Category Archives: Assignment 3: Content Module

Back to Basics

After completing ETEC 565A Assignment #2 I was able to take some time to reflect on the overall direction and principles I had decided to build my course around.

#1 Industry Engagement

By engaging subject matter experts, I will be able to ensure the accuracy of the information presented, and create content for students to gain the relevant competencies needed for employment in the industry.

#2 Community and Learner Engagement

By applying Anderson’s Model of eLearning, I will try to offer an environment that encourages interactions with the instructor, peers and the content (2008).

#3 Engage in Real World Experience

Drawing from the ISTE Standards the activities in this course will strive to , “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems” (2008).

Overall reflecting on the feedback that I received, I decided that I was for the most part I was headed in the right direction with the design of my course.  I like the principles that I’m using to guide course development and I think that once completed the course will provide a great learning experience for students around the globe.

 Picking up where I left off

From some basic oversights on my part to some genuine issues with my initial project my first step was to evaluate the feedback I had received and determine how I would incorporate it into the next iteration.

The following feedback was given after the submission of Assignment #2

Overall, I was quite pleased with the feedback provided as I felt many of the issues were minor and provided support for many of the choices that I have made and the direction of my course development.

Navigational GUI Component

Much of the basic structure is based on the outline provided by the BC Tourism 11 & 12 Curriculum Guide, however I have made a number of choices to assist students with navigating the course material (Simard et al. 2006).

Originally I had chosen to incorporate links into the top of the general section, but as I mentioned in my reflection to Assignment #2 I wasn’t really happy how it looked and felt it cluttered the main page.   The feedback that I received my thoughts on the matter.  I ended up eliminating the links to the individual modules and instead provide a graphic to link to core course features, such as the schedule and assignments.

I have also selected to only display one module of the course at a time.  I wanted to make sure that any student accessing the course did not have to scroll multiple times down a page to find the current module.

I have also made a conscious effort not to clutter modules with documents that could be linked, but did not necessarily need to be reviewed as part of the module by creating a “References and Resources” section.  A perfect example is with the Career Explorations Assignment Rubric.  This document needed to be referenced, but didn’t need to be included in the list resources and activities in the module.  Rather than clutter the module, I simply linked to a resource listed in the “References and Resources” section. In addition, the documents in this section include a link that returns users to the main page of the site.

One Complete Learning Module

To be honest, I’m a little confused as to if I have completed one learning module, or two.   For the purposes of this assignment I intended to submit a complete Week 7, but upon reviewing the feedback I’m wondering if my week one introduction also serves the purpose.  Regardless, I have completed these two weeks of the course.

Most of the content is provided in HTML pages, I’ve incorporated audio links, infographics, videos, HTML links, embedded pictures or video, my digital story and checklists. I struggled with the definition of substantive, but did not want to add content that could impact student understanding.

In terms of the group discussions I have incorporated two discussions and have required students comment on the posts of their peers in order to complete the activity.

The Digital Story

For my digital story I chose to use the Videoscribe software. I had not used the software before and I was curious to try it out. My goal with my digital story was to provide students with a real world example of how a tourism even can impact a local economy.  In the end, I think the result is fine, but not great. I find it simplistic in the presentation which can be good, but in my case I feel the output was not worth the effort that went into it.  Granted some of this was a software learning curve on my part and some of it was just the way my development process works.  I tend to start with a much larger project and whittle down to what I consider to be essentials.   I ended up using two other pieces of software to create the final product as I found Videoscribe to be lacking for control and flexibility.

Although our instructions were not to use PowerPoint, I think that I could have created a much more engaging and visually pleasing presentation using it as a base software for video creation. It is generally the way that I create videos for my courses, and I was happy to expand my experience to another program.  In the end, I think I’ll be going back to my usual methods.

Conclusion

This experience has provided me with a greater appreciation for full course development and the amount of work that has to be put into the process before and after the content is developed.  There are definitely still areas in this course that I would like to flesh out more after the content is completed. For instance, I think that course badges can only be created with careful consideration after the full picture of the course is clear, otherwise how they fit into the course can be unclear and confusing for students. Through consistently adhering to the principles that I have identified are core to the course development I think that this course will be a valuable experience for tourism students around the world.

