Wow! I have finished another unit in this TOOL course. During this unit I felt as though the other participants had an advantage because they were posting examples straight from their GAVS courses to their blog posts. Though this unit might have been easier for them because most of the work was already finished, I enjoyed creating what I think I might use in my own virtual classroom. I also liked viewing the different types of examples the experienced virtual teachers posted. I have noticed some participants write lengthy in-depth posts in their blog whereas others post a few sentences but still demonstrate understanding of the material. I think this will be similar with virtual students. Some students in a discussion forum will post a long paragraph describing their three day food journal experience whereas another student will express their own experience in two sentences. My favorite section of this unit was the discussion forum because I have witnessed in the classroom how students treat this learning tool as optional and others take it very seriously. I don’t think any of the students attend the live sessions, though they should, and I remind them periodically they should watch the recordings as a review before they take the chapter exam. I know my experience as a GAVS monitor does represent the other side of virtual learning, but it has given me insights on how students will treat the virtual classroom. I wish when I was given the role of a GAVS monitor I had been told about the TOOL course, but everything happens for a reason. I am happy to be taking the course now and learning more about the virtual classroom.
I read what Kristin Kipp had to say about synchronous sessions in her blog. She mentions that most students cannot attend or choose not to attend the synchronous sessions, therefore, she does not make attendance a requirement. She has learned from experience that the synchronous sessions are more successful when it is mini-lesson focused on one concept instead of a review of that week's assignments and lessons.
As a teacher who has no experience in teaching in a virtual classroom I think the synchronous sessions will be an opportunity for human interaction among the students and with the teacher. The session will happen in real time allowing students to ask questions and the teacher to provide instant feedback or clarification on a topic. The teacher can demonstrate more examples in a live session that were not previously posted in the course work.
What role or purpose do discussion forums serve in the online classroom and are they effective?
Discussion forums allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the material being taught. Students can voice their personal opinions on a topic without the fear of speaking in front of a crowd. Also, discussion forums allow students to engage with the other students in the course and develop friendships. How do discussion forums function as a teaching tool? Discussion forums function as a teaching tool because reinforces a recent assignment. For example, after assigning the three day food journal I can assign the students to discuss their experience in a discussion forum forcing the students to reflect on the assignment and the impact it has made on their daily diet since completing the assignment. Students will most likely learn that they are not the only one now reconsidering eating an entire bag of Doritos while watching American Dad on Sunday nights because the assignment shed some light on their unhealthy eating habits. Or, the students can discuss the importance of eating breakfast and encourage one another to eat breakfast and suggest simple options such as half a bagel with cream cheese and a banana packed the night before. How could they be used effectively and ineffectively? Furthermore, what are some best practices for facilitating forums online? The discussion forum will only be effective if the teacher is involved in the discussion providing feedback to encourage the discussion to keep going. Also, the teacher needs to be present to monitor what students are posting. Unfortunately three students got in trouble last semester for posting inappropriate comments on the introduction discussion forum. The students did not realize their teacher sees everything they post. To prevent this incident happening in the future a teacher will need to post strict guidelines for posting to discussion boards. Maybe make a discussion etiquette quiz and the students must earn a 100 on the quiz before a discussion forum is open to them. The discussion forum is an effective teaching tool for critical thinking skills. Providing a rubric for the discussion forum will result in deep discussion versus "I agree with what he/she said" comments. A discussion forum will be ineffective if it is only used for students to regurgitate the material they learned. A very useful video on keeping students engaged in discussion forums in the virtual classroom. Article from SHSUOnline lists examples of digital feedback.
