Wordpress is a free program for creating websites and blogs. Both of these can be useful ways of delivering learning material. This does not have a convenient way to give tests or quizzes, but for content delivery, it will do fine.
Friday, November 20, 2015
Aggregating lesson material
There are a number of tools that can be used to aggregate learning material, collecting and organizing it in one place for student use.
My school system uses Google Classroom. It is a fee based services, but the school system takes care of the fee for me. Google advertises it as free - free for schools that have Google Apps for education, but there is a cost associated with Aps for education. It is easy to give assignments. Google Docs is integrated with Classroom and it has a nice grading feature where it is easy to add comments in students written assignments. Announcements can be made on classroom. Google has also recently added a "Question" feature to make quizzes.
Another tool that I use for aggregating course material is Moodle. I use it for a course I teach online - Environmental Science. Moodle does more than Classroom, but some of its features are not as user friendly. Moodle allows one to easily post files, create assignments, make quizzes, insert learning objects, and make pages. The grading feature is cumbersome for making comments. The quiz feature has lots of nice features for feedback, but quizzes are cumbersome and slow to make.
Wordpress is a free program for creating websites and blogs. Both of these can be useful ways of delivering learning material. This does not have a convenient way to give tests or quizzes, but for content delivery, it will do fine.
Wordpress is a free program for creating websites and blogs. Both of these can be useful ways of delivering learning material. This does not have a convenient way to give tests or quizzes, but for content delivery, it will do fine.
Principles of Building Portable Learning Objects
Building learning objects can be time consuming, but rewarding. One of the benefits of creating learning objects is that they can be used repeatedly. So, while it may take time to create a learning object, it can actually be a time saver in the long run as well as a good teaching tool.
For my Teacher Open Online training, I built two "learning objects" on the tragedy of the commons.
The first is a Prezi presentation.
The Prezi above is meant from instruction. It presents information in a dynamic way and asks a question in the middle to try to keep students thinking.
The next learning object that I created is a quiz using poll-maker.com. Students can access the quiz here. I can get the results of the quiz by going here. I didn't use it here, but one nice thing that I discovered about poll-maker quiz maker is that you can insert logic. For example, if a student gets a question right, the quiz can go to one question, but if the student misses a question, the student can go to another question for remediation. I had never used poll-maker before today, but I like it. It is more user friendly than poll-everywhere which I had used before.
The quiz here is meant as an assessment. The short assessment that I made can be used as a quick check to students understanding after a video or reading assignment.
For my Teacher Open Online training, I built two "learning objects" on the tragedy of the commons.
The first is a Prezi presentation.
The Prezi above is meant from instruction. It presents information in a dynamic way and asks a question in the middle to try to keep students thinking.
The next learning object that I created is a quiz using poll-maker.com. Students can access the quiz here. I can get the results of the quiz by going here. I didn't use it here, but one nice thing that I discovered about poll-maker quiz maker is that you can insert logic. For example, if a student gets a question right, the quiz can go to one question, but if the student misses a question, the student can go to another question for remediation. I had never used poll-maker before today, but I like it. It is more user friendly than poll-everywhere which I had used before.
The quiz here is meant as an assessment. The short assessment that I made can be used as a quick check to students understanding after a video or reading assignment.
Learning objects authoring tools
For my Georgia Teacher Open Online class, I had to explore different authoring tools for creating learning objects. These tools allow teachers to make tools ranging from annotated video to interactive games. Below are 5 tools that I learned about: 3 that are free to the public and 3 that subscription based.
Is a paid service that is supposedly very intuitive. There is a 30 day free trial, but I have not yet tried the software. The site has several links to activities created using "articulate", but I don't have a membership, so I can't really view them. Here is a link to a quiz designed to look like Family Feud.
Course lab describes itself as a Learning Management System. It is supposed to be easy to create e-learning activities without needing to know Java or Flash.
This is a site that allows users to make a number of interactive educational games. It is a paid service, costing $40 per year for a teacher account. Below is a link to a sample game from the what to learn site.
Classifying Organisms Game
This is one of my standby Web 2.0 tools. Most often for online teaching, I have my students use it to make presentations. However, it is also a great way to make presentations (a type of learning object) for my student. It easily integrates text, images, and video. And, it's free.
Snagit is a great free tool for making screencasts. Snagit can be used to add commentary over existing video. It can be used to record anything on a computer screen, and with just a microphone, users can add video. This has a free version, so I've listed it here. There is also a pay version with extra features.
Hot Potatoes allows users to create multiple-choice, short answer, jumbled sentence, crossword, matching, and fill in the blank exercises.
Here is an example quiz.
Learning objects can make learning more entertaining and more engaging for students. I do feel it important to note here that I agree strongly with this quote from the "Articulate" blog. -
"While relevance doesn’t equate to interactivity, it does equate to an engaged learner. And an engaged learner is more apt to learn and not be dependent on interactive gimmicks (which is what we usually start with when we try to make the course interactive). "
3 paid services
Is a paid service that is supposedly very intuitive. There is a 30 day free trial, but I have not yet tried the software. The site has several links to activities created using "articulate", but I don't have a membership, so I can't really view them. Here is a link to a quiz designed to look like Family Feud.
Course lab describes itself as a Learning Management System. It is supposed to be easy to create e-learning activities without needing to know Java or Flash.
Classifying Organisms Game
3 free services
This is one of my standby Web 2.0 tools. Most often for online teaching, I have my students use it to make presentations. However, it is also a great way to make presentations (a type of learning object) for my student. It easily integrates text, images, and video. And, it's free.
Snagit is a great free tool for making screencasts. Snagit can be used to add commentary over existing video. It can be used to record anything on a computer screen, and with just a microphone, users can add video. This has a free version, so I've listed it here. There is also a pay version with extra features.
Hot Potatoes allows users to create multiple-choice, short answer, jumbled sentence, crossword, matching, and fill in the blank exercises.
Here is an example quiz.
Learning objects can make learning more entertaining and more engaging for students. I do feel it important to note here that I agree strongly with this quote from the "Articulate" blog. -
"While relevance doesn’t equate to interactivity, it does equate to an engaged learner. And an engaged learner is more apt to learn and not be dependent on interactive gimmicks (which is what we usually start with when we try to make the course interactive). "
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Locating resources
For this activity, I am supposed to use a topic previously selected. I have no idea what that topic was - so I'll just use my next topic in AP Environmental science, which is the tragedy of the commons.
The phrase "tragedy of the commons" was coined by Garrett Hardin in his 1968 article of the same name.
Here is a link to Hardin's full article. It is copyrighted material.
Tragedy of the Commons
On the side bar to this article, there is a place to specifically request permission to use this article. You can see it by following the link below.
Rights and Permissions
However, for classroom use this should not be necessary. I should be able to use excerpts of this material under Fair Use and to use the article in its entirety under the TEACH act as long as I let my students know that the material is copyrighted and I only use the material for educational purpose.
In teaching tragedy of the commons, I may want to use images both of the name and to illustrate the principle. I found a couple of images about "tragedy of the commons" available in creative commons by using and advanced Google search.
This image illustrates tragedy of the commons as the sheep have overgrazed the land. The image comes from a Wikipedia article on grazing rights.
Here is a cartoon image illustrating tragedy of the commons. it is from flickr.
Here is a video that I found using an OER Commons search. You will see that the link is from OER commons.
Tragedy of the commons video
Finally, here is a link to an Environmental Science book available through open stacks. It is linked to a section on environmental ethics which includes a section on "tragedy of the commons."
