• San Francisco-based writer, Paul Signorelli‘s Building Creative Bridges blog post, Synchronous Sessions, Asynchronously: Blending Meetings, Learning, and Digital Literacy
• Michigan State University College of Education’s Learning 3.0: Face-to-face, Online, Hybrid
• The Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation’s interactive Blending Learning Model Definitions

Resources for Exploration:

• eLearners article: Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Classes

To complete this Quest:

Compose a post in your blog about the differences in the asynchronous and synchronous methods of delivery.

In virtual learning, teachers utilize two specific types of learning instruction with their students throughout the school year: asynchronous and synchronous learning.

Asynchronous Methods of Delivery:

I like to teach my high school students the etymology of words, because it helps them in learning the prefixes, suffixes, and root word origins, and, once learned, they use this knowledge to deconstruct any unfamiliar word--which eventually helps them on the SAT and ACT. The etymology of the word "asynchronous" is derived from the Greek "asyn," meaning "not with," and "khronos," meaning "time." In asynchronous learning, students use internet tools such as ePortfolios, email, mailing lists, online discussion boards, Wikis, blogs, SMS texting, and social media outlets, which do not require face-to-face learning in real time. For these assignments, students have a specific time frame in which to complete an assignment; it is not assigned and due in one specific day.

Synchronous Methods of Delivery:

Conversely, the etymology of the word "synchronous" is from the Greek
"syn," or "together," and "khronos," meaning "time." When the two are put together, the word means "recurring at the same successive instants of time" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=synchronous). In synchronous learning, students and teachers interact in real-time. Examples of such learning are video conferencing in the form of telephone / Skype conferencing, instant messaging, video conferencing via such mediums as Adobe Connect and GoToMeeting, etc., and virtual classrooms.

Paul Signorelli, in his March 12, 2015 article "KIPA 2015: Conferences, Collaboration, Innovation, and Extending Learning Spaces," discusses the ways in which small conferences consisting of 30 or less participants in that "the lines between presenters / learning facilitators and learners quickly blurs to the advantage of all involved" ( https://buildingcreativebridges.wordpress.com). Although 50 or so people were registered for the KIPA conference (Knowledge & Information Professional Association), inclement weather lessened total attendance to around 30. In an unexpected turn, however, this ended up being a boon for those in attendance. Since there were less presentations, audience members found in this a "wonderful opportunity to quickly observe a variety of presentation styles juxtaposed against each-other--a great learning opportunity for any trainer-teacher-learner. Due to their small attendance and co-mingling of presenter-learner-facilitator roles, participants were able to make faster connections between the different presenters--synchronous learning. His particular, unexpected focus was the depth of knowledge gained that day regarding on-site and online learning spaces, and the "way [they] are evolving and expanding every time we use them." Additionally, through the use of social media--Twitter--asynchronous learning--10 more participants from around the U.S. were able to join in the discussion, and at the time of his writing this reflective piece, had continued for almost an additional week after the conference. Joe Colannino, President of KIPA, discussed the benefits of "offsite resources" such as internet tools, to both onsite and online learning spaces. We are truly fortunate to live in an age when the need to travel does not impede the desire to learn--at any age. Signorelli also sang the praises of visual-heavy versus text-driven PowerPoint slide shows, which I firmly believe in as well. When students and peers are able to associate an engaging visual with the text, it promotes better retention of facts, and even facilitates faster synthesis-analysis.

In his article "Synchronous Sessions, Asynchronously: Blending Meetings, Learning and Digital Literacy," Signorelli introduces the rhizome as a learning metaphor for the now-blurred lines existing between synchronous and asynchronous learning. In the botanical and dendrological sciences, rhizomes, from the Ancient Greek meaning "mass of roots," are the "modified subterranean stems of plants that are usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizome). In the rhizome-learning mode metaphor, Signorelli notes that these two learning experiences are "becoming increasingly indistinguishable" "in an onsite-online world where interactions travel rhizomatically." The challenge he poses to educators is that we perhaps think of digital learning as less of a synchronous event, and more of an asynchronous "process." As a writing teacher, the metaphor is a viable one. The final written product submitted by students is not something written in one day--or, when it is, the outcome is not a fortuitous one for students. The writing process is one that takes time--a lot of time-- in order to achieve a final product, one in which students may take pride. It is a great service to students and educators that webinars may be posted online and viewed after the live broadcast if one is unable to "attend." As a mother of two, I have subscribed to a ed psych site for five years, and when I am unable to attend their live webinar (synchronous), I am able to view it at a later, asynchronously, as if I were a "live participant." The added bonus of having links to resources discussed by the online educator / presenter to make the post-live viewing of the webinar makes the session that much more contextual and meaningful. Additionally, the benefit of viewing the webinar from the comfort of your own home, or on a personal mobile device, allows for an increased frequency of meetings. Signorelli notes that what were once bi-annual meetings are now monthly, virtual ones. In a recent meeting, he notes that he attended the 12:00 p.m. group, and then joined the 1:00 session as well. He shared points that were discussed in the earlier, asynchronous meeting with those they made currently, which further enhanced their synchronous event. In a third facet to those meetings, they posted minutes from both meetings, where the debate could further ensue. The result? "two synchronous meetings, held asynchronously, will become a synchronous experience for any of us who take the few minutes required to read the set of minutes." The debate would continue further still, and then be rehashed at their next monthly webinar--synchronously and asynchronously.

