CEP 820: Online Course Developer Notebook - Entry #6

Developer's Notebook Entry #5:
Looking back over the past four notebook entries with the considerations outlined above, this notebook entry asks you to revise, revise, revise. For some places you might start:

* Would another teacher of my grade level and content find this useful?

Yes, we’ve actually been speaking throughout the semester and we plan to share the modules through Blackboard. One of the biggest challenges is going to be downloading all of the video clips and uploading them individually because our district blocks YouTube. We’ve discussed sharing these duties since there are so many great clips integrated into the modules and it’s definitely going to be time consuming.

* Have I outlined the process in a way that would make sense to another teacher who might want to replicate my online course?

The process is outlined in a user friendly way with the Table of Contents sheet in the introductory unit. Of course as we collaborate and share these modules we will likely tweak them and adjust them accordingly to meet our individual needs.


Developer Notebook 4:

Discussion Board Rubric:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGxfemZZa0xzbjlaRkpkbTAtT3B3RVE6MQ

What were your considerations as you created your rubric?

I wanted the elements to be general yet specific - I wanted space to be able to leave personal feedback (in paragraph form) but also to give general scores/grades in other areas.

What went into your choices as you focused on certain aspects of your course?

Because this course is teaching “independent living skills” like money management, file organization, etc. many of the topics require the student to apply the concepts to his/her own life to truly check for understanding. I was glad the screencast showed how to create a rubric for a discussion board because other than mini-quizzes and projects, this is one of the main ways my course will be assessed. The first rubric I created was similar to the one from the screencast but I changed the fields (rows and columns) slightly. I plan to use a rubric for the final culminating project of this unit (the personal file box) but because it’s a tangible item that would be checked in person, the rubric would also be completed in person.

How will your assessment of your students be a tool to grow your students' learning?

I think it’s important for students to receive feedback as frequent as possible, so by creating quick rubrics with basic guidelines and a place for comments, I would be able to give specific critiques and suggestions to those students that score rather low on the rubric scale. This sort of feedback done in a timely manner would allow the student an opportunity to make adjustments and improve over the period of the course.

How will students be involved in the assessment and evaluation process?

I think it’s important to allow student to evaluate themselves - especially on big projects. In my regular classroom, I always provide my students with a self-assessment that allows them to rate their own personal progress and final outcomes. In an online course I think this could be implemented in a final rubric/assessment and it could provide a basis for personal reflection and growth throughout the course. It would also be a great opportunity as an instructor to receive feedback about course difficulties or other issues.

In what ways will your standards be communicated to the students? In the introduction/course syllabus as well as throughout the semester.

SEE BELOW: Choose 2-3 areas of particular focus for you as you move through the process of creating your module. In your DN entry, tell us why you chose those areas as your particular focus and explain the ways you anticipate your course module will demonstrate those areas of focus. In doing so, you will essentially be providing us with rubric categories from which to assess you work in developing your online unit. We will consider other means of assessment, but which 2-3 areas would you most like us to focus on, and what are your expectations in these areas? Use this Developer Notebook entry as an invitation to explore the ways in which assessment and evaluation, of both your course design and of your students' future work, impacts the learning that takes place in your module.

I sort of designed my module backwards... I’ve been adding content and then my plan is to go back and insert assessments along the way. There are certain subsections within my module that will require more elaborate evaluations and assessments because the content is more complex. Part 2: Education and Employment along with Part 5: Financial Records (which is broken into 4 subcategories) are the most important areas for assessment. These areas will be assessed with rubrics, mini-quizzes, and discussion board posts.


Learning goals for unit :

- Organization: Students will learn effective ways in which to organize important documents for academic, personal and professional activities so that they will be easily accessible for future retrieval.

- Career: Students will successfully complete mock job applications as well as a professional and skills-based resume.

- Financial: Students will learn effective money management skills. Students will learn about programs and services of traditional banking institutions for financial planning, budgeting, taxes, and daily money matters.
- Housing: Students will explore housing options for various budgets and needs.

