My first post!

Hi! I'm Jessica and I'm new to blogging with Lesley, but not new to blogging. I've been keeping online blogs and journals for over 10 years.

I am currently taking 2 online classes, Geometry and Probability. I've already completed 4 others towards my M.Ed. in Mathematics Education. I am thrilled that when the Fall 1 term is over, I will be over the half-way mark towards earning my degree. Since I am in Iowa, I will be doing the entire program online. I've found that the majority of my classmates are from New England (a few even take classes at Lesley's physical location) but I've also had classmates from all around the country, and one who was international.

Doing two classes at a time, working a full-time job, and maintaining my regular life can be a challenge at times, but it is definitely doable. With two classes there is a lot more to keep track of! It becomes a difficult balancing act during Week 4 and Week 8, when the self-assessments are due (I find that these papers take me a lot of time to do well), but all the other weeks it is just an exercise in time management. I still get to do the fun things I enjoy, but I have pretty much sworn off television- there just isn't enough time. Right now we are in Week 3, so as long as I do a little work each night, I know I will have enough time to get it all done.

Last night, I focused on my Geometry class. This class has been working on constructions, and we have been using three different methods for each construction: compass and straightedge, paper folding, and Geometer's Sketchpad. I'm a traditionalist, so I really like my compass and straightedge, but I've been really impressed with the capabilities in Geometer's Sketchpad. It is an inexpensive piece of software that can do so much. I've found that it is really intuitive to use and since computer use is so ingrained in students' lives, I think it is very important that we learn about technologies that can be incorporated into classrooms to help support their learning.

Web Design, Fun?

Here I am again, almost a full circle. I was the class blogger for one of my first classes at Lesley in pursuing my online graduate program and now I am on my final class to complete my Master's degree. I had never blogged before when I started. I now know so much more like, how to add video and pictures to a blog page (I'll try to find sometime to squeeze that in).

My final class is about web page design. I thought at first that this class was going to be a really tech type class with a lot of material that was above my head. Instead, I am brought back to my childhood when I would love writing secret messages in code.This class is about learning the HTML language used to write web pages. I am having a lot of fun with it. I write or place pictures into this code sequence, and then I can see it happen right before my very eyes. The instant feedback to see if I wrote the code correctly is a great way to learn. Of course, there are those moments when you try everything and it still does not appear the way you intended. That is when our instructor, Bill, comes to the rescue and usually untangles us from the web mess we created (no pun intended).

Picture source:secretbunker.co.uk

Welcome to Lesley University's Online Student Blogs

Greetings! On behalf of the Online Division at Lesley University, we are excited to have current student bloggers to represent our programs. This blog has been created in an effort to provide our prospective students with an inside look at what it is like to be a student in an online program at Lesley University. The postings you are about to read feature the authentic voices of students who are in one of our three Master’s degree programs in Education, focusing in Math, Science and Technology. We have put together a diverse team of bloggers brought to you from all over the United States. To view our other program offerings, please visit Lesley University’s Online degree pages at: www.lesley.edu/online

Ecology Ends

The chemistry between the students and professor was tremendous in my Ecology course. In our discussion forum there was a constant flurry of comments from us all on what we were learning, what we were seeing in our observations and any conclusions we were making. The atmosphere was such that you felt comfortable asking questions. There absolutely were no "stupid questions". Several classmates as well as our instructor shared global connections that helped to extend our learning and help us to apply what we had learned to the world outside our Lesley class. One of our final assignments was to complete the exact same thought experiment we had completed in the first week. We were asked not to refer back to what we had written originally but to infuse all the knowledge we had gained in 8 weeks into the new version of the assignment. We were all floored at the major gains we had made since the beginning. I am moving into my first week of my next class, Biology. I already get the sense that this class is going to be as eye-opening as the last one. As my former classmate Linda would say........
"Science ROCKS!"

Ecomp 6202 Week 5

This week we worked with online assessments. Many in my class chose one site, I and a few others tried Quizstar. I really liked this one (mostly because many of its aspects are again free). I was able to add PDF documents to the questions which would allow someone to read and refer back to text or diagrams in order to answer a question. A definite plus! The site has many other great features.

I also completed my paper on computer-based testing and submitted it. My schedule has been rather hectic, but I pulled off getting everything completed. With the flexibility of working online getting things done around my schedule is so much easier than trying to drive somewhere to attend a class.

Week 4- Ecomp 6202

We worked collaboratively on a project last week. Each person in a partner group had to create an assessment, use it to score the same collection of responses, and then compare their results to their partners scores. As an educator, I found the experience to be reassuring. It helped to justify how I examine students' responses and score them. My partner and I scored similarly 80% of the time. Our differences were mainly  due to the construction of our different assessment pieces.

Personally, this term is moving smoothly. I am only taking one course and find that with the end of the school year, I made a good choice to slow down a bit with the course work. When I take a course or courses each semester, I always wonder whether or not I will be able to utilize it in my current position. So far, I have not been disappointed, much of the course work is flexible and pertinent to the different age groups. I teach in an elementary school setting and I have been able to adapt the content I have learned towards our school curriculum and share it with co-workers.

Week 2 of Ecomp 6202

I have been in the online masters program since September 2010. I should have all classes completed by December 2011. I am really enjoying the classes and have begun to integrate much of what I am learning (Despite what Bill Gates says of teachers' graduate work!). I am excited to learn more.
The class I am presently taking Ecomp 6202(Online Teaching: Assessment and Evaluation), is one of four classes that focus specifically on teaching a course online. I felt that it would be foolish to not take the opportunity to take all four. I have already taken Ecomp 6201(Online Teaching: An Introduction for K-12 Educators) with Lisa McBride and would highly recommend others to enroll in her course.