Batoul Baydoun
EDT 520-522
Online Learning Module Design Activity
Instructional Objective of Online Learning Module:
In order to prepare students for future online courses required by the department of education, I have designed an online module that will engage students in various activities while learning about human environment interaction and energy sources. The activities will require a hybrid environment, whole class computer lab instruction, and independent online work. Throughout the various activities students will engage in online discussions to reflect, analyze and share what they learn about the effects of human environment interaction. They will also research an energy source and learn about the advantages and disadvantages of using that source. They will make connection about how we change the environment while using and consuming energy. Students will also be required to use their learned English Language skills to write, share, explain and question what they are learning.
The student population of my class consists of English language learners with Basic English Language skills. The students will require modification of content across all subjects while encouraging them to apply the newly learned language objectives.
Tool:
The school district for which I’m employed provides an online learning management system through Moddle. iLearn is student friendly and provides a variety of activities for students to engage with and apply what they’ve learned about a specific topic. Through iLearn students may engage in a forum discussion, use a map to locate various points on a map, create a wiki or even engage in a live chat and many more activities. The LMS also allows students and teachers to upload various types of external resources. A teacher may also provide an external link that students may use to conduct research or locate information. Since feedback is an essential key component of all learning activities, a gradebook and a feedback feature are also available to guide students and provide them with necessary feedback during or after completing a task.
Activity 1:
Video Tutorial 1:
Registering/enrolling to iLearn
The purpose of this brief tutorial is to provide the students with instructions to enroll themselves in the course. This activity is necessary for students to complete independently since it allows them to take the responsibility and guides them to follow directions to complete a task. Fourth graders need to learn independence and taking initiatives by completing tasks while following written or verbal directions. The main objective for creating this tutorial is to assist students in enrolling into the course. The students will be able to follow the tutorial instructions and use their assigned username and password to enroll themselves into the course and navigate through the features of the site.
It is very important to complete this activity successfully. The students must enroll themselves to the correct listed course in order to participate in the various upcoming learning activities. Completing this task also provides the students with an opportunity to follow directions provided through a video tutorial. It is directly correlated with state guidelines where students are required to use information and communication technology tools to collect information. This is an important skill since many other activities to follow will require them to listen, collect information and follow directions provided by a video tutorial.
This activity clearly correlates with the state guidelines requiring students to access and utilize digital online tools for learning purposes. Accessing video tutorials and similar common tools is widely used for providing instructions through an online medium. The MDE guidelines state that students are to use information and communication technology tools to assist with solving problems. The problem of this activity is enrolling into an online/digital tool.
Students are required to complete this task independently. Teacher support is provided for those who fail to enroll themselves accurately. I may walk the students through the steps using one to one instruction and physical presence support in the classroom environment if needed. Even though this step is not a graded activity, students are encouraged to use the resource provided to follow directions and complete the task.
Activity 2: (used to initiate the online course learning environment)
My Birth Place:
Throughout this activity students will have an opportunity to get acquainted and comfortable with one of the features of this course. Students will use a map to locate their home and write a brief introduction about themselves. This activity invites the students to participate in an online interactive tool while using their writing and Basic English language skills to write a short paragraph.
The purpose of this activity is to release the pressure and anxiety of participating in such an unfamiliar method of learning and learn more about each other in a fun way. The students will engage in a brief, quick introduction of themselves while using the map and text feature. A list of easy to follow tasks is provided for which students are to answer the questions in a short paragraph.
Many of these tools are available to help students visualize the space and location of places. This activity does not directly align with the rest of the activities provided by this LMS yet it serves the purpose of a self-introduction while familiarizing oneself with the course features. Students will use their English language skills to draft a short paragraph using complete sentences to share something special about themselves with their classmates using an online tool. I have decided to include this activity as a part of this module design to show how I have utilized the features of the online course to create and initiate an online learning environment.
This activity correlates clearly with the MDE guidelines of allowing students to use digital communication tools. To complete this activity students will use the computer lab for a period of 40 minutes. Those who are not successful in completing the task in the time provided may access the activity from home and complete it at their own pace. Students may also use the activity to navigate through the map for their own learning purposes, such as familiarizing themselves with their neighborhood. Students will be able to zoom in and out on the map to digitally locate a classmate and read the short self-introduction paragraphs added to the map. (This can be done independently from home or at their own time). Students may also reply to each other’s posts as well.
To assess student writing the teacher may provide written feedback to the responses provided. The teacher may also use a screen projector tool to show good examples of self-introduction paragraphs and those that are incomplete or unsatisfactory. Students may go back and edit their writing any time while this activity remains active. Students will feel pride of their own work published online and through a digital medium. It is critical to remind the students that the course content is secure and available to those enrolled into the course only. At the end of this activity it is also recommended to remind students of the importance in keeping passwords safe and protected by not sharing this information with other classmates and friends. This may be a teachable moment to remind, discuss and help students identify the types of personal information that should not be given out on the Internet (name, address, phone number, picture, school name) (METS 2009 3-5)
Activity 3:
PPT Video Tutorial and Uploading the Assignment Tutorial
For this specific assignment and to support the Energy Research Project, students are to create a power point presentation to share and present what they have learned about a specific energy source. Also, students are required to upload their presentation onto the course site to be shared among other students and for grading. (Please note as you click on the iLearn link you are directly guided to the main login page. This is due to security and to the fact that only enrolled students can access the course contents).
Instructional Objectives:
Using the video tutorials as a guide, students will be able to create a power point presentation and save their work. Through the presentation, students will identify an energy source and provide its definition, list tools or place of production, identify common uses, and provide a list of pros and cons for using the selected energy source.
