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.

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.

• 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.

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.

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?"

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.

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.

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..

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.)