In her article "Learning 3.0: Face-to-Face, Online, Hybrid," Nicole Geary, Communications Manager at the College of Education at Michigan State University, discusses how MSU was a forerunner in online education for more than a decade, and that now almost 900 students are obtaining their degrees solely online. Included in that statistic, almost two-thirds of their masters candidates are pursuing those online degrees. In another interesting statistic, online educators comprise more than one-third of MSU's full-time faculty. The issue posed by managers of the their College of Education is knowing the limitations of technology used by online educators, and deciding when they become obsolete toward meeting course goals. She also questions when to use synchronous versus asynchronous education, or a hybrid of both. In higher education, the target audience for hybrid doctoral courses are those who are mid-career. It is too difficult for many to leave a full-time job for on-site, daytime campus courses. . Face-to-face courses are stilled deemed a necessity for their BA students, or for those changing careers.

This quest asked us to examine roles within different learning environments, and how those roles may change between such outlets as tutoring companies, virtual schools, etc. This information is vital in understanding the different facets of online education: which individuals are responsible for managing the data of grades, coursework, course and teacher assignments, and the setup of accounts and tool use for students and teachers, among many additional roles.

SIS:

Student Information Systems, or SISs, are software applications used by online schools, tutoring companies, etc., to input and manage student data such as grades, records, attendance, and payment. When I began teaching high school in 2000, our school used the SASI program to input grades; after a few years we changed to Gradebook, and after a few more years we changed to Infinite Campus, which has been used the longest. They each had different features for teachers, and were effective and easy to use once trained. Hearing teachers discuss the "old days" of using physical grade books, and having to determine grades manually, it was easy to consider such programs with nothing but the utmost gratitude. It was truly a relief to know the students averages between formative versus summative grades: if formative grades were low, but summative averages were high, the study was most likely not completing his/her homework. It also simplified the collection and analysis of data--how each student / class performed on each unit tests, which concepts were more challenging than others, and which were much easier. This enabled teachers to decide the length of time it was necessary to spend on each unit, so students could receive optimal assistance in the more challenging subjects.

LMS:

Virtual Classroom Tools for Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning:

The combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning in today's digital landscape is an invaluable one to DLCs. Our school district's inclusion of the digital whiteboard in the early 2000s was one that many educators initially viewed with much trepidation, but within a few years, it became intrinsically linked with our lesson plans and units. As a high school English teacher, especially when teaching writing, figurative language and literary devices, and parts of speech, the Promethean ActivBoard became an invaluable part of our daily lives. We also used it for daily warm-ups, and used the "eggs" for students to take quizzes and tests. The evolution of online learning is so interesting in this respect, because the "eggs" are now the students' individual keyboards. This technology easily translates into online learning as well, and will become an invaluable part of my lesson plans with students, both synchronously and asynchronously, as discussed in Navigate 1.1.1. If a student misses a synchronous, live web-chat on the whiteboard, or "office hours," they may catch-up when it fits their schedule and asynchronously view the missed help sessions and lessons. Again, as Paul Signorelli noted in 1.1.1 after viewing Howard Rheingold's webinar asynchronously, and then a second, synchronously, and synthesizing and analyzing the two sessions, he was able to build-upon what was originally discussed, and then add this discussion to the live session, deeply enriching the webinar. Clearly, the lines between both modes of learning become increasingly blurred.

Additional virtual classroom tools, such as the webcam, document camera, IM chatting, polling, voIP Audio (Vonage, etc.--enables digital call on one end and traditional telephone network on the other), and group discussion boards are invaluable synchronous tools in DLCs. VoIP is one of those technologies which is helping to bridge the gap between rural areas, social classes, and even third-world countries.

