Go to the following site to view a sample presentation in Articulate.
http://conniegrosslc.articulate-online.com/Home.aspx?Cust=86802
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Reflections on IET Fall 2009
Yesterday I submitted my final project for this course - a concept map outlining some of the key learning experiences from this class. I'd like to take a few minutes to reflect upon this experience. Last week I had the writer for FAS 154 record her module summaries, hoping to capture her vast experience in the field in a way that will highlight her key ideas. I had her address these 3 questions:
1. What can you "take away" from this module?
2. How can you as a "case manager" use this information?
3. What will you be learning next?
So, I'll revise these questions for this blog:
1. What did I "take away" from this course?
1a. I explored many, many, many web.20 tools, and found many great resources to learn more. Some of my favourites include:
- Articulate Engage and Presenter: Although ultimately Articulate is a commercial program, I was able to download 30 day trials. I loved this program. It enable me to present content in an interactive and attractive way - without much knowledge of programming, advanced software,etc. One of my key instructional design problems has been finding an effective alternative to powerpoints. Well, Articulate offers it. It also offers an effective way to enhance content and text heavy sections of a course. Finally, it also enables me to meet universal design criteria.
- Prezi - Although I haven't played with it much yet, I see great potential with it
- Mind-mapping tools - I found too many programs to list here. These tools and Prezi have me interested in designing assignments that are alternatives to the standard reports and essays. If we want to offer assignments that meet more learning styles, we need to do more than essays. These tools can help offer alternatives. I see a mind-map / concept map assignment as being a great way to visually present a reflection on a topic; Prezi offers a great way to present information that would otherwise be presented as a powerpoint in class.
- Adding Voice - many of these tools offer ways to record voice with the presentation.
1.b. Toughest challenge to overcome: uploading content. I found it relatively easy to prepare a presentation, but much more difficult to upload large files. I found that it sometimes took over an hour to upload a large presentation. I can see that students would be extremely frustrated with this hurdle, especially with those with limited computer experience or with lowspeed connections. I need to learn more about compressing files or other ways of uploading information.
1c. Increased use of Twitter / Blogs and similar programs: I actually enjoyed using a blog regularly, and am starting to use Twitter much more often. I'm finding that it's more effective than sending an email to relevant people, hoping that I remember to include everyone. I can see that eventually email will go the way of the Dodo bird! Hooray - no more email!
1d. Using Moodle. I've heard a great deal about Moodle, and know that it's being used often by educators because it's affordable. But I didn't like Moodle. I found it clunky to navigate back and forth between posts. I also didn't like the look of it, and found it bland. But I see that it's better than nothing!
1e. I accomplished a goal - I actually created a podcast and posted it. I had learned how, but had never actually done it. So, as the 4H motto says, I needed to "learn to do by doing".
1f. My biggest suprise - Second Life. I was amazed at the connection strength I felt with the class in second life. I can see a huge potential for using it, but also realize there are many hurdles to overcome before it becomes a workable solution.
2. How can I as an instructional designer use this information? I am hoping that I can offer more creative alternatives to heavy text-based content, and more interesting activities and assessments. I will definitely start using Articulate immediately. I have also recommended that we purchase some site licenses. I also hope to start using my blog and twitter to communicate with course writers I'm working with. Ive already starting using Diigo and Delicious as a way of sharing information with the project team.
3. Next steps:
I probably won't take a course next semester, as I'll be busy with basketball and curling. I'll consider taking another one in spring. I also hope to spend a specific time each week keeping up with recent trends. Keeping current can be an overwhelming task, so it will be important to keep it manageable and doable in the time I have available.
I am most interested in exploring Second Life and Mobile learning.
