Altilab2005 - Distance Education Blog

July 1st. Wheee! ...right? Yeah, kinda cool that we're over the hump. 6 out of 12 months have passed. I blinked a few seconds ago, I coulda sworn it was mid-April then. Oh well.

I'm not excited about Monday (technically today). Summer's been fun, but I haven't been paying attention to as much around me as I should have been. Or, maybe enough, but not the right things.

I (and many others around me) have been planning on me beginning my graduate work this Fall. The plan was to enroll at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, in Iowa. They have a great distance program that will allow me to keep my Durango life while I work on my M.Div. The thing is, since it is a distance program, it takes a bit longer. 5 years going full-steam every semester. And as much as I'm sure I'll enjoy seminary just for all the great reading and discussion, earning my graduate degree holds significant practical importance. Down the road, formal ordination will allow a church to pay me a tax-exempt housing allowance on top of my salary. Now within the PC(USA), said ordination requires achievement of a Master's degree. Moral of the story, ordination will make life a lot easier, in terms of raising a family and living expenses and all that.

Now, back to why the post is titled "Plan B." I'll know for sure in a few hours, but I have a hunch I may have missed the application deadline to enroll in Dubuque's distance program for this Fall. If so, I'll be kicking myself pretty hard. It was a simple date on the horizon, and I fill out applications well. I just would have had to make a note about July 2 sneaking up, and this would be a non-issue.

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As I got out of the car this morning, a friend asked me what I'd been listening to on my MP3 player (the shuffle I got from the Learning Technologies conference in 2006).

"The BBC World Book Club podcast," I replied.

 He gave me a quizzical look and we changed the subject.

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One thing that I noticed with some teachers in our school is that technology is a divider. There are those who know, those who want to know, and those who will resist knowing for as long as they can. Think of it as those traveling the information highway. You have those that speed along, just waiting for the open road, those who have just ventured on, and are picking up speed, and those who are content to be the roadkill on the highway, just getting mowed over. So how do we as instructional support teachers help ALL teachers feel comfortable traveling on the information highway? What is our role – or rather, what is my role as a teacher librarian?

Collaboration with the teacher librarian, in the past, has meant helping to plan instruction and assessment, as well as aiding in the actual teaching. However, will the new position as instructional “technology” support change that role? Will I become the tech guru that people will come to for help with specific programs, but only those involving technology? How can I ensure that I continue to reach out to teachers regardless of their technological level of comfort?

On another note, “Things are different at the Comp” is a phrase that I have heard over and over, but really, how different can it be? Sure, there are more students, more teachers, and even quite possibly more technology. But in the end, is our goal not the same as all of the other schools in our division? Growth Without Limits, Learning for All. How does technology fit into “growth without limits and learning for all?”

Do things like socioeconomic conditions get addressed when it comes to technology? Socioeconomic conditions have always divided students, and quite possibly our expectation that all students are familiar with, or have access to, technology is actually a misconception. How does this affect technology used (or introduced) in the classroom? Are teachers expected to teach both the curriculum as well as the separate skill sets required by technology? Take for example, word processing. Many students have the ability to type, but do they understand how to use a word processor like Word? How much time do classroom teachers have to spend on something that is a) not expected of them b) not assessed within the realm of Saskatchewan curricula, and c) not standardized when it comes to access?

In conclusion, will there ever be a time when technology doesn’t divide us as educators or learners?? Will there eventually be a “roadkill free zone” on our drive down the super highway, where all educators and all students have the technological savvy skills required to get a license to drive?

There was a slot on the news just now about the huge increase in children being home educated in Britain.  Well, we've pretty much made up our minds that that is the route we will be taking with our boys too - so add us to the list!  (No... actually... don't, we'd rather keep under the radar!)

Home Education just sits so well with me and my husband - it fits into so many of our ideologies and suits our parenting methods perfectly.  In fact, since I have given serious thought to Home Ed and read a lot of books about it I feel my parenting has improved remarkably and my boys seem really happy!  I feel like I am understanding them so much better and I feel more confident and happy about their (and my) future.  Just as I have found with veganism, Home Ed has a wonderful support network and I have already been in contact with some lovely people.  One of these people is Doreen from Schoolhouse - she has home educated her three sons and now the two oldest are at university (the younger of those two attending a year earlier than most students) and she is a fountain of knowledge - and kindness - about Home Ed in Scotland and Britain.  Here is an excerpt from her email to me...

Here you are just starting out on the Home ed journey ...in some ways I guess we are all home educators - after all as parents we teach our children the most important things in life from the minute they are born.  My eldest was once asked by a journalist when he learns - the guy was talking about school hours.  T* replied that you start learning with your first breath and continue till the last, every waking moment is a chance to learn and even in your dreams you learn.  He was 8yo - have held his wisdom in my heart ever since.  I have learned more from my boys than they will ever learn from me.  They have brought me incredible joy and ... are my greatest inspiration.

