We are putting the finishing touches on the project. I've got 2 more evaluations that I am waiting for. One is from a 5th grade student, and the other is in 4th grade. The students have shown excitement for the online unit so far.
Having the students' feedback will be good for the team, because then we can see if there are any more last minute adjustments that we need to make. It's good to see students volunteering to do the projects after working on the website. On the first day, they had asked if they could do a presentation for the WebQuest.
As I've said, it's good to try out my lessons before I do them, and get feedback from students fot eh age group, and what's more, I can even ask my students to evaluate a lesson so that I can fix it for the next group of students. By doing this I could potentially have a solid year's worth of plans that are enjoyable to the students. My philosophy has always been, make it fun (or gross, depending on what I want them to remember).
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
What the SME is Going On With This Power Point
Our team is meeting with the SMEs this coming Monday. We are letting the experts look at our Super Weather Project. We have also started letting kids work through our website, so that we can get an idea of where we need to make adjustments. I am currently working on the "hook" for our project. I am also going to be putting my Power Point skills into action in my Research Methods class.
By having people look through the site, we will be able to get feedback from them, and then fine-tune anything that might be confusing or doesn't work. This does mean that our team will have to find students of fourth-grade age, and I believe Sandy Downs has done this. When we were going over Power Point in class, two of the team members had already been working on the Power Point portion of our project--in fact, the Power Points are finished, and ready for the SME to look at it. At this point, my job is to simply do what I have been assigned by our project leaders.
I have never really thought of using a SME in my in-class instruction. I have worked with a collaborative team; however, I have never taken my lesson plans to a professional, to see the viability of the methods used. Something I could do in the future would be to have my administrators and district specialists to look at unit plans.
By having people look through the site, we will be able to get feedback from them, and then fine-tune anything that might be confusing or doesn't work. This does mean that our team will have to find students of fourth-grade age, and I believe Sandy Downs has done this. When we were going over Power Point in class, two of the team members had already been working on the Power Point portion of our project--in fact, the Power Points are finished, and ready for the SME to look at it. At this point, my job is to simply do what I have been assigned by our project leaders.
I have never really thought of using a SME in my in-class instruction. I have worked with a collaborative team; however, I have never taken my lesson plans to a professional, to see the viability of the methods used. Something I could do in the future would be to have my administrators and district specialists to look at unit plans.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Evaluating Gabcasting
Now that our team has split the work, we have been getting a lot of things done in the development stage. We haven't gotten to the point were we are implementing a prototype, therefore we haven't had a chance to evaluate our projects. Something I plan to do with the WebQuest I'm working on is to give it to a fourth grade kid in my neighborhood to try it out.
I must admit, I didn't like the Gabcasting feature for the project. I don' t see how this would help the project. I feel that Gabcasting is more work then it is worth. However, I do see the worth of audio recordings, and I would like to learn more about Podcasting. Something that the team is keeping in mind while working on the project is the first step in the Kirkpatric Model for summitive assessment. The reaction level asks the participant if they like the instruction. I think too often teachers fail to ask the students what they liked about a lesson. However, our team has gone to great langths to make this project fun.
In the 15th chapter of the Morrison, Ross, and Kemp text they mention innovation. They explain innovation is anything new to an organization, and what I need to keep in mind is that my students are considered my organization--my employers so to speak. Therefore, I need to show my students the advantages of new things, and the project will be a great catalyst for me and my students to accept innovation.
I must admit, I didn't like the Gabcasting feature for the project. I don' t see how this would help the project. I feel that Gabcasting is more work then it is worth. However, I do see the worth of audio recordings, and I would like to learn more about Podcasting. Something that the team is keeping in mind while working on the project is the first step in the Kirkpatric Model for summitive assessment. The reaction level asks the participant if they like the instruction. I think too often teachers fail to ask the students what they liked about a lesson. However, our team has gone to great langths to make this project fun.
In the 15th chapter of the Morrison, Ross, and Kemp text they mention innovation. They explain innovation is anything new to an organization, and what I need to keep in mind is that my students are considered my organization--my employers so to speak. Therefore, I need to show my students the advantages of new things, and the project will be a great catalyst for me and my students to accept innovation.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Let's WebQuest the Implementation Stage
Our team is current working on the Development stage of the project. I have asked to create the hook for our the project and I plan on making digital stories to convey the over-all theme. I have also been given the task of creating a WebQuest for how to predict the weather. The subject may change depending on if the objective and WebQuest are a good fit. Something that we as a group need to start working on this coming week would be formative and summative assessments.
Upon looking at our project report and reflecting on what we have been working on, it looks like our team is in good shape. We have divided up the work load and started working on actual instruction, and I think that we are keeping an adequate pace. As mentioned in the first paragraph, our group needs to start working on how we are going to assess throughout the unit. In the Morrison, Ross, and Kemp book it gives the benefits of pretesting. Now as a teacher we all know how important this is, but after discussing it in class, I realized that perhaps we should put more effort into it. I say this not because we don't understand what pretests are for, but because of the level of effectiveness of the test itself.
I have used pretest and post-test, but the tests I have may not be adequate. After reading chapters 10-11. I would like to gather all of my pre and post-tests and reevaluate their effectiveness I have used many test questions with the UCUTips website, but once again I haven't taken the time to evaluate those test questions for validity and reliability. WebQuests are very new to me, but I like the idea of them, partially because last year my students were always very excited any time I told them to pull out the laptops. Our group has found several websites that will be beneficial to the weather unit project, including a web site that simulates what happens as the air pressure drops, as well as the temperature. Another website shows a weather person give the weekly forecast.
Happy WebQuesting.
Upon looking at our project report and reflecting on what we have been working on, it looks like our team is in good shape. We have divided up the work load and started working on actual instruction, and I think that we are keeping an adequate pace. As mentioned in the first paragraph, our group needs to start working on how we are going to assess throughout the unit. In the Morrison, Ross, and Kemp book it gives the benefits of pretesting. Now as a teacher we all know how important this is, but after discussing it in class, I realized that perhaps we should put more effort into it. I say this not because we don't understand what pretests are for, but because of the level of effectiveness of the test itself.
I have used pretest and post-test, but the tests I have may not be adequate. After reading chapters 10-11. I would like to gather all of my pre and post-tests and reevaluate their effectiveness I have used many test questions with the UCUTips website, but once again I haven't taken the time to evaluate those test questions for validity and reliability. WebQuests are very new to me, but I like the idea of them, partially because last year my students were always very excited any time I told them to pull out the laptops. Our group has found several websites that will be beneficial to the weather unit project, including a web site that simulates what happens as the air pressure drops, as well as the temperature. Another website shows a weather person give the weekly forecast.
Happy WebQuesting.
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