Category Archives: Assignment 2: Intro Module

In my district we have access to Moodle shells created by BC teachers. It is fantastic to have access to these but there is currently no training available. It has been very challenging as everything is a challenge.  I was delighted to be able to work with Moodle through this course simply because it allows me more time working in the platform and experimenting with its functionality.

This year I am also experimenting teaching blended social studies and English courses as humanities. What I’ve been doing is crafting an in class English course that mirrors the socials course I have access to on Moodle. I have really liked the option of teaching a blended class because students are able to work independently while I can tutor them one-on-one.

My dream for this project was to create an online English class that parallels the socials course. I took my in class course and began adapting it. Ideally students would take both the courses together and they would be fully inclusive, though I would supplement through various class activities and discussion that will not be mentioned. In my context this would be wonderful as students are often absent for a variety of reasons. This way they would always be responsible for their learning only that learning would be richer and more supported when they were at school. In this way I would be allowing more students to be successful in their learning.  

I have noticed many challenges while working on this project, for one, the time investment required to create these courses is incredible. They should really be created by a team of people. I don’t see it being very feasible for one teacher to design the variety of courses that I teach without being guaranteed them for several years through a permanent contract.

The issue of copyright is also an important one when looking into creating online courses. I modelled my courses after the shells that I have access to. I did this because I wanted continuity across courses for the students. While doing so, I realized that the courses don’t cite their information. I feel like this must be in copyright violation. What I did was simply to link to outside content. It makes my pages look sparse but I feel like it is a safe method to choose.

I also found it to be very frustrating trying to upload files and facing error messages. Sometimes it was frustrating enough that I would working on the project for the day. I think that the internet access and bandwidth at my school may be a real challenge, especially with the lack of support in the district.

Continuing with my course design, I tried to think about how I could include practice for each of the skills to make sure students are spending enough time engaging with the material. Sometimes I used games and sometimes I gave assignments. I feel that, as I taught this course, I would want to update it and make some changes. I wanted to include examples for each assignment but I did not feel like I had the time to do that. Had I been teaching this course before I would have used student exemplars. I think that it would be nice to have a rough outline of the course and to update it every year. Again I feel like this would be better accomplished with teachers working as a team.

I tried to keep the information on the page minimal and to include different types of media. I did not want students to be overwhelmed by text and I wanted to be sure I allowed for different modalities. Gibbs & Simpson say that the “trick when designing assessment regimes is to generate engagement with learning tasks without generating piles of marking” (2005). I think the quiz feature on Moodle is great for this as you can input feedback when students make mistakes and it is automatically given when the quiz is automatically graded. For this project I chose to use a sample provincial exam to assess nonfiction reading. In that way I am helping the students to prepare for the exam while covering my standards for this unit.

Working through this assignment has been a good chance for experimentation. If, “the initial selection of an enterprise-wide LMS is a high stakes and high risk decision which involves a great deal of technological and institutional forecasting” (Coates, James & Baldwin, 2005) then it is important to take the time to test it out. Unlike the universities mentioned by Coates, James & Baldwin, at my level the challenges and costs are borne by the public school teacher alone and a lot of thought must be put in by me to see if the cost of creating these courses is worth it for the relative gain.
Works Cited

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved fromhttp://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf

“Cracking the Code”: A reflection on Moodle course creation

I had previously wondered on the creation of on-line courses; what tasks and tools one would need.  I imagined something similar to the drag and drop format found currently in the creation of certain web pages, in which you can customize to your hearts content. I had never imagined the opportunities offered by Moodle.

I must admit that I was not expected to be greeted by a blank page of html formatting.   I had never been granted the opportunity to simply create; I worked within the affordances of tightly closed systems.  This opportunity was empowering, tantalizing and downright scary.   I sat, trying to recall how to code;  I had used Logo in the 80’s, coded with html for a week at university and navigated around Joomla for a while, yet in each of these scenarios I following specific guidelines. The blank page provided by Moodle left much to consider, much to do and much to code.  At first, I was lost among the barrage of <> , </>, yet I was determined to crack the code.  With the help of online resources such as W3Schools, I was off and coding.  From there I was able to code every page of the course being so pleased when the code transformed itself on the screen.  I then knew that I had at my disposal an amazingly complex language that would allow me to create an online course. Asides from creating the actual course, I was looking forward to experiment with one of the main affordance of online courses; its ability to provide feedback and engage learners.

Designing a course: the Importance of feedback

Providing feedback in a timely manner has always been tricky.  I often found myself awkwardly juggling quantity over quality, similar to the situation described by Gibbs, Simpson, Gravestock, and Hills (2005).  The result was less than glamorous. Therefore, I wanted the sample assessment, and site in general, to provide the learners with relevant and timely feedback.

