Project Documentation:
For the second portion of the assignment we have decided to submit second module of the course. This particular module looks will provide students with learning resources that will help them to construct a definition of the United Nations and understand how it generally works. Module #2 spans a three week period where readings and activities are chunked into three mini-units lasting one week each. The Global Citizenship program is designed for highly able and gifted learners, in grades six and seven, who have been selected by their home school to take part in enrichment opportunities at the Vancouver School Board’s Challenge Centre. During the course of the program, the students will learn the knowledge and skills necessary to take part in a model UN where they will assume the role of a UN delegate and attempt to debate and solve current global issues occurring around the world.
Functionality, Affordances and Limitations of Moodle:
The main reason we chose to use Moodle for the course platform was the fact that the LMS system was free to use while still offering many of the features that paid LMS systems possess. The cost factor is a major driving force behind our decision considering the complexities associated with funding and education. Along with its low cost, Moodle is quite easy to implement and very user friendly. Moodle allows the course designer to present the course in a linear fashion which is less confusing for the user. Additionally, an entire module and all of its contents can be placed on a single page and learning resources are easily uploaded onto the course webpages. We felt that it was crucial that all resources could be loaded directly onto the course modules within the Moodle course as we didn’t want students to have to login to various sites to access information, discussions and quizzes.
One of the major limitations we experienced when using Moodle was the fact that customization was difficult to learn and generally lacked visual stimulation. It took a great deal of time and effort to have the course look visually pleasing for the users. Although Moodle works well for the program we have specifically designed, if the Vancouver Board of Education decided to use the system for all online programs offered in the district, the system would not be able to keep up with the large online community. This might be a factor against using Moodle in the future.
How does the design of the course address the requirements and needs of the learner?
Students who are gifted or in need of enrichment require a learning environment that is challenging and stimulating. It is essential that programming for highly able learners encourages students to grapple with big ideas and employ higher order thinking skills to solve real world problems. The online course allows students a flexible learning environment where they can work at their own pace toward course goals. The course requires students to work through the modules on a weekly basis and participate in activities the week in which it is assigned. We thought that discussions would be more meaningful if all students were discussing the same questions on the same week. However, we did allow students the capability of reading ahead if they wished to do so.
A variety of learning resources were included in the module in order to address the learning needs of each student. Our goal, when choosing learning resources and course activities, was to ensure that we considered student learning strengths and multiple intelligences. Therefore, visuals, text documents, games and videos were presented to students in each unit. We also thought it was important to allow students to choose the format in which they decided to present their summative piece during week three.
Active participation and engagement is essential for success in the course. Therefore, content and material need to be stimulating and interesting. Throughout the course, students are regularly required to employ higher order thinking skills in order to answer questions and debate topics in the discussion forums. When designing the course, we generally followed a constructivist approach to learning. Students in the course would essentially become active learners rather than passive learners who simply ingest knowledge and information that is thrown at them. We thought it was important to allow students to construct their own knowledge through experiences and encouraged students to actively reflect on their experiences through discussion posts and assignments. For optimal learning, students were required to ask questions, explore content and consistently assess existing knowledge by attempting to solve real world problems. Throughout the course, students were encouraged to collaborate and actively participate in their learning environment.
How does the design of the course address the requirements and needs of the instructors?
Although the given online course could run sufficiently with little instructor presence, the goal of the online course emphasizes that instructor presence is paramount in providing students with an optimal learning experience. This is especially true when considering that the online course would be, for most students, the first time they would be participating in an online course. During the course of the program, instructors would be actively engaged in the class discussions and would be required to provide feedback regularly to students. This is an essential role the instructor would take as they would need to help model proper discussion etiquette and pose questions in the discussion forum that will require students to employ higher order thinking skills and foster more meaningful responses. As the learning environment promotes a constructivist approach, the instructor would essentially take on a facilitative role and help students to construct their own knowledge by providing students opportunities to problem solve and draw their own conclusions. Rather than simply answering questions, instructors will guide students to think critically and deeply about important issues and big ideas.
Much of the instructor’s preparation would be front-end heavy as most of the content and learning resources would need to be made available to students on the LMS. Once the course is created in its entirety, little preparation would be required thereafter. However, at the beginning of the course each year, the instructor would be required to go through the course to ensure all links to online resources work correctly. Most of the units include online learning resources such as YouTube video clips and website links. Instructors will also need to keep up to date with any changes to UN members, goals and objectives and change resources as necessary.
How does the design of the course address the needs and requirements of the organization?
The Global Citizenship course truly embraces the Vancouver School Board’s (2016) vision “to enable students to reach their intellectual, social, aesthetic and physical potential in challenging and stimulating settings which reflect the worth of each individual and promote mutual respect, cooperation and social responsibility”. The program would successfully provide highly able learners with a flexible learning environment where students could fully immerse themselves in a challenging and stimulating learning environment. The program would allow students to engage in in-depth discussions with like-minded peers and grapple with real-world problems affecting the world.
The design process would require instructors to collaborate with VSB IT support in order to get the program off and running. The IT support would be necessary to ensure all protocols and regulations of the VSB are addressed and to ensure that student access to the course could be made available from the main VSB website. The program would be offered through the Vancouver Learning Network, a district wide initiative where online courses are made available to students from K-12 in the Vancouver District. Existing Challenge Centre teachers would teach the course as one of their enrichment programs. Therefore, further funding for instructors would not be necessary. However, Challenge Centre teachers may need additional training with regards to protocols followed by the VLN itself.
How does the design of the course address the requirements and needs of the educational community?
As mentioned, the intended learning community for this course is participants in the VSB Challenge Centre program at General Brock elementary school. This course needed to fit the following design criteria to be a viable product in the Challenge Program:
- It needed to be accessible (student can access from anywhere)
- It needed to be able to be hosted on a VSB server (VSB maintains a Moodle server)
- It needed to be linear and time-controlled so that student would move together towards the culminating activity in weeks 11 and 12
- It needed to be engaging, with discussion embedded for student interactivity
- It needed to be different from instruction given in the students’ enrolled schools (the purpose of the Challenge Centre is to provide an alternate means of challenging thinking/learning
References
Vancouver School Board. 2016. Our District. Retrieved from https://www.vsb.bc.ca/about-vsb