Review of Online Teaching Tool
This week, I created a quiz for my Grade 4 students on Quizizz, (link there!) as a review of Social Studies 3 concepts. I chose to do this because I want to use this Social Studies 3 quiz as part of my Course Prototype Project. My own students became my guinea pigs for Quizizz! Alec provided so many amazing tech resources for us to check out. I chose Quizizz because it seemed the least time consuming to create. I will definitely have to check out some of the other platforms when I have more time to sink my teeth into them. Overview of Quizizz: Quizizz is a data base of many online quizzes that students can take. Teachers have two main options: create a quiz themself, or use one that is already created. I decided to create my own quiz. From there, teachers have the option to assign the quiz or do it live in class. Quizizz pairs with Google Classroom, and allows the results from Quizizz to be automatically uploaded into Google Classroom. Review of Quizizz: First Attempt: Because Quizizz pairs with Google Classroom, I set it up as an assignment for my Grade 4 class on Google Classroom. Students will use their own device to join the quiz and complete it. It sounds very simple, but in fact, it was quite challenging to use. I had my students log on to Google Classroom, click the assignment Quizizz link, and take the quiz. However, upon first using Quizizz, there were many hoops the students had to jump through: confirm login, accept Quizizz’s terms of agreement, select play from school, select student mode, enter their birthday, choose a username, create an avatar and set the background- all before even beginning the quiz! For 8 year olds, this was incredibly challenging. When the class finally all made it onto the Quizizz website to begin the quiz, we discovered a class code was needed. I didn’t know what the class code was or how to find it, so as any teacher would do, you come up with another way! As I mentioned before, Quizizz allows teachers to assign the quiz, or to do one live. At this point in the class Quizizz adventure, we tried performing the quiz live. Thankfully this worked! The students were able to follow the prompts I displayed on the smart board, and enter the live quiz easily. As for the quiz itself, the students had multiple responses about it. Most of the students enjoyed it, however the default mode is to have each question timed, with a visual timer at the top showing how long you have to answer the question. This made the students very panicked while taking the quiz. When I created the quiz, I had the questions build upon one another. However, the default mode is for the questions to be shuffled, which defeats the purpose of building for comprehension. So I spent the whole evening that night trying to figure out how to change these settings. Once I had that fixed, I re-posted the same quiz as a fresh assignment for the next day. There is no way to turn off the time limit for each question, so I set it for the maximum time of 15 minutes. I was able to find the settings to hide the time limit bar, and to turn off the shuffle. (However, I can see how keeping the questions on shuffle would help prevent cheating). Second Attempt: The next day, I took a few students at a time to do a walk through of the same quiz as the day before, to teach them more directly how to log on and start the quiz independently. Once all students had a small group tutorial on Quizizz, we tried the same quiz again. The second attempt went so much better! I was able to fix a lot of the problems that I experienced the first time around. The students were relieved to see no time limit on the quiz, and the program didn’t make them go through several hoops when beginning the quiz. For the most part, the students were able to begin the quiz independently. After completing the quiz, Quizizz will suggest other quizzes for the students to take. That evening, I went back to look at the student results. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the grades had been automatically inputted to Google Classroom for me! However, I quickly realized that the scores from the day before had not been imputed. This shows that scores will only be added to Google Classroom if the quiz is posted as an assignment- not on the live function. Quizizz will show teachers the highest score for each student (if the student took the quiz multiple times), but Google Classroom will only input the score of the first attempt, even if later attempts have a higher score. For example, one of my students began the quiz, and accidently closed the internet browser (the joys of forth grade). When she got back to the quiz, she needed to start over. Her first attempt had a score of 25% (because she only made it part way through), however her second attempt had a score of 91%. Google Classroom saved her grade as 25%, and Quizizz saved her grade as 91%. Summary of Strengths and Weaknesses: Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Potential for Teacher Use as Content Creation Tool: Now that my students are used to Quizizz, I could see myself doing it again. For new teachers using this tool, I would suggest they look carefully into the settings of the quiz, to see what options are activated. Also, I would suggest ample amount of time to get your students started on their first time using Quizizz.
