Preparing Teachers to Teach in Online and Blended Learning Environments

1. Preparing Teachers to Teach in Online and Blended Learning Environments DR. Paul Resta, U. of Texas, Austin Jarl Jonas, Blackboard Inc Wednesday, March 9, 2011

2. Welcome and Introductions Jarl Jonas jarl.jonas@blackboard.com Sr. Program Manager CourseSites My Lifelong Learning Journey K12 Teacher, FL & NJ Faculty Dev. Coord., NYU Dir. Virtual College & Corp. Learning , NYU Consulting Manager, Bb Program Manger, CourseSites by Bb

3. Agenda A Call to Action The Need to Keep Up What is CourseSites? CourseSites Demonstration • Create an Account • Create a Course • Invite Students • Set-up Home Page • Resources Questions CourseSites is a fully hosted, online course creation and facilitation service for high school teachers and higher education instructors.

4. A Call to Action http://www.redefineteachered.org Prepare teachers to teach in online and blended learning environments. Virtual schools, online courses, and blended learning environments (face-to-face and online) have grown exponentially across the country in recent years and this trend will continue well into the future. Few, however, are learning to teach online classes. Twenty-first Century educators must get training and experience in online and blended learning environments as part of their educator development programs so that they master the skills to teach in such environments.

5. The Need to Keep Up Supplemental or full-time online learning opportunities are available to at least some students in 48 of the 50 states plus Washington, DC. „27 states, as well as Washington, DC, have statewide full-time online schools. „38 states have state virtual schools or state-led online initiatives, and Alaska is planning to open a statewide online learning network in 2011. „Many virtual schools show annual growth rates between 20% and 45%„. 75% of school districts had one or more students enrolled in an online or blended learning course. „72% of school districts with distance education programs planned to expand online offerings in the coming year.Source:http://www.inacol.org/press/docs/NACOL_fastfacts-lrOct2010.pdf

6. Need for Free Resources “School budgets are under pressure—and many teachers are opening their own wallets as well as turning to free resources.” Source: Deepening Connections: Teachers Increasingly Rely on Media and Technology PBS and GRUNWALD ASSOCIATES LLC, 2011

7. What is CourseSites? CourseSites is a free, fully hosted online course creation and facilitation service, specifically designed for individual instructors. Presentation Tools Distribution Tools • Online Environment • Email • Text Chat • VoIP/Whiteboard • 24/7 Access • Email • Social Sharing • Virtual Classroom • Blogs Productivity Tools Communication Tools Content-Based Tools • Text & Voice Discussions • Email • Text Chat • VoIP/Whiteboard • Journals • Lesson Planning • Efficient Grading • Progress Reports • Performance Dashboard • WSYWIG Editor • Mash-ups (YouTube) • Wikis • VoIP/Whiteboard • Podcasts

8. What’s In It For Me? Interactive course websites at no cost for: Teacher Education Faculty Pre-service Teachers In-service Teachers

9. Creating an Account http://www.coursesites.com

10. Quick, Easy Registration • Instructors can sign up using popular web service credentialsto lessen # of online accounts and reduce login errors

11. SETTING UP COURSES How do we make sure students do not feel like this?

12. Course Structures • Choice of 32 pedagogically-driven course structuresw/ sample content helps expedite the course building process

13. Course Themes • Choice of 50 themes creates aesthetic learning environmentand enhances student engagement

14. Initial Guidance

15. Instructor Home Page

16. Getting Started with CourseSites

17. Student Orientation

18. Accessibility & Universal Design Request enrollment at accessible.coursesites.com

19. Instructor Community

20. Lesson Planning

21. Learning Modules

22. Notifications

23. Wikis, Blogs, Journals

24. CourseSites Live Tools Participant Window Whiteboard tools Activity Window (optional) Text chat Audio controls

25. CourseSites IM

26. CourseSites Voice

27. Multi-media Resources Images www.cooltext.com (course banners) www.flamingtext.com course banners) www.pics4learning.com www.loc.gov (Library of Congress) www.gettyone.com (royalty free) www.flickr.com(now from w/in CourseSites) Video www.youtube.com(now from w/in CourseSites) www.teachertube.com Web Content www.slideshare.com(now from w/in CourseSites) www.merlot.org (Advanced K12, HE) www.eduhound.com (K12) Programs www.techsmith.com/Jing (create recorded overviews) www.ispringsolutions.com (Creates Flash-based resources from PPT)

28. Partner Capabilities Partner Capabilities – also at no cost! • Respondus • Assessment Creation • LockDown Browser • StudyMate Class • Free versions for use on CourseSites only • SoftChalk • Free version for use on CourseSites only

29. Testimonials and Showcases

30. Get Started Today! http://www.coursesites.com jarl.jonas@blackboard.com

31. Stay Connected! CourseSites Blog (Coming Soon)community.coursesites.com YouTubewww.youtube.com/coursesites Facebookwww.facebook.com/coursesites Twitter@coursesites