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Developer Notebook Entry #1

Yes. Great plan. I like it very much.

My goal is for the course to provide opportunities and resources for students to develop their researching skills, while also allowing for student discussion and evaluation of peer work. I would like for students to be able to use a schedule/agenda feature to chart the course of their work (which is a tool I already use through our classroom Schoolwires page). However, the Schoolwires page does not allow for/encourage student interaction. So, I would ideally like to set up a forum where students can post and blog about their findings, as well as a forum where they could ask questions and get feedback/advice from peers. Most importantly, I would like to utilize a tool (such as Google docs) where students can share their papers and receive direct feedback from peers. One of our main skills this year is developing the ability to give helpful peer feedback in order to enhance our ability to improve our own work. I think this could easily be achieved by setting up a system (similar to the dorm system or buddy system) to group students on discussion boards and strategically assign them peer work to read and review.

Very clear goals, Lindsay.  And yes, I think that small groups will support your “peer feedback” objectives.

One advantage I have seen in the past is the ability for students to interact with peers outside of their classroom (in other hours), as well as to spontaneously engage in commenting and critiquing peer work without any teacher prompting. This would clearly be a goal I would like to replicate through a discussion forum/blog, if possible. I think teacher interaction is also easier, as I can quickly scan through work, target specific students, and provide them with quick feedback throughout the learning process (as opposed to only at the end when they turn in their final project). Finally, I think an online course module would also be helpful to my fellow teachers, to follow what I am doing and more easily implement the unit into their own classrooms. This is one struggle I foresee for the unit and technology implementation in general (which is central to the instruction), as my fellow colleagues have not had as much exposure/training with online tools and will need to receive supplemental support from both myself and the library media specialist.

Yes -- in positions of leadership, this is most certainly a challenge. Providing a clear and easy-to-follow mandate for your colleagues is a good way to help them feel more confident. Once they have a positive experience with this first initiative, I’m guessing there will be some who want to do more...which means you’ll have colleagues who will be thinking creatively and pushing your limits too. It will take time...but the work you’re doing now will pay off.

I will assess students based on rubrics for the written and presentation portions of the research project. There will also be requirements for participation in peer review and blog comments/postings to insure that students are engaged in the online classroom community. I think this will be particularly helpful to assess students on the writing process, as an application like Google Docs would allow me to easily chart revisions and development/contribution, which isn’t something students do naturally/willingly and sometimes is not as easily documented either.

Yes - Google Docs is a very powerful tool for providing feedback that is accessible anywhere, any time. One thought about discussion posts -- though I’ve never done it with a class of middle schoolers myself, I think it might be cool to have students send you, via a dropbox, a copy of the post that they feel is the most helpful/critical/thoughtful/analytical so that they know quality counts more than quantity.  Could this work?

One of the social issues of importance in middle school is maintaining a classroom community of respect and collaboration. One thing I have done in the past and plan to continue in the future is teaching a lesson on digital citizenship, discussing group work, interaction, and issues surrounding cyberbullying. In addition, I will need to pay attention to the ethical/legal issues surrounding plagiarism of material. This is especially important as students will be publishing their research papers to the web, including citations and quotations from multiple sources. One other ethical concern will be the copying or altering of other student work. I will be able to monitor student progress frequently, and this will hopefully reduce the opportunity for a student to take from another’s work online.

Google Docs and wikis do give the “history” of the document, which is helpful for addressing the issue of altering other students’ work. Also, consider the importance of designing for students with diverse learning needs. This link could help: http://webaccess.msu.edu/

Lindsay - I’m really impressed by the clarity of your vision for this course. You seem to have a deep sense, not only of what you want this course to be, but of how the unique affordances of the Internet can support your learning objectives for your students. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you develop this semester.

--Michelle (02-02-2011)

Developer Notebook Entry #2

The systems I explored were Moodle, Joomla, Pixie and Elxis.

Definitely an interesting aspect of our society choice is demanded but not always helpful.

Having that immediate contact should be very helpful.

Sounds like you are in great shape. I look forward to seeing where things go for you. Reading your overall ideas it is clear that you are doing some great thinking and I look forward to seeing how things turn out.

