Week 7 Reflection

Dear all,

Time is running and we are approaching to the end. Honestly I don't like end days especially when it is about having knowledge, knowing people, having new contacts and relations.

The special touch of this week was having Rachel with us. I hoped to have more time with her but due to work and time, I could not realize that.

This week was about an issue which is related to every issue in  learning/teaching process: autonomy. The first question that was raised by Rachel is weather it is acquired or inborn ? I really enjoyed reading comments and views of some of my course mates and from every post I learned something new and interesting. As a conclusion, we reached that autonomy is  multifaceted and can never be treated separately. On one hand, learner autonomy is not the total neglect of teachers' control but it is learners' responsibility to take control over their learning but under teachers' guidance; so we can never deny the role of the teacher to make the wheal of learning move and to complete the cycle of learning as there is no motivation without teachers, no evaluation and sometimes more than that. However, learners' autonomy is based also on teachers' abilities and awareness which can be a part of teachers' autonomy. On the other side, autonomy is based on learners' motivation including all subsystems and aspects such as confidence, self actualization, self esteem.....Thus, we can not discuss autonomy without discussing the different factors (external and internal) that may affect learners' motivation. All the factors may interact either to develop autonomy or reduce it. Further, autonomy is also related learning strategies used by learners, where we find those who are aware, able to plan , manage their learning and make self-evaluation more autonomous than those who are not, which means those who are using meta-cognitive strategies are more successful in saving their time and energy to achieve their learning goals and objectives. Also, learners who know that language is for communication and tend to solve their communication problems using social/affective strategies are more successful especially in productive skills.


The other side of the week was working on my final project. As I mentioned in last week, I started my virtual class with a few students of third year to teach them how to write essays. George has chosen me to be his partner and I am so motivated to work together and exchange knowledge but I find him very active and sometimes I feel unable to reach him. He started sending me all what he is doing with his students and I am learning from him lot. Another extra benefit from the course is working with him.Concerning my project, my students finished all tasks (pre-tasks) of the experiment and they started writing their essays on google drive. My students really impressed me as I find them very motivated and doing well. They read the lessons, responded to my questions, filled in a survey, chose to work in pairs and finally joined google drive and created google docs and invited me to be their to give them feedback when writing their essays. I liked everything they are doing. I thought that I am changing only my ways and techniques of techniques but I think I started to change my beliefs as well and I am sure that changing beliefs is more effective then changing ways because beliefs will form our thoughts which will be translated in a form of actions as illustrated here (from http://www.mind-sets.com/html/mindset/beliefs.htm

 

It is said  What you believe determines the world you live in, and by changing one, you change the other. so we don't need only to have dreams and interest to change but we must have a change inside us and have positive beliefs about what we do and what we want. 

Week 6 reflection

Dear all,

This week,  I had many sorts of problems :Internet, work, students, study but I tried to do my best. Sometimes, it is impossible to overcome time problems even you are metacognitive enough and good in planning and management.

This week, I was stuck from beginning simply because of the nature of the topic ""large classes", the topic that makes me feel embarrassed and frustrated whenever I hear or talk about. I have read about the article since 2009 but whenever I read I feel more anxious and truck. The theory about it is amazing, but the practice is  far away from what is discussed in theory at least in my work conditions or setting. I know that one of the pillars of the learning process is the teaching but the teacher alone without setting appropriate conditions may do nothing. An example of that is a teacher who is aware of using technology and authentic materials but who is teaching 500 students in a hall without any supporting materials.

The articles that I read and highly recommend are:

Some of the articles that I read before the course (since 2009):
Books on lecturing and on teaching large classes
Bligh, D.A., What's the Use of Lectures? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
Brown, S. & Race, P. Lecturing: A Practical Guide. London: Kogan Page, 2002.
MacGregor, J., Cooper, J.L., Smith, K.A., & Robinson, P. (eds.). Strategies for Energizing Large Classes: From Small Groups to Learning Communities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
Stanley, C. A. & Porter, E. M. (eds.). Engaging Large Classes: Strategies and Techniques for College Faculty. Bolton, MA: Anker, 2002.
Chapters on lecturing in teaching handbooks:
Davis, B.G. Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001.
McKeachie, W., et al., Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 11th edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
Web resources:
Barbara Gross Davis: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/teaching.html
See especially chapters 12 and 13.
Idea papers: http://www.idea.ksu.edu/resources/index.html
See especially papers 14 and 24.
Indiana University Teaching Handbook: http://www.iub.edu/~teaching/handbook_2.shtml

The readings I explored through the course:
1.   how to give interactive lectures
2.   improving lectures by William Cashin
3.   designing user interactive PowerPoint presentations
4.   interactive lectures (summaries of 36 formats)
5.   presenting with PowerPoint
6.   teaching large classes
7.   Creating interactive PowerPoint presentations for teachers and students.
8.   interactive PowerPoint, not your usual approach
9.   Eating the numbers game:effective teaching in large classes by Richard M. Felder
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Largeclasses.htm
10.   How to create memorable lectures
http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=790


The articles that I find really useful is: Teaching Large Classes and all links related to it by Cutting Edge - Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty Through
 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/teaching/LargeClasses.html#engaged

Why this link or resource?

