My first evidence for sharing and contributing to the learning of others are examples of three of my blogs posts plus their comments.
I chose the three blogs that: provide information to assist others in using the resource, expand their knowledge on the topic, or create a thought stream as a result of reading it.
Ted-Ed Inside and Outside the Classroom
Looking over the Open Educational Resources for this week, I immediately was drawn to Ted-Ed. I have used Ted Talk videos in my classes for the last three years. When my photography class visited the Wild Life Photographer of the Year exhibit in at the BC Museum in Victoria in April, Paul Nicklen was the overall winner of the show. Ted Talks (http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_nicklen_tales_of_ice_bound_wonderlands.html ) enabled me to show the class more of his work, but most of all, to hear and see his passion for saving the Arctic environment. The National Geographic selections from Ted Talks are the most inspirational because they address the idea of a visual narrative, how photographs can tell a story. The Ted Talk with David Griffin, In How Photography Connects Us (http://www.ted.com/talks/david_griffin_on_how_photography_connects.html ) directly relates to my work with Inquiry in my Photography classes. Through Inquiry, my students are encouraged to have a focus and tell a story with their own photographs. The ability to take this resource a bit farther with Ted-Ed is a great opportunity to not only customize a lesson using video for a face-to-face classroom, but also create an engaging lesson for an online course. What does Ted-ED offer as an Open Educational Resource?
Ted-Ed offers 138 educational videos with the added ability to “flip” their own selection and any video on YouTube by customizing with quizzes, added information and resources. Ted-Ed’s initiative is to share educational lessons using quality animators to inspire anyone who wants to learn or aims to facilitate learning. The features of Ted-Ed also include a tracking system to monitor student participation and responses to content. Signing up for Ted-Ed is free. Most videos in the library were created by Ted-Ed animators and educators, but as more members contribute and “flip” videos, the database becomes larger and more varied in its categories and sub-categories.
As fantastic as this resource seems for educators, there are some critics of Ted-Ed. Shelly Blake-Plock, of Teach Paperless: seeking social solutions to the mysteries of 21st Century teaching and learning (http://teachpaperless.blogspot.ca/2012/04/problem-with-ted-ed.html ) states “TED -- in the form it is presented online to the masses -- is not about doing. It is about watching. Listening. Consuming.” She concedes that she personally finds find many of the lectures to be inspired, “But we shouldn't confuse an inspiring lecture and provocative ideas with "learning". I disagree with Shelly, and obviously many others do as well; seeing Ted-Ed on the Time Tech website of the 50 BEST Websites 2013 (http://techland.time.com/2013/05/06/50-best-websites-2013/slide/ted-ed/ ) helps substantiate that. Videos create an engaging and informative learning platform and one only has to look toward the enormous world of YouTube to know just about anything can be taught and learned there. All educators at some point in their teaching have relied on videos to inspire, instruct and explain curriculum. The exciting feature in Ted-Ed is the option to upload videos from YouTube and on Ted-Ed, then” flip” them
into a resource that is unique to the creator’s intent and gets saved to a URL that can be freely shared. In Ted-Ed, “Watch”, “Quick Quiz, “Think”, “Dig Deeper” and “Finally” are sections of the lesson that can be created or built upon to enhance the learning on each video.
Ted-Ed is a valuable resource for educators inside and outside the classroom. As long as students prefer to view short videos than to read articles or listen to lectures, Ted-Ed as a resource can only continue to grow. For me, I will use it as a starting point in introducing the impact photography can have on our world’s social and physical environment. I am also going to investigate videos I can use with Ted-Ed to discuss and understand copyright laws and engage students in that discussion. One video series in my mind for that discussion would be the RIP Manifesto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdwN6rRU0Xk&feature=player_embedded&list=PL44F4EBDBE6879CE5 ). The endless opportunities for bringing topics to the “classroom and beyond” (http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/ted-ed.php ) using Ted-Ed is why this OER is here to stay. What uses can you see for yourself inside and outside your classroom?
Photos from: http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/ted-ed.php
Comments
Breanne
05/17/2013 9:19pm
Thanks for bringing Ted-Ed to my attention Jean. I have never heard about this before and now I find myself searching the website and looking at a bunch of resources while thinking to myself "how can I bring this into my online classroom and make it meaningful to my students". I have added so much OER content to one of my courses so far that I am afraid it is going to be information overload for my students and I might have to scale it back a little over the summer to weed out what I might have added because I was a little over zealous and what is very useful.
I also really liked your flipped lesson. I know how you like to teach with inquiry and I can see your students really responding well to this lesson. I am wondering how long this took you to create? I like how you mention it is something that can be saved as a URL and shared, just another way teachers can share with other teachers and inspire them. I hope that you will be able to share yours with other photography teachers because I know that they will be inspired by your inquiry approach and hopefully they will brave the unknown and try it in their own class.
Reply
Michelle Kennedy
05/17/2013 11:12pm
Hi Jean,
TED Ed is such an amazing resource--one of the best out there! David Griffin’s TED talk was quite engaging and perfectly illustrates the idea of creating a visual narrative that you are wanting from your students. In fact, this video would work quite well in a senior English class, too. In my prep for this week, I had checked out TED Ed, but I focused my attention to Curriki; if I had known of all the features that this resource offers, including the unbelievable database of videos and lessons, I would have spent more time exploring.
I also disagree with Shelly Blake-Plock’s declaration that students are not learning from these lectures as she states, learning involves “doing.” I presume she has not taken into consideration actual research that reports individuals learn in different ways—she is mistaken to say that one cannot “learn” from these “inspired” and “provocative” lectures. I use a lot of short videos in my teaching, and I've found they serve as an excellent hook; which works to initiate conversation, to connect with the content, to inspire students—and from time to time, they learn something!
Good work—your lesson looks marvelous.
M.
Rock Star of Online Learning and Tecnology: Stephen Downes Guest Speaker @oltd505 06/01/2013
1 Comment
If you are associated in any way with online education, you know the name Stephen Downes. He is the rock star of open online learning and education. Not a Mick Jagger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Jagger) type, aggressive and loud, but a David Crosby type (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crosby ), mellow and introspective; and yes, you can’t really dispute the obvious likeness to Crosby. Both Jagger and Crosby are prominent icons of rock and roll emerging in the sixties and continuing to perform even today. Just as we could not imagine rock and roll without them, we certainly could not imagine the growth and contributions to open online education and learning without thinking of Stephen Downes (http://www.downes.ca/ ).
