CEP 820: Teaching K-12 Students Online
Online Course Module through Moodle
Visit my completed course module through Moodle to see the final product documented throughout the Notebook.
Developer's Notebook
My Developer's Notebook entries document my application and reflection on creating and implementing an online course module into a traditional classroom (transforming it into more of a hybrid classroom experience).
Developer Notebook Entry #6: Final Reflection
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!
Developer Notebook Entry #6: Final Reflection
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!