The phrase "tragedy of the commons" was coined by Garrett Hardin in his 1968 article of the same name.
Here is a link to Hardin's full article. It is copyrighted material.
Tragedy of the Commons
On the side bar to this article, there is a place to specifically request permission to use this article. You can see it by following the link below.
Rights and Permissions
However, for classroom use this should not be necessary. I should be able to use excerpts of this material under Fair Use and to use the article in its entirety under the TEACH act as long as I let my students know that the material is copyrighted and I only use the material for educational purpose.
In teaching tragedy of the commons, I may want to use images both of the name and to illustrate the principle. I found a couple of images about "tragedy of the commons" available in creative commons by using and advanced Google search.
This image illustrates tragedy of the commons as the sheep have overgrazed the land. The image comes from a Wikipedia article on grazing rights.
Here is a cartoon image illustrating tragedy of the commons. it is from flickr.
Here is a video that I found using an OER Commons search. You will see that the link is from OER commons.
Tragedy of the commons video
Finally, here is a link to an Environmental Science book available through open stacks. It is linked to a section on environmental ethics which includes a section on "tragedy of the commons."
Fair use and the teach act
Fair use and the teach act
This year I am teaching AP Environmental Science as an online class for Floyd County Schools. For this, I have created some of my own content. I like to do this because it gives the class a personal touch and allows me to teach the material as I like.
However, it is unnecessary to create all the content needed to teach the class. Creative Commons content is immensely helpful for teaching online. Most of the material that I use is available under creative commons.
There are also laws that allow teachers to use materials that are not licensed as Creative Commons. Fair use and the TEACH act give teachers access to much more material than they would have otherwise available.
Fair use
The Georgia Teacher Open Online website nicely summarized the basics of fair use as follows.
- The purpose and character of the use
- The nature of the work
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole
- The effect of the use on the market or potential market for the original work
"The TEACH Act allows for copyright exemptions only when the following criteria are met:
Materials that I used must be used for education - not entertainment or profit. This is easier to show when the material used was designed for educational purposes (documentaries for example). The material used must be used in appropriate lengths. If only part of a program applies to what is being taught in my class, only that part should be used. I am not allowed to use commercial test prep material as that is taking away from the potential market for commercial test prep material.
Teach act
The Georgia Teacher Open Online website nicely summarized the Teach Act as follows.
- The institution must be an accredited, non-profit educational institution.
- The use must be part of mediated instructional activities.
- The use must be limited to a specific number of students enrolled in a specific class.
- The use must either be for ‘live’ or asynchronous class sessions.
- The use must not include the transmission of textbook materials, materials “typically purchased or acquired by students,” or works developed specifically for online uses."
As a teacher at a public high school, all of my uses qualify as educational. I use these materials in my live class for direct instruction and in my online class as asynchronous presentations. My course is not a MOOC. In fact, it has a very small enrollment. The only thing I have to be careful of is using textbook or test prep material and of using only appropriately sized clips from larger works. There are a number of good, old documentaries for environmental science. If they are not in Creative Commons or the Public Domain though, I can only pull clips appropriate to a particular topic.
One thing that I did learn and that I must start doing in my class is this. When using copyrighted material for legitimate class purposes, students must be informed that the material is copyrighted and that copyright law may apply depending on their use. This can be done for individual assignments, or it can be made clear as part of a course introduction and lesson in online etiquette.
In short, fair use and the Teach Act give me much more freedom than I would otherwise have as an online teacher. The allow me to find and use reliable content much more easily without having to create so much material myself.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Open educational resources and creative commons
Open educational resources are some of the most powerful tools available for teachers to use today. These that are resources that are free to use by all. My favorite provider of OER is MIT Opencourseware.
Open educational resources can have several different types of creative commons licenses.
The can be:
- Attribution only: This type of license allows anyone to use the work as long as they give the original author due credit.
- Noncommercial: This type of license allows anyone to use the work for noncommercial purposes. This includes copying, distributing, displaying, and modifying the work.
- Share alike: This type of license allows anyone to copy, distribute, display, or modify work as long as the new work is also share alike.
- No derivative: Anyone can copy, distribute, or display the work. However, users may not modify this work.
I use open educational resources in my class in a number of ways. I use videos from MIT OCW for in class demonstrations and for homework assignments.
Another one of my favorite open education resources for teaching physics are direct measurement videos from CERC Carleton. These are under the creative commons license for attribution, noncommercial, share alike. Here is an intro activity for teaching with direct measurement videos provided by CERC Carleton.
One thing that I did learn from the Georgia Teacher Open Online Training was how to search specifically for Open Educational Resources. This will be a tremendous help for me in the future.
Monday, November 9, 2015
Web tools for differentiated assessment
A number of web tools can be used to differentiate student assessment. Interactive Web 2.0 tools can allow students to show what they know in creative ways. The key thing for teacher to recognize though is that the tool is not the assessment of what the student knows - it is merely a way for the student to present what he has learned.
One tool that I have found helpful for for student assessment is Prezi.
Prezi is a powerful, dynamic slide show type program. It can be used to deliver all types of content and allows students to do so creatively. Here is a link to a video on how to use Prezi.
There are a number of ways that Prezi can be used for assessment. Let me here present one assessment that I am actually using with my environmental science class.
One tool that I have found helpful for for student assessment is Prezi.
Prezi is a powerful, dynamic slide show type program. It can be used to deliver all types of content and allows students to do so creatively. Here is a link to a video on how to use Prezi.
Class assignment on population pyramids
We are currently learning about population. You have learned about population pyramids and how to tell whether a population is developed or developing from the population pyramid.
In this assignment you will be assigned a specific country.
You will
In this assignment you will be assigned a specific country.
You will
- examine the population pyramid of your assigned country
- explain whether the population is developed, developing, or somewhere in between based on what you see in the pyramid
- tell whether the population is likely to increase, decrease, or remain static in the next ten years and explain why
- examine the population pyramid decade by decade describing the population from 0-10, 10-20, etc.
- explain any anomalies in the population by decade
Here are some examples of such anomalies. In one decade, the population of men may be way less than the population of women. Why? In one decade the population of women may be way less than that of men. Why? In one decade the population may be way more than the decade before it or the decade after it. Why? In one decade the population may be much less than the decade before it or after it. Why?
Your pyramid may have some of these anomalies or none of these. Also, your pyramid could have other peculiarities. Explain those as well.
You will present your analysis in two forms - a short paper and a Prezi presentation.
For the paper, write an introductory paragraph that gives a brief overview of your country. Then, in subsequent paragraphs, do all of the things listed above. The paper must be written in complete sentences and flow logically.
For the Prezi presentation, you will represent your findings in a way that includes text, images, video, audio, animations, or any other creative method to help the viewer understand the demographics of your country. Be sure to have a central idea for your Prezi and to develop it with appropriate material. Your presentation should be logically organized, visually appealing, and cover all the same topics listed above.
After you have completed your presentation, you will post it to a discussion group. I will comment on the presentation for content and organization and each student is encouraged to comment as well. After a period of feedback, you will then modify your presentation and submit it in final form along with your paper.
In conclusion
Using Prezi for this assignment will allow students to creatively present their findings about food pyramids. By critiquing the Prezi of others, students will get a better idea of how to use Prezi and learn about different populations without having to research them all. By writing a paper to go along with the presentation, the students will see the benefits of a visually appealing presentation.Thursday, November 5, 2015
Tools to differentiate teacher instruction
There are many convenient Web 2.0 programs that can be used for differentiation in the classroom. One that I learned about in my Georgia Teacher Open Online training is PollEverywhere. I immediately put it to use in my traditional classroom. I used it with my AP Physics class to determine the overall level of understanding for multiple choice questions on circular motion. I made a 5 question poll for use with that class.