References

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

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from  http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-teachers

Simard, S., Bragg, J., Fogarty, L., & Thompson, B. (2006). Tourism 11 and 12 Program Guide(Rep.). Retrieved February 14, 2016, from Ministry of Education, Province of British Columbia website:https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/applied_skills/2006pg_tourism1112.pdf

Reflection on Assignment 3

Every year, posters, poems, Star Wars figurines and mini robots are scattered around my classroom fostering wonder and creating a fun learning environment.  Although I have acquired these gadgets/paraphernalia to create a presence in the “traditional” classroom, to recreate this environment virtually requires completely different tools and skillsets.  As such, using the affordances of Moodle and html coding, I have tried to infuse my course with my own personality and passion for science.

Reflecting back on the Entire experience

Having previously estimated in an ETEC 565 activity that it would require 12-15 weeks to transfer a course into a digital environment, I expected this assignment to take a fair amount of time to complete.  However, I had not accounted for the ease at which one can easily become side-tracked by the numerous features available on Moodle.  Every few steps, I would discover a new feature and then find myself taking the time to conduct a small version of Bate’s SECTIONS (Bates & Poole, 2003).  I became engulfed in the design process and often analysed everything; carefully considering how each piece of media, activity and feedback opportunity suited the needs of my students.

Throughout the design process, I reflected on the forms of interaction (Anderson, 2008a) that would be required and the manner in which these could be implemented.   As a result discussion forums, online simulations, various media and assignments were added to the site.  The interactions permitted by Moodle shadow the more traditional and static class websites.

Bippity Boppety Moodle

I hope to continue using Moodle and honing my design skills in the future, no matter where that will lead.  Although originally terrified by the blank canvas, I now rejoice in the possibilities; I have gained confidence in the tools at my disposal. The following reflection focusses on one specific tool I have come to highly respect; the digital story.  This tool is one of the magic wands that will help bring the human touch to a binary world; it will help bring the digital classroom to life.

Looking for Prince Charming: the ideal digital story

I found myself at a loss when trying to think of a digital story idea, having very little prior experience with this tool, and therefore promptly placed it in the corner of my mind.  Yet, as I began filling in the content pages of the Moodle, the purpose and importance of the digital story began to materialize.  Not only do digital stories connect the student with the content in a more personal manner, it also can convey the teacher’s presence and their enthusiasm that are often lost behind the computer interface.  It can create a sense of trust, safety and community, all important features for e-learning (Anderson, 2008b).

With this purpose in mind, I drafted a list of criteria for my digital story to follow.  First of all, it could not be forced or contrived, it needed to be genuine.  Secondly, humour was a must as it helps brings a human side to the site. Finally, I wanted my digital story to help foster the wonder and fun learning environment I was used to in my “traditional” classroom setting.  Yet in spite of all these criteria, the most important feature remained unaccounted for: the message.

I reflected on my past experiences. Usually to begin my courses I would present a brief lesson on the merits of science.  Not the stuffy, overly-academic view of science, but the humorous, odd, amusing anecdotes that people remember.  Every year, I showed students that science was not static or reserved for the genius, the elite, but that science is everywhere; it is exciting, it is happening now all around us.  I had found my message.

Finding a shoe that fits: selecting tools

I had a list of criteria and a message; I now needed to consider the media.  This decision is crucial, after all “the Medium is the message”(McLuhan & Fiore, 1967); a poor choice could send conflicting information.  As such, one must consider the various affordances of each form of media (Siemens, 2003) to select the tool best suited for the task (Prensky, 2001).

I carefully considered the content and content structure, as defined by Bates (2014), of my desired digital story. The message I wished to convey is relatively abstract and, as such, the inclusion of pictures showing concrete examples could foster deeper learning (Bates, 2014). To add my own presence to the digital story I wanted to include pictures I had taken, animations of my creation and the poem that usually adorns the back wall of my classroom.    Considering the variety of media that I was hoping to incorporate (image, text, animation), the creation of a video seemed like a highly logical choice.

I selected the tools based on the criteria established by Siemens (2003) and Bates (2014) as well as the ideas of Levine (2010). I considered the tools that were at my disposal, the time required by each to either learn or to use and my comfort level with the technology in question (Siemens, 2003)é  I made a table comparing my options.

I decided to combine the programs I was most familiar with to create my digital story.  PowToon was selected for the beginning animations (recognizable by the yellow background) as the characters can move quickly without a large quantity of slides.  PowerPoint was selected to record the voice over and to embed pictures, videos and other animations (black or white backgrounds).  Movie Maker was used to combine audio, PowToon videos and PowerPoint videos together.  Audacity and Virtual DJ were used to edit and remove background noise from the voice over.  If I had not had previous experience with this extensive list of tools, the digital story would have looked very different.