Badges

Before the MET, I assumed that badges were only suitable for use in younger grades. However, having tried them myself I realized their potential at all grade levels.  I was curious if this potential would also be perceived by someone outside of the field of education; my husband.  After completing the Introductory Unit, I asked him about the feedback he received from having obtained the first badge.  He said it “brought a sense of closure.  As it leaves a trace, it is a record of what I had accomplished; it makes the activities seemingly more substantial, that they counted for something. (…) A list of checkmarks would not have had the same effect. “

Choice of Assessment

While creating the module, I constantly thought of the question I most often heard from my students; “Is this worth marks?”  This experience mirrors the notion of assessment as a driving force for student learning (Bates, 2014; Gibbs et al., 2005). Instructors must ensure that the students know where there grades are coming from.  I thought about the concepts that would be covered in the course and the type of activities and assessments that best suited each, similar to the notion that learning theories should be applied to the tasks to which they are best suited (Prensky, 2003).  The periodic table, for example, is often considered an ideal candidate for “traditional” testing and multiple choice questions (MCQs, whereas skills such as evaluating environmental impacts are best assessed through other formats such as case studies.

The amount of work behind the creation of online assessments quickly became apparent.  These online assessments not only need to provide students with regular and comprehensive feedback to foster learning (Gibbs et al., 2005),  but they had to, in a certain way, stand alone; the instructor could not make adjustments or offer assistance if the need should arise.

Based on the readings of Bates (2014),Gibbs et al. (2005) and Jenkins (2004), I made and updated a list of questions and steps that I considered relevant  while creating assessments for an effective learning environment.

1. What is the purpose of the assessment?
2. What options/affordances could I use from Moodle to cater to this particular purpose?(type of assessment)
3. What is the appropriate length of assessment to meet this purpose?
4. What concepts did I want to evaluate?
5. What question format is best suited for the complexity of each concept?
6. What do I want the students to get out of the feedback?
7. Write the questions clearly and succinctly so that students will understand and not get caught up in details you cannot answer on the spot.
8. Create a list of possible errors students might make
9. Come up with useful and relevant feedback to reinforce correct answers and offer support for incorrect answers

In my context, formative assessments and feedback have been phased out in lieu of summative assessments that served the sole purpose of assessing whether the students had acquired the desired concepts.  These assessments were corrected and the class moved on to a new subject never truly providing an opportunity to apply the given feedback.   I wanted to create an assessment that would serve as both a way to test students’ current knowledge and to offer them constructive feedback that they would actually consider relevant.  I wanted to create an assessment that above everything would “improve and extend students’ learning” (Bates, 2014).

By browsing the assessment options in Moodle, I was met by a wave of potential, yet I feared applying an unfamiliar assessment method in a haphazard manner would not give the desired result. I selected the standard quiz format due to its similarities with my current practices, which would ease its proper integration (Ertmer, 2005). I hope to use various forms of assessment throughout the content module.

The quiz format on Moodle can easily house many different question formats, support the selected purpose of the assessment and provide opportunities for immediate feedback.  I chose to provide the feedback at the end of the quiz, to reduce student stress mid-assessment, especially as it is a timed assessment.  To ensure that the feedback is carefully considered by the students, an issue described by (Gibbs et al., 2005), the designed quiz can be attempted twice.  These options provide many advantages.  First, as they help decrease student stress, it allows the mind of students to be open to learning (Willis, 2011) and receiving feedback.  Secondly, by allowing more than one attempt, it renders the feedback of the first attempt immediately relevant; addressing the 6^th and 9^th condition mentioned by (Gibbs et al., 2005).  A 30 minute window in between attempts was implemented to provide the learner with time to reflect on their result and consolidate their learning, leading to a higher chance of knowledge transfer.  (Anderson, 2008a).  Finally, the best of both scores on this particular assessment will be kept, allowing the 1^st attempt to serve as a formative assessment.  “Remedial feedback”(Gibbs et al., 2005) for incorrect answers and constructive feedback that consolidates knowledge of those who answered correctly was created for each automatically graded question.  Furthermore, to diminish the possibility that students simply write down the correct answers in order, an issue similar to plagiarism that often arises with computer-assisted-assessment (Jenkins, 2004), the order of the questions and of the response items were randomized. Through these options I hoped to address the condition necessary for effective assessment and feedback.

