Spring Reflections
As I reach the end of another semester, I want to take a moment to reflect on all I have learned about merging effective teaching strategies with new technologies through the MAET program at Michigan State University. I am especially excited and impressed by the topics in the areas of instructional design, the Scholarship of Learning, Universal Design for Learners, and assistive technologies. As a student and professional, I have learned firsthand the importance of goal-directed instructional design in the creation of technology-rich curricula.
This semester I have also had the opportunity to create and evaluate lesson plans that use technology in innovative ways to enhance student learning. Through MERLOT, I was able to publish a lesson plan, as well as a Stand-alone Instructional Resource (StAIR), and then receive feedback from other instructors and professionals. Giving feedback on MERLOT was also helpful in training myself to identify and assess compliance with UDL guidelines, ID principles, integrated technology, and alignment with content with curriculum standards.
MY GOALS
My own goals include integrating technology into instructional design in an innovative and interesting way and this program has helped me understand how to do that. Using the Universal Design for Learning checklist and the principles of instructional design covered in the first few weeks, I have learned how to design intentionally using technology to facilitate the best possible learning for the most diverse group of students.
My new goals consist of continuing work towards the MA in Educational Technology offered at Michigan State University, and more specifically to continue to design innovative and creative curricula in higher education spectrum. I understand that in order to maintain expertise in any field one has to stay informed and maintain a lifelong learning approach. I fully expect to be back in school and yet to find alternate sources of education through professional organizations and mentors in the field of educational technology.
Wikis
This week in I explored wikis. As part of my exploration of this technological tool, I edited the Wikipedia entry for Lansing Community College and added a section on the University Center (UC) that opened in 2007. I wrote a brief history of the center and listed the six universities that partner with LCC through the UC. I cited and saved my work, and you can now view the University Center listing at the following address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing_Community_College
In addition to the Wikipedia entry, I also worked with some of my peers (nicknamed the DAASH) to create a wiki that contains an annotated list of key online resources in the development of information literacy and technology skills in students. Since my area of specialty is higher education, I assembled the Adult Learner resources.
This also provided a good opportunity for me to review the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education as published by the ACRL to make sure the resources I chose support these standards.
UDL Framework Applied to ID Lesson Plan
Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education
Below is a critique of a lesson plan I created at the beginning of the semester. You can see how I held it up to the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) guidelines and how it measured up (it didn’t, which was a critical point of this lesson). In the space below, I identified some features of the lesson that supported these UDL guidelines and also identified some obvious barriers in the lesson that would disable students from learning.
Click here to review my lesson plan “Creating E-Portfolios Using Google Sites.”
MERLOT Review of Inanimate Alice
In CEP 811 I was assigned the project of evaluating an instructional resource on MERLOT, a repository for instructional resources. I chose Inanimate Alice as my resource to evaluate and the following is my evaluation according to the criteria used by MERLOT to review and evaluate learning materials.
Quality of Content:
Inanimate Alice is a free, web-based resource that uses a combination of digital storytelling and gaming to encourage learning with focuses on reading/language arts and is multimodal so as to best engage reluctant readers. Additionally, the program uses “born-digital” material and models good storytelling methods. This learning tool is highly participatory and will help students learn new literacies whether literary, artistic, or technological.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool:
This program is ideal for older elementary learners and even middle school students, and engages both avid and reluctant readers into the storytelling and gaming processes. The downloadable educational pack serves as a guide, helping teachers use the program and explaining the pedagogy behind each lesson. The lessons are “aligned to the Common Core State English Language Arts Standards in the area of Reading: Literature” and the educational packet clearly identifies the value of each lesson and connects it to meaningful learning. In addition, there are opportunities for students who successfully learn the material to continue Alice’s story by constructing their own episodes and continuing the story digitally.
The learning objectives can be altered to fit the teacher’s need to a limited extent, but support reading and storytelling and directly support those processes. This program is media rich and improves students’ abilities to use technology to enhance their learning experience. The teaching and learning goals are clearly identified by the creators of Inanimate Alice, and meaningful assignments can be designed in the areas of reading, storytelling, animation, or gaming to reflect on or even continue Alice’s story.
