5318 - Online Learning - Week 5

In my online course, I can communicate with the students by posting things on the discussion
boards.  I can also send them personal responses. 

The course I developed is self-pacing and they can do the assignments in any order they want. 
Each unit does have a due date to help them stay on track. Most likely they will do them in
order and hopefully keep practicing the whole month.  The instructions do say to “explore”
in some of them, so I am hoping the parents will let the students take some time to get to
know the app or the site before trying to complete the assignment.  The students are supposed
to do the assignment and the parents are supposed to help and supervise them. The parents
are the ones sending in the proof of the completed assignments.

The course can be updated by editing the assignment and information.  As the state makes
changes and adjustments to the guidelines, I can make those adjustments to my course.  I can
also add assignments to each of the units if I decide they need to explore and experience more
to help achieve the learning goal.

There are 10 domains to the Pre-K Guidelines and those can be developed into online courses. 
I chose two of them that would be the next great step for online learning. Physical Development
Domain which has four parts and for the second one I chose the Fine Arts Domain which has 6
parts.  Each of these areas would be something the student could do and the parents could video
or photograph so they would have proof of the student completing the task.

My campus/district really isn’t moving toward online learning in elementary school.  I can’t
speak for the other grade levels, because I only know what we do at my campus.  

As for the reading this week, I liked the 12.5 Team teaching part because class size is an issue
(Bates, 2015).  I can relate to this because we can have a maximum of 22 students in my
morning class and 22 in my afternoon class.  Even though I have an assistant, personally I
think that is too many four year olds in one classroom. These students haven’t ever been to
school before and then all of the sudden they are overwhelmed with all these “new friends”.  In
the readings it talked about how the class was broken down and everyone had assignments.
That is, in a way, what we do in our class. My assistant does certain things and I do certain
things. We help each other and the day runs smoother.  Sometimes we divide the class in half
and do a “small” group activity, even though it is not that small.  

Reference:

Bates, A.W. (2015) Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning
(Chapters 11-12). Retrieved from

https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

5318 - Online Learning - Week 4

My course in Schoology is for the parents of my Pre-K students, or it could be used by
parents that weren’t approved for Pre-K.  Not all students are approved to enter the
Pre-K program in my district. There are very strict guidelines and requirements.

I did add a discussion board for the parents. This way they can collaborate on things
if they have questions.  They might be able to answer each others questions out of each
of the units. I also added an introduction video and included our class mascot, Gizmo.  I
also included an “attention-getting” photo for each of the sections.

Any resources that are needed will be listed in each of the units.  If a website is needed
for the assignment or a list of example websites for a task, I will include the links so the
arents will not have to Google it.  Also, having the examples might help them realize they
know another app that does the same task. Parents are allowed to use the app of their
choice, or they can use one that I provide, as long as it still gets the task completed. 

Depending on the assignment in a particular unit will determine the requirements for
each of the assignments.  The first unit involves the students exploring, so a picture or
video of them exploring will be sufficient. On another assignment the student has to
perform a certain task and will need to use certain tools.  The parent would need to
screenshot their creation and turn that in as the completed task.

I related to the comment, “the way people learn are as unique as their fingerprints”
in the UBD video.  I thought about this in a Professional Development class that
teachers recently attended. It seems like learning agrees with this, but when we do
the “testing” it is not unique.  We have to give all the students the same test. In Pre-K
we have all these centers and now the requirement is that each center be color coded
with a differentiated lesson, but we give all the students the same CLI (Children’s
Learning Institute) test.  It does base the color coded score results according to their
age and peers in “months.” Now when I typed “months”, I cringe. These little students
are about 48 months old. They are only four years old. 

Personally, I think it is too young to give Pre-K a test of any kind.  I understand that
the administration needs a base measurement of students “growth,” but I  believe and
support the idea that we should just allow them to learn in Pre-K and worry about
measuring them later.  The students are only at school for about 3 hours, and they are
4 years old. I can not imagine how the students in Pre-K next year will feel when they
have to stay at school all day long.  I worry more about their mental health rather than
their education at this age. I have to say that I see why students get burned out before
they get to 12th grade.

REFERENCES

Cast. (2010, January, 10). UDL at a glance [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://amara.org/en/videos/8Aygby4OcIcF/info/udl-at-a-glance/

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5318 - Online Learning - Week 3

For my online course in Schoology, I am using the Texas Pre-K State Guidelines. It works out that there are 5 units required for this class, and there are 5 standards in the technology domain.  They are basic rules, and the students will be able to complete them with the help of their parents. The parents will need to read the instructions for their child and help them send in the assessment portion.  Parents are allowed to help guide their child, but it says in the instructions they are not to complete the assignment for their child.

Everything in the course is minimal because the students are four years old, and they are just now being introduced to academic technology.  In Pre-K we keep everything basic and simple. One step directions or maybe two steps are what we provide in class, so I want to maintain simplicity for them online.  I need for them to be able to understand and comprehend when their parents are reading the directions. Part of their learning process, at this age, is learning to follow instructions. 

I do not really see that integrating a discussion board would be  beneficial to the students. The students are four years old and do not understand the purpose of a discussion board.  They wouldn’t be able to type their own responses and would need additional assistance in reading all the information that would be posted on a discussion board.

However, I did make a place for the parents to ask questions.  The parents can communicate to one another there if they would like, but it is not a requirement of the course or even necessary at this time.  If, at a later date I see that it is necessary, I can add a discussion board with specific posts.

For most of the students in my area and district, attending Pre-K is the first time they are away from their parents and haven’t been around other students or children except for within families.

The active learning section will be the hands-on part of the activity.  Each one of the standards requires the students to do some type of hands-on activity, like explore an app, try the tools, or use correct hand motions.  The parents can take pictures or video of their actions which will be the assessment component. I will be checking if the students attempted the assignments rather than trying to give them a grade.  We do not administer grades in pre-k. Grading is based on what skills the students have developed, or if they are still developing.

I developed the course material based on the conclusion that the parents already know how to use the Schoology website.  I did not want to add “how to use Schoology” as part of the course, because parents might get too confused with the lessons of the Pre-K students.

I will offer information, links to help videos, or PDF handouts by using the Bloomz app for parent communication, if they are needed by the parents, or they ask for more information.  Most of the parents (in the past) have been able to use the technology we need for their students to do assignments at home activities. They are young parents that seem to be up-to-date with things and are able to with new apps or sites when given the links.

I appreciate the copyright standard.  It is important to remember that we must document everything.  I know that is a challenge sometimes, but it has to be done to protect all involved. Also, number standard 31 is important to me.  Some of my students are ESL students. They need that hands on part/manipulation of the learning so that they can actually do the particular skill in real-life.  They need to practice internalizing the skills which assists them comprehending what they are doing.

The video, “Scaffolding for Student Success”, really applies to my situation.  I taught Kindergarten for 6 years, and I am now in Pre-K for the second year. I understand the thought process of the little ones and can relate to what they need. I know they are entering school with very little background knowledge, so I am the one helping them building that foundation and preparing them for entry into Kindergarten.

The video says it perfectly, “The construction of learning is built from the ground up.”  (Alberta Education, 2015). This is what happens in Pre-Kindergarten, the foundation. This is what I envision for my online course, building a strong technology foundation. 

REFERENCES

Alberta Education. (2015, January 30). Scaffolding for Student Success [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTR_snb-0nQ&feature=youtu.be

OSCQR. The Open SUNY Course Quality Review. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://oscqr.org/

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