WPP Part B – Application of TPACK

As I look at my Wicked Problem Project, using video lessons in Moodle to help guide students through materials that textbooks just don’t do well on, I see good agreement with TPACK for my situation. TPACK looks at how Technology, Pedagogy, and Content blend together in a lesson, and mostly because of the design of Moodle, this is all present. Adding interactivity and quicker feedback to students utilizing these lessons should expand the learning experience for my classrooms filled with individual learners and students with spotty attendance.

First off, Moodle is a platform that will allow students to quickly jump into a lesson covering the content they are in, gain guidance through the subject material, and are quizzed at the end of the video so students and I can both evaluate how well the information was learned. After a text lead in to what will be covered, the video will appeal to the audio visual learning side of the students, and will also be summed up in text after the video. The question or questions used for followup are also easily integrated into the Moodle lesson by design. Because the lessons are computer based, they are also accessible on dates after the lesson has been completed by the class.

Because Moodle lessons use text, visuals, and audio, sometimes all at the same time, it holds pedagogical advantages over textbook and lecture based learning. These lessons will appeal to more of the learning styles of each student, and interactive questions after the information has been presented give students instant feedback with explanations of correct answers, and support for wrong answers. This allows students to not only get the questions answered correctly, but know why!

Finally, this all ties into the content that will be covered in the Moodle lessons. By targeting introductory topics in a unit or topics that are difficult to nearly impossible to portray with a textbook, these lessons will allow more content to be covered than the same time put into reading a textbook and answering prepared questions. The feedback on the questions also helps guide content to the student because of the context that feedback to the questions can give. Another exciting content boost with using Moodle lessons is that particular standards can be the forethought of the lesson, allowing the Moodle lesson to more fully cover a standard than any lesson that is created first, and applied to the standard later!

WPP Part A – Need More Moodle!

My school, the Ingham Academy, is an individualized educational setting that contains students in different content areas (and different subjects entirely) within the same class period for most classes. This is due to the school being an alternative court based school. Of my seven class periods, only 3 of them are homogeneous in nature, which limits the ability for whole class instruction substantially. The problem is compounded by the fact that attendance can be sporadic enough that even homogeneous classes can become varied with students missing several days of work at a time, and needing to catch up in the coursework. As most of my time in the individualized classes is spent helping students as they get stuck and have questions, it would be greatly beneficial if I could have instructional tools available to students when I am helping other students. Even though I have a paraprofessional in the classroom to help, the more support that I can give my students, the more opportunities for learning they will have. If I can increase support by using technology to instruct even two additional students per hour, the amount of instructional support per student should increase noticeably.

I would like to use a blend of video lectures and demonstrations with follow up questions presented in Moodle to help address my classes’ instructional roadblocks. There are many resources available online, such as You Tube, MIT’s Open CourseWare, and Khan Academy that have instructional video that could be used to help introduce, reinforce, and answer questions about topics. For those subjects that don’t have an appropriate video easily found on the internet, I can create a video-cast covering the necessary information. Once the videos have been selected or created, they can be put into Moodle courses I already have (or can have created as I expand to different subjects in the future) with leading and follow-up questions to help guide the students’ learning. Using this method will take added preparation time in the beginning, but should pay off in the long run. Even if only two students using the two classroom computers I have each hour can benefit from instructional videos with guiding questions, the efficiency of the classroom should increase, as should the amount of learning and time engaged per student. The use of Moodle also integrates interactivity because of feedback with the questions asked. The financial costs should be minimal because I already have the equipment needed to create needed videos, the online resources are free, and I already have access to Moodle through my district.

Using this model, I would hope to begin by creating a few lessons including videos and guiding questions within Moodle. The topics covered in the Moodle lessons would be in the areas of the curriculum that target subject matter difficult to successfully implement with a textbook. Two students per class period would have the option of working on the Moodle lessons that would introduce the topics being covered in a particular chapter or section. The students would be asked a couple of questions guiding them to what the video will cover and will be asked questions at the end of the video(s) as well to ensure they understood the points being made. As the students complete the Moodle lessons, they will receive credit for completing sections of their coursework.

Using video in the classroom as part of the coursework, students will be exposed to information that would otherwise not be available because of access or time constraints as stated in Using Video in the Classroom. Instructional videos can help bring students into a subject in ways that give it relevance, focus, and that reinforce the concepts as outlined in Tips for Using Instructional Video and Public Television Programming in the Classroom. Audio visual learners will also benefit using this method of instructional delivery because it will appeal more to them than a quiet and inanimate textbook. There are also many built in tools with Moodle that allow interactivity for students who might not have as much interactive help as needed because I am helping other students.

I plan to implement this model of videos with guiding support covering topics in my Physical Science class which is a homogeneous group suffering due to attendance, and my Physics class which is scattered throughout several class periods. The aim will be to target subject areas where students coalesce in Physics, presenting information in a manner that is more intuitive and interactive (with the video and Moodle guiding questions). There are many topics that are just not effectively covered in a textbook. In Physical Science the same Moodle and video format will guide students into new topics and also allow students who are absent for lessons covered an opportunity to review a lesson after it has been performed. For both classes I will set a goal of target students completing a Moodle video lesson once a week. This will be possible because the Physical Science class has access to the computer lab, and the Physics students are scattered throughout the day in my classroom that has two computers available to students.

