Author Archives: mimi ross

Mimi’s Assignment 3 reflection

While I am familiar with the google applications for education, this is the first time that I have designed a specific unit of inquiry using a blended approach of in-class activities and assessments and a google classroom as an LMS. I decided to base my google classroom upon the BC grade 7 science curriculum which examines the history of life on Earth, evolution and genetics. Teaching in my IB PYP school, the expectation is that inquiry based learning is teacher guided, but student driven and collaborative as much as possible. My main concern was how I would be able to be true to the guided inquiry approach and utilize the google classrooom as an LMS.

 

I felt that by using Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS framework for making informed technological choices seemed straightforward when using the google classroom as an LMS. That is until I reviewed the Interaction section which addressed student to student interactions and to a certain extent student to teacher interactions as well. How was I going to be able to create activities that met the interaction requirements in a google classroom situation? The google slides assignment was created to give students a glimpse into my perspective as an instructor as well as the perspectives of their classmates. This activity was limited in nature, but the inclusion of peer to peer feedback was added in order to create a brief student to student interaction with an individual reflective component. Looking back, I see the need to investigate more conducive forms of interactive activities to create true peer to peer interaction within the introductory section.

 

Teaching grade 6 students in an inquiry environment it is vital for me to assess prior knowledge of the content before launching the unit of inquiry. The selection of the Padlet for the purpose allowed me to see their knowledge but more importantly any pre-existing ideas that might not be correct. Additionally, this allowed for other students to examine the knowledge base of their peers and to examine areas of interest that we might investigate moving forward. The focus assessment activity, the evolution quiz, was based upon Bate’s criteria for meaningful assessment, yet fell short in its ability to improve of extend student’s learning as the focus was designed to only test objective knowledge of facts and the short term questions were subjective. My future assessment activities will be formative and ongoing in order to follow Gibson’s understanding that “students tend to gain higher marks from coursework assignments than they do from examinations.” (Gibson, 2014) Additionally, the activities and assessments need to be, as Gibson stated, “group projects that can engage students in much discussion and confront individuals with learning alternative views and different standards of work.” (Gibson, 2014)

 

This assignment really brought to the forefront my understanding of the importance of designing meaningful assessment that could then be used to work backwards to create activities and assignments with will work towards building learning. Given the limited nature of using google classrooms as an LMS for this unit of inquiry, I can see that I will be challenged, to say the least, in my ability to meet the criteria of the frameworks outlined in the articles by Bates (2014) and Gibsons & Simpson (2005)

 

 

Mimi’s LMS reflection

When reflecting upon the process of completing Assignment Two, I made connections back to Chickering’s article (1996) specifically the principles of reciprocity and cooperation among students and respecting diverse talents and ways of learning. Through the use of Google Hangouts and shared Google Documents, our team was able to learn face-to-face which allowed for the sharing of ideas and responding to others’ thinking. Generally, our conversations allowed us to build upon each other’s knowledge in order to produce a better product. As a team we agreed that a key criteria for an LMS to exceeded expectations was the inclusion of social media applications into the High Priority section of the rubric. This decision was based upon Spiro’s (2014) idea that the integration of social media tools into a LMS promotes stronger learning communities through faster communication and more engaging activities. Tools such as Twitter, blogs, wikis and social networking sites like Instagram when used effectively create strong student engagement.This assignment really brought to the forefront my understanding of how,” good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning.” Chickering & Ehrmann (1996) While some of my group members were academically and technologically strong, others were better organizers and leaders. Our diverse talents allowed for deeper collaboration and learning. Finally as an educator who strives to provide active learning for my students, I appreciated the necessity of applying the reading material and additional research articles in order to create a valuable assessment tool that met the requirements of the case study, as it created a situation where my ability to synthesize became the focus rather than my recall. It is clear that the use of Chickering and Ehrmann’s Seven Principles as a framework for creating assignments using technology is not just theoretical, but rather a practical design tool for teachers online and in the classroom.

Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S., C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved from http://www.aahea.org/articles/sevenprinciples.htm

Spiro, K. (2014). 5 elearning trends leading to the end of the Learning Management Systems. Retrieved from http://elearningindustry.com/5-elearning-trends-leading-to-the-end-of-the-learning-management-system

 

Flight Path and detours…

As an avid traveller, I have been fortunate enough to be able to travel to several different continents with my longest flight time being a combined 23 hours in the air, therefore the Flight Plan analogy really appealed to me. I often plan my trips in detail by researching for months in advance of the trip filling a notebook full of helpful tips, unique activities and of course, the best local restaurants. Therefore when I began my journey through the MET program, I imagined that my flight would be a relatively smooth, easy trip from being a confident digital tourist to an advanced technology guide capable of utilizing the latest and best educational applications in my classroom. However, to my surprise, my plane was diverted to other places along the way. Continue reading →