Author Archives: Lucas

I work as a learning technology specialist in the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology at the University of British Columbia

Week 3: Summary

This week we all rolled up our sleeves and delved deeper into the WordPress platform, and at the same time looked more into cohesive course design with WordPress. One of the high points of the week was a Google Hangout, WordPress drop-in with UBC WordPress developer Richard Tape.

  • Richard Tape answered our WordPress questions and reflected afterwards that “people *always* find a way to do something like they want to do in WordPress” View Archive (Please ignore the first 8 minutes).
  • John Johnston blogged about why RSS provide an answer that plugins failed to solve.
  • Jim Luke shared a great video reflection about his journey teaching with WordPress in Economics 
  • Reflections were shared about privacy, and open teaching including a discussion of a Domains of One Own and for some why private interactions were important.
  • Cindy Underhill live tweeted from #STLH2015 and the #TWP15 team shared their experiences at the conference and had a chance to meet some of the network.

Week 3: Course Design in WordPress

We are coming to the end of Week 2 in Teaching in WordPress and looking foreword to another exciting week learning from the ever expanding #TWP15 community.

Last week we dug a little deeper and started  exploring some of the affordances of WordPress in teaching and learning. This week we will start putting it all together and thinking about cohesive course design and more advanced functionality in WordPress

This week we will have a virtual drop-in clinic. On June 18th 1:00 noon – 2:00 pm (PST) join UBC’s Richard Tape, WordPress developer and all around good guy, for a virtual “support clinic” on Google Hangout. Ask your questions about plug-ins, approaches and general functionality for WordPress features that are commonly used for teaching and learning. RSVP to join the discussion using the event page on Google. We’ll take it from there. On the specified date and time above, just click on the live feed to watch.

Join us for the week to explore how we can design cohesive and effective courses in WordPress.  Share your experiences and tips and tricks for using WordPress in open pedagogy and continue the conversation on twitter (#TWP15) and on your blog.

Read more about the week in the schedule, week 3 & 4, which includes:

  • Share your work in progress with the network and receive feedback as you develop it.
  • We have a couple folks sharing their WIP, share some feedback with them
  • One of the TWP15 participants has already shared a screencast on a “blogging bootcamp” about using WordPress for educational blog
  • Discuss what are you learning about being a learner in the open in the Weekly discussion area
  • Explore blog posts from the group on the Blog Hub; “post one, comment on two,” as we are trying to encourage–do a blog post, and comment on (at least) two others!

We are looking foreword to another great week of discussion, sharing and connection.

ISW Pre-Workshop Module-Learning Objectives

BlendedISW-1

Time to complete this module

15 minutes

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module you will be able to

    • Tailor your learning objective (LO) to engage different domains and depths of learning using the action verbs provided in this module

 

Reflect

Consider your current teaching practice and courses that you have taken as learner. In your opinion,

    • What is the advantage of learning objectives from the perspective of your learners?

 

    • What is the advantage of learning objectives, from the instructor's perspective?

 

Read

What are Instructional Objectives?

What are instructional objectives?

    • Instructional objectives are specific, measurable, short-term, observable student behaviors.

 

    • An objective is a description of a performance you want learners to be able to exhibit before you consider them competent.

 

    • An objective describes an intended result of instruction, rather than the process of instruction itself.

 
Why Have Objectives?

Why have objectives?

    • To provide direction to instruction.

 

    • To provide guidelines for assessment.

 

    • To convey instructional intent to others.

 
Tips for writing objectives

    • How specific and detailed should objectives be?

      :It depends on what they are used for! Objectives for sequencing a unit plan will be more general than for specifying a lesson plan.

 

    • Don't make writing objectives tedious, trivial, time-consuming, or mechanical. Keep them simple, unambiguous, and clearly focused as a guide to learning

 

    • The purpose of objectives is not to restrict spontaneity or constrain the vision of education in the discipline; but to ensure that learning is focused clearly enough that both students and teacher know what is going on.

 

    • Express them in terms of student performance, behavior, and achievement, not teacher activity.

 

    • Three components of an instructional objective:

 

 

    1. Identify the type of activity in which competence is required (e.g., "Dissect...").

 

    1. Specify the criteria or standards by which competence in the activity will be assessed (e.g., "a frog so that the following organs are clearly displayed...").

 

    1. List any conditions or circumstances required for students to meet the objective (e.g., "...given two class periods working with the materials at your lab station").

 

Watch

Please watch the first 5 minutes and 50 seconds of this video to learn about Bloom's Taxonomy of verbs. This will be useful to you as you construct meaningful learning objectives for your course.

Discuss

    1. Review the Objective Tips handout for a concise introduction to writing learning objectives using Bloom's taxonomy . You may also wish to see the list of Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs http://www.fresnostate.edu/academics/oie/documents/assesments/Blooms%20Level.pdf

 

    1. Consider your own teaching practice. Think of a topic you might teach and create three different learning objectives - one for the cognitive domain, another for the affective, and a last for the psycho-motor - and share them below in the reply comment text box. Have a look at the Go Further section for a link to a helpful resource regarding the three domains.

 

Go Further

    1. Now that you have had a chance to explore Blooms Taxonomy for creating learning objectives, consider the role of online learning and learning technologies in your teaching and learning. Read through the guide to Bloom's Digital Technology https://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/Bloom's+quicksheets.pdf and consider ways that your objectives might include a focus on digital tools.

 

WordPress Virtual Support Clinic

Join UBC’s Richard Tape, WordPress developer and all around good guy, for a virtual “support clinic” on Google Hangout. Ask your questions about plug-ins, approaches and general functionality for WordPress features that are commonly used for teaching and learning. RSVP to join the discussion using our google form We’ll take it from there. On the specified date and time above, just click on the live feed to watch.

Welcome to Week 2: Sketching on the Blank Slate: Affordances of WordPress

We are coming off an incredible week of connection and sharing about WordPress and open pedagogy. If you missed anything take a look at the Week 1 Summary.

Last week the discussion was focused on open pedagogy and this week we will be exploring some of the affordances of WordPress in teaching and learning. How can the WordPress environment be used to support teaching and learning? What are the benefits and limitations for using WordPress for teaching in your context?

We will kick off the week with a webinar WordPress for Teaching, Monday June 8, 12-1pm Pacific (3pm Eastern, 19:00 UTC): with Christina Hendricks, Alan Levine, and Tannis Morgan where they will talk about various ways in which they use WordPress for teaching and learning. This will be on Google Hangouts, broadcast live on YouTube. Click here for information and how to sign up to join the discussion if you want, and share how you use WordPress for teaching (or just ask questions!).

Join us for the week to explore how WordPress can be used as a flexible, blank-slate tool in teaching and learning. Share your experiences and tips and tricks for using WordPress in open pedagogy and continue the conversation on twitter (#TWP15) and on your blog.

Read more about the week in the schedule, week 2, which includes:

We are looking foreword to another great week of discussion, sharing and connection.