Ease of Use:
The labels, buttons, menus, text, and layout are all consistent and visually distinct. They all work cohesively to engage the student in the story. Once in the episode, the user only has to click on the arrow button to continue the story. Occasionally progress will be contingent on the successful completion of a puzzle or game, which also breaks up the reading and encourages student exercise of other technological or artistic literacies. A menu on the right-hand side encourages re-learning and allows students the opportunity of revisiting content in the episode. Requiring only Adobe Flash and internet access, the software is well-suited for classroom use, providing the classroom has computers available for student use, and requires little technical support. In addition, the multimodality and the artistic bent of the program make it attractive to readers, gamers, and artists.
Goal-directed Instructional Design Plan
Lesson: Creating E-Portfolios Using Google Sites
1. A problem or a need – there must be a problem of practice or an educational need that should be addressed during the lesson.
An educational need for Lansing Community College is to provide LCC students with a method of showcasing their employment and/or coursework through the use of web-based student portfolios. The goal that will be addressed in this lesson is to provide students with the best practices and benefits of using e-portfolios to showcase work and advance careers.
2. A real-world performance – how the learning objective fit into a real-world activity or need.
The learning objectives of this lesson address the need for students to provide peers, professors, and employers with examples of their best work showcased in an e-portfolio. This can be achieved through Google Sites.
The exploration and customization of a Google site through student LCC email accounts (hosted by Google) will give students a starting point from which to expand and extend their professional portfolios.
3. An instructional objective – the objectives are based on the final outcome, activity or test. These objectives will each be different for the four types of knowledge; performing skills, recalling facts, identifying examples of concepts, and applying principles.
The objectives for this lesson are based on performing skills and applying principles to e-portfolios that students create
- Create a thoughtfully-designed, multi-page e-portfolio using Google sites that showcases jobs, skills, and coursework relating to your career path
- Write a two-page reflection on your design decisions as they relate to color choices, layout, font, and use of multimedia, and CRAP design principles; and also explain how you will use this e-portfolio to showcase your work and advance you in your chosen career path
4. A set of essential content – the basic ideas and skills that will allow the learner to complete the task or understand the content.
Basic design principles, navigation and effective use of Google Sites, the preparation of portfolio pieces, and best practices of e-portfolio utilization will be explored. The skill that will be evaluated is the ability to create a multi-page e-portfolio using a customized Google site that is well organized, accessible and unique to their career path.
5. An evaluation consisting of a test or observation – an assessment, observation or product showing that the objectives can be accomplished in the real-world setting.
There are two activities provided in this lesson that are used for evaluation.
- The students will create their own e-portfolio using Google Sites.
- The students will write a reflection of their design strategies and e–portfolio plan and present their reflection and e-portfolio to the class.
6. A method to help participants learn – the method to deliver the content; a lesson.
The lesson is provided in two sequential tutorial videos, and as written instruction as a PDF.
Motivation:
Meaningfullness – content and activities must have meaning for the learner
Google Sites is a technology that provides students with a free, effective, web-based method of showcasing their work. Through learning, reflection, and carefully planning, students will learn how to create their own e-portfolio, how to assess its effectiveness, and develop a plan to best utilize it to advance their career of choice.
Pleasant consequences – the effects that achieving the goal will have on the learner
The student will have an organized, multi-paged e-portfolio to showcase their work during and after their educational career at Lansing Community College.
Novelty – an attention-getting, humorous or curious manner that relates to the useful information in your lesson
The introduction to this lesson includes feedback from employers that stress the importance of the e-portfolio when pursuing a career path. Also, when relaying design principles, instead of using examples of effective design strategies, this lesson takes a humorous, over-the-top approach and shows examples of highly ineffective design strategies.
Socialization – a strong motivator for student learning
Students will have an opportunity to present their e-portfolios to their peers, and there will be an open forum during class for the peer critique and assessment. The lesson also includes an award ceremony for the students who show outstanding achievement in e-portfolio design.
Audience – For what audience are you designing this lesson? Consider the following:
- Age: 18+ or high school graduates
- Skill level (including technology skills): LCC students with varied technology skills, but all having basic internet literacy skills.
Prerequisite knowledge (including technology background): Able to access LCC student email account and navigate Windows or Mac OS.
