Cs7067 E-Learning: Principles and Practice II

Cs7067 E-Learning: Principles and Practice II

Using Bridge Design 2016 Software to establish and Deliver a Technology based Collaborative and Cooperative Learning Experience.

Part A, Introduction:

Background and Rationale for the Learning Experience:

The purpose of exploiting this teaching methodology is to allow the students to actively learn using 21st century teaching skills and resources. By using the Bridge 21 Activity Model it will equip the students will skills that are of upmost importance for the 21st century. Some these skills may include; knowledge construction, self-regulation and assessment, problem solving and innovation, collaboration, skilled communication and ICT use. Exposing students to 21st century technology will allow them to participate, contribute and learn in a 21st learning environment.

This activity will enable students to work with their peers in the form of group work and team work. This will engage students in a reflective and collaborative environment. Subsequently this will give students a sense of responsibility of their work. This learning experience will provide students with the autonomy to create a project that is personal, something that they have created together as a group. It will allow students to express their opinions, insights and skills and relate to personal experiences with other group members. With this responsibility,this will prepare the students to enhance their accountability, responsibility and ownership of their learning. Establishing a collaborative and cooperative learning can create a deeper and understanding that will promote student engagement, motivation, and inclusion. The students will create a skills set, such as time management, knowledge transfer that can be useful in other contexts.

The learning experience is designed to enhance the student’s creativity and problem solving skills. Referring to the NCCA guidelines for the new Junior Certificate the learning experience should aim to promote and incorporate, “Creativity and Innovation, Choice and Flexibility, Engagement Relevance and Enjoyment and Life-long Learning”. All of these skills are addressed in this learning environment. The educational setting should give students the opportunity to make decisions, use their imagination, critically analyse the problem, participate in an innovative learning experience that students can acquire 21st skills that will equip them for real world learning. The use of technology in this learning experience will provide a transformative learning experience. The technology will allow students to create, evaluate and analyse throughout the learning setting. (SAMR Model)

Introduction: A Synopsis of the Learning Experience

The Learning experience is divided into seven main lessons that will guide the students through a collaborative and cooperative learning experience through the use of Bridge Design software.

This learning experience is aimed at Transition Year students and can be used in a Maths, Physics or Engineering Class.

The Aim and instructional goal of the project that will be outlined to the students is the following:

-As a civil engineer your company have been invited to produce and design a truss bridge to carry a two-lane highway in the following environment. There are three main objectives

1. Design a bridge so that it can meet the following criteria

-Support its own weight which will include the weight of the deck, and the weight of a standard truck loading.

1. Design the bridge in a cost effective manner as possible.
2. Produce a presentation of your bridge design and prepare for questions on the coast and design method you choose.

Groups of 3-4 students are asked produce and design a bridge meets the criteria above. The class will independently vote for the bridge design that best fits the job specification. Each group will establish their own company name and the Group has the following decisions to make when designing the bridge:

The Bridge Design and Configuration:

--Height and spam and width of the bridge,

--If excavation of terrain is necessary,

--To provide clearance for overhead power lines,

--The structure of the bridge, what support mechanisms will they construct: pier support, arch support, anchorages etc.…

--The design of trusses on the bridge, the joints and the distance between the member joints,

--They type of concrete deck they will use two support a two lane highway.

The Use of Materials:

-Decide on the materials they will use to assemble the trusses. There is a choice of carbon steel, high-strength low-alloy steel and Tempered steel. Each type of steel will varies om the cost and strength it has,

-Will the metal used will be solid or hallow tubes,

-The size of the trusses the will use. Choice of different lengths and widths to produce different cross-sectional areas.

Structural Safety:

-Students must analyse the material densities,

-Review the tensile strength and the compressive strength in the structure,

-Review the load exerted on the bridge: the deck, weight of trusses, surface, truck loadings and beam supports.

Cost of the Project:

-Discuss the use of different materials and examine how this will affect the price of the project,

-Discuss the costs associated with work to be done on the site,

-Review the costs produced in the design of the bridge.

Learning Experience:

The learning experience will be a blended learning experience that will follow the bridge 21 teaching and learning methadoldoy. The set up, warm up and presentation learning episodes in the Bridge 21 model will take place in the classroom. The investigate, plan, create and reflect leanring episodes will take place online in a collaboartive enviornment.

