Flipped Learning - Leading at all Levels

Mobile blogs work well in the flipped classroom. Students view the class blog on their mobile devices before coming to class familiarizing themselves with the topic of leading at all levels.

 

Class Blog Roll

Module 7 Reflection

Many late nights working at the computer...I am happy with the content of my final project but would like to improve on the design elements. The final project made me realize how important it is to match assessment tools to objectives. It was a very labor intensive, reseach-based project in which I learned much about assessment tools, plagiarism, and authentic assessments in a constructivist environment. I would like to continue to refine this project and use it as a template in the design of future courses.

As I mentioned in the conclusion of my final project:

These assessment tools bring two words to mind…meaningful and mindful.

According to Ellen Langer, “One of the keys to meaningful learning is mindful learning. A mindful approach, she points out, has three characteristics: the continuous creation of new categories, openness to new information, and an implicit awareness of more than one perspective” (Langer; 1997).

Final Project

Link to Final Project

Module 6 Reflection

This week gave us an opportunity to connect with fellow learners and professor with the offering of two web conferences in DimDim to help answer remaining questions about our final project. Jennifer Jenkins moderated and did a wonderful job.

In this module’s introduction, Professor Datta Kaur explained how the instructor’s role is changing from one of “sage on the stage” to “online facilitator”. One of the functions of the online facilitator is to personalize learning for students. A great way to do this is to design a precourse learning survey and we each had a chance to design a survey instrument.

We also discussed a formative assessment strategy to assess student learning by implementing elements of cybercoaching. Cybercoaching is based on a constructivist model. We compared two cases studies in our discussion board, the Casey Journalism class and the Khalsa journalism class. The differences were striking with the Khalsa class having a high level of interactivity by use of cybercoaching strategies.

In the Khalsa class, the assessments were very interactive and included a precourse survey, authentic conversations, personal reflections, and building knowledge in a community of learners.

I would like to remember the following highlights and quotes from various readings this week:

- The practice in cyber coaching of “putting student learning first”

- Khalsa’s reference to “A Place for Everyone in an Online Community”

- Spector’s reference to a “Collective Energy “

- The phrase “Cherished Relatedness” used in relationship to building online connections (Fuller, 1999)

-“Coaching is like having someone else on your side, making sure that you are focused on what's most important in your life. Coaching is not giving advice, and it does not involve your coach telling you what to do. Instead, your coach asks you questions that prompt you to consider alternatives you haven't considered, and encourages you to take new perspectives.”

Reference:http://www.coachingasperger.com/explained.htm

Precourse Survey

This survey was created using "Survey Monkey". I designed the survey with open ended questions to gain a more in-depth profile of my learners to help personalize their learning experience.

Please take a few minutes to view my survey design.

Link to precourse survey

"Casey's Journalism Class Description" and Paula's Taxonomy Table

I think most of the assessment activities in the Casey journalism class could be converted to the online environment. Most require reading and discussion which could get time consuming and make a student feel somewhat isolated if they were doing all the activities on their own. I would suggest using some groups of students to make learning more enjoyable. Groups also help in the construction of new knowledge.

Please follow this link to the "Casey's Journalism Class" article in pdf form and my "Taxonomy of Assessment" as related to the article:

Paula's Taxonomy Chart


Further thoughts on Learning as related to Bloom's Taxonomy:
In the article Adapting Online Education to Different Learning Styles, four stages of learning are discussed: “1) exposure stage; 2) guided learning stage; 3) independent stage; and 4) Mastery Stage.” I see a relationship between these stages and progressing upwards in Bloom’s Taxonomy. They also go on to state that “students learn 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say, and 90% of what they say and do”.

To offer a higher level assessment in an online class, I would have students explore “truth in journalism” by composing questions related to the 6-point Code of Ethics for Journalists and have the student interview a working journalist. By composing the questions, they would have a good understanding of the Code and would also hear the journalist’s viewpoints first-hand. The interview could be recorded either by hand or with a microphone or video camera. The student would then be have a choice of how to present the interview by either written text posted to a Blog, played as an audio podcast, or published as an e-video. The student would hopefully be working at the top three levels of Bloom’s through the retelling of the interview.

There is an interesting observation in the article Elevating Creation in Bloom’s Taxonomy in lesson design, that I feel relates to having the students conduct an interview. According to the article “Instead of merely ‘reading back,’ students should ‘retell’ and ‘remix.’ Adding their own ideas and connections to the ‘facts’ of the curriculum should be a hallmark of their knowledge products. At the heart of this process is the teacher, who asks questions which challenge STUDENTS TO ASK questions– rather than asking questions which have a predefined, specific answer.”

Reference:
Adapting Online Education to Different Learning Styles. Retrieved from: http://realaudio.rice.edu/ecot/ust/bied5336/session%20i/On-Line%20Learning.pdf
Elevating Creation in Bloom’s Taxonomy in lesson design Retrieved from: http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/01/18/elevating-creation-in-blooms-taxonomy-in-lesson-design/