Technology Needs – the computers, software, programs (such as Angel or other CMS’s) printers, equipment, Internet access, time in the computer lab will be needed to successfully complete your technology-rich lesson.
- Computer with high speed Internet access and sufficient memory and RAM
- Flash drive or external hard drive to backup work
- A basic collection of past coursework or work projects or creative pieces to showcase
- Basic technology skills such as e-mail, MS Office, GoogleApps and the desire to learn
Wicked Problem Project: Finale
PART A: The Wicked Problem – A Need or an Opportunity
An Important Educational Need
For the past few months, I served on a committee piloting a new technology for Lansing Community College. The technology is AdvisorTrac, a web-based scheduling and tracking system for multiple advising centers, and the software is impressive. The committee prepared to implement the program at several of the student service centers on our downtown campus. As a member of the Career & Employment Services Department, and a primary support for on-campus student employment, I created a training solution that would educate the student employees working at these service centers on this new scheduling and tracking system. So, the creative solution for one of LCC’s educational problems (college-wide appointment and scheduling systems), has just unearthed another educational problem that needs to be addressed—the pedagogy of new literacies across multiple service sectors of a post-secondary institution.
Addressing this Educational Issue with Technology
In order to fully address the problem of teaching a new literacy in the service sectors at Lansing Community College, I first need to consider those who will be doing the learning—the employees. What do I know about them, and what are some safe expectations I can set taking into account their educational and technological backgrounds, as well as their current working/learning spaces? Having the opportunity to observe LCC employees in their workspaces, I know that they are provided with access to computers and the Internet, and that they are expected to have at least functional knowledge of both in order to complete their daily tasks. I also know that schedules are constantly fluctuating to accommodate meetings and courses. Taking this into consideration, I intend to create a solution through innovation, using a technology the college supports.
For my solution, I have chosen to create a course through the Angel Course Management System that will provide each employee with the access to AdvisorTrac learning materials, as well as provide me, the course administrator, with a way to monitor and assess the learning. Because Angel is already supported by the college and used by the faculty, my hope is that using a technology that faculty and staff are already familiar with will encourage them in the learning of a new literacy. This approach will also accommodate current work schedules and the learning can take place at the current work stations. In choosing Angel as my primary technology, I know that there will be many more technologies that I will need to employ to make this solution effective. For example, I plan on creating tutorials using the Camtasia Studio that can be uploaded to the course, and also creating discussion forums to encourage collaborative problem solving across campus.
Lansing Community College does have an Organizational Development Department that uses another learning management system to support professional development for college employees, but it is a more simple approach of presenting the information and assessing the learning, without the collaborative capabilities that Angel possesses. It would also be quite costly for the college to create a compatible training session for the LMS system because there is a sub-software system synced with the LMS called Lectora, whereas it is comparatively simple and much more cost-efficient to create an Angel course that is multi-faceted and has more potential for collaborative learning.
Logistics
An Angel course for the learning of AdvisorTrac will be created and assigned to the employees of three service centers at Lansing Community College three weeks before full implementation of AdvisorTrac. The course will continue to remain available to current employees and new hires after full implementation, and will be updated as needed. To get the course set up, I needed the assistance of the E-Learning Department as well as the Audio/Visual Department (to gain access to the podcast suites for the recording of the tutorials). I contacted both departments, and both supported the idea over the phone, so I made appointments to meet with both and further discuss best practices and approaches for this type of project.
Relevant Research and Resources
I used the Google search engine and searched for tips or case studies in which universities or colleges utilized Angel for Professional Development. Angellearning.com provided a summary of their services and suggestions on how to best utilize Angel for educational training. I also found and checked out books at the MSU library on teaching and understanding new literacies, so that I can better understand how to approach this pedagogy of new literacies, specifically those that are technology related.
• http://www.angellearning.com/services/education_training.html
• Baker, Elizabeth A. The New Literacies: Multiple Perspectives on Research and Practice. New York: Guilford, 2010. Print.
• Makitalo-Siegl, Kati, Jan Zottmann, Frederic Kaplan, and Frank Fischer, eds. Classroom of the Future: Orchestrating Collaborative Spaces. Vol. 3. Rotterdam: Sense, 2010. Print. Technology Enhanced Learning.
The Plan
During the following few weeks of CEP 812, I created the training materials necessary for educating on the AdvisorTrac system. I also met with both the E-Learning and A/V Departments to discuss strategies, approaches, and timelines for launching the course. Furthermore, I continued to read and utilize the resources listed above to increase my understanding of pedagogy and new literacies, so that I could best educate those in need of training. My goal was to have the Angel course for the teaching of AdvisorTrac up by the end of this course, which put our AdvisorTrac committee right on track for full implementation of AdvisorTrac at the beginning of April.
Profile of a Successful Project
A successful solution to the problem of educating student employees from multiple service sectors on a new technological literacy is one that is timely, effective, and cost-efficient. The AdvisorTrac committee is under a lot of pressure to implement this new scheduling and tracking system, mostly because our current program is faulty, yet I did not want to push early implementation of AdvisorTrac at the cost of its overall success. A big part of that success is making certain that the primary users (student employees) are properly trained and have a functional knowledge of the program. This Angel course will not only act as a host for user guides, manuals, and tutorials, but will also provide forums for collaborative problem solving and troubleshooting. Ways to measure the success will be through assessments to measure student learning in the form, correct use of the system, and the overall use of the discussion forums for troubleshooting and problem solving. My overall goal is to educate these students on a new technological literacy while motivating them to collaborate across sectors in the learning of AdvisorTrac for their respective service centers.
Wicked Problem Project: Part B – Application of TPACK
In Part A of the Wicked Problem Project, I relayed an educational opportunity presented to me, which was the pedagogy of a new literacy across multiple service sectors of a post-secondary institution. For this next step, I am going to explain how I applied TPACK to my solution.
1. What is the TP knowledge for the solution?
I chose the Angel Course Management System as the technology that will help me best facilitate the learning of AdvisorTrac for a few reasons, the primary one being that it is the CMS that my college supports, and all of the individuals doing the learning will be familiar with it already. So, in teaching a new technology, I think it is best to use technologies that students are already comfortable with, as well as ones that will be practical and functional. I also chose Angel because it will allow the different service sectors doing the learning to collaboratively problem solve during implementation while allowing them to still take ownership over their own learning. Angel is also multi-faceted and will accommodate different learner types, so I will be able to use multiple technologies within Angel to make this virtual learning experience as effective as possible.
2. What is the TC knowledge for the solution?
My hope in choosing Angel as my primary solution is that it will allow me to utilize many more sub-technologies to relay content, assess learning, and promote collaboration across campus. These sub-technologies include surveys, video tutorials, and shared documents. I want to have a multi-technological approach, so that students have content available to them that they can watch, print out, and listen to, and they can determine which one best meets their learning needs. I want the ownership component of this virtual classroom to complement the peer interaction so that learning happens and after a few weeks of collaboration, we have a united team that spreads across multiple service sectors ready to implement and support this new technology.
3. What is the PC knowledge for the solution?
By providing video tutorials within Angel, I am helping students experience the new technology before having to navigate it themselves the first time. For my group of students, I want to provide them with all the know-how, all the manuals and directions, all the video tutorials of the new web-based system, and then I want to let go and let them take ownership of first learning the material, and second sharing their knowledge with each other to best utilize the program. Individual exploration should come first in this learning process followed closely by collaborative problem solving and team building to effectively introduce and support this new technological literacy across multiple service sectors on campus.
Wicked Problem Project: Part C – Implementation
Wicked Problem Project: Part D – Findings and Implications
In Part C of my Wicked Problem Project, I showed the ways I was implementing my solution to the educational need I identified in Part A, which involved the pedagogy of new technological literacies. This entry will discuss the findings and implications after implementing my solution.
Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?
My Wicked Problem Project is in the process of being implemented as planned. The Angel course I designed to help facilitate the learning of AdvisorTrac is currently available to members of the AdvisorTrac committee and the divisional dean for review. In another week, final revisions will be made and the course will be made available to LCC employees needing training. From there, we will use the course assessments and evaluations, as well as the observable literacy levels of those having gone through the course to determine how the training should be revised. The committee chair did inform me that the college will continue to use this course as an ongoing tool post-implementation to provide AdvisorTrac training for new hires. In addition to the media tools I planned to use in the course, I also explored new tools like Wimba and Prezi and was able to use these in the course to enhance the learning space. This was especially important as the scope of the class really did grow while I was designing it–the potential enrollment jumped from twenty users to over eighty. In addition, I was asked to expand the audience to also include another type of user, which was the consultant. The new media tools I added will help make the content more accessible to such a diverse audience, and the different options (video, printable handouts, audio discussion forums, live chat, etc.) should cater to many different learning styles.
Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice
When I first set out to create a solution to fill this need for training on a new technological literacy, I determined that the solution would need to be timely, effective, and cost-efficient. This course has not only met this criteria, but surpassed it. In the matter of a few weeks, I have explored, identified, and utilized tools that were already made available by the college to create a multi-faceted course that will work in just about any course management system. Moreover, the components of this course have been carefully thought out so as to most effectively educate LCC employees on a new technological literacy. By creating this solution, I have hopefully made a tool that can be used to help solve this problem of practice, if only on a relatively small scale.
Approach
When a similar problem of practice faces me, I will approach it similarly to how I’ve approached this problem with a few exceptions. First, I will have the conversation to determine the scope of the tool that is the solution, as well as the potential uses for the tool. This will help me make sure that the solution meets not only all of the needs of the user group, but that I address the needs of potential user groups as well.
Lessons Learned
While working on this project, I learned how to utilize the knowledge base around me to make my work more effective—this is a lesson I will definitely take with me into future projects. I was fortunate to be able to work alongside people in LCC’s E-Learning Department who were patient and interested in helping me create the best possible tool for my user group. They showed me how to incorporate external tools into my Angel course, and how to create content that will be compatible with other course management systems.
In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?
I will continue to identify needs and educational opportunities, specifically in this area of new technological literacies in the education industry. While my current position at Lansing Community College does not allow me to spend a large portion of my time on committee projects the scope of this AdvisorTrac course, I will continue to identify educational needs in my respective department and create innovative solutions using the tools and technology available to me. In future projects, I will also more clearly identify the long-term support needs of my solution, so that the tool will continue to be supported by as long as it is being utilized. In addition, I will look for new tools and technologies to suggest to my colleagues in E-Learning and the Center for Teaching Excellence in the hopes of being an innovative collaborator that endeavors to create meaningful and technologically advanced learning tools in the field of education.
Group Leadership Project
Final Product: Learn to use Windows Movie Maker
(WordPress.com does not allow Flash videos to be embedded in a blog)
Reflective Questions:
1. What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial? Why?
For the Group Leadership Project in CEP 812, Team 2 used Prezi as our tool to deliver a professional development tutorial on Windows Movie Maker. Because this was a longer tutorial (ten minutes), we felt like Prezi was the optimal tool for creating an interesting, visual presentation. Prezi allowed us to incorporate audio and video into our presentations and allowed for collaboration between team members. It also helped that we were able to work in a shared web space and make adjustments to our individual work to accommodate each other as we prepared and revised our presentation. Finally, Prezi provides sharing features so that all team members were able to embed or share the link to the presentation with our classmates and instructors.
2. What did you learn during the development process of the final product?
Before beginning this project I was altogether unfamiliar with Prezi. Being that we used Prezi for our presentation tool, I learned its features and capabilities very quickly. As a technological leader, this is something I have become accustomed to—learning and adapting to new technologies and exploring new presentation tools. Even bigger than learning new technologies, though, I learned the importance of creating professional development tools and how critical it is in the role of a technology leader.
3. What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?
I plan on developing similar products again, and while this team did an excellent job brainstorming, storyboarding, and executing this project, there are a few things I would do differently next time around. Most importantly, the next time I approach the development of a tool like this, I will spend more time identifying the intended audience, assessing the need, and researching similar products to best identify an appropriate professional development product. In addition, I would like to include in the original brainstorming session, a plan for an outlet for this tool. Will it be suggested to a professional development website? Will it be linked with any associations or organizations? These are things that should be planned. After all, what good is a tool if it isn’t being used? So again, I do not want to detract from the work Team 2 has done on this project, but there are a few things that could be done differently in the future to make it a more successful project.
Wicked Problem Project: Part D – Findings and Implications
In Part C of my Wicked Problem Project, I showed the ways I was implementing my solution to the educational need I identified in Part A, which involved the pedagogy of new technological literacies. This entry will discuss the findings and implications after implementing my solution.
Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?
My Wicked Problem Project is in the process of being implemented as planned. The Angel course I designed to help facilitate the learning of AdvisorTrac is currently available to members of the AdvisorTrac committee and the divisional dean for review. In another week, final revisions will be made and the course will be made available to LCC employees needing training. From there, we will use the course assessments and evaluations, as well as the observable literacy levels of those having gone through the course to determine how the training should be revised. The committee chair did inform me that the college will continue to use this course as an ongoing tool post-implementation to provide AdvisorTrac training for new hires. In addition to the media tools I planned to use in the course, I also explored new tools like Wimba and Prezi and was able to use these in the course to enhance the learning space. This was especially important as the scope of the class really did grow while I was designing it–the potential enrollment jumped from twenty users to over eighty. In addition, I was asked to expand the audience to also include another type of user, which was the consultant. The new media tools I added will help make the content more accessible to such a diverse audience, and the different options (video, printable handouts, audio discussion forums, live chat, etc.) should cater to many different learning styles.
Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice
When I first set out to create a solution to fill this need for training on a new technological literacy, I determined that the solution would need to be timely, effective, and cost-efficient. This course has not only met this criteria, but surpassed it. In the matter of a few weeks, I have explored, identified, and utilized tools that were already made available by the college to create a multi-faceted course that will work in just about any course management system. Moreover, the components of this course have been carefully thought out so as to most effectively educate LCC employees on a new technological literacy. By creating this solution, I have hopefully made a tool that can be used to help solve this problem of practice, if only on a relatively small scale.
Approach
When a similar problem of practice faces me, I will approach it similarly to how I’ve approached this problem with a few exceptions. First, I will have the conversation to determine the scope of the tool that is the solution, as well as the potential uses for the tool. This will help me make sure that the solution meets not only all of the needs of the user group, but that I address the needs of potential user groups as well.
Lessons Learned
While working on this project, I learned how to utilize the knowledge base around me to make my work more effective—this is a lesson I will definitely take with me into future projects. I was fortunate to be able to work alongside people in LCC’s E-Learning Department who were patient and interested in helping me create the best possible tool for my user group. They showed me how to incorporate external tools into my Angel course, and how to create content that will be compatible with other course management systems.
In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?
I will continue to identify needs and educational opportunities, specifically in this area of new technological literacies in the education industry. While my current position at Lansing Community College does not allow me to spend a large portion of my time on committee projects the scope of this AdvisorTrac course, I will continue to identify educational needs in my respective department and create innovative solutions using the tools and technology available to me. In future projects, I will also more clearly identify the long-term support needs of my solution, so that the tool will continue to be supported by as long as it is being utilized. In addition, I will look for new tools and technologies to suggest to my colleagues in E-Learning and the Center for Teaching Excellence in the hopes of being an innovative collaborator that endeavors to create meaningful and technologically advanced learning tools in the field of education.
On Mobile Learning
While considering innovate ways that mobile learning could enhance education spaces, I reflected on ways I could incorporate the use of mobile devices into my online classroom to enhance the overall learning experience. I recently added Wimba, a collaborative learning tool, as an audio discussion tool to my course in Angel, and I think it’d be neat for my students to be able to record their audio posts or replies as a voice memo on their mobile devices and be able to upload them up to the thread. Unfortunately, from what I can find that functionality just doesn’t exist yet, so I may have to use a tool like VoiceThread if I decide to do that. On a more general scope, it seems like mobile devices, if independent of other learning tools, could create roadblocks in the learning process. Med Kharbach talks about the pros and cons of mobile learning in his Educational Technology blog, and lists accessibility to mobile phones and expense among two of the possible setbacks of integrating mobile devices into the classroom. When incorporated into the classroom as an optional tool to enhance existent content, though, I think this could be a very effective way for the classroom to spread outside of the defined space that is the classroom, whether that be the traditional face-to-face classroom, or a course housed on a Course Management System.
edtech @ work 