As noted in McIntosh's 243-page document (Navigate 1.3.1) regarding purchasing software from online learning vendors, there is a plethora of companies from which to choose, and it is dependent upon administrators to examine the needs of their respective districts in regard to vendor (commercial) versus open source software (requires DLC to have an in-house IT or technical consultant), budget, district size / total student population (see 1.1.1), synchronous tools, and personnel needs.

Vendor Software:

DLCs purchasing this type of software have specific goals in mind. There are pros and cons associated with each type of software. The pros in using vendor software are that the software is developed by professionals; the vendor is completely responsible for maintenance, and for ensuring the software is fully-functional; and technical support is available from the vendor 24/7 (which usually carries with it additional fees). Negative features to this type of software include a limited ability to make changes to the software, and a continual licensing fee.

Open Source Software:

With this type of DLC software, "its source code [is] made available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose" (http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Open-source_software). Its pros include the tailoring of this software's systems and content to specific DLCs; vendors are sometimes available for support for an additional fee; may be purchased for free, or for a small fee; little risk exists in testing this software. The drawbacks of this type of software include: an additional fee is sometimes required for vendor technical support; vendor support may not exist; an in-house IT or technical consultant is required to make changes to systems and content; and there is an ongoing HR cost required for maintenance and updating.

Asynchronous versus Synchronous Learning Resources:

The listed resources carry with them several similarities: while Adobe Connect is the only one to use Flash, Cisco WebEx, Blackboard Collaborate, and GoToMeeting all use Java. Of all listed, the only one providing Open Source Software is BigBlueButton. Adobe Connect, Blackboard Collaborate, and GoToMeeting all offer a free 30-day trial, but Cisco WebEx is free for up to three people per meeting, and Google+Hangouts and BigBlueButton are both free. Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx, and GoToMeeting all have mobile apps, and Blackboard Collaborate has a mobile collaboration (iOS) capability.

Adobe Connect:

This tool provides small-group to large-scale webinars to users.

Cisco WebEx:

Cisco's more dynamic software offers "versatile" teaching tools, sophisticated enrollment, and grading systems with their video conferencing capabilities. Cisco also offers employee training, online courses, and a roll-out of products or programs within days.

Blackboard Collaborate:

Offering an even more comprehensive software tool for DLCs, Blackboard provides Android users with mobile web conferencing, plus built-in audio conferencing, and newly-enhanced LMS integration, as discussed in previous Navigation quests. Users are also provided with IMing capabilities, and a flat-fee licensing model tailed to district or corporate needs (open source software). It is also easily-upgraded.

GoToMeeting:

This software, used for online meetings, provides users with HD video conferencing, screen-sharing on iPad or computer, audio (VoIP or phone, plus toll-free capabilities), and meeting recording, which is key to asynchronous learning.

Google+ Hangouts:

Features such as photos, emojis, and free group video calls enhance this group discussion software. Group "Hangout" calls may even be transformed into a 10-friend maximum live video call. Group contacts and voice calls may also be initiated from your computer. This software is compatible with computers, and Android and Apple mobile devices, so Hangouts are all-inclusive. Friends missing conversations receive alerts, so they may join in the discussion when they return to their device. Previous Hangouts are readily available, so previous conversations may be rejoined.

BigBlueButton:

It's free, it's open source, and contains impressive features for online teachers. This software is tailored for college and university DLCs, and includes such features as class rosters, the media which students are currently using in the online discussion, an annotation-friendly, built-in whiteboard tool, presentation layout selection, easily uploads PDFs or Microsoft documents for student/teacher view, class or private chat, record and playback feature, integrated VoIP, desktop sharing, and webcam capability.

In Kate Freeman's January 2013 article regarding virtual classrooms, and their ability to reproduce the traditional college experience, even then, online education was on the rise, for its cost, convenience, efficiency, and consistency for educators. Even in this two-year old article, Freeman notes that while many educators site online learning as merely supplemental to pre-existing, in-class college courses, the high cost of education may soon find college students replacing the in-class course for DLCs. But does the overuse of computers and devices cause an impediment in social and collaborative skills? The fear is that DLCs will eventually replace in-class education, and students will lose-out on the "college experience" (http://mashable.com/2013/01/25/virtual -classroom-experience-online-education/). While the loss of collaborative, networking and social skills is a possibility, there are a few factors that may cause some to reconsider the DLC experience. Students from middle and working-class communities who may otherwise be unable to afford college may now have the opportunity to complete their degree without amassing a large amount of debt. Many students who have to work full-time, or have children, also face the possibility of having to drop classes, unable to complete the coursework. DLCs allow for this population to complete their coursework on their own time without being confined to the schedule dictated by the university. Perhaps another factor that should be taken into consideration is the fact that oftentimes in a university setting there is too much socialization taking place, and coursework goes to the wayside. An IB / Beta-Club student who always received straight As at our school received a scholarship, in addition to the HOPE, and was accepted into the Honors College at UGA. After her freshman year, she was kicked out of Honors College, and almost out of the university. She spent too much time at the sorority, and not enough time in her studies. The opportunity wasted was disheartening, and I thought of all the working-class students I knew who would have given anything to attend UGA. Two years ago, many educators still viewed DLCs as supplemental to their coursework; Freeman also notes that MOOC classes had a high drop-out rate. But today, with the ever-developing improvements in technology, the mood of educators and students alike is shifting from that of a supplemental environment to a full-time one.

