Agile pedagogy is an iterative learning experience design approach that values human communication and feedback, adapting to change, and constructing working results. The University of Mount Union leveraged agile pedagogies to develop a pandemic relief approach to completing the field hours needed for UMU junior level education courses during the Fall 2020 semester.
We recently shared our approach with attendees at the fall conference of The Ohio Confederation of Teacher Education Organizations (OCTEO), a non-profit, state-wide umbrella organization that brings together five Ohio teacher education organizations.
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I received very little feedback, i.e., none, on my post from the other day titled I Don’t Think We Should Ever “Go Back To Normal”. I’d like to think this is not because people do not think this is an important conversation to be having, but more because most people are just plain overwhelmed with the adjustments required of them amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In any event, if you did read my last post, you may be thinking, “So how does it work?“
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Well…that depends. Remember, I told you in a previous post I don’t have all the answers! I do have thoughts though, and I will share them below. Please note, these thoughts are based on my particular institution and may not be entirely applicable to every institution of higher education.
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For better or for worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed us all. Like most educators across the country, I’ve been scrambling to adjust and transition my classes to the online space. As someone who has worked in eLearning design and development since about 2007, I feel fortunate to have a background that made this transition fairly easy for me. I know this isn’t the case for everyone and I am empathetic to their struggles, however, as more days have gone past, I’ve had a feeling that we might not make it back to our physical spaces just this year, but a return next fall may be in danger too. If this happens, it will truly be, as Future puts it, MASK OFF, for all educators. We will have nothing to hide behind.
I started having the, “we should prepare for fall online” conversation with a couple of my colleagues earlier this week. I think it is an important one for all educators to begin engaging in, so I am going to share some of my initial thoughts. Please note, this is the rough cut. The polish isn’t there yet, but I am hoping that making my thinking transparent and public others will chime in.
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[[taps mic……]] This thing on???🤷♂️
Well, it’s been awhile on this blog, but the COVID-19 health crisis has brought me back, as I think this is the most appropriate forum to share the following. An email my wonderful and talented colleague Dr. Jennifer Hollinger and I received from one of our clinical practice students who is in the field, trying to complete her clinical (student teaching but we have new words for things in 2020) experience, graduate and become an awesome classroom teacher.
Dear Dr. Brueck and Dr. Hollinger,
Good morning! I am working on creating lessons for this online instruction period. I am worried about missing the formative assessment piece in these lessons since I cannot talk to the students while I am teaching them to see if they have an understanding of the topic.
I have been brainstorming the best way to do this. Right now, I am creating my lessons on Google Slides. The only idea that I have right now is to create short Google Forms where students answer a question based on the minilesson that I taught. If they get it incorrect, they will be directed to another minilesson/video/practice tool to help them with the concept before they move on in the lesson. I am worried because I know there are students that will gloss over this and move on (I am in 5th grade language arts currently).
Do either of you have any other ideas for formative assessment that can be done without having the students all online at the same time? Thank you!
Both Jen and I did our best to provide timely feedback and I wanted to share our responses in case they may be helpful to you or your students.
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One of the things I’ve been looking into lately has been mobile content creation. With the rise of the tablet, I’m finding k12 and adult students are eager for opportunities to learn just-in-time with their device of choice. From an instructional design perspective, this means that to deliver to any & all devices, you’ve got to be looking towards HTML5.
My developer colleagues at the University of Akron’s Center for Literacy cringe every time we talk about HTML5 and designing apps for iOS and Android. To them, HTML5 is a giant step backwards in terms of the complexity and richness of web apps that could be developed with other tools (RIP Flash).
They feel that in the HTML5 arena, animations are stripped down and much less interactivity is available. They are mostly right here. HTML5 has limited the types of instructional interactions we can offer all ages of students in the online environment. As we begin to design web-based user experiences in HTML5, we are essentially creating a duel interface that can be run through a desktop or laptop browser AND a mobile browser. Until mobile devices have processors equal to their desktop/laptop brothers, we’ll never be able to offer as rich of a learning environment on any type of mobile device, yet we are still going to develop custom digital content for mobile…
So what can the average educator do? Read the rest of this entry…
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This election day, I’ll be presenting at G-Tech 2010, the annual Green Local School District Educational Technology conference. From the conference website:
The purpose of the day is to equip teachers with training in technical areas that will assist them in their classrooms as they prepare students to be 21st Century Learners. The conference will include presentations from Green Staff as well as from a wide range of vendors and other school districts.