1. What can you "take away" from this module?
2. How can you as a "case manager" use this information?
3. What will you be learning next?
So, I'll revise these questions for this blog:
1. What did I "take away" from this course?
1a. I explored many, many, many web.20 tools, and found many great resources to learn more. Some of my favourites include:
- Articulate Engage and Presenter: Although ultimately Articulate is a commercial program, I was able to download 30 day trials. I loved this program. It enable me to present content in an interactive and attractive way - without much knowledge of programming, advanced software,etc. One of my key instructional design problems has been finding an effective alternative to powerpoints. Well, Articulate offers it. It also offers an effective way to enhance content and text heavy sections of a course. Finally, it also enables me to meet universal design criteria.
- Prezi - Although I haven't played with it much yet, I see great potential with it
- Mind-mapping tools - I found too many programs to list here. These tools and Prezi have me interested in designing assignments that are alternatives to the standard reports and essays. If we want to offer assignments that meet more learning styles, we need to do more than essays. These tools can help offer alternatives. I see a mind-map / concept map assignment as being a great way to visually present a reflection on a topic; Prezi offers a great way to present information that would otherwise be presented as a powerpoint in class.
- Adding Voice - many of these tools offer ways to record voice with the presentation.
1.b. Toughest challenge to overcome: uploading content. I found it relatively easy to prepare a presentation, but much more difficult to upload large files. I found that it sometimes took over an hour to upload a large presentation. I can see that students would be extremely frustrated with this hurdle, especially with those with limited computer experience or with lowspeed connections. I need to learn more about compressing files or other ways of uploading information.
1c. Increased use of Twitter / Blogs and similar programs: I actually enjoyed using a blog regularly, and am starting to use Twitter much more often. I'm finding that it's more effective than sending an email to relevant people, hoping that I remember to include everyone. I can see that eventually email will go the way of the Dodo bird! Hooray - no more email!
1d. Using Moodle. I've heard a great deal about Moodle, and know that it's being used often by educators because it's affordable. But I didn't like Moodle. I found it clunky to navigate back and forth between posts. I also didn't like the look of it, and found it bland. But I see that it's better than nothing!
1e. I accomplished a goal - I actually created a podcast and posted it. I had learned how, but had never actually done it. So, as the 4H motto says, I needed to "learn to do by doing".
1f. My biggest suprise - Second Life. I was amazed at the connection strength I felt with the class in second life. I can see a huge potential for using it, but also realize there are many hurdles to overcome before it becomes a workable solution.
2. How can I as an instructional designer use this information? I am hoping that I can offer more creative alternatives to heavy text-based content, and more interesting activities and assessments. I will definitely start using Articulate immediately. I have also recommended that we purchase some site licenses. I also hope to start using my blog and twitter to communicate with course writers I'm working with. Ive already starting using Diigo and Delicious as a way of sharing information with the project team.
3. Next steps:
I probably won't take a course next semester, as I'll be busy with basketball and curling. I'll consider taking another one in spring. I also hope to spend a specific time each week keeping up with recent trends. Keeping current can be an overwhelming task, so it will be important to keep it manageable and doable in the time I have available.
I am most interested in exploring Second Life and Mobile learning.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Student reflections on exams
Here's an article from the Teaching Professor ... I'm thinking of how we can use this online?
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version
Using Post-Test Analysis to Help Students See Correlation Between Effort and Performance
One of the student engagement techniques (SETs) described in Elizabeth F. Barkley’s new book on student engagement (see a review of the book elsewhere in this issue) has students predicting and reflecting on their exam preparation and performance. It’s a technique that helps students see the correlation between their efforts and their exam scores, as well as one that helps them assess the effectiveness of the study strategies they use.
Here’s how the activity works. After students have finished the exam, but before submitting it, they complete a short post-test analysis questionnaire—you may need to state that you won’t accept the exam unless the analysis sheet is attached. Barkley suggests having students respond to items such as:
* Predict your exam score.
* Rate your effort in studying for the exam on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
* List the specific learning strategies you used to study for the exam (Did you make flash cards to help you memorize definitions? Rewrite your notes? Create outlines of assigned readings? Discuss the readings with other students?).
* Identify what you found easiest and most difficult about the exam and explain why.
