Have you started your ePortfolio?

What is an ePortfolio?

I decided at the beginning of the summer that I would include you all in the wrap up or end experience of my Master of Science in Online Teaching and Instructional Design. I hope that you have enjoyed my posts. As I transition now into the full re-launch of my business, Mind Over Tutors Online Academy, I would like to leave you all with a glimpse of my final project.

First, let me share with you what an ePortfolio is and is not.

This young lady did an excellent job explaining what I have discovered my ePortfolio to be. In the beginning, I was not so sure what the final product would look like.

My ePortfolio experience

Like anything else in life that is an unknown, I cautiously (procrastinated) approached completing my ePortfolio. I weighed many options, considered several platforms, started and started over, before finally settling in on Live Binders as my platform to complete my own ePortfolio. With this final course, EDU 670 (Practicum in Online Teaching and Instructional Design), I presented my plan of action using Blendspace.

For the most part, I have been able to follow my plan as written, with a few minor improvements.

How did I do?

Keep in mind that this is a live document. I share with you in this format in order to promote transparency and hopefully encourage others to approach life with as little fear of critics and criticisms as possible. We can only grow from input from others when taken in the spirit of sharing, caring, and love. I particularly want my students and mentees to take away this attribute when working with me. 

Darius Grissom's Digital Portfolio

Two more days to tweak and then I submit as my final assignment. The thing is, I love the fact that this experience....this document will continue to grow, improve, and ultimate represent where I am as an Online Teacher and Instructional Designer. It also will become a major marketing tool for my business.

Start your ePortfolio today

There was a time for me when I believed that portfolios were only for creative folks such as artists, designers, etc. I now see tremendous value in ePortfolios being a tool that can represent any career or set of skills. After all, sifting through a stack of resumes is so 20th century. Image being able to give a vibrant and interactive representation of your current skill set. Why not throw in a tab that shows off your hobbies or  interest outside the work place? Having reviewed hundreds of resumes and conducting countless interviews over the years, I could really see where ePortfolios could change the landscape of job searches and hiring.

Useful articles

7 Ways To Create E-Portfolios

ePortfolio Step-by-Step Process

Some sites to try

Portfoliogen

Foliospaces

Weebly

.....and many, many more!

New Delivery Technology, Same Message 20 Years Later

Where to start?

I graduated from high school, June 1990. I was a proud member of the 50th graduating class of West Charlotte Senior High School, in Charlotte, NC. Those of us that graduated from West Charlotte all have incredible stories to tell, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. Please do yourself a favor and watch the following video in its entirety.

You see, this is where I got some of my passion for education. Having been exposed to an educational community like West Charlotte, I assumed that everyone shared the same zeal and passion for education as I. Wow.....was I ever wrong!

Let's go back 20 Years

Twenty years ago, I had graduated college and was working as an Analytical Chemist in Florence, SC. Work was work and I desperately needed more. That was when I decided to start Mind Over Tutors and give back to the community. My thought was affordable tutoring in Math and Science from currently employed scientists and retired school teachers. How could we go wrong? Again, was I ever so wrong. My service and business became more of a hobby and an expense than anything else. Notwithstanding, I enjoyed how this service made me feel so I continued it. Take a look at my message to schools to try and recruit students to use my services, some of the services for free.

This letter was for the 1997 - 1998 school year.

Education in the 1990's

Education was definitely improving in the 1990's from what I had experienced throughout my earlier years in school. At least from a technology perspective. However, violence and standardized testing were on the rise. Parents were left wondering what to do in order to keep their children safe and afford them a quality education. That was when great schools like West Charlotte Senior High started their decline.

The 1990s Education: Overview

What a shame! Schools and tradition destroyed. Unity and community torn down and apart! One would think that that late nineties served as a reference to get back on track. Right!

Fast Forward to 2016

It would be very easy to just give up. Personally, I have probably spent more of my money with Mind Over Tutors than I have ever made. But educators keep moving forward, working for a better future, not because of money or fame. Educators keep at it because of hope and passion!

I recently recorded a podcast that is incredibly similar in message and content to my letter above.

