I would like to start with the activities, what my thoughts on them are and what I felt when developing them.
WordWalls
Starting with the activities of WordWall, which are mainly used for an introduction and smooth transition towards using a LMS. Although the activities on the WordWall are not challenging and would be quite low on the engagement scale, since it focuses on assessing knowledge that was obtained, programmed instruction (Molenda, 2017), which seems as a good place to start.
This start will allow the students to start with the lowest level of Higher Order Thinking, and establishing a place to start from. This place is what is familiar and relatively simple, while still being cognitively engaging in sense of having an activity that makes students think about the knowledge they have obtained.
On the other hand, the WordWall may seem to be reluctantly accepted by students. There are students that are more than familiar with the use of WordWall and tools similar to it. This does create some dissonance between the learners, but as mentioned before, we aim towards the majority.
I did feel like we could have done something better, activities that would be more engaging, because I have a higher expectation from the students. However, my own practice in teaching shows that setting higher expectations on what students NEED to be able to do, is not the same as what students CAN do. Unfortunately, there is a significant difference in this, which forced me and my partner to start simple.
Transition
The TypeForm tool was an interesting transition, since it keeps the nature of the activities the same, but moves the platform to another one. Indication of a change, I thought, was a good idea allowing for students to get acquainted with the "now we will change things up".
I felt like this was a smart thing to do, allowing students to learn new tools that have the same purpose, but also prepare them to get a more complicated task.
Assignment
The assignment was the first transition. I felt like this activity was useful in the sense of encouraging students to communicate and use a different medium of checking what they have learned. The assignment evokes a sense of Direct Instruction, but also encourages communication (connectivism).
I felt like it is a lot of responsibility to give to students right away, but having thought upon my previous mention of "they might not be ready", I thought that there should be more trust in the theory and my experience. I trusted students to make the comments, follow the instructions and reach a place of knowledge that students build-up together.
There are students who will view the activity and only go through the comments, without making any comments on their own. This is not a bad thing, since learning still occurs with the readers, where they learn based on the experience of others. This is the way research works, look at what people have done, add something small, contributing to the bigger picture, and finally reach "knowledge".
The next assignment, the more challenging one, with the poster development, I wanted to encourage students to make a product, have something in their hands at the end of the orientation. To encourage them to do this assignment, a "prize" is also placed. This is a double edged sword, since a sense of competition can help a particular type of learner, but not all - some may actually be demotivated to learn in this manner.
Furthermore, the aspect of connectivism is on display with the use of online tools to develop a poster. Students will have to spend some time finding different tools, leading them to discussions and other articles about the use of online tools to make posters. This allows me to remove the work from the teachers, and place the learning process onto the students to find their own approach.
There may also be students who already know tools that can be used, and different submissions might encourage students to use tools that other students have found. Collective learning occurs here, while students prepare the poster for Student Support Services.
This also helps them better understand SSS, what we do, how we do it and how to contact us. The posters that are developed, are most likely to be posted by the students on their own private social media accounts, providing marketing to the department and allowing students to share their experiences.
My Feelings
I really enjoyed discussing the main parts of this course with my partner, since we had to use a lot of our existing knowledge and creative outlook into developing the materials. We also had to focus on what we have learnt during the Innovative Teaching module, since we covered many tools that definitely helped us develop this course.
Of note, the activity about the poster was the most creative and fun to develop. We have a leaflet that we designed together with my partner to promote our department during the orientation, and allowing students to become part of the promotional material of the university shows students that they are part of a larger community. This discussion sparked many positive feelings between me and my partner, where we even discussed creative ways students might approach this activity.
(Word Count 881)
Molenda, M. (2017). Programmed Instruction. Pressbooks.com. Available from https://lidtfoundations.pressbooks.com/chapter/programmed-instruction/ [Accessed 16 April 2022].
Comments
Post a Comment