ETEC 648: Session 4 Assignment
1. Write your plan: a. When will you start your delivery? My delivery will officially begin for the week of May 14th with student online access commencing on Saturday May 12th. b. What will your delivery consist of? My delivery will launch with: • • •
A “Screenr” presentation (similar to this) of our class website (our website will serve as Course Management System) specifically featuring a tutorial for accessing and using the Online Student Edition of our textbook. The orientation process will include an instructional video (also using Screenr) on how to take an online quiz. Students will be directed to a survey prepared with Survey Monkey to be completed online (the survey will be for the purpose of student profiling). A questionnaire on the class syllabus (prepared in Google Docs) will also be included as part of the orientation process.
c. When will you deliver the activities in (b) above? What will be the duration of each activity? Delivery of the activities in (b) will begin from the moment students are allowed access on Saturday, May 12th (I will post and open just at midnight). Students will have until Wednesday, May 16th at midnight to complete the survey and questionnaire. Responses to each will bear a timestamp. d. How do your activities correspond to your objectives? All my activities will be aligned with established benchmarks for my course as listed in RCOE’s outline of course competencies. Our competencies are based upon California state standards as verified by WASC accreditation criteria. Specific objectives for this assignment may at any one time include: • • •
Identifies, utilizes, and adapts to changing technology Uses technological resources to gain access to manipulate and produce information, products, and services Selects, applies, and differentiates among appropriate tools in technology
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Understands the systematic problem-solving models that incorporate input, process, outcome, and feedback components Understands the importance of time management to fulfill responsibilities Identifies and models the characteristics and benefits of teamwork, leadership, and citizenship in the school, community, and workplace settings Able to organize and structure work individually and in teams for effective performance and the attainment of goals
Describe your activities •
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Screenr presentation will provide a guided tour of our class web site. Since our website will become our CMS the tour will expose students to the complete workings of the CMS, which will cover areas determined to be necessary for best practices in online course creation, maintenance and delivery as prescribed in our textbook (chapter 10) such as functionality, student orientation and assessment. Students will learn how to navigate the online textbook as well as take online tests and complete online surveys. The survey that is used to measure student recall about the class syllabus is a good way to acclimate students to online quizzes while holding them accountable for knowledge about course policies and expectations for the course. Students will be able to experience using and adapting to technology and appreciate how technology that is used every day may be used for learning exercises. Students will experience and comprehend deadlines, timelines and clearly see the long-term structure of the course.
2. Good Start a. Post all material for “Good Start,” (#1 above) for example, having a technology check list, MP3 file for course orientation, and/or student profile. Instructions for this assignment and the main thrust for our exercise center upon “Good Start” principles as detailed in the class textbook: Waterhouse, S. (2005).The power of elearning: The essential guide for teaching in the digital age. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., Chapter 10. Dr. Waterhouse contends that “eLearning course delivery is enhanced for both you and your students when care is taken to get the course off to a good start”. Additional focus on student management, motivation and effective communications contribute a great deal toward a dynamic course. Within my plan I will include these fundamentals as prescribed by Waterhouse: •
Pre-Course Preparations such as technology checks, course-site checks, classroom and laboratory checks and technology failure back-up plans. This checklist will be
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used so as to create a way to make certain that all elements of best practices as defined by Waterhouse are incorporated into my plan. Student Orientation in the form of welcoming them prior to the course beginning, conducting a class orientation, explaining course tech requirements, conducting a course-site orientation, acquainting students with LMS functionality and highlighting course policies. This will open the syllabus which will cover a broad array of points identified as essential to good course delivery and management. Student Profiling for the purpose of gathering information which could assist in maintaining continuity in the event of a technology breakdown. The profile will contain alternate means of contact. In addition, personal information may enable you to more easily identify students with special needs. Getting Acquainted: These kinds of activities help to establish sense of community among students and encourages everyone to identify with other classmates.
b. How will you know if your “Start” is good? Write your evaluation or assessment plan. Include instruments or rubrics for your assessment. I will be able to determine the effectiveness of my “Good Start” from the assessment and survey vehicles. I will utilize a pre-test for assessing prior knowledge (similar to this) and post-tests of about 25 questions each which will resemble this example. The actual pre-test and post-test assessments are not complete but I will be working from the same formats as the examples I have provided. Once I establish a base line of what the class at large already knows about my topic, I will then compare the results of the post-analysis to the established baseline. The difference between the two will become the measure of change in their learning. At the close of some projects I will create a spreadsheet (like this) that can accurately show how each student fared on the test while at the same time revealing which specific questions most troubled the students. In the foregoing example you can see that questions number 3 and 9 returned the fewest correct answers. Weak responses to questions by the aggregate class calls for a strategy from the instructor to either rephrase the question, implement a re-teach exercise or both.