Week two of CEdO525 - so far, great book!

Week two's homework included a bit of reading and some distilling of thoughts on an article, a compare and contrast exercise on electronic student response technologies, some online resources for providing feedback and a reflection on the three big strategies of the week (Setting Objectives, Providing Feedback and Providing Recognition).

I read the informative article, Feedback that fits (http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/Feedback_That_Fits.aspx). I liked the breakdown of the various components on feedback and how to look at it from the student's perspective when composing feedback. The discussions of "When", "How much" and "What mode is best" were very interesting. Lastly, based on the "Tale of Two Feedback Choices" discussion, I see that in my day-to-day I can improve my feedback when it comes to my editing of technical correspondence. I am still not quite sure exactly HOW I am going to change, but I think that there might be a more lasting impression than the red-pen blood-letting that many documents receive at my hands!    

I then took a look at several online tools for Rubrics development and quiz/learning aids. I liked the RubiStar http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ for Rubric development. It came with several straight forward examples and appears to be fairly easy to manipulate to fit your particular needs and desires. I am interested to see if any of the actual teaching professionals in the class have used this service and if they were happy with the results or not. I am also wondering how the MEIT Rubrics were developed. I also looked at  Quia (http://www.quia.com/) and played around in the Science section. It seemed to include some interesting interactive programs (mainly quiz, gameshow type functions). 


We were also tasked with comparing and contrasting available electronic student response technology tools. In order to set off down this road with any hope of being understood, I thought it wise to attempt to figure out what an electronic student response technology tool is! We spoke a bit during the last class (and the book mentions it as well, in Chapter 3, I believe) about "clickers". Unfortunately, I have zero experience on either end of such a system! In my research, I found the article/study "Clickers in the Classroom: A Comparison of Interactive Student-Response Keypad Systems"  available at http://people.uncw.edu/lowery/NSSA%20ms.pdf. This article gives a pretty good run down of some of the more prevalent technologies that were available (in 2006, the listed date of the draft article). The article "Using Student Response Systems to Increase Motivation, Learning, and Knowledge Retention" (http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol5_issue1/Using_Student_Response_Systems_to_Increase_Motivation,_Learning,_and_Knowledge_Retention.pdf) provides instructions for teachers looking to implement similar systems in their classrooms. All of my ressearch to this point has been aimed at smartening myself up on the use of this technology. I still can't really complete the assigned task as I haven't yet gotten to the point where I have jumped into the differences between the offered technologies from one provider to the next. I will update this post or add a comment if I am able to figure out this part of the assignment. 

For setting objectives in my world of work we use a couple of tools; the individual training plan (ITP) and the individual development plan (IDP). For the most part the individual member is expected to know what goals they should be striving towards (these are pretty much set by the position that they fill and the Rate that they choose). However, loftier goals may be added to these plans and these goals may directly affect the individual's personal path. An example of this would be a mid-level Petty Officer attempting to decide if they will seek to remain Enlisted for the duration of their career or if they will try to become a Warrant Officer or get picked up for Officer Candidate School. Having these goals early may change how the individual will strive towards additional qualification or training opportunities. 

I kind of think that feedback and recognition go hand-in-hand in my line of work. For providing feedback/recognition, to bring it to the USCG world, we (well, I do at least!) always go by the saying "praise in public, reprimand in private " and we have many tools available to us to use for providing feedback/recognition to high or low performing members. While none of these tools are really all that technology-driven or aided, some actually do get factored in to the overall numerical "seedings" and are, in part, used to assist or hinder your career. Besides the at-a-boys and slaps on the back that they all routinely get from me (my guys are simply awesome!), USCG members may also get feedback or recognized through:

• write-ups for Sailor-of-the-Quarter (which several of my people have been named) - which in turn may lead to being named Unit Sailor of the Year, District Sailor of the Year or, for those lucky few, CG Sailor of the Year. For our Sailor of the Quarter, you get your name on a plaque, you get recognized in front of the entire Command and you get the coveted SOQ parking space for three months!,
• Letters of recognition or appreciation (from our Command, other Commands, other government agencies, industry representatives, etc) are routinely read during our "All-Hands" meetings, 
• Military awards may be presented to deserving individuals. These include medals or ribbons for specific high performance or as a going away presentation to culminate a successful and mutually beneficial tour of duty - GS workers can also get on-the-spot cash awards in lieu of these military awards., 
• Page 7s (short-hand version of the forms numerical designator) - these can be positive or negative depending on what is actually written on the page. Once signed, these documents go into the member service record and can be viewed by boards, detailers (the individuals responsible for deciding where each person should transfer to next), etc. Positive Page 7s are often presented to members in an impromptu fashion before his/her coworkers. 
• Extra time off (one of my favorite gifts to bestow upon high performers)
• Their evaluations/marks - these are actually the most important form of recognition for most people in the military. Your career is built around these documents (Marks for Enlisted members and Officer Evaluation Reports for the Officers and Chief Warrant Officers). For Officers, the OER is seen by boards and panels that will decide your fate on such things as promotion, post-graduate school opportunities, flight school, Command screening, Senior Service Schools, etc and etc! For CWOs, the OER is used for Command screening, Promotion and selection for special programs like the "Warrant to Lieutenant Program". For the Enlisted, the marking system is important because it helps them make certain cuts for promotion and allows them to participate in the examination for the next level of rank. 

Alternately, when someone messes up egregiously enough they are sometimes brought to Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP, Captain's Mast, "standing before the green tablecloth", etc). These proceedings are often open for all to attend and serve as a very tangible learning experience for attendees.

Well, that is, without a doubt, my longest blog-posting ever! I should should probably compensate (or at least apologize to) anyone who actually has to read it all!!!