Conclusion

One of the largest misconceptions I had regarding the LMS and online courses was that it, in its entirety, had to stand alone, similar to a webpage. An effective learning environment and online course should provide the scaffolding and space for discourse and learning, not the entire construct as an immovable object.  The main affordances of an LMS are enabled by the fact that it is made up of the participants that inhabit its forums and interact with its content; it does not stand-alone, it is an extension of the instructor and the students. I hope that I established a strong teacher-presence throughout the website, allowing for many forms of interaction and communication.  Question forums are etablished throughout the site and the News feed provides the mean to update students quickly should something arise.

References

Anderson, T. (2008a). Towards a theory of online learning. Theory and practice of online learning, 2, 15-44.

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Open Textbook.

Ertmer, P. A. (2005). Teacher Pedagogical Beliefs: The Final Frontier in Our Quest for Technology Integration? Educational technology research and development, 53(4), 25-39.  Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/30221207

Gibbs, G., Simpson, C., Gravestock, P., & Hills, M. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.

Jenkins, M. (2004). Unfulfilled promise: formative assessment using computer-aided assessment. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 67-80.

Prensky, M. (2003). Digital game-based learning. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 1(1), 21-21.

Willis, J. (Producer). (2011). Big Thinker: Judy Wollis Neurologist Turned Educator. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=J6FqAiAbUFs

My experience completing the LMS Introdution Module

Creating an online course using the LMS “Moodle” platform seemed daunting at first. I had only heard of this system before, never had I actually seen it in action. The reason why I chose Moodle over Connect was because I know some elementary schools do use it and I thought it would benefit me later down the road in my teaching career. I am glad I chose it though, since it allowed me to be creative, see first hand just how to create an online course, and to hopefully put my work to good use one day. I had to watch tutorials on youtube to be honest, to get a sense of all the different functions available for me to use. It was like riding a bicycle for the first time. You’ve heard of it and seen it, but never have test driven it.

I found creating the online quiz to be the most challenging for me. There are so many different functions available and I just didn’t know how to tackle it at first. It was like trial and error for me. I would play around with the different drop down menus, switch off the editing mode so I can see what the students would see if they were to view the page and so forth. Once I created all my questions for the quiz, it mysteriously disappeared on me and I was in a panic. I had no idea where they went. Turns out they were in the question bank, only to find another struggle of importing them back into the quiz.

Future Communication and Assessment Strategies

I agree with Bates’ (2014) statement when he says that learner’s may not want or need to be formally evaluated. Instead, they would prefer feedback on the assignment or task. Does the student really understand this? If not, will verbal or written feedback be sufficient? This brings me back to last summer when I taught English 11 face to face. At the end of the course I sent out a questionnaire asking things such as, “What can the instructor do next time he teaches the course?” The majority of them responded that they didn’t want a mark on their essay, but feedback instead. I thought to myself, wow! Okay then, next time I teach this course which will be this summer, I will provide more feedback but still have some marks as I need a summative assessment. I thought that since it is face-to-face, I will ask them to come up one by one and have a “check-in” with me to let them know how they are doing and allow them time for them to ask me any questions. Now, with my LMS English course, I would do the same. I would provide more written feedback and allow them to have a virtual office visit at least twice in the semester. This would allow me to talk to them online over Skype to have a more face-to-face visit.

I always thought it was true and Gibbs and Simpson (2005) just confirmed my belief, students usually achieve higher marks on course assignments than on course examinations. For my Intro Module online course, I created a summative quiz on a novel study we would read titled, Lord of the Flies. I like this because it provides instant feedback to the students, and it’s also less work for the teacher to mark. However, I don’t like giving all my students only quizzes, tests or exams. I like to include projects (solo or group) as another form of summative or formative assessment. One form of summative assessment that I would include in my online course, would be a mind map that would have to include all the characters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth linking the different relationships and a description of each. The students could choose the software platform they would like to use such as bubbl.us or mindmup and then could post their link on a forum. I like this strategy as it doesn’t include an exam and is another way for the students to share and test their knowledge of the content we are studying.

The different types of communication I’ve included in my LMS course is both synchronous and asynchronous. I’ve included a forum for students to ask each other or myself any question they may have for asynchronous communication, and I have also included a live chat for my virtual office hours for synchronous communication. I like both of these as it allows my students to choose their desired form of communication. I noted on my course that I will be unavailable on Sunday. I think it’s important for teachers and students to step away from the computer to regroup and reflect.

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports student’s learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved from  http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf

I chose to create an online version of my Grade 7 Visual Arts class – AVI 7X1. It is a compulsory full year course offered to grade 7 students at my school. I choose this course as the Grade 7 program is part of our 1:1 iPad program and I have spent the better part of the past 2 years developing an arts program which makes use of technology – choosing an online platform for the delivery of the course seemed like the logical next step. While I don’t think I would ever like to see the course offered exclusively online, I am very interested in how the course would function in a blended learning environment where students met in class once every cycle to work in a ‘studio’ environment.