Stephen Downes, in my view, is the most prolific writer on the Web. He is well known for his website named OLDaily (http://www.downes.ca/ ) and his blog page called Half an Hour (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ ). If you have any interest in current issues relating to open online education, I strongly advise you to sign up for Stephen’s website and blog. According to Wikipedia, Downes has been a prominent promoter of online learning and technologies since 1995 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes ). The very first MOOC (CCK08) was created by Downes and George Siemens in 2008. To say he is qualified to speak on MOOCS, OER’s (Open Educational Resources) and the future of online education, is an understatement. It is no wonder our OLTD cohort was anxiously awaiting Stephen’s arrival to our virtual classroom (http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/2013-05-25-couros-course2013).
Downes began his presentation by defining the four terms that make up a MOOC: Massive Open Online Course. Being specific with the definitions of these individual terms and how they are combined to define exactly what a MOOC is was extremely beneficial. I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked, “What exactly is a MOOC?” My reply is always what the acronym stands for and I leave it at that, knowing very well the answer did not define the quality or uniqueness of a MOOC.
The following are Stephen Downes’ definitions of the terms that make up a MOOC:
Massive: Not defined by merely numbers, but by the design element that can support a large number of people who are able to interact with each other on a one-to-one basis. As Downes puts it, "It is this interaction that is the most significant in learning, but also often the most important, and for a course to be truly massive, it must enable, and even encourage, hundreds or even thousands of these small interpersonal interactions." ( http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Open: Something (a resource, a course, an education) is free and open if and only if:
- the resource may be read, run, consumed or played without cost or obligation
- there are reasonable ways to share the resource or to reuse the resource, and especially to translate or format-shift the resource (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Online: For a MOOC to be ‘online’ entails that no required element of the course is required to take place at any particular physical location. (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Course: A course is an event which is:
- bounded by a start date and an end date
- cohered by some common theme or domain of discourse
- a progression of ordered events related to that domain (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Thanks to Stephen’s clearly stated definitions, I can now answer that familiar question, “What exactly is a MOOC?” with a specific answer that does not merely rely on the automatic response to read out the acronym. A MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course: it is massive in that has a design element built-in to support and encourage hundreds and up to thousands of one-on-one interpersonal relations; it is open in that it is run without cost or obligation with ways to share and reuse resources; it is Online meaning no particular part of the course is required at any particular physical location; and it is defined as a course by having a start and end date with a common theme set up by a progression of ordered events.
The most intriguing elements of a MOOC for me are the opportunities for unforeseen discoveries and connections made with others that occur when ideas, concepts and content are remixed and shared through the MOOC community. As Downes explains, “From the perspective of the course, what it means is that the process of taking the course is itself much more important than the content participants may happen to learn in the course.” (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
The active participation through reflection and connections is more valuable to learning than memorizing content.
My inquiry-based teaching methods rely on interactions and learning that occur when students share and build on ideas, concepts and interests that stem out of a larger themed question in the course. Inquiry-based learning compliments the idea of a connectivist course that Downes describes as a course where “a learner is immersed within a community of practitioners and introduced to ways of doing the sorts of things practitioners do, and through that practice, becomes more similar in act, thought and values to members of that community”. (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ ) Stephen uses the example “To learn physics, in other words, you join a community of physicists, practice physics, and thereby become like a physicist.” Hence, to learn photography, you immerse yourself in a community of photographers and practice to become a skilled at photography.
The question I posed to Stephen Downes after his presentation in OLTD505 centered on whether he knew of any high school students taking a MOOC course along with their teacher. Would you see a classroom in high school all taking a MOOC together along with the teacher as plausible idea? Would this experiment possibly increase student engagement and motivation to learn because it is not assessed, there is no obligation to finish and the only object is to inspire learning through an exchange of ideas? (Something I am trying to instil in my students who are so used to information handed to them without any critical thinking involved.)
My next step is to begin a search of MOOCs appropriate for high school students. I would be looking for courses that inspire creativity within an informal learning format. Whether or not my students will voluntarily sign up is an unknown, but I certainly feel it will be an experience that would be valuable and, hopefully, one that will promote a deeper form of learning than they are exposed to in a closed classroom.
Any responses to the idea of high school students entering the world of MOOCs are most welcome!
Comments Ben link
06/04/2013 9:18am
I thought that was David Crosby in the thumbnail! Jean, I thought you did an excellent job in breaking down what each component of the MOOC acronym really means. I too have been guilty in my explanations of just unpacking what each letter stands for and leaving it at that. I think in focusing in on each component of a MOOC it highlights the many dynamic possibilities that this type of course has.
I think the idea of taking a MOOC along with your class is a great one, and would certainly lead to student buy in. Enrolling in a MOOC still seems like a daunting task to me, and I know I would appreciate some form of a mentor if I was to throw myself into that world.
Margot ([email protected])
06/10/2013 9:36pm
Hey Jean
Like the juxtaposition of the pictures:-)
Hmmm, taking a class with your students.... Think I agree with Stephen's response which I remember as being 'choose carefully.'
Would you feel you could interact as Jean the student or would you always be mindful of student/teacher boundaries? Would it blur that distinction for your students? Would all parties feel free to respond spontaneously or would there be an underlying feeling of having to say the 'right' thing because Mrs. K. May be watching?
How does it feel when your students come to the same yoga class? (Am guessing that happens sometimes?)
While I do think it's good to have multi-age classes, I consider that pre existing relationships may prevent true engagement and discourse.
Margot (Margot.croft@ gmail.com)
06/10/2013 9:39pm
(Stupid iPad--doesn't allow full line redos....). Anyway, think it would be different if your students were adults and there was less of the position of authority role....
