The Curious Educator
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Collections
  • Publications

A Focus on Instructional Design & Assessment

4/18/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
As we move through our Covid 19 distance learning experience, my focus of inquiry has turned to what role instructional design and assessment play during distance learning.  When you take away the carrot and the stick of earning a grade for engaging in learning, how do we motivate students to show up and engage in learning?  

  • Focus on the critical learning targets - scale way back
  • Make the learning intention clear.
  • Make the learning relevant.  Students should be able to answer the question "Why do I need to know this?"
  • Articulate the success criteria that will be used to determine when students meet a learning goal. 
  • Provide examples or good models for students to reference.
  • Offer choice in how it can be learned
  • Focus on feedback
  • Be clear about how you will know if students "get it" and not worry about quantifying their performance on a scale of 0 -100

By making student learning our primary focus and helping students share that same focus, the learning experience moves from knowledge transmission to active learning.  Teachers are the authors of their instructional design and should take into account the different ingredients when designing instructional experiences.  Think about something that you are good at.  More than likely, you were not always good at it. How did you get good at it? Look at the graphic below, were all or most of the elements below a part of your learning pathway to achieve the level of proficiency you now have now?
Picture
How can teachers that relied heavily on the common lecture format find success during distance learning?  They must ensure that success criteria is established for earning credit for a skill or learning target. The success criteria must be clear, rigorous, and attainable. When students are working online and submitting evidence of their learning, teachers must make sure that they are assigning things that they can give feedback to the student on.  Feedback should be offered along the way to ALL students so that they know where they are in mastering the criteria.  It will also be critical to have additional resources or paths available to students who don't "get it" when others are ready to move on.  The graphic below designed by Stephen Taylor was adapted from Grant Wiggins work and touches on the different avenues effective feedback can take online.  Feedback needs to be a conversation and not a statement. John Hattie and Helen Timperley found that effective feedback answers three major questions asked by a teacher and/or by a student: Where am I going? (What are the goals?), How am I doing? (What progress is being made toward the goal?), and Where to next? (What activities need to be undertaken to make better progress?) We must remember what the student does with the feedback is what matters.  
Picture
Learning should be assessed formatively using digital tools in small checks for understanding along the way. These are low or no stakes experiences or practice assessments that yield feedback to students.  Check-out Retrieval Roulettes developed by Adam Boxer as a tool to use. The brain science behind retrieval practice is solid and this is an excellent tool to empower students. It allows them to spiral back through content knowledge.  

Generating opportunities for students to give you "summative output" can be done by student created products or student performance within an online testing environment. Check out 100 Things Students Can Create to Demonstrate What They Know or the website Exam.net.   Exam.net is free to use right now if your school is outside Sweden.  An additional resource for math teachers to look at is a post by Alice Keeler, From @mathdiana: Have Students Talk About Math. 
 (I prefer to call it a task not a test” – @mathdiana) 

During these difficult times, we will learn new and better ways to guide students along a learning pathway than placing a number on a paper.  I believe that growing and getting stronger in instructional design and assessment practices will transfer to improved learning experiences for students once we are back in our brick and mortar classrooms.  And this goes without saying, but if you have a solid relationship formed with students this is all going to be a lot easier!

If you have additional resources and ideas on instructional design, assessment and feedback practices, please share them! I know that I have only scratched the surface in my own learning. 
​
Picture
0 Comments

Distance Learning....Resources and Reflections from Week 1

4/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
The last thing I feel like doing right now is being on the computer but I want to pause and reflect and gather some resources that I have learned from. As we finish our first week of distance learning, we have felt the weight of this quote, "Progress is impossible without change. Change Makes Us Grow." I purposefully chose the word weight, it's because the work has been heavy and the educators that I am surrounded by have worked hard, long hours.  We have grown, not just a little but a LOT....  
Key take aways from week one:

  • There are many benefits to starting slow. There is less stress for teachers and students as everyone is given additional time to get used to the new normal.
  • Creating a schedule that is flexible and allows for students to work and connect at times that work for them is critical. 
  • Allow for time for teachers to connect with students and just normalize what their online space will look like.  Check-out the fun themes that math teacher Julie Burnside put in place in her live sessions. 
  • While a teacher may not be physically present in a classroom, there are many ways to make oneself known in a digital space. Achieving connection online means utilizing a range of different communication methods and ensuring that you check in on them daily or hourly if needed. Discussion boards, emails, announcements, and data forms, are just some of the ways you can be present each day in your online classroom. 
  • ​Establishing and teaching routines, systems, and expectations clearly and consistently. Fewer “How do I…” or “Where can I…” questions and a smoother transition to distance learning.   The two infographics below are good resources to use with students regarding netiquette. 
Picture
Created by Jennifer Wathall
Picture
Created by Touro Edu
Asynchronous learning is different than synchronous learning. Creating a learning experience that students navigate independently takes time. Some of the resources and tips I have found to helpful are below.
  • Use a planning tool.  Here is one planning template and here is a second one.  Using a template might help you structure the learning in a different way than you would in a brick and mortar classroom. 
  • Encourage students to make a daily schedule to help them be successful. Oscar Cymerman shares a resource that helps student identify their chronotype and offers different schedules students might follow.  You can read what a chronotype is here and why it's helpful to know yours.
    • What Chronotype are you?
    • Setting up your distance learning routine. 
  • Organize the content in a pathway that learners will move through. Defining the path can be as simple as loading the resources and writing in you agenda the order in which students should move through them. There are other ways in which resources can be presented to students. One example of this is the use of Hyperdocs. 
    •  Check-out the linked post and podcast about creating a hyperdoc by Jennifer Gonzalez.
    • (Here is an example of a hyperdoc that I saw on Twitter today by Kevin Feramiso)   You might also read this post,
    • "7 Tips To Create Personal Learning Paths In eLearning" by Christopher Pappas.   Feedback along the way is crucial. That's for another blog post!
    • Linked is a folder of templates you can copy and use to create your own hyperdocs. 
  • Create a system for students to contact and connect during office hours. Trying to field requests and questions through email can be very difficult when you have a large class load as our teachers do at the high school level. Have students submit through a Google Form or post to Padlet. That way you have a central place to look and a easy visual to see if you have missed anyone. 
  • Seth Godin shared tips for Video Conferencing. 
    •  5 Tips for Creating Instructional Videos.
    • 3 Ways to Use Video Conferencing with Students Learning Remotely
  • Do This Not That - created by Alison Yang - This is one of my favorite resources to share.  
Picture
And the last take away I'll share is this....extend grace and follow that with empathy and repeat. Everyone is doing the best that they can.  
Picture
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Asynchronous Learning
    Brain Research
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Create/Product
    Creation Tool
    Data
    Differentiation
    Distance Learning
    Feedback
    Instructional Design
    Instructional Strategy
    Learning
    Professional Development
    Professional Learning
    School Culure
    Team Building
    Tech Tips

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    January 2023
    September 2022
    November 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    Tweets by @debralcamp

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.