EXPERIENCES WITH MOODLE:

So far, my overall experience with Moodle has been positive. The platform itself is user-friendly and functions well on different platforms and operating systems (I worked on several computers, using different OS). The iOS experience was natural as well, however I would like to see a program specific app which would make taking a course in Moodle on a tablet more practical. App alerts and notifications would keep users up-to-date in their course, and make the experience more natural. One particular issue I experienced on the iPad was with file upload – this was limited to images in the Camera Roll only – I was unable to access any cloud-based storage device.

In a traditional computer experience adding files, links and images is easy and the simple text editor allows for easy construction of pages that look uniform. I found it very helpful to have two screens running at the same time – one logged in as myself, the other logged in as the student. This way I could make changes to a page or setting and save on one computer and see the results on the other screen without having to log out or ‘change roles’. It would be a nice feature if Moodle incorporated a ‘preview’ function which acted as a quick way to see the page without having to save and leave the editing screen. One of my biggest issues working with Moodle is the speed at which pages load – the slow process was an impediment to the design process.

I was happy to see that Moodle has a Badge system created and I was able to include several tasks that when completed, students are awarded a badge. These tasks fall outside of the course requirements and include such tasks as updating the profile, adding a post, replying to a peer, etc. However, I wish Moodle included a ‘Badge’ page where students were notified when they were awarded a badge – I found it difficult to find where badges were collected and stored – it was only after some research online that I discovered they are part of the user profile.

While the overall experience was positive, I do have some concerns with the Gradebook employed in Moodle. In Ontario, teachers are required to assess learning at various stages of the unit. Reflections, quizzes, exit tickets, peer evaluations are all important forms of assessment, but ones that do not affect the overall average of the student. According to ‘Growing Success’ (a Ministry of Education document)  these are called Assessments ‘As’ and ‘For’ learning as they are for the student and teacher to determine progress throughout the unit. Each unit must also include a culminating task (an Assessment ‘Of’ Learning) which addresses all four categories of the achievement chart (Knowledge, Thinking and Inquiry, Communication and Application). In a typical course, the term work makes up 70% of the final grade while a Summative Assessment (usually an exam) makes up the remaining 30%. The 70% term work must be divided into the four achievement chart categories (for example, 15% Knowledge, 15% Thinking, 20% Communication, 20% Application) and each culminating task in a unit must address all four achievement chart categories. So, if at the end of Module 3 I ask my students to complete a painting, my rubric must include Knowledge, Thinking and Inquiry, Communication and Application categories. I was able to create the 4 categories in my Moodle Gradebook, however I am unable to assign them a percentage of my overall course. Additionally, when I create an assessment tool I am unable to direct specific questions to different categories. Currently my online test for Module 2 falls under the Knowledge category – however various sections of my test address different categories of the achievement chart. I researched this and found that this is a short-coming of Moodle and is the key reason it has not been adopted fully in Ontario.

FUTURE STRATEGIES FOR COMMUNICATION AND ASSESSMENT:

Looking ahead at my course there are several communication strategies that I would like to include in the upcoming units. The first strategy is video tutorials – an integral part of my teaching is in-class demonstrations and this needs to be addressed in any online version of my course. I have already begun to record some of the instructional demonstrations that I complete in class, using my document camera to capture lessons on painting techniques, shading practices, proper form and technique, etc. I will begin to include these ‘Video Lessons’ into the structure of my units. By demonstrating for my students I provide them with a different learning strategy – one different then the text-heavy nature of traditional eLearning environments. Also, I will look at providing students with examples and links to practicing artists. By looking at the work of actual artists, students will be able to understand the skills they are developing in a real-world context. As Anderson notes, learning is ‘about making connections with ideas, facts, people and communities’ (pg. 49).

I will also ask students to create their own video demonstrations so that I and their peers may see their skill and provide feedback. Art is a discipline that is learned through practice and execution, thus the best strategy for assessment is one that relies on product versus testing. The ability for students to show their skill will provide students with an opportunity to not only display their understanding of the course but the discussion will help to build a sense of community in the course (Anderson, pg. 48).

eLearning experiences can become isolated environments, so I have considered some opportunities for small group learning and for full-class interaction. During Module 5, small groups will be formed and students will be asked to present some content to the class (a presentation on a member of the Group of Seven Painters). Part of the assessment will include a planning session which will include a synchronous video session using an online video platform. Students will then work together to create a learning activity for the entire class. Again, one of the goals of this type of exercise is to create a sense of community within the class, but also to introduce students to new learning platforms and applications available to them.

