Discussion Forum Facilitation
At the Southern Conference of Language Teachers (SCOLT) conference in March 2012, there were many presentations on 21st Century Skills and their incorporation into the World Languages classroom (below). As an online instructor I have the opportunity and the duty to lead this initiative. One of my efforts is to develop excellence in facilitating asynchronous, online discussions.

ACTFL World Language 21st century skills map

View more presentations from Toni Theisen

The purpose of the discussion forum is to foster interaction amongst students, teachers, and the course material. "Regarding social interaction, it is my assumption that a goal of distance teaching is to create an environment that both fosters trust among the learner and the instructor and also seeks to promote a
cooperative and collaborative environment, allowing students to learn from course materials, the instructor, and each other." (Berge, 1995, http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/at/nielsen/demo%20annotations.pdf) In my mind, the goals of the discussion forums are to:

• Personalize and build community of practice amongst the students, teachers, and material;
• Practice writing and grammar in both French and English;
• Promote higher order thinking skills such as evaluating, explaining, and applying. (See Bloom's Taxonomy, http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html); and
• To develop 21st Century Skills, specifically "communication and collaboration" and "research and information fluency". (ISTE, 2011).

In the past, I have given students full credit for simply making the minimum number of posts to the discussion forums. I did not take the quality of the posts into account when grading. However, I believe this is a wasted opportunity and have begun to aggressively facilitate the discussion forums in my classes. I use the following strategies:

• Questioning...For example, in response to a post about a family tradition, I responded, "Why do you decorate? How do you decorate? Please explain and support with details."
• Promoting research...As illustration, I posted the following, "Please conduct some Internet research into "Secret Santa" in France. Do they practice this tradition in modern France? Is it the same as your family? Be sure to cite your sources."
• Assessment and feedback...For example, "Your posts do not illustrate that you read and understood the website. Please cite specific examples and support your answers. You may answer my questions in the forum for full credit."

It takes more time and effort. It may require that I grade more than four posts. Student may need to return to the forum more than once. However, all of this is well worth providing solid context for anchored student learning and more challenging intellectual growth.
This is a great video that summarizes the potential of the asynchronous discussion:

Leading the Way

The following blog entry will be published this month on the Georgia Virtual School blog.  Check it out at:  http://georgiavirtuallearning.blogspot.com/2012/04/georgia-virtual-learning-blog.html  This is part of a pilot blogging project that I proposed.  Here is an exciting preview:

Everywhere You Go.....

by Abigail Jackson

Abigail Jackson is an adjunct teacher of French 2 at Georgia Virtual School. Abigail is a certified educator in Georgia and Florida. She has taught and developed classes for grades 6-12 at Georgia Virtual school since 2007. She is a teacher-leader and frequently presents at educational technology and professional development conferences.

Everywhere you go, you can see the proof. Computer technology is making our world a better place in every industry and facet of life. Mechanics use computerized diagnostic tools to fix your car. Manufacturers use technologically calibrated production equipment to build your products. Police Officers and soldiers use computers for their field operations to protect you and your property. Teachers use computerized attendance and grading tools to instruct your children in the classroom. Secretaries to captains of industry use sophisticated communication tools to sell you products and operate our economy. The evidence is clear. If one is to succeed in today's world, they must have knowledge of these tools.

The International Society for Technology (ISTE) is an organization of more than 2,000 educators and leaders seeking to advance technology education in P-12 classrooms (ISTE, 2011). ISTE has written The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), "...a standard of excellence and best practices in learning, teaching, and leading with technology in education." (ISTE, 2011). ISTE publishes a set of skills that all students should acquire prior to graduating from high school. The National Educational Technology Standards for Sudents (NETS*S) include:

1. "Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
   Research and Information Fluency
3. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
4. Digital Citizenship
5. Technology Operations and Concepts" (ISTE, 2007)

At the Georgia Virtual School, we teach many subjects ranging from standard educational fare such as math and science to more exotic topics such as Chinese, Music Theory, Journalism, and Personal Fitness. We deliver all of these programs using the internet. Because GVS classes are delivered via a Web-based platform, students learn many of the skills set forth in the NETS standards.

Here are some specific examples of how two of these skills are addressed and developed in my French 2 virtual classroom:

• Student use Creativity and Innovation. Throughout the course, pupils use their existing knowledge of the English language to listen, read, speak, and write in a new language using a wide collection of software and web 2.0 tools. For example, through completing a rich text formatted French vocabulary worksheet, students use a web based French-English dictionary to help identify parts of speech, definitions, and common Latin-based word endings. Students compare these language features to learn more about both languages. Based on this initial research, learners also use context clues like the lesson's theme, pictures and sample sentences present in the course's digital content to create their own original works in the target language. They use productive technology like Word, PowerPoint, Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net), Voicethread (voicethread.com) and Google Voice (www.google.com/googlevoice) to personally express themselves in a new language.

• Pupils use tools for Communication and Collaboration. Students learn to use threaded discussion forums to compare ideas and explore differences in culture and language. Students also work together to produce correct language structures applying lessons from the course content and collaborating on peer corrections. Students learn to use instant messaging and e-mail for productive means such as seeking assistance, obtaining explanations and clarifying directions. Some may even explore employing social media as a means to acquire authentic resources and share data. For example, students and parents follow my Twitter feeds (twitter.com/MadamAbigail) which I use to posts news about our class, France, and facts about the French language.

