5318 Instructional Design of Online Learning
My focus for my implementation of rotational blended project-based learning will focus on 8th grade science, more specifically advanced 8th grade science learners in a rural school district just outside of the greater Houston area. In order to successfully give learners tools to be able to solve the authentic learning problem, students will move through digital and face-to-face lesson elements that will guide their knowledge and thinking about the content as they work to solve a real-world problem.
Behind the Scenes:
Planning Process for Effective Design of the Digital Learning Environment
Teacher Becomes a Facilitator for Student-Led Learning
Since this style of learning is only successful when students are given freedom to control their own learning through choice and voice, these units will be incredibly student lead and student focused. My job in the classroom will be only to facilitate learning and guide students through the design process as they need help or guidance in their projects/solutions to real-world issues or applications of the content/standards that are being taught. As a result of project-based learning and independent research being a driving force behind the learning of each unit, students will have a lot of choice and therefore ownership of their learning.
Deeper Learning and Applications
By allowing a real-world project or problem to be central to every learning unit, all assignments will build toward a final project in which students will self reflect throughout the process ending in a final composition assignment in which students reflect on the learning process and grade themselves (a self-assessment rubric will be given) and have to explain why they have chosen to assign their grade and give proof that they have in fact, earned the grade they assigned. Feedforward opportunities will also be embedded within these projects as students will be grouped by their interests/project themes/types and they will get some time to share ideas and collaborate on certain parts of the projects. Students will then take these ideas and make corrections to their own projects/designs. I will also be breaking the assignment into smaller portions that I will grade and give feedforward to each student so that they can choose to make the changes or edits needed. By design, each unit will push students to the highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy and force each learner to analyze data or research, critique their own and others’ work, and create something that demonstrates clear understanding of the content and originality of ideas applied to the problem.
Outcome Based Focused, Standards-Based Embedded
While the learners will be participating in outcome-based learning within these blended project-based learning modules/units, there will be a number of standards-based assignments embedded into both the digital and face-to-face activities as required by my district and administrators. Unfortunately, standardized tests and standardized data is all TEA cares about, so we are bound to those rules and standards-based assignments are a necessary component to my lessons at this point.
Blended Project-Based Chemistry Unit Instructional Design Video
Alignment of Goals, Activities, and Assessments
All units will be broken down into a three-column table based on Fink’s research and three-column table. To begin, the goals will be written out based on the TEKS that we are required to teach. From there, assignments, activities, labs, and even tests will be easy to develop and see how they will fit into the bigger picture. Thus, all assignments will be aligned with the goal at the center of the learning and will help learners’ achieve high levels of success on their assessments. When you have a goal and an assessment outlined before a unit even begins it is very clear what activities will give students the knowledge and skills needed to succeed, so the learning stays centered on the goals of each unit and no assignment will just be random unnecessary knowledge or busy work that wastes time and frustrates students.
To the right, I have included an example of a 3-column table that has been used to keep the learning goals outlined in the TEKS central to all learning activities and assessments that take place both in the digital units and the face-to-face components that will make up the chemistry unit's lesson cycle. As you can see all learning activities not only align to the goal of the TEKS, they also intentionally build towards the culminating authentic project, so that the direct learning of my class prepares students not only for the summative project, but also the real world.
For more information about alignment of all learning activities and assessments please click below to read all about it.
Chemistry Unit Outline
In this 8 week eighth grade chemistry unit students will be investigating acids and bases, classification of matter, counting atoms and balancing equations, and properties of water in order to complete a culminating project in which they will be assigning their grades to themselves and justifying their grades in a written self reflection activity. The culminating project will test students' chemistry knowledge and forces them to apply their knowledge in order to create a recipe and eventually a brand with their peers. Students will choose the format of their project and will have almost complete control of what the final product looks like as long as they have a well-researched recipe that includes the chemical formulas of each ingredient as well as the total amounts of each type of atom they will need in order to produce their snack, food item, or beverage.
Shared Control of Learning
Due to the standards-based learning components that are required in my district due to TEA's standardized STAAR test, direct instruction and traditional assessment will have to be teacher controlled. However, every assignment and activity gives students information or skills that will then be used to build towards an authentic learning experience that is individual and unique to each learner and student-led. Thus, students and teachers share control of the learning and take turns leading throughout the lesson/unit cycle.
Instructional Design Models
I will be using the Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction, Merrill’s Principles of Instruction, and ADDIE models for the implementation of my blended learning units. I think that Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction will work best for units and modules that are designed for students due to the compatibility of TEKS and standards-based assessment that is required, while Merrill’s will be most useful when developing professional learning for staff members’ learning.
Chemistry Unit Design Map
Building on the 3-colum learning activities alignment adapted from Fink's Taxonomy, the chemistry unit can be broken down by the 9 Event's of Instruction. An example for the 8th grade blended project-based learning chemistry unit is linked below.
Design Process Influence
I am fortunate to work in a district that does not have many requirements or restrictions when it comes to lesson planning other than collecting standardized test data on students regularly throughout the year and of course, follow the TEKS. The TEKS are what I would consider my institutional document that influences my lesson outcome goals and my direct instruction activities. This year is a transition year as TEA has implemented new standards that need to be taught. As a result the side-by-side comparison of TEKS is very important.