Jane Hart's Tools Directory Index lists 2,000 tools available to educators and students that will enhance online education. In addition to those tools listed in Navigate 2.1.1, 3-D role-playing, training session tools such as AssembLive appeal to a younger audience familiar with gaming sites and software. Users select customizable avatars, conduct realtime chats and polls, use a spatialize voice tool, and have a multiplayer toolbar to keep track of participants. Even for those participants who are not traditional gamers, this tool is a great way for educators to make learning, fun. I bookmarked this one.

Allen Parker's 2012 article"3 Market Observations of Virtual Classrooms Today" in Getting Smart notes that online learning is making headway due to its integration of the latest technology, making it more accessible, appealing, and affordable. DLCs such as LearnZillion and Khan Academy, free to online users, both utilize short videos to teach a specific point. I, myself, have subscribe to Khan Academy, and use it with my children. Mobile apps such as YouTube and WhatsApp allow for easy accessibility to online learning. Companies such as Microsoft are developing new technology to make virtual classrooms more successful, such as their Surface software. Roadblocks to DLCs still exist, however: trying to make the DLC a profitable one, and the lack of high-speed internet to lower-income families.

The hope is that someday online education will be available to everyone, regardless of social class, region, country, or disability. New technologies bring with them new possibilities for the virtual classroom: increased student engagement due to appealing software and technology, higher coursework completion and graduate rates, and ease of operation. I look forward to utilizing the myriad online tools available to students and educators, alike.

I used one of my old summative project assignments for the end of our poetry unit. Students are allowed to chose "The Raven" or "The Black Cat," and have a two-part task: 1) Complete an original artwork, either digital, drawn / painted, or written; 2) Include a one-page, single-spaced, five-paragraph persuasive essay regarding their project. This is challenging, because as well providing an in-depth analysis of Poe's poem, they must provide an in-depth analysis of their original artwork, and describe how it relates to Poe's poem. The two great outcomes of their project are that students may chose a project that best suits their talents, and they must also demonstrate persuasive writing and analytical skills. This project asks a lot of them, but the end-product clearly demonstrates whether or not they "get it." This slideshow also contains the project rubric, which describes in detail the depth they must achieve in their projects in order to receive an "A." I also provide students with links to sites we interactive and other sites which aid in the analysis of Poe's poems. If students were not previously Poe fans, they usually are by the time we get to this project. I like to finish this unit during the fall, a few weeks before Halloween, in anticipation of the season. This time of year helps students to get into the mood of Poe's poems.

The great thing about producing a slideshow on Keynote is that it allows educators to play this slideshow with Blackboard or BigBlueButton for synchronous / asynchronous learning during or after Office Hours.

Following is my keynote slideshow:

This blog turned out to be a great sort of spiraling technique for me, in that it is helping to reinforce what we learned about commercial versus open source software in the previous Navigate quests. This is new territory for me, but I'm beginning to have a more firm handle on the differences between the two.

Commercial Software:

This software is ideal for larger private and public companies / corporations. For a larger, state-run educational company such as GaVS, it makes sense to purchase software from a vendor which provides, maintains, and upgrades the code, learning software, ranger of learning tools, and user-friendly navigation of the site for administrators, teachers, and students. Additionally, buyers know exactly what they are purchasing, have more protection against hackers, and know that help is usually available 24/7--a built-in IT department. It is in the best interests of the commercial software vendors to do whatever it takes to please the buyer, because, as we learned in previous quests, these companies go in-and-out of business. The list of businesses since this industry began is staggering--more than 200 pages of current and former companies. 

