Thing 18- Virtual Classrooms

My plan to extend my classroom begins with creating a website and a blog to interact with my students and parents outside the classroom.  I plan to use Quizlet to create vocabulary flashcards for Language Arts, Math, and Science for my students to access and practice at home.  I also plan to use Educreations or another virtual whiteboard app to record myself doing and explaining math concepts we are learning, so parents and students can refer to them at home while practicing or if their student is going to be absent for an extended period of time.  Next I plan to post questions on a blog about the book we are reading in class for students to respond to at home.  Finally, I plan to link an internet sight to my website that students will use to practice the spelling words for the week online.  Since I teach Elementary kids, the way I would be helping the meet the NETS-S requirements would be that I am giving them experiences with online learning and developing a sense of knowledge and comfort with using online learning.

Navigating online learning:
The things necessary for students to be successful online learners are self motivation, access to an online computer, skills needed to navigate the online platform, information on courses available, and a contact to troubleshoot computer issues or course issues.  Based on talking to colleagues, one of the major issues with online courses is motivation of the student to complete the tasks and use their time wisely when they are in the computer lab.  I've heard many stories, especially when students are using the course to catch up or make up for a failed class, that the students spend much of the time surfing or using facebook or other communication sites.  Access to the computer outside of school is another big issue, especially in the district that I teach in.  Many students do not have computers at home or internet access, they have to go to the library to get online and that has a timelimit.  Finally, I see troubleshooting as a very key aspect to ensure that the students do not become frustrated with the online learning experience.