ETEC 565

1-2 paragraph précis of your flight path (5)

When I originally set out in ETEC 565, I recognized that I had hoped to learn much about the five areas of the course, particularly about how to create an effective LMS and how to use social software so that it appeals to both my teaching style and diverse learning styles. I recognized that Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS framework as well as Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) Seven Principles…. were both relevant frameworks that when duly applied, grounded the selection and use of learning technologies in effective practice. I noted that I could see how multimedia could be used in order to “respect diverse talents and ways of learning” but that I was unclear of how exactly to achieve this (Chickering and Gamson, 1987). I also recognized that social media and newer, user friendly communication tools have made the “I” in SECTIONS (Interactivity) much more tangible in today’s learning environments.

In looking at my flight path, I can see that I was framing LMS, multimedia, assessment tools, communication tools and social software as individual operations. I now see that really, there is much overlap and instructors should be aware of the interconnectedness of these five elements when selecting and using technology. I originally stated that my goals for this course were to learn about how to select appropriate learning technologies and how to use technology as part of communication and assessment within the classroom. In reflecting on these goals, I would say that I have certainly learned a great deal about both, particularly about how to select appropriate learning technologies.

Reflection on your eLearning toolkit experience overall (5)

The eLearning toolkit was a helpful inclusion in this course. I admit, there were some components that I found repetitive because of my existing knowledge (wikis, web design and html authoring), but overall the toolkit was not a burden or a hard assignment. Rather, it was a helpful tool that could be accessed at any time and provided great links and examples. I enjoy self-regulated learning experiences and as such, the toolkit was something that I could navigate at my own pace and customize to my existing knowledge structures. I found the social software activity to be the most thought provoking because it had me looking at terms of service and really thinking about how that affects both my own practice and the experience of my students.

Apply SECTIONS model to self-assess your portfolio, where applicable (5)

Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS – application to my LMS

Students – My students are middle school aged (grade 7) and as such, my LMS is a balance between “kid friendly” and adolescent appropriate resources and activities. The LMS also shows as awareness that grade 7 students need to be kept engaged by appealing to their interests, hence, the Facebook style activity, podcast assignment and Google Earth assignment. All are assignments that could have been presented in a more traditional way (such as a report or illustration) but these students require something that will keep them interested in their learning and allow them to use some of the tools that they already use for personal purposes.

Ease of Use – As the instructor, I found Moodle to be relatively easy to use. My students would certainly be able to handle the technology but at the same time, very specific instructions are given so that students have clear step by step instructions regarding how to proceed. Moodle is becoming a common open source tool and I am confident that it is reliable.

Cost – As open source software, Moodle is free and no other costs were incurred in the making of this course. Tools used – Google Earth, CMap Tools, Garageband, iTunes – are all either free downloads or come with Mac computers (which students will be given access to for Garageband).

Teaching and learning – Students need to be able to learn the basics about ancient civilizations while at the same time be able to assimilate existing knowledge and have access to extensions. A constructivist learning approach is something that I (and my LMS) subscribe to and while there are direct resources I created with text, there are also links to my sources and further information. As grade 7 is a pivotal grade for easing students from an elementary to secondary style of schooling, higher thinking questions are given for discussion that require students to go beyond the resources of the LMS.

Interactivity – The LMS enables students to interact with the teacher (via chat) and other students (via entire class discussion forums as well as small group discussion forums). Additionally, students are required to complete individual assignments to be viewed by the teacher only, individual assignments to be posted for all to see and group assignments to be posted for all to see.

Organizational issues – N/A

Novelty – Neither Moodle nor any of the embedded programs are brand new. All technology being utilized is well used and constantly updated to continue improved functioning.

Speed – Materials can be changed instantly by the instructor and students that do not have required programs downloaded can download them in a matter of minutes.

Describe next steps for you, in terms of your practice in educational technology (5)

As a K-12 teacher, I have found ETEC 565 to be the most useful course of my MET program so far. I will continue to apply the SECTIONS framework when I prepare technological teaching and learning activities. I think that I will be able to better analyze educational technologies and make recommendations for my own practice and the practice of others. As a result of my learning and experience here, I will be using an LMS in my classroom. My short term goal is to be able to use Moodle for one course and long term, expand its use to other classes. I also hope to utilize social software more with my students in order to appeal to their interests and make academic connections to these programs. I am hopeful that the selection and use of educational technology will become more a natural process akin to how I would plan for teaching without technology. Already, I have SECTIONS memorized and can call upon it instinctually when thinking about educational technology so I hope that this will continue and become a natural part of my practice.