Open-Source Software:

This software is free to individual buyers for the most part, some for a 14-30-day trial, but in order to have special tools, an upgrade for an annual fee is necessary, usually $15 - $30 annually. In this case, vendors provide buyers with the code, so that buyers, especially larger companies and corporations, may customize this software to best suit the needs of the purchaser's clients. With this type of software, buyers must either hire a consultant, or a permanent IT, depending upon the size of the company, in order to host, maintain, customize, and upgrade the software. So, in this case, what larger companies save in not purchasing commercial software, they might pay for the IT and / or consultant who will maintain and customize their software. Another downside to this type of software is that it is more susceptible to hackers.

Both seem to be a good fit for an educational corporation such as GaVS, depending upon the specific needs of administrators, educators, and students, and the size of the DLC. It will also be dependent upon each discipline's scope of projects, lessons, and formative and summative assignments of each. Both types of software also seem to be an invaluable part of synchronous and asynchronous learning in the virtual learning community.

LMS Online Tools:

LMS online tools directly affect online instruction, and for those reasons, it is important that tools are chosen that will best suit the needs of the DLCs themselves, administrators, educators, and students.

Online features of an LMS that each play an integral part in an educator's management of their virtual classroom include:

Tools:

Org.-level tools are used by all in a LMSbased on their role, and provide information to users. School / organization-level announcementsare sent to all users, again, based on their roles within an LMS, and provide users with important information such as deadlines. Blogsare informal papers written by students, usually as reflection pieces. Journalsare used by students to write narratives about a specific topic. Digital glossariesprovide students with important terms / acronyms and their definitions that are used throughout the semester. Emails are a vital tool of educator / student communication throughout the course, especially since school is virtual, not face-to-face.

Course Administration:

Course Home widgets are comprised of parts that organize information in different sections. The LMS syllabus is an integral part of a course, whether virtual or face-to-face. Students may continually refer back to it for important dates, deadlines, digital texts used, grading guidelines, and course policies. Disclaimers such as "Subject to change based on students' needs" allow educators room for course modification, and inform students ahead of time (http://technology.gsu.edu/help-center/syllabus/).

Teacher Information:

Class lists are readily available to students, teachers, and additional staff to keep track of student information relevant to the course. Students should regularly, if not daily, check their course Calendars for important deadlines, special events--such as synchronous learning sessions--and school holidays. The Bulletin Board / Class News section allows for students to check for updates regarding the courses in which they are enrolled.

Course Content:

Import / Export tools such as Desire2Learn and CANVaS (Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths / CANS tools) allow administrators to move course content into and out of different courses, and to collect assessment information and produce reports within the LMS. The Course Authoring tool is used by educators to create a project or assignment, and is used by LMS built-in or external course offering tools. TOOL participants will use this in the Create badge to develop a project. Educators have the ability to import or export Course Packages such as SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Models) from LMSs.

Communication:

Email is an invaluable LMS communication tool used by educators and students throughout the school year. Communication is key, and without face-to-face instruction, students must be able to contact online educators with any questions they might have regarding upcoming assignments and assessments. In the 1990s and early 2000s, long before the rise of texting, students began the trend of "IM-ing" each other for social and educational reasons. This tool is still an important part of the LMS. A form of it is still commonly used in social media outlets such as FB, when people are viewing this site online at the same time. Class Discussion Boards are a safe environment in which the teacher proposes an Essential Question, and students respond back-and-forth, building upon each-others responses. We used this in the face-to-face classroom when working on a project in the computer lab, as a supplement to online-inspired projects.

Course Assessments:

Tests and Quizzes are provided by LMS publishers, but may also be added by educators. Although online quiz materials are often provided by LMS publishers in quiz banks, it is up to the educator to edit this material, and ensure that the answer items are valid, and that there is one clear answer above all others. For years, educators have received Assessment Bank CDs from educational textbook publishers which allowed us to pick-and-choose which questions to include in our assessments. The problem was that oftentimes there was more than one correct answer, or the question was too vague. Some of the questions were ridiculously easy. The answer was that we ended up using some of the questions and answers, and discarding others. It was a helpful tool, but one that we, as educators, still needed to modify to tailor it to our specific classes. It is a supplement, not an answer. Even professors at the university level see both sides of LMS assessments. Quizzes are useful to introduce unit material as a Pre-Test. The concern is that students might cheat, so it is a good idea to keep quizzes as a formative grade, and use it as a study guide tool for upcoming summatives (technology.gsu.edu). Rubrics: I love a good rubric. When a rubric is done well, project and essay guidelines are clearly stated, and there is no room for error. After teaching AP Language, I modified their rubrics to suit the needs of my projects. By altering the language between a grade of 1-5, 5 being the highest, students clearly understood, and did not have room to question, why they received their grades. Most students want to do well, and appreciate the feedback. Rubrics with clearly defined language allow for such feedback, and students are more likely--and willing--to improve upon their next projects. Dropboxes: We began to use the ANGEL digital dropbox in our LMS face-to-face classrooms in the mid-2000s. We feared it at first, and then embraced it wholeheartedly. It is an invaluable tool in which students may upload essays and digital projects. Additionally, it allowed we as English teachers to immediately check essays for plagiarism by uploading student essays to turnitin.com. Unfortunately, there have been some students throughout the years who have copied-and-pasted directly from the internet, or from each others' papers. But learning not to plagiarize is an invaluable lesson for students, and tools such as these help to reinforce this lesson. They also make it much easier for teachers to navigate the materials submitted by students, and make it fair for those students who worked hard to write their best paper, or to complete their best digital project.