I found bridge between what I had, knew and used and what can be implemented to improve my teaching practice. Examples of the activities that I used to conduct in teaching large classes:Designing posters, then poster walk, Think, pair, share, Quick surveys for assessment,  Active listening and Reformulations or quick writings

This link is a space to teachers where they may find interesting ideas for improving teaching and ways to apply them in their practice. Further, there are many techniques which are developed through using technology devices and systems.

Some of the techniques that I find very interesting, motivating and engagement, enhancing cooperation and not time consuming are

•   Just in Time Teaching (JiTT) « Just-in-Time Teaching focuses on improving student learning through the use of brief web-based questions (JiTT exercises) delivered before a class meeting. Students' responses to JiTT exercises are reviewed by the instructor a few hours before class and are used to develop classroom activities addressing learning gaps revealed in the JiTT responses. JiTT exercises allow instructors to quickly gather information about student understanding of course concepts immediately prior to a class meeting and tailor activities to meet students' actual learning needs. » (Retrieved from the link http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/justintime/index.html)

Role -play/ Which is a learning structure that allows students to immediately apply content as they are put in the role of a decision maker who must make a decision regarding a policy, resource allocation, or some other outcome. This technique is an excellent tool for engaging students and allowing them to interact with their peers as they try to complete the task assigned to them in their specific role.

•   Lecture Capture: A Guide to Effective Use
Lecture capture involves the recording of classroom activities or special events using specific software and making that recording available electronically. The audio or video recording is normally stored digitally on the Internet or in iTunes U for downloading and playing back on computers and portable media players, such as MP3 players and iPods. The recording is sometimes referred to as a podcast or a screencast, and may be audio-only or include video of the lecture. Some software synchronizes lecture slides for viewing alongside the relevant sections of audio and/or video recordings of the instructor. (retrieved from http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1042)

•   Engagement Triggers for Interactive Lecture Segments
The instructor might want to begin an interactive lecture segment by using some sort of engagement trigger to capture student attention. This can be as simple as asking a thought-provoking question. Other good options are things that have visual appeal or are of common interest to students. Instructors might try: Evocative visuals, physical props, Cartoons, Photographs, Evocative textual passages and News clips.

•  One-minute write activities ask students to stop what they are doing a produce a written response in only one minute. This technique can be used to collect feedback on understanding by asking them to identify what they thought the most confusing point was or to voice a question. It can also allow students an opportunity for immediate application.

•   ConcepTest questions are conceptual multiple choice questions that are used to assess student understanding. Students work on the questions individually. These questions can be used to promote higher-level thinking such as analysis, critical thinking, and synthesis. As these questions take little time, you can ask several in a class period. They provide a quick objective assessment of students' prior knowledge or of how much of the class understood your lecture

This week I found a way to my project, I just spent time thinking how to do with students to get access, then I got an idea to work with those who are always online and familiar with internet use. I thought to bring change and help to those students, suddenly I remember that they have a problem with writing. They dont have a teacher of writing till now (they are third year student, I don't teach them but  they used to be my students before). I decided to make a post in facebook ask who is interested to join the experience. over 30 students responded but from different levels but I decided to choose third year students to help them solve the problem of Essay Writing. 

The project is a virtual class, just imitating what Sean is doing on nicenet so I created a virtual class in nicenet. The aim of the class is to enhance their motivation, collaboration and improve their essay writing skills. We spent one week and all students responded to week one tasks. The next step is creating a googledoc and start writing essays in pairs, then exchange essays with other participants to get used to group work and peer assessment. I also designed a simple rubric for their assessment to be more guided and have a clear idea. I sent them grades of week 1 tasks which were just brainstorming activities to activate their schemata about internet and essay writing. Further, I designed a short survey to evaluate their knowledge about technology and essays with a short task, writing a short essay about their life at university just to see their abilities and knowledge of essays. This survey and task will be considered as a pre-test for the experiment. Then, after finishing this short course, they will be asked to write essays and respond to another survey to reveal what they have learned from this experience. 

The reason to do that is not only to achieve the final project but to test my understanding of all what we had with Sean sir in this experience of online learning. I wanted to learn it more by doing and get involved to see how much I can achieve and what are the difficulties I may encounter to be able to raise the issues as a part of the final wrap up of the course.

Thanks Sean and classmates for such a wonderful experience and thanks to my students to respond to me. 

Week 5 Reflection

What can I say by the end of this amazing work done this week !! Just one word!

This week's content, readings and assignments just remind us as teachers, that change may happen one day if we want to change, something may happen after trial and error, one change may work even many couldn't but the issue is not to give up and get frustrated. So the matter, is to overcome the problems that we have and try to create some motivational conditions not to keep stuck and thinking about the obstacles that we have. Simply trying to be positive and create positive things from what we have.

This week readings and tasks encouraged me to make change and to think about little changes that may cause great differences and stop thinking about changing whole systems and programs. This week we read about the following teaching techniques:

Project Based Learning 
I  read " A Project-Based Learning Activity About Project-Based Learning" in 
http://www.sun-associates.com/lynn/pbl/pbl.html
This article is about a sample project by sun associates.

The second is "Less Teaching and More Learning
Turning from traditional methods to project-based instruction, the author found that her students learned more" by Susan Gaer. In the article the author made us explore her experience with introducing PBL in a form of folktales and talking about traditions, their families having projects about where students can feel the meaningfulness of the project to their lives and interests. We can learn a lot from that experience; further, she added what the crucial elements in project should be stating that: (1) the project must be geared to the population (2) the students must see value in a project (3) flexible timeliness are necessary.

The third reading was about alternative assessment by NCLRC (National Capital Language Resource Center)
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm.
In the article, many elements are covered such as defining alternative assessment, features, criteria to define alternative assessment activities and alternative assessment methods being checklists and rubrics. Alternative assessment uses activities that reveal what students can do with language, emphasizing their strengths instead of their weaknesses. Alternative assessment instruments are not only designed and structured differently from traditional tests, but are also graded or scored differently. Because alternative assessment is performance based, it helps instructors emphasize that the point of language learning is communication for meaningful purposes.
Alternative assessment methods work well in learner-centered classrooms because they are based on the idea that students can evaluate their own learning and learn from the evaluation process
Rubrics
Another issue that we explored thoroughly this week is Rubrics. I used to design rubrics and dealt with the issue since 2010; also, I had a conference presentation about designing rubrics but I have never heard about Rubistar http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ which I find very useful and helping to limit the assessment criteria particularly for the writing and oral tasks. I would share some hints about rubrics here.


Criteria to design effective rubrics are classified according to the steps of the learning process which are product, process and progress.

General  Criteria

• The specific areas for assessment.
• Focus areas for instruction.
• Clear and relevant.
• Age appropriate.
• Form and function represented.

 Product criteria

ž  What students produce (pamphlet, brochure, play a game, create a game, perform a routine).

ž  Performance and projects are examples of products.

ž  Rubric contains critical elements necessary for required content.

ž  Stating performance outcomes in terms of products says nothing about application or correct form.

ž 

Process Criteria

ž  Critical elements necessary for correct performance.

ž  Outlines the processes that students use to learn.

ž  In Physical Education process criteria refers to the quality of physical performance.

ž  Self-check, peer evaluation, teacher evaluation.

ž  Evaluating process says nothing about how much a student has improved.

Progress Criteria

ž  Determine how much a student has improved or progressed.

ž  Determines the mastery of the critical elements of performance.

ž  In order to measure progress teachers must administer assessments more than once

  

Considerations to Address when Creating Rubrics

Validity – Does the rubric measure what it claims to measure.

žReliability – Does the assessment consistently produce the same results.

Transparency – Criteria are clear enough to students so that they can assess themselves and others with roughly the same reliability.

Subjectivity – The amount of judgment used to assign a score to a student’s performance.

WebQuests

The other teaching technique for this week is Webquest which we explored through
http://zunal.com/zunal-help/help-about-whatiswebquest.php
http://www.webquest.org/
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html

Before having read this articles, I have never thought that I will use or be able to create a webquest one day, but trying that on  http://questgarden.com/ and http://zunal.com made me feel that nothing is impossible or hard if we have a will to change or have a start. It has been my first experience but I liked it much and I am motivated to design a webquest for my course project. So, for the change I am thinking to implement in my class, I think it would be a PBL activity with guide through a webquest. Much work and readings to be done but one must think that limitations are always there.
This week's task is a potential class change !! I think the change is started to be realized since our metacognition started to have change (more awareness, more knowledge, more self evaluation, replanning ....) and I am sure the change starts from ourselves. Now, I am sure all of us will try something out.

A hard mission but worth trying

As said by Andrew Littlejohn