3.3 Online & Blended Learning
Candidates develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks to support and extend student learning and expand opportunities and choices for professional learning for teachers and administrators. (PSC 3.3/ISTE 3c)
Artifact: Online Learning Module
Reflection:
For ITEC 7480, I was tasked with creating an online learning module that I could implement with my own students to teach student content standards in an online or blended learning format. The content and assignments were required to be of sufficient rigor, depth and breadth to teach the standards, and the instruction was required to include activities that engage students in active learning. I used Weebly to create my module for my 5th grade music students to learn about melodic patterns and the pentatonic scale. (flinnmusicmodules.weebly.com).
This artifact demonstrates my ability to develop online and blended learning and digital content, because in order to create the online learning experience/module I had to develop both the instructional materials and the Weebly site to house those instructional materials. I developed the instructional materials by gathering relevant and engaging online resources and combining them with engaging and meaningful learning assignments and assessments. For example, I assigned a discussion forum for students to discuss sample songs that use the pentatonic scale and how they know that is the scale being used. I created performance rubrics for students to both self-assess and understand how I would assess their performances. I included a synchronous session to allow students meet together to give and receive feedback to and from one another. To assess students’ learning and performance ability, I asked students to create a video of themselves reading, using hand signs, and performing an assigned melodic pattern. Finally, I used audioBoom to create short recordings to include in the multiple-choice quiz for students to aurally identify melodic patterns as either pentatonic or not pentatonic. I developed the Weebly site to include simple navigation for my young students as well as all necessary components of the online learning module. For example, I included “Next Page” and “Previous Page” buttons at the bottom of each page as well as a site navigator menu at the top right of the page. I put the pages in order according to when my students needed to access them throughout the module, and I also included direct links from the Learning Activities page to those other pages. I clearly labeled each page so students would know what they could find there: Learning Activities, Discussion Forum, Dropbox, Quiz, and Contact. I developed all learning experiences to align with the student content standards and stated objectives as well as the course syllabus that I also developed in ITEC 7480 and included on the Weebly site. I also developed my online learning module to align to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL)’s National Standards for Quality Online Courses (2011). This online learning module can serve as a model to other teachers, particularly other music teachers, to see how even young students can engage in meaningful learning experiences online. I can further model the use of online and blended learning by discussing the iNACOL standards and the specific learning activities that I developed for this online learning module with my colleagues. This artifact also demonstrates my ability to facilitate the use of online and blended learning in other classrooms, as I myself learned many things about the process of creating such learning experiences for my students that would be helpful when assisting other teachers with developing similar learning experiences for their own students.
When I learned that I was required to create an online learning module for my students, I was nervous about how I would go about creating a learning experience to teach music content standards via an online platform, as so many of these standards are performance-based. I was not sure how I would be able to complete performance assessments for my students in an online format. However, I learned that there are many online communication tools and resources that make this not only possible but fun and easy as well! Specifically, I learned that Weebly has discussion forum and dropbox tools that allowed me to easily add these elements to my online learning module. I also learned that I could use the survey tool to act as a multiple-choice quiz for my online learning module. I gained in-depth experience with developing an online learning module that aligns with iNACOL’s National Standards for Quality Online Courses (2011). Through this experience, I learned that it is entirely possible to create engaging and meaningful online learning experiences for young students in a performance-based subject. If I were to create another online learning module, I would not hesitate to create one for even younger students, as I believe they too could have success with such a learning experience.
Although I have not yet implemented this online learning module with my students, I did include several measures to assess their learning from the module if and when I do decide to implement it. First, students would be required to identify a pentatonic melody in their textbook and describe how they know it is pentatonic. This simple assessment would give insight into the students’ thinking process early in the learning. Next, I included an informal formative assessment by asking students to set up a Skype meeting with me when they feel ready to perform pentatonic melodies and get direct feedback from me. During the synchronous session, students would demonstrate their performance ability by performing in front of their peers to receive feedback, and they would demonstrate their knowledge by giving appropriate and constructive feedback to others relevant to the rubric that I developed. Students would ultimately demonstrate their performance ability by creating a video of themselves singing, using hand signs, and reading a melody according to the rubric that I created and submitting the video to me via the Weebly dropbox at the end of the module. Finally, students would aurally identify pentatonic patterns in the end-of-module multiple-choice quiz.
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (2011). National standards for quality online courses. Retrieved from http://www.inacol.org/resource/inacol-national-standards-for-quality-online-courses-v2/
For ITEC 7480, I was tasked with creating an online learning module that I could implement with my own students to teach student content standards in an online or blended learning format. The content and assignments were required to be of sufficient rigor, depth and breadth to teach the standards, and the instruction was required to include activities that engage students in active learning. I used Weebly to create my module for my 5th grade music students to learn about melodic patterns and the pentatonic scale. (flinnmusicmodules.weebly.com).
This artifact demonstrates my ability to develop online and blended learning and digital content, because in order to create the online learning experience/module I had to develop both the instructional materials and the Weebly site to house those instructional materials. I developed the instructional materials by gathering relevant and engaging online resources and combining them with engaging and meaningful learning assignments and assessments. For example, I assigned a discussion forum for students to discuss sample songs that use the pentatonic scale and how they know that is the scale being used. I created performance rubrics for students to both self-assess and understand how I would assess their performances. I included a synchronous session to allow students meet together to give and receive feedback to and from one another. To assess students’ learning and performance ability, I asked students to create a video of themselves reading, using hand signs, and performing an assigned melodic pattern. Finally, I used audioBoom to create short recordings to include in the multiple-choice quiz for students to aurally identify melodic patterns as either pentatonic or not pentatonic. I developed the Weebly site to include simple navigation for my young students as well as all necessary components of the online learning module. For example, I included “Next Page” and “Previous Page” buttons at the bottom of each page as well as a site navigator menu at the top right of the page. I put the pages in order according to when my students needed to access them throughout the module, and I also included direct links from the Learning Activities page to those other pages. I clearly labeled each page so students would know what they could find there: Learning Activities, Discussion Forum, Dropbox, Quiz, and Contact. I developed all learning experiences to align with the student content standards and stated objectives as well as the course syllabus that I also developed in ITEC 7480 and included on the Weebly site. I also developed my online learning module to align to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL)’s National Standards for Quality Online Courses (2011). This online learning module can serve as a model to other teachers, particularly other music teachers, to see how even young students can engage in meaningful learning experiences online. I can further model the use of online and blended learning by discussing the iNACOL standards and the specific learning activities that I developed for this online learning module with my colleagues. This artifact also demonstrates my ability to facilitate the use of online and blended learning in other classrooms, as I myself learned many things about the process of creating such learning experiences for my students that would be helpful when assisting other teachers with developing similar learning experiences for their own students.
When I learned that I was required to create an online learning module for my students, I was nervous about how I would go about creating a learning experience to teach music content standards via an online platform, as so many of these standards are performance-based. I was not sure how I would be able to complete performance assessments for my students in an online format. However, I learned that there are many online communication tools and resources that make this not only possible but fun and easy as well! Specifically, I learned that Weebly has discussion forum and dropbox tools that allowed me to easily add these elements to my online learning module. I also learned that I could use the survey tool to act as a multiple-choice quiz for my online learning module. I gained in-depth experience with developing an online learning module that aligns with iNACOL’s National Standards for Quality Online Courses (2011). Through this experience, I learned that it is entirely possible to create engaging and meaningful online learning experiences for young students in a performance-based subject. If I were to create another online learning module, I would not hesitate to create one for even younger students, as I believe they too could have success with such a learning experience.
Although I have not yet implemented this online learning module with my students, I did include several measures to assess their learning from the module if and when I do decide to implement it. First, students would be required to identify a pentatonic melody in their textbook and describe how they know it is pentatonic. This simple assessment would give insight into the students’ thinking process early in the learning. Next, I included an informal formative assessment by asking students to set up a Skype meeting with me when they feel ready to perform pentatonic melodies and get direct feedback from me. During the synchronous session, students would demonstrate their performance ability by performing in front of their peers to receive feedback, and they would demonstrate their knowledge by giving appropriate and constructive feedback to others relevant to the rubric that I developed. Students would ultimately demonstrate their performance ability by creating a video of themselves singing, using hand signs, and reading a melody according to the rubric that I created and submitting the video to me via the Weebly dropbox at the end of the module. Finally, students would aurally identify pentatonic patterns in the end-of-module multiple-choice quiz.
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (2011). National standards for quality online courses. Retrieved from http://www.inacol.org/resource/inacol-national-standards-for-quality-online-courses-v2/