Gradebook:

The Desire2Learn LMS Gradebook tool is invaluable tool for educators to organize and weigh the worth of each assignment and assessment, and plus it makes grading more efficient, and frees-up time for educators to work on lesson plans, etc. There is a quick turn-over in Gradebook for online assessments, and students receive immediate feedback. End-of-semester grades are more readily understood by students and educators--it omits the guesswork, and students may keep up with their grades throughout the semester. Students may also use it as a tool to plan ahead as to how much they should work on a project and test in order to receive the desired grade. It is useful for blended / hybrid, face-to-face, and online courses. It is vital that course and grade expectations are clear from day one. My county has utilized a LMS garbed program since at least 2000, when I began teaching full-time, and as someone who was forced to report grades by hand during student teaching, I will never go back. Even teachers who are self-admittedly not computer-savvy find a LMS gradebook to be an invaluable tool.

Reporting / Analytics:

When I clicked on this section, it stated "Page Not Found," but I believe this virtual tool provides educators with a breakdown of grades received by specific assessment or assignment. This is an invaluable tool, because it assists educators in judging the fairness or an assessment or project, and the value of assigning it in the future. When most students did not have the right answer for a specific test question, I checked for its validity. In some cases, there are always those challenging questions that only a few students in the class will mark correctly on tests; but for average questions that do not seem to challenging, it is sometimes a question of a poorly-phrased or vague question or answer choice, whether its origin was from a LMS or the educator.

LOR:

A Learning Object Repository is a kind of digital library. It enables educators to share, manage, and use educational resources" (edutechwiki.unige.ch). It is also defined as a "website that stores instructional digital resources or learning objects" (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=ACqacrLBMXA). They also help educators to reduce the duplication of work, and when they may find resources on sites such as youtube.com, in which users must register with a username and password, work has been vetted, and educators feel safer, and are more likely, to consider using others' work. But while youtube.com does not allow users to download videos, but simply copy and paste links, LORs are downloaded into users' computers for use by the educator. Another LOR trusted by educators is MERLOT, or Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, which is a product of California State University. It contains a plethora of learning objects from across the disciplines. When I searched the MERLOT website, I was interested in the section entitled "Create Materials with Content Builder," which would be an asset in creating lesson plans.

As previously stated, I am a huge fan of this tool. Even in my face-to-face classrooms, I have used this tool for most of my educational career. Some of the best student projects submitted were via LORs.

ePortfolio:

Brian Childs' article in Certification Map outlines the important steps educators must take while searching for a job online, whether it be a face-to-face or virtual classroom. The TOOL badge quests and capstone projects are also a virtual ePortfolio, which, in addition to interview, are invaluable tools for administrators in hiring educators. In our TOOL quests, each quest is sequentially designed to ensure that educators have a deeper understanding of the function and process of a virtual classroom. Teachers must demonstrate their technological acumen, which is especially important in ePortfolios, which are most often the first place administrators will see an educator's skill set during the hiring process. It is best for educators to organize their assets according to state or local curriculum standards, which makes it clear to administrators that educators have a full understanding of core curriculum. Educators should collect their discipline-specific artifacts, from both educator and student, and organize it by standard. Teacher ePortfolio software and templates may be purchased to help organize and feature their work. This TOOL MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) / ePortfolio not only teaches us the digital tools we as educators will need to become resourceful online educators, but is also helping us to provide an ePortfolio of our own.

For my trial LMS, I chose Schoology, which seemed to be the most visually appealing and user-friendly of those that I viewed. After I signed up, I viewed the site tour of their online tools, read the company blog for creation tips, and also viewed the Help Guide for further assistance.