My session description:
A New Way to Connect
Adobe Connect Professional is a cutting edge, web-based communication and collaboration solution that can be used to enhance face-to-face and online courses. With Adobe Connect, synchronous web classrooms are a reality. Learn how to use this great tool from the perspective of a participant, a presenter, or a host! Capabilities include chat, white board, document sharing, screen sharing as well as live audio and video. How can Green Local take next step in incorporating Adobe Connect into the district e-learning processes? Join us and find out!
Presentation Resources
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A few weeks back, I posted “Examining the Purpose of a Dissertation Literature Review,” in which I outlined the Doctoral Research Forum I am participating in. I think the concept that the University of Akron College of Education faculty are pursuing could lead to a valuable educational experience for doctoral candidates. Additionally, I commend my UA profs because this type of collaboration between course instructors is a largely unheard of at UA. However, I have been struggling throughout the forum assignments. This is largely due to the fact that each of the past four weeks we have been required to read a scholarly article, post a written response on the Springboard (UA’s LMS) discussion forum and then respond to at least one of our colleagues responses.
This week, the game changed a bit and student participants were asked to provide feedback. From the Discussion Forum posting:
This week’s discussion is about the Research FORUM in general. The FORUM instructors greatly value your feedback.
1. What do you think about content and process of the FORUM is effective?
2. What suggestions do you have for improving the FORUM?
3. What other comment, observations, questions, etc. would you like to share?
The following is my response. I’m sure it will be well received by some, and not so popular with others. Because of this, I titled the SUBJECT of my forum topic “Disclaimer: Honest feedback. Personal opinion.”
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I’ve been working on authoring a Flash-based learning object using Articulate Engage for one of my grad classes over the past couple of days. During the development phase, I knew I wanted to include a couple of brief video segments to provide multi-modal opportunities to present the content. The one thing I wasn’t crazy about was using my voice for the narration. Sure I could, but the fact of the matter is I’m not really that crazy about listening to my voice over and over again during the editing process. As an alternative, I decided to experiment with using Text-to-Speech software.
For those who need a little background, Wikipedia provides this information about Text-to-Speech (TTS):
A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal language text into speech…An intelligible text-to-speech program allows people with visual impairments or reading disabilities to listen to written works on a home computer. Many computer operating systems have included speech synthesizers since the early 1980s.
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[SWF]http://brueckei.org/jsb_content/currere_engage/pinar.swf, 440, 260[/SWF]
Full Screen Version of Learning Object
This semester I’m enrolled in an independent study with Dr. Lisa Lenhart and Dr. Jennifer Milam from the University of Akron. The course is Introduction to Curriculum Theory, one which isn’t currently offered as a part of the College of Education’s Curriculum and Instruction doctoral program. The main text we are using to guide our discussion of curriculum theory is William F. Pinar‘s 2004 work, “What is Curriculum Theory?” From the course syllabus:
Curriculum theory is, then, about discovering and articulating, for oneself and with others, the educational significance of the school subjects for self and society in the ever-changing historical moment. As a consequence, curriculum theory rejects the current “business-minded” school reform, with its emphasis on test scores on standardized examinations, academic analogues to “the bottom line” (i.e., “profit”). It rejects the miseducation of the American public” (Pinar, 2004, p. 16).
As I’ve been working my way through the text, one of the concepts I’m trying to understand more deeply is the significance of the re-conceptualization of curriculum studies. After reading the first few chapters, it’s quite clear that Pinar has some issues with the historical context of curriculum theory. In fact, he is very intent on voicing his opinion regarding the complexities and contradictions of curriculum theory and practice as most educators know it.
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