If this project is successful, I would expect to see my Physics and Physical Science students making it through more subject matter with greater understanding and performance. This will be measured by evaluating the number of chapters completed as well as grades on associated assignments. It is also hopeful that behaviors in the class would improve because of greater access to interactive instruction, which should be reflected in the behavioral points recorded at our school. If both the pace and performance have increased in these classes, I would consider the project’s implementation a success.

In the future I will expand this project to include key topics in all the classes I teach and will be teaching (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Physical Science, and Earth Science). Because our school is working to get a computer lab on wheels, our computer access should increase. My future goal will be that each class has one class period a week in which a Moodle video lesson, or related technology rich lesson, will be utilized to enhance the curriculum.

A Funny Thing Happened With Technology

Here is a link to my funny thing with technology!

Funny Thing With Technology!

CEP 812 Introduction

Here is my video introduction to my CEP812 class.  I used Windows Movie Maker to create it and WinX to transform it to MP4!

Intro Video!

Lessons in Using Technology (Final CEP 811 post)

Throughout taking CEP 811 from MSU (Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education), I have learned many techniques and become familiar with many technologies that I will be able to use and integrate into the classes I teach. I have also learned good strategies in using technology. For one, technology should not be used just to use technology. I have been guilty of this, and the lessons where I tried this didn’t tend to be all that exciting. There should be a novel reason for using technology. Once students figure out that the lesson isn’t something they could just do with their textbook, they tend to buy into the lesson a good bit more. It is also important to use the technology to help reach different learning styles (ie videos for visual / auditory learners, text examples, pictures) and break down barriers that students might have. If barriers are created by the technology, there is probably a better way to use the technology. There are many ways to use technology to help all students, and any lesson using technology should be designed from the beginning to be better than a lesson not using the technology. One good example would be putting a glossary of terms into an online lesson, where commonly unknown terms are highlighted with a link to the definition. Things like this allow students to learn more of what you want them to learn with less with problems in any given lesson (if they are appropriately addressed)!

As I look at this new paradigm for using technology in the classroom, I have found many uses for technology in my classes. I want to look for solutions for my classes that technology can fix. If I can fix it another way, I will keep those as options as well. When creating lessons I will be looking for ways that technology can present a benefit that could otherwise not be accomplished. For example, it is difficult to lecture in a class where students are in three different subjects, and most are in different places in those different subjects Any given lecture might only be appropriate for 1 or 2 students at a time. If I were to video tape some key lectures and post them online or on network space accessible to the students, and even possibly incorporate those lectures into an online lesson (using Moodle), I could replace “normal” book learning with an interactive lesson following my “lecture” presentation. It doesn’t matter when a student gets to that spot in the curriculum, I will have a video for them. If it is present online, there will be greater freedom for students to learn whenever they can!

As I look at my goals to find solutions that can be addressed by technology, I am also constantly adjusting my goals to find new ways to break down barriers that students are facing. An example of this would be balancing chemical equations. Many students have issues with this. If I can find new ways to break down that barrier for students, those same approaches could help those not struggling to master it even more. With interactive websites and lesson formats available, it would be silly to not have students try the interactive online lessons so that they will have an alternative to the paper and pencil methods of balancing equations. No matter what the issue is, technology has the ability to organize materials so that students can focus on the subject material being taught and less on figuring out exactly what is being asked. Any way that technology can help a student better understand something than the way that I am currently teaching, I want to use it.

I yearn for the ability to better help my students understand the material they need to cover in order to receive credit and gain applicable knowledge. Given the self guided nature of my school, this is not an easy task. I hope to continue learning about and creating technological solutions to address the problems to learning my students face. I want for each and every student that comes into my classroom to have the ability to get feedback, scaffolding, links to prior knowledge, relevance, and my knowledge at their fingertips. Technology can help me do that more efficiently. Technology can help me be there for my students more than if I were just alone in the classroom with no computers. When I can increase the amount of time that I help a student understand a concept, whether that is through direct help or a technological solution (online lessons, links, using Moodle, videotaped lectures, etc) , I am being a more successful educator. This is what I will be focusing on throughout my future in education.

Online Experience

Being a teacher in an alternative school, with classes containing students from several subjects at a time, it sometimes seems overwhelming when I am trying to figure out how to incorporate activities like labs into the curriculum. Hands on is by far the best way to learn some science concepts, but with the use of Online Simulations, as outlined in the Michigan Online Experience Guideline, there are some better options than just watching a video.

Using online simulations could be a great asset in science specifically through virtual labs. With virtual labs, students would be able to dissect a particular animal, mix different chemicals and observe the reaction, and even create their own physics experiment on acceleration. This would greatly increase the amount if inquiry that was present within the classroom. With the varied spots of students within each classroom, I am grateful that I have two computers in my classroom at all times for students to utilize online simulations, because the odds of more than a few students being at the same spot in the material are low. For times when an online simulation is appropriate for all subjects covered within a classroom (or in my case for forensics), the computer lab could be reserved and used in a more class or group based way.