Thoughts? :-)
Delete
Jean Kloppenburg link ([email protected])
06/11/2013 12:18am
HI Margot,
You have brought up some interesting points to take into consideration. I did not take Stephen’s recommendation lightly, and I certainly would have to choose wisely on the type of MOOC. I am looking for something on the creative side that would fit high school students. I have run across some art topics and a few I could imagine students entering into ( Digital storytelling, photography, project based MOOCS)
My goal for the experience is for the students to be aware MOOCS exist and to also encounter learning that is on their choice and their own terms. I would want them to experience something new in online education, and possibly, open their minds to how important it is that we connect with others and share and contribute to the community of learners we are a part of.
What I like most about the idea is that there is no obligation for completion of the course. Students will drop out, as do adults, but my hope is that something of value will be achieved in the encounter with a new way of learning.
As for taking a class with my students, I do not find that a huge concern (and yes, I do take yoga classes with my students). I have transformed my teaching practise over the last three years to be more of a facilitator instead of a “teacher of all knowledge required in the course”. If I do not know something I admit it and then as a class, investigate the answer. This teaching style has changed my relationships with my students for the better.
When and if I find the right fit for a class to take a MOOC, I will be sure to document it and blog about it!
Thank you for your candid thoughts on participating with my students in a MOOC. There is a lot to think about ahead of time and your post pointed out some valid concerns.
Creative Commons: Sharing, Creativity and Innovation 05/11/2013
2 Comments
My first introduction to the Creative Commons was through the use of Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/). As well as being one of the first online communities to use the Creative Commons licensing options, Flickr, with over 200 million licensed images, is also the Web’s single largest source of CC-licensed content (http://creativecommons.org). I only knew that I could search Flickr in an advanced search option and choose images in the Creative Commons content and freely use those images when following the terms provided by the photographer. I have since seen the CC stamp on many resources, including those made available by my instructors in my Online Learning and Technology graduate course. So, what was all the hype about and why was using the Creative Commons licence a deliberate choice made by photographers, artists, song writers, poets, scientists and educators?
To understand why the world-wide non-profit organization is used by the likes of MIT OpenCourseWare, Rice University Connexions, Yale University and by high profile sites such as GOOGLE and Wikipedia (http://creativecommons.org/who-uses-cc), you need to know what the Creative Commons license is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZvJGV6YF6Y), how it works and why it is significant in this climate of global sharing.
Basically, the Creative Commons license gives permission for others to use material you have created while still holding on to some rights. Most original work created automatically becomes copyrighted, meaning the creator of the work has exclusive legal rights to print, publish, perform, film and record their material (and the legal right to authorize a third party to do the same). Within these inherent rights, the Creative Commons license allows the creator to choose from six different content CC licenses (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/) to suit their needs. For instance, I may want to share my original course design for only educational purposes, not for commercial use, and my work needs to be acknowledged. I can design a CC license to let the world know my license preferences and because Creative Commons imbeds a HTML code that can be attached to your Web page, anyone can easily obtain the information. The code contains a logo that links back the Creative Commons Web page where a description of how the work may be used is displayed (http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7023.pdf ). The following link provides information on how to license and mark your content with Creative Commons (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/61/Creativecommons-licensing-and-marking-your-content_eng.pdf ).
According to Educaus Learning Initiative, (http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7023.pdf), “Creative Commons puts unprecedented power into the hands of content owners and users, creating an environment in which restrictions take a back seat to permissions and the creative talents of individuals benefit the common good.” My question is to educators and creators alike: is the Creative Commons licensing all you need? Are there other options you considered for licensing your work; if so, what were they? When it comes to OER’S (Open Educational Resources), what are the implications for using the Creative commons, as opposed to other licenses?
The Creative Commons site (http://creativecommons.org/interviews) offers a link for interviews with prominent Open Education proponents and users of CC licencing that provide good insight into Open Education and policy. Paul Stacey from BC Campus produced this chart plotting OER projects and their licenses (http://paulgstacey.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/openlicensingcontinuum.jpg). Stacey comments, “The Creative Commons has played a central role in making OER possible in the first place”. The current solution for licencing for BC Campus is BC Commons, which is modelled after the Creative Commons licensing. Whereas the Creative Commons is nation-wide, the BC Commons license is only for use and sharing of content between educational institutions within the BC public post-secondary system. Educators are able to ease into the arena of openness. Stacy points out that faculty members worry about losing the “integrity of the resources they create”, and even though not all worries are alleviated with the BC Commons license, at least they are diminished because “sharing is contained within the Province”. Stacy advocates for the BC Commons license because of the local collaboration that builds from its use. “When you create a license that supports local sharing, it creates a local commons,” says Paul. I was not aware that BC Commons existed until my research on the Creative Commons began. When looking toward our goal of sharing, creating and remixing knowledge, I must admit I see the Creative Commons licensing as a better choice for achieving global learning networks.
What are your thoughts on licensing within BC or nationwide? Are Creative Commons licensing becoming a common culture in our Internet community for sharing, creating and innovating? Will the Creative Commons license packaging be enough protection for our Open Educational resources to thrive within all areas of education?
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/opendemocracy/542303769/">openDemocracy</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>
This work by Jean Kloppenburg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Comments
Christina Hendricks link
05/12/2013 3:43am
This is a nice explanation of CC and what CC licenses can do! I especially liked the link to the chart made by Paul Stacey, as I didn't realize how many different licenses are in use for OERs (and there are probably even more than that!).
I, too, knew nothing about the BC Commons license, even though I've been teaching in BC since 2004 (at U of BC in Vancouver, in Philosophy). I have to say I don't quite see the point of a separate license for sharing just in BC, nor do I quite understand how it works. Does it just say that anyone in BC can use the work for certain purposes, thus creating a BC-only community? If so, I suppose that could allay some people's fears (though to be honest, I don't have fears of making my work open myself), but it also cuts down on the possibility of gaining the good benefits of sharing. Not only are you limiting the number of people who can use your work, you're also limiting the number of people you might be able to connect with and learn from. Though people don't have to contact you when they use your work with a CC license, they might--they might like it, and want to talk with you about it, and you could learn from them and potentially collaborate. For me, the greater potential for connections means I'd definitely prefer a CC license.
Thanks for pointing out to me the existence of the BC license, though. I'll have to look into that further to see what it's all about.