References

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p. 3-7.
For optimal viewing, view my digital story in Google Maps

View Adventures in Europe in a larger map

Originally, I was going to select Bubbleshare to tell my digital story. After all, I have used it for that purpose many times before. However, after viewing Alan Levine’s (2007) “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story”, I was inspired to try something new and ultimately use a tool that will be very applicable to teaching social studies. I have used Google Maps hundreds of times for the purpose of finding directions but I never thought of it as anything other than a locator tool. After seeing the options it provided for virtual storytelling, I was convinced that it was the right tool to tell my story and the right tool to introduce to my social studies students.

The story I chose to tell was about my own experience traveling. Google Maps was the right tool for several reasons. In the context of social studies and of traveling, I don’t believe that a story necessarily has to be sequential in order to understand it. Google Maps affords both a sequential or non-sequential viewing experience that can be determined by the viewer and facilitated by the ordered plots along the left side of the map (a sequential experience) or the scattered location plots on the map itself (a non-sequential experience). In reference to my story, my trip obviously took place in a certain order but to understand my thoughts on a city or to view my images one does not need to view each part in order.

I wanted to express that my travels were not linear events but rather interconnected events that were many individual experiences that also formed a collective whole. Google Maps was the tool that could best represent this due to several features.

1) The ability to colour code locations. Note that blue markers were my first trip and green markers were my second trip with London as the sole yellow marker because it was a part of both trips.
2) The ability to “symbol code” locations. The thumbtacks represented overnight stays whereas the raindrop markers represented daytrips.
3) The ability to draw routes. Google Maps allowed for me to draw my route of travel and also colour code them.
4) The ability to allow for sequential and non-sequential viewership.
5) The ability for me to situate locations on or near a map so that viewers can physically see the locations and the distances between them.

Depending on the topic, students can use Google Maps to tell a story about where they have been or use Google Maps to support a historical or cultural understanding from class. Since Google Maps is a “zoom in, zoom out” interface, students can tell their own story utilizing photos, text and map points for a trip as broad as around the world to a trip as small as Vancouver to Kelowna. This tool would be useful in my ancient civilizations unit for the same purpose, student could plot the route of a historical figure or entire culture or tell a story about a country that demonstrated knowledge of same. The simple, unrestricted set up of Google Maps allows for different styles of writing to set the tone for the story whether it is first hand experience, taking the first person perspective of a historical figure or third person factual view. Additionally, Google Maps affords the creator the opportunity to colour code map points, create routes and embed the map within another site.

A story telling approach in the social studies classroom using social media allows for students to create outside of the static Web 1.0 in the dynamic Web 2.0. In reflection, I can already see how a story telling approach in Google Maps would enhance a project that I have already done with students. Previously, I had students complete a “Lonely Planet” assignment where they used Powerpoint to create a slideshow meeting specific criteria about a country that they wanted to visit using their newly acquired information literacy skills. However, even after spending many weeks on this, most students could not situate their country on a map! Had I used Google Maps to have students write a fictional story about traveling in a country of their choosing that demonstrated knowledge about the country, students would be physically creating on top of the map.

Furthermore, Google Maps could be utilized as a much more dynamic way of having students report on summer vacation, field trips or camps. Lamb (2007) too mentions that “integrating maps with other tools” can enhance a school’s field trip.

As Google Maps provides the options for making a map public, students can view each others maps and, in the case of reporting on a field trip, compare how the experience was the same or different as their own. Lamb (2007) states that “when remixing happens in a social context on the open web, people learn from each other’s process” and that is exactly what Google Maps affords.

Outside of Google Maps, story telling is an effective tool to use in the context of the social studies classroom. In referencing Bloom’s Taxonomy, teaching social studies has formerly favored the internalizing of knowledge and then regurgitating that knowledge in the form of essays and homework question responses. However, the emergence of social media allows for a story telling approach to be taken in actually applying knowledge in a meaningful way. I certainly could have written an essay about my travels but it was more engaging, meaningful and interesting to tell my story instead through Google Maps. Alan Levine’s (2007) “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story”, confirms that there is not just one storytelling tool, rather, there are different tools to meet the needs of each subject and story. While the map feature of Google Maps made it particularly applicable to the social studies context, there are also other tools that will, above all, engage students in creating meaningful reflections of their learning.