Anderson, T. (2008a). Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton AB: Athabasca University. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf

For the LMS design project I decided to use Moodle. I have seen people create Moodle pages in my other classes and wanted to use this as an opportunity to learn the platform.

Here is the link to my course: Summer Student Orientation

When I first started this assignment I felt very overwhelmed. Not only was I not familiar with how to use Moodle, I also had no content that was structured to be used for a multi-week program. I spent a lot of time upfront just brainstorming what I could adapt for this assignment. Eventually I came to the realization that there was no single program that would translate well in an online multi-week course, but I could combine multiple programs into a series. I decided to focus on the on-boarding program for our summer law student. Currently, the students go through a two week orientation which consists of live face to face information sessions, networking, and formal training. This is then followed by an eight week long professional development curriculum (with one program happening each week). Our department has considered putting some of this content online before so this assignment is a great opportunity to test that out. I selected five sessions that I thought would lend themselves well to an online environment and created the Summer Student Orientation program.

To build my course, I first looked at the examples provided. Certain features really stood out to me. I took note of the aspects I liked and started to form an idea on how to structure my site. Earlier in this course, we learned how important ease of use is in content design (Coates et al., 2005). I decided it was important to have a clear navigation menu at the top of the page with frequently used items. Further, I felt it was important for every page to have navigation arrows and a home button. I then went on YouTube and watched tutorials on how to use Moodle (including creating a navigation menu, formatting charts, developing labels etc.). This allowed me to create what I think it a very clean easy to maneuver course site.

Communication Strategies

When developing my introduction module I asked myself two questions: (1) what do students need to know at the onset of this course, and (2) how best do I share this information. I didn’t want to overload end users with too much content right out the gate, yet I wanted to ensure they would have enough information to proceed effectively through the course. As this course is directed at busy professionals I tried to keep my writing clear and concise – no fluff!

Keeping in mind the importance of social presence (Garrison et al., 1999), I emphasised the significance of student feedback and participation in my introduction module. I implored students to both post and respond to questions in the Q&A forum, comment on each other’s discussion posts, and collaborate on group activities. I am hoping all of these factors will help build a learning community. While these activities are asynchronous, the participants will continue to partake in face to face synchronous professional development programs. I believe the combination of the two will create a holistic learning experience.

As we learned in the Trinh case study, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with communication in an online course. For that reason, I only provided two points of contact in my introduction module: my work email and the Q&A discussion forum. I also provided clear timeframes within which I would respond (24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends). I wanted to make it clear that my responses would not be instantaneous and that they should also rely on their peers for support. I decided against providing any personal or social media contact information because I don’t think it is relevant for this course and I do not want students contacting me on multiple platforms.

The participants for this program are all located in either the Toronto, Ottawa, or New York. This means we are all in the same time zone and can connect relatively easily in real time. I mentioned in my introduction that I can speak over the phone or meet face to face Monday to Friday, 8:30 – 4:30. Students will still have to reach out to me via email or discussion forum to set this up, but it is a viable option that I am comfortable with.

Assessment Strategies

I found developing assessments strategies much more challenging than developing communication strategies. This was primarily due to the fact that we do not “grade” participants in our learning programs. Everything at the firm is based on completion – i.e. did you attend this program, did you login to this webinar, did you certify your compliance, etc. Further, there are very few programs where we assign attendees homework or assignments. I struggled with balancing firm culture, effective online course design, and the assignment requirements.

To help me, I first reviewed Bates’ (2014) purpose of assessment. He stated that one single assessment instrument will not meet all assessment needs so it is important to determine what your needs are (Bate, 2014). Based on the Bates (2014) criteria, I decided that the needs of the Summer Student Orientation program are to: assess student’s knowledge, provide information to employers about what students know, and to filter students for further jobs (or in our case, rotations). I didn’t feel that all of these needs would be assessed from a Moodle quiz so I added an additional assignment to my course.

The Summer Student Orientation program will be graded based on completion. Students are given one week to complete each modules and I will restrict access so they cannot move forward until they complete all required activities from the prior module. Both the Moodle quiz and assignment will also be graded based on completion. However, if a student does poorly on the quiz or submits an incomplete assignment, the Director of Student Programs will personally reach out to them.

The Moodle quiz is a formative norm-based assessment focused on Module 1: Risk Management. Every member of the firm must sign quality assurance policies when they are hired and then certify each year that they have complied with them. As such, it is important to assess student’s knowledge of these policies. A quiz is an effective assessment tool because the policy guidelines are clear and not open to debate. If students have read the policies and engaged in that weeks’ activity, they should do fairly well on the quiz.  Comparably, the assignment is a summative assessment of Modules 3-5: Practice Area Resources. The assignment is reflection based and intended to determine what students know and help make rotations decisions. In this case, there are no wrong answers – the reflection is based on the students’ perceptions, preferences, and goals. Despite not having formal grades, I believe these assessment strategies will be effective in meeting course objectives.