A Happy Ending: How the digital story fits in

An important characteristic of a good story is a promise that it will be worth our time (Stanton, 2012).  Every year, I greeted dulled eyed students already dreading the memorization and work to be completed in the grade 10 science class. While other teachers start the year running with the periodic table, I preferred to introduce the true nature of science to my students through, as mentioned earlier, a short mini lesson on anecdotes about science. This acted as a promise that this course will be interesting and would challenge the students’ preconceived notions of science.  Although I cannot convey my passion for science directly through the interface of the computer, I have chosen to do so through the creation of a digital story. I hope that through humour and multimedia I have created a message that will endure; the idea that science is part of everyone’s knowledge construct, within everybody’s reach in one way or another.

I hope that this story acts as a promise, as hope that they can achieve greatness in science and that there is no shame in failing as long as you learn from your mistakes.  Thus, I have placed my digital story in the introductory module of my course to act as a promise that studying science is worth their time and effort.  I cannot promise a happy ending for their course (high grade), but I can guarantee a learning experience, an adventure.

References:

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

Anderson, T. (2008b). Teaching in an online learning context. Theory and practice of online learning, 273-294.

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

Bates, A. W., & Poole, G. (2003). Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success: ERIC.

Levine, A. (2010). 50+ Web Ways to Tell a Story.   Retrieved from http://50ways.wikispaces.com/

McLuhan, M., & Fiore, Q. (1967). The medium is the message. New York, 123, 126-128.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the horizon, 9(5), 1-6.

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating Media Characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes: Elearnspace.

Stanton, A. (Producer). (2012). The clues to a great story. TED Talks. [Video]

I had a really interesting time working on Assignment 3 along with the digital story. Since my course subject matter is so heavily multimedia focused, I found it very topically relevant to read some of the readings for this course at the time that I was creating the course content. The two readings that stood out for me the most were Ciampa (2013) and Siemens (2003).

I knew going into Assignment 2 that I was going to try and make the course easily accessible and hopefully fun. There are so many After Effects videos and tutorials on the Internet that I wanted to create some structure that would work better for people that weren’t as organized or proactive. Despite what Spiro (2014) claims about the self-directedness of learners now, I know that having too much information can be just as troublesome when trying to learn something. So I decided to provide content for directed learning.

Ciampa’s (2013) writings on the motivation of students really struck home with me and I tried to include those reflections into creating the content module for this course. That was primarily the reasoning for the topic of my digital story. I wanted to create an educational video that would hopefully motivate them to stick with the course and give them a positive starting point. Since all professionals started with no skills or knowledge, I felt that the digital story could parallel their own learning path throughout the course.

While I was building out the content I really took notice at what information I was trying to deliver to the students and the best possible media to use for that. Through reading Siemen’s piece on media characteristics I spent quite a while thinking about how else I could deliver this information about my course content. The subject revolves around video, so that is what I went with but I had a fun time trying to think about unique ways I might be able to teach people about after effects. I think if I had more time and energy I could have come up with something fairly unique.

 
Ciampa, K. (2013). Learning in a mobile age: An investigation of student motivation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(1), 82–96. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcal.12036/epdf

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating media characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Elearnspace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.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

Reflection

This project had its highlights and lowlights. Throughout it all, I found the that greatest challenge was navigating the tension between what I had hoped to achieve with the technology and what I was actually able to do – the latter being governed by a combination of the what the technology allowed, and knowledge of how to use the technology (and my ability to independently learn what I needed to learn).

The Digital Story

My digital story (DS) was an appropriate project to include in my Moodle. It connects to two of the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) that the Moodle course is designed around, for first being the understanding that “learning is embedded in memory, history, and story”. I connected the “story” concept to the FPPL “learning requires exploration of one’s identity” by creating a brief story of who I am. Both of these principles are explored in the specific module in which I embedded the DS. It is intended to be used as an example for the Moodle course participants as they think about how they would describe who they are – what “story” they tell of themselves, a first step before then thinking about how who they are informs both their own learning, and their teaching practice.

Since the digital story is connected to identity, I wanted to use a format that was able to incorporate photographs that represented what was important to me in life. Also, because my digital story is an example that the Moodle participants could potentially use, I needed a format that was not difficult to learn to use. I originally wanted to integrate audio in my digital story along with the visual images. As Siemens (2003) indicates, each type of media has its strengths and weaknesses and integration of various media is able to enrich learning, and Bates (2014) refers to the fact that the use of audio is “particularly ‘potent” (237) in media.

