Online Instructional Module Proposal

The light is at the end of the tunnel for an online instructional proposal. It has taken uncountable hours and days to go through the outlines, research, readings, and rewrites. But it seems to be falling into place to reach a solution in regards to the school's instructional staff nearing retirement.

I have a dear friend and colleague, Sharry, with whom many hours have been spent over the years talking about the issues of education, the state of the state, our field - blind and visually impaired - and life in general. We always seem to have the same concern ... what can be done to improve understanding and skill level of our teachers and students. Which is why we have remained actively involved in running staff development at the school for the past18 years.

The online approach to providing instructional training content has floated in and out of these conversations for the past two year. It is very exciting, to have a proposal in the works that can become part of future training approaches. Although, the proposal has been not been shared yet, the ideas evolved by projecting (or is it predicting) what she and others would conceive as workable within the schools environment. So despite the achy back, from sitting at a computer night after night, it will be well worth the effort.

At the same time, I have been in the midst of talks and contracts with the SED tech dept. and a private group for setting up a school and residential network system seperate from our SED network. One that would allow all students to have accounts, as well as upgrading current classroom and dorm computers. Seems like I have done alot of walk throughs to exam each system ... too many times .... to answer questions via email requests. Having seperate network systems will necessitate additional trianing with assitive software use and devices students use. I image more requests will be made for training in their use as well. Regardless, it is all exciting.

Virtual Community Paper Abstract:

Issue:

- Within the next five years, the New York State School for the Blind (NYSSB) will witness the retirement of nearly two-thirds of the schools teachers certified as teachers of the visually impaired (TVI).

Virtual community Proposal:

- The intent of the community is to design a process for staff to access instructional modules, resources, teaching techniques, topic information related to the educational needs of students who are blind, multiply impaired and accumulated tips and knowledge of seasoned professional teachers.

Members:

- The site would initially be for teachers, instructor assistants, residential aides, and related service staff who provide direct service to the children at the school. In time, the site could be made available for others to use.

Instructional Format:

- To ensure all learners will successfully acquire knowledge, the instructional modules will attempt to encompass these factors, and incorporate the theory of constructivism and the principles of Information Processing.

Community Design:

- Initially, the project would involve development of the web design, layout, and instructional format, and then tested for ease of use, accessibility, and standardization.

- This proposal entails using a preconfigured web-hosting site that packages a number of script handling options, such as MySiteSpace.com, to act as a server for the proposal.

- Content information needs to be presented as HTML documents with PHP data to create interactivity within the pages. In addition, JavaScript provides a useful tool for creating multimedia elements, such as moving text, sound, plugins, or open new windows for improved site navigation.

Communication:

- Communication features will include options for creating chat rooms, email accounts, and weblogs, per course.

Sample lesson:

- A sample lesson will be added demonstrating activities for transference of information from short-term to long-term memory.

concept paper overload

Seems that I have more ideas without the time, knowledge base, assistance, and money to carry them all out in terms of this concept proposal. As I work on one idea, it seems to take a turn to another idea, and then another. So I bounced the ideas out to a few fellow employees who didn't help clarify my decisions, but added more suggestions to the mix. As I review what I have written thus far, I can't help but feel more overwhelmed. I think it is time to eliminate alot of the plan, and just focus on one or two smaller ideas. I am wondering how everyone else is doing.

Week of April 11th

It seems that Spring would never arrive. Now that it has, obligations seem to eat up each day. Suddenly, travel between Albany and home and requests for staff training have expanded. It seems that other schools and our own departments are seeking information or help with one or more topics, about which I know, have experienced, or developing. It is difficult to recall a typical day or workload. So spring arrived, but this household would barely recognize it, except for the fact that the outdoors has become a tunnel between one doorway to the next. So missing out on good weather has created an empty hole within.

On the brighter side, I spent the past weekend running a program for blind and visually impaired Sr. high school students from across NYS. Plans have been taking place most of the winter to host 4 weekends throughout the spring and one week in the summer for this population. Scheduling the days has taken alot of time, yet left flexible enough for the group to make many of the decisions, such as what they want to eat ... diplomatically choosing menus. All partake in the planning, shopping, cooking and cleanup. Seems like a small part to most, but for kids who often have limited experience in a kitchen (expecially using an oven, grill, microwave, knives, and so on), it becomes a big deal.

Each program offers something new and different. Last year we explored a cave, while this year will include wall climbing. There is always horseback riding, Six Flags, swimming, row boating and fishing, and alway, always shopping. The best part of every event, is watching an inhibited first timer bubble up into an outgoing, talkative, and happy kid who tells you that they have made their first real best friend with a roommate or fellow participant. How cool that is.

During the past weekend there were four first time kids. Two had tears as their parents left them for the first time. Can you believe it? This was the first time that a 16 and 17 year old had ever been away from home. Why? Because they were blind. How sad that they have missed out on typical experiences of most kids out there. But it will not be the last ... they asked to come back. All in all, it was a great time with lots of laughter, shared contact info., and hugs. And although I suffer from loss of sleep still, it was worth it.

Blog Spamming!

For anyone who has not read through a PC World magazine, it can be accessed online, by simply registering. You will receive an email notice when for each new publishing. It offers the latest tech news, reviews, tools, devices and software tips, etc.

While reading through "Today @ PC World", I came across a posting by their staff about Blog Spam, whereby spammers insert a single link into your blogs source code which leads back to the spammers website. In this case, it had to do with porn sales. Has anyone heard anything about this occuring or had experience with it yet?