Why is it, that twenty years later, my plea to parents is the same? What are we missing? What must we do to get things back to that model I grew up with at West Charlotte Senior High School?

Hold your politicians and local government accountable

I am a firm believer that it will take an aggressive approach, going through government and local school systems, to re-shape education as it has become today.

My plea is that parents will take the time right now to prepare themselves and their children for the next school year. It is too important to wait! I will continue to develop and grow Mind Over Tutors Online Academy and challenge government officials like Thom Tillis, to see if he will be accountable for the things that he wrote in his letter to me.

Education Is Not Trendy

Motivation for Education?

Education is never a word that comes to mind when I think of things trending. I am not even sure that education has been or ever will be described as du jour. Yes, we see the occasional news report, Tweet, Facebook post or good old fashion magazine article.  In all of my years of dedicating much time and energy to education, STEM is the closest thing that I can recall as being trendy. Why is that?

Well, this is something that I need to dig deeply into and consider very carefully. I am considering dedicating at least another 20 years to this "beast" of a thing. The question that has been the staple of my first 20 years in education  came one day from my wife, as she could clearly discern my frustration and thoughts of just giving up efforts to give back to the community and only focus on educating our kids. "How do you motivate, I don't care?" As I wrap up the last few weeks of my graduate school experience, this question has come to mind, repeatedly. For so long, I believed that this was an impossible question to answer. This week, my efforts have been focused on beginning to answer this question.

It all starts at home

My first public school teaching experience is one that is still difficult to describe. It is even more difficult to comprehend. I can only say that no one, that has spent at least one full day at your local high school or middle school in the last 10 years, can even fathom what goes on daily in those schools. Dropping your kids off, visiting or volunteering for a few hours, and helping out with after school activities do not apply or suffice. So what is going on? I believe that there is not enough interest in education. Everyone assumes that the system is on auto-pilot with no need to take over the controls.

Here is a list of things that we can do to promote education.

1. Promote education daily through social media (we post about everything else).
2. Communicate directly to your children's teachers on a regular basis.
3. Write your government officials and ask for their perspectives on issues that are important to you surrounding academic educational issues.
4. Promote your child's academic endeavors and seek support from others when needed.
5. Provide positive feedback on issues surrounding education.

Example response back from U.S. Senator

The link above is a response that I received back from one of our United States Senators after I sent him an email asking about his views on online education. This is an excellent exercise that you could let you kids participate in. 

I also published a podcast this week that is entitled "It all starts at home!" Please take a listen as I share a few tips that will empower you and your children as it relates to their education.

I would offer to you that the first place that we motivate "I don't care", is at home. Let us all do our part setting new trends and establishing great models for our kids to follow.

You failed.....OK, get back on then!

I am convinced that most of the "I don't care" attitude can be attributed to a culture of young people that are afraid to fail. After all, we have created an educational system that tells them that everything rides on their passing and failing. Then, adults in their lives do a terrible job by power tripping on them and not creating sufficient opportunities to succeed. We must reconcile this!

Parent Acts: Why is it so hard to let our kids fail?

As parents, we must be willing to let our children fail. We must support them with words of encouragement and lead by our positive examples. In doing all of this you may just discover that youth today are just as afraid of success as they are failure. Share with them that success is part of failure. Failure is part of success. The only way to master both of these is through education and experience.

Can Education become trendy?

This journey continues to be a difficult one. Education often times gives way to test scores, power and money. So, can education become trendy? I believe that it requires a concerted effort on all our parts to promote education daily. Share a comment about your children or grandchildren's experiences in the classroom. Seek suggestions and solutions in open forums (social media) so that others may see that they face similar and manageable problems. After all, many of the topics and discussions that we do post comments about on social media could often be promoted, enhanced, resolved and/or rectified through a more educated community.  I know that I must continue to write blogs, record podcasts, and use social media to promote the value of education. I welcome your comments on any Mind Over Tutors' posts. We must generate more dialogue, in order to understand more clearly the problems, before we can offer viable solutions.

Changing Gears!