Reference List:

Lamb, B. (2007). Dr. Mashup; or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 42, no. 4 (July/August 2007): 12–25. Accessed online March 9 2009 http://www.educause.edu/ER/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume42/DrMashuporWhyEducatorsShouldLe/161747
As a new teacher in a tough job market, I have worn many “hats” in an effort to get my foot in the door. My experience is limited in terms of duration, but plentiful in terms of learning. In three years, I have worked in an elementary gifted program, in an elementary social development program, as an elementary learning assistance teacher, as a special needs case manager, as a grade 4/5 classroom teacher and as a K-12 substitute. I am taking the MET because I am a “techie” and I want to be on the front lines of integrating technology into education. My goals for ETEC 565 are quite simple. I want to learn about how to select appropriate learning technologies and how to use technology as part of communication and assessment within the classroom.

LMS
I want to learn about how to use an LMS like Moodle effectively with intermediate elementary students. I hope to learn how a LMS can be a tool for creating independence among learners and as a tool for organizing students.

Synchronous communication
As far a communication goes in the evolving field of educational technology, asynchronous communication has taken precedence. Now that mainstream technology has made synchronous communication more available (ie. Cameras, speakers and microphones are built in to most newer computers/laptops), I am curious to see how it is integrated into online learning. I have used Elluminate (for an ETEC 510 project) and Vista chat already. I am confident that I can master the use of synchronous communication tools by simply being told about the options available! Synchronous communication would be very much supported by both Chickering and Gamson and Bates and Poole as it allows for prompt feedback, encourages interaction between faculty and student as well as reciprocity between students and allows for a level of (I)nteractivity that is second only to face to face communication.

Assessment
I would like to learn about the most effective options for assessment that would provide prompt feedback to students. Chickering and Gamson’s “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” (1987) lists prompt feedback as one of its practices and I think this can be better achieved by using an LMS to submit assignments, direct email between students and instructors and delivering practice quizzes with automatic assessment.

Social software
Keeping the Bates and Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework in mind, I wonder if social software can be a way to meet the interests of the age group of students that I am teaching. I hope that ETEC 565 can guide me in using social software in such a way that it appeals to my students and has them associating social software with meeting their academic needs rather than just solely for pleasure purposes.

Multimedia
For me, multimedia tools resonate with Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) principle of “respect[ing] diverse talents and ways of learning”. There are many ways to incorporate multimedia into teaching and learning and I hope to learn how to embed these activities within a site.

References
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p. 3-7.
I can’t paste a chart here in WordPress so for the full “effect” I have attached my Multimedia Inventory as a Word doc.

View my Multimedia Inventory

Note: I don’t foresee having to submit a proposal in order to be able to use an LMS. Since I don’t have a permanent contract and have been working between 2 school districts, at this point I would use my own personal website to host my LMS. For the purpose of this assignment, I am assuming that a district would want a written proposal for the purpose of having Moodle installed on the district site.

LMS Proposal

As one of the goals of our school district is to increase the use of educational technology in the classroom, I am proposing that the district adopt a Learning Management System (LMS) that would meet the needs of students and many interested teachers. As per the ISTE’s 2008 Standards for Teachers, the ability to “design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments” is listed as one of the essential components with respect to the use of educational technology (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). By using an online platform in order to deliver content, students will be able to enhance their learning experience both in terms of subject content and digital prowess.

I would like to propose Moodle for the LMS as it is the most logical platform both for students and teachers. As we are working in a K-12 environment in the public school setting, I first made a list of “must haves” that I took into consideration before recommending an LMS. My list was influenced by Bates and Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework which was created in order to provide a framework for the selection of educational technology tools. In reviewing this framework, I considered “Ease of use”, “Students”, “Teaching and Learning”, “Interactivity”, “Organization” and “Cost” to be the most applicable with “Cost” ultimately being the decisive factor. I think applying the SECTIONS framework is essential in ensuring that the district adopts an LMS that will provide the best fit.

