Online English Tutoring

This semester, online tutoring has really taken off. Several instructors promoted the service, so we ended up getting a little overwhelmed before major deadlines. Several additional tutors were trained in the program, which helped lessen the load a bit. Next semester, I hope to recruit a few more.

Online Tutoring Plans for This Semester

I'm still promoting online tutoring.  A couple of instructors have actually approached me about it, so that's progress.  I'm hoping to do a brief presentation on the EWL and our "new" online tutoring at the adjunct orientation for Comp I and II as well as the English cluster meeting.  Still on hold about that.

This semester in addition to my hours in the lab, I'll be teaching two developmental English classes, taking two classes of my own (Emerson and Thoreau and Theorizing Science Fiction), and working as a graduate assistant at FAU.  I am hoping to train a few more tutors on AskOnline and step back from the online tutoring project a little bit.  If I'm the only one promoting this resource and tutoring via this resource, it is not really an EWL project but my project.  For it to be a useful resource, it needs to be a resource of the entire lab not just one person.  

Twitter

Twitter is just plain fun. I recently set up an account, and although I rarely post, I've really enjoyed following some of my favorite people such as Neil Gaiman and Felicia Day. In an effort to be more informed about developments in new media, I've also been following RWW and Henry Jenkins (author of Convergence Culture).

Online Tutor Training

Well, I've announced the training for online tutoring in the lab, and several have already expressed an interest. Two have completed the first training session. I've also completed the paper trail so that the two tutors who helped with the pilot also receive credit for their training.

Multimedia presentation

I am almost finished creating the independent training program for Tutoring English Online. I created a multimedia presentation using Audacity, PowerPoint, and Soft Chalk. The process seems cumbersome. I think I can do the whole process using Garage Band on my Mac. Not counting the creation of the original Power Point, it has taken me a week and a half to complete this presentation.

1. I attended training for putting voice to Power Point using Audacity and Soft Chalk on the 17th.
2. I checked the lab for computers with this software and found nothing.
3. Since I do not have administrative rights to the computer I had to ask my supervisor to send a ticket to IT to install all the software.
4. It was quickly installed by the next day.
5. I spent 2 - 3 hours experimenting and recording my voice with Audacity and modifying my Power Point only to realize I was missing a plug-in to convert the Audacity file to an mp3 file. (In all fairness, I was told this plug-in was needed during my training session.)
6. I had to request an additional ticket from my supervisor to IT.
7. We had a 3-day weekend.
8. LAME (seriously, that's what it's called) was installed when I came in this morning.
9. I spent an additional 2 hours editing the Power Point and converting the aup files to mp3 files, and converting my Power Point file into jpg files.
10. I then put all this stuff into a very basic looking webpage in SoftChalk because I got tired of playing with everything.

Simple is good.

AskOnline summer update

This summer we opened up online tutoring to all instructors of Comp I and Comp II with the stipulation that they complete a brief form regarding each major writing assignment they assign their students. So far we have received one from an instructor I've spoken with in person. I've come to the conclusion that while many things work well online, extra initiative is needed from all participants. Instructors are much more willing to put forth the extra effort needed to recommend the program to their students if I've spoken with them in person (and often). This is the first full week of classes, so I hope to see some submissions later this week. Meanwhile this week we will be conducting most of our English Prep, EAP, and Strategies orientations in the lab.
I have 2 professional development workshops to attend this week, one on social networking through ning and the other on adding voice to Power Points in Lesson Builder. I'm also finalizing the tutor training for the rest of the tutors. Very little of the training will require the tutors to meet with me, so they can work at their own pace. I hope to have this completed and in place by Wednesday.