Here are three of those questions.
Question 1
o
Question 2
Question 3
I used these questions in my class to poll students on answers (like a clicker question).
- If most of the students got it right, I could tell they had a good understanding and move on quickly without much explanation.
- If answers were scattered, I could tell that the class didn't really know and spent more time on explanation.
- If most of the class chose one answer, and it was the wrong answer, I could tell that the class had a misconception. I had to make sure to explain the correct answer and to try and get at the root of the misconception.
Now, let me speak to what shows up in my blog as "Question 3" (it was actually question 5 on my poll). This question is designed in a different way. This did not work with my live class as students could not text in the answers. Rather, it is designed for the student to click at a certain point on the screen to select an answer. I have not done so yet, but I intend to try to use this type of poll question with my online AP Environmental Science class
As a note, I also learned about a number of other Web 2.0 tools, some of which I was already using and some of which were new to me. Some of these I rely on heavily and use every day - Google Drive, Google Classroom. Others I use less frequently - Prezi, Soundcloud, and now Polleverywhere. Still others do not fit with my teaching style - Wordle. I'm not saying that I'd never use it, but it is not something I will use regularly.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Web Tools
It is easier than ever to create and share information on the web. These easily interactive tools that allow the online user to create and share content are collectively referred to as Web 2.0. I have chosen three Web 2.0 tools to describe that I think are highly beneficial for education.
Google drive is the best, easiest way to create and share content with others. It allows users to share their content or to collaborate on content. It works with many file types (documents, spreadsheets, etc.) and converts these file types to other platforms (Word). Google has integrated its drive nicely with Google Classroom (another great Web 2.0 system).
I've never actually used poll everywhere. I read about it as part of my assignment for my Georgia Teacher Open Online training. I plan to use it tomorrow. I will use it to poll my AP students about various multiple choice questions to gauge their responses before we go over the questions. In the past, I have used Kahoot (another great tool) for this. Kahoot makes questions like a game and adds a fun aspect, but it has strict text limits and polls aren't the easiest to create. It also has strict limits on the number of allowed responses. Poll Everywhere looks easier to use when not needing a game. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Another program I learned about through TOOL is JoinMe. I plan to use it as a way to run online meetings for my online class. In the past, I have used Google Hangouts for this purpose. I will still use Hangouts, but JoinMe looks to be a much easier way to present information to students other than text or voice. The screen sharing capability is what look forward to using.
The great thing about all these tools is that they are free! They are great for file sharing, polling, and screencasting. There are so many tools available, but the right tool at the right time can make so much difference.
Google drive is the best, easiest way to create and share content with others. It allows users to share their content or to collaborate on content. It works with many file types (documents, spreadsheets, etc.) and converts these file types to other platforms (Word). Google has integrated its drive nicely with Google Classroom (another great Web 2.0 system).
I've never actually used poll everywhere. I read about it as part of my assignment for my Georgia Teacher Open Online training. I plan to use it tomorrow. I will use it to poll my AP students about various multiple choice questions to gauge their responses before we go over the questions. In the past, I have used Kahoot (another great tool) for this. Kahoot makes questions like a game and adds a fun aspect, but it has strict text limits and polls aren't the easiest to create. It also has strict limits on the number of allowed responses. Poll Everywhere looks easier to use when not needing a game. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Another program I learned about through TOOL is JoinMe. I plan to use it as a way to run online meetings for my online class. In the past, I have used Google Hangouts for this purpose. I will still use Hangouts, but JoinMe looks to be a much easier way to present information to students other than text or voice. The screen sharing capability is what look forward to using.
The great thing about all these tools is that they are free! They are great for file sharing, polling, and screencasting. There are so many tools available, but the right tool at the right time can make so much difference.
Appearance
In an online class, appearance is important. Some things are simple - maintain a common font of appropriate size, use contrasting colors for foreground and background, choose colors that don't affect the colorblind, etc. However appearance is much more.
In order to make online learning attractive and interesting, the course designer must integrate visual and even audio elements. These can come as images, pictures, bullets, or videos. For my assignment from TOOL, I was to explore learning modules from 10 instructional sites and identify 5 that exemplify sound design ideals and 5 that do not. I do so now and describe why they do or do not meet these ideals.
I think that to be exemplary a site must have visual variety. It must also have an ordered layout that integrates the images with needed text. While some images are necessary to draw in students, I think it is important not to overdo the images. Too many images serve as distractions. Images and video in a website should serve a purpose. If the purpose is not obvious, they should be left out.
Exemplary sites
Howard Hughes Medical Institute educational materials
This is the main page. The pictures serve as eye catching headers for different areas of the site. The text, highlighted by the yellow background, stands out from image. If it weren't for the yellow background, the text would get lost in the noise of the image. There are not too many choices for categories. Three or four choices is optimal. These three look great.
Serc direct measurement videos
I picked this site as exemplary, largely because I love the material on the site. There are a lot of things that I like about the appearance, but there are a few things that I don't like.
The banner heading is nice - even if the use of the word pedagogy is a bit pretentious. The site is broken up into 4 distinct areas. They are headed by eye catching images and a distinct heading.
While I picked it as exemplary, I will now give a few criticisms. While the site has 4 distinct areas with nice headings, the user has to scroll down to see all abut one of them. This detracts from the organization. Also, the sidebars are noisy and can distract from the site.
CK-12 Explorations
I actually found this site through TOOL. I can not vouch for the quality of material on the site. In fact, after browsing it just a bit, I think most of the material is subpar. However, the appearance of the main page is exemplary.
The page that I've shown here is for physics simulations. Each simulation has an eye catching image followed by a brief description. It is nicely organized. My only criticism is that there are too many choices on one page, but it is as well organized as that could be.
EdX
This is one of my favorite resources. It is nicely laid out with eye catching images for different classes followed by a brief description.
I will give this site the same criticism as the one above. It is as well organized as it can be for the amount of information that is presented, but it presents too much on one page.
MIT OCW
Another of my favorite sites. This site has attempted to do away with the information overload by having images of 4 classes that scroll periodically to 4 more. This works nicely. However, there is still too much noise around the site.
Now for the losers - the nonexemplary sites.
Losers
McGrawsh Science Site Virtual labs
Has some good material, but is presented as an uninteresting, hard to distinguish list.
Phet is another resource that I love. The homepage actually has a fairly clean look, but when you go to look for simulations, you get a boring, somewhat difficult to navigate list.
Annenberg Learner is another great site. I'm hesitant to put this one on the losers list. The images used on the page are nice looking. So why do I put it on the losers list? The titles are hard to relate to topic for which your looking - even with the discipline tab on the side. The biggest thing is though that there is a huge long list of activities but they go over 6 pages and the user has to scroll down lots on each page.
This is actually a good website. It's nicely organized by lists, but it's basically dichrome with lists. No pop.
In order to make online learning attractive and interesting, the course designer must integrate visual and even audio elements. These can come as images, pictures, bullets, or videos. For my assignment from TOOL, I was to explore learning modules from 10 instructional sites and identify 5 that exemplify sound design ideals and 5 that do not. I do so now and describe why they do or do not meet these ideals.
I think that to be exemplary a site must have visual variety. It must also have an ordered layout that integrates the images with needed text. While some images are necessary to draw in students, I think it is important not to overdo the images. Too many images serve as distractions. Images and video in a website should serve a purpose. If the purpose is not obvious, they should be left out.
