3.3 Online & Blended Learning
Candidates develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks to support and extend student learning and expand opportunities and choices for professional learning for teachers and administrators. (PSC 3.3/ISTE 3c)
Artifact: Multimedia Design Project and Report
Reflections:
The multimedia WebQuest project, which I created for ITEC 7445, highlights my abilities to develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks. This project requires the students to research and explore the lasting effects of Greco-Roman culture on modern Western culture. Throughout the course of this project, the students chose which digital tool they wanted to use as they created their final product, which was a Wikispaces page. They also had to create a short presentation summarizing their findings and create a reflective blog post that addressed some critical thinking questions. I provided suggestions, tips, and tutorials for a number of digital tools, but it was up to the students to decide which tool best fit their needs. On the Weebly page that I created for the project, I modeled a number of digital tools such as Voki, Vocaroo, Google, Rubistar, and YouTube in order to provide students with examples of methods to incorporate a variety of tools. The students chose a variety of tools to use such as Google, Screencast-omatic, Jing, Weebly, Wikispaces, and Prezi.
Working in pairs added a collaborative element to the digital project. After the hook-activity, students were able to find partners with similar interests. Students were excited to get to work in collaborative teams and they fed off the ideas and enthusiasm of their partner. Additionally, collaboration facilitated the use of technology, since different students were familiar with different digital tools. Students were able to teach each other how to use the various digital tools and to help facilitate troubleshooting. The students used each other as fonts of knowledge as they worked to construct their final products.
This project provided me with the opportunity to implement all the strategies that I learned from my Kennesaw classes. I used a number of digital tools to engage my students and meet their varying needs and abilities. I used the LoTi levels, signs of engaged learners, and ISTE standards to guide my construction of this project. If I were to reconstruct this lesson, I would have the students post their presentation summaries on VoiceThread. Then the students could view and post comments on their peer’s projects. I believe that students would benefit from seeing the projects and discoveries of others. Additionally, students would benefit from the feedback that they receive. Peers can learn a multitude of things from reviewing the work of others and having their own work critiqued.
The effects of this lesson can be assessed through observation, perception surveys, and classroom assessments. In fact, my assistant principal came to observe me during the implementation of this project. He commented on the high level of student participation and engagement. He noted that it appeared the “no students were off task.” I believe this positive result was due to the fact that this lesson was student-centered and required the students to be involved in constructing their own understanding. As a result of the students forming their own understanding, the material was more meaningful to the students. The students performed exceedingly well on their summative assessment. In fact, this assessment had a higher grade than the previous assessment for many students.
The multimedia WebQuest project, which I created for ITEC 7445, highlights my abilities to develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks. This project requires the students to research and explore the lasting effects of Greco-Roman culture on modern Western culture. Throughout the course of this project, the students chose which digital tool they wanted to use as they created their final product, which was a Wikispaces page. They also had to create a short presentation summarizing their findings and create a reflective blog post that addressed some critical thinking questions. I provided suggestions, tips, and tutorials for a number of digital tools, but it was up to the students to decide which tool best fit their needs. On the Weebly page that I created for the project, I modeled a number of digital tools such as Voki, Vocaroo, Google, Rubistar, and YouTube in order to provide students with examples of methods to incorporate a variety of tools. The students chose a variety of tools to use such as Google, Screencast-omatic, Jing, Weebly, Wikispaces, and Prezi.
Working in pairs added a collaborative element to the digital project. After the hook-activity, students were able to find partners with similar interests. Students were excited to get to work in collaborative teams and they fed off the ideas and enthusiasm of their partner. Additionally, collaboration facilitated the use of technology, since different students were familiar with different digital tools. Students were able to teach each other how to use the various digital tools and to help facilitate troubleshooting. The students used each other as fonts of knowledge as they worked to construct their final products.
This project provided me with the opportunity to implement all the strategies that I learned from my Kennesaw classes. I used a number of digital tools to engage my students and meet their varying needs and abilities. I used the LoTi levels, signs of engaged learners, and ISTE standards to guide my construction of this project. If I were to reconstruct this lesson, I would have the students post their presentation summaries on VoiceThread. Then the students could view and post comments on their peer’s projects. I believe that students would benefit from seeing the projects and discoveries of others. Additionally, students would benefit from the feedback that they receive. Peers can learn a multitude of things from reviewing the work of others and having their own work critiqued.
The effects of this lesson can be assessed through observation, perception surveys, and classroom assessments. In fact, my assistant principal came to observe me during the implementation of this project. He commented on the high level of student participation and engagement. He noted that it appeared the “no students were off task.” I believe this positive result was due to the fact that this lesson was student-centered and required the students to be involved in constructing their own understanding. As a result of the students forming their own understanding, the material was more meaningful to the students. The students performed exceedingly well on their summative assessment. In fact, this assessment had a higher grade than the previous assessment for many students.