Convergence Culture Review

Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide by Dr. Henry Jenkins was a surprisingly fun read.  From grassroots politics vs. big-moneyed campaigns to transmedia storytelling and consumer participation, this book covers everything. I'm really excited about future possibilities.  Everything from Obama's grassroots campaign led by tech savvy volunteers to Joss Whedon's reaction of Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog to the writer's strike is affected by the convergence culture.  Yet, as often happens with books addressing trends in technology, this book published in 2006 is already out of date as it does not address media so monumental as Twitter and its instant effect on news.  See today's NPR story about Twitter: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103221268

PBCC - Web 2.0

The SLC now has a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1349720750

CEA Conference 2009

March 26-28, I attended the College English Association Conference, which was my first conference as a presenter. The theme of this year's conference was Design, and over 600 presenters explored this topic.  Various speakers presented their pedagogy, specific assignments and strategies, methods for optimizing classroom and online spaces, and their experiences - both negative and positive - in adopting the newest trends in education.  I presented alongside three PBCC professors on a panel addressing Design and the Community College Classroom.  We presented at 8 am on the first day of the conference, so attendance was low, but the audience was enthusiastic and interested in our topics.  My presentation focused on the English Writing Lab's use of AskOnline with Comp I and II.  I specifically focused on the college’s increased offerings of alternative methods of instruction, the need for online academic assistance, the opportunities and challenges presented by online tutoring, the necessity of extensive planning before adopting new technology, the reason for choosing the program AskOnline, PBCC’s use of the program by various SLC labs since 2005, our current usage, and our tentative plans for future use of the program.  

AskOnline

Funding for the CEA conference has been approved, so we presenters are beginning to make preparations. Since my work with AskOnline at this campus is fairly new, part of my preparation will be documenting the use of the program. Last semester was only preparation such as the web page content, tutor training, partnership with a faculty member, etc. This semester is our actual trial. I've been very concerned about the usage of the site. My work in this program at a different campus did not produce much response, yet another campus had an overwhelming response. It's very difficult to predict. I'm optimistic, however, because our first student request was submitted today, and we have not even announced it to our trial group yet. I'm scheduled to meet with the class next week. This student stumbled upon us while working with math. The math lab has been using the program for maybe 3 years now, and they've been quite successful.

CEA Conference 2009

I will be presenting at this conference in March along with 3 others from PBCC. My part of the panel discussion will focus on AskOnline.

OWL 2

Online tutoring has been postponed until the spring. I have recruited two very capable tutors to assist me in this project, and we will be working closely with one instructor and her hybrid class. I am currently working on some method of marketing to entice her students since she is not requiring her students to use the program but only making it available to them. The Math Lab has had some success with various marketing strategies, so I will work with the Math learning specialist on this. I've had one tutor training and plan to have one more tomorrow.

OWL

I was asked to resume my work with online tutoring for the English Writing Lab. If you've read earlier blogs, you know this topic is fairly controversial. The math lab has been very successful, but math is a completely different animal. The fact that our subject not only relies on typed text to convey the message but that the typed text is the message makes the project a little daunting in this abbreviated txting, l33t world. I pulled out my old research and did some additional research to prepare a presentation, and, for better or worse, we've agreed to begin using AskOnline with a limited group of students in the fall. Lake Worth is the main campus of PBCC, so implementing this program here will be much different than implementing it in Belle Glade. I've been asked to recruit a couple of tutors to volunteer for this pilot, which will be tricky. I need to find tutors who are tech savvy, don't mind a little extra work, and would support the initiative. I've asked one who's a little reluctant because of the extra work. I haven't yet decided on who else to ask. I may find three to help me out.

"Quotation Marks"

I'm creating a handout for quotation marks to go in the student resources section of our website, and I came across this site: http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/. After listening to the BBC radio show of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, I'm always on the lookout for comical punctuation. Who would have thought quotation marks, commas, and apostrophes could be so hilarious?