Weekly Reflection #5

I thought that I would take a moment this week and just reflect on where I am with my practicum experience as I quickly move toward the end of this wonderful graduate school experience. August 15th is fast approaching and this is definitely the re-launch date of Mind Over Tutors Online Academy. When I first set out on this practicum journey, I had a very clear set of goals and was pretty sure, based on my previous years of teaching experience, that my plan was all set and ready for launch. I just needed to build my media library and design a couple of courses.

My Practicum Plan

My how things can change in a hurry!

Some Re-calibration Needed

Podcasts, blogs, YouTube videos and instructional courses are the meat of what I have planned to have up and ready for my launch date. The last few weeks, I have spent time creating and sharing content in each of these areas. To my surprise,  the blogs have received the best responses to date. I am a little hurt because I was sure that my podcasts were going to be a big hit. (It's much more difficult than I though.....but they have been fun to do.) The main thing that I have found is that I really need to consider my audience a bit more when producing my podcasts. I have a brand new audience and I am talking about education. With those things in mind, I have determined that I should broadcast more frequently with shorter listening times. Based on some of my podcasts and YouTube video analytics, I believe that 5-minutes is more than enough time with me just getting established.

7 Podcasting Best Practices

How Long and How Often Should You Podcast?

Step Back and Leap Forward

As I have taken an opportunity to reflect and adjust this week, something tells me that I have made very good choices in my reassessment of things prior to my launch date. It has afforded me the time to talk to my audience and actually see what will work well and what will not. That all being said, I also made decisions to shorten my YouTube videos and revamp the colors and layout of the Mind Over Tutors Online Academy website. I have learned in business that you must not be afraid of change. Many times, reflection or taking a step back, helps to clarify your vision for future growth.

The largest audience that I seek to serve, demands a fine tuned and practical model. Therefore, the status quo or "old days" approaches will not get it done.

Engaging the millennial learner

As I close this weeks reflection, it is clear to me that reassessment and re-calibration need to be a part of my business strategy. After all, I am predominantly dealing with a client base that has never been seen before.

Teaching Millennials (Great chart!)

I welcome the challenge and look forward to servicing all students. I challenge other educational service businesses to reassess their products and provide your clients with information and tools that they will utilize fully and embrace. It going to take us all, here in education, to generate enough quality materials, to catch up to where technology has already gone. 

Tighten up those seat belts, shift those gears and lets warp forward!

Tech Challenges and Solutions for Online Educational Service Businesses

The Situation

As I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, being a small educational service business is an uphill battle. This is, in part, because of a newfound interest by the government and public school systems in the allocation of funds that are often directed toward educational support and enrichment programs. Imagine being an educational service business that provides all of its services online. Now your challenges are at least doubled, based on the technology challenges that you will face. I aim to point out a few of these challenges based on my recent graduate school experiences alongside the commitment to re-launch my own educational services business as an online academy.

 Website Design and Implementation

Launching a website can be a very nerve racking experience. Particularly for a business that routes all of its current and potential customers through the site. The first thing you will find is that website design can be very expensive. A quick google search turned up initial set-up and design cost ranging anywhere from $250 to $1000. In some cases, these cost did not even include the domain name and server space. Here is a list of challenges and possible solutions for entrepreneurs surrounding website delivery.

Challenges

1. Upfront and/or recurring cost
2. Creative vision to create site on own
3. Patience

Here are a couple of instructional videos if you cannot pay to have your website professionally done and want to try it yourself.

If these instructional videos intrigue you and you feel that you have the time to take this task on, then you may already have a solution. However, as many entrepreneurs' time is very precious, you may find one of the solutions below more feasible.

Solutions

1. Start with a template from a site like Wix or GoDaddy
2. Seek in-kind services or look to barter with others
3. Check for student services at local high schools or universities

Wix (Free Website Builder)

GoDaddy (Low cost and good templates)

Synchronous Session Delivery

Asynchronous course content can usually be delivered by email, blogs, Google+ communities and even YouTube videos with little to no cost. Given the nature of educational support services, there are many instances where synchronous sessions are imperative in order to truly service your clients. That being the case, here are a few challenges that you may face with synchronous content delivery.