Ammon (2-17-2011)

 Hi Lindsay,

I watched your screencast, well done! I think your site looks great aesthetically, which is important. I could see that you have the basics ready to go and have given a lot of thought to the way you want your course to work. Now that you have the structure of your course you can start to fill in the information, links, assignments etc. I may have missed it, but a link to the unit objectives or goals would be a good thing to have available for students.

Good work!

Ammon (2-22-2011)

Hi Lindsay -

I watched your course 1.0 and 2.0 screencasts and you are most certainly on your way to creating some very exciting and ESSENTIAL learning experiences for your 7th graders. I love the focus of your module -- online informational reading skills --- which is right up my street in terms of my own research interests. I would LOVE to learn how your students do with the activities you’ve planned. It is clear to me that you have thought deeply about the Teacher NETS and have kept them in mind to guide the design of your module. It is also clear that you’re engaging with the affordances and constraints of Moodle. You’re finding ways to work around limitations and present information in a clear and easy-to-navigate structure. I like that you were wondering why something was presented in two places -- this is exactly the kind of thing that will make navigation difficult for kids. If possible, for assignments, really try to ensure there is only one way to proceed and/or find things. Otherwise, it becomes overwhelming and confusing for learners.

I like the way you have designed your summative assignment to permit differentiation. I also like that you’re using Diigo -- it’s such a GREAT tool and quite honestly, I’d love to speak with you at some point to learn about how your 7th graders do with it.

You’ve met (and exceeded) all of the NETS expectations with this plan. I’ll look forward to seeing it come to fruition.

--Michelle (03-04-2011)

Developer Notebook #3

Learning goals for unit :

Learn how to evaluate source material online

Develop skills for efficiently searching for research using both search engines and school provided databases

Be able to skim and scan for relevant information while reading online

Determine the importance of what you read through summarizing

Practice annotating research information and using online tools such as Diigo to support this process

Analyze the research process and their own choices

Compare and contrast personal experience and evaluations with peer feedback through discussion forums

Demonstrate an understanding and application of the above skill sets by individually replicating the research process on a topic of their own choice

Present a research project using a technology tool

Further evaluate the metacognitive processes activated throughout this unit

Complete a WebQuest to lead them through the steps of formulating a thesis based research paper

Great list here Lindsay, if it becomes too much for the purposes of this class feel free to whittle it down some.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment:

At the end of this unit, students will have completed a variety of formative assessments, such as posted reflective reponses to discussion boards, utilized tools on Diigo (based on the ability to add bookmarks, tags, annotations, highlighting, and sticky notes), contributed to group wikis, and responded to quizzes and surveys focused on both opinion (comfort level, use of tools) and fact (how do you do this, why might you do this, etc.)

In addition, students will have created a few larger, summative assessments. The first assessment is a short research paper on the gulf shore oil spill which students will share with the class via the classroom wikisite. This paper will be accomplished by mastering a variety of tools and steps along the way, structured to focus on the process while providing students with reliable access and guidance through the content.

The second major assessment will allow the student to research their own choice of current event, this time demonstrating ability to use tools and navigate through the research process, while also having control of and demonstrating ability to locate and evaluate source material. The final product will be presented to the class in the form of an oral presentation, aided by a technology tool of the student’s choice (either wiki, digital story, PowerPoint, or any other tool we’ve used over the course of the year).

Course Communication Policy:

Prior to beginning this unit, students and parents have read and signed an Acceptable Use Policy structured specifically for my class (as opposed to the more general one provided by the school). In addition, we spent a week reviewing and discussing issues of digital citizenship. This set of lessons culminated in students creating a PowerPoint presentation which explained the need for Fair Use policies and consequences for failure to follow these (while also providing an opportunity for advanced PowerPoint instruction).