I created my new course shell, and, using the information provided in this quest, using the menu bar at the top, clicked on "Courses," "Create," and then entitled the course "Introduction to Digital Citizenship" Section 1. Next, I downloaded the .zip file for Digital Citizenship from TOOL. The site is user-friendly, and next instructed me to click "Add materials." Next, I clicked "Add Package / Web Content," clicked "Attach File," which opened my computer's files, then clicked "Downloads," then clicked "Submit." I repeated this step for every file and sub-file until I was finished. The steps must be completed in this order for the LMS package to be fully loaded into Schoology's LMS course shell. There were three files with the same name, and I did not choose the correct ones at first. On my third try, I realized the correct file ended in .zip. Admittedly, I was nervous when I began, but it just became routine once the steps were learned, like all of the other TOOL digital quests.

Following is a screen capture of my "Introduction to Digital Citizenship" course home page--when attempting to view the item within this blog's format, you must click on the image, below. A white box appears, then click the purple "Source" box to the bottom right of the white box. This will make the screen shot of my Schoology LMS web shell appear--it worked!

Communication Tools:

I rated the tools in which students will be most likely to receive instant feedback first, followed by the calendar, which they should make part of their routine--it would be a great feature for LMSs to be able to merge all course calendar content for students, so they may more easily organize and prioritize their work and study habits. Social profiles ranked last for me--I don't see much use in them as far as coursework; or, at least they seem the least important as far as relevance:

Type of Tool: Order of Importance:

Email 1

Notification System 6

Discussion Boards 5

IM 2

Blogs 4

Social Profiles 8

Calendar 3

Alert Systems/Agents 7

Learner Tools:

Deciding upon the top learner tools took me a bit longer, because the top four all play a vital role between educator-student communication in learning. I chose Gradebook as number one, because I like how their grades are broken-down categorically, and that some LMSs display teacher feedback. I am a huge fan of detailed rubrics, so that came in a close second. The dropbox is a vital tool for students of any school type; it enables them to virtually upload their projects and essays to the teacher for immediate feedback.

Type of Learner Tools: Order of Importance:

Dropbox 3

Discussion Boards 5

Quizzing/Testing 4

Self-Assessments/Surveys 6

Integrated Rubrics 2

Gradebook 1

User/Class Progress 7

Gradebook Functions:

Since I am such a huge fan of detailed rubrics, the fact that they may now be easily integrated into the LMS Gradebook is why I ranked it #1. I wish I had that 15 years ago--such a time-saver for educators. And students will easily see why each facet of their grades fits into a certain "box" or "category" within the rubric. Using Data Import to link final essay comments into the Gradebook would also be an incredibly time-saver for educators. I also like the LMS feature of project / essay comments/feedback. I am used to using the weighting feature in Gradebook, and it makes it more fair for students, especially for specific formative and summative assignments that require a more-than-average amount of time and effort to complete.

Type of Gradebook Tool: Order of Importance:

Report Generation 5

Comments/Feedback 2

Integrated Rubrics 1

Data Import 3

Weight v. Percentage 4

The virtual tools available to teachers make online education jobs very gratifying, because there is less paperwork, more time saved, and not the frustration of double-work / redundancy. To me, teaching has never looked better.

LMS Reporting and Analytics:

It is in our best interest as educators to ensure students are provided with challenging work which will enable them to be competitive in the remainder of high school, at the university level, and in their future careers.

The new and improved digital grade reporting and analytic tools available to educators will enable us to meet these goals. Since this new feature is become increasingly popular among MOOCs and educators, vendors are now seizing the opportunity to make this an a la carte purchase, increasing the budget required to support the use of these systems. But this means that something is working, and students and educators alike are finding success in the use of these tools.

I chose Schoology as my LMS for the Navigate skill. Their program allows for individualization of analytics in a user-friendly format. Graphs and other data are available at the click of a button, and are instantly measured on an individual, course, or system-wide basis. The system-wide basis may not seem important at first, but it is a method of measuring the achievement of one class over another, to gauge what if any additional tools, lessons, and lectures may be added to help students achieve success. When teaching in the brick-and-mortar classroom, I had to find a pattern by individually reviewing each student's response, and determine which questions seemed to be the most problematic on all three levels--now, the computer does it for me, which enables me to move on to other important work for the class, such as creating new lessons, projects, lectures, and assessments.

