Thoughts and Concerns on Assessing Student Learning

The lesson that I am designing will definitely be project based. Because of this, I think that it will be very important to design both formative and summative assessments that will accurately gauge what the students have learned. I have already decided that I would like for the students to be involved in designing the rubric. This will help them to have more buy in, as well as really helping them to understand what the final product should include. Because I am not a classroom teacher, I am not usually involved in this part of the process. It makes me a little nervous to design something on the spot. I want to make sure I get the most out of the process and that together we will design a good rubric.

As far as formative assessments, the classroom teacher and I will be walking around and helping students as they are conducting research on the ANWR topic. After they create their concept maps, we will meet with the groups to discuss their predictions and how they are going to represent them in Google Earth. The process of guiding and mentoring a group will be a new process for me. I think that I will need to be conscious of not getting set on what I see the project looking like and to really see how the students can run with their own ideas.

Individual Project Update

Here is a quick update about what I have decided on for my individual project. Sorry that I have been neglecting this blog but I keep totally forgetting about this part of the class. Here is my intro that I wrote for the pre-plan:

"This lesson will be used with a current issues class at Sprayberry High School in Cobb County. During part of the semester, the class will focus on the environment, shrinking energy resources, and alternative energy. Also during the semester, the 2008 Presidential election will be taking place. This is a wonderful opportunity to merge the two topics and look at an environmental issue that is being debated during the election. Currently, there is much debate over whether to drill in the ANWR region of Alaska. In this lesson, students will look into both sides of the debate using the internet, online databases, Google Earth, and expert interviews. They will organize the information that they have gathered in an Inspiration graphic organizer. After exploring both sides of the subject, students will decide if they believe drilling is the right decision or not. They will then use Google Earth to show what they predict the outcome will be if drilling occurs."

LoTi, My Project, and Me

I am still having the same dilemma that I wrote about before. Since I do not have a classroom, I am trying to coordinate this project with a classroom teacher. I have found a current issues teacher that is very interested in working with me. When I spoke with him about what this project will focus on, he also like the idea of creating very authentic lessons that utilize technology. This seems to be the key components of moving up on the LoTi scale.

A current events class seems to be a great place to start when it comes to developing authentic lesson plans. There seems to be so many ways to get students involved in the world around us right now. My problem is going to be focusing in on one area. When I spoke with the teacher that I will be working with, he still is not sure what they will be studying around the late October, early November time frame. This is making it harder to start thinking of ways to integrate technology without first knowing what topic we will be focusing on. This is especially true since within the IDD program we focus on backward design and developing learning goals before designing the activity. It is also hard to think about ways to use technology since it is not suppose to be the focus but rather the enhancement.

Despite my issues with topic focus, I have started trying to brainstorm technology use that could enhance many different areas. Below are a few ideas that I think could apply to many different topics. As we narrow down our topic, I know that I will have to select a few from the list below and cannot use everything.

1) I think that it would be great to use Google Earth with a current issues class. This tool would help students to understand where these issues are taking place and how they relate to each other.
2) I would love to get this class in communication with another class somewhere else in the world. I think that it would be enlightening to see another culture's viewpoint of the issues that we will be discussing.
3) Depending on what topic we select, it would be wonderful to connect with an outside expert.
4) I saw a great lesson plan where students listen to news podcasts on a topic of their choice and then they create graphic organizer that explains the topic. They then share their graphic organizer with the class.

Hopefully this will become clearer as we narrow down the topic that the lesson will focus on.

Individual Project Ideas for EDIT 7500

Welcome! I will be using this blog to reflect on the ideas and projects that I will be doing through the class, EDIT 7500: Technology Enhanced Classroom Environments. This class is part of the Instructional Design and Development program at UGA.

In this class we will be designing an Individual Project that will consist of a student-centered lesson plan that will use technology. As a media specialist, I will need to work with a classroom teacher so that I can have a group of students to work with. Because I do not have my own classroom this adds an added challenge. I collaborate with teachers at my school everyday, but usually I am only teaching a small portion of the class period. This year, we are looking into ways to start the collaboration process earlier so that we can get in on the beginning stages of the project/unit/lesson design. This project will be a great way to start this effort.

There are several subjects and teachers that I might possibly be able to work with. One possibility is our environmental studies teacher. I am going to be talking with her tomorrow about working together on a sustainability unit. I am also thinking about a unit with a world geography teacher. Before I really start getting a firm idea in my mind, I would like to talk to these teachers and see what units they would like help enhancing or redesigning.

I will keep you updated as I have more firm ideas about what lessons or unit I might focus in on. I am excited that this might be a great opportunity to really work with a teacher from the very start of a project.