Students will be asked to join an edmodo class group online. The edmodo group will act as a platform that will scafold the learning experience for the students. The Learning objectives, project, updates, questions and answers, upldoading of presentations and relfections will all take place vis the Edmodo classroom.

The teahcer will introduce the project in the warm and set up. The role of the teahcer will then be to scafflod the leanring experience by providing assistance and guidence online via Edmodo. Students will be given a series of tasks and deadines that will will be outlined by the teahcer. The teacher will look for updates from the reporter in each group.

Technology used in the Project:

-Bride Designer Software 2016,

-Edmodo

-Presentation software (Windows Movie Maker, power-Point, Prezi, Camtasia, Screencast, Flipagram etc.….)

Assessment:

The project will be graded as follows:

-70% awarded to the group project,

-20% Individual reflection report,

-10% Presentation.

Part B: Analysis

Instructional Goals: The task the students should be able to complete at the end of the project.

-Design and produce a bridge that meets the job specification,

-Produce and give a presentation on the outcome of the project,

-Learn to work in a collaborative and cooperative learning environment;students will learn how to work in a team, assign roles and delegate tasks. Peer to peer learning will allow the students to learn from each other. Students can relate to their peers understanding process.

-Students will develop and enhance important IT skills when using the Bridge Design Software, Edmodo and presentation software. Students will have to be able to edit and produce a presentation.

-Reflect on the learning experience as a group and individually. Students will develop the reflective skills and engage in a reflective process. In the presentation of their project, students will be asked to reflect and review their project. This will give the teacher a superior understanding on the learning that took place.

-Use problem solving techniques to help solve the problem.

Instructional Analysis: What the students need to know.

The students will have to be able to do the following:

-Learn how to use the bridge design software by watching the online tutorial and the demonstration given by the teacher.

-Learn how to work in a collaborative and cooperative learning environment. To this the group will discuss the roles that have been provided by the teacher and assign these roles to members in the group.

-Decide as a group how they will present their presentation. Students will look at the options available to them and choose the presentation method that suits them.

-Develop their reflective skills to analyse individually and collectively the success of the project. Students will use a series of template questions provided by the teacher to guide them through the reflective process.

Analyse Learners and Context: Previous Knowledge and Context.

The project would be aimed towards transition year students in a Mathematics, Engineering or Physics class. The students will be divided in groups of 3-4 to carry out the project. No groups larger than 4 so that every member can actively contribute to the project. The majority of the students will have no previous knowledge about bridge design. The students will however have the following skills that will be useful in solving the problem:

-An understanding of units and measurement: Length, width and height,

-Costing of materials, work with unit costing from Junior Certificate Maths,

-An appreciation of geometry including, angles, types of triangles and their properties and parallel and perpendicular lines.

-Consideration of the different types of 2D and 3D shapes,

-An understanding coordinate geometry, including, slope, midpoint and distance,

-An awareness of trigonometry. The ratios in right angled triangles and properties of these triangles.

-Different types of forces, students will have discussed in Junior Certificate Science what a force is and outlined examples of different types of forces.

-Students will have the skills to produce presentations via a range of multimedia.

The exercise is designed to incorporate a blended learning experience for the students. The introduction, set-up and presentation of the project will take place in classroom environment. The use of the bridge software will take place outside of the classroom where groups will be asked work outside classroom to continue with the project. The software is free and will allow members of the group to outside the classroom. The students can use online presentation software such as goggle slides to produce their presentation. The individual reflection process is to be carried out online.

Performance objectives:

