Responding to September 11 exit cards

My goal in this course is to have you actually learn something that you take with you beyond this course. I have found that memorizing material for a test or writing notes during a lecture leads to surface learning. But when a student does his or her part – that is, being a willing and open participant - deep learning can happen. It requires intrinsic motivation (doing things for the experience and not for the marks), being prepared for class, and being willing to enter into some ambiguous territory.

I know that some of you are concerned with getting good grades and I understand that concern. But anxiety can also get in the way of learning. I intend to give all of you good grades. I expect the best from you, and what I have seen so far that will not be difficult to do.  We will let you know if you are falling behind

Did you know that one of the basic principles of assessment for learning (AfL) is “no grades”?  Feedback only. Grades are a distraction and block real learning as the student only looks at the grade and not the feedback.

Some of you asked questions that can lead to deep learning. For example:

What is the downside of flipped learning?

How do you insure students will do the pre-learning for flipped learning?

How does flipped learning work with young kids?

What about inequity issues with technology?

Who decides that education should be changed?

You will be able to explore your own issue in depth in Genius Hour – Nov 13.

Don’t worry. You will get lots of instruction on this.

For others the issues were procedural. Here are some answers.

FAQ

How to be prepared for lecture?

Reading is enough unless there is a blog assigned. P.S. I hope that class is not too lecture intensive – although I can do that. But I believe in learn-by-doing.  So I want to get you involved too.

What is expected in the blog?

In a blog I expect you to explore an issue that came up in your reading and connect it to your own experience and to other theory. This means it is both formal (theory and practice) and informal (your story and experiences).  Quotes are fine. Attributions are needed of course or else we get into the fuzzy area of plagiarism and copyright.

I did not expect a “perfect” job the first time around. I have found over the years that collaborative blogging can be a powerful learning process. You will learn most from your personal learning network (PLN)  - the 4 people who are in your group. How do you make the blogs better? Richer discussions. How do you make the blogs more aesthetically pleasing? Add pictures. Find images licensed by Creative Commons (with attribution to the source).  See Brynes’s blog on free technology for teachers and where to find images. 

If you find a YouTube that is relevant include that too. Here is a video that explains how to do it. This gentleman has forgotten to give attributions - so look below the YouTube and you will see the correct 
attribution.  

Pathan, A. K. How to insert images and videos into Blogger Post YouTube). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Zwc0jh02Y

Personally i found it easier to just follow the detailed instructions of how are available at Dr. Candace Figg’s site: http://www.handy4class.com/h4c2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/QS1-Setting-up-your-Digital-Portfolio-Edublog-2013.pdf. 

As well, if you stay after class we will run a short tutorial on how to follow Dr. Figg’s instructions for beautification next class.

How is the blog graded?

This is a holistic grade. Each week from now on you will hand in a paper copy of your blog to Rachel, Nicole or me. This way there is no issue with late blogs and it is easier on the TAs.  You will get comments back on that paper blog the following week. Meanwhile, you will improve your blog by connecting with others in your group, seeing their models, wondering about their questions, pushing each other for deeper insights. You may wish to add your comments to the blogs of others as you go along. This strategy is really a hybrid of a pen and paper face-to-face instructional strategy and an on online activity and your group needs to decide on what works best for you as far as adding online comments (it actually makes the experience richer).

There were some suggestions for peer assessment of discussion. This is a good idea – but the place where we ask you to do that is in your self-assessments – you can critique your own performance and if it is relevant your group members.  That said if someone in your group is NOT pulling their weight please let us know.

At the end of the blogging, Rachel, Nicole and I will look over all your blog posts and arrive at your grade out of 30.  It will not be 6 % for each blog – as that is not the current thinking in assessment practices. Rather we will be looking for your best work either consistently through the course or as a learning curve (upward!).

What does the research contribution require?

You choose an article that shows more than one subject area being integrated with another at any level of education  (K to 16).  You can find these in refereed journals, professional journals (e.g. Voice, Forum, Education Canada, Professionally Speaking, Edutopia (online).  Alternatively you might find a video describing a program.

You record the specifics for the article and give a link if available. Then briefly describe what the article tells us. It should include context, research method (if available), a description of results (what happened) Numbers are great if you can find such an article telling us that students improved, stayed the same or regressed in certain areas.  This is followed by some personal comment such as the type of study, quality of the study etc. Is the study worth including in research on interdisciplinary approaches to curriculum?  

There will not be formal presentations on these articles but we will have a class discussion on the results.

What is the curriculum assignment?

This will unfold as we go through the book. In Chapter 2 and 3 we look at first steps. You will begin then with a group of your making.  You may choose to develop a subject-based curriculum or perhaps an interdisciplinary one. (It is in the optional course 4P29 that you explore interdisciplinary 21^st approaches in depth).

The curriculum is not due until the end of the course.

What is a curriculum document?

All jurisdictions publish curriculum documents that tell teachers what outcomes their students are expected to obtain at every grade level and for every subject. Ontario curriculum documents can be found at -----------------------------. We will begin using these soon.

Will we be assessed on Popsicle questioning?

It is all a part of participation. The intention is not to centre out people for what they do not know. That is the old story. The intention is for the instructor to understand what individuals do know and what still needs to be learned. It is meant to be done in an environment of trust and culture of learning. An environment of trust and culture of learning are elements of 21^st Century learning. Such a culture is hard to even imagine if you were educated in the old story tradition where only some could succeed. In 4P19 we want and expect everyone to succeed. However, the Popsicle technique does rely on students doing the preparation for class so that they can tackle the questions. “Pass” is okay if you have done your reading – but it is not really great if you haven’t done the reading.  I won’t be going for trick questions and you can use your text.

I want you to actually learn something from this course and so this is why I also want you to experience some of the new models of teaching/learning.

Will you waste our time with foolish things like birthdays in a month?

Oops. A tangent. I could draw some relevance for this 7-minute activity (timed)…but that is not the point.  I shall try not to waste your time and I shall try to have each class run in predictable fashion. But, I believe that learning is not all earnestness. In fact, I think it can and should be fun. Sorry if you were frustrated by the diversion that was intended to be an interesting aspect of statistics.

About exit cards

We really do want to know what we can improve as the instructor and TAs. We also need to know what you need to know more about. When, for example, I find reading the exit cards that there are some misunderstandings re core concepts then I need to use that information to modify my lessons.  That may change some of the things published on the TENTATIVE schedule. Changing the schedule also leads to ambiguity … things not carved in stone as we adjust to the reality of EDUC 4P19 Fall, 2014.

But we also need to have your name on the cards and although you had an attendance count at the blog readings, the exit card provides us with one for the evening. Killing two birds with one stone and a not too obnoxious way of accountability for both you and us. 25% is a huge amount of your grade and we need to be able to justify it ….