Reply
Jocelyn Finley
05/13/2013 6:30pm
Jean,
At the end of your extensive description of cc licensing you pose two interesting questions."Are Creative Commons licensing becoming a common culture in our Internet community for sharing, creating and innovating? Will the Creative Commons license packaging be enough protection for our Open Educational resources to thrive within all areas of education?" Before I comment on them, I would like to thank you as reading your post helped me to clarify and organize the ideas around open content licensing.
I am not exposed enough to really give a meaningful answer to both questions, but I will draw on my limited experience. Whether cc is becoming common culture on the internet depends on several factors such as awareness of the infrastructure, the intentions of those publishing. Although I understand that cc licensing does not preclude commercial use of the product, with profits accruing to the developer or the organization that owns the copyrights, I am still really fuzzy on why open licensing is not antithetical to the commercial model of development of content for profit.
The second evidence supplied of contributing to the learning of others is examples of comments made by me to OLTD members on their blog posts.
This is a comment on Jane J’s blog called Creative Common Licensing
And OER http://jjaceklearnsonline.weebly.com/oltd-505.html
Hi Jane,
I discovered Paul Tracey’s blog when I was researching our readings from week 2. Paul had a compelling video on Aaron Swartz and a good read on his take on an “ Open University”. I ran into Paul’s readings again on the Creative Commons site under “Who’s Using CC?” in the interview sections. Paul’s work with BC Campus was highlighted. BC Campus chose to use a BC Commons License for their needs. All of the sharing and collaborating happens just in BC. In their mind, it allows for an “easing into openness” and also builds a stronger local sharing community. What are your thoughts on that? I tend to think the more open the better and see private licenses for provinces and confining and restrictive.
As educators, we should all be aware of the property rights of others that are sharing on the Web. I have a peace of mind when I know I can adhere to the preference rights of a creator and post their photographs or work with their permission. Like many other teachers, I have been relaxed in my use of materials from other sources. With the knowledge of the Creative Commons and how it works, I can know make it a practise to site all shared works. I hope that with more and more educators becoming open and sharing their work, the practise of using the Creative Commons license will be automatic and an important part of the culture of Open Education.
Thank you for a great read!
Jean
Comment on Jane J. “Concerns Related to MOOCS”- http://jjaceklearnsonline.weebly.com/16/post/2013/04/april-28th-2013.html#comments
Jane,
I enjoyed your concerns and perspectives on MOOCS. Even though the concerns of funding, teacher overload, certification, email flooding, and low completions rates are ever present with MOOCS, the reality is MOOCS are here to stay. Maybe a better way to view MOOCS is to review why so many are being offered and by whom? Who is benefiting from the offerings? We talked about with Stephen Downes that Universities are using the offering of MOOCS to advertise their courses. Are professors offering MOOCS to also increase their standings in higher education? Another concern of MOOCS may be how they are rated? My idealistic side would hope that many are offering MOOCS for the educational experience they can share with large groups of people. The professor at UBC who was giving a genetics course was over the top excited to offer it because she wanted to be able to reach as many students as she could.
I have not yet taken a MOOC but I am eager to try one out and blog on the experience, I am searching for an appropriate MOOC to take with my high school students. I would be interested in knowing if they have a rating system of “best MOOCS”. Have you come across and in your internet searches?
Thank you for raising the common concerns of MOOCS. I am fascinated with the evolution of MOOCS and like you, look forward to staying connected and informed as to the future of MOOCS.
Jean
Comment to Breanne on SharemyLesson Blog
http://breanneqlearnsonline.weebly.com/505-learning-journal.html
Breanne,
Thank you for the great website, Sharemylesson. I signed up and went searching and in no time at all I found some amazing tutorials for photoshop I can use in my photography course. It was great to have a resource already created and ready to post on my course page. I also have an example to use for creating my own photoshop tutorial. I also found some useful ppts on forced perspective and composition.
Next, I decided to see if there were any resources for mixed-media, as my art class is in full swing with their inquiry work.
My question is, how do I site the use of these resources? I have copyright on my mind and want to make sure I use only sited resources on my webpage.
I am spending too much time with this website, but it has been worthwhile!
Thanks again for sharing it,
Jean
Reply to Michael, Blog week 5
http://michaelmlearnsonline.weebly.com/15/post/2013/05/week-5-blog.html
Michael,
Thank you for researching Lisa’s Online Teaching Blog. I was going to check it out and one thing led to another and I blame it on being completely consumed by Grandma hood! After reading your blog, I have a clear idea of the three types of MOOCs presented in Lisa’s blog.I must say I am personally drawn to taking a networked based MOOC, yet for a first experience for high school students( my goal to have a class take one with me) I would consider a task based MOOC.
Interesting that you see novices suited to instructivisit approaches and the connectivist approach better suited to learners developing their expertise. I would think the more informed you are on MOOCS, the less chance you would choose to a content based MOOC. The experience of interactions with others and the options for completing tasks using a variety of tools would draw many to a task based and network based MOOC. I wonder what portion of the MOOC community are enrolling in the content based MOOCS? What about the wrapped MOOCs that Stephen spoke of? I’d be interested in researching how prevalent wrapped MOOCs are becoming in Universities worldwide.
Thank you for a great post that got me thinking on the various topics.
Reply to Justin’s blog The Challenges of Sharing
http://jmarklearnsonline.weebly.com/6/post/2013/05/the-challenges-of-sharing.html#
comments
To Justin Blog on Challenges of Sharing http://jmarklearnsonline.weebly.com/
Justin your openness in your blog on the challenges of sharing is to be commended. I am positive there are many teachers out there who have the same feelings, myself included. I am also running my photography course online and paperless this year. There is a part of me who that is quick to second guess how I do things and that makes me hesitate when it comes to sharing all, especially on new ideas that are “untested”. What helps me in that situation is to be open for comments and suggestions from colleagues and students. I made my pages on my course blog pages for the opportunity for feedback.
Your online courses for History and French look engaging and well thought out. I am sure the students look forward to starting their projects on their own time. My students enjoy pacing themselves through the course and working on their ePortfolio pages as they go.
Here is my course website http://woodlandsphotographyonline.weebly.com/ You can view individual student pages under ePortfolio.
