6.3 Reflection - Technology and Assessments

Formative and summative assessments available online can be quick to take and fun for students, they offer immediate feedback to students progress direct to student and teacher.  Formative level assessments allow the teacher to determine if more direction is needed for progress of entire class or individuals while summative assessments allow students to work together confirming and building understanding and use of the knowledge they have just acquired.  This environment can be accomplished in online and blended learning as opposed to face-to-face where assessments take time to process grades and give feedback to students. Often the time delay puts such a distance between content learned and assessment feedback that students do not question or engage material that was not comprehended well.

The time involved in building online assessments can be cumbersome but is well worth the outcome of immediate feedback to students and ease of collecting grades. Students, parents and teachers reap the benefit of these online assessments. Some curriculum sources are now including online formative assessments that I would strongly suggest taking the time to learn how to implement in your courses.

A challenge addressed in this module was when and where to take an assessment. The biggest questions is the summative assessment that determines a student’s overall understanding and if it is an online test how do we monitor that student for a cheat free environment. I prefer the student being monitored by an unbiased adult for their final exam if it is an individual test. However, I have determined that if a time limit is enforced on an online test that it eliminates the student away from school to use materials to cheat/assist with answers as they will score low because of their lack of understanding. Ifthe final exam is a project evaluation then I am happy to apply rubric to student understanding and effort. 

6.2 Designing a Comprehensive Assessment Plan

Bank On-It Comprehensive Assessment Plan

1.       Unit/lesson plan

a.       Objectives

 i.       Identify the major types of insured financial institutions.

ii.       Identify five reasons to use a bank.

iii.      Describe the steps involved in opening and maintaining a bank account.

iv.      Describe two types of deposit accounts.

 v.      Describe the main functions of the bank customer service representative, teller, loan officer, and branch manager.

b.      CCS: W.11-12.7, L.11-12.4, SL.11-12.1 & .4 & .5

c.       Activities

 i.      Choosing a Bank Checklist – research local banks, complete in word and upload to drop box.

ii.      Check writing and Check Register (on-line activities and mint.org

iii.      Balance checkbook using saved on-line activity and PDF bank statement with step by step process and upload to drop box.

iv.      Post-test – online test

2.       Formative Assessment

a.       LMS Pre-test – online quiz of Banking types, services, account features, and account security

b.      Drag n drop vocabulary - complete until correct

c.       Voice thread Discussion… Student banking account needs - Online banking services VS local banking services 

d.      LMS Post-test – online test

3.       Feedback

a.      Drag and Drop instant feedback – complete until correct

b.      Peer  comments to discussion post of online banking VS Local banking

c.      Teacher grading of check, register and statement balancing with comment feedback to discussion outcomes.

4.       Summative Project

a.       Group of three classmates collaborate to create a checking account feature list in Google Drive on a Google Spreadsheet from research each student performs, and chooses a checking account from any bank of their choice. Once list is complete each student will review and choose the account that best suits them and explain their choice based on the account feature comparisons and post to their blog and upload a link to course project wikispace.

Rubric

Criteria	5	3	1
Document Accuracy and mathematical computation	Check, Register and Bank statement complete with accurate math	Two of three documents completed with accurate math	One document completed with accurate math
Bank Choice	Group paricticipation in one post and two peer comments of online vs local banking voice thread and identifies three different bank services on completed worksheet and uploaded to Drop Box	Group participation in one post and commented on peers online VS local banking voice thread and bank service criteria completed for at least two banks and uploaded to Drop Box	Group  participation in one post or commented on peers online VS local banking voice thread, Bank Choice Worksheet is incomplete of criteria and/or has only one bank info listed and uploaded to Drop box.
Checking Account Choice	Research completed for one checking account and listed features in collaborative platform. Each student assesses three account choices on list and clearly identifies checking account that best suits their needs.	Research completed most features listed of a checking account and vaguely identified the account that best suits their needs.	Some research and/or vaguely identified the account that best suits their needs.

5.2 Activity: Accessible Social Presence (Intro to Personal Finance)

4.3 Reflection: Social & Professional Networks

Social networking is not something that I have spent a lot of time developing, but I know that most of my friends and students do. Two things have increased my participation: my foreign exchange daughters use it regularly along with Skype and my friends and family use it to wish me a Happy Birthday the last two years and it was gratifying to read the number of wishes and they liked hearing from me recognizing their wishes.

As my birthday was yesterday I looked at Facebook over the last two days more than I do normally in one month. It interrupted my online work every time it went off, taking me longer to complete assignments. Although I felt it was worth it, but not something that I would do in the same manner daily.

I do think my students try to multitask their social life and learning life at the same time and are not always making the right decision as to which should be given priority.

I use the internet professionally for research daily, building assignments in Moodle, grading and emailing and feel that I am always learning new things. It is often that I find myself spending way to much time online looking at what all is available. I recently joined LinkedIn to keep in touch with Rotary and school colleagues, and Twitter because it rated number 1 in this course material. I have tried to use Google docs for two committees I was on to collaborate on major reports but everyone had problems so they reverted to email with recent version in title name. My normal recreation use of the internet is ancestry.com and I have learned a lot from that site as well. I am hungry to master Web2.0 tools and teach their uses to my students.

In regard to student using the internet to learn I believe they need to learn how to research, or not give up so easily when asked to research. They are used to instant gratification and often state, “I can’t find anything” related to research topic. Often I am giving the help at their station to point them in the right direction, and they are not using those skills for the next research project.

Students that are successful in researching are also good and copying the URL and pasting in their Research tab of of online portfolio. Unfortunately, that is about 5% of the students who stay on top of documenting their resources discovered and used. Based on this I would like to create a lesson early in the year around research and documenting so they are not working so hard or twice to do the assigned task correctly.

Most student can teach me a thing or too about different social websites they are using and would like me to join via I-phone. Most have to do with pictures. So I know they are capable of doing research well, I just need to present it in an entertaining or challenging way that engages all of the students. 

3.3 Reflection: Using Web 2.0 Tools

Banking Institutions and Checking Accounts

• Through a number on online activities students will know their local bank depository institution choices and understand the account options and features available within them. (vocabulary & online references/videos)
• They will write a check online - and understand it's contractual representation and how PIN numbers represent the same contract. (activity)
• Students will compare checking account features and benefits between at least two institutions on a spreadsheet, chart or graph using Create A Graph or Google Analytics. (online research and applications)
• Students then select the account that best meets their individual needs and presents their choice to peers on wiki space or blogger describing their choice reasoning.  (Sharing)

2.2 Reflection: Methodologies of the Online Instructor

After reading this module I feel my instructional methodologies would need to focus on flipping the classroom, where our