WELCOME TO:

      EDTE 5174:  Making the Best Use
      of Internet Resources for K-12 Instruction

Self-Directed Learning Format Opportunities:

Welcome to EDTE 5174; "Making the Best Use of Internet Resources for K-12 Instruction!" The goal of this course is to give you the best hands-on experiences possible, using the best up-to-date Internet resources, to give you the most accurate overview of the quality and range of available K-12 resources with emphasis on the best online tools for authoring original web-based curriculum and the best K-12 applications of the Internet's many collaborative capabilities.

In a self-directed class, what you get out of the experience will be in direct proportion to what you put into it. There is an implied contract between instructor and learner that you will put forth the energy and self-discipline to produce quality lesson submissions and to apply yourself toward your own learning for your own benefit. We all learn best by direct hands-on experience.

Depending on the level of your previous computer and Internet experience, the time required to complete the lessons may be more, or less, than the suggested times given for each section of the lessons. The flexibility of the self-directed format for this course allows you to take all the time you need to raise your skills to the level necessary for regular efficient use of the Internet in your classroom. There is no substitute for direct hands-on experience!  Patience and perseverance will guarantee your success and the solution for frustration is asking questions whenever necessary.

The self-directed "constructivist" format (building your own knowledge) allows us to keep costs down and to provide optimal convenience for the learner by allowing the learner to decide which lessons they will do, and when, within a one year timeframe from the date of the end of the quarter in which they register for the course.

Withdrawal Policy: Registrants have 30 days to withdraw with no penalty, less a $25 administrative fee. No refunds will be made after 30 days. Non-completion of this course will not impact your GPA.

COURSEWORK COMPLETION DEADLINES

Quarter Registered	Deadline
Autumn 1999	Nov. 15, 2000
Winter 2000	Feb. 15, 2001
Spring 2000	May 1, 2001
Summer 2000	August 1, 2001

For those who procrastinate, here are the final, final deadline dates:

Autumn Quarter Dates - September 1—December 15
Autumn Quarter DUE DATE November 15
Final Deadline for Grades due to Kelli: December 18

Winter Quarter Dates-December 16—March 15
Winter Quarter DUE DATE February 15
Final Deadline for Grades due to Kelli: March 26

Spring Quarter Dates-March 16—May 31
Spring Quarter DUE DATE May 1
Final Deadline for Grades due to Kelli: June 18

Summer Quarter Dates-June 1—August 31
Summer Quarter DUE DATE August 1
Final Deadline for Grades due to Kelli: September 14

The very first thing you will need to do is decide on your timeline for completing the lessons and send the completed timeline template below to your instructor so he'll know when to expect your lesson submissions.  If one draws the class out over a full year, it typically becomes harder to remember skills and details from previous lessons if months have passed in between lessons. We strongly encourage participants to complete the lessons within a three month timeframe! 

Click here for the Timeline Template!   Note that this template is NOT interactive. Use "Cut and Paste" to move the template into your wordprocessor, edit it as necessary and use "Cut and Paste" to move it to an email message to send to your instructor!

While the lessons are already presented in the recommended logistical order, you are welcome to complete them in any order you wish. You are welcome to change your timeline at any time convenient. A 50 hour minimum of work is required for this course and suggested times for all course activities are given in the lessons. There are eight five-hour lessons, totaling 40 hours, plus a ten hour minimum required for work on a special project.

Your Special Project:

Throughout the course you'll see how educators have creatively used web page authoring to create instructional materials and resources for their students. This "special project" is your opportunity to create something of interest and value to yourself and your students. Before you begin your special project you are asked to describe what you'd like to do and to get approval from your instructor. This allows an opportunity for the instructor to offer you suggestions and perhaps to refer you to similar work that has already been done such that you can build upon, or incorporate, the work of others. 

There is virtually no limit to what you can do as a project as long as it relates to the use of Internet in your classroom. Your project should clearly demonstrate the minimum time investment of ten hours. You will need to submit documentation of your project to your instructor.  This documentation might take a variety of forms depending on your project - a Webquest unit, a directory of web sites, a collection of original instructional web pages, and/or a one to two page summary of your project and what you learned, etc. It is important to choose a project you can get excited about; make it fun!

