Rationale
In reflecting upon what would be the most useful type of course to design for my project, I have stayed quite focused on Mathematics. In my experience, there have always been students who struggle with particular concepts, such as multiplication models, proportional reasoning, and algebra, due to learning gaps caused by absences or transferring from another school system. For years, I have referred my students to Khan Academy for extra lessons and practice, but I find it difficult to find precise content in line with Saskatchewan curricula. My current students often state that they would rather see and hear me explain the concepts, since I use examples and language aligned with our school’s choice of print resources, and they are used to my mannerisms and teaching methods. In the big picture, I would like to design a toolbox for Francophone students in Saskatchewan to fill learning gaps and work towards mastery in certain mathematical content areas, either to complement their current in-class learning in the intermediate grades or to review/reinforce before new content in a high school math credit class. For the scope of this project, I will narrow in on one strand of grade 8 mathematics.
Course Content
For this prototype, the course content will align with Saskatchewan Grade 8 Mathematics curricula in the Fransaskois program. I will develop an entire module for the strand of Régularités et relations for learning outcomes 8RR.1 and 8RR.2. In the future, I would like to add and expand the content to build concepts in each strand from grades 6-9. I would like to approach and organize the content in terms of big ideas spanning grade levels, yet keep it aligned to curriculum outcome codes, making it easier for me (and teacher colleagues) to identify which modules students would access, depending on their needs. Modality Ideally, I would like my course to support both synchronous and asynchronous modalities, with content that students could access at any time, plus space for video conferencing and scheduled meetings, discussions and activities. My current classroom need is a asynchronous modality; a tool to support flipped lessons, short-term absences, reinforcement, and catch-up work, and thus will be my focus for the prototype development. However, I want to have the option to use the same space during any unforeseeable cases of temporary remote learning that may occur due to COVID-19.
Target Audience
I will keep my 43 grade 8 students at the centre of my design. They have a broad range of levels and competencies in mathematics. There is one student who has had very little formal schooling and requires a great deal of math intervention. There are two students with Individualized Learning Plans, with specific goals pertaining to math. At the other end of the spectrum, there are a handful of students who excel in the basic exercises and thoroughly enjoy the more challenging problems I can offer. For the majority (40 out of the 43), there is fairly reliable device and Internet access at home. They will utilize the online course content for exploration, instruction, practice, and formative assessments to complement what we do in class. Content Delivery I will record myself teaching explicitly the concepts leading towards each outcome. These lessons will include a brief review of prior knowledge, key vocabulary, think-aloud strategy, step-by-step worked examples, graphing, and word problems. For some lessons I will use Desmos tools to demonstrate graphing techniques. Assessment I will design a set of short quiz style exercises, using Google or Microsoft forms, with immediate feedback as formative assessment, to accompany each video lesson. There will be whiteboard activities using whiteboard.fi, and video responses using Flipgrid. Since my students will likely be in class for the entire module, these asynchronous activities will be complemented by discussions, group work and exit slips at school. As for as a summative assessment at the end of the module, I hope to utilize Crowdmark and perhaps explore alternative assessment formats.
Platform Considerations
After reading Beyond the LMS by Audrey Watters and other articles this week, I have an entirely new understanding of personal data and course content ownership. This encouraged me to seek another option for hosting my course, instead of building it in Microsoft Teams which is used by my school division. After a discussion with co-worker and classmate Daniel Dion, I am excited to join him in exploring and working with Moodle! Looking forward to seeing everyone's progress in the upcoming weeks :)
4 Comments
2/1/2021 06:20:32 pm
This course sounds like such a great way to fill in learning gaps, work towards mastery, and even extend learning through problem solving or other challenges! How does Crowdmark work? And do you know how whiteboard.fi differs from Microsoft Whiteboard, or is it a similar tool? Looking forward to following along with your course development!
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Heidi
2/7/2021 01:16:50 pm
Thanks Raquel :)
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Jamie Mayoh-Bauche
2/2/2021 01:58:10 pm
I like how you are conceiving of this tool as a multi-use application that will provide structure for students who are missing for various reasons as well as for flipped classes and ongoing learning. Asynchronous tools can be very valuable in that they can be paired with synchronous instruction but are also available to fill in when synchronous learning is not possible. I am curious as well about the availability of such tools in French. I know there are large English resources such as Khan Academy. Do you find that there are not sufficient similar resources in French or are you mainly focused on creating your own unique tool aligned with SK curriculum?
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Heidi
2/7/2021 01:24:33 pm
Hi Jamie, great questions! Yes my goal is mostly about filling the niche for French-speaking Saskatchewan students. Khan Academy is an excellent resource, but younger students find it difficult to navigate (I must select specific exercises or lessons, they must look in the "assigned" section to find these), and often the vocab used is slightly different (young learners get discouraged when it's not familiar). Another disadvantage is that the French-language content is all European, meaning the contexts of word-problems are unfamiliar, and the accents can be distracting! Long story short, I definitely use and LOVE Khan Academy, but my students' needs could be better met by more personalized content :)
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A note from Heidi:I adore teaching and learning, irl. I'm up for the challenge of designing effective virtual learning spaces for my students! Please follow my uphill journey with educational technology here. Archives |