I have been looking for sometime for a web 2.0 tool that would meet both mine and my math 8 students’ needs. Some of my students participate in 50% or more of their learning off site while others are not living close by so do 100% of their learning off site. I have tried Glogster but it did not meet my needs. I have looked at Pinterest and done some course design in Canvas. I have directed students to Khan Academy. I have spent some time searching the web and found a related teacher’s Weebly. But after experiencing a Ted-Ed lesson I have a sense this is what I have been looking for. I would use an LMS to organize each of the learning outcomes in to their own units and then have under each a section for the related Ted-Ed lesson.
Each Ted-Ed lesson is organized in the "flipped classroom" format as follows:
Instruction:
Watch-load a video lesson accessed on YouTube or one that I have created or found on Educreations
or other websites. While some students find the use of video for instruction engaging others can find them confusing. I have seen this previously in relation to the viewing of a YouTube video for the teaching of a math concept. If the student has no other source of explanation this can limit their learning and lead to frustration. To elevate this a section in the LMS should offer the concept instructions in a readable format.
Engage:
Think-created in Ted-Ed
a) Completion of immediate feedback multiple choice questions. Ted-Ed works such that students
could revisit the video if they found they did not meet with success and then do the multiple
choice questions again. Both of these are advantageous for students as they get immediate
feedback and can revisit the instructions as often as needed.
b) Short answer and problem solving questions, these would allow me to assess students
understanding of the concepts. This could also be where students describe their understanding
of a concept, math literacy, another way for me to assess their understanding.
Inguiry
Dig Deeper, is where I could provide web links to related resources. The links can lead to further inquiry
for the students, as well as help students develop a deeper understanding prior to participating in the discussion question. It may even inspire them to do further exploration on their own.
**Of importance is the regular monitoring of students’ progress. There is a feature included in Ted-Ed that makes this easy, a page where each of your students is listed along with a column for each engage and discussion activity. It shows exactly how many questions in each students have completed.
Discuss:
Discussion in Ted-Ed can be guided or open. Discussion/collaboration between students is one of the areas that is often seen as lacking in online courses. Application of a concept in a real life scenario could be a discussion topic.
**A discussion topic that involves discussion and collaboration is students could post self-created questions. Students are required to solve a set number of the questions, away from the discussion site. When onsite they collaborate to see if they solved each other’s questions correctly. For those who are unable to attend the face to face session or if this is a totally online class then discussion and collaboration can occur through Skype or another online communication tool such as Collaborate . For those unable to attend either the solutions can then be posted in the discussion post. This also allows others to go back on their own time to review if needed.
I see a limitation in relation to the discussion. Students in my math 8 course at any given time may be working on different units of study. Where they are in the course is dependent on a number of factors such as when they registered at our school, what their skill level was when they entered and the speed at which they complete a unit. It is hard to have a discussion if you are the only one working on that unit. Luckily one of the advantages of Ted-Ed is that it gives you the option to hide one or more sections if they are not relevant to that lesson.
Another options, so as to promote collaboration and discussion, could be to have a separate discussion area, in the LMS, where students work on a weekly problem solving question that is a review of a concept I know all students have covered. This again could be offered in a Ted-Ed lesson format or I could just post the question, still with the expectation that discussion and collaboration occurs as outlined above.
I am excited to explore Ted-Ed further. I feel by moving my course in to an online environment I will be better able to meet my students’ learning needs. I must however keep in mind that there may be some students who choose not to or are not given permission to use the online version. I must always be prepared to offer the same learning experience in an alternate format for these students.
For a tour of Ted-Ed go to the following link. http://ed.ted.com/tour
Each Ted-Ed lesson is organized in the "flipped classroom" format as follows:
Instruction:
Watch-load a video lesson accessed on YouTube or one that I have created or found on Educreations
or other websites. While some students find the use of video for instruction engaging others can find them confusing. I have seen this previously in relation to the viewing of a YouTube video for the teaching of a math concept. If the student has no other source of explanation this can limit their learning and lead to frustration. To elevate this a section in the LMS should offer the concept instructions in a readable format.
Engage:
Think-created in Ted-Ed
a) Completion of immediate feedback multiple choice questions. Ted-Ed works such that students
could revisit the video if they found they did not meet with success and then do the multiple
choice questions again. Both of these are advantageous for students as they get immediate
feedback and can revisit the instructions as often as needed.
b) Short answer and problem solving questions, these would allow me to assess students
understanding of the concepts. This could also be where students describe their understanding
of a concept, math literacy, another way for me to assess their understanding.
Inguiry
Dig Deeper, is where I could provide web links to related resources. The links can lead to further inquiry
for the students, as well as help students develop a deeper understanding prior to participating in the discussion question. It may even inspire them to do further exploration on their own.
**Of importance is the regular monitoring of students’ progress. There is a feature included in Ted-Ed that makes this easy, a page where each of your students is listed along with a column for each engage and discussion activity. It shows exactly how many questions in each students have completed.
Discuss:
Discussion in Ted-Ed can be guided or open. Discussion/collaboration between students is one of the areas that is often seen as lacking in online courses. Application of a concept in a real life scenario could be a discussion topic.
**A discussion topic that involves discussion and collaboration is students could post self-created questions. Students are required to solve a set number of the questions, away from the discussion site. When onsite they collaborate to see if they solved each other’s questions correctly. For those who are unable to attend the face to face session or if this is a totally online class then discussion and collaboration can occur through Skype or another online communication tool such as Collaborate . For those unable to attend either the solutions can then be posted in the discussion post. This also allows others to go back on their own time to review if needed.
I see a limitation in relation to the discussion. Students in my math 8 course at any given time may be working on different units of study. Where they are in the course is dependent on a number of factors such as when they registered at our school, what their skill level was when they entered and the speed at which they complete a unit. It is hard to have a discussion if you are the only one working on that unit. Luckily one of the advantages of Ted-Ed is that it gives you the option to hide one or more sections if they are not relevant to that lesson.
Another options, so as to promote collaboration and discussion, could be to have a separate discussion area, in the LMS, where students work on a weekly problem solving question that is a review of a concept I know all students have covered. This again could be offered in a Ted-Ed lesson format or I could just post the question, still with the expectation that discussion and collaboration occurs as outlined above.
I am excited to explore Ted-Ed further. I feel by moving my course in to an online environment I will be better able to meet my students’ learning needs. I must however keep in mind that there may be some students who choose not to or are not given permission to use the online version. I must always be prepared to offer the same learning experience in an alternate format for these students.
For a tour of Ted-Ed go to the following link. http://ed.ted.com/tour