The Imaginary Classroom: Part Three

Click the following links to find the original posts: Part 2 and Part 1.

My idea is to create and build an online classroom that can be accessed from the school as well as at home — this classroom would ideally function as a language arts class, but I also envision that students could use this class to bring up their performance in other classes. There are several measures in place:

• Students will practice and learn Language Arts skills as outlined by the state’s standards.
• Students will practice and learn material from other core classes (such as Mathematics, Science, and World History) through their participation in this project.
• Students will practice real-world behaviors such as communication (writing, planning, reflection, research, production, and publication).
• Studuents will adhere to a calendar.
• Students will complete work in this class in an effort to complete work in other classes.

When I brought this idea to one of the administrators, she said the class would function better as an “Intervention,” rather than as a full-time Language Arts class. Labeling the class “intervention” gets rid of following the Language Arts standards and also refuses to step on the toes of the Technology courses offered by other teachers.

And then there are standards related to FTE (Full Time Enrollment)

• This project will help bring students back into the classroom, by…
• making the classroom available outside the school.
• Students can participate in assignments even when they are not available to attend school.
• Students “in seats” will complete assignments.
• Students not in seats will complete assignments outside of class.
• Students have the opportunity to turn in work outside of class.

My overall idea is to create an online classroom — this is done in college, and most colleges use the blackboard system, where the motto is to “Educate. Innovate. Everywhere.”

If college professors use an online classroom to accomplish those three things, then those three ides are valuable to a pubilc school as well — To “educate” is to inform others who, in turn, learn, understand, and practice. To “innovate” is to change the common practice to meet (if not exceed) current needs. To be “everywhere” means that this is an opportunity for students — that they can access information from any station and at any time.

I’d like to create an online classroom where I can hand out assignments to students, where they can practice the work in my class in addition to others, and where the work is always available to them. Oh, and I need to be able to do this for free.

I was going to share some of the resources that you can use in creating a similar classroom, but Dana Huff already went ahead and did that for me with some very useful and very informative posts about Wikis for Educators (for teachers who are interested in congregating their resources and their students into one place online), Blog Software for Educators (for those teachers interested in using blogs as a platform to access and exhibit student learning), and Blog Hosting for Educators (because you need a place to store that blog).

I’ve been throwing about some ideas here for a while about this imaginary classroom, and tried out several services to see what would fit my needs, and what services would be the simpest to use — simple not only in terms of my own use, but when it comes to the students and other teachers using the software. Keep in mind, I’m trying to find a way to connect all classes toegther through a Language Arts class in a technology-centered environment. After a bit of tinkering around, here’s what I chose to use:

• I used an Edublogs blog
• Threw into the pages an account at ThinkFree — an online office where students can create and save (up to 1 gig!) word documents, excel-esque spreadhseets, and slideshows.
• Added a calendar from Planzo, and linked the RSS feed into the sidebar.

Pretty simple, and only took a few hours to link all together: blog, composition software, assignment calendar. In addition, edublogs allows users to activate a Talkr.com plugin. Talkr turns your blog posts into .mp3 versions read by a female voice — this was added to help students who learn better through adio (they can listen to my daily assignments while they surf the web).

---

Why don’t you have a look around the imaginary classroom I’ve tentatively named think:room.

---

It’s not much at the moment, as I only spent the time I had my time between classes last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to put it all together. The rest of the time was spent getting students to create their own blogs so that I can bring all this to my principal this coming week — I wanted some examples of what can be done, and with what rapidity.
But please, let me know what you think with a comment here (not there).

I hope Christian doesn’t get too pissed for my ripping off the name and title design for his own blog, think:lab, but his posts have always served as a source of inspiration for my own lines of thinking.