One of the most important things to consider when designing and online course is the structure itself. Having a clear vision of the intent of the course and learning outcomes is essential in developing an effective course. This next section will outline many of the structural and design aspects of my course.
The objectives in this course reflect the learning outcomes as outlined by the new BC Curriculum set for implementation in September 2016 (BC Curriculum, 2015). According to the outline of this curriculum, the Physical and Health Education (PHE) course is “designed to develop educated citizens who have the knowledge, skills, and understanding they need to be safe, active and healthy citizens throughout their lives” (BC Curriculum, 2015). Through this course student will not only learn how to play specific sports and the rules that govern play as they have learned through the PE curriculum in the past, but now students will also focus on elements that contribute to physical health such as nutrition and living a balanced lifestyle. Factors that contribute to physical and emotional safety as well as personal development and friendships will also now be covered in the Physical and Health Education course (BC Curriculum, 2015). Finally, respect for and safety in online environments will also be covered within PHE. In this course we will focus on awareness and exploration in the above-mentioned categories and focus on the roles and responsibilities of individual students in each of these areas (BC Curriculum, 2015). The new edition of BC’s curriculum breaks courses down into learning strands. This course will follow that same model. Each of the 4 strands in this course (Physical Literacy, Health & Active Living, Social & Community Health and Mental Well Being) will have their own landing page. From there each unit in the will have its own page that will act as a landing page to filter down to individual lesson pages. A WordPress theme that allows for parent pages will be used to ensure that this type of structure can be carried out. Individual units and lessons will be able to be access through the unit landing pages or through the hover over drop down menu along the top of the site.
Assessment is a challenging yet essential part of the teaching and learning process. Teaching a PE course is especially challenging in an online environment as many outcomes require an instructor to actually see an individual complete specific tasks in order to be able to assess them, especially within the Physical Literacy and Healthy and Active Living strands of the curriculum. It is for this reason that this course will be developed for a blended learning environment. The strands of Social and Community Health and Mental Well Being lend themselves well to the online environment. For these two strands variety of assessments will be used throughout the course including quizzes, tests, written assignments, blog posts and final projects. Students should expect each unit to contain at least one quiz and one test or end of unit project for summative assessment. Tests and quizzes can be completed in an online manner either through the BuddyPress plugin or quiz generator plugin. Assignments will also be delivered through the course’s WordPress site with the use of the BudyPress plugin. Badges, through the use of the BadgesOS plugin, will be given for the successful completion of assignments for individual lessons. Each lesson will take approximately one week to complete and students should expect to complete one assignment per week. Elements like forms are also a possibility for the completion of some less complicated assignments. Furthermore, adding a drop box to the WordPress site will allow students to submit larger assignments directly to the instructor.
Since this course is designed for a blended learning environment traditional face-to-face communicating methods will be used for a significant portion of the course. When teaching the strands that deal with physical fitness much of the teaching feedback for students will be verbal and demonstrative in nature. Likewise it is expected that most of the daily communication between instructor and student will be verbal. For the online portion of the course communicating lessons will be a combination of written instruction and instructional videos. Videos will be recorded using Smartboard tools, screencast -o-matic or other similar screen-casting tool. Videos can be uploaded to YouTube and then either linked in the pages or embedded. Storage limitations may prevent embedding video for an entire course at once, and the use of links may be required. Furthermore, discussion boards and email will also be used to facilitate communication between instructors and students and students amongst themselves. Teaching an online course for students at the grade six level (11-12 years old) may prove to be challenging, as students may need more monitoring and instruction to ensure that they stay on task. However, blended learning, where students spend some time face to face will allow the instructor to clarify concepts and assignments and at the same time develop skills that students will need in the future if they choose to take a fully online course.
To ensure that students are clear on the learning objectives and goals, learning outcomes will be posted on the unit page; furthermore, each individual lesson should also have a reminder of the learning outcome for that particular lesson. This is a visual reminder of a goal students are working towards. As each learning outcome is demonstrated through the completion of an assignment students will receive a badge. Badges are collected and will be displayed on the individuals’ WordPress login as lessons are completed. These badges serve as a reminder of the tasks they have accomplished and the outcomes they have completed.
In terms of graphic design, much of this is taken care of with the use of the WordPress theme. This is the benefit of using an LMS like WordPress is that one doesn’t necessarily need to focus much attention on aesthetics and design as this is done with the layouts designed for WordPress. I simply need to pick a layout that will enable me to do what I want to do; in my case allowing for parent pages and for the plugins that I require for this site to function as an LMS. Photos and videos will be added to add interest throughout the site.
In regards to navigation tools, a theme will be used that will allow for parent pages so that each strand of the Physical and Health Education will have its own landing page. From there each unit will have its own landing page where students will be able to access individual lessons and learning outcomes. In the specific units, where it is applicable and beneficial, the BuddyPress plugin will be used. Students will be able to access their lessons through this plugin. They will also be able to communicate with classmates through the discussion boards within this plugin and submit their assignments here as well. At this point I foresee much of the online portion of this course being taught through the BuddyPress plugin for WordPress. This, of course, may change once the course is fully developed and undergoing the trial stage as problems tend to arise often at this stage. I envision uploading content in the form of PDF documents as well as videos in order to teach the material and allowing forums and group discussions around topics to enhance the social aspect of the online portion of the class.
Students at the grade six level are between 11 and 12 years old and generally have an understanding of social media and are frequently users of such. Barbour (2013) mentions that when social networks are integrated into formal teaching and learning students “described deeper and more meaningful understanding because they interacted and engaged with more people and more digital content” (p. 12). By using a plugin like BuddyPress to set up the class and distribute information I will be able to monitor student activity and students will be able to access information, chat with their peers and submit their assignments all in the same place. Keeping things simple and centralized will be essential for these young learners as adding too many, or confusing steps will certainly lead to frustration for both student and instructor as confusion leads to the increased need for clarifying questions as well as assignments being completed and or submitted incorrectly.
Ideally a drip feed would release lessons on pre-determined days to prevent students from working too far ahead, looking to finish the course quickly rather than spending the time to complete assignments adequately. Additionally, the use of a drip feed also ensures that the conversations on discussion boards are all on the same topic.
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