After the exam has been graded and returned, students do a second analysis—you might want to not record the exam scores until students complete the second analysis, or you might want to offer some bonus points to those students who complete both analyses thoughtfully and carefully. Here are some of the suggested items for this second analysis:
* Describe your emotional response to your exam score (Surprised? Disappointed? Relieved? Pleased?).
* Compare your actual score with your predicted score and comment on how well or poorly you predicted your score.
* Identify where each question came from (in-class material, book material, online resources) and then calculate the percentage of questions missed in each of the categories. What do these percentages tell you?
* Reflect on the strategies you used for studying for this exam and the amount of time you devoted to study. Describe any changes you plan to make in your approach to studying for the next exam.
* Do you have any suggestions for how I or your classmates could help you better prepare for the next exam?
* Based on your performance on this exam, set one goal for the next exam. Make the goal specific and concrete (e.g., “I plan to get at least 75 percent of the questions from the reading materials correct.”).
An activity like this is most beneficial if it’s completed early in the course so that students can act on what they have learned.
Although the advantages of such an activity may be perfectly obvious to the teacher, don’t assume that students will automatically see the value of this kind of analysis. Introduce the activity with a discussion of things students can do to improve their exam performance in this (and other) course(s).
If students do the activity for more than one exam, you might want to add an item that has them track their performance across the exams, asking to what they attribute their improvement (or lack thereof).
Barkley points out that this activity is easily adaptable to other kinds of assignments, such as written work or projects.
Reference: Barkley, E. F. Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009, 336-339.
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version
Using Post-Test Analysis to Help Students See Correlation Between Effort and Performance
One of the student engagement techniques (SETs) described in Elizabeth F. Barkley’s new book on student engagement (see a review of the book elsewhere in this issue) has students predicting and reflecting on their exam preparation and performance. It’s a technique that helps students see the correlation between their efforts and their exam scores, as well as one that helps them assess the effectiveness of the study strategies they use.
Here’s how the activity works. After students have finished the exam, but before submitting it, they complete a short post-test analysis questionnaire—you may need to state that you won’t accept the exam unless the analysis sheet is attached. Barkley suggests having students respond to items such as:
* Predict your exam score.
* Rate your effort in studying for the exam on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
* List the specific learning strategies you used to study for the exam (Did you make flash cards to help you memorize definitions? Rewrite your notes? Create outlines of assigned readings? Discuss the readings with other students?).
* Identify what you found easiest and most difficult about the exam and explain why.
After the exam has been graded and returned, students do a second analysis—you might want to not record the exam scores until students complete the second analysis, or you might want to offer some bonus points to those students who complete both analyses thoughtfully and carefully. Here are some of the suggested items for this second analysis:
* Describe your emotional response to your exam score (Surprised? Disappointed? Relieved? Pleased?).
* Compare your actual score with your predicted score and comment on how well or poorly you predicted your score.
* Identify where each question came from (in-class material, book material, online resources) and then calculate the percentage of questions missed in each of the categories. What do these percentages tell you?
* Reflect on the strategies you used for studying for this exam and the amount of time you devoted to study. Describe any changes you plan to make in your approach to studying for the next exam.
* Do you have any suggestions for how I or your classmates could help you better prepare for the next exam?
* Based on your performance on this exam, set one goal for the next exam. Make the goal specific and concrete (e.g., “I plan to get at least 75 percent of the questions from the reading materials correct.”).
An activity like this is most beneficial if it’s completed early in the course so that students can act on what they have learned.
Although the advantages of such an activity may be perfectly obvious to the teacher, don’t assume that students will automatically see the value of this kind of analysis. Introduce the activity with a discussion of things students can do to improve their exam performance in this (and other) course(s).
If students do the activity for more than one exam, you might want to add an item that has them track their performance across the exams, asking to what they attribute their improvement (or lack thereof).
Barkley points out that this activity is easily adaptable to other kinds of assignments, such as written work or projects.
Reference: Barkley, E. F. Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009, 336-339.
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