Quotes Rice (2012) page 2 Distance education has been around for many years and can be simply

defined as education in which the instructor and student are physically separate from each other Rice (2012) page 11 The growing number of students enrolled in online courses has also resulted in the creation and development of special labs or academies within brick-and-mortar schools, whose sole purpose is to support students taking online courses. Rice (2012) page 15 Evaluation and assessment are key components of online educational environments.

Thoughts This was an important thought for me, because this is what I am currently in and plan on expanding in. Distance education has changed with technology so it important to keep up with it.

Online classes are not just something that is done at home anymore. They are becoming more common and schools are adapting to them.

Immediate feedback is so important for any class, but more so in an online class.

Rice (2012) page 31 Student involvement is an important part of the process and can include negotiated learning outcomes, active research in the field, and partnerships with the outside community.

Students need to be aware of what is expected out of them, the best way to do that is include them in developing the outcomes.

Rice (2012) page 73 The movement to an online classroom means that long-standing teaching traditions must be adapted to fit an environment that is more flexible, not bound by strict time schedules, and collaborative in nature.

Most people take online courses because of the fact that they are already balancing work and family time in their schedules. That means there is not a lot of time for school, so they take online classes to fit their needs and schedules.

Rice (2012) page 76 Interactions should take place through a consciously developed and manageable feedback loop and include some form of direct contact (e.g., email, phone, chat) among you, your students, and possibly their adult learning coach.

Interaction is the key for any success in a distance learning class. With all the forms of technology and ways to communicate this has helped the online schools grow. I think we will now continue to see this growth move down to the high school level and maybe middle school grades.

Rice (2012) page 101 96 percent of students with online access reported using some form of social networking technology

This is something that is not shocking. Students love Facebook and love playing the games and talking about teachers, friends, and families on there. I wouldnt doubt if one day we see a Facebook classroom app.

Rice (2012) page 239 The use of technology allows the conceptual meaning and integration of ideas.

This thought seemed incorrect at first, but then made more sense as I finished reading. Technology is such a broad term and we never know what technology is. Some students have iPads and laptops and some of my students have desktops with Windows 2000. Because all students have different technology it is important to keep that in mind.

Rice (2012) page 50 Because asynchronous communication is primarily text based, it requires exceptional writing skills on the part of the teacher.

A teacher needs to explain what they want, if they dont they are liable to get a wide variety of responses. People tend to receive information differently, so this means teachers have to be very specific when writing expectations as well as instructions.

Rice (2012) page 51 The use of discussions can promote engagement with the content and lead students to higher levels of thinking.

This is one of the main goals of every teacher. Help students use higher order thinking. One way to do that is discussions. In an online class this is why discussion boards are so common.

Rice (2012) page 56 All you need do is Google your preference, and you will likely find the exact resource you are looking for.

Not sure if I like this sentence in the book. Makes students lazy just to Google everything and not actually do much research. I honestly believe Google was created by a group of lazy people that just wanted an easy way to find information. Social networks are always going to be subject to criticism. Teachers who have them are often a topic of discussion on whether or not they are being appropriate role models. As far as educational networks, they can still be mature in content because it is very hard to control what everyone else is posting. Teachers have many websites that they can join however some of them are quite expensive and I they do not pay teachers enough to even pay back student loans.

Rice (2012) page 61 Although many sites contain mature content, some are used exclusively for educational purposes..Social networking sites are not just about socializing. Many exist for individuals who share common interestsincluding teachers.

Rice (2012) page 168 Online, your focus may be lees on content and more on devising strategies to facilitate student engagement.

I find it hard to believe that you have to focus less on content, why cant you have both? It just seems that if a student is taking the class they are there for the content and not strategies.

Rice (2012) page 169 You do not have any control over distractions.

This is something else I find hard to believe. Being the teacher you should have control, I understand you cannot control kids running around while mom is trying to do her school work, but it seems that, that is the reason people take online courses is because they have other priorities that dont allow them to take face to face classes.

