Week #9

Now that you have seen what other people did in creating their units, is there anything that you might do differently if you were to redesign your own unit? 

I'm not sure Ning was the best platform for our Introduction to 2D Design course. It is really meant as a social networking site so it lacks many of the features that a course management system has such as an assignments tab or a calendar. It also doesn't have a main/homepage that everyone lands on. Kristin and I ended up using the blog post feature to add our assignments which added a level of complication in that we had to change the posting date/time to make everything appear in the correct order. I do think, that for an art course, Ning's options for themes were great. Our site is very visual and the colors, layout, and the banner art reflect this. But the regular Ning is really not designed for education.


If I were to do it again, I think I would spend a little more time exploring different learning platforms earlier in the project...ones that could really support an art course. It looked like Canvas/Instructure, one that I hadn't heard of until I saw Donna and Sarah's curriculum, has potential. I'm sure there are other platforms available that really lend themselves to a course that is mostly visual.

Week #7

Kristen and I have chosen to do something around Art (2d/visual/graphic design) for our project.
Although I have a strong interest in art, I definitely do not have a background in it so right now, this is the one part of the curriculum that concerns me the most. I am now bringing myself "up to speed" so that I can contribute in meaningful way to the actual planning process. In this process, I have come across fairly broad standards for art in K-12, multiple curricula from different levels, and lots of links to lots of really wonderful websites and tools that may be helpful when we start our planning process. But we have not started planning so I don't any other concerns just quite yet. I'm sure that once we really start designing, that's when all of my concerns will arise...

Week #6 posting

Did you change anything in the Google spreadsheet? If so, what? Has your view of the schools you chose to research changed from the first week you looked at them? If so, how? 


I changed the first school that I looked at, Georgia Virtual Schools, from "high" to "low" interactivity. I think initially that we had it under high because GAVS offers multiple tools that allow for student interaction. These tools included discussion boards, blogs, journals and email. However, it isn't clear how these tools are actually utilized. It seems from the description of GAVS that students work independently (self-paced) on their coursework so they wouldn't really need to use any of the tools. Most students do take GAVS courses during the schoolday which means that many students might be not only enrolled in the same course they might even be taking it at the same time in the computer lab. In this situation, I think an online teacher could have students use one or more of the tools but again, it does seem like GAVS is primarily an independent, self-study course. 


It is a little deceptive to have the student-student tools available but not mention this interaction component. I think GAVS does this because they know parents are worried that their children will be learning in isolation in the online environment. Those tools probably represent a safety net. Parents who look through the demo will see these tools and hopefully, their minds will be put at ease.


I also looked at Georgia Connections Academy. Its website was pretty clear -- they really support individualized learning. There aren't any tools for student-student interaction. All interactions are strictly with the learning coach (the parent) and the instructor.