Back at PBCC

Well, I am back at PBCC as an English learning specialist.  I am extremely happy to no longer be teaching high school.  Not only did I have no time to spare for this site, but I also had no time to spare for anything else!  The most techie project I dealt with (besides RenWeb) was the few weeks I taught on informational and visual media.  The students were required to do a multimedia presentation.  I felt like we could have gone so much further with these, but with everything else the students had to learn throughout the year, there was no time.  I enjoyed the focus on literature, which I had missed working at PBCC previously, and I enjoyed the majority of the students, but that was about it.  I won't miss the mounds of grading, paper work, lesson plans, record keeping, phone calls, supervisors, etc.  It's nice to be back in my niche.  

mac

I've finally purchased the incredibly hyped mac to pursue my educational tech interests. Compatibility problems will be an eternal problem. Most educational facilitie rely heavily on PC/Microsoft; therefore, I purchased the mac version of the Microsoft Office Suite. I felt very wasteful since Pages and KeyNote seem quite sufficient for what I need.

RenWeb and Future Possiblities for English Techie

I have been teaching 10th grade English for the past several months and have not had much opportunity for English Techie. 

RenWeb is our school management system. On the plus side, everything is web based, so I can access grades, lesson plans, etc. from home. The best feature is the homework calendar, which shows a specific student's homework for every class on each day. On the down side, I often have copy + paste errors where a day's worth of lesson plans or attendance may be deleted. Navigating this system is unnecessarily complicated for me as a teacher and as a parent, and there are no template options to spice up the web page option. I have experimented with web documents, but there are some flaws in this, as well. I hope to spend some more time working on RenWeb to conquer some of my issues; however, my schedule has been insanely full since I started my new job.

I am still interested in pursuing podcasting and attended a convention recently that offered two technology seminars. One was on podcasting and the other was on connecting your classroom to the world via the Internet. There were several possibilities in the second class concerning web field trips and classroom swaps. I'm going to purchase a mic for my ipod and try to create a podcast before spring. I'm optimistic about it because so many of the students have ipods. The school also has a fairly advanced learning strategies program that pursues technological assistance for students with special learning needs. Another possibility that may arise is that of an instructional technology committee. I've emailed the headmaster to know I'd be interested in participating, but I've not heard any more about the possibility of it.

iTunes U

The college has been creating podcasts for a couple of semesters now, but media services has been distributing them through their website. Today a small committee met for the first time to begin the process of establishing PBCC on iTunes U. Even though I will be leaving my full time position at the college, I plan to remain as an adjunct, so I will still be able to participate in this project.

Many prominent universities and colleges have already begun using iTunes U and freely distribute lectures, speeches, tours, videos, and other items to the public. Some colleges have decided to only give partial access to the public. For instance, some items like class lectures are only available to students, but a tour of the campus is available to the public. I got very excited about some of these podcasts and downloaded an entire World Literature course from NJIT. To see an article in Forbes magazine about Stanford providing free access to education via podcasts, click here.

My First Web CT Class

I took Contemporary Literature last semester for two reasons: I wanted a refresher in studying literature before I began grad school and I was curious about taking an online course. It was very enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the long discussion threads. The class was not taught in a traditional lecture method. The instructor really used the medium to his advantage by promoting student discussions as the predominant method of instruction. He offered occasional insights, but most learning and teaching was done by the students. It was very Socratic.

The only problem I had was with the group project. It was hard to collaborate with people of varying computer knowledge. There was also quite a lot of miscommunication that would not probably have occurred had we been meeting face to face. It was a learning experience for me on several levels.

Turning Point II

I've used the Turning Point software in several situations now, and I do not feel like it enhanced the learning process enough to deal with the added work of creating these presentations. Turning Point works in conjunction with Power Point, so I create a presentatation in Power Point and then open it with Turning Point to create my questions. The students would be able to interact with the program by using the Student Response Systems ( or clickers). From their responses, I could tell who was participating and could monitor their progress. Unfortunately, every time I used this program, I encountered some sort of technical problem. The system seems great in theory, but the practice left much to be desired. Invariably half the clickers would not work, or I would open the presentation in Power Point rather than Turning Point, or the classroom computer wouldn't register the clickers. These little things could be ironed out with time, but taking into consideration how long it took me to make each of these presentations, I don't think it's worth the effort.