Rice (2012) page 172 Throw away the notion that face to face instruction can be moved online

I agree when moving to an online class everything needs to switch focus from teacher centered to student centered learning.

Rice (2012) page 174 As you design your lessons, keep in mind that what is obvious and logical for you may not be so for all of your learners.

This is so important I am in this with a class right now, not this class but my other one. We have assignments and they just dont make sense to me and I complete them the way I read them and then I always seem to get an email asking me to add something or redo a part of it. Makes it stressful and difficult to have this happen week in and week out. Just be clear for all parties to understand what you want.

Rice (2012) page 195 There are both simple and complex ways to adapt assessments in online teaching and learning

Thank goodness!

Rice (2012) page 211 Online delivery of instruction is an equalizer for students with hearing impairments.

This is nice to know next year I will have 2 students with hearing disabilities.

Rice (2012) page 215 When all team members have agreed on the draft of the IEP, it is sent to them to sign.

For some reason I always get these to sign but never take place in the meetings. I always refuse to sign them and usually other teachers get upset with me but I cannot sign something that says I was present when I was not.

Rice (2012) page 229 Meeting the needs of all learners can be a challenge in any environment.

Agreed, but as a teacher we have to adapt like our students need to adapt.

(Conrad & Donaldson, 2012) page 5 the most important role of the instructor in online classes is to ensure a high degree of interactivity and participation.

If students are not actively engaged in something the chances of them being able to recall the information is highly unlikely. It does not necessarily need to be fun just engaging.

(Conrad & Donaldson, 2012) page12 How do you know when your online class is fun and engaging when you lack visual cues?

This is the big question, how do you know? Good thing they began to answer this in the chapter. I think though a big thing is if you enjoy doing the lesson then your students should enjoy learning the lesson.

(Conrad & Donaldson, 2012) page 20 Most of our students today are older, are working and need more flexible schedules.

This is key, how do you know what people are capable of. Sometimes you have students who work 50-60 hours and have kids. How can you meet this students needs without overwhelming them?

(Conrad & Donaldson, 2012) page 22 In our fast paced world many of us feel the pressure to have instant answers in our communications.

Yes, yes we do. And if we dont get that answer immediately we feel we are being ignored and get frustrated.

(Conrad & Donaldson, 2012) page 29 Rubrics

I thought these rubrics were very basic rubrics. My personal opinion rubrics have to have a lot more detail in order to show more validity. Why have the tools if you do not allow students to use them? It wastes the teachers time and the students time.

(Conrad & Donaldson, 2012) page 38 The best way for students to learn to use the online course tools is to actually use them.

(Conrad & Donaldson, 2012) page 67 Peer partnership and team activities

I have mixed feelings about online grouping. It is good and it is challenging. I always feel that I do more than what I need to or dont get help. I like to have stuff done early and not worry about it so I tend to do most of the work, but that does not benefit my partner. So mixed feelings here. Spot on, collaboration is so important because everyone learns at different levels and time frames. Collaboration allows for all students to share their thoughts and ideas.

(Palloff & Pratt, 2005) page 6 Collaboration as often been defined as the heart and soul of an online course or, for that matter, any course.

(Palloff & Pratt, 2005) page 7 Social Presence

Feeling of community and connection among learners, which is very important.

(Palloff & Pratt, 2005) page 11 Virtual Team (Palloff & Pratt, 2005) chapter 2 Stages

I think a good place for virtual teams could be in Second Life. Did not know there were so many stages for collaboration. But it is very important to know the steps. After reading I feel that if you miss a step in the building process than that can affect the outcome of your whole class.

(Palloff & Pratt, 2005) page 42 Assessments

I think it is the key concept to have a selfassessment and a group assessment. This helps the students design their work and allows them to know if they have completed everything they needed to complete.

Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. A. (2012). Engaging the online learner, activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online, learning together in community. Jossey-Bass Inc Pub. Rice, K. (2012). Making the move to k-12 online teaching: Research-based strategies and practices. Boston: Pearson.