Even though the Michigan Online Experience Guideline has many good options for use within my classroom, there are some experiences that would be challenging to facilitate with my students. Because I work at a court school, communication with outside persons is very limited. Many of my students are also experts at gaining communication with persons that they are prohibited from even with school blocks in place. Because of this, it would be a challenge to open up interactive discussions with experts or between students. If this was done in a highly supervised scenario, or with only one or two students participating in this at a time, I think that it would be possible to integrate, but sufficient resources would need to be given in order to ensure proper use of the technologies.

Wiki Overload

Wikis are on the brain, and for good reason. This section of my CEP 811 class we were to look at wikis. I didn’t know what to think of them at first, but I think they’ll end up being useful. I don’t know how much they’ll be used in the classroom vs. with staff to organize things, but time will tell. This might even be useful staging local storm chases when the weather gets warmer!

I created a wiki at PBWorks for school, and I figured that the best test would be to use it between staff for a computer lab reservation system. As I find uses for it in the classroom, I can foresee these being used in classes like forensics and careers, so that students can give feedback to each other and across classes (since I usually teach two of each at the same time).

On Wikipedia, I couldn’t find my school, but that’s not a surprise. I went to the Lansing, MI Wikipedia page and added the Ingham Academy to the public and private schools list. I then created a page for the Ingham Academy on Wikipedia, and I think I have the hang of it now. This could be an issue … because I’ll not only be surfing, but editing Wikipedia from here on out! I had fun doing this, and hope to get better as time goes on. I enjoy taking pictures, as I did for the Ingham Academy, and hope to be able to add to this community.

Click HERE for an image of my PBWorks wiki and my Wikipedia creation.

UDL

Listed below are some strengths (features) and weaknesses (barriers) to a lesson that I created to address the Physics concepts of speed and position vs. time graphs. The lesson is posted in MERLOT here. Basically I found that while I did allow for some creativity, I had restricted that creativity to only a couple of programs. I also didn’t do a very good job accommodating for different learning styles in more than the introduction and modeling of the lesson. In order to make this lesson better, I would need to add more ways for students to view the presentation, give more options for the creation of position vs. time graphs, and allow the students to create their own data if they choose to motivate more students.

UDL Guidelines – Educator Checklist
I. Provide Multiple Means of Representation
1.2 Provide alternatives for auditory information
Feature: This lesson will be lectured verbally with text notes, and will be visually modeled.
1.3 Provide alternatives for visual information
Feature: This lesson will be explained verbally. It would be of added benefit to add video and audio supplements to each part of the lesson.
2.1 Define vocabulary and symbols
Barrier: Some vocabulary in this lesson might not be in some students’ prior knowledge and isn’t adequately explained.
3.1 Provide or activate background knowledge
Feature: Situations of speed from prior knowledge will be addressed and expanded upon.
3.2 Highlight critical features, big ideas, and relationships
Feature: Slope’s relationship to speed on a position vs. time graph is revisited and reinforced throughout the lesson.
II. Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression
4.1 Provide varied ways to respond
Barrier: There is only one set of assessments for this lesson. This needs to be expanded to allow more freedom.
5.1 Allow choices of media for communication
Barrier: The lesson only allows for Excel and PowerPoint as methods for sharing the information.
III. Provide Multiple Means of Engagement
7.1 Increase individual choice and autonomy
Feature: This lesson allows creativity during the presentation section, so that the students can explain however they choose.
Barrier: The creativity is restricted to the use of Excel and PowerPoint.
7.3 Reduce threats and distractions
Feature: Excel table templates are used to create graphs to be used in the lesson.
8.2 Vary levels of challenge and support
Barrier: Other than the presentation, materials don’t have different levels of support or challenge.
8.4 Increase mastery-oriented feedback
Feature: The lesson requires students to explain their knowledge of the topic to others.
9.2 Scaffold coping skills and strategies
Feature: Students receive feedback at the end of each section of the lesson, ensuring they understand the topic before presenting it to others.

MERLOT: An adventure of knowledge …

This is a new resource that I have been exposed to in my class CEP 811 from Michigan State University. It is a nifty collection of resources including animations, lessons, websites with links, tutorials, unit plans, and so on for educators to view, use, and add to. It is a great resource from what I can tell, and after subscribing to an RSS feed I immediately was able to find a website that had virtual labs for chemistry. Sites like this will be greatly useful as I try to find better ways to teach in an environment that educates students in the unique way that students are taught at the Ingham Academy, where adjudicated youth are taught in classes sometimes containing several subjects, spots, and grade levels within the same classroom each period. It is a challenge that will become less daunting with resources such as this!

-Dan B

Abigail Ann has arrived! (click to open)

At 8lbs, 20.5 inches, Abigail Ann has entered life in a healthy and loving way. Pictures are posted on Facebook (for all to view) HERE and Dawn and I are glad to have been blessed with her presence!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201678&id=824134201&l=2775ce4aeb

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