Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow….

Reflecting on the Final Week…

It’s hard to believe that class has finally ended!  I would have to say that it has been a privilege to work with everyone in the course and I have learned so very much from our discussion, collaborations, and projects.

To me, assessment is a continual process in education.  A good teacher constantly measures student understanding through the use of different types of formative and summative assessments.  Traditional paper-and-pencil tests have a place in education, but there are a world of opportunities to evaluate student learning!  In a hybrid course, such as my Psychology class, I can take from the best of both worlds to provide my students with authentic, meaningful learning experiences.

Thank you all for helping me on this educational journey!

Caroline

Reflecting on Week Seven….

Here is the link to my final project!  Enjoy!

Final Project

Cybercoaching…Helping the Learning Process Along the Way…

Reflecting on Week 6: Cybercoaching- an Emerging Model

Learning used to mean that a teacher stood on stage and pontificated upon a topic for an hour with diligent students taking notes page after page.  Now, some instructors were engaging and interesting and connected to their students, others did not even notice that their students were struggling to remain conscious.  As time has changed, educators have had to develop new methods of teaching because the skills and knowledge needed to be successful after schooling is complete have changed.  Another component thrown into the mix is the increase in online educational programs, many of which are attended by adult learners.  Enter the cybercoaching model of teach-student interaction.  Like a coach overseeing the training of an athlete and providing constant feedback on performance, the cybercoach educator gives students feedback during the process of education, instead of merely waiting until a final, high stakes, summative evaluation.  Through the use of email; which enables students to contact and receive responses from professors outside of “office hours;” online testing, which gives an immediate result to a student; rubric based grading, which provide specific guidelines for the completion and evaluation of student work; audio feedback; and other technological tools, students can be guided along the learning path by the “cybercoach” instructor.  By taking the role of “coach”, the instructor is making the learning experience more about the student, and less about them.  In my opinion, by doing this, the learning becomes more personal, meaningful, and retained.

Principles of Psychology Precourse Survey

Link to PreCourse Survey Activity for Assessment in E-Learning

Click here to take survey

Bloom’s Taxonomy…Love it! Plagiarism…A Pox on You!

WEEK FIVE: REFLECTING ON BLOOM’S TAXONOMY AND PLAGIARISM….

Bloom’s Taxonomy is part of the standard curriculum in most undergraduate teacher preparation programs; but in my humble opinion, it should be emphasized even more.  The taxonomy provides the fledgling teacher with a clear-cut understanding of how to scaffold student understanding by creating educational experiences that increase in complexity, make learning more personal, and build upon the foundations that have been created during previous learning experiences.    It shows the progression of learning, increases the chance that active, observable learning activities occur, and contributes to the creation of measurable assessment activities.

In my personal experience, one of the best education courses I ever had the pleasure of being enrolled in was the “methods” course that was required right before my student teaching experience.  Our professor, Dr. Moore, had many years of experience teaching K-12 students before he made the transition to a college professor, so he understood the mindset of the “compelled to be there” student.  In his course, he drilled the importance of using Bloom’s taxonomy to create objectives and activities because they gave you a measurable method of assessing student understanding.  When completing the Assessment Taxonomy table this week, I was reminded of his lessons.  Bloom’s taxonomy creates a progressive model of student understanding; one that makes the student an active participant in the learning process.  As the knowledge base of the student increases, then the activities can move to a higher level of the taxonomy, eventually culminating in an authentic assessment activity.

One other note….plagiarism is a serious issue in both the online learning environment as well as the traditional classroom.  I find it sad that students do not comprehend that it is the PROCESS of learning that is the most important aspect of school, no matter what the subject.  We live in such a “results driven” culture that they are often more concerned with the product than the process.  Any teacher can see this because students often ask “Are we being graded on this?” or “How many points is this worth?” instead of focusing on the process taking place during the learning experience.  When my students complain, I often remind them of an old adage my grandmother always repeated “If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”  I am a firm believer that the process of learning something is just as important as the product created.  This is why I see plagiarism as such a serious concern in today’s educational environment because it is product without process.

Bloom’s Taxonomy and Psychology….Perfect Together….

Course: Principles of Psychology (Academic Elective 10th-12^th, traditional 45 minute f2f class supplemented with online activities)

Module 1: The Origins and Approaches of Psychology

Bloom categories	Learning objective verbs	Activity
Knowledge (recall, list, define, identify, collect, label)	Define	Students will: Define the term psychology   Activity: Think-Pair-Share Students will individually define the term psychology, then pair up and discuss their definitions, refining them as necessary.  General class discussion of definitions will follow.
Comprehension (summarize, describe interpret, predict, discuss)	Describe	Students will: Describe the various approaches in psychology in terms of key figures, key terms, and views of human behavior   Activity: Small Group Activity Students will be assigned to small groups to complete a graphic organizer segment on a particular approach.  They will then present 2-3 PowerPoint slides detailing this information to the rest of the class.
Application (apply, demonstrate, illustrate, classify, experiment, discover)	Apply	Students will:  Apply the six approaches in psychology to a given case study.   Activity: Small Group Activity Students will work  in groups of four to analyze a specific case study  answering the following question: “How would the __________ perspective view this situation” (Blanks include the neurobiological, psychodynamic, evolutionary, behavioral, cognitive, social-cultural approach) HW: Using (another) case study, analyze the behaviors from 2 of the six approaches.  Post in the Moodle forum and comment on at least 2 peer postings.
Analysis (analyze, classify, connect, explain, infer)	Explain	Students will: Explain the purpose of a theory in explaining human behavior   Activity: Think-Pair-Share Students will develop three reasons that theories are important in explaining human behavior, share with a partner, refine, then share with the class to create a master list. (Online this can be done via a discussion forum posting or a wiki)
Synthesis (combine, integrate, plan, create, design, formulate)
Evaluation (assess, recommend, convince, compare, conclude, summarize)

Blizzards and midterms and technology…oh my!

REFLECTING ON WEEK FOUR:  VARIETY OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS…

In my school, the word technology has always been met with eye rolling and skepticism on the part of the staff.  I will admit, I too have been resistant to the addition of technological resources in my classroom, largely because I have found that there is little to no follow through on supplemental training, or that the “new” technology innovation use dues out after being around for a year.  I can remember going to in-services about the “new distance learning” classes that were going to be held in school which allowed students to be in a classroom and be connected to another class in the district via monitor.  Students could attend class, but the teacher was in another location.  There were three such classes in the beginning of the year, at the end there was one, with only five AP students.  The students in the class did not enjoy it or feel engaged because they had little or no interaction with the teacher and other students other than asking questions about the lecture.

Now flash forward 12 years…

The world has changed and there are a plethora of new technologies available to connect online or remote learners with their instructors, fellow classmates, and even the world in general.  Students now have access to websites and other collaborative technology that enable them to work together on projects and other class activities in real-time or as their schedules allow.  This connection is what the students sitting in the “distance learning rooms” were missing.  

Seeing all of the “tools” that are being investigated by members of the course, I realize that if all of these were available a decade ago, those distance learning classrooms would still be in use today instead of functioning as storage rooms full of clutter.  Boy, how times have changed!