Thank you for sharing!
I chose the three blogs that: provide information to assist others in using the resource, expand their knowledge on the topic, or create a thought stream as a result of reading it.
Ted-Ed Inside and Outside the Classroom
Looking over the Open Educational Resources for this week, I immediately was drawn to Ted-Ed. I have used Ted Talk videos in my classes for the last three years. When my photography class visited the Wild Life Photographer of the Year exhibit in at the BC Museum in Victoria in April, Paul Nicklen was the overall winner of the show. Ted Talks (http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_nicklen_tales_of_ice_bound_wonderlands.html ) enabled me to show the class more of his work, but most of all, to hear and see his passion for saving the Arctic environment. The National Geographic selections from Ted Talks are the most inspirational because they address the idea of a visual narrative, how photographs can tell a story. The Ted Talk with David Griffin, In How Photography Connects Us (http://www.ted.com/talks/david_griffin_on_how_photography_connects.html ) directly relates to my work with Inquiry in my Photography classes. Through Inquiry, my students are encouraged to have a focus and tell a story with their own photographs. The ability to take this resource a bit farther with Ted-Ed is a great opportunity to not only customize a lesson using video for a face-to-face classroom, but also create an engaging lesson for an online course. What does Ted-ED offer as an Open Educational Resource?
Ted-Ed offers 138 educational videos with the added ability to “flip” their own selection and any video on YouTube by customizing with quizzes, added information and resources. Ted-Ed’s initiative is to share educational lessons using quality animators to inspire anyone who wants to learn or aims to facilitate learning. The features of Ted-Ed also include a tracking system to monitor student participation and responses to content. Signing up for Ted-Ed is free. Most videos in the library were created by Ted-Ed animators and educators, but as more members contribute and “flip” videos, the database becomes larger and more varied in its categories and sub-categories.
As fantastic as this resource seems for educators, there are some critics of Ted-Ed. Shelly Blake-Plock, of Teach Paperless: seeking social solutions to the mysteries of 21st Century teaching and learning (http://teachpaperless.blogspot.ca/2012/04/problem-with-ted-ed.html ) states “TED -- in the form it is presented online to the masses -- is not about doing. It is about watching. Listening. Consuming.” She concedes that she personally finds find many of the lectures to be inspired, “But we shouldn't confuse an inspiring lecture and provocative ideas with "learning". I disagree with Shelly, and obviously many others do as well; seeing Ted-Ed on the Time Tech website of the 50 BEST Websites 2013 (http://techland.time.com/2013/05/06/50-best-websites-2013/slide/ted-ed/ ) helps substantiate that. Videos create an engaging and informative learning platform and one only has to look toward the enormous world of YouTube to know just about anything can be taught and learned there. All educators at some point in their teaching have relied on videos to inspire, instruct and explain curriculum. The exciting feature in Ted-Ed is the option to upload videos from YouTube and on Ted-Ed, then” flip” them
into a resource that is unique to the creator’s intent and gets saved to a URL that can be freely shared. In Ted-Ed, “Watch”, “Quick Quiz, “Think”, “Dig Deeper” and “Finally” are sections of the lesson that can be created or built upon to enhance the learning on each video.
Ted-Ed is a valuable resource for educators inside and outside the classroom. As long as students prefer to view short videos than to read articles or listen to lectures, Ted-Ed as a resource can only continue to grow. For me, I will use it as a starting point in introducing the impact photography can have on our world’s social and physical environment. I am also going to investigate videos I can use with Ted-Ed to discuss and understand copyright laws and engage students in that discussion. One video series in my mind for that discussion would be the RIP Manifesto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdwN6rRU0Xk&feature=player_embedded&list=PL44F4EBDBE6879CE5 ). The endless opportunities for bringing topics to the “classroom and beyond” (http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/ted-ed.php ) using Ted-Ed is why this OER is here to stay. What uses can you see for yourself inside and outside your classroom?
Photos from: http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/ted-ed.php
Comments
Breanne
05/17/2013 9:19pm
Thanks for bringing Ted-Ed to my attention Jean. I have never heard about this before and now I find myself searching the website and looking at a bunch of resources while thinking to myself "how can I bring this into my online classroom and make it meaningful to my students". I have added so much OER content to one of my courses so far that I am afraid it is going to be information overload for my students and I might have to scale it back a little over the summer to weed out what I might have added because I was a little over zealous and what is very useful.
I also really liked your flipped lesson. I know how you like to teach with inquiry and I can see your students really responding well to this lesson. I am wondering how long this took you to create? I like how you mention it is something that can be saved as a URL and shared, just another way teachers can share with other teachers and inspire them. I hope that you will be able to share yours with other photography teachers because I know that they will be inspired by your inquiry approach and hopefully they will brave the unknown and try it in their own class.
Reply
Michelle Kennedy
05/17/2013 11:12pm
Hi Jean,
TED Ed is such an amazing resource--one of the best out there! David Griffin’s TED talk was quite engaging and perfectly illustrates the idea of creating a visual narrative that you are wanting from your students. In fact, this video would work quite well in a senior English class, too. In my prep for this week, I had checked out TED Ed, but I focused my attention to Curriki; if I had known of all the features that this resource offers, including the unbelievable database of videos and lessons, I would have spent more time exploring.
I also disagree with Shelly Blake-Plock’s declaration that students are not learning from these lectures as she states, learning involves “doing.” I presume she has not taken into consideration actual research that reports individuals learn in different ways—she is mistaken to say that one cannot “learn” from these “inspired” and “provocative” lectures. I use a lot of short videos in my teaching, and I've found they serve as an excellent hook; which works to initiate conversation, to connect with the content, to inspire students—and from time to time, they learn something!
Good work—your lesson looks marvelous.
M.
Rock Star of Online Learning and Tecnology: Stephen Downes Guest Speaker @oltd505 06/01/2013
1 Comment
If you are associated in any way with online education, you know the name Stephen Downes. He is the rock star of open online learning and education. Not a Mick Jagger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Jagger) type, aggressive and loud, but a David Crosby type (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crosby ), mellow and introspective; and yes, you can’t really dispute the obvious likeness to Crosby. Both Jagger and Crosby are prominent icons of rock and roll emerging in the sixties and continuing to perform even today. Just as we could not imagine rock and roll without them, we certainly could not imagine the growth and contributions to open online education and learning without thinking of Stephen Downes (http://www.downes.ca/ ).