References

Bates. T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/5-8-assessment-oflearning/ (Appendix 1. A8)

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/GarrisonAndersonArcher2000.pdf

Assignment 2 involved initial steps in creating a course on either Moodle or Blackboard. I chose Moodle because that is the LMS that University of Alberta uses, and thought that become familiar with using it could prove to be useful in my future career.

This assignment came at a very interesting time in my life. As an assistant professor of the department, my main educational activities involved small group teaching and some large classroom lectures as well as bedside teaching in my clinic, ward and operating room. Then suddenly a position was posted for a course coordinator for the reproductive medicine and urology block, a 7 week course taught to second year medical students. They were looking for someone who has a Masters in Education and had experience with and interest in educational technologies. Though I don’t quite qualify, I decided to apply. I have yet to complete the interview, but suddenly this made Assignment 2 more realistic for me. I began to think about what I would do to make the course more relevant and effective for medical students.

• design and organization
• facilitating discourse
• direct instruction

In designing this course, I wanted to make sure that it was well laid out in a logical, orderly manner. This would make it easy to follow and less likely to generate concern from students. In addition, to make it easier to go from one section to the next section, I provided hyperlinks wherever it was appropriate. But some students may not like the linear layout because it makes the page very long; a disadvantage of this method.

• Through the questions and concerns forum
• direct email for questions that were personal
• and through chat during specified office hours

Another important aspect to consider is feedback. According to Gibbs and Simpson (2004), feedback influences learning, but it should be provided often and in enough detail. With this in mind, I decided to administer quizzes with each module and design them such that detailed feedback can be given for every question. Each question was dissected and answers were provided with adequate explanations so students will be able to compare their answers to the correct one, create cognitive conflicts if there is a contradiction, and lead to higher forms of reasoning through resolution of conflict (Piaget, 1928).

References

Epstein, R. M. (2007). Assessment in medical education. N Engl J Med, 356, 387-396.

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports student’s         learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved                      from  http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf

Piaget, J. (1928). Judgment and reasoning in the child. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace.

Reflecting on my experience in creating my Grade 6 Ancient River Civilizations Moodle Course, I know that I relied on my previous experience in Moodle, struggled to create the HTML pages and ultimately, feel that the course I have developed is something that I could ‘pick up’ and bring into my current teaching practice.
One section of the Moodle course that I am most proud of is my Introductory activity. This activity is a collaborative and interactive Google map. Mc Namee and Moscheta (2015) support the use of a collaborative introductory activity such as this.
Students get a chance to introduce themselves and begin the discussion on ancient rivers. First by recounting their prior knowledge of a river that they have been to (and in the event that they had never been to a river, a phenomenon that I have discovered among some groups of students while teaching abroad, they can describe a river that they would like to go to. Lin, Lin and Huang discuss the importance of strengthening student’s prior knowledge before commencing the unit of study in their article Development of a diagnostic system using a testing-based approach for strengthening student prior knowledge. (2011)
Originally, I had planned to complete a similar introductory activity in Google Drawings. Students would have contributed a personal textbox to a photo of a river. I am glad that I revised this activity to include some basic mapping skills, and I think that student participants would also enjoy how this activity allows them to get a glimpse of rivers worldwide.

Communication with my students

There are five communication channels that I have created and addressed in my Moodle course pages. The first area for students to see is the Important Information HTML page which clearly states different communication methods, where they are located and what type of communication issues that they address.
I have utilized and created two discussion forums. Though the New Forum is automatically created in the Moodle course, I will use this forum for the teacher to give reminders and whole class feedback and advice. The second is the Course Materials Forum, which will address student queries about access to and understanding of the course materials. This forum will also hopefully be beneficial since if one student has a query about a specific resource, once I clarify the issue then all students will have access to the answers to these replies.
In the event of student illness, emergencies and asking for extensions with the final assessments, I have an email which is specific to these circumstances.
Lastly, there is an email address given to tech support and Moodle issues.

Assessment strategies

This Moodle course uses Option 2 for assessment – there is a shorter quiz in addition to a comparison poster assignment. The strategy for the first assessment is for the student to show their comprehension and familiarity with the Knowledge Bank materials before proceeding onto Assessment 2.
Assessment two asks students to find six artifacts from the two different river civilizations and curate them in a Comparison Poster. Students are given a template poster that they will populate with the required information of the assessment. I have used this assessment before successfully in a blended classroom environment so was interested to see how it would accompany a fully online version of the unit.
Students have access to the two rubrics that they will be assessed with. The rubrics utilize MYP (Middle Years Programme) Humanities/ Individuals and Societies criteria. These rubrics had been created for the previous blended course and I have altered them to be suitable in this fully online course.