However, the actual process of creating the DS took me on an unexpected journey. I first used a tool that I have used before, but upon completing it, found out that it was not a format that could be uploaded to the blog (or later to the Moodle). Consequently, I decided to choose a different online DS tool that I had never used before. I spent some time creating and editing a product I was satisfied with (and that incorporated both visual and audio) but when the story was finally finished (with all photos uploaded, and audio commentary provided) and ready to be published on the DS site that helped create it, I encountered a “glitch” that prevented the final step (which had to be completed on the tool’s website) form being completed. I did some quick research about that DS tool and found that this “glitch” had existed for the last three years and had never been resolved (as far as I could find out).

So I created yet another DS with a third tool – PhotoPeach – which does not allow for my recorded audio commentary; instead it allows for captioning of the visuals and a choice of music from the site, or the uploading of music. I decided to forgo finding another tool that allowed for the personal audio commentary for the sake of at least working though to a finished product that I could take through all the steps to finally have it embedded in my Moodle. I also decided against adding the “canned” music as it did not add quality to the DS, and did not uploading music, as I had none that was free to use.

At this point I came to think about the consideration of “speed” that needs to be taken into account in the selection of media. Boyes, Dowie and Rumzan (2005) referring to a version of the SECTIONS framework, indicate that the speed with which technology can be updated is a consideration that one needs to take into account when choosing technology. This became real for me in an unexpected way. As I indicated, with the 2^nd DS tool I used, I had completed the DS (almost) and had spent considerable time editing versions before I was satisfied with it. All of this was before I knew that it would not ultimately work. So for the DS I created with PhotoPeach, I was more concerned with completing a draft of the DS and taking it through all the steps it needed to go through to ensure it could be embedded in my Moodle. The only problem is that then editing the DS required a new DS to be created and then downloaded (before then uploading). This experiences underscored the importance of choosing media that is relatively easy to adapt or revise in a timely and inexpensive way.

Bates (2014) indicates that the ideal learning tool is not available. I imagine that this is because what is the ideal tool for one person or context is not necessarily the ideal tool for another person or context. In the case of my DS I wanted a particular type of product, but the tools I could independently learn to use in the time I had available lead me to make some compromises. The tool I finally used satisfied the purpose of DS. Although, originally I wanted to have an audio narration accompany the visuals, I was able to share a story of who I am through the combination of photographs and text.

The Moodle

As I worked on specific contents of the module for this assignment, I realized that I would have to make some slight adjustments to introductory modules to provide some additional clarity. I came to realize that like any other course, there is an iterative process to course development for online courses just as there is for a f2f course. I can imagine that as I would work to further develop later modules, I might want to make adjustments to this early assignment as well.

So what have I learned through this process? The answer is mostly a reinforcement of something I already know as an educator – be clear about the goal(s) of an assigned activity. In developing my Moodle activities, I kept having to touch back on the learning objectives to ensure that every decision I was making was with them in mind (as much as possible). This is what led me to create a course where the assessment is based on self and peer assessment and facilitator feedback, and a course where students can have a choice of activities (where all the choices can still meet the same learning outcomes). As Bates (2014) indicates, “The form assessment takes, as well as the purpose, will be influenced by the instructor’s…underlying epistemology” (p. 466). There was no need for an external assessment structure (grades) for my Moodle because one of foundations of the FPPL was to help reinforce the learner’s responsibility for his or her own learning (with strategic and structured assistance and feedback, but not an external measurement). The summative assessment in this case was whether or not an educator could comfortably integrate the FPPL into the content and structure of his or her classrooms – it is the ability to apply what was learned in an authentic context.

Overall, I am again reminded of Bates’ (2014) assertion that trying to make decisions about educational technology, even when using a model such as SECTIONS is not something that could be coded and automated. There are so many variables at play, and decisions made about one aspect of course development will invariable affect decisions about other aspects.

Last, on a slightly related note, I was reminded of one other aspect of my own learning processes through this project. I tend to want to work though things and experience them first hand in order to understand them. Sometimes, I forget to ask for assistance when it would benefit me. On one particular day I had spent over 6 hours trying to figure out how to complete one of the tasks for Assignment 3. I did some research on-line, read  the documents I had gathered about creating a Moodle, did some trial and error, and had just finally figured out how to the task when minutes later another student asked the same question I had been working on to our Connect discussion site. Within minutes another classmate responded. If I had just reached out and done the same, I would have saved myself hours of time. A lesson worth remembering in the future as I continue on my tech in education learning journey.