Here are just a few project ideas:

    1. Create an instructional Web Tour to guide others through a unique learning experience. 

    2. Create a quality hotlist/clearinghouse in an area of need and interest: special education,
         multiage curriculum, health, suicide prevention, etc.   Free space on the Lone Eagle web
         site is offered for quality listings. Your web pages will be free to all and will only be
         incorporated in printed publications with your written permission.

    3. Conduct a classroom web project, project-based learning unit, or curricular
        component of your own design.

    4. Acquire a new skill such as how to add sound and video files to a web page, etc..   

Here are a few sample projects created by class participants:

Larry Louck’s Tutorial on Building Dog Sleds from Nelson Lagoon!
http://www.aesd.schoolzone.net/aesd/nlg.school/sldhme.html#anchor864510

How to find a Teaching Job in Alaska!
http://lone-eagles.com/cory.htm

Special Education Hotlist!
http://lone-eagles.com/virginia.htm

Here's a new listing of dozens of web curriculum units created by past teachers through this course
http://lone-eagles.com/teachercreated.htm  
Don't be intimidated by the quality as you'll be doing work at this level soon yourself, guaranteed!

Grading:

Grading for this course will be A-E. Each of the eight lessons will be worth 100 points total.  8 lessons times 100 points equals 800 points, plus 200 points for the special project brings the total to 1000 points, of which 700 points are required to pass this course.. 10% of the available points for this course, averaging 10 points per lesson totalling 100 points, will be given for participation in the class listserv as recorded by the instructor as follows:
. 
           - Five points will be given for each resource help request listserv posting.

           - Five points will be given for each general resource sharing listserv posting.

           - Ten points will be given for each resource sharing listserv posting responding by name
              to a specific resource help request.

Points for listserv interaction need not be directly associated with each specific lesson. The maximum possible points for listserv interaction is 100, or 10% of your grade.. (While not absolutely required to pass this course, it is strongly recommended you make a genuine effort to expand your online collaborative confidence, and skills, by interacting with the other participants through the listserv and web conferencing system!) 800 points for the lessons and 200 points for your special project,  brings the grand total to 200 points, of which a minimum of 700 points will be required to pass this course. It is expected all required submissions will be sent for each lesson, from which a minimum of 70% of the total points available will be needed to pass the course.

Grading Summary:

8 lessons times 100 points each = 800 points

Special Project = 200 points

__________

1000 points TOTAL

(You must earn at least 700 points to pass the course.)

950-1000 =A                     767-799 =C+

900-933 =A-                       734-766 =C

867-899 =B+                      700-733 =C-

834-866 =B                        600-699 =D

800-833 =B-                          0-600 =E

 

SPU Academic Integrity Policy

The structure and format of most distance learning courses presume a high level of personal and academic integrity in completing and submitting coursework. Individuals enrolled in an SPU distance learning course are expected to adhere to the following standards of academic conduct.

Academic Work: Academic work submitted by the individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests) shall be the student’s own work or appropriately attributed in part or in whole to its correct source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group prepared) materials as if they are one’s own work is unacceptable.

Aiding Honesty in Others: The individual will encourage honesty in others by refraining from providing materials or information to another person with knowledge that these materials or information will be used improperly.

Violation of these academic standards may result in the assignment of a failing grade and subsequent loss of credit for the course.

One big advantage of self-directed instruction is that as an educator, my posting SDL activities on the web, you could potentially help hundreds, even thousands of students learn, worldwide, with maximum flexibility and choice regarding conducting their own learning. Unmotivated students are those who most need a classroom teacher to help them attain a "love of learning" so they will become self-directed lifelong learners, one day, themselves! Learning to be a self-directed learner, using the Internet, is an important survival skill for the constantly changing information age. We all have different learning styles, and self-directed learning (SDL) is not necessarily intuitive for everyone. The skills required to become a successful self-directed learner are to be able to follow the instructions carefully, step-by-step, exercising patience and perseverance, and asking questions of your instructor, and other class participants, whenever you feel frustrated or 'stuck!" The most common problems in a self-directed course are 1. procrastination, and 2. giving up in frustration without have asked for help.

Internet access, your own email account (available free at http://hotmail.com ), and use of a computer (Mac or PC) are required. The Netscape Communicator browser, which includes the Netscape Composer web authoring tool, is highly recommended. You should be able to get copies from local computer stores, computer labs, and/or can download the program from many sites such as http://www.netscape.com and http://www.tucows.com.