– Free
– Support must be available
– Ability to upload documents (.pdf, .doc, .ppt), images (.jpg, .tiff) and multimedia (.mov, .mp3).
– Discussion forum in order to support an interactive environment.
– Ease of use for teacher and students – The chosen LMS should be relatively easy for teachers who are technological novices to learn and should be easy for students as young as 10 to navigate.
– Organized – It must make sense… activities and assignments need to be located in a logical and obvious position.

After researching other LMS (WebCT/Vista and Sharepoint LMS), I have concluded that both of those would meet the needs of our district in every area except for cost. At this point an LMS is a new technology for the district to adopt and in the process of seeing how teachers and students use it, I propose that we adopt an open source system that does not have a price tag. The cost for this implementation with be nothing. The Moodle code is free and existing expenses in the district will cover the web hosting required. Support is a crucial issue when considering new educational technology, as evidenced when the district brought in SmartBoards last year. Technological support for teachers will not be instantly provided through a third party but there is a lot of great help guides and video tutorials on the web and the Moodle community is also very supportive. The District Technology Team could take it upon themselves to provide some after school inservice about getting started with Moodle and use the District Technology Sharepoint site as a forum for educators to ask each other support questions. I recognize that hosted support through an LMS is ideal, however, I think you will find that many teachers in the district are already familiar with Moodle and our district is very supportive when it comes to teachers helping teachers. Everyone using Moodle has had to rely on online tutorials and literature, therefore, these materials have been refined into very user friendly and easy to understand resources.

Several of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education would also be supported, particularly the ability of Moodle to use active learning techniques. In my experience navigating through Moodle courses and starting to build my own Moodle course, I am confident that students will be thoroughly engaged through interaction with peers, navigating through content and links and producing their own content and ideas for others to see. The Moodle environment has all of the functions to support an active learning environment and this can be further achieved by applying Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) principles during the creation of course content.

I feel that Moodle is a great platform for the purpose of the district’s educational objectives and by installing Moodle, I think that both those experienced and starting out with educational technology will be able to provide their students with an active and progressive 21st century learning experience.

Please see the following links for more information:

– Moodle as used by most of the teaching staff at Maple Ridge Secondary
– Moodle’ official site
– Moodle tutorials
– ISTE’s Standards for Teachers 2008

Reference List:

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p. 3-7.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Retrieved May 30, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Sta ndards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

My tools subscribe to the first model mentioned by Anderson (2008), the community of learning model, as my LMS is set up such that the activities and assignments read like a traditional classroom with the purpose of the LMS being to have the students work within the technological environment as a means to expand their learning horizons rather than the LMS acting as a platform for distance learning. It is my hope than an LMS can be a balance for my middle school students that bridge their knowledge inside and outside of the classroom.

Discussion Forum (Asynchronous Communication Tool)

A single, simple discussion forum is easy to use with few steps involved and brings a collaborative venue to the course that allows (or sometimes forces) students to interact with each other about the subject matter. It allows students to post their work and receive feedback from someone other than the teacher and allows them to see both the quality and content of work from other students. Students are also exposed to opinions and perspectives that may challenge or inspire their own learning. Discussion forums are limited by the fact that since they aren’t in “real time” responses can be scripted and carefully worded (which may not necessarily be a negative thing when working with middle school students). As my target students are not as inclined to participate in face-to-face discussions, it is my belief that a discussion forum can be a low risk tool for them, especially for those students who have a difficult time articulating their thoughts with time constraints. Tone is also lost as is the nature of an asynchronous communication tool. Note that within my LMS there are several discussion forums, providing both entire class forums and small group forums. It is my hope that in facilitating discourse through these forums, my students will become a part of a community of inquiry, articulate their ideas to others and uncover misconceptions in their own thinking (Anderson, 2008, p.10). Anderson (2008) speaks of teachers modeling appropriate responses to discussion questions, particularly at the beginning of a course, and I have done this by setting the tone for responses in my “Icebreaker” discussion forum.