Coherence of Activity:
This particular activity sets the ground for completing the power point presentation required by the students to share their research. The video tutorials will aid the students in creating, designing, and uploading the completed research assignment. It may be critical for students to have accessible instructions on how to complete the listed tasks as they work independently. In order to complete the activity that follows, students will need to know how to organize the information and methods of presenting and delivery. Therefore, the video tutorials come hand-to-hand with the research activity. The research is also a follow up activity, which is not provided as a part of this module (Just a Dream).
Rationale:
My fourth graders are not independent technology users. Throughout the year they have been using various computer, Internet and software tools. Knowing my students’ abilities I have decided to show them how to create the power point presentation slides for the assigned research. The tutorial will limit the frustration among students and will serve as a guide for completing the assigned task. The students are also required to upload their final and saved work onto the course site and therefore I have decided to share a short yet easy to follow video tutorial to guide my students into the necessary steps for uploading their presentations. (See link of iLearn course below).
About sixty percent of my students are computer and technology illiterate. The students have been learning some skills throughout the year and as we go along, yet it seems there isn’t enough practice and support at home. Much of the learned material is not retained for later independent use. The videos created will facilitate the process of completing the assignment and will assure successful uploads of the assigned task.
Student Support/ Instructional Plan:
Through the iLearn course the students are provided with the complete guidelines and resources for completing the assignment. A link to the designated research activity is provided along with the assignment guidelines. The students are also supplemented with the specific rubric used for grading the assignment. Along with the rubric, students are given instructions on paraphrasing and using complete sentences when entering information into the PPT.
To start creating the PPT, students are instructed to open the link “creating a power point presentation”.
Students open the link and follow the instructions provided by the video tutorial to create their power points slide show.
Students are given time to go back to the slides to add, edit and revise the information gathered and entered. This may be done during lab time as a whole group or individually using the computers available in the classroom. I will provide continuous feedback throughout the process. The feedback may be verbal or using notes and guidance or one to one mini conferences.
As instructed by the tutorial, students are to save their work and submit/upload their assignment work onto iLearn.
To upload the assignment and completed PPT, students are to follow the instructions provided by the video tutorial under “Uploading the assignment video tutorial”.
Once students follow the instruction they should successfully create and upload their presentation.
Students will be provided feedback on their assignment using the rubric and the feedback option available through the iLearn course. Students will use the PPT to orally present their research to the class. They will be graded also on the quality of using the created PPT to present what they have learned. (The teacher will model and provide examples of suitable use of the tool and how to present using the slide show of the PPT).
Alignment with Online Learning Requirement:
Please see Alignment with Online learning guidelines at the bottom of activity 4. (Since these two activities are directly tied together I have decided to post the alignment as one part for both).
Activity 4:
Research Activity:
Instructional Objective:
Through this assignment students are to research various types of energy sources. Students are to understand the effects of human environment interactionas they study the forms of energy and the uses of each. They will realize and understand how humans affect and modify the environment. As students research the forms of energy and uses they will draw conclusions on how we change the environment as we produce and consume various energy sources.
Also, in science students are to identify heat and electricity as energy sources. Throughout this assignment the students will locate, read, write and deliver the information they learn to others through a research presentation.
For this assignment, each student will be required to create a form of presentation to deliver the information they learned and collected. They will upload the assignment into the iLearn course and present a copy to the class as an oral presentation. (See Activity 3)
The research assignment will require the following:
- Students will locate, identify and select an energy source. (Teacher guides choices to minimize and limit the number of times a particular energy source is selected. Teacher approves the energy source before hand while giving suggestions for choosing an alternative energy source one is selected by too many students).
- Define the energy source (example fossil fuel is…)
- List how it is produced or where is it produced.
- List some forms of uses of that energy source.
- Create a table of the pros and cons for using the energy source.
- List websites or pages used to locate the information. (Reference page)
Rationale for use of Support Tools/Materials
The students are given the particular topic and particular page to search through due to their limited English language skills and technology skills. The students use the Quintura search engine to limit the material presented and to expose them to the online search engine. (Most kids are familiar with using Google yet are not able to conduct a proper and accurate search to locate appropriate information). The Quintura search engine would narrow the topics presented toage appropriate sites through the topic clouds presented. The Energy Story is age appropriate and provides plenty of information about the various forms of energy, its uses and the advantages and disadvantages or pros and cons as referred to by the assignment guidelines.
Using the listed energy site, students will be able to virtually navigate through the pages, watch videos, animations, simulations and be able to easily and conveniently compare and contrast and learn about the various forms of energy sources provided by this link.
I have decided to provide my students with the specific link to lower the anxiety level for this type of assignment. The students are not Internet savvy nor are they computer and technology experts. They have very limited skills and the majority do not have any Internet or computer skills at all other than what we’ve been working on since the beginning of the school year. Throughout this assignment as for any other I would guide and support students. Some students may be able to be more independent with this activity than others. The more proficient students will help their peers in navigating the pages provided through the site.
Students will use power point as a delivery tool to present their findings to the class. We have decided to use power point as the tool of choice for this particular presentation because it is readily available in school and at home. Students will not be required to download any new programs that may lead to complications or delays in turning in the assignment. The students will easily navigate through the tool to orally present their research to the class.
Coherence of Activities:
This activity is a research project as a whole, which requires many steps to be completed successfully. Since students are learning about human environment interactions, they will investigate and learn how our daily consumption and production of energy affects the environment. As a follow up to the forum about human environment interaction, (see iLearn topic 2), students will create presentations and present their research. Here students will evaluate their daily activities as to how they interact with and modify their environment. This is listed as topic 3 in the iLearn course, which combines the research, the presentation, and the feedback.