I also plan to communicate to parents through my webpage, where assignments, resources, and links are often provided for students/parents to access from home. I do not believe I would do anything differently in regards to communication, because I believe that the desire to be forthright and provide a description of activities up front (the use policy) already outlined course objectives we will be following. I believe this policy supports me in our classroom objectives and serves as a strong reference point for any issues that may arise in the future. Also, I feel that my course projects are already so closely aligned with the NETS, METS, and GLCE’s that it is easy to substantiate a need and purpose for all that we do. This is my biggest suggestion for teachers when we discuss how to implement new technology projects in our building--spending the time up front to align these projects and communicate the purpose will support both front-end and back-end objections and will work in my favor if any issue did reach the administration level.

This being said, I plan to be fairly lenient, when it applies, to the implementation of this course since it will be my first time doing so, and I am bound to make my own mistakes. For example, though I have registered for lab time, I can only estimate how long some of the steps and lessons will take to implement. In the past, technology glitches have always slowed me down and led to many extenuating circumstances in deadlines or plans. My goal is to remain flexible and open-minded, grateful for the ability to alter online lessons in a face-to-face classroom if a link or site is suddenly down (which unfortunately has happened for almost every tool we have ever used).

Great work Lindsay,

You can listen to my feedback here:

http://screencast.com/t/Bk9opCfAE4z

If you have any questions let me know.

Ammon

3-25-2011

Developer Notebook Entry #4

Focus on Course Development

My biggest focus throughout designing the course is clarity. I have found, unfortunately, that multiple times I have arranged and added content to the site, only to realize that I missed relevant opportunities and needs for scaffolding prior to my uploaded content. This then requires me to go back, break steps down, move activities forward, etc. This process I suppose is natural and useful, but more time consuming than I clearly  had envisioned, as it becomes more clear that I will not nearly cover what I had hoped to...especially with my 7th graders who  need so much more explanation along every step of the way. So maintaining a focus on clarity and realizing that from the start I should have organized a form of task analysis (to lay out all prior knowledge and skill acquisition, application, etc) would have been a smarter way of adding content (and a far more organized way).

One focus area I highlighted earlier was evaluating my course is the use of Assessment and Evaluation, specifically because this is an area I have been working on this year in my district evaluations through the Charlotte Danielson model of assessing teachers. I feel in my traditional classroom I have developed a cohesive delivery of objectives and aligned assignments to assess these objectives in multiple ways, that often require student input, evaluation, and reflection on how the objectives were assessed and hopefully achieved on an individual basis. Ultimately, this goal ties together many of the rubric areas from the original form we were working with for this class, and it is something I am working hard to apply and recreate in the online course. Already, as mentioned above, I am identifying many potential problem areas and gaps in clarity which would make the process of assessment and student learning more difficult or delayed. So it is very important to me that the pieces work as closely together as possible so objectives, expectations, and outcomes are all clearly aligned and communicated in order to be relevant in regards to assessment.

My other focus area identified earlier has been a much greater struggle for me and was only compounded as of late by some of the research I have been reading. Learner interaction and collaboration early, ongoing, and in a measured form is essential to an online community. While I feel this will be an easier part of the challenge as  my classroom community is already formed, my concern lies in assessing the social interactions. It seems there are so many indicators and points of view from which you can assess student involvement in online postings, for example, that I am struggling a bit with the direction I want to take. I have direct experience both with authentic, introspective, and engaging student dialogue and collaboration online, as well as the most basic and almost meaningless interactions. So it will be really important that I am clear on my expectations and choose a set of guidelines that will support the type and extent of learner interaction I hope to take place for this course.

The question of how to assess students’ contributions to the online community is one of the most difficult things to decide on. You’ve probably done some reading in this area, but several CEP 820 colleagues have posted on articles that recommend a holistic approach to assessment.  Rather than try to evaluate every post, you can set expectations for meaningful engagement (as defined by you) and watch for the overall level of students’ contributions. If we think analogously to the f2f classroom -- we know there are students who always have their hands in the air -- they try hard --  but don’t necessarily make the most thought-provoking contributions to the class ; there are also shy kids who are really reflective and when they do make a contribution, it’s often really helpful and shows deep thinking. Whatever policy you decide on, it should be flexible enough to give credit -- and meaningful feedback -- based on the quality of the contributions each student provides over time in the class.