References

Lin, Y., Lin, Y., & Huang, Y. (2011). Development of a diagnostic system using a testing-based approach for strengthening student prior knowledge. Computers & Education, 57(2), 1557-1570. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.03.004

McNamee, S. and Moscheta, M. (2015), Relational Intelligence and Collaborative Learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2015: 25–40. doi: 10.1002/tl.20134

The reflection for this Introductory Module will follow the outline of assessment criteria given for LMS Introductory Module.

Let me start by writing that for this project I decided to use Moodle (I had never even heard of Moodle until this course). I decided to design a “fully online” course directed toward teachers of elementary aged students, with the course content focused on how to increase the reading effectiveness of students by increasing the effectiveness of strategic teaching. The link is here.

In the course outline, it reads that the introductory module will be assessed for:

the introductory activity;

My introductory activity was based on a citation found in Anderson (2008). Anderson refers to the work of Dixon (2007) and her work in breaking ice. I read the article (the one cited) and found the work of Dixon and her colleagues would fit with the clientele for my course, teachers. As Dixon writes, “ways in which learners are encouraged and supported to connect, and develop relationships with colleagues who have similar interests and/or compatible work habits, are needed.” Although her research studied the implementation of  icebreaker activities which help to create social presence in online environments,  I knew my “students” would be teachers. Creating social presence would need to move past the potentially surfacing self-efficacious posturing into something creative and dare I write, “fun.”

having 3 substantive HTML pages;

I chose to go with 4 separate pages of substantive content. I looked through all I wanted to convey, felt that it would be best conveyed in four separate pages. Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) make the case for cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence in higher learning. Each of these introductory pages provide the foundation on which the higher order thinking — with space for constructing meaning, projecting personness, and the design and facilitation of teaching–possible in online courses, can thrive (Garrison et al. 2000: 91).

having logical and organized structure;

As I have just conveyed in the last section, I divided the content up into four sections: structure (Open Me First), content (Behind the Scenes), communication (Inner Circle), and assessment (Begin at the End). I felt these categories, not so far off from Anderson’s (2008) knowledge-centred, assessment-centred, learner-centred, and community-centred divisions, would group the information in a straightforward and cohesive manner. One-stop-shopping, so to speak.

having early information for students;

The list that Mayer’s authored and that appears in Bates (2014) was helpful for selecting the what should be included and the how should that be formatted for this section. I took Mayer’s (2009) advice that design should be simple, cued, segmented, and simultaneously present content. Further to this, content was also personalized and conversational in style of the voice.

having a reflection on the experience; and

This project felt like archaeology (or rather what I think archaeology would feel like). “Oh look, I have worked for hours and look! there is the toe of the archaeopteryx.” I think I wrote, in one of the first reading responses, that with really good LMSs, one doesn’t notice the structure or the design. The focus becomes the content and the purpose for the course. Ironic that it is best represented when it is invisible. However, it can only get there when a crazy amount of work and thought goes into the design. In their research Coates, James and Baldwin (2005) conclude that, although LMS are here to stay, there is still much to be learned about whether they augment and complement, or if they will substitute the methods used to learn (Coates et al. 2005: 33).

The other surprise from this experience is that I want to learn coding. Some of what I wanted to do, or how I wanted the site to look was limited by inexperience. I do not like the guerilla style of learning by scouring through YouTube looking for “three letter word descriptor sentences” because I don’t actually know what that kind of file is called. “What! It can’t be 2 AM.”

having a reflection on the communication and assessment strategies that will be used in the course.

My plan at this point, with regard to communication, is to exploit its asynchronous characteristics through its time-zone flexibility, response-time expansiveness, and that responses from that form tend to reflect higher-order thinking. As far as synchronous communication forms, I hope to fully make use of the nuances of voice, facial expression, body language and their real-time catalyst to creativity. Either way, they happen in community, which, as the authors Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) note, is a “valuable, if not necessary, context for an educational experience if critical thinking is to be facilitated and deep learning is to be an outcome” (Garrison et al. 2000: 91).

My plan at this point, with regard to assessment, is to align the reacquaint myself with the work of Cameron & Gregory, and that of Clarke, Owens, and Sutton. The former focuses on aligning letter grades with learning outcomes; the latter focuses on creating the conditions for independence in learners. We have spent some time on assessment as a district, especially with the new provincial directive toward competencies, taking the emphasis off task and placing it on skill.