Balancing of/for/as Learning
In this unit assessments and quizzes are given weekly as assessment of learning as these will most directly correlate with standardized testing requirements. Assessment for opportunities such as TeacherMade activities, PIxelArt activities, and EdPuzzle Activities allow students to self-check their work before turning it in for grading, which allows them to revisit and check over their work if they didn't get it correct the first time. Finally, the assessment as opportunity is throughout the project at the end of the unit. Students will self-reflect on their work and ideas and at the end will be asked to grade themselves and prove how they have earned that grade.
Blended Learning Implementation Video
Welcome
to Our Site
My blended learning unit was designed with students at the center of everything. This unit utilizes technology and blended learning to personalize learning for each learner as they progress through the unit activities and the culminating project-based learning opportunity. Click below to join my Google Classroom and begin learning the wonders of chemistry as one of my Science Superstars!
You must use a Google account that is not linked to a school district. Due to most districts privacy and data protection settings you will be unable to open the classroom links and documents.
Initial Feedback
I posted my course design and my plans to my course discussion board before sharing my ideas with fellow peers and educators. This is the feedback I got based on what I posted. Thank you again for the feedback, your input was appreciated.
After completing my blended learning unit and getting some initial feedback I created a stakeholder group consisting of my colleagues teaching a variety of subjects with varying levels of technology literacy and skill levels.
Blended Learning Unit Usability Testing
Course Usability
WWJH Trials
I am very fortunate to work at a campus that is full of innovative, kind individuals that were incredibly excited to not only test out my blended learning unit, they made time to sit down and talk to me about their experiences and provide feedback through a Google Form. As a result of such a positive campus culture and my colleague's helpful spirits, I was able to obtain valuable feedback from the most important stakeholders. I know that the methods used appeal to my students' interests as I have gotten informal feedback from them as I implemented all of this in my own classroom. It was essential to understand where other educators would have pitfalls in implementing blended learning in their classes.
From feedback I learned that these blended learning units were very user friendly and the educators in my focus group were excited by the possibilities they saw. The one major issue that my focus group pointed out was the lack of time to compile resources and make the blended learning units. Lesson planning and building resources and activities is very time consuming, so I know these are valid points that were brought up, especially those that are not as technologically savvy.
Moving forward I am looking into ways that I can help alleviate the burden of time to create units such as this one. I am thinking of an idea of having templates or working with Instructional and Curriculum leadership to create a database of technology sites and tools that can be used to create engaging blended learning lessons. My stakeholders seemed to be very interested in this idea and did think that it would make implementation of blended learning lessons and units less daunting. Once a unit or lesson is created, it can be archived and reused for future use as the lesson or topic is retaught to future students.
By choosing to use Google Classroom to build the blended learning units, I was able to keep consistency in what our staff and students are used to seeing and navigating within classes and training sessions. Our district primarily uses Google products and our LMS is Google Classroom, so using this platform seemed like the best option because students would not need extensive lessons taught about navigation of the system and where to find their work and resources. My stakeholders reported that the units were easy to understand and they had no problems finding any resources or completing activities embedded in the learning units.
During the testing of my unit from stakeholders, I realized that there were some technology literacy skills that I took for granted that needed to be addressed. For example, a few of my assignments instructed students to add their slides presentation to the Google assignment. Many of my stakeholders reported that they did not know how to do this, so I had to record a how-to video to help with this issue. After correcting that and adding more tech literacy tutorials and instructions, usability of my course increased significantly. In fact, two of my stakeholders asked for permission to post my videos explaining how to utilize Google slides and classroom effectively with their students. I of course, let them do so and sent the videos to them that could be shared directly in their Google Classrooms. Both stakeholders later told me that it helped them so much with a lesson extension project they had their students complete.
Reflecting for the Future
While the blended learning unit prototype was very successful, improvements should be made to increase efficiency and usability for students and parents. This process has been invaluable in creating a lasting understanding of course design and design testing. I found that in my initial completion of my prototype, I had become so comfortable with utilizing technology that I didn't take my stakeholder's technical skills into account. I overlooked the fact that middle school students in our district don't have a lot of practice using Docs, Slides, and other tech tools, so there is some background knowledge and skills that need to be taught before just diving into creating digital learning opportunities. This experience taught me to be incredibly mindful of where my stakeholders' abilities and skill levels are and to create supports and lessons for them that will meet them where they are and help bring them up to where I need them to be in order to participate successfully and meaningfully in my digital learning opportunities.
For the future success of blended learning, I think we need to look at the possibility of facilitating a parent meeting in which we tach the parents about some of the tech tools and skills their children will be doing. By training the parents in the areas of digital literacy that we need our students to understand, we will be creating a strong support system for our learners in which all supporters of the student are on the same page. Parent support is one of the most important factors in student engagement and success at school, so including parents in this will increase the opportunities students have to learn and apply their knowledge in unique and important ways. It is possible that with future support we may need to look at addressing the lack of Wi-Fi at home for some of our students so that the blended learning benefits can be extended to all facets of the students' lives.
Course Design
Experience Reflection
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