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

Boyes, J., Dowie, S., & Rumzan, I. (2005). Using the SECTIONS framework to evaluate flash media. Using the SECTIONS framework to evaluate flash media, 2(1). Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.186.6505&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating media characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Elearnspace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.html

My Moodle was set up to be an English 10 course that would parallel a social studies 10 course I received access to from the BC Learning Network. I wanted to create a blended humanities course. However knowing that I would have to assign both a social studies and English grade on the report card I thought that having two distinct course shells united under themes might be a better way to approach the course.  Firstly, it allows easy and clear access to a course where the framework is designed by myself but comes to life with students. I planned out roughly far more than I included in my assignments, knowing that the course would be more valuable to me if I could take away from it a start to the coming year.

Moodle was the right tool for many reasons, which can be analysed using the SECTIONS model by Bates (2014). It is appropriate for our students as our school has an wonderful budget and plenty of laptops and computers. It would be taught through moodle, in school, in a blended learning environment. Our students are often absent as the nearest city is a four hour drive away and school is not prioritized in the community. In this way, if school is missed, Moodle can be accessed outside and students will not fall behind when time is missed. It is being brought in by our district and its use is supported.  

Moodle is fairly easy to use, as it is designed intuitively, and it is supported by the district so I think it will be adopted more in the future. The cost is minimal and there is an IT person dedicated to the project. As far as teaching and learning go I think it is up to the teacher to plan in a way that encourages different learning styles. Moodle can the ability to be used in a variety of ways and interactivities. I like that you can modify the HTML of the page as I have some background in coding and it gives you a much greater degree of flexibility.

I started using Moodle this year with no idea what I was doing, despite this the students have remained positive about the experience. I offered them the opportunity to go back to textbooks for a unit and they unequivocally chose to continue on Moodle. They like the flexibility in presentation. They like how topics are covered through different media. They are digital natives (Prensky, 2001) and Moodle allows for the transmission of information in a way that they are much more comfortable and engaged with. The biggest challenge with Moodle is simply the speed of our internet connection. As a rural community we don’t have fiber optic cables and so it is much slower than we would like. Generally it is sufficient for streaming but as we share bandwidth with the hospital there can be times when it doesn’t work. I hope that we will have our infrastructure improved in the future.

For me, online courses can be challenging. I find that I really need face to face input from peers or professors. In creating my introductory module my final vision for the course muddied up the project I handed in. For my first unit I didn’t want to waste time on too many introductory activities… I already knew my students. I wanted to get right into an introductory unit where students would learn the formatting and reading skills they would need for the course. The result of this being that my introductory unit was rather content heavy and was much more suited to being a content unit. After several emails with Boskic I was able to see where things went wrong. I ended up taking some aspects from that unit and creating a separate introductory unit. Therefore for this project I fleshed out my introductory unit (this took the most time). I had a very challenging time inserting quizzes into the first unit to fulfil the requirements. It felt very contrived. I ended up making a course questionnaire and a reading level assessment. I think that if I were to use this course in the future I probably wouldn’t use most of this first unit as it doesn’t make sense in my context. I also made my second module a content module, making sure it met the requirements, which took very little time as I had already done most of it for the first assignment. 

After my discussion with Boskic, we decided to include my digital story in the first unit. In approaching it, I really wanted to bring in as many different platforms as possible to really highlight how digital stories can be told across different media. I has worked on a project on transmedia storytelling, in another course as a method of digital storytelling, and was excited to bring elements of transmedia into this project. Transmedia is ”a new form of multiliteracies where the elements of a fictional narrative are dispersed across different platforms and channels in order to create a complex, coordinated, and unified story, in which each element contributes uniquely as the story unfolds” (Dumouchel 2014).  In addition I wanted to tell the story from different perspectives as I felt that was more reflective of how a story might be told in real life through different news media. I wanted students to piece together information from different sources to draw their own conclusions. In the case of my story, I wanted it to tell the story of online education with them adding to it through the cord-board conclusion. I wanted it to help prepare my own students for the journey on which they were about to embark. Henry Jenkins (2006) coined the term transmedia in discussions about how television and film series were telling their stories across different platforms. I think that if this is what the media is doing, then this is what education needs to be doing. The readings I assigned for the first week were along the same theme. My goal was that at the end of the module students would have a fairly good idea if online learning was the right choice for them. “It’s storytelling, and ‘digital’ is just the time we’re in” (Visser 2014).

