an 'educational' topic, but as an organization, it is very relevant to training.  We talk about many topics in training and education:  What is the best way to learn? What appeals to a wider audience?  How can we enhance our products to make them more relevant?  But the most important topic in the Army this week:  How can we save lives?  The military does that every day.  Safety is huge.  Safety training is very widespread and popular, but the type of training going on this week, suicide prevention,  is much different. Soldiers don't like to talk about feelings or weakness.  This topic requires both and can be very uncomfortable and 'in your face'. There are many causes and I won't go into detail.  As a resource I include the link to the Army's website.  If anyone needs this resource or would like more information, please feel free to visit this site. You don't have to be in the Army for this to be helpful.
http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/default.asp

classroom 2.0

Since beginning this program, I have learned so much through my peers, I thought it would be a nice time to pay it forward...
For those of you who work in "real schools" I thought this might be a useful site.  This site has so much "techy" classroom stuff, I'm not sure where to begin.  I perused this site for a while before deciding to share it, and I do not believe I even saw half of the great information it has to offer.  I was actually looking for some ideas for the technology-friendly classroom set-up when I found this reference, so add it to your favorites if you see fit and enjoy. 

http://www.classroom20.com/