Challenges

1. Expensive platforms (WebEx and Blackboard)
2. Difficulty building a client base to re-coupe this expense, if paid
3. Reliable backup plans if primary platform fails

WebEx pricing (cost has gone down a lot)

WebEx recently has changed its pricing. I believe that the driving force is competition and a couple of the solutions that I offer below. 

Solutions

1. Big Blue Button (Open source)
2. Google Hangouts
3. Skype
4. E-lecta live (affordable options)

Big Blue Button Moderator/Presenter

Big Blue Button Viewer Overview

E-lecta Live Pricing (compare to WebEx)

Internet Connectivity and Speeds

We all have experienced slow internet speeds or losing our connections all together. If your business is totally dependent on your internet speed and connectivity, here are a few things that you need to consider.

Challenges

1. Service interruptions
2. Slow speeds
3. Increasing cost
4. Hardware

Solutions

1. Mobile hotspot as a backup plan
2. AT&T Gigapower and Google Fiber (others in your local market - 1Gbps)
3. Upgrade hardware

Why is my internet slow?

Top 5 Fastest Internet in the World

Test Your Speed!

Accessibility Compliance

One place that I believe that I have a jump on most of my competition is surrounding Web Accessibility compliance. Website accessibility regulations delayed until 2018. My graduate school program has afforded me several opportunities to evaluate and complete projects surrounding accessibility. I must admit, before this program, I was completely clueless as to the impending regulations that are sure to come. As well they should be! I welcome the challenge of providing quality services to people with accessibility needs.

Challenges

1. Meeting ADA Requirements
2. Servicing clientele in need
3. Knowing where to get guidance and help
4. Added expenses not typically planned for

Solutions

1. Use sites like YouTube that caption for you
2. Quality services that will assist (3playmedia)
3. Contact local universities
4. Check websites of larger companies for guidance

Here is a resource that I put together and willing to share.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

What do you think?

There are some serious challenges that small business face everyday. As I have outlined here, technology challenges can become daunting and overwhelming. I hope that I have provided you with at least a few starting points as solutions to your technology challenges. Good luck!

Using Analytics To Grow A Business

If you only knew

One of the first things that you learn as an entrepreneur...work is no longer a 9 to 5. The second thing that you learn in a small business...you must be able to wear many hats in order for your company to survive. I am on my fourth small business now and still learning so much as I go. Each one of my businesses, I am fortunate enough to say has been a success. It's funny because my fourth business is really just a re-launch of my very first. One main change...the current business will primarily be virtual.

Game changers

Pounding the pavement, passing out flyers, making cold calls, doing face-to-face demos, business cards, expos, radio ads, TV spots and the list goes on and on. This is what growing your small business was all about. In today's game, social media simplifies and condenses a lot of the past exercises into digital or virtual post. Then, as a business owner, sit back and let the analytics do the talking.

As I look to re-launch my educational consulting business (fancy way of saying tutoring business), I am armed with some new powerful tools to track and grow this business. Analytics is changing the game and disclosing very important information to me as I attempt to take my business global. Let me share a few examples from this weeks practicum work.

I recently created a smore flyer to advertise Mind Over Tutors Online Academy.

Link to Mind Over Tutors Flyer in Smore

From this, I was able to receive analytics from my flyer that can help me grow my business. I can now answer question like.....What part of the world are people accessing my information? What social network are they using to view my flyer? Let me show you some examples below.

I have reached India and Puerto Rico! 

I can even see how long someone viewed my flyer. Super cool!

If that is not enough, the Smore team created an infographic themselves to help guide you through what all your analytics mean.

Way cool and very useful. Blogger and YouTube are some other places that I need to track how I am doing in order to grow. As you can see in the examples below, I still have some work to do in reaching outside the United States with YouTube.

Blogger

YouTube Geography

YouTube Video (watch time)

The YouTube video analytics breaks down average view duration and lets me know how I am engaging my viewers. Think about how this could be useful for educators monitoring their student activity in a flipped classroom. Sorry, I got side tracked there. So much information and so many ways to apply it to your specific needs. I love it!