Stephen Downes, in my view, is the most prolific writer on the Web. He is well known for his website named OLDaily (http://www.downes.ca/ ) and his blog page called Half an Hour (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ ). If you have any interest in current issues relating to open online education, I strongly advise you to sign up for Stephen’s website and blog. According to Wikipedia, Downes has been a prominent promoter of online learning and technologies since 1995 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes ). The very first MOOC (CCK08) was created by Downes and George Siemens in 2008. To say he is qualified to speak on MOOCS, OER’s (Open Educational Resources) and the future of online education, is an understatement. It is no wonder our OLTD cohort was anxiously awaiting Stephen’s arrival to our virtual classroom (http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/2013-05-25-couros-course2013).
Downes began his presentation by defining the four terms that make up a MOOC: Massive Open Online Course. Being specific with the definitions of these individual terms and how they are combined to define exactly what a MOOC is was extremely beneficial. I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked, “What exactly is a MOOC?” My reply is always what the acronym stands for and I leave it at that, knowing very well the answer did not define the quality or uniqueness of a MOOC.
The following are Stephen Downes’ definitions of the terms that make up a MOOC:
Massive: Not defined by merely numbers, but by the design element that can support a large number of people who are able to interact with each other on a one-to-one basis. As Downes puts it, "It is this interaction that is the most significant in learning, but also often the most important, and for a course to be truly massive, it must enable, and even encourage, hundreds or even thousands of these small interpersonal interactions." ( http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Open: Something (a resource, a course, an education) is free and open if and only if:
- the resource may be read, run, consumed or played without cost or obligation
- there are reasonable ways to share the resource or to reuse the resource, and especially to translate or format-shift the resource (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Online: For a MOOC to be ‘online’ entails that no required element of the course is required to take place at any particular physical location. (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Course: A course is an event which is:
- bounded by a start date and an end date
- cohered by some common theme or domain of discourse
- a progression of ordered events related to that domain (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
Thanks to Stephen’s clearly stated definitions, I can now answer that familiar question, “What exactly is a MOOC?” with a specific answer that does not merely rely on the automatic response to read out the acronym. A MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course: it is massive in that has a design element built-in to support and encourage hundreds and up to thousands of one-on-one interpersonal relations; it is open in that it is run without cost or obligation with ways to share and reuse resources; it is Online meaning no particular part of the course is required at any particular physical location; and it is defined as a course by having a start and end date with a common theme set up by a progression of ordered events.
The most intriguing elements of a MOOC for me are the opportunities for unforeseen discoveries and connections made with others that occur when ideas, concepts and content are remixed and shared through the MOOC community. As Downes explains, “From the perspective of the course, what it means is that the process of taking the course is itself much more important than the content participants may happen to learn in the course.” (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ )
The active participation through reflection and connections is more valuable to learning than memorizing content.
My inquiry-based teaching methods rely on interactions and learning that occur when students share and build on ideas, concepts and interests that stem out of a larger themed question in the course. Inquiry-based learning compliments the idea of a connectivist course that Downes describes as a course where “a learner is immersed within a community of practitioners and introduced to ways of doing the sorts of things practitioners do, and through that practice, becomes more similar in act, thought and values to members of that community”. (http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/ ) Stephen uses the example “To learn physics, in other words, you join a community of physicists, practice physics, and thereby become like a physicist.” Hence, to learn photography, you immerse yourself in a community of photographers and practice to become a skilled at photography.
The question I posed to Stephen Downes after his presentation in OLTD505 centered on whether he knew of any high school students taking a MOOC course along with their teacher. Would you see a classroom in high school all taking a MOOC together along with the teacher as plausible idea? Would this experiment possibly increase student engagement and motivation to learn because it is not assessed, there is no obligation to finish and the only object is to inspire learning through an exchange of ideas? (Something I am trying to instil in my students who are so used to information handed to them without any critical thinking involved.)
My next step is to begin a search of MOOCs appropriate for high school students. I would be looking for courses that inspire creativity within an informal learning format. Whether or not my students will voluntarily sign up is an unknown, but I certainly feel it will be an experience that would be valuable and, hopefully, one that will promote a deeper form of learning than they are exposed to in a closed classroom.
Any responses to the idea of high school students entering the world of MOOCs are most welcome!
Comments Ben link
06/04/2013 9:18am
I thought that was David Crosby in the thumbnail! Jean, I thought you did an excellent job in breaking down what each component of the MOOC acronym really means. I too have been guilty in my explanations of just unpacking what each letter stands for and leaving it at that. I think in focusing in on each component of a MOOC it highlights the many dynamic possibilities that this type of course has.
I think the idea of taking a MOOC along with your class is a great one, and would certainly lead to student buy in. Enrolling in a MOOC still seems like a daunting task to me, and I know I would appreciate some form of a mentor if I was to throw myself into that world.
Margot ([email protected])
06/10/2013 9:36pm
Hey Jean
Like the juxtaposition of the pictures:-)
Hmmm, taking a class with your students.... Think I agree with Stephen's response which I remember as being 'choose carefully.'
Would you feel you could interact as Jean the student or would you always be mindful of student/teacher boundaries? Would it blur that distinction for your students? Would all parties feel free to respond spontaneously or would there be an underlying feeling of having to say the 'right' thing because Mrs. K. May be watching?
How does it feel when your students come to the same yoga class? (Am guessing that happens sometimes?)
While I do think it's good to have multi-age classes, I consider that pre existing relationships may prevent true engagement and discourse.
Margot (Margot.croft@ gmail.com)
06/10/2013 9:39pm
(Stupid iPad--doesn't allow full line redos....). Anyway, think it would be different if your students were adults and there was less of the position of authority role....