Enjoy your wee ones, Karina - they grow too fast and in the blink of an eye are all grown up and you are looking up at a 6ft young man celebrating his 21st wondering what happened to your babes.  Breathe in the sweetness of your little ones fresh from their bath and feel the downy head of your baby tucked under your chin and hold every precious moment in your heart.  Home ed is a chance to be with them, to learn with them and share in their wonder of learning - I wouldn't have missed all the struggles, good and bad days for all the world.

Wow.

Attention-grabbing title, isn’t it?  Welcome to this, the first posting on a new blog and my first foray into the wide world of blogging.

‘What’s on top?’ marks the start of the staff meetings where I work and seems like a good place to start this blog too.  The plan is for this to be a careers blog so if you have career concerns go on – answer the question for me.  What’s on top for you in your career – or in your plans for one? Let’s start a conversation.

For the record, I work for Massey University in New Zealand – as a careers consultant.  If you’re really keen you can find out more about me by selecting ‘About’.  I’m not here to sell you anything or to try to persuade you to enrol with Massey.  Nor is this an ‘all about Massey’ blog - though I’ll shamelessly highlight university staff, initiatives and support services that I’ve guessed will interest the wider world.  I’ll also link to other sites and articles that I (and you) think might be useful – all the usual disclaimers will apply of course and linking should not be taken as an endorsement by Massey University or by me. 

I am not giving Public School ANY credit for this!  Hannah's been working on learning to read for the past couple of months. Considering that at the beginning of the summer you couldn't understand even ONE WORD she was mumbling - the fact that she is trying to clearly enunciate her words is amazing to me!  She's so smart!!  Ean just started reading 6 months ago. He's just now at an advanced Gr. I level and he's in Gr. II. Adri didn't start reading until he was 6 1/2!  Hannah is FIVE!  You go girl!! I  know other kids have read earlier and she's not a pending MENSA Member or anything, but I sure am super proud of her!

In honor of St. Andrew Kim and the Korean martyrs, we're pleased to present..hacky sacks!

Very popular in Korea, hacky sacks can be tossed or kicked between friends or kept in the air by one person.  Here's how to make a simple hacky sack.

For each hacky sack, you will need:

2 8” squares of lightweight stretchy fabric, any color (contrasting is nice, and very Korean - the yin/yang concept is important there)

A rubber band

A palmful of uncooked rice

Scissors

Directions:

Using your scissors, cut fringes all around the edges of both fabric squares.  They should be about two inches long, but perfection isn’t necessary.  You’ll probably need to help younger children with this part.

Stack the fabric squares together.  Place the rice in the center of the top square. 

 Gather the squares together around the rice and secure with the rubber band.  Be sure the rubber band is tightly wrapped around the fabric so the rice doesn’t come out.  The fringe will make a nice decorative “tail” on the hacky sack.

Hat tip: My Korean friend, Lee, who taught her Girl Scout troop to make these for Thinking Day.  Lee wrote all the girls’ names on the hacky sacks in Hanbo (Korean writing), using a Sharpee marker, too.

Anna University, Coimbatore MBA, MCA, MSc Course Distance Education Admission Notice 2007-08

# Application can be obtained in person at the office of the directorate of Online and Distance Education, Anna University, Coimbatore, GCT Campus, Coimbatore – 641013 by submitting a demand draft for Rs. 500/- (Rupees Five hundred only) for P.G. Programme/ Rs. 300/- (Rupees Three hundred only) for P.G. Diploma Programme.
# Application can be obtained by post by sending a Demand Draft for Rs. 500/- (Rupees Five hundred only) for P.G. Programme/Rs.300/- (Rupees Three hundred only) for P.G. Diploma Programme to the office of the Directorate of online and Distance Education, Anna University, Coimbatore, GCT Campus, Coimbatore – 641013 with a request letter for the application Details

This is just to ensure I follow through.

I will be posting  more pictures on this post later today!  I need to download them to the 'puter first. . .but I have muffins coming out of the oven now, so it will have to wait!  ;)

So, check back for part 2 (of this post), later today.

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Well, I meant to get these on earlier, but my intentions and deeds don't tend to match up all the time (hopefully, they do in those areas that are truly important).

So, here are the two little guys posing with some of their favorite projects done recently. Jackson is holding a shape "culmination" activity, and Tealc is holding his color "culmination" acitivity. These are actually both dimensional projects, but I'm guessing it was the angle or some such, that the camera didn't pick it up.

The younger two went to a preschool fair for a field trip this past week. It was advertised to have a lot of "emergency" type activities. Really, the only thing they had was a demo of a fireman getting all geared up. That had me a bit dissappointed, but the boys still enjoyed it there.