My Takeaways

Even though I am super busy right now and really just trying to wrap up school, I must continue to prepare for my launch date of August 15th. This week has given me an opportunity to reflect (while on vacation) about the data that I have gathered thus far, just by some of the demos and preliminary information that is up on my site. I have learned that I am only engaging my audience for about 30% of the videos that I post on YouTube. I have also learned that growing your international audience can be directly linked to your social media exposure, if you so choose to use it that way. 

I still have lots of work to do but I really appreciate my Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections and Twitter followers that engage my post. Please feel free to share any of my information and post as it will help me to grow my audience. Taking this thing around the globe!

Evaluation of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools' Technology Plan

I took on the task of reviewing the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WSFCS) Technology Plan. This is near and dear to my heart given the fact that my sixteen-year old son is currently attending a WSFC school. The plan is fairly comprehensive and focuses on what the technology planning committee deems as five strategic priorities. The aforementioned technology planning committee is made up of nineteen members with varied levels of experience and roles within the school system. There are five technology leads (Directors and Supervisors), seven school administrators and seven school technology facilitators that make up the team. In short, the vision of WSFCS is “to utilize the power of technology to transform education, changing the way we teach, learn, and communicate every day.” WSFCS expresses commitment to this plan but rightfully points out that the “technology plan is comprehensive but also a work in progress.”

               

          The plan starts with a brief overview of the five strategic priorities as follows:

1. Astatewide shared services model
2. Universal access to personal teaching and learning devices
3.  Statewide access to digital teaching and learning resources, including digital textbooks
4. A statewide model of technology-enable professional development
5. 21^st Century leadership for all schools and districts

WSFCS Technology Plan

The plan further dissects each of the five strategic priorities and provides a list of aligned objectives to each of the following:

1.        Career and College Ready, Set, Go!
2.        Race to the Top Local and State Scopes of Work
3.        WSFCS District Strategic Plan
4.        NC State Technology Plan

Finally, the plan breaks down each priority into specific goals/targets, year 1 tasks, year 2 tasks, and evaluation feedback. I would say that this is pretty comprehensive for sure. Given the fact that I come from a corporate arena, I would also say that the committee has done a great job with this plan.

               Now for the former school administrator in me and an extreme advocate for the kids……here is what I really think! The plan focuses a lot on budgeting for various things such as technology services, platforms and mobile learning communities. I would have liked to have seen more focus on technology that is already available and available for free. It seems that with this plans implementation and roll out is still down the road a bit. The technology-enabled professional development and 21^st Century leadership are key priorities for sure. I just know from firsthand experience, dealing with two high schools here in Winston Salem, there is still lots of guidance and instruction needed in both of these areas.

 

               I do not want to be overly critical because WSFCS has taken a very positive step here with their commitment to this strategic technology plan. My only caution to them is to seek resources and information that is readily available and most of all, resources that are free. I believe some of this strategic plan would have been better served to focus on things like specific system-wide technology tools. Then, developing a plan to train, implement and evaluate those tools. Much like what learning should be for our kids. Focus needs to be on the process not the outcome. If we train our school “how to” then the “what it is or what it becomes” takes care of itself.

               Focusing on strategic priority number 2, Universal access to personal teaching and learning devices, I put together a quick meta-analysis spreadsheet that you should take a look at.

Literature review of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

               Based on my analysis of the WSFCS technology plan and the literature review link above, I have a couple of things that I would highlight as points of concern for them. Be careful about moving forward with a full head of steam without getting your key stakeholders to embrace your plan. Primarily, schools will often seek to convince the state, their local school board, administrators and teachers. What about your parents and students? My literature review clearly shows the need to include parents and students as part of your key stakeholders.

               Finally, developing a plan that focuses on safety, security and training for its users is paramount. I know the three seem very different but I believe that each is very dependent on the success of the other. A good technology plan should highlight safety and security when talking about any type of universal access as it relates to computing. Training at every level, users (students, parents and teachers), administrators, and IT/technology facilitators, all should be properly trained in order for any technology plan to be successful. Again, I often see parents and students being left out in the WSFCS plan. With a few modifications and considerations, I think WSFCS can spearhead technology usage and growth within North Carolina. You may want to consider adding some parents and students to your technology planning committee.