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Course Profile and Needs Assessment
Course Profile: Creating and designing an online course is a very daunting task. The entire scope of online education has been radically transformed during the COVID-19 pandemic. I knew this was a very valuable assignment (given the conditions our world is in right now), but also a challenging one. Combining what I have learned so far in the OLTD program, with the experience I have in the classroom, I decided to create a Social Studies course, which will be available on Canvas. I did not want to create a course that I would not be able to use. Since I am teaching Grade 3 this year, I decided to focus my Social Studies on that grade. I had a very difficult time choosing which subject to create a course for, but I have decided to create a Grade 3 Social Studies course. The Grade 3 Social Studies curriculum is a challenging curriculum to teach in a digital sense, because the theme of the content is Indigenous Peoples across Canada and the world. There is a real lack of digital resources targeted for this subject. The course format will be a station rotation blended model. Since this is a blended course, it will include both face-to-face instruction and online instruction. Collaborative activities will occur in the class, and through online station models. The learning objectives and course content are aligned with the BC Curriculum, for Social Studies Grade 3. The Big Idea: Learning about Indigenous peoples nurtures multicultural awareness and respect for diversity, and people from diverse cultures and societies share some common experiences and aspects of life. Course Content and Learning Objectives:
Needs Analysis: Some concerns I have include how to adapt the course for students with low bandwidth, access to devices, ELL learners, attendance concerns, cultural consideration and socioeconomic status considerations. There are many concerns regarding students that learn online. When switching to emergency-remote learning, I have experienced first hand the challenge of low bandwidth, and access to devices. Many of my former students only had their parent’s phone to use, or shared a tablet between siblings. It is important for me to make sure that the course is easy to use on any type of device- not just on a laptop. However, the students would be using the online course within the classroom. Therefore, it is important that I am able to secure a good internet connection and enough devices for my students to use within the classroom. I will still create the course so that it can be viewed on different devices, to allow for students to participate in the course when at home. For ELL students, it may be challenging to navigate the course. I would ensure that there are video tutorials available for any student to watch, including ELL students, to remind learners how to use the course properly. For any videos on the course, closed captioning would be turned on to assist in understanding the material. Attendance expectations would be communicated on a regular basis. If there are students who do not have regular attendance, I would be sure to inquire about their whereabouts to keep them connected to the classroom community. As for cultural considerations and socioeconomic factors, I would protect the integrity of my students by providing them an option to keep their videos turned off for any video sessions we may have. As this is a social studies course, and deals with the history of Indigenous peoples across BC, material would be taught in a respectful manner. Parents and guardians would also be able to access any material taught, and communicate any concerns they may have. Summary: The target population for this course is Grade 3 students, who are age 8. The course format will be a station rotation, blended model. This course will include face to face instruction, online instruction, collaborative in-class activities and online learning opportunities. This course will be available on canvas. Assessment strategies include digital activities, in class worksheets, weekly reflections, class discussions, online forums, projects, and tests. Course content and learning objectives include the following:
Common Concerns Most of the online course would be completed within the classroom, which addresses most concerns about low bandwidth and accessibility to devices at home. Adaptations for ELL learners could include video tutorials on navigating the course, and closed captioning to understand the content more fully. Parents and guardians would be able to communicate any concerns regarding cultural or socioeconomic factors to me at any time. Attendance expectations would also be clearly communicated on a regular basis. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were forced to develop emergency online teaching resources, mostly without any background in instructional design. After completing the readings above, what are your thoughts on instructional design as a discipline, and what might be its wider relevance for teaching, whether designing for face-to-face, blended, or online settings? To preface this blog post, I first wanted to explain my current relationship with the term “Instructional Design”. Instructional Design is one of those heavy, academia words that many educators (including myself!) do not fully understand. To me, it’s this vague concept that has something to do with teaching, but requires a lot of reflecting (which I don’t really have time for), and seems too dense to digest. Pre-Pandemic, I was working at two different schools: teaching a Grade ½ class 3 days a week at one, and teaching a Grade ¾ class 2 days a week at the other. Suddenly, and without warning, I was now required to teach both schools, spanning 4 different grades, fully online during the emergency remote learning. So when I think of my own pedagogy this past year of how I “designed my teaching” I really can’t come up with any viable description of what I did. Honestly, it’s just been survival mode. I could tell you what I would like to do for my instructional design, but I certainly have not been able to incorporate that into either of my classrooms. With all that being said, it still is useful to break down the construct of Instructional Design, in order to fully understand its effect in education. In an article by Wagner, she also agreed that Instructional Design “seems to be an even harder domain to adequately define and describe!” Although challenging, it is necessary for educators to be aware of the importance of Instructional Design- even if it appears dense. Instructional Design describes the ways in which educators plan out their teaching, so that all students are learning content effectively. In OLTD 501, we created a visual mind map of how we infuse Instructional Design into blended or fully online classrooms. In stepping back to truly assess what instructional design entails, I was able to grasp the concept with more ease. Wagner, however, takes the discipline of Instructional Design to a whole new level. She breaks it down into 4 sub-categories. 1. Instructional-Design-as Process This describes the process in which instructional design unfolds. This is the meat and potatoes of what educators do subconsciously-or consciously- all the time. It involves analyzing the learning needs and goals for students, along with developing a delivery system in which to deliver the content. 2. Instructional Design-as-Discipline Rather than sticking to the classroom- instructional design can also be a branch of knowledge, or academic discipline that revolves around research and theory regarding instructional strategies 3. Instructional-Design-as Science This describes the trial-and-error mentality of the scientific method. Similar to the first category, Instructional Design-as-Science will investigate deeper to revise the way learning is occurring within a classroom. 4. Instructional-Design-as Reality Often what teachers have planned, does not occur as envisioned. Instructional-Design-as-Reality honours this fact, and absorbs the realities of the day-to-day classroom as part of instructional design. This sub-category also includes reflection and looking back to ensure the students are keeping on track with the intentions of the learning objectives. Prior to beginning this program, I thought of Instructional Design as the second subcategory (Instructional-Design-as-Discipline), which is why my knee-jerk reaction is to panic every time I hear the phrase. However, through unpacking and defining this term more closely, I can see how it is incredibly applicable in my teaching framework. Interestingly enough, the second article given by Rieber described “instructional technologists” as part of an interwoven connection to instructional design. I found his article very comforting, since his main argument was that “there’s no one way to become an instructional technologist”. He argues that you don’t need a masters of IT in order to incorporate instructional technology into a learning design model (thank goodness!). At the very end of his article, he proposes the question: What is your story about how you became an Instructional Technologist, to which I internally responded, “Am I?. I don’t really feel like I am deeply integrating “instructional anything” into my current teaching pedagogical plate. However, is it practical to do? Yes. Is it important? Yes. Is it very difficult to focus on right now because there’s a pandemic? Also, yes. However, just that fact that we are discussing instructional design is a step in the right direction. Links to reading:
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