Exemplary sites
Howard Hughes Medical Institute educational materials
This is the main page. The pictures serve as eye catching headers for different areas of the site. The text, highlighted by the yellow background, stands out from image. If it weren't for the yellow background, the text would get lost in the noise of the image. There are not too many choices for categories. Three or four choices is optimal. These three look great.
Serc direct measurement videos
I picked this site as exemplary, largely because I love the material on the site. There are a lot of things that I like about the appearance, but there are a few things that I don't like.
The banner heading is nice - even if the use of the word pedagogy is a bit pretentious. The site is broken up into 4 distinct areas. They are headed by eye catching images and a distinct heading.
While I picked it as exemplary, I will now give a few criticisms. While the site has 4 distinct areas with nice headings, the user has to scroll down to see all abut one of them. This detracts from the organization. Also, the sidebars are noisy and can distract from the site.
CK-12 Explorations
I actually found this site through TOOL. I can not vouch for the quality of material on the site. In fact, after browsing it just a bit, I think most of the material is subpar. However, the appearance of the main page is exemplary.
The page that I've shown here is for physics simulations. Each simulation has an eye catching image followed by a brief description. It is nicely organized. My only criticism is that there are too many choices on one page, but it is as well organized as that could be.
EdX
This is one of my favorite resources. It is nicely laid out with eye catching images for different classes followed by a brief description.
I will give this site the same criticism as the one above. It is as well organized as it can be for the amount of information that is presented, but it presents too much on one page.
MIT OCW
Another of my favorite sites. This site has attempted to do away with the information overload by having images of 4 classes that scroll periodically to 4 more. This works nicely. However, there is still too much noise around the site.
Now for the losers - the nonexemplary sites.
Losers
McGrawsh Science Site Virtual labs
Has some good material, but is presented as an uninteresting, hard to distinguish list.
Phet is another resource that I love. The homepage actually has a fairly clean look, but when you go to look for simulations, you get a boring, somewhat difficult to navigate list.
Annenberg Learner is another great site. I'm hesitant to put this one on the losers list. The images used on the page are nice looking. So why do I put it on the losers list? The titles are hard to relate to topic for which your looking - even with the discipline tab on the side. The biggest thing is though that there is a huge long list of activities but they go over 6 pages and the user has to scroll down lots on each page.
This is actually a good website. It's nicely organized by lists, but it's basically dichrome with lists. No pop.
Here is another resource that I have to use. A website should never look like a letter on a page. It's not easy to navigate, difficult to lookout, and not attractive to the eye. I find that almost all government websites are atrocious in appearance.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Creating a concept map
I am developing a course on environmental science. As part of my course, I will teach about population biology. Here is an outline of the topic taken from my course syllabus.
Population biology concepts
1. Population ecology
2. Carrying capacity
3. Reproductive strategies
4. Survivorship
- Mark and recapture lab: Something’s Fishy- Students will use beans to simulate wild animals. They will sample tag a certain number of these animals, sample the animals, and use their samples to estimate the population.
- Estimating carrying capacity lab - Students will graph acorn yield for oak trees, determine the maximum acorn yield, and use this to calculate the potential carrying capacity for deer.
I created a quick concept map using bubbl.us.
To actually teach the unit online, I will utilize asynchronous tools including videos, reading assignments, and online simulation. The students will also complete labs and simulations offline and submit documents such as lab reports for these assignments. I will have a discussion board for students to post questions about topics and will give written feedback, audiofeedback, and links to additional sources on the topic.
Time management
As part of my Teacher Open Online Training, I read a number of links about time management. The first thing I did was take a quiz on time management. While I didn't feel that I was doing well on the quiz, I scored in the Using Time Effectively category. I scored a 47 (at the bottom of the using time effectively, but still there). I think I primarily scored there because of prioritizing and in spite of procrastinating. I then browsed a number of tools for time management.
Time management tools
I did not find any of these tools to be helpful. I don't wast time browsing social internet sites. I don't like autocorrect, as it messes me up more than it helps. I sure don't want an extended autocorrect. Some of the tools could be useful, but I am more of an old school pen and paper kind of man.
So, here are five time management tools that I do find helpful.
One - make a list. I do this with pen and paper. Sometime I make a list of things to get done for the day, sometimes for the week, sometimes for a course or activity. I like to actually write them down and put them in my pocket. I enjoy the feeling of physically crossing things off my list.
Two - phone calendar. I'm old school. I don't have a smart phone. There are two reasons that I don't. One, I think it can sometimes be more of a distraction than a help. The more important reason though is that I am cheap. I do not want to pay extra fees to Verizon. It is expensive enough as it is. That said, I do have a cellphone. It's an old style flip phone - the Boulder.
While it is an old flip phone, it actually does have most of the capabilities that people associate with smartphones without the distractions that come with touchscreens and touchscreen games. One feature that I use all the time is my phone calendar. I program in some regular events and add irregular events. It notifies me on time and unlike a smart phone, my battery almost never goes dead. Even after having had the phone for 6 years, I still only have to charge it once a week tops.
Three - While I may seem like a luddite, I am not. I am not against technology if it can actually help me in life. One tool that I have found helpful for teaching is Google Calendar. I don't like it in my daily life. I might like it if I had a smartphone that gave me notifications directly from Google Calendar, but I think this would be a distraction. However, I upload my classroom lesson plans to Google Calendar. I get notifications when I get on my computer at school, which is when and where I want them.
Four - Delicious. While the social bookmarking site may not seem like a time management tool, it is. It helps me keep important links organized. This makes it easier for me to find important resources for my job. Therefore, I wast less time.
Five - Bookmarks. Yes, I know. They are not new or glamorous. However, for my work I have a desktop computer. While social bookmarking is nice when traveling, most of the time I'm not traveling. It's even quicker to find important resources using my desktop bookmarks than it is to take the time to login to Delicious.
The key thing to time management is setting priorities. Tools however can be helpful. Each person has to find what works for him. These work for me.
Time management tools
I did not find any of these tools to be helpful. I don't wast time browsing social internet sites. I don't like autocorrect, as it messes me up more than it helps. I sure don't want an extended autocorrect. Some of the tools could be useful, but I am more of an old school pen and paper kind of man.
So, here are five time management tools that I do find helpful.
One - make a list. I do this with pen and paper. Sometime I make a list of things to get done for the day, sometimes for the week, sometimes for a course or activity. I like to actually write them down and put them in my pocket. I enjoy the feeling of physically crossing things off my list.
Two - phone calendar. I'm old school. I don't have a smart phone. There are two reasons that I don't. One, I think it can sometimes be more of a distraction than a help. The more important reason though is that I am cheap. I do not want to pay extra fees to Verizon. It is expensive enough as it is. That said, I do have a cellphone. It's an old style flip phone - the Boulder.
While it is an old flip phone, it actually does have most of the capabilities that people associate with smartphones without the distractions that come with touchscreens and touchscreen games. One feature that I use all the time is my phone calendar. I program in some regular events and add irregular events. It notifies me on time and unlike a smart phone, my battery almost never goes dead. Even after having had the phone for 6 years, I still only have to charge it once a week tops.
Three - While I may seem like a luddite, I am not. I am not against technology if it can actually help me in life. One tool that I have found helpful for teaching is Google Calendar. I don't like it in my daily life. I might like it if I had a smartphone that gave me notifications directly from Google Calendar, but I think this would be a distraction. However, I upload my classroom lesson plans to Google Calendar. I get notifications when I get on my computer at school, which is when and where I want them.