- Car Care: Students will learn basic car maintenance routines.


Learning outcomes for unit: Students will explore each of the aforementioned goals through individual modules or mini-lessons and then complete the activities that go along with each section. By the end of the unit, the student will compile the documents and organize a personal file box as a capstone project.

Potential methods of assessment: (how will you know the unit is successful and students are learning?) Students will complete worksheets, participate in discussions, and take mini-quizzes to ensure that students are learning. The final assessment will take place with the submission of the unit contents in a personal file box.

Course Communication Policy: (What is your policy for student/teacher, student/student, and student/parent (if applicable) communication?)
My communication policy is for the student and/or parent to attempt contact via email first, since this is the easiest way to reach me because I check it most frequently. I will usually respond in 24-48 hours. If the issue cannot be resolved through email contact, the student and/or parent may call my classroom phone so that we can have a live discussion. In the even that I am not in the classroom or teaching another class at that time, I will return the phone call as soon as possible. If additional contact is needed beyond email and/or phone communication, I will be happy to set up a face to face meeting time.


Random “notebook doodling”: Over the past week I’ve been learning about Moodle and poking around on my new Moodle site, I’ve become a bit overwhelmed and the harsh reality that I’ve never created an online course and don’t quite know what I’m doing yet set in. :( A couple years ago, I began creating a Blackboard account at my school but never really did much with it because the school was upgrading the version and I knew I was going to have to learn all the new bells and whistles again once that was complete. (My school informed me this week that Blackboard is the only CMS used by the district. Moodle is not supported or really “encouraged” and downloading the executable file onto my school laptop is disabled. This is understandable because the district pays for Blackboard, however, it was slightly disappointing since I want to be able to utilize what I’m creating here.)

This past week I spoke to some colleagues after school and their support and encouragement was very appreciated. A few of my colleagues have been using Blackboard for years and have offered to “mentor” me through the process. They also suggested ways I could incorporate the capstone project I’ve developed for my Independent Living course through Blackboard. This capstone project is completed throughout the entire semester and requires a lot of independent work that the students already do outside the classroom on their own time at home. It is very specific and focused and culminates with the creation of a file box organizational system with personal documents and projects completed throughout the course. I’m very excited to work on this opposed to the financial management unit because I think it will be much more beneficial for my students to experience the unit online throughout the entire semester.

Because of these recent insights, I am going to be changing my path for this course development assignment. I realize that this is encouraged... (As stated in our lesson, “You may start to feel pressure to "get things done" and "do the right thing." Please, avoid these worldviews. This course is about playing with the possibilities for creating an online experience. It is not about one right way to build a course online. There is no one right course.”) ... but I thought I’d just post my changes here in my notebook to document my thoughts and course of action.


* what surprised you?
Throughout my research I was surprised at all of the improvements made to both Moodle and Blackboard over the past few years. I was also surprised how basic Wordpress is at it’s core. Everything I read talked about Wordpress’ amazing add-ons and plugins for almost everything under the sun. I think this is awesome, however, for my first attempt at creating an online course I wouldn’t even know where to begin with these features. One of my courses that I’m currently taking at MSU (CEP 818) is being conducted through Wordpress and while there are features I really like, I now have a better appreciation for all of the customizing that my professor has done. In time I think I’d like to learn to use this application more, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet.
* what didn't surprise you?
I wasn’t surprised that Moodle and Blackboard scored very closely for me. I knew from previous use and from articles I’ve read that they have become strikingly similar over the years. I also wasn’t surprised that these two options both scored higher then Wordpress in my overall comparison assessment.
* which CMS are you going to use for this course? why?
For this course, I’m going to go with Moodle 1.9. I thought this one out long and hard and my biggest deciding factor is that I’ve never used it before but have heard great things. I’ve used Blackboard and although I liked it overall, there were many things that annoyed me and I guess I’m curious to try something new to see how it compares to what I’ve already experienced. I’m happy that both these products fulfill the main requirements I have so I think this will be a good overall learning experience for my first course. When comparing the overall scores (see screenshot above) they both scored so closely that I think both programs would work just fine. I might be crazy for trying something entirely new to me, but we’ll see how it goes. I like the idea of being able to speak from experience with colleagues and co-workers regarding both of these products when this project is complete.
* why is this CMS a good match for your course and curriculum?
Moodle will allow me to present lessons in various formats (powerpoint, videos, etc.) and to asses with customized and pre-formatted questions. It allows for a gradebook and student feedback. Students can receive posts by email and subscribe to forum RSS feeds. In discussion boards, posts can be peer reviewed by other students and instructors can view statistical summaries of discussions which show participation. The dropbox for student-work submissions will be very helpful as many of the assessments won’t just be tests but written documents as well.