The final issue I found challenging in working on this project was the one of copyright. Throughout my teacher training we were told not to reinvent the wheel. I agree wholeheartedly. Teaching is challenging enough without having to create everything from scratch. The challenge then comes to copyright and usage. In perusing the UBC copyright act is says that you are allowed copying short excerpts for students. I used information taken from a textbook and from various online sources and some of my own creation. I put a citation at the end of each page but I am still a little worried about how copyright looks in online courses. I tried not to take images often, even from the creative commons, because of the challenges of citations and copyright. To get around this I made buttons as images and included a few of my own. I think, as I continue working online, copyright will continue to be a challenge.

All in all, I learned a lot in working through the assignment. I learned about myself, the platform, and how to structure online courses. I have been bringing bits of this course into the classes I’m teaching and I hope to continue to develop this course to be used in the coming September. It is an exciting time for the world of online and blended education and it feels good being able to get started!

Works Cited

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in the Digital Age. Retrieved March 30, 2016, from  

http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/(Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework)

Dumouchel, A. (2014). Transmedia Storytelling. Retrieved March 30, 2016, from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Transmedia_Storytelling

Jenkins, H. 2006. Fans, bloggers, and gamers: Exploring participatory culture. New York: New York University Press.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon,9(5), 67-85. Retrieved March 30, 2016.

UBC Copyright “fair dealing”. Retrieved from http://copyright.ubc.ca/requirements/

Visser, Jasper. “How to Tell a Story that Stands out in the Digital Age?” Accessed July 17, 2014. http://themuseumofthefuture.com/2012/10/11/digital-storytelling-how-to-tell-a-story-that-stands-out-in-the-digital-age/

My course and my personal story aim to harness thoughts and discussion on the elusive, transitory and sometimes esoteric subject of that which is untranslatable between two languages. I had originally aimed to create a French teaching course, because as Levy (2009) and others have noted, email, chat, discussion forums, wikis, video conferencing, other web-based projects, and access to authentic materials in the target language are all rich 2nd language learning tools. However, I chose to shift my focus away from something I could use with my elementary students to something aimed more at French teachers like myself, or others just for general interest. My main reason was practical; I needed to make the course in English for my professor and course colleagues to be able to understand it.

Because the untranslatable is inherently difficult to describe in any language using words alone, for my personal story, image and sound were weaved together with language in a way that may be closer to art than academia to try to communicate these ideas that lie just out of reach of the English language.

Barbara Cassin (2014) and her colleagues, Apter, Lezra and Wood have a rich understanding of this dilemma through their efforts to translate the French Vocabulaire européen des philosophies: Dictionnaire des intraduisibles to the English Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon. While they too were dealing directly with French to English translation, the dictionary contains several other European languages, and as a dictionary, aims to be comprehensive, a far more daunting task than creating a Moodle course around a few examples of English/ French untranslatables. Thus, reading the preface to the English version of their dictionary was helpful and enlightening in analysing my task. They cite Derrida’s Monolingualism of the other (1998) with the following quotation, that, while paradoxical and confusing, speaks to the paradox and confusion inherent in the task of translation:

“In a sense, nothing is untranslatable; but in another sense, everything is untranslatable; translation is another name for the impossible.” (Cassin, Apter, Lezra & Wood, 2014, p. xl).

Cassin et al. also raised another important idea relating to MET, “concerns about the global hegemony of English” (p. lx), particularly through English being the principal language of the world wide web. We like to think that we can find answers to any questions on the Internet, but despite Google Translate, online dictionaries, and learning apps like Duolingo, translation continues to be an extremely complex affair, and as we have probably seen with websites that were not originally in English, automated translation can be confusing, misleading and sometimes hilarious. This makes a course like mine all the more relevant and poignant, especially as it resides on the same medium, the web.

I chose technology that would accommodate text, voice, music, still images and video to enhance the viewer’s perception of the translation process, to fill the natural gaps between two languages with images and non-linguistic sounds. “The Web is quickly changing from a context defined by text content and interactions to one in which all forms of media are supported” (Anderson, 2008, p. 53). Dor (2015) talks about an infant pointing and saying the name of something as that which “constructs common ground between individuals whose experiential worlds are different” (p. 36). Still images, video and sound followed by discussion can serve a similar function.

The video is the only part of the Moodle course where students can hear my voice. By using a conversational style that Bates (2014) advocates in the “Teaching and Media Selection” part of his SECTIONS model, I accommodate better personalization, thereby deepening the interaction between my students and this particular learning material. Though the photo of my face is blurry and passes quickly in the montage, the story and the way it’s told can provide a personal connection with me even though it’s a web-based course.

