PLN Reflection

I think that the value of developing a PLN is that it can help me educate myself about things I am interested in, things I have never heard of, and give me new ideas for the classroom. By actively using PLNs an educator can increase their overall effectiveness in the classroom and as a professional.

I chose my activities based on my interests in technology and as an educator. On the NBEA Connect Ning I reviewed a PPT presentation about cloud computing. This presentation discussed the various cloud resources, including applications, such as Google Docs, and storage locations, such as DropBox. The presentation introduced me to cloud applications and sites that I will hopefully be able to use in my classroom. I have already experienced issues this year with wanting to print in color at home for student work. Using cloud based storage, I could easily have each student upload their file and then access them from home. However, I must also check the security of the website as stated in the presentation, as well as gain approval from the school I will be working in.

On TED, I watched a video where Bill Gates talked about state spending and education. While I have heard about the problems on the news and knew about the deficits the states were facing, I did not realize how severe it would continue to be over the next ten years. The economic decline initiated the state budget crises, but the presentation pointed out that they were already looming no matter what.

I think developing a PLN can be a great classroom asset. They can be used to teach me new skills, identify effective activities and inform me about important topics.

My resources for this report were:
http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_how_state_budgets_are_breaking_us_schools.html
http://nbeaconnect.ning.com

Learning Center 2 - Theory X and Theory Y Posters

This learning center was used in my business explorations classroom, to reinforce the differences between theory x and theory y managers. The learning center also built upon the students' knowledge by having them research positive and negative reinforcement online. Students were grouped into either being x or y managers and had to create a poster telling how they would respond to 3 different workplace situations. The reason I chose this as a learning center was because students were having a hard time answering questions about the different motivational theories presented in the AES computer software. This activity reinforced the 2 theories they needed to know for their test and gave them further information about how the theories would be used in a workplace environment.

After completing their posters, all of the students gave a presentation on what they learned about reinforcement and their responses to the 3 workplace situations. The 3 workplace situations were; An employee arriving late to work, an employee using their cell phone at an inappropriate time, and an employee stealing small amounts of money from the drawer. Students were encouraged to act as they felt a manager with their motivational theory would.

Students were assessed based on the criteria for their poster (Use of color, WordArt, clip art, definitions in their own words) and on their presentation to the class. Student interaction involved the short presentations given on how they would handle each situation. Also, each of the students posters was put on the bulletin board to be reviewed by students who were absent and to be used as a resource for their test.

Online Learning

I feel that online learning can be either great or useless, depending on the student. Just like in the classroom the motivation and effort of each student varies.

Students who excel in the classroom because of their motivation could use online courses to learn more than possible in a regular school. Students such as these have an internal motivation to learn and do not require constant supervision. Without other students in their class who hold back the pace of the course work and occupy an unfair amount of teacher time, these highly motivated students will be able to learn more than they ever could in the classroom.

The opposite is true of using online classes with unmotivated students. Unmotivated students will achieve even less than they would in a regular classroom. without constant supervision and reminders to stay on task, these students would complete little to no work in an online environment.

I do not think that just by making a class online it will become interesting for unmotivated students. The current method of simply adding computers to basic instructional methods will not engage at risk students.