* what additional tools/functionality might you need beyond the features available in the CMS you have chosen?
I’m not sure if I’m going to incorporate it yet, but I may have the students set up a google doc account for notetaking/sharing notes. I noticed that with Moodle there isn’t a journal/notetaking area. Other then that, I think Moodle has everything else I will need.
* what support do you need to be successful with this endeavor?
I’ll need a Moodle account and a host. On the Moodle website, they direct you to http://moodle.com/hosting/ where they suggest ClassroomRevolution.com, Moodlerooms, Inc., and Remote-Learner USA. One question I have that I need to investigate more is whether or not I HAVE to use these hosts. I have a few websites hosted at DomainNameSanity.com and I’ve had great luck with their services. Or, did I miss something along the way - is there a space at MSU where we will be able to host these projects? For some reason, I think there may have been previous mention of this somewhere but I can’t remember where?



-----------------------

Karen –

These sound like a great ideas! Do most of your students go on to jobs right after school, or do many go to college? If the latter, I’m not sure if this will be as helpful as the financial management idea. You might want to think about this: as described, the post-secondary career option seems very “open ended” where as the financial management option would be very structured. As the teacher, which do you think might be easier to manage for your first online teaching experience? Since you wrote mostly about the career option, here are a few questions to explore in more detail. What do you mean by “lesson plans?” What interactive games would suit this curriculum? What do you mean by a “pre-existing format,” is that what you mean by Wordpress? You are exploring the CMS options in Chpt2, so looking at wordpress to see if it can handle all of your content and assessment ideas will be key. For example, how will you incorporate quizzes or interactive gaming in WordPress?

Otherwise, good start. But, I would encourage you to weight the benefits/drawback of using the financial management vs. career option on last time before committing to either.

Mike (for Mike and Alan)
----------
Mike,

Thanks for the feedback. The more I’ve thought about it, I think you are right on... the financial management idea is much better. There’s definitely more structure to it and I think that it will certainly be a lot easier to manage being that this is my first online teaching experience. Thanks again for your thoughts.

-Karen

----------

* Grade Level:12th
* Subject: Independent Living (Life Skills course)
* Particular Curricular Unit you are thinking of developing:
Post secondary Options/Career Research (or maybe Financial Management: Checking, Savings, and Credit)
* What do you want your course to look like?
I think I’d like to make a space for students to access lesson plans (modules), carry out discussions, watch videos, and conduct research on various post secondary/career options. I might create a website for this or possibly use a pre-exisitng format for this. I’m not really sure yet. I’ve been learning about WordPress and I think this may work well for the type of course I would teach.
* What your ideas/thoughts/dreams for class interaction for both teacher and students?


I’d like for my students to interact with one another via discussions and to share research documents so that they can learn from one another in addition to their own research. As the teacher I’d like to be able to give prompt feedback. I’d like an area to post important information and announcements. I would also like to possibly create an area where the entire class works on a project collaboratively together (maybe broken into smaller groups initially - I’m not entirely sure yet)

* How do you think you will assess students?
Students would likely be assessed through journal-like reflection writings, mini-quizzes, a research paper, and possibly even through interactive games/websites, etc.
* What are some of the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the participation in your online course?
legal - making sure to cite sources and receive proper permissions where necessary (need some assistance here I think)