Thursday 22 November 2012

Comments For Sharon's DE Module

Response to Sharon's DE
The Circle of courage-at risk or challenging students
Northern Lights School Division in Northern Sask
This school division is piloting programs, being on the cutting edge of technology, integrating the varied cultural aspects of the communities into the classroom. Sharon focused on classrooms with an internet connection. A big concern would be getting more access to the internet, which she does address in her narrative. 
The languages they would be using in the division include Cree, Dene, Metis, French and English.
There would need to be translation done into all of those languages. 
I felt that this would be a powerful opportunity to connect with other people speaking the same language. Others speaking the same language might be far away, but you can stay in contact with them through chats, blogs, fourms, Skype, etc..

Sharon spoke of targeting professional development of the teachers with a wide range of ages and tech experience. This is a big challenge in any school division.
The students that are targeted in the Circle of Courage are those with limited access to behavioral support consultants

In the Motivation to learn section, you mention reasons why teachers would want to learn this including internal motivation, costs, less likely engage in a power struggle, understanding of their students and marginilization. I understand your point about student participation in the DE class being more involvement as we in this class realaize. On one hand it sounds easier (i.e. convenience), but the actual requirements are large. This would be an added challenge for a student already struggling to fit into the education system. While an on-line class addresses the remoteness, student by-in and feeling connected to the class would be as great a challenge. I'm not sure this is addressed as much as it needs to be in your narrative. For example, added supports, forums in addressing not only students fitting into the education system by the skills needed in taking an on-line course.  

I suppose the supports would also need to be the same for the teachers as you mentioned in the narrative as many teachers might not have delivered an on-line class before. Your plan for continuous monitoring of the resource looks great. 

I appreciate your mention of the digital divide. Perhaps with more users there will come more infrastructure to support it. Making the schools available to the community for access is a great idea.

I had a chance to look at the wiki. The information is outstanding. I would suggest trying to incorporate more interactive and visual aspects on the home page, as that is the first thing the student will see. For example, I think the "Belonging" and "What's It All About" sections are very easy to following, looks good, concise, and still gets across all of your information. It seems like a little thing, but if the reader opens up a page and it is a bunch of text they might not get their engagement. 

Great work Sharon!

Ryan Hicks

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