They also got to watch some duck and pig races. This is pretty cool in the eyes of a 5 and 4 yo!

We also got to look at the animals. Something that normally goes over very well, but the joy was destroyed when the guys walked past a pen the same time a (very large) sheep tried to jump out.

We also attended a Rennaissance Fair which was having a Celtic heritage emphasis. I liked that! Got to listen to some great music and dancing.

Course the boys were more into the jousting and fighting. . .

. . .like seeing two knights club each other on horseback. . .

All in all, I would say we are successfully keeping busy and passing the time (maybe a bit too well. . .)

I subscribe to several homeschool groups on yahoo and periodically there is a "discussion" on what it means to be a homeschooler. There was one recent discussion I decided not to join for several reasons but the principle one being that I don't need to be yelled at and called some sort of subversive in email. It has been my experience that any remarks by an individual contrary to establish doctrine results in said individual being tagged a troll or flamer or a creator of "shinies" and told that she isn't being attacked but just informed of the truth. I keep telling myself that I'm going to unsubscribe but don't because every once in a great while (and it keeps getting greater) I gleam a nugget of information from the discussion.

Before I go on, I just want to state for the record that I do know the difference between a "homeschooler" and someone who does "public school at home." That said, I wonder about the nature of the discussion and why it seems such an "either or" proposition.

One of the recent discussions was about how people who homeschool today (or at least ask about homeschooling) aren't like people who homeschooled in the past. It was while following the conversation that I realized why this discussion will never be settled no matter what either side believes.

It comes down to "everything changes" over time, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. I see the defenders (and definers) of the meaning of homeschooling like the residents of a small town not too far from some metropolitan area.

For some reason, this small town has been "discovered." Maybe it started attracting people during it's hometown fair. Maybe the media finally ran out of human interest stories closer to home and ran something about its residents. Maybe enough people started commuting to jobs in the city and people just found out about it through their co-workers. No matter how it was "discovered," the town residents now find themselves living with an ever increasing number of new arrivals and things just aren't the same.

Initially, the presence of the newcomers brought some welcomed changes to the town. Maybe there were now enough kids to form a baseball league or even keep the local school from closing. Maybe it meant enough new subscribers to allow the local paper to publish more frequently. Maybe it meant more money for the local library or made it a little easier to attract new health care professionals to town. For many small towns, the initial influx of new comers is a revitalizing change.

For a while.

And then the old timers find that the newcomers aren't interested in contributing a turkey dinner to fund the volunteer fire department--they would just rather raise taxes and pay for a full time department. Enough people are interested in the town that some housing developers are starting to build cookie-cutter neighborhoods that could be found in any suburb. And the next thing you know, the town has a referendum on whether or not Walmart should be allowed to build a store downtown.

The old timers wonder why the newcomers want to destroy the very nature of what attracted them to the town in the first place. The newcomers wonder what's wrong with wanting to buy a house that has modern conveniences.

And so there you are, the town has changed and there's no going back to the way it was before. The old timers who jump all over the person asking directions to the nearest Starbucks and telling them that Dairy Queen does the town just fine doesn't help the situation. The newcomers do need to be reminded about the values that attracted them to the town in the first place. But the fact remains the newcomers are there and they get to vote just like everyone else in the next election. So instead of alienating them with a "like us or leave us" attitude, it might be better to try to educate them.

Of course, some people aren't interested in being educated and some people are still going to want Walmart to open shop in town. Then you will have to gather up as many supporters as possible to keep Walmart from building. Its going to be a whole lot easier to find supporters if you didn't start off the relationship by calling them idiots.

Obviously, the newcomers are going to differ from the old timers regarding some issues. It's to be expected since there was something different about the old timers that made them willing to live in the town long before the newcomers came. Therefore, things aren't going to be the same. And how ever things are going to turn out isn't going to be determined strictly by the old timers. They may be able to run off some of the more clueless newcomers, but not all of them. So it's time for all the people in the town to figure out where it's going rather than just remembering where it's been.

I see myself definitely as one of the newcomers to homeschooling. I was one of the people who wouldn't move to the town until I could get high speed internet. I'm also one of the newcomers that is sticking around.

What can I say, I've stopped referring new homeschoolers to some of the national lists because I've seen them jumped on for asking the wrong question. I don't need to be spending my time explaining to them what happen when I've got plenty to look after locally.

I'm not that egotistical to think that my lack of participation in the national lists or refusal to recommend them to other homeschoolers spells doom for the lists. I'm sure they will continue on fine without me. But when they continue on without a lot of other homeschoolers as well, what becomes of their relevancy to homeschooling in general? Ultimately, I think it would be a loss to all homeschoolers, even those that never heard about the lists.