Chat (Synchronous Communication Tool)

I chose chat as synchronous communication tool because it too is relatively easy to use with few steps and students are familiar with using such devices. In my own practice, I am particularly interested in taking tools that students would use for play and having them use them for academic purposes. Chat allows for real time discussion and also forces students to adhere to a scheduled time. It is, however, limited by the fact that in Moodle students have to type their words rather than speak them, which can be onerous. Anderson (2008) notes that the issue of time zones can hinder synchronous communication, however, as I am operating in the K-12 context, my communication tools are targeting students who operate on very similar schedules within one time zone. Chat works effectively and presents students with a good introduction to using a synchronous communication tool in an academic environment. The required chat involves no teacher involvement which puts the responsibility on the students to organize their chat time and be accountable for showing up and participating – invaluable skills for middle school students. Note that within my LMS I have set up several different forms of chat rooms: a “help” chat that lists hours I will be present to speak with students, a study chat which is an optional forum for students to communicate in and a collaborative chat (Republic vs. Empire Chat) that is required in order for students to be able to complete a project. Like the discussion forums, my hope is that students will be able to see chat as a tool that can serve many purposes as opposed to just a one-dimensional component.

Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education lists “encourages contacts between students and faculty” as part of good practice. I think that the communication tools I have chosen are appropriate for my target students as they rely on student participation without the expectation that myself, as teacher, will be running the show. They are tools that manifest themselves in ways similar to familiar tools for students such as MSN Messenger, Skype, Facebook etc. and are beneficial from an assessment perspective as they allow the teacher to have a record of participation.

References:

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an Online Learning Context. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University. Accessed online 15 June 2009 http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/14_Anderson_2008_Anderson-DeliveryQualitySupport.pdf

Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p. 3-7.

Communication Tools – Activity and Rationale

Reflection

My experience creating quizzes in Moodle was made much easier by the fact that it is so easy to switch between creation mode and student view mode. The ability of the creator to select from a variety of question formats makes it easy to make a well balanced test and many of those formats have automatic grading built in giving the teacher more time to focus on providing feedback for short essay questions. As I noted in my rationale, programming meaningful feedback is difficult as feedback should tell students “exactly where they have gone wrong and what they can do about it” (Gibbs and Simpson, 2004, p. 18). I spent a lot of time contemplating how much feedback should be programmed. While it initially seemed like a good idea (since the option was there) to automatically program feedback for all of the questions, I decided against doing this in the interest of provide individualized, quality feedback to students in response to the answers on their summative test.

According to Gibbs and Simpson (2004), “students need to understand criteria in order to orient themselves appropriately to the assignment task” (p.20). Upon reflecting on this, I edited the criteria for most of the assignments I created before completing the assessment tools assignments in order to provide more details. I even had grade 7 students from my school read the criteria and tell me what their impression of it was.

One of the strengths of my formative quiz is the ability afforded by Moodle to allow me to program feedback that guides students towards what they should include in their answer. Since the quiz will allow students to see which multiple choice, short answer and matching questions they got right immediately, I wanted to include an option that would allow for automatic feedback to be provided for short essay questions but without having to go through all of the students responses myself. For question #10 on the quiz, I programmed feedback that gives students immediate reminders about what elements should be included in their answer. This allows students to compare their work and self-monitor their own answers. Additionally, question #11 of the quiz provides students with several examples of questions that may be asked on the summative test so that they can reflect on whether or not their understanding is where it needs to be.

Overall, I focused on the quiz/test assessment options for this assignment. I have many other assessments designed and as a result of doing this assignment, I did adjust criteria in order to adhere to some of the recommendations by Gibbs and Simpson (2004).

References:

Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Accessed online June 24, 2009 http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf

Assessment Tools – Activity and Rationale

For my grade 7 students learning about ancient civilizations, I chose to use a quiz as a formative assessment tool and a test as a summative assessment tool. “Modules 1 and 2 Quiz” is designed both to get students accustomed to taking a timed assessment within the LMS environment and to get students to test how well they have absorbed the information from the first two modules. The quiz is specifically set up such that students can take it multiple times and receive instant feedback on select questions when they submit the entire quiz. While Gibbs and Simpson find that “the quality of [student] learning has been shown to be higher in the assignment-based courses [than in exam based courses]” (p.7), I feel that students do require some exam style assessments in order to focus attention on the important aspects of the subject, give students opportunities to practice skills and consolidate learning and help students to monitor their progress (Gibbs and Simpson, 2004, p.11-12). Additionally, the last question of the quiz provides several examples of short essay questions that may be asked on the test later on in the unit.