Four - Delicious. While the social bookmarking site may not seem like a time management tool, it is. It helps me keep important links organized. This makes it easier for me to find important resources for my job. Therefore, I wast less time.
Five - Bookmarks. Yes, I know. They are not new or glamorous. However, for my work I have a desktop computer. While social bookmarking is nice when traveling, most of the time I'm not traveling. It's even quicker to find important resources using my desktop bookmarks than it is to take the time to login to Delicious.
The key thing to time management is setting priorities. Tools however can be helpful. Each person has to find what works for him. These work for me.
Synchronous session
Online teaching is a great way to increase student access to education. It allows students to have resources at their disposal almost anywhere at anytime. However, there are certain limitations to online teaching and asynchronous learning. Students need real help in real time.
Synchronous sessions allow students to have direct access to the teacher. If the teacher uses synchronous methods with "face time", students and teachers can put a face with a name. This humanizes the classroom. It let's the students see the teacher as a person and the teacher see the students as people.
One on one synchronous sessions are the best for giving students feedback on progress and help on individual questions. However, doing one on one sessions with numerous students is often impractical.
There are however many benefits to synchronous sessions as a class. Students in a classroom session are more likely to talk to each other. After reading the TOOL discussion of synchronous sessions, I am going to encourage students create and utilize breakout sessions. I may even assign groups and give a follow up assignment to the discussion. The students will then complete these assignments in a break out session.
Here is a bit more about synchronous sessions.
I am currently teaching an online course. My class is small, and most of the students I have are at my school. This allows me to see them in the day if I need to do so. I have a few other students at other schools in my district. I travel to see them face to face once a week. Because of this, I haven not had to explore synchronous sessions as much as I would otherwise. I have utilized Google Hangouts and Face Time with them, but I need to do more with synchronous sessions. This will be even more important if I teach students that are more removed from me.
Synchronous sessions allow students to have direct access to the teacher. If the teacher uses synchronous methods with "face time", students and teachers can put a face with a name. This humanizes the classroom. It let's the students see the teacher as a person and the teacher see the students as people.
One on one synchronous sessions are the best for giving students feedback on progress and help on individual questions. However, doing one on one sessions with numerous students is often impractical.
There are however many benefits to synchronous sessions as a class. Students in a classroom session are more likely to talk to each other. After reading the TOOL discussion of synchronous sessions, I am going to encourage students create and utilize breakout sessions. I may even assign groups and give a follow up assignment to the discussion. The students will then complete these assignments in a break out session.
Here is a bit more about synchronous sessions.
I am currently teaching an online course. My class is small, and most of the students I have are at my school. This allows me to see them in the day if I need to do so. I have a few other students at other schools in my district. I travel to see them face to face once a week. Because of this, I haven not had to explore synchronous sessions as much as I would otherwise. I have utilized Google Hangouts and Face Time with them, but I need to do more with synchronous sessions. This will be even more important if I teach students that are more removed from me.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Discussions
In a traditional classroom, teachers and students meet face to face. In this setting, students and teachers can have meaningful real time discussions of subjects. Teachers can hear (and sometime see) what students are thinking. Teachers can then prompt the students to think deeper by asking follow up questions. Students can also talk to each other. This allows students to learn from each other and to hear from other perspectives. While this is happening, the teacher can interject to keep students on task or prompt them to go a different direction with discussions. It is much more difficult to have such discussions in an online classroom.
One way to approximate such discussions is through the use of 'discussion forums'. Georgia TOOL suggests these best practices for using discussion forums.
I like the first suggestion. By responding to the first thread of all student responses, the teacher shows that he is monitoring responses. Moreover, if he does so quickly he can complement the student for having all the essential elements or prompt him for missing elements. Not only should this get the first student on track, but it should get all the rest on track.
Likewise, highlighting selections from the prompt or focus in the students response helps ensure that the the students are getting the essence of the question.
Before I did the last section on TOOL, audio commentary had not even been a thought for me. However, I liked the idea and recently started using it. I think that Soundcloud makes it as simple as anything out there. At any rate, I like the idea of using voice commentary to the students. It grabs their attention and lets me say more in less time. It is easier for students and for me, the teacher.
The fourth idea - link to external resources - is a great idea and one that I don't do enough. The teacher can link outside resources for remediation or extension. It is an easy way to give constructive feedback.
I somewhat disagree with the last suggestion for best practice. I do like the Socratic Method and think that it should be often used. This helps ensure that students have to think for themselves, but allows the teacher to guide the students by questioning. However, I think that there are times that the teacher can and should be more direct.
For my online class, I use Moodle as my LMS. It has lots of neat features for discussion forums. One that I particularly like makes students submit a response before they can see others responses. I like this because all too often, students merely copy one another. By using this option, the student has to think to formulate his reply and can then see if others agree with his reply or if they took a completely different approach.
One way to approximate such discussions is through the use of 'discussion forums'. Georgia TOOL suggests these best practices for using discussion forums.
- Respond to the first thread of all student responses and ensure that the post addresses the essential elements
- Highlight selections from the prompt, reading, or thematic focus of the student’s response in the initial feedback
- Integrate audio commentary in the response
- Link to external resources, readings, or websites for further study
- Rely on the Socratic Method in all Discussion Forums
I like the first suggestion. By responding to the first thread of all student responses, the teacher shows that he is monitoring responses. Moreover, if he does so quickly he can complement the student for having all the essential elements or prompt him for missing elements. Not only should this get the first student on track, but it should get all the rest on track.
Likewise, highlighting selections from the prompt or focus in the students response helps ensure that the the students are getting the essence of the question.
Before I did the last section on TOOL, audio commentary had not even been a thought for me. However, I liked the idea and recently started using it. I think that Soundcloud makes it as simple as anything out there. At any rate, I like the idea of using voice commentary to the students. It grabs their attention and lets me say more in less time. It is easier for students and for me, the teacher.
The fourth idea - link to external resources - is a great idea and one that I don't do enough. The teacher can link outside resources for remediation or extension. It is an easy way to give constructive feedback.
I somewhat disagree with the last suggestion for best practice. I do like the Socratic Method and think that it should be often used. This helps ensure that students have to think for themselves, but allows the teacher to guide the students by questioning. However, I think that there are times that the teacher can and should be more direct.
For my online class, I use Moodle as my LMS. It has lots of neat features for discussion forums. One that I particularly like makes students submit a response before they can see others responses. I like this because all too often, students merely copy one another. By using this option, the student has to think to formulate his reply and can then see if others agree with his reply or if they took a completely different approach.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Digital feedback
As part of my Georgia Teacher Open Online training, I had to explore different methods of giving digital feedback. The training gave several suggestions for digital feedback:
- linking to outside resources
- leaving an audio recording
- images for an excellent job
- recording from synchronous sessions
- videos
I have already been using outside resources and videos with my online class. I don't use them as immediate feedback often enough though, and this was a good reminder to do so.
Images for an excellent job actually seem a childish to me. I think it can be a fine thing, but it is not my thing.
The suggestion that struck me though was giving online students feedback through an audio recording rather than through written feedback. There is something powerful about the human voice, and in many cases it is actually easier to record the feedback than to write.
So, after having read through the material on the TOOL website, I thought I'd check it out. I had assignment my students to make a Prezi on food webs. I thought that audio would be an easy way to give specific feedback on this assignment. I tried the Evernote site suggested by TOOL, but didn't really like it. So instead, I went to online-voice-recorder.com. I found this site easier to use. I uploaded my file to Soundcloud. In hindsight, I might have just used Soundcloud to record it. Anyhow, here is an example.
Anyhow, here is a file giving feedback on the assignment.
Sample Audio Feedback
I mentioned other ways to give specific feedback above, but I wanted to give one example of one I actually used.
Anyhow, here is a file giving feedback on the assignment.
Sample Audio Feedback
I mentioned other ways to give specific feedback above, but I wanted to give one example of one I actually used.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Feedback
Part of the Georgia Performance Standards for Environmental Science are listed below.
Students will investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem and relate these phenomena to human society.
b. Relate energy changes to food chains, food webs, and to trophic levels in a generalized ecosystem, recognizing that entropy is a primary factor in the loss of usable food energy during movement up the trophic levels.
c. Relate food production and quality of nutrition to population growth and the trophic levels.
d. Relate the cycling of matter and the flow of energy to the Laws of Conservation of matter and energy. Identify the role and importance of decomposers in the recycling process.
To assess students over these standards, they will complete the following assignment.
Students will create a Prezi presentation showing three different food chains in the local ecosystem and a food web showing how the food chains are interconnected. Then the students will answer the following questions.
1. As you go up a food chain, what happens to the amount of energy available for use? Explain why this is in using the laws of thermodynamics.
2. As human population grows, the world will need more food to provide nutrition for the growing population. Explain how people may be able to meet the nutritional demands of the future by changing the trophic level of humans.
3. What role do decomposers play in your food chain or food web?
I developed a quick rubric for scoring the assignment using Anneberg Learner Rubric Builder.
Rubric
Again, I am amazed at how remarkably well the general criteria fit my specific assignment. I could use this rubric to grade the assignment as is. However, for the students to get the fullest from my feedback, I'd have to make personal comments to go along with the rubric.
Lets say a student completed the assignment, made his Prezi, and answered his questions in complete sentences in paragraph format. But let's say that his food chains only had three levels each and when made into a food web, there were only one or two connections between food chains. He answered question one by saying "The amount of energy available for use as you go up trophic levels goes down," but he goes no further. He answered question two by saying "In the future people can eat less." He answered question three, "Decomposers break down dead material and return nutrients to a usable form in soil or air."
For format, I'd score him strong - a 4. He completed a Prezi, made his food chains and food web, and answered the questions in complete sentences.
For organization, I'd score him basic - a 2. If I just sent him that though, he'd not know what he failed to do. So I'd send him personal feedback something like this.
"You connected the ideas of food chains to food webs. However, by limiting your food chains to only three levels, you fail to grasp the complexity of food chains and food webs. Such a short food chain led to few connections within your food web. Thus, it appears that food webs and food chains are only partly connected when in fact their are many, complex connections between the two. Moreover, your answers the the questions are at best, partly correct. They are often incomplete. For example, you correctly state that energy for use goes down as you go up tropic levels but you did not explain "why" using the laws of thermodynamics.
On content, I'd again score him a 2 - basic. I'd point out that he did the minimum to meet the assignment by completing three food chains but the food chains really weren't complete as many links were left out of the chain. Showing only three trophic levels skips many levels of consumers.
On details, I'd score him weak - a 1. I'd again point out the lack of depth in his food chains and food webs. I'd point out the incompleteness of his answers to the questions. I would however give a little praise for encouragement by telling him that his answer to question three shows a better depth of knowledge, but I'd leave him with a question. "What do decomposers have to do with energy transfer?"
Students will investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem and relate these phenomena to human society.
b. Relate energy changes to food chains, food webs, and to trophic levels in a generalized ecosystem, recognizing that entropy is a primary factor in the loss of usable food energy during movement up the trophic levels.
c. Relate food production and quality of nutrition to population growth and the trophic levels.
d. Relate the cycling of matter and the flow of energy to the Laws of Conservation of matter and energy. Identify the role and importance of decomposers in the recycling process.
To assess students over these standards, they will complete the following assignment.
Students will create a Prezi presentation showing three different food chains in the local ecosystem and a food web showing how the food chains are interconnected. Then the students will answer the following questions.
1. As you go up a food chain, what happens to the amount of energy available for use? Explain why this is in using the laws of thermodynamics.
2. As human population grows, the world will need more food to provide nutrition for the growing population. Explain how people may be able to meet the nutritional demands of the future by changing the trophic level of humans.
3. What role do decomposers play in your food chain or food web?
I developed a quick rubric for scoring the assignment using Anneberg Learner Rubric Builder.
Rubric
Again, I am amazed at how remarkably well the general criteria fit my specific assignment. I could use this rubric to grade the assignment as is. However, for the students to get the fullest from my feedback, I'd have to make personal comments to go along with the rubric.
Lets say a student completed the assignment, made his Prezi, and answered his questions in complete sentences in paragraph format. But let's say that his food chains only had three levels each and when made into a food web, there were only one or two connections between food chains. He answered question one by saying "The amount of energy available for use as you go up trophic levels goes down," but he goes no further. He answered question two by saying "In the future people can eat less." He answered question three, "Decomposers break down dead material and return nutrients to a usable form in soil or air."
For format, I'd score him strong - a 4. He completed a Prezi, made his food chains and food web, and answered the questions in complete sentences.
For organization, I'd score him basic - a 2. If I just sent him that though, he'd not know what he failed to do. So I'd send him personal feedback something like this.
"You connected the ideas of food chains to food webs. However, by limiting your food chains to only three levels, you fail to grasp the complexity of food chains and food webs. Such a short food chain led to few connections within your food web. Thus, it appears that food webs and food chains are only partly connected when in fact their are many, complex connections between the two. Moreover, your answers the the questions are at best, partly correct. They are often incomplete. For example, you correctly state that energy for use goes down as you go up tropic levels but you did not explain "why" using the laws of thermodynamics.
On content, I'd again score him a 2 - basic. I'd point out that he did the minimum to meet the assignment by completing three food chains but the food chains really weren't complete as many links were left out of the chain. Showing only three trophic levels skips many levels of consumers.
On details, I'd score him weak - a 1. I'd again point out the lack of depth in his food chains and food webs. I'd point out the incompleteness of his answers to the questions. I would however give a little praise for encouragement by telling him that his answer to question three shows a better depth of knowledge, but I'd leave him with a question. "What do decomposers have to do with energy transfer?"
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Rubrics
This assignment was about developing rubrics for online grading.
I was worried about this as an assignment because as a rule, I hate rubrics. I even hate the word rubric. I had never heard this word until I took my first education class, and I felt even then that it was a made up word. I now know it comes from the terms for burnt ocher which was used to gloss old manuscripts. Thus, a rubric was a commentary on old manuscripts and a rubric for grading is a commentary on student work. Knowing that the word wasn't purely educational jargon put me somewhat at ease with rubrics, but I still didn't like them.
Even in my traditional classroom, I almost never grade by rubrics. However, I have been teaching AP classes for several years and the "Scoring Guidelines" that they give for free response problems have put me even more at ease with rubrics. This may just be because I prefer the more descriptive "Scoring Guidelines" to the jargon of "Rubric." At any rate, I was not looking forward to the assignment.
Since I had to make a rubric for this assignment, I decided to do so for an assignment that I recently gave students for my online environmental science class. Here is the assignment I gave my students.
You will use Prezi to make a presentation. In your presentation, you will show and describe three food chains from the temperate deciduous forest (We live in a temperate deciduous forest). Be sure to include producers, consumers, and decomposers in each food chain. You will then show how these food chains combine to make a food web.
To make my Rubric, I chose to use the easy rubric maker from Annenberg Learner. I chose it because it sounded easy and because I have used Annenberg Learner for many teaching activities in my classes and I trust the site. The rubric maker was really easy. I chose the categories to be graded from a list and clicked create. Here is the rubric it made for me.
For being a general rubric generator, I was really impressed at how well the descriptions fit my assignment. To use it for full effect though, I'd have to add a bit of description to the rubric. Let me just use the "Organization" section of the Annenberg Learner generated rubric as an example.
4 Logical presentation of ideas; all parts contribute to a strong central idea.
3 Most ideas are connected; some parts don't contribute to the central idea.
2 Selects correct format for the assignment but uses it inconsistently with many errors.
1 Ideas have little connection to each other; there is no strong central idea.
This can be tweaked very simply.
4 Logical presentation of food chains and food webs shows a food web is composed of many interconnected food chains
3 The idea of food chains is connected to food webs but the idea that a food chain is but one path in a food web is not clearly established.
2 Correct format for food chain and food web presentation but the logical connection between food chains and food webs is not drawn or not made explicit.
1 Food chains and a food web are presented but not connected under a central idea.
I really like the simplicity of the Annenberg Learner Rubric maker.
my students.
I was worried about this as an assignment because as a rule, I hate rubrics. I even hate the word rubric. I had never heard this word until I took my first education class, and I felt even then that it was a made up word. I now know it comes from the terms for burnt ocher which was used to gloss old manuscripts. Thus, a rubric was a commentary on old manuscripts and a rubric for grading is a commentary on student work. Knowing that the word wasn't purely educational jargon put me somewhat at ease with rubrics, but I still didn't like them.
Even in my traditional classroom, I almost never grade by rubrics. However, I have been teaching AP classes for several years and the "Scoring Guidelines" that they give for free response problems have put me even more at ease with rubrics. This may just be because I prefer the more descriptive "Scoring Guidelines" to the jargon of "Rubric." At any rate, I was not looking forward to the assignment.
Since I had to make a rubric for this assignment, I decided to do so for an assignment that I recently gave students for my online environmental science class. Here is the assignment I gave my students.
You will use Prezi to make a presentation. In your presentation, you will show and describe three food chains from the temperate deciduous forest (We live in a temperate deciduous forest). Be sure to include producers, consumers, and decomposers in each food chain. You will then show how these food chains combine to make a food web.
To make my Rubric, I chose to use the easy rubric maker from Annenberg Learner. I chose it because it sounded easy and because I have used Annenberg Learner for many teaching activities in my classes and I trust the site. The rubric maker was really easy. I chose the categories to be graded from a list and clicked create. Here is the rubric it made for me.
For being a general rubric generator, I was really impressed at how well the descriptions fit my assignment. To use it for full effect though, I'd have to add a bit of description to the rubric. Let me just use the "Organization" section of the Annenberg Learner generated rubric as an example.
4 Logical presentation of ideas; all parts contribute to a strong central idea.
3 Most ideas are connected; some parts don't contribute to the central idea.
2 Selects correct format for the assignment but uses it inconsistently with many errors.
1 Ideas have little connection to each other; there is no strong central idea.
This can be tweaked very simply.
4 Logical presentation of food chains and food webs shows a food web is composed of many interconnected food chains
3 The idea of food chains is connected to food webs but the idea that a food chain is but one path in a food web is not clearly established.
2 Correct format for food chain and food web presentation but the logical connection between food chains and food webs is not drawn or not made explicit.
1 Food chains and a food web are presented but not connected under a central idea.
I really like the simplicity of the Annenberg Learner Rubric maker.
my students.
Utilizing one of the resources discussed above, create a rubric that integrates specific criteria for an assignment and also affords the instructor ample commentary on the student’s product. Make the rubric available in a post in your blog.
After completing a blog post that meets the requirements of this quest, submit the link to your post in the Submission Form at the bottom of this page.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Evaluation methods and communication practices
In order for students to consistently have success in an online classroom, they need feedback. The feedback must be timely and descriptive. The feedback must also be authentic: the feedback must be a direct comment on the students work or learning not a canned reply (good job, show work, etc.).
Only by authentic, descriptive feedback will most students know how to improve their performance.
This year is my first year teaching online. My class is a small, AP Environmental Science class. Because of the fall number of students, I can give direct feedback to each student. It is still difficult to give sufficient feedback because of my teaching load (teaching 6 classes, 4 different classes including two AP classes). I also have the benefit of being on location with most of my students and the ability to travel at least once a week to see my other students in person.
My LMS is Moodle. It does have a place for comments on each assignment, but I find the comments section unwieldy. The nice thing about Moodle on test options though is it allows for immediate feedback or deferred feedback. The not nice thing is that to set up this feedback for each question takes a tremendous amount of time. It triples the amount of time needed to make a test.
I have done some other things to give feedback through Moodle though that I have found successful. For example, last week, my students had their first AP Environmental Science math based Free Response Question as a test. Typically, students do the worst on math problems. My students were no exception. To give immediate feedback to go along with their grade, I made a video to coach them through AP style math frqs
I also use Google Classroom for some assignments in my class. I find it easier to give authentic feedback on Google Docs than I do using the Moodle Platform. It is extra easy to make comments through classroom, but I also use Read and Write for Google for regular Google Docs.
Another method that I will be using to give student feedback is peer assessment. This is especially important for an AP class. I have done peer assessment with my students live before, and I have done so through Massive Open Online Courses that I have taken myself. It is quite effective.
As a note, I am a huge fan of MOOCs. I could not disagree more with one of the linked resources.
Four Good Reasons Why Students Need Instructor Feedback in Online Courses
This article argues that college students can not learn through MOOCs. Some of the argument is valid. Here is an excerpt that I very much agree with.
I’ll use my 18-year old daughter, a high school senior here as an example. She will be a college freshman this September, and though she is a good student, with severalAdvanced Placement courses under her belt, she in no way would be able to learn successfully in a MOOC in her freshman year. Not that she can’t learn, or won’t be able to at some point, but she is a product of the public school system where students are told what to do, when to do it, how to do it. Furthermore, high school students are not prompted to think outside the box, to create a networked learning environment, or to be a self-directed learner.
I fully agree that public school students are not taught to be self directed or self motivated. However, a few simple adjustments can make MOOCs successful for most college students. All that is needed is a "Course Counselor" to make sure that students get in the right courses (not things above their head). The counselor would follow up periodically throughout the semester and direct the student to resources outside the MOOC needed to succeed in the class. This could be more online material or the colleges tutorial center. They all have one. In fact, I'm thinking of starting a business where I and a friend set up an online college counselor for MOOCs and have students pay to lead them successfully through the world of online learning. The author is right that most students coming out of high school can't do it for themselves. The author is right about the reasons that they can't do it. But with a little outside help for students, MOOCs are the wave of the future..
Only by authentic, descriptive feedback will most students know how to improve their performance.
This year is my first year teaching online. My class is a small, AP Environmental Science class. Because of the fall number of students, I can give direct feedback to each student. It is still difficult to give sufficient feedback because of my teaching load (teaching 6 classes, 4 different classes including two AP classes). I also have the benefit of being on location with most of my students and the ability to travel at least once a week to see my other students in person.
My LMS is Moodle. It does have a place for comments on each assignment, but I find the comments section unwieldy. The nice thing about Moodle on test options though is it allows for immediate feedback or deferred feedback. The not nice thing is that to set up this feedback for each question takes a tremendous amount of time. It triples the amount of time needed to make a test.
I have done some other things to give feedback through Moodle though that I have found successful. For example, last week, my students had their first AP Environmental Science math based Free Response Question as a test. Typically, students do the worst on math problems. My students were no exception. To give immediate feedback to go along with their grade, I made a video to coach them through AP style math frqs
Another method that I will be using to give student feedback is peer assessment. This is especially important for an AP class. I have done peer assessment with my students live before, and I have done so through Massive Open Online Courses that I have taken myself. It is quite effective.
As a note, I am a huge fan of MOOCs. I could not disagree more with one of the linked resources.
Four Good Reasons Why Students Need Instructor Feedback in Online Courses
This article argues that college students can not learn through MOOCs. Some of the argument is valid. Here is an excerpt that I very much agree with.
I’ll use my 18-year old daughter, a high school senior here as an example. She will be a college freshman this September, and though she is a good student, with severalAdvanced Placement courses under her belt, she in no way would be able to learn successfully in a MOOC in her freshman year. Not that she can’t learn, or won’t be able to at some point, but she is a product of the public school system where students are told what to do, when to do it, how to do it. Furthermore, high school students are not prompted to think outside the box, to create a networked learning environment, or to be a self-directed learner.
I fully agree that public school students are not taught to be self directed or self motivated. However, a few simple adjustments can make MOOCs successful for most college students. All that is needed is a "Course Counselor" to make sure that students get in the right courses (not things above their head). The counselor would follow up periodically throughout the semester and direct the student to resources outside the MOOC needed to succeed in the class. This could be more online material or the colleges tutorial center. They all have one. In fact, I'm thinking of starting a business where I and a friend set up an online college counselor for MOOCs and have students pay to lead them successfully through the world of online learning. The author is right that most students coming out of high school can't do it for themselves. The author is right about the reasons that they can't do it. But with a little outside help for students, MOOCs are the wave of the future..
Differentiation
Differentiation is a buzzword in education. There are some real benefits to differentiation. Advanced students can be accelerated in their learning. Remediation can be provide to those students that are struggling with a topic.
Besides covering different topics with different students, differentiation can mean presenting information in a variety of ways. The idea is that different students learn in different ways, and by using a variety of methods, a teacher gives each student the best opportunity to learn.
As a note, I agree that it is good to prevent information in a variety of methods. This allows students to more fully understand material and to understand material in a number of contexts. I do want to note here that the idea of personal learning styles is way exaggerated. I defer here to this article
Myth of learning styles
That said, I still believe in presenting information in variety of ways. Teaching is communicating ideas. Here are three different modes of instruction that I have recently used in my online course. I will also write a bit at the bottom of this page about communication that is not specifically teaching.
The subject of my teaching in the next three presentations is plate tectonics.
First is a video lecture over plate tectonics.
Second, they had a hands on "Volcanic mapping activity." Here were the brief instructions for the assignment.
This is your first lab assignment. In this lab, students will graph the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes and examine trends in terms of plate boundaries. This will not be completed online - it will be completed and handed in by hand.
In this activity, students had a map of the globe and different plates that make up the earth's crust. They had to cut out the plates and match them to their locations on the globe. This tactile teaching got them to 'see' the paltes.
Third, they had an online interactive presentation that integrate a reading assignment with visual understanding. Here is an example of part of that assignment.
Annenberg learner convergent boundaries.
Variation in presentation is also important in communication. My most common method of communicating with my online students and their parents is email. I also call. Voice is a different method of communication. I also make a point to meet with students, even my online students, face to face or by Google Chat. After having completed the last couple of assignments, I have added a little flair to my email.
While I haven't used them all and don't like them all, I did find the different websites for creating varied content useful. Some of them I was aware of and had used before (Quizlet, Presi,) and some of them I had not (Smores, Wordle, etc.)
Besides covering different topics with different students, differentiation can mean presenting information in a variety of ways. The idea is that different students learn in different ways, and by using a variety of methods, a teacher gives each student the best opportunity to learn.
As a note, I agree that it is good to prevent information in a variety of methods. This allows students to more fully understand material and to understand material in a number of contexts. I do want to note here that the idea of personal learning styles is way exaggerated. I defer here to this article
Myth of learning styles
That said, I still believe in presenting information in variety of ways. Teaching is communicating ideas. Here are three different modes of instruction that I have recently used in my online course. I will also write a bit at the bottom of this page about communication that is not specifically teaching.
The subject of my teaching in the next three presentations is plate tectonics.
First is a video lecture over plate tectonics.
This is your first lab assignment. In this lab, students will graph the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes and examine trends in terms of plate boundaries. This will not be completed online - it will be completed and handed in by hand.
In this activity, students had a map of the globe and different plates that make up the earth's crust. They had to cut out the plates and match them to their locations on the globe. This tactile teaching got them to 'see' the paltes.
Third, they had an online interactive presentation that integrate a reading assignment with visual understanding. Here is an example of part of that assignment.
Annenberg learner convergent boundaries.
Variation in presentation is also important in communication. My most common method of communicating with my online students and their parents is email. I also call. Voice is a different method of communication. I also make a point to meet with students, even my online students, face to face or by Google Chat. After having completed the last couple of assignments, I have added a little flair to my email.
While I haven't used them all and don't like them all, I did find the different websites for creating varied content useful. Some of them I was aware of and had used before (Quizlet, Presi,) and some of them I had not (Smores, Wordle, etc.)
The Newsletter
A second effective way to communicate is an old fashioned email. Here is the text of an email that I sent to my AP Environmental Science class yesterday.
I just posted a video on Moodle on how to solve math problems for AP environmental science. It is a bit longer than I intended, but watch it anyway. Think about the method, and don't be intimidated by numbers!
The page with the video shows up at the end of unit one, below your tests.
Mr. Ingram
The email above is descriptive but to the point. I think that is necessary for good email communication. No one wants to read long emails.
A third effective method of communication is through updates to an LMS homepage. Students see this page every day, and it can be adapted to show upcoming assignments, announcements, and other important information. Here is a possible example that I made.
As a note, the Smore Newsletter is a bit of work to make, but it does give a nice slick presentation that is likely to get students and parents to read a longer message.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
News
As part of an online course, students should have periodic news updates for the course. I find that weekly updates are a good way to keep students on track. I sometimes do this through weekly emails. However, it can also be handled through posts to the News section, announcements page, bulletin board, or anything serving a similar function within your learning management system.
Here is an example of one of my weekly emails.
Here is an example of one of my weekly emails.
This week, you'll pick up where you left off. For most of you, that is with your labs.
Porosity lab - this is a live lab that you have to do yourself. Remember, if you need some supplies ask me or another science teacher.
Groundwater lab - this is an online lab simulation. Follow the URL link and record your data in the table an journal provided.
Several of you have started watching the Earth Revealed programs on water and answering the associated questions. Some of you are on running water video 2, some on groundwater, and some haven't started. You should be able to do these in class as the videos are not through youtube.
I set up a couple of webpages that I want you to read on Moodle that do not have a hand-in assignment to go with them. One is a page on "Understanding Groundwater" and the other on "The Rock Cylce and Soil Formation".
You then have a couple of short reading assignments from your book, another view only page on "Types of Soil", and an online weathering lab.
The week culminates with a couple of AP Style tests. The first is an AP FRQ (free response question). It is a math based problem. You must show your work to receive credit. You have 30 minutes for this when you take it. It involves calculations, some of which are similar to those you did on your personal water inventory. You may also want to review my earlier videos on "Unit Analysis" before taking the test.
The second test is all multiple choice. Many of these questions were taken straight from released AP exams. It will give you a feel of what AP Env. Sci. multiple choice questions are like.
Good luck,
Mr. Ingram
Sometimes, such information can be better displayed through a news forum. Here is an example.
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