In the article "7 Things You Should Know About Analytics," one of the most important details I read, yet not the most surprising based on my past experience in brick-and-mortar education, is that for the past three years, and by the third week of a term, a chemistry professor at a large state university found that the "work of the top 25 discussion board contributors has correlated heavily with the top 25 class performers." We as educators not only have gradebook evidence, but now have solid analytic evidence, helping to prove what we even sometimes know intuitively when this sort of data is not easily gleaned--the hardest workers often tend to be the highest achievers. Using this sort of data, educators can make decisions as to how to best proceed, such as making participation in discussion boards a more strongly-weighted formative grade, or using discussion boards to culminate in a core curriculum-specific project. Educators may use alerts to notify students and parents when students have not yet responded to discussion boards. Making these discussion board comments relevant to specific learning goals is they key--I have done with assigned stories or articles, and have required students to use the "1-2-3 Rule" to help create a detailed, thoughtful response that also cites sources. Not only does this help students learn specific common core skills, it aids them in their writing, research, and citation skills as well. They are tricked into learning even more than they thought. And it's actually useful information. Students should also be rewarded when assigning such work. This type of assignment could be weighted as a HWx2 formative grade, instead of just the basic HWx1 grade. When they do all of that work, and they outcome is meaningful for them in multiple ways, they will continue to do the work.

Gauging student, class, and course-wide progress is an invaluable tool to educators: not only does it save us time, more importantly, it helps us help students achieve their academic goals.

The following image takes you to a page in the Schoology Blog--which provides educators with an inexhaustible amount of technical and pedagogical support--While researching images of Assignment Analytics in Schoology's site, I also found a great entry to their blog entitled "Using Schoology in a a High School Setting," which I have bookmarked in Symbaloo. While using LMS software for the first time, what I want to see are examples of how other educators have used it, and that is exactly what this site provides.

Top LMS Commercial / Open Source Vendors:

For K-12, the best LMSs, appear to be Blackboard (merged with ANGEL in 2006), Desire2Learn (D2L Brightspace), Moodle, Pearson Learning Solutions, and McGraw-Hill Connect.

Blackboard:

This commercial vendor has impressed me the most since the beginning of our Navigate vendor research. Its K-12 capabilities make it an excellent choice for LMSs. This software contains myriad tools to enhance and facilitate educator pedagogy, and increase student learning. Some of its many features include: the new and improved Enhanced Blackboard Learn feature; a global, cloud-based LOR for sharing, authoring, and recycling curriculum; online synchronous collaboration and web conferencing technology, training and support from IT professionals, students and faculty, and discussion boards; the Blackboard Mobile Learning platform, which allows for customization; and mobile grading--educators do not need to be at home to complete grading and instruction. This app allows for viewing of student submissions, audio-and video-based feedback, seamless integration with Blackboard Lean, and continual viewing of student progress.

Brightspace/Desire2Learn:

This K-12 vendor prides itself in its ability to customize for educators' and students' needs. I also like the feature of customized themes, navigation, and home pages, so add visual interest to an educator's course page. User-friendly navigation and tools allow for simplified synchronous and asynchronous learning. Teachers also have the ability to add audio, video, and internal / external resources with ease. Customization of course and content delivery also add to its value as an LMS. This commercial vendor also supports blended and online learning; provides districts with a curriculum library to create and organize a centralized collection of e-learning content; and offers professional learning for educators.

Pearson Learning Solutions / McGraw-Hill Connect:

As far as content, you can't beat a textbook publisher as an LMS commercial vendor. Both sites contain an impressive display of resources for educators and students, including impressive online assessments. I have used and have been impressed with both textbook companies, and this trend has continued into LMSs.

As we read in previous Navigate articles, this is a $2 billion, highly-competitive field in which vendors come-and-go, but companies such as Blackboard and Brightspace, along with textbook publishers who have endured, know how to adapt to the every-changing LMS market. I would be happy to work with any of these four vendors' LMSs.

The Gamification of Education--What's Wrong with Having Fun While You Learn?:

Nothing. Personally, I embrace the idea of gamification in online learning. I see the potential for its overuse, but, practiced appropriately, and this will be an engaging, innovative way for students to learn. After reviewing the myriad examples of the most influential future digital trends for online learning, the technology that I think will make the most impact is gamification, or "the use of game design elements in non-game contexts" (http://www.knewton.com/gamification-education/). This article contains some interesting statistics: 28 million people harvest their crops on FarmVille every day; over 5 million play an average of 45 hours a week of games--and 1.2 million students fail high school each year. This article also cites an quote from The Education Arcade at MIT that will be of interest to educators and MOOCs: "Game players regularly exhibit persistence, risk-taking, attention to detail, and problem-solving, all behaviors that ideally would be regularly demonstrated in school." These qualities also happen to be what headhunters, government agencies and the military seek out in potential employees and recruits. That said, the inclusion of gaming into formative and summative assessments is one that should be further researched and embraced. It might even close the gap on the 1.2 million students who don't graduate.