While my video speaks directly to the untranslatability of “always” as “toujours”, it hints at a greater, sort of meta-untranslatable: the bilingual listener is acutely aware of the gap between the French audio narration and the English subtitles, while even monolingual (English or French) viewers are left with an unsettling feeling that they haven’t fully understood the story. “What is needed to get a comparative sense of things, is not a firmer or clearer translation of difficult words, but a feeling for how relatively simple words chase each other around in context” (Cassin et al. 2014, p. x). By choosing a video editor like iMovie, I was able to demonstrate this “comparative sense of things” that my course aims to teach.

References

Anderson, T. (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton: AU Press.

Bates. T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from: https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/9-media-design-principles/

Cassin, B., Apter, E., Lezra, J., & Wood, M. (Eds.). (2014). Dictionary of untranslatables: a philosophical lexicon. Princeton University Press.

Dor, D. (2015). The Instruction of Imagination: Language as a Social Communication Technology. Oxford University Press, USA.

Levy, M. (2009). Technologies in use for second language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 93(s1), 769-782.

     As I mentioned in my video message posted in Connect, I have used a few other apps that can create digital stories but I decided to go with Videoscribe. The answer is simple, I am familiar with the app and I like the layout and tools that come along with it. I wanted to use something that was eye catching, engaging and fun to watch. I think the selling feature of this app is the hand that draws the images. You can select any image of your choice, and it automatically will draw a picture, with your eyes glued to the screen waiting to see what will appear. According to Bates (2014), if you just transfer the same teaching to a different medium, you wont achieve a different result. You need to adapt to the medium in order to be more effective. A clear example is in my digital story. If I was just lecturing on why students need to read and study Shakespeare, it might turn them away even more from reading his plays. If I used the same idea, but create a visual story on why students should read and study Shakespeare, it might capture their attention. I hope I did just that. I wanted to send a message on why we all need to read Shakespeare, not lecture to my students.

     I used my digital story to introduce a unit on Macbeth that is now in my Moodle LMS course. I believe that by placing this digital story at the beginning of the unit, it will pique their interest even more allowing for more questions and discussions amongst them. Bates (2014) describes the use of video as a teaching tool to develop some of the higher level intellectual skills and some of the more practical skills in this digital-age. I hope I have created this with this video. Some of the questions I would have liked my students to think about before and after watching this video are: Why do we need to read and study Shakespeare in this day and age? I’m never going to use his language so why should I learn it? What will I gain from reading Shakespeare? Primarily Macbeth?

     After completing my LMS content module, I feel pretty good about it. I found the introduction content module more challenging since I was creating everything from scratch. Once I had this up and running it was just a matter of organizing my ideas and creating my lessons. The few things I found to be challenging while completing my LMS course was the customized GUI, along with creating a group forum with at least two different groups. It was a matter of trial and error and reading up on how to create these. I wanted a mixture of formative and summative assessment throughout my course. According to Gibbs and Simpson (2005), formative assessment is in decline. It may be, but I do believe that it is in the best interest of the teacher and student to perform formative assessment since it allows us educators to determine where to go next in terms of pedagogy.

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

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

Sometimes my overly-eager spirit and desire to make things ‘look right’ come in handy,  as it did this time when I tackled the task of creating my moodle’s GUI splash page as part of Assignment 2 rather than 3.  As a result, my greatest challenge for Assignment 3 was in creating my first content module (or on my page – ‘unit 1’), and making sure that everything flowed with a logical progression.   I was very grateful for my previous experiences with creating web-spaces for my students, specifically with the use of Wiki-Classrooms, as it had already given me some idea of the layout and content that provides senior high school students with the information they need, in an easy to navigate format.

When designing blended or fully online learning spaces, I always find it somewhat challenging to know how to best format a page so that it has the content the students require, but will not overwhelm them to the point of glossing over important parts to later claim “they never got that information”.  I attempted to strike the right balance in my pages, while keeping in mind that students taking an online course would be best to heed the advice I put in a ‘Course Conduct’ page, which was to make themselves familiar with all of the course pages as a whole.   That said, were I to actually launch this moodle and course, I think I might take a ‘staggered release’ approach to each unit’s content, and wait for certain intervals before making all lessons visible to them.   I would provide them with a unit description and outline for each, but wait until closer to the scheduled dates to open the lessons to them.  Not only would this help avoid an overwhelming amount of pages and content at the beginning, but it would hopefully help them pace themselves in the course, and tackle each section at the most appropriate time, since the course does indeed build upon itself as it progresses.  For students wishing to work ahead I would release each unit in full perhaps a week prior to the unit’s scheduled start, allowing both student autonomy and opportunities for asynchronous completion, while encouraging collaboration by requiring them to attempt the work at a somewhat similar pace.  This format allows for Anderson’s (2008a) ‘How People Learn Framework’ as per the “affordances of the current web”, with some elements of what he calls the “semantic web 2.0” (p. 66).  Although moodle is a platform that is largely designer (e.g. teacher lead, it contains opportunities for student and content agents to shape the personal experience of the course, depending on the subject.

In my course design I attempted to provide opportunities for choice, interaction, and reflection, to encourage students to take as much ownership over their learning as possible.  As I mentioned in my reflection for Assignment 2, I see my role as more of a ‘content curator slash guide’, rather than an ‘instructor’, especially in an online context.  In fact I would be dismayed if I were to learn that my students were relying solely on what is delivered in the confines of either the online or in-person classroom, never seeking out their own information.  The trick, of course, would be ensuring that they did their own exploring with a critical eye, but without monitoring their every action or search the only way to do this would be through modeling the use of reputable research and observing their discussions in the course forums.  As Martin (1999) writes: “When students feel themselves identifying with us and our disciplines, they come to appreciate the struggle for knowledge, some may even choose to become part of the intellectual adventure” (as cited in Palloff and Pratt (2013).  Although I did stipulate the use of a class textbook, the website and the students’ own research would become its own growing body of ‘text’, hopefully striving together to meet the learning goals of the course that feel authentically achieved.

My Digital Story

If I am completely honest, I chose Voice Thread in part because it was a format that I had no prior experience with, and after a simple Google search I had not found many previous examples of teachers using it to create their Digital Stories.  However, I also determined that it was the right platform for this particular task, as per the criteria for evaluating the appropriateness of media stimulated by Siemens (2003).  I knew I wanted the platform to support personally-chosen images (e.g. not preloaded graphics), a voice-over, and text.  In the past I had used a program called Screen-Cast-O-Matic to create video-lectures, were essentially just me reading aloud a powerpoint presentation and uploading it to YouTube.  If there is a computer tutorial involved, this platform is perfect, and I watched more than one such tutorial when trying to learn some of the more challenging elements of moodle.  For this purpose however, I felt that Screen-Cast-O-Matic would actually offer a bit more than would be necessary, and the extra time I would spend navigating the program would not result in any better version of my Digital Story.  What really clinched my decision was when I learned that Power Point slides could be uploaded to Voice Thread as individual images through a simple drag-and-drop of the entire file, so I could exacerbate the benefits of images, text, audio, and video.  I created a simple Power Point presentation with minimal text to allow greater focus on the audio, uploaded it to Voice Thread, and then added in my voice and a few simple animations using my tablet and pen.   The end result is a fairly simple, but I believe effective, presentation that reflect on larger elements of my moodle course through a personal lens.

In my moodle, I presented my Digital Story as an exemplar for a small student assignment that would take place later in my course.  What I often find when teaching a challenging course is that students benefit from reflecting back on previous content in both personal and dynamic ways, to help them trigger memories of what they have already done and hopefully create new connections with their work and experiences as a whole.   Their choice of platform would be an open one, but encouraging as in Lesson 1 of the course, I would require their choice to be made for maximum effectiveness.   As Ciampa (2013) outlines in Learning in a mobile age: an investigation of student motivation, in order for activities to engender both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation they require elements of “challenge, curiosity, control, cooperation, competition and recognition” (p. 83).  The moodle course as whole, and potentially this task, exhibits many of these elements, especially as students are both encouraged to post to forums with questions for each other, collaborate where required, and then post their work to forums where their peers are prompted to critically reflect and comment.  Especially with online courses, finding ways to weave in techniques that increase motivation and interest are vital, and so my aspiration with this assignment is that it will function as an opportunity for students to not only review the course and their own places within it, but how its themes can be extracted and applied to their “real” worlds.

References:

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_2008Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf

Boyes, J., Dowie, S., & Rumzan, I. (2005). Using the SECTIONS framework to evaluate flash   media. Using the SECTIONS framework to evaluate flash media, 2(1). Retrieved from         http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.186.6505&rep=rep1&type pdf

Ciampa, K. (2014). Learning in a mobile age: An investigation of student motivation. Journal of       Computer Assisted Learning, (30), 82-96. Doi: 10.111./jcal.12036.

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating media characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning  outcomes. Elearnspace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.htm

Palloff, R. M., Pratt, K., & Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection. (2013). Lessons   from the virtual classroom: The realities of online teaching (Second ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.