Module 9 Assignment: Delivery Cycle 2 Progress on Deliverables
- What you have done?
I completed the Mitosis Unit by finishing the Google Classroom portion. In Classroom, I created the final four activities (they were preceded by the collaborative notes and slide making): a quiz, a kinesthetic sorting activity where the students are acting out Mitosis followed by a Collins writing prompt, and a FlipGrid video collaboration. To create the FlipGrid, I created a log-in and password for my client, and put the join code and instructions into the Classroom unit.
My client had wanted a Collins writing prompt as part of each unit, and I had to look up sources before I wrote one. I chose a “type one” prompt, that is completed in a short amount of time, and was reflective on the learning. I wrote it based on two examples by Collins (2007):
“a) As you think about what we did in class (or lab) today, what was (the easiest, most fun, most challenging, something you would like to do again, differently)? Fill at least seven* lines; b) based on today’s discussion, do a 3-2-1 reflection. Write down three things you found interesting, two things that were a bit confusing, and one thing you would like to know more about” (p.8).
I also created a Canva infographic and embedded it into both the Classroom and WordPress sites to provide a graphic organizer of how the unit flows.
I wrote up an Instructor Guide for administering and scoring a quiz in Classroom, which my client had requested. Additionally, I wrote the sorting instructions for the student kinesthetic activity. I put the Instructor Guide in my client’s school Drive account and our shared Drive folder in my Gmail account.
Finally, I embedded the WordPress link in Classroom, and added resources into the WordPress account to help students with completing their blended learning summative project.
- What do you need to do?
I am having a meeting with my client to review and make any adjustments, then I am moving onto the Meiosis Unit. One of the main things I have to keep in mind is that the second unit needs to be similar in scope, but not a repeat of all the same activities. In Classroom for instance, I feel that the Meiosis activities need to follow a similar 5E flow (e.g. engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate [Duran & Duran, 2004, pp.53-4] ), but should be different activities. For the WordPress portion, which is the fourth and final week of the Mitosis/Meiosis Unit, my client and I agree that the PBL/blended learning component could be station-oriented. So, I have a lot of instructional scaffolding to design to facilitate the student learning and discovery.
I also need to start adding the additional pages in WordPress and assignments in Classroom. One thing I found was that, without assignment dates, each addition to Classroom means I need to go through an elaborate resorting process to get all the curriculum in sequence. Ideally, the assignment dates sort the projects/activities, but my client does not have solid dates set for the Mitosis/Meiosis unit.
My client wants a combined final summative for Mitosis/Meiosis rather than a separate test for each one. She provided a resource, which I need to edit heavily and turn into an online assessment, if possible. Keeping the learning targets in mind will help me craft the more conceptually complicated Meiosis unit. Additionally, although my client does not want the final summative to be over-emphasized, she did express a desire to streamline her grading load for the six sections she teaches (if possible).
- How and why you have adjusted your Project Plan?
I am following the Project Plan, but working in reverse order, from the end of one unit to the beginning. Another adjustment is that I am working a little ahead of schedule because I think that Meiosis is more complicated and will need more time.
Additionally, as I move through the instructional design process, I have spent more time aligning the instructional pedagogy (5E) with both CSCL (in the Classroom LMS) and blended learning (in the WordPress site, https://8thscience.tech/mitosis/ ). This has required minor mini-revisions as each activity/project is brought online. Thinking about this as a designer, rather than a teacher myself, has required me to view the learning process for Science in a very distinct way from the content area I teach (Art). For one thing, there are not tests in my art room, and the writing program our district uses is different from Collins; I had a learning curve myself, which took a few extra days than anticipated.
On the other hand, as a former freelance surface designer, I am used to designing visual experiences and that helped streamline the designing in WordPress (where I had more freedom). Classroom, in contrast, is very limiting in UX, so I had to spend more time finding ways to facilitate engaging collaborations. Specifically, superficial collaborations like an online game or beat-the-clock activity would be fun for students and generate data for the teacher, but I could see where some students might opt-out or are crowded-out by more aggressive peers. Therefore, some of the more obvious applications generally recommended for Classroom (by highly regarded sites like “Ditch That Textbook” and “Edutopia”) do not fit the 5E pedagogical model my client and her district prefers, so I needed to spend additional time resourcing. I found that Twitter feeds I follow have been the most helpful. Researching on my phone while I was technically “off the clock” was something I had not anticipated that in my Project Plan.
Reference
Collins, J. (2007). The Collins writing program: Improving student performance through writing and thinking across the curriculum. West Newbury, Massachusetts: Collins Education Associates. Retrieved from: http://collinsed.com/PDFs/New%20Site/208-B_Collins_Writing_Program_Sampler.pdf
Duran, L., Duran, E. (2004). The 5E instructional model: A learning cycle approach for inquiry-based science teaching. The Science Education Review, 3(2), 49-58. Retrieved from: Duran, L., Duran, E. (2004). The 5E instructional model: A learning cycle approach for inquiry-based science teaching. The Science Education Review, 3(2), 49-58.