Thoughts? :-)
Delete
Jean Kloppenburg link ([email protected])
06/11/2013 12:18am
HI Margot,
You have brought up some interesting points to take into consideration. I did not take Stephen’s recommendation lightly, and I certainly would have to choose wisely on the type of MOOC. I am looking for something on the creative side that would fit high school students. I have run across some art topics and a few I could imagine students entering into ( Digital storytelling, photography, project based MOOCS)
My goal for the experience is for the students to be aware MOOCS exist and to also encounter learning that is on their choice and their own terms. I would want them to experience something new in online education, and possibly, open their minds to how important it is that we connect with others and share and contribute to the community of learners we are a part of.
What I like most about the idea is that there is no obligation for completion of the course. Students will drop out, as do adults, but my hope is that something of value will be achieved in the encounter with a new way of learning.
As for taking a class with my students, I do not find that a huge concern (and yes, I do take yoga classes with my students). I have transformed my teaching practise over the last three years to be more of a facilitator instead of a “teacher of all knowledge required in the course”. If I do not know something I admit it and then as a class, investigate the answer. This teaching style has changed my relationships with my students for the better.
When and if I find the right fit for a class to take a MOOC, I will be sure to document it and blog about it!
Thank you for your candid thoughts on participating with my students in a MOOC. There is a lot to think about ahead of time and your post pointed out some valid concerns.
Creative Commons: Sharing, Creativity and Innovation 05/11/2013
2 Comments
My first introduction to the Creative Commons was through the use of Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/). As well as being one of the first online communities to use the Creative Commons licensing options, Flickr, with over 200 million licensed images, is also the Web’s single largest source of CC-licensed content (http://creativecommons.org). I only knew that I could search Flickr in an advanced search option and choose images in the Creative Commons content and freely use those images when following the terms provided by the photographer. I have since seen the CC stamp on many resources, including those made available by my instructors in my Online Learning and Technology graduate course. So, what was all the hype about and why was using the Creative Commons licence a deliberate choice made by photographers, artists, song writers, poets, scientists and educators?
To understand why the world-wide non-profit organization is used by the likes of MIT OpenCourseWare, Rice University Connexions, Yale University and by high profile sites such as GOOGLE and Wikipedia (http://creativecommons.org/who-uses-cc), you need to know what the Creative Commons license is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZvJGV6YF6Y), how it works and why it is significant in this climate of global sharing.
Basically, the Creative Commons license gives permission for others to use material you have created while still holding on to some rights. Most original work created automatically becomes copyrighted, meaning the creator of the work has exclusive legal rights to print, publish, perform, film and record their material (and the legal right to authorize a third party to do the same). Within these inherent rights, the Creative Commons license allows the creator to choose from six different content CC licenses (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/) to suit their needs. For instance, I may want to share my original course design for only educational purposes, not for commercial use, and my work needs to be acknowledged. I can design a CC license to let the world know my license preferences and because Creative Commons imbeds a HTML code that can be attached to your Web page, anyone can easily obtain the information. The code contains a logo that links back the Creative Commons Web page where a description of how the work may be used is displayed (http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7023.pdf ). The following link provides information on how to license and mark your content with Creative Commons (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/61/Creativecommons-licensing-and-marking-your-content_eng.pdf ).
According to Educaus Learning Initiative, (http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7023.pdf), “Creative Commons puts unprecedented power into the hands of content owners and users, creating an environment in which restrictions take a back seat to permissions and the creative talents of individuals benefit the common good.” My question is to educators and creators alike: is the Creative Commons licensing all you need? Are there other options you considered for licensing your work; if so, what were they? When it comes to OER’S (Open Educational Resources), what are the implications for using the Creative commons, as opposed to other licenses?
The Creative Commons site (http://creativecommons.org/interviews) offers a link for interviews with prominent Open Education proponents and users of CC licencing that provide good insight into Open Education and policy. Paul Stacey from BC Campus produced this chart plotting OER projects and their licenses (http://paulgstacey.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/openlicensingcontinuum.jpg). Stacey comments, “The Creative Commons has played a central role in making OER possible in the first place”. The current solution for licencing for BC Campus is BC Commons, which is modelled after the Creative Commons licensing. Whereas the Creative Commons is nation-wide, the BC Commons license is only for use and sharing of content between educational institutions within the BC public post-secondary system. Educators are able to ease into the arena of openness. Stacy points out that faculty members worry about losing the “integrity of the resources they create”, and even though not all worries are alleviated with the BC Commons license, at least they are diminished because “sharing is contained within the Province”. Stacy advocates for the BC Commons license because of the local collaboration that builds from its use. “When you create a license that supports local sharing, it creates a local commons,” says Paul. I was not aware that BC Commons existed until my research on the Creative Commons began. When looking toward our goal of sharing, creating and remixing knowledge, I must admit I see the Creative Commons licensing as a better choice for achieving global learning networks.
What are your thoughts on licensing within BC or nationwide? Are Creative Commons licensing becoming a common culture in our Internet community for sharing, creating and innovating? Will the Creative Commons license packaging be enough protection for our Open Educational resources to thrive within all areas of education?
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/opendemocracy/542303769/">openDemocracy</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>
This work by Jean Kloppenburg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Comments
Christina Hendricks link
05/12/2013 3:43am
This is a nice explanation of CC and what CC licenses can do! I especially liked the link to the chart made by Paul Stacey, as I didn't realize how many different licenses are in use for OERs (and there are probably even more than that!).
I, too, knew nothing about the BC Commons license, even though I've been teaching in BC since 2004 (at U of BC in Vancouver, in Philosophy). I have to say I don't quite see the point of a separate license for sharing just in BC, nor do I quite understand how it works. Does it just say that anyone in BC can use the work for certain purposes, thus creating a BC-only community? If so, I suppose that could allay some people's fears (though to be honest, I don't have fears of making my work open myself), but it also cuts down on the possibility of gaining the good benefits of sharing. Not only are you limiting the number of people who can use your work, you're also limiting the number of people you might be able to connect with and learn from. Though people don't have to contact you when they use your work with a CC license, they might--they might like it, and want to talk with you about it, and you could learn from them and potentially collaborate. For me, the greater potential for connections means I'd definitely prefer a CC license.
Thanks for pointing out to me the existence of the BC license, though. I'll have to look into that further to see what it's all about.