Student Role in Assessment

In our regular language arts class, we use rubrics and self-evaluations/reflections as a regular part of the evaluation process (and I do say process....since we are really in the process, not yet there, of helping 7th graders to accurately assess and apply standards to their work). So, ultimately I would like the online course to further support this process and serve as an extension of some of the activities we have been practicing. As I reflected on the assessments I have developed so far, I realized I had not built in many opportunities for student evaluations. So I used this opportunity to develop a student evaluation form for them to use in order to assess their completed work from our online class. It is very similar to the form I am using, and then my ultimate goal is always to provide feedback to the student in regards to how accurate their assessment was compared to mine, while also the act of the self-evaluation helps me to see how well students are internalizing our standards and progressing in the development of self-assessing as well.

GREAT thinking. Love it.

Elements of Rubric Development

Considerations

My biggest concern when creating rubrics is the wording: the balance between being specific and handcuffing myself. Sometimes I feel like when I’m overly specific, I end up breaking my own requirements because I realize some expectations may have been too high and students otherwise will end up with lower scores than I feel they truly deserve. So I definitely focus on using clear language that my students can understand and use in their own discussions. This is essential for beginning work because rubrics should always be closely reviewed when starting a project, used as guidance during the construction development, and carefully evaluated again near the completion. When used carefully, I feel rubrics are a powerful tool for teacher and student.

I totally agree, both with your assessment of the inherent challenge of creating a rubric and how rubrics should be used to guide instruction and to scaffold student learning.  

Structure

I think my rubric will work nicely because it is similar to the structure of rubrics we have been using in class. My students are already familiar with terms like “justification,” and they know the level of detail and explanation required. However, if I were to introduce this rubric earlier in a course, I think greater explanation and examples would be required to show students what I expect. I also think students will be able to accurately assess themselves using this rubric, again because of prior experience. For me, this rubric was fairly simple because it is more of a procedural, skill-based assignment as opposed to a content based assignment (where ideas are more important than just measuring whether or not a student was able to complete a series of required steps).

Lindsay, I think this is a smart choice because the online format, itself, will be new(ish?) for students. Using a structure with which students are familiar means they’ll be better able to do the real, reflective thinking that you’re expecting, even though the assessment is online. Too many new things can be overwhelming for students.  

Communication

Rubrics are discussed and provided to students when projects are introduced. Also, deadlines, forms, and rubrics are attached to our class calendar through Schoolwires. I would agree that the communication of requirements and expectations is essential to student success and parent support. Many times I still have students clearly ignore rubrics, but once I redirect their attention to the rubric, it becomes a simple conversation of lack of student responsibility (which they will openly admit) as opposed to a failure of teacher communication.

Indeed, it is nice to be able to direct students to the expectations -- and in an online environment, it will be really easy to see who has used it and who has not since there is an electronic submission requirement :) Plus, in an online environment, students’ attentions can be managed through the design. If the evaluation is the ONLY thing for them to look at on a given page, it will be hard for them to miss it...

Lindsay -- Your work is consistently reflective and thoughtful. Assessment and evaluation is an integral piece of any online course and it is clear to me that you are aware of the challenges inherent to an online learning environment. Your self-evaluation rubric is well crafted and, as I noted above, it’s a wise choice. As you’ve come to see through your design process, perfection is an elusive goal...there is really only continual revision as we see new problems to fix, and ways to make the course more accessible to learners. I think your choice of “focus areas” are also wise and I’ll look forward to offering feedback on these issues, in particular, in a few weeks.

Best,

Michelle

04-04-2011

Course 3.0

I have added guest access to enter the finished module!

There are a few altered decisions I’ve made in the last two weeks that I just wanted to address quickly. For one, I ended up cutting the unit down to 8 weeks, but then after revisiting the timeline for when my students can begin using the module this  year (which was definitely a goal of mine), I have realized there will only be time for 7 weeks. This is far more pared down from my original conception, which also included a second individualized research paper. As some of your previous comments mentioned though, I soon came to realize that it will take a bit more time to develop another 6 week section to tackle that elaboration project.

