Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

I've embedded an interactive graphic organizer made with Prezi for this blog assignment. If you're not familiar with Prezi, there are just a couple of things to be aware of to view the organizer easily. Both the Reflection section and the Why/Benefits section of the assignment are inside the Prezi.

Recommended Viewing Instructions

1. Click on the arrow in the bottom middle of the Prezi to activate the organizer.
2. After you click on the main arrow, you'll see some more menu options appear. Click on the light gray "More" in the bottom right of the Prezi window, then select "Full Screen."
3. Click on the Arrow in the bottom middle of the screen to move through the graphic organizer.
4. To see it all, keep clicking until you see "The End."

Optional: (While in full screen mode, click on the "target circle" in the lower right (it's just to the left of "More") to zoom out and see the whole organizer at a glance.)

Thanks!

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools on Prezi

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Our blog assignment for this week asks some very interesting questions along the lines of how we should assess participation in a collaborative learning community.

My initial response to the question is along the lines of what Siemens (n.d.) argues, that participation implies effort and time involved in an activity, and that measures of participation such as time on task, frequency of posting, etc., can be tracked and assessed easily online more in terms of effort than of quality.

But I think to a degree this misses the point, and I think that a better question to ask is how do we go about assessing the quality of the collaborative input of an individual in a group. We've all been in groups where someone participates too much, dominates the conversation, or whose contributions to a project, if adopted, would actually end up making the project worse.

The reason education falls into the trap of assessing participation in collaborative efforts rather than quality of participation in collaborative efforts lies in the fact that education has a long history of being very good at assessing and measuring individual effort and quality, but largely has no idea how to go about measuring the quality of individual contributions to things like brainstorming sessions, or collaboratively written documents. In essence, I'd argue that vast majority of teachers would be overwhelmed if asked to measure individual contributions in a group.

First of all, it's extremely hard to do. As a Japanese teacher, I'd often ask students to give group performances, and it became clear early on that measuring an individual performance when five students are doing something at the same time was impossible for one person to do. In order to assess it properly, I'd have to record the event, then watch it five times, measuring each individual performance separately. The trickier part would come when one person's performance suffered because another person wasn't up to par. At times, it was like evaluating a wide receiver who caught no passes because his quarterback overthrew him ten times. What do you do then?

The answer to this, though, lies in efforts by education to be more purposeful in identifying the pieces that go into effective groups and then specifically teaching and measuring those skills. It's a tremendously overlooked field of research, with the well known Johnson and Johnson perhaps still at the forefront of this work. XteAchnology has a good article summing up the complexity of their work in dissecting the key elements of effective groups and coming up with ways of purposefully teaching and assessing collaborative skills and efforts. In recent years, more research and resources are available to teachers in the field on cooperative learning. The blog Teacher Reboot Camp, for example, has a great post listing a treasure trove of resources to learn more about cooperative learning.

But even if you teach group skills, the question that often comes up is what to do with the student who doesn't participate. In such cases, I think it's the responsibility of the teacher to get involved and discuss with the student his or her options. From a personal viewpoint, I don't think participation is negotiable, although as a teacher I would often make accommodations and do everything in my power to help the student build the skills to participate effectively and for the group to function well. Palloff & Pratt (2007) provide many examples of steps a teacher can take to monitor and build groups, such as encouraging neither too little or too much participation, etc. The bottom line, however, is that human beings need to function both individually and in groups, and participation in group projects that gets excused isn't doing anyone a favor.

References
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Siemens, G. (n.d.). Assessment of collaborative learning [vodcast]. Laureate Education. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4692780&Survey=1&47=6562140&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Terrell, S. (2010, November 19). Cooperative learning: effective team work! 20+ resources. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2010/11/19/cooperative-learning-effective-team-work-15-resources/

XteAchnology. (n.d.). Johnson and Johnson's thoughts on cooperative learning. Retrieved January 11, 2011, from http://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/cooperative_learning/johnson_and_johnson/

Quality Instructional Design for Online Courses
Video Presentation Storyboard

General Overview
The main goal of the video is to introduce various concepts of quality instructional design for online courses. The production will highlight several improvements in online content design and online course design that can improve student learning.

(1 minute, 30 seconds) Introduction and Overview
Sequence #1: Title (10 seconds)
Working Title: "Quality Instructional Design: The Fundamentals"
Overview: A Title
Method: Simple Title Screen and Text

Sequence #2: Introduction (20 seconds)
Overview: This section will present a historical perspective on education.
Method: My voiceover combined with a collage of educational screenshots.

Sequence #3: Educational Transformation (20 seconds)
Overview: This section will pull figures from various sources describing the growth in online learning as a reflection of the growth in the Internet and growth in Communication
Method: Facts and figures, with an animation of reflecting the growth in online learning.

Sequence #4: Introduction of Question (10 seconds)
Overview: This section poses the question "What are the critical factors in instructional design that lead to quality online learning experiences?" It will also pose the three tenets of the answer: design, content, and interface
Method: Simple Title Screen and Text

Sequence #5: Definition of Online Learning (30 seconds)
Overview: This section will define "online learning" as used in the presentation. It will highlight some of the aspects of online learning (100% online schools, supplementary courses, hybrid)
Method: Computer Animation (perhaps Flash or a video segment of a Prezi or Google Presentation)

(2 minutes) Content is King...
Sequence #1: Equivalency Theory (30 seconds)
Overview: This section will focus on the goal inherent in Simonson's Equivalency Theory, that online courses must be equal yet different than traditional courses.
Method: Simple Title Screen and Text.

Sequence #2: Bloom's Taxonomy & Relevance to Online Learning (30 seconds)
Overview: This section will present the challenge facing online courses. Online learning must drive us higher on Bloom's Taxonomy. Quizzing facts in an online environment, for example, is ineffective due to the fact that anyone can just look up the answers.
Method: Student Interview, simple graphics.

Sequence #3: Project-Based Learning & Challenge-Based Learning (1 minute)
Overview: This section will argue that project-based learning is an effective way to push students higher on Bloom's Taxonomy, and is an effective tool for online learning.
Method: Teacher Interview, Edutopia clip showing students engaged in project-based learning. Voiceover. Simple graphics.

(2 minutes) ...but Design is Key
Sequence #1: Design is Key Introduction (30 seconds)
Overview: This section will introduce the importance of design in online courses. It will present research showing its importance (research to still be done).
Method: Simple Title Screen and Text, Examples from Courses.

Sequence #2: Failures of Design Case Study (30 seconds)
Overview: This section will show how poor design impacts students learning by highlighting a case study of an ineffectively designed course.
Method: Online course screen capture video showing an example of a failure of design.

Sequence #3: Fundamentals of Instructional Design (1 minute)
Overview: This section will outline several elements of instructional design that can improve the quality of online courses. It will take about incorporating discussions, graphics, and a design framework to enhance student learning (research forthcoming).
Method: Simple Title Screen and Text, Examples from Courses.

(30 seconds) Conclusion
Sequence #1: Design is Key Introduction (1 minute)
Overview: This section will review the points made in the concepts and design section, pose questions surrounding what is left to learn regarding the creation of engaging online content.
Method: Not sure yet, perhaps a collage of happy student photos? Or a collage of technology-related photos focusing the viewer on the continuing rise in technology.


References
Christiansen, C., Johnson, C.W., & Horn, M. (2008). Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Simonson, M. (n.d.). Distance education: Higher education, K12, and the corporate world [vodcast]. Laureate Education. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4692780&Survey=1&47=6562140&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1