As Gibbs & Simpson (2008) have noted, teachers “have to assess everything that moves in order to capture students’ time and energy” (p. 8). However they also write that, “some assignments create appropriate learning activities as a by-­product”, and “some assessment generates unhelpful and inappropriate learning activities” (p. 15). As with other elements of this subject, ensuring the alignment of process to product is crucial.

At first glance, it may seem “easy” to just build a website as the unreferenced quote at the beginning of ETEC 565 Module 2 asserts. However, one doesn’t have to navigate very far forward to recognize that, in order to make an LMS worth anyone’s while, it must be well designed. As well, it takes an incredible amount of work for it to blend in to the background.

Some final thoughts about the actual site:

I included a hyperlink to Tumblebooks Daily, for potential serendipitous inspiration. All the strategies that will be used and practiced in the course can be done with picture books. What if you need a book and don’t have one, or don’t know what to look for? Service provided, top right corner. Plus, the book gets read out loud for you!! Win-win.

I have set the course to start January 2017. Not for any other reason than it seemed easier to manage (in my mind) the number of weeks for the course duration. The course administrator for ETEC 565 will be able to “read” that, having access to all parts of the course. However, just wanted whoever reads this to know that the absence of Events actually isn’t an absence, but rather a delay. 🙂

References

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context. In Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and practice of online learning. Athabasca University. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/14_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/ (Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework)

Cameron, C., and Gregory, K. (2014). Rethinking letter grades: a five step approach for aligning letter grades to learning standards (2nd ed). Winnipeg: Portage & Main.

Clarke, P., Owens, T., and Sutton, R. (2006). Creating independent student learners: a practical guide to assessment for learning. Winnipeg: Portage & Main.

Coates, H. James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11(1), 19-36. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Dixon, J. (2007). Breaking the ice: Supporting collaboration and the development of community online. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 32(2). Retrieved February 2016, from http://www.cjlt.ca/content/vol32.2/dixon.html

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/GarrisonAndersonArcher2000.pdf

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed). New York: Cambridge University Press.

So far designing a Moodle course has been a very valuable learning experience. In terms of the subject matter of the course, I went from originally planning a French lesson to the more abstract conceptual learning of differences between English and French. The main reason for this was that a French lesson should be taught in French; by not making it a French lesson per se, it allowed me to change the language of instruction to English, in order to fit the parameters of this course being in English, while maintaining a link to my main teachable subject, French.

I found Moodle difficult at first. I noticed that when I clicked on “Edit Settings” on any given page, I could see the HTML code for a split second before it returned to a WYSIWYG view. There was one point where I looked for ways to stay in HTML because the program wasn’t doing exactly what I wanted and figured I could get it done more easily through code. I never did find a way for it to show me the HTML code, but I did get past my problem.

Last week I asked if any classmates wanted to critique my course and vice-versa, and I’m very glad I did. Just looking at Victoria’s site reminded me of several things I was missing, and she helped me overcome some of the technical issues as well as making great practical suggestions. Hopefully my comments were of use to her as well.

While I originally conceived of the course simply being for the sake of interest, I did eventually give it a practical raison d’être, for French teachers to be able address prior misconceptions of their English speaking students. Bransford, Brown and Cocking (2000) stress the importance of recognizing a student’s prior knowledge, especially where this prior knowledge may lead to erroneous assumptions in what is being learned. For an anglophone student learning French, their prior knowledge stems from their first and often only known language, English, and when they place their semantic or syntactic English frameworks on French, it can lead to serious misconceptions. This course addresses those misconceptions and proposes ways to fix them to solidify the foundation for further French learning. 

If the course had simply been for interest’s sake, I might have considered not having any assessment at all. “There may be contexts, such as a community of practice, where learning is informal, and the learners themselves decide what they wish to learn, and whether they are satisfied with what they have learned” (Bates, 2014), however, like the course needing to be in English, the parameters of the assignment took precedence and they called for assessment.

Gibbs and Simpson (2005) highlighted the fallibility of tests, the greater value of projects, and students’ tendency to concentrate more on what is being assessed, so I decided that including a final project would make for better learning for students in the course. Gibbs and Simpson (2005), Bates (2014), Bransford et al. (2000), and countless other scholars also stress the importance of feedback. The discussion pages allow for peer feedback and encourage metacognition through reflecting on the comments of one’s peers. Lastly, the Final Project proposal, due in week 5, allows students in the course to receive feedback directly from the instructor and gives the student an opportunity to use the feedback. Thus the feedback serves as a form of assessment as learning.

References

Bates. T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from: http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/5-8-assessment-of-learning/

Bransford, J., Brown, A. L., Cocking, R. R., & National Research Council (U.S.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press. Retrieved from: http://nap.edu/9853

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved from: http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf