This document refers to the following site: http://moodle.met.ubc.ca/course/view.php?id=585 

Introduction

The ultimate goal of this course is to assist students in learning the basics of information technology in order to empower them. The reason to develop it in an online format is to provide flexibility for students to learn and practice in a context that is as genuine as possible. Although the course is going to be taken by students at my school, it is not a blended course, and it will be deliverable in an online format. This is not to say that the course will stand on its own. Given the attributes of the learners, a strong and ongoing teacher presence, will be required in order to make it successful. This document presents the rational behind the particular features of the course.

Situational Factors

This course is a grade 10 elective course from the British Columbia curriculum and, as a strategy to reach our school’s digital literacy goals, we want all students to take it. Normally, this course is delivered in a semester block which means that students have only four months to gain an understanding of the intricate and ever transforming realities of the digital world. This traditional format often constrains the teacher to design learning activities that are solely based on technical requirements and executed in an artificial context. For instance, a typical assignment would require the student to produce a slideshow where the message is secondary, but would need to include specific technical features such as a predetermined number of slides, transition, images, animation, etc. In this scenario students don’t have the opportunity to make the connection between the technical features of an application and their impact on the message conveyed. Because students are called upon to use digital tools in their other courses and their daily lives, we want to integrate the content of the course with existing student activities so that students can make the connection between what they need to communicate and the most appropriate features to communicate them. We want them to acquire the necessary background knowledge to make informed decisions about the choice and use of digital tools. Moreover, we want them to use information technologies safely and effectively. Our strategy is to provide resources and support for students to develop the necessary skills through the accomplishment of authentic tasks because it leads to deeper and more meaningful learning (Brown, Collins, and Duguid, 1989).

Students characteristics

• Grade 9 or 10 students from the public school system
• wide range of interest and abilities
• wide range of access to technology
• prevalent lack of self-direction
• often reverting to strategies, such as described by Gibbs and Simpson (2005), where students actions are focused toward “getting a mark” or passing the course rather than learning.

The course is designed to facilitate the connection between students interests and the prescribed learning objectives, so that students have a genuine incentive to learn. For this reason, the learning units are not sequential to allow there completion in a genuine context thus leading to deeper learning. The flexibility of the course does not mean that students are required to be self-directed although one of the main goal of this course is to assist student in becoming so. Since we have identified that the targeted students are not self-directed, the instructor will need to have a strong presence which, in turn, will be supported by effective communication tools and regular communications initiated by the teacher. We recognize that this will require a considerable time investment from the teacher and that he should be allotted the same time equivalence and student to teacher ratio as a classroom teacher. In BC, this means that a teacher would be allotted 0.143 of a full time position for every thirty students.

In term of physical design, the course should be presented in a manner that is visually attractive while following the CRAP principles of graphic design (Nixon, n.d.), easy to navigate, and not overwhelming with long winded texts and numerous instructions.

To assist with the overall development of learning activities, we combined ideas from the backward design model as presented by McTighe and Wiggins (2004) and the self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning by Fink (2003). As a way to facilitate the process, we have also developed a table to keep track of the learning objectives as prescribed by the BC curriculum for Information technology 10. This table will be use throughout the entire curse design process to ensure that all learning objectives are addressed and aligned with the core competencies guiding the entire BC curriculum.

Introductory Unit

General objectives:

As a first point of contact between the students and the course material, it is critical that this unit be engaging and provide students with a sense of accomplishment as well as empowerment. Equally important, is the goal of having students to understand what is expected of them for the course and what they will need to do to be successful. Additionally, this unit will set the tone for the rest of the course, so that student feel safe and supported.

Instructors goals

• Get a sense of students’ potential for engagement.
• Identify students’ individual strengths and weaknesses.

• Identify problems or potential problems.
• Collect students contact information to facilitate contact.
• Ensure that students feel suooirted right from the start.

Learning Activities Development Template

Specific learning objectives (Understanding) Essential Questions

At the end of this unit, students will understand1- the overall goals of the course 2- the overall process to complete the course

1.1 -What are the main things you will learn in this course?1.2 -How can you use what you will learn in this course in real life? 2.1 -What are some of the assignments you will have to complete? 2.2 -How long do you have to complete the course? 2.3 -How are the marks allocated. 2.4 -Describe 2 strategies you can use if you do not understand what you have to do?

Specific learning objectives (Knowledge) Students will be able to:

At the end of this unit, students will know how to:1 -navigate the site 2 -contact the teacher 3 -submit assignments 4 -identify and access resources

1.1 receive and send emails?1.2 Access their Google Education accounts 1.3 Find information about the course 1.4 Post and reply on a online forum 2 1 -send an email to the teacher 2.2 -find the teacher’s phone # 2.3 -participate in a chat session 3.1 -share a Google documents with the teacher 3.2 -send an email with an attachment 4.1 -Participate in a short chat session 4.2 -participate in short help chat room session

Tasks (Understanding) Other evidence

1 -Write a short paragraph answering the essential question.2- Successfully complete a quiz on specific aspects of the course. (100% is required, can be attempted until successful)

Students use proper language and are respectful with their communications. Students logon to the chat room Students ask question about the course during chat session.

Tasks (Knowledge) Other evidence

1 – Confirm reception of teacher email by replying (indicating which time students prefer for weekly chat sessions)2- Successfully complete a quiz on specific aspects of the course. (100% is required, can be attempted until successful) 3- Create a Goggle doc (to be used later as personal agenda) title it studentnameJournal, and share it with teacher. 4- Write one post and five replies to classmates posts as a means to connect with teacher and other participants. – Answer quiz question about accessing resources.

Students use proper language and are respectful with their communications. Students logon to the chat room Students ask questions about the course during chat session.

Learning Plan

To complete the tasks for the introductory unitStudents will: – peruse the Moodle site (T-5, C-8 – introduce themselves and reply to their classmates on an online forum (PLO’s addressed: C-2, C8) – participate in a short synchronous chat session ( PLO’s addressed: C-2. C-8, C-10) – exchange emails with teacher (PLO’s addressed: C-2, C-8, C-10)

Bibliography

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. 

Bates. T. (2014). Appendix 8. Assessment of Learning. In  Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for Teaching and Learning. (online book)

Brown, S.J., Collins, A., and Duguid, P. (February, 1989). Situated cognition and the culture

of Learning. Educational Researcher. 18 (1), p32-42.

Fink, L. D. (2005). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved March 1, 2015 from Dee Fink & Associates website: http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31.

British Columbia Ministry of Education, (n.d). Transforming curriculum & assessment; core competencies. Retrieved from: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies

British Columbia Ministry of Education, (1996), Information Technology 8 to 10 integrated resource package. retrieved from: https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/applied_skills/1996infotech810.pdf

Nixon, B. (n.d.). Principles of effective design. Slideshare. Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/bnixon/principles-of-effective-design?ref=http://csstechintro.weebly.com/design-principles.html

McTighe, J., and Wiggins, G. (2004). Introduction: The logic of backward design. Understanding by Design: Professional Development Workbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

 

Annex (cross-reference between PLO’s and core competencies)