Another alteration was the incorporation of Diigo. I was very disappointed to find that the sticky note and commenting tool cannot be used on student computers because it requires downloading an add-on to the browser. I thought I could use the Diigolet tool instead, but this wouldn’t download either. So while my overall goal would include more integration of online notetaking tools, this first approach unfortunately fell short.

Happens to the best of us :) Hopefully in the future you can add this back in.

One other area that I struggled with was the goal of incorporating weekly checklists into the module. I was able to find a plug-in for Moodle, but wasn’t able to gain access to install it. I also wasn’t able to embed tools through HTML; so finally, I ended up creating checklists through GoogleDocs, just for personal student use not so much for submitting. Unfortunately, this ended up a bit less clean than I had hoped but was the best I was able to integrate.

In general, I think the course module will definitely support my initial learning objectives, with clear support and introduction of online tools to students and an emphasis on increasing student independence in an online environment.

Hi Lindsey,

I love the organization and look of your site. Moodle is obviously getting better at providing some resources in customizing the appearance of the sites. Well done.

The organization is great at providing the students with a clear plan of objectives and tasks that need to be completed. Your checklist for the week is a great tool especially for those people who love to see progress through checkmarks :)

Using a screencast to explain the orientation of your site is a very useful tool. I think students everywhere are going to be grateful for Jing. In the screencast you also do a great job of walking the students through all the pieces of your site.

You have done a great job thinking through some tools that will be helpful to you in getting your students working together and creating new ideas. The course wiki looks to be very important and you have done a good job giving instructions of what you expect from the students. Sometimes it is difficult to see all of this from the students point of view but you have done very well at making the tasks understandable as well as providing scaffolding through screencasts. This was one thing you wanted to focus on with evaluating your module and you have done a great job with scaffolding the process.

 One thing that could be slightly more clear for me as I look over your site, is the final outcome that students are going to produce. I can see that it is probably explained in a step by step manner through the weeks but it may be helpful to give an overview of what a final project may look like. You have the objectives and learning goals clearly set out on the front page of the site and even mention that the final work will be published, maybe add a quick statement of what that work is.

 

You have packed a lot of information and work for your students into this unit, I am very impressed with your efforts. I think that you will be a great resource in your school having completed something of value at a high level. I hope that you are sharing what you have done with others around you. Very well done Lindsey,

Best of luck in the future,

Ammon

4-22-11

Hi Lindsay,

I’ve just spent some time reviewing your course -- It looks fantastic. I completely agree with Ammon’s assessment of the quality of your work. Wow! You’ve done an exemplary job -- and you’ve really taken on a HUGE bit of work.

Here are a few things that I think you’ve done exceedingly well:

1) Checklists -- perhaps not as clean as you’d like, but brilliant work-around.  Love the use of gForms :)

2) Navigation -- SO clean and easy to follow. Why? Because you clearly identify each week (Moodle convention, I know, but you also NAME each week in the heading Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 etc. This helps). The structure for each week is consistent -- sometimes there’s a quiz at the end, sometimes an assignment but it’s clear to me (and students) that the work is all building toward a final goal. The titles for each assignment are also very clearly written to indicate purpose. This also helps students navigate the course.

3) Syllabus -- brilliant.

4) Your Intro to Moodle Screencast -- pacing, clarity of language, demonstration of how to navigate the site -- SO well done!!!

5)  I wasn’t able to see the quizzes and wiki as a guest, but I like that you’re leveraging affordances of the web.

6) Resource links, calendar -- supportive tools.

7) Your weebly site -- webquest.

8) Discussion forums. I like the clarity of your expectations and the purposeful nature of the assignments.

I have only one suggestion for improvement -- you might want to consider migrating your .doc and .pdf downloads to Google Docs -- just so that students don’t have to download materials to open them? In time, this might be something to consider.

Lindsay --

This is an exemplary piece of work! As Ammon suggested, I also hope that you’ve shared this with your colleagues and principal. They really would benefit from seeing the elegance of your design.

Best to you--

Michelle

04-28-2011

Developer Notebook Entry #5

After reviewing the principles of universal design, there were many adjustments I considered for my module. I’ve selected the three that I think would be most beneficial for my particular group of students this year.