Reply
Jocelyn Finley
05/13/2013 6:30pm
Jean,
At the end of your extensive description of cc licensing you pose two interesting questions."Are Creative Commons licensing becoming a common culture in our Internet community for sharing, creating and innovating? Will the Creative Commons license packaging be enough protection for our Open Educational resources to thrive within all areas of education?" Before I comment on them, I would like to thank you as reading your post helped me to clarify and organize the ideas around open content licensing.
I am not exposed enough to really give a meaningful answer to both questions, but I will draw on my limited experience. Whether cc is becoming common culture on the internet depends on several factors such as awareness of the infrastructure, the intentions of those publishing. Although I understand that cc licensing does not preclude commercial use of the product, with profits accruing to the developer or the organization that owns the copyrights, I am still really fuzzy on why open licensing is not antithetical to the commercial model of development of content for profit.
The second evidence supplied of contributing to the learning of others is examples of comments made by me to OLTD members on their blog posts.
This is a comment on Jane J’s blog called Creative Common Licensing
And OER http://jjaceklearnsonline.weebly.com/oltd-505.html
Hi Jane,
I discovered Paul Tracey’s blog when I was researching our readings from week 2. Paul had a compelling video on Aaron Swartz and a good read on his take on an “ Open University”. I ran into Paul’s readings again on the Creative Commons site under “Who’s Using CC?” in the interview sections. Paul’s work with BC Campus was highlighted. BC Campus chose to use a BC Commons License for their needs. All of the sharing and collaborating happens just in BC. In their mind, it allows for an “easing into openness” and also builds a stronger local sharing community. What are your thoughts on that? I tend to think the more open the better and see private licenses for provinces and confining and restrictive.
As educators, we should all be aware of the property rights of others that are sharing on the Web. I have a peace of mind when I know I can adhere to the preference rights of a creator and post their photographs or work with their permission. Like many other teachers, I have been relaxed in my use of materials from other sources. With the knowledge of the Creative Commons and how it works, I can know make it a practise to site all shared works. I hope that with more and more educators becoming open and sharing their work, the practise of using the Creative Commons license will be automatic and an important part of the culture of Open Education.
Thank you for a great read!
Jean
Comment on Jane J. “Concerns Related to MOOCS”- http://jjaceklearnsonline.weebly.com/16/post/2013/04/april-28th-2013.html#comments
Jane,
I enjoyed your concerns and perspectives on MOOCS. Even though the concerns of funding, teacher overload, certification, email flooding, and low completions rates are ever present with MOOCS, the reality is MOOCS are here to stay. Maybe a better way to view MOOCS is to review why so many are being offered and by whom? Who is benefiting from the offerings? We talked about with Stephen Downes that Universities are using the offering of MOOCS to advertise their courses. Are professors offering MOOCS to also increase their standings in higher education? Another concern of MOOCS may be how they are rated? My idealistic side would hope that many are offering MOOCS for the educational experience they can share with large groups of people. The professor at UBC who was giving a genetics course was over the top excited to offer it because she wanted to be able to reach as many students as she could.
I have not yet taken a MOOC but I am eager to try one out and blog on the experience, I am searching for an appropriate MOOC to take with my high school students. I would be interested in knowing if they have a rating system of “best MOOCS”. Have you come across and in your internet searches?
Thank you for raising the common concerns of MOOCS. I am fascinated with the evolution of MOOCS and like you, look forward to staying connected and informed as to the future of MOOCS.
Jean
Comment to Breanne on SharemyLesson Blog
http://breanneqlearnsonline.weebly.com/505-learning-journal.html
Breanne,
Thank you for the great website, Sharemylesson. I signed up and went searching and in no time at all I found some amazing tutorials for photoshop I can use in my photography course. It was great to have a resource already created and ready to post on my course page. I also have an example to use for creating my own photoshop tutorial. I also found some useful ppts on forced perspective and composition.
Next, I decided to see if there were any resources for mixed-media, as my art class is in full swing with their inquiry work.
My question is, how do I site the use of these resources? I have copyright on my mind and want to make sure I use only sited resources on my webpage.
I am spending too much time with this website, but it has been worthwhile!
Thanks again for sharing it,
Jean
Reply to Michael, Blog week 5
http://michaelmlearnsonline.weebly.com/15/post/2013/05/week-5-blog.html
Michael,
Thank you for researching Lisa’s Online Teaching Blog. I was going to check it out and one thing led to another and I blame it on being completely consumed by Grandma hood! After reading your blog, I have a clear idea of the three types of MOOCs presented in Lisa’s blog.I must say I am personally drawn to taking a networked based MOOC, yet for a first experience for high school students( my goal to have a class take one with me) I would consider a task based MOOC.
Interesting that you see novices suited to instructivisit approaches and the connectivist approach better suited to learners developing their expertise. I would think the more informed you are on MOOCS, the less chance you would choose to a content based MOOC. The experience of interactions with others and the options for completing tasks using a variety of tools would draw many to a task based and network based MOOC. I wonder what portion of the MOOC community are enrolling in the content based MOOCS? What about the wrapped MOOCs that Stephen spoke of? I’d be interested in researching how prevalent wrapped MOOCs are becoming in Universities worldwide.
Thank you for a great post that got me thinking on the various topics.
Reply to Justin’s blog The Challenges of Sharing
http://jmarklearnsonline.weebly.com/6/post/2013/05/the-challenges-of-sharing.html#
comments
To Justin Blog on Challenges of Sharing http://jmarklearnsonline.weebly.com/
Justin your openness in your blog on the challenges of sharing is to be commended. I am positive there are many teachers out there who have the same feelings, myself included. I am also running my photography course online and paperless this year. There is a part of me who that is quick to second guess how I do things and that makes me hesitate when it comes to sharing all, especially on new ideas that are “untested”. What helps me in that situation is to be open for comments and suggestions from colleagues and students. I made my pages on my course blog pages for the opportunity for feedback.
Your online courses for History and French look engaging and well thought out. I am sure the students look forward to starting their projects on their own time. My students enjoy pacing themselves through the course and working on their ePortfolio pages as they go.
Here is my course website http://woodlandsphotographyonline.weebly.com/ You can view individual student pages under ePortfolio.
Thank you for sharing!