As evident in my online classroom, the virtual learning environment offers more than just topical instruction. Virtual students learn vital technology skills as part of their education experience. By the very nature of the online class, students learn in real-world scenarios to employ technology in a productive and skillful way.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Georgia Senate (SB 289) passed legislation that will mandate ninth-grade students in 2014 to participate in at least one online course before graduation. Georgia Virtual School's administration, teachers, staff and course offerings are prepared to support the Georgia Virtual School is prepared to support the State's efforts to equip students with high demand skills for Georgia's economic growth and prosperity. Our curriculum, platform, and policies assist student success and growth using technology and acquiring skills necessary to be successful in our technology enabled society.

Fail this!

My second cousin, Kelly, is an thoughtful young academic.  She inspired me this morning with a Facebook post of David Damberger's TEDtalk on failure.   David is a member of Les Ingénieurs Sans Frontières (Engineers Without Borders).  He discusses how problems are clarified when we embrace, analyze, and leverage our failures.  I love that the organization went so far as to publish a failure report and website (http://www.admittingfailure.com/).



It's ironic that in a time of celebration that we, Kelly and I, should find inspiration in failure.  However, failure is so often hidden or brushed aside when it should be celebrated!  It should be celebrated as an opportunity to improve and learn.  In this spirit, I am publishing my own "failure report."

@GVS
In my September post, I set a some goals:

• 80% passing rate
•  Students to take Le Grand Concourse through AATF
• Use TPRS in one synchronous session
• Enhance the WL department website

As a teacher, I feel that I was successful this semester.  Out of 78 students, 27 students failed.   This is a 65% pass rate.  However, This is well below my 80% goal.  Thus, I failed to reach my goal of an 80% pass rate. 

I also noticed that the mean grade was slightly above a 70%.  In looking at the scores, students either were very successful (roughly 18% earned an "A") or very poorly.

Frankly, even one student failing is just as much my failure as it is the student's lapse. I want to expand student's global view. I want to challenge them to think and struggle to a new level of understanding.

In the spirit of Dan's TedTalk, I need to embrace and analyze why I failed.  I conducted a voluntary survey of my students.  21 students rated different aspects of the course and provided details to support their responses.  Some of the feedback was enlightening
I think there are two problems: 

• students are confused about what is due and when it is due.
• students are frustrated by lengthy directions that are sometimes confusing.

Therefore, my challenge is to provide detailed instruction on the schedule through multiple channels:  news announcements, e-mails, texts (???), tweets, and phone calls.  Also, I need to find a way to clarify the directions on some of the assignments, particularly the conversations and the writing assignments.

In the upcoming semester, I'd like to focus on these issues. I'm going to spend the holiday break pondering other possible solutions to these challenges. Some ideas include using info graphics for directions, screencast of bi-weekly assignments personalized by student pace group (there are four: 12, 14, 16, and 18 week schedules), a
text campaign of schedule alerts (any one have a tool for this?), etc. please post suggestions!

Gobble-gobble...Do You Speak Password?

I am writing to you from the great state of Pennsylvania.  I am visiting with family, some of whom I have not seen in three years. 
  It is amazing how the young ones seems to change so drastically while we more mature folks seem to be "stable". In our demeanor and physical appearance.  The college kids are smarter, taller, and more reluctant to hang out unless it involves a free meal.  The young ones, if they stop long enough, appear to develop into little people before your very eyes.  Needless to say, it was worth the 11 hour drive to be with the ones I love.

Oddly, I seem to have become my families personal technology consultant.  They all want to know what tools I am using and demand that I install the best apps on their i-phones...etc.  In fact, I spent most of the day migrating my mother's phone contacts from her defunct 4s to the replacement from Apple.  Her personal network is a mass of forgettable passwords and identities that have locked her out.  What a "web" we weave.

This got me thinking about web security and password management.  I started by defining "password management."  What is it?  How does it work?  What tools perform this task?  I have a useful article on Wikipedia:  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_manager. It seems that a web based tool would work best for my mother.  She uses many tools including a laptop, an I pad, and an i-phone (pretty hip for a 65 year old!.


Next I started to investigate products.  I found a PC magazine article on top rated website management tools:  http://mobile.pcmag.com/device2/article.php?CALL_URL=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381432,00.asp.  I'll be trying out the free (because we like free) password management app called lastpass: http://lastpass.com/.  I will post my review after we use it for a while.

Intervention

It's that time of the semester when students and parents start to panic. Understandable, they all want a means to pass...and I want to provide them with a path to do so. A few years ago, I read a book entitled, No Excuses (http://www.amazon.com/No-Excuses-Lessons-High-Performing-High-Poverty/dp/0891950907). I believe that all students can be successful in my class and am determined to meet my personal goal of an 80% passing rate for both my classes.

To achieve this goal, I thought I'd borrow some best practices from the traditional classroom. Here are some of the things that I do to help students, but I would love to hear about other ideas for reaching these students in the online environment.
 Reminder E-mail –As I grade, send out an e-mail the Wednesday before the benchmark deadline for each outstanding assignment. Copy personal e-mail, parents, and facilitators.

1. Office hours -Host a live drop-in session
2. Targeted Live Sessions (Differentiation) –If students are not turning in or not doing well on a particular assignment, invite them to complete the assignment together in a live session after some instruction or provide them with samples of successful student work.
3. Proactive Page -“I noticed that you are having some trouble. What can I do to help you?”
4. Contact –call and speak in person with students, parents, and facilitators with a specific list of items that can still be turned in. Follow up with an e-mail documenting the call and add to the communication log.
5. Quiz-Test Corrections –A fantastic way for student remediation and for teachers to target misconceptions is through quiz and test corrections.
6. Parent-Student Conferences –Meet with student via live meeting software to review grades and opportunities to improve.
7. Learning Contracts –Create a written contract that establishes a “trial period” in which students must complete certain task to display their commitment and determination. If students meet this criteria, allow them to turn in late assignments. I believe this helps to build character and teach life lessons as well as support student success.