Hi Folks,
Here’s the posting of my communication tools assignment:
Communication Tools Selection
For my Social Studies 11 human geography unit assignment within Moodle I have chosen two forms of communication. In order to explain my choices I will give a short overview of the assignment I have tied them to. The assignment asks students to compare the living standards of a developed and developing country using a number of common indicators. They are given the CIA World Factbook webpage as a resource to use in finding this information. The students then have to post and compare their information for each country. Following this, they will write a summary of their information in which they have to account for the differences and similarities between their two countries.
I have set up a discussion forum where the students are asked to post their findings and then read and comment on the findings of two other students in the class. This way they will be able to see how others in the class have interpreted similar information from other countries. This back and forth exchange will help them to get a better understanding of living standards by perhaps offering up further insight that they may not have considered on their own. As well, it may reaffirm what they have already learned if others are coming to similar conclusions, thus reinforcing their learning. This space can be both asynchronous and synchronous as students could be posting at the same time or at different times. Students who have connectivity issues outside of school would be expected to complete this portion of the assignment within class so that they are able to participate fully.
For a second communication device, I have set up a chat space within Moodle in which the students are asked to discuss the project in a more informal manner. Within this space I would expect students to go beyond the focus of the discussion forum and look at other issues and factors that contribute to the disparate differences in living standards between developed and developing countries. I would have a set time for this to be done within class so that I could ensure participation. Doing this within a classroom should eliminate any issues around time constraints, connectivity, or compatibility issues for students because they would all be participating in a controlled environment. Connectivity can be an issue for some students at home where I am teaching so I felt it was necessary to provide a space that could be used asynchronously at school.
I would hope that these tools would enhance the educational experience of students because they will be able to take their findings and share them with others in the class in a different way than they are used to. Hopefully, this would allow the students to further synthesize the information. I also feel that both of these tools are a good way for students who are normally hesitant to participate in class discussions to have their voice heard. They are able compose their thoughts and respond in such a way that there is less pressure to come up with a comment immediately as is more likely to happen in a face to face classroom discussion.
There are limitations to both of these tools. In both cases, student participation is integral to their productive use. If students simply choose not to participate then there is the possibility that the experience may be lacking for students. As well, high school students being who they are, it may be difficult to keep them on task during the discussion. It is for this reason that I think it is important that I moderate the discussion, particularly within the chat space so that students remain on task. That is not to say that I want to dominate or even lead the discussion. Instead I would remain on the sidelines only stepping in where appropriate.
Both the discussion forum and chat space are housed within Moodle and from what I have been able to see is that both work fine. It would be interesting to try these with a real class of Social Studies 11 students to see how effective they are.
References
Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an Online Learning Context. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University