Stage in learning Experience / Learning Objectives (Actions) / Time-frame / Learning Outcomes:
(How the actions are measured)
Set Up and Warm Up:
/ -Establish a group of 3-4 members
-Create a structure of a truss bridge using a deck of cards.
-Appreciate the role and function of bridge structure.
-Analyse a series of bridges and compare the contrast the bridges under design, strength and purpose.
-develop their skills in using the Bridge Design Software. / 2 hours / -Ability to create structures using decks of cards. Students demonstrate knowledge on basic design structure.
-Students display an understanding to structure, design function by categorising a series of different bridges. Students use the terminology to explain their choices.
-Students exhibit a competency in using the main controls, by completing a series of tasks outlined by the teacher.
Investigate / -Explore the problem/task. Students define the problem.
-Analyse the different options the students have to solve the problem.
-Assign individual roles within the group: Project leader, Structural Engineer, Quantity Surveyor and Reporter.
-Discuss how they will present their project.
- Provide a report of the minutes and work of the group to the teacher / 2 hours / -Students will participate in meaningful discussion on the problem they are addressing. Students will refer to the job specifications. (load, cost, structure, design)
-An examination of the different variables that affect the outcome to the project. Research the cost of the different materials, their function and use.
-Discuss and establish what the role of each member of the group will be.
-Create a schedule of tasks to be completed and a timeframe to compete these.
-Decide on a suitable presentation method and agree to record their stages of the deign build that will be useful for the presentation.
-Students provide an online report of progress from the investigation stage of the project.
Plan / -Use of Bridge Design software to decide on the structure, design, and materials they will use.
-Each member of the group contributes to the discussion as outlined by their role.
-Reasons for the designs are outlined
-Provide a report the minutes and work of the group to the teacher / 2 hours / -Evidence of students comparing and contrasting the different possible materials in the report.
-Students should carry out their roles as Project leader, structural engineer and quantity surveyor. Their input should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
- Students provide an online report of progress from the planning stage of the project.
Create / -Students will create, refine and reflect on the design of their bridge.
-The Learners will test to see if the bridge passes the load test.
-Review, critique and amend the bridge design with reference to the job specification.
-Analyse the table of forces acting on the bride. Comparison of the tensile and compression forces.
-Change and Adjust the shape of the bridge if necessary.
-Provide a report the minutes and work of the group to the teacher / 2 hours / -The use of the Bridge Software to produce a bride that meets the job criteria.
-Evidence of students carrying out a reflective process to critique and improve the design of the bridge. Versions of the bridge design should be saved.
- Students provide an online report of progress from the creating stage of the project
Presentation / -Create a give a presentation on their bridge design. Students will be asked to address the following questions in their presentation:
-Outline their understanding of the job criteria,
-An explanation of their design and the reasons why they choose this design
-Discuss the role each group member had and how they impacted on the design of the project,
-Outline areas for development/improvement,
-Summarise areas of enjoyment and difficulties they encountered in the project.
-Reflect on the learning experience as a group.
-Peer assessment of other groups work and evaluate the success of the project by the referring to the assessment rubric. / 1 Hour / -Submission of final report of the bridge design.
-Use of presentation software to deliver their project.
-Students refer to the questions that are to be addressed in the presentation.
-Assess if the bridge design meets the job criteria.
-Use of the assessment rubric to assess other groups projects.
Reflection / -Individual reflection to be submitted online. The reflection will ask students to reflect on their personal learning experience. Students will be asked to evaluate the individual performance, how they affected the outcomes in the project. Is there areas of could have helped more in the project. What leaning goals did I set and did achieve these goals,
What advice did I give/receive that helped to produce the project. / 1 Hour / -Students submit an online personal reflection of their learning experience.
-Evidence to demonstrate deep understanding of the goals and targets that were required to work together in a collaborative and cooperative learning environment.

Part C: Design

Environment:

This Learning experience will be delivered using a blended teaching approach. The students will complete the following learning episodes; set up and warm up, investigation and the presentation in class. The remaining episodes; plan, create and reflect will be carried out online.

I decide to use the blended approach for a number of reasons:

Firstly I the aim of this project is to establish an integrated learning experience. The purpose of this is so that students learn how to collaborate and cooperate in the classroom and online. The students will experience and develop 21st century skills, specifically communication and collaboration skills throughout the learning process. The students become responsible for their learning experience. Students will have a certain amount of control over time, pace design options. However the learning experience will be supervised by the teacher via Edmodo. Students are requested to provide updates and reports of their progression in theproject by uploading documents, images of their project. Edmodo will allow the teacher and the group to communicate online, offer advice and support and ask questions. This gives the students the independence to work in their own personalised learning environment.

Secondly I have decided to use the blended approach so that the teacher can scaffold the learning experience. The set up and warm up and the investigation episodes will introduce the students to the project. It gives students the opportunity to collaborate and cooperate face to face before working together outside the classroom. The introduction is will set the context and rationale of the learning experience. Carrying out these episodes in the classroom will allow the teacher to assess if the students understand the task. This is important that the students understand the task before they decide to plan and create their project. This will allow the teacher to initially assess if there are any difficulties in the group dynamics before the start to collaborate outside the classroom.