Below are images of digital feedback a teacher can post on a student's assignment. Assignment: 3 Day Food Journal
For the food and nutrition unit in my middle school FACS class I make the students fill out a three day food journal, similar to the image posted above. The students are required to record what they eat at every meal including snacks, if any, for three days. In a column, not listed in the image above, the students list the food groups they ate during that meal or snack. At the bottom the students record how much physical activity they did that day and what type of physical activity. For example, 60 minutes of soccer practice. Evaluation/Feedback I don't use a rubric for grading this assignment. The objective is to eat from all five food groups every day. If a student doesn't eat from every food group in a day I write feedback on how they can incorporate all food groups. If a student skips breakfast I write why it is important for an adolescence to eat breakfast. If a student athlete lists a lot of junk food in their food journal I explain how better nutrition will lead to better performance in their sport. A student only fails the assignment if they don't do it or don't fill out it out correctly. I always post a teacher example in my classroom for the students to refer to if they are confused or need guidance but are too shy to ask. I have a hate-love relationship with rubrics. It started during my practicum semester at Georgia Southern. I was taking 15 credit hours and working a part-time job against the advise of the practicum instructors. I was trying to graduate a semester early and I needed the job because I was supporting myself financially in college. Maybe it was the stress of being overworked and the fear of failing the practicum course because our class size had shrunk after the mid-term. People, people who were already teachers with a degree trying to earn a MAT, were asked to leave the program! I didn't even have my four-year degree yet and it made me nervous. So back to my hate-love relationship with rubrics. I created my own rubrics for the unit plan I had to create for the course. Creating the rubrics was not a big deal, the problem happened when I used the rubrics to grade the students' projects. I realized my rubrics were not what I needed to give the appropriate grade the students deserved. I love using rubrics because it is a tool teachers use to defend why a student earned the grade they got, but I hate creating the perfect rubric that will give the student the grade I think they deserve. For example, some rubrics do not grade for neatness or creativity and that is important to me. Thankfully, there are plenty of sites on the web offering free rubrics to teachers. I will look at rubric templates then create my own rubric. Last week a parent emailed me why her child earned a failing grade on the PowerPoint project. I emailed the parent the rubric I used to grade the projects with her child's project attached to the email. I explained in the body of the email where her child lost points. The parent was very appreciative for the explanation. Thank goodness for rubrics! Though, I sometimes I hate them. Over time and with more experience I will find that perfect rubric that will change my hate-love relationship to pure love.
The rubrics posted below might be useful in a virtual classroom. Example 1 from Rubrics4Teachers Example 2 from Rubrics4Teachers How do communication practices in the online environment correlate to effective feedback?
Providing feedback on assignments, discussions, or exams might be the online form of communication some students will receive. I see this in my fourth period GAVS class. The class is mostly eighth graders who refuse to contact their teacher with a question or concern. The only communication they the student receives is through comments posted on their assignments. Feedback on assignments allows teachers stay connected with their students and provide specific praise or concern without sending another email. Why is authentic feedback important for online learners? Authentic feedback is very important to my fourth period GAVS class. The students will compare comments left by their teacher on their assignments. I remember almost every student performed poorly on a grammar quiz and the teacher posted a picture with the words, "Study harder" stamped across the image. Most students felt offended and others were upset that they received the same feedback as their classmate. Based on this real life example I think authentic feedback will help students feel like an individual and not another student the teacher has to grade assignments for. In what ways might an instructor enrich a student's online experience through feedback? There are many, many tools on the web for teachers to use to present the material to their students. Every student learns differently, therefore teachers must change it up and use different modes of presentation. Below is a list of options teachers can use throughout the course to keep it new and interesting to the students.
I created a Prezi unit test review based on the questions most missed on last week's exam. For my online course, I can use Prezi as review tool for an exam.
The newsletter is a type of communication tool to inform all stakeholders of upcoming events, due dates, and important course information. There several ways to communicate with the stakeholders but to name a few include: email, Smore flyer, or mass callings.
For my newsletter I decided to be creative and created a Voki account. I created a news PowToon video. News bulletins are for posting the weekly schedule, current events or articles relevant to the current topic in the course, personal notes (happy holidays, encouragement, etc.) and any bonus opportunities being offered by the teacher to help students boost their grade average.
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