You should already have basic computer literacy skills such as the ability to create, edit, save, and move files, as well as the ability to create folders for storage of your files. It is strongly recommended you identify, and make use of, any local technical support that may be available to you!

Our Class Listserv

        We'll have two options for online communications for this course;

                1. Private email to/from anyone we wish; this will be used primarily for
                    asking questions that don't need to be shared with the other participants.

                2. Public messages via the listserv to/from class participants, and instructor, 
                only;  This will be used to informally ask questions which might be of value to others
                    in the class, to share your   lesson submissions, and to share ideas, humor,
                    and resources.

You will be automatically subscribed to the listserv once you register for the course. You can expect to receive an initial welcome message telling you you've successfully been subscribed to the class listserv. You'll be able to post messages to the listserv (post messages to EDTE5174@spu.edu)   for all class participants and the instructor to read.

Important: When you post a message to the listserv you'll know you've been successful when you receive a copy of your message which shows it was sent "TO" edte5174@spu.edu . If you also receive one or more error messages stating your message could not be delivered - ignore them. These are usually related to individual mailboxes which are full or email addresses which are no longer active. You're welcome to forward any error messages to your instructor for interpretation.

Be sure to save the instructions on how to unsubscribe to this listserv for when you finish the class and wish to unsubscribe!  Your handbook includes links to tutorials about using listservs. Look in the Handbook's Table of Contents for "Mailing Lists Handout" and "Ten Collaborative Internet Tools."

The listserv will be the main means of interaction for this class. If the volume of messages is high, you may only be able to scan the messages for relevant resources. Liberal use of the delete key help minimize frustration from too many messages. The listserv is your opportunity to interact and share resources and ideas with peers. Here are the few things you'll really need to remember about how the listserv functions:

        1. When you reply to a listserv message, your reply goes to the author of the message
             to which you're replying, only!

        2. Please don't send attachments (attached files) to the listserv as not everyone is set up
            to receive them and many students have low bandwidth  Internet access and
            attachments can take forever to download! It is much better to send web
            addresses than entire web pages and graphics!

Interactive reading and writing is a new communications medium which has never existed before. It’s importance for building reading, writing, and thinking skills is only beginning to be appreciated! Expectations of the potential of the ten Internet collaborative tools increases with hands-on experience. There is no upward limit to the creativity to which these new tools can be applied in the service of education.

When you finish this course, you'll need to know how to unsubscribe yourself from the class listserv:

Simply put, all you have to do is send an email to listserver@spu.edu and put in the subject field type
<unsubscribe edte5174> (do not type the brackets). Do not put anything in the
message field. You will receive a message within 5 minutes confirming
their action. Refer any problems to "Bartlett, Megan" <bartlm@spu.edu>

Your handbook is divided into four successive levels for the Internet Style of Learning. The handbook is online at http://lone-eagles.com/guide.htm allowing you to conveniently click through the various Web Tours and online activities. The handbook does NOT contain the 8 lessons for this class. Please note that while the online lessons may refer to specific activities in the handbook, all activities in the handbook are not necessarily required for the lessons.

A printed copy of the handbook will be mailed to you upon registration. Additional copies of the handbook are available for $15, plus shipping costs of $3. For additional printing options, such as customized title pages for district workshops, and/or reprinting rights, see; http://lone-eagles.com/services.htm

Your instructor, Frank Odasz, frank@lone-eagles.com, will receive and record all lesson submissions, will regularly post new resources to the class listserv, will respond to any and all questions, will maintain the handbook resources website, and continue to scout for new resources. The ability of the instructor to interact directly with each participant will depend on the number participants. As you can understand, interacting with 20 participants would be far easier than 200! We generally have about 25 educators actively involved with the class at a given time. That said...Frank welcomes messages of any type, from anyone, for any reason. Biographical information on the instruction is available at: http://lone-eagles.com/articles/frank.htm

Contact Information: Frank Odasz
                                    2200 Rebich Lane
                                    Dillon, MT 59725
                                    Email: frank@lone-eagles.com
                                    PH/Fax: 406-683-6270

LET'S GET STARTED:

Introductory Reading:

Read the article "Teaching in the New Millennium" at http://lone-eagles.com/articles/millennium.htm. You're invited to read/ review the additional related articles at http://lone-eagles.com/articles/articles.htm .