The first improvement falls under the first principle of providing multiple means of representation: providing options for language and symbols (2.1- define vocabulary and symbols). I think a glossary of key terms, related to content and process, would help support student understanding (especially when prior knowledge is lacking or in need of activation). I could link these terms within the assignments and also include graphic representations when possible. As necessary, I might also provide links back to screencasts located in the tutorial when students are required to complete an online procedure as part of an assignment.

A second improvement I considered also fell under the first principle of providing multiple means of representation, though under options for perception (1.2-providing alternatives for auditory information). My intention was to use screencast tutorials to allow students to watch the required steps of many assignments, especially to regulate progression at their own pace. However, it would also be helpful to include a written list of these steps for students to review (possibly in collaboration with the screencast or in place of-- depending on the learner’s style). Originally, I typed a step by step list within one of the early assignments, but thought it made the text look too long or complex. So instead, I might include written directions in the form of a word document that students could open in addition to or as an alternative to the screencast tutorials.

In order to implement this revision, I modified all assignments that directed students to watch a screencast. Now, there is an option for students to open a GoogleDoc that outlines the steps demonstrated in the screencast.

Here is the sample of what the GoogleDoc would look like.

GREAT thinking, great change.

--Michelle

04-28-2011

The third major revision I would make falls under the second principle providing multiple means of action and expression: providing options for executive functions (6.2-supporting planning and strategy development). One of Ammon’s suggestions was to include a clear picture and idea of the final product students would be creating. I think this could be incorporated under this principle. I would also like to link the weekly sections more directly to the daily objective language we use in our classroom. These “I CAN statements” specifically explain student objectives in their own language, which they use to monitor and evaluate their own progress during our units. This element is still missing from the module, and I think including it would be helpful to student purpose and activation of prior knowledge (as some statements are connected to multiple activities across units in order to help students identify the similarities and make connections between applications).

Developer Notebook Entry #6

One of the central elements of my approach to building an online course module was to keep the role of student learning in focus at all times. When I first started using technology in the classroom, I would uncover new tools and brainstorm creative ways to implement them into my classroom. This resulted in exciting projects and real student learning, but in a way, I was still approaching the issue of technology integration backwards. I realized through my earlier coursework that a better approach is to evaluate current classroom learning in order to identify areas of weakness, with specific learning goals and objectives that need greater support. Then, the focus of using technology should be to research tools in order to find one that will help to improve the target learning area.

With this mindset in place, my intent for this project was to improve the current teaching of informational literacy for my 7th grade students. My learning goals were clear from the start, and this guided me to choose assignments and tools to better support my instruction. I also kept my students’ learning styles in the forefront of my mind throughout development. I brainstormed and predicted where my students might stumble, what additional clarification might be needed, and how I could be as clear and open about expectations and directions as possible. Using screencasts and tutorials was essential to my course, as one goal is increasing student independence and supporting them to seek out solutions individually before asking others for help.

The biggest setback I encountered was not planning out specific weekly goals before I started creating and adding content. I found myself having to frequently go back and add additional content needed to support students, which often meant I had to go back and revise screencasts and checklists. While to some degree I’m sure this revision cannot be completely avoided, I think that developing a clear task analysis for each assignment may have helped in planning content (as well as waiting to create later screencasts until I was prepared with the related content for that section of the course). Another setback I dealt with frequently was the integration of certain tools. Interactive checklists and embedded videos are just two areas where I struggled to integrate tool and layout in the way I had hoped. However, staying flexible and taking the time to creatively troubleshoot helped me to find alternatives, that in the end, worked out just fine. The key to success is taking the time to carefully plan and prepare, which will only make implementation easier. Today, my students began the work for Week 1, and I am thrilled at how easily the parts are working together!

Lindsay -

Thanks for a very thoughtful reflection. I think you’re right -- planning, planning, planning! Although, as you say, it is difficult to plan because often, the creative process takes you in a new direction...

In any case, you’ve done some great work here and I’m glad your students are using your course and that it’s working out well so far!!!

Best,

Michelle

05-03-2011