“Modules 1, 2 and 3 Test – Ancient Rome” is the summative assessment tool for the first third of the ancient Rome unit. The test utilizes a variety of question formats and, for the short essay questions, draws upon understandings that students would have directly gained from their experience doing other assignments in the previous modules. Programming meaningful feedback is difficult as feedback should tell students “exactly where they have gone wrong and what they can do about it” (Gibbs and Simpson, 2004, p. 18). In order to ensure that feedback is reflective of instructional goals, feedback for short essay questions will be given based on individual answers. This is more time consuming than a stock answer but it will ensure that students know exactly how they are being assessed. In the formative quiz, students have some programmed feedback that gives them prompts about key understandings they need to have in order to answer the question correctly. However, in the summative test, some generalized feedback has been set up based on the total grade for the student but rather than giving qualitative (and unhelpful) feedback such as “good” or “poor”, generalized feedback such as the following has been programmed:

“50-60% – You have not demonstrated an understanding of some of the main ideas about ancient Rome. Next time, make sure you make use of the quiz provided as many of the test questions come from the quiz! The information presented on religion and government in ancient Rome will be important as we move on to the next modules. Please review the questions that you did not answer correctly and choose one of the short essay questions to re-answer and resubmit to me via email for additional marks”

While this is not a replacement for descriptive, individual feedback, it is proactive feedback that focuses on what a student needs to do next time and what they can do presently. It is my hope that feedback that focuses on “moving forward” will be helpful for students in determining what they need to do for next time.

Related to these quizzes is a formative assessment and study tool activity that I have set up in the form of a glossary (“Glossary Entry #1”). Students are tasked with the following activity:

1. Add an entry to the Ancient Rome Glossary (at the top of the course page underneath the image) with a term, person or structure that pertains to Module 1, 2 or 3.
   Criteria
   • entry should be a minimum of 50 words.
   • entry must not be a duplicate
   • define your entry as it relates to ancient Rome (for example, if you choose to add “immortal” make sure you say who in Rome was immortal and what significance those immortals had on religion, society etc.)
     Once finished, click “edit submission” on this page and type in the name of your entry then click “submit”.
2. Additionally, you will need to add the emperor that you selected for your Facebook profile assignment to the Glossary. As others may have also chosen the same one, you are all responsible for contributing some information.
3. You are required to make comments on at least 1 of the glossary entries of other students in order to improve their entry (see examples under Julius Caesar entry).
4. You are also required to rate at least 1 of the glossary entries and explain the reasoning behind your rating in a respectful manner (ie. 5/5 – the important details of Julius Caesar’s life are clear and his important role in the end of the Republic is explained well. Ie. 1/5 – the dates that Caesar ruled are incorrect and so is the information about which triumverate Caesar was a part of. Also, Caesar is called an emperor but he wasn’t one.)

You will be authoring entries to this glossary as well as adding comments to existing entries. This glossary will serve as a study tool for quizzes and tests as well as a reference tool for assignments.

According to Gibbs and Simpson (2004), “students need to understand criteria in order to orient themselves appropriately to the assignment task” (p.20). While this seems like a given, many assignments do not come with clear criteria which can cause confusion and anxiety. The criteria given for this glossary comes with clear guideline about length, the type of term students should select, what “tasks within the task” they need to complete and examples about how to do something they would not have done before in Moodle (providing ratings/comments). Additionally, tasks are numbered to ensure that students are aware of exactly how many components they need to complete.

This activity has several purposes. First, it sets students up with a tool they can use to study and models efficient organization. Second, it allows for students to take information and present it in their own words and also apply it to other understandings from the unit. Third, it allows for students to improve upon their work and the work of others. By enabling tools that allow for students to add comments and rate entries, students are able to improve an entry by providing additional information and provide peers with formative feedback that lets them know how they can improve their entry. Students, conscious of the fact that their entries will be viewed by both their teacher and peers, may “supervise themselves and improve the quality of their own assignments prior to submitting them” (Gibbs and Simpson, 2004, p.20). This activity allows for the teacher check for understanding, insightful connections and correct information. The teacher will also make comments and add ratings to entries in order to guide students in their learning.

In keeping with the recommendation by Gibbs and Simpson (2004) that frequent assignments are more effective in distributing student effort than infrequent, intensive assignments, many assignments in my unit are provided that see students working individually and collaboratively, within the LMS and outside of the LMS, with audio, visual and text and in a timed and untimed environment. Hopefully this approach to assessment will have students recognizing the importance of all assessment tasks and not feeling the anxiety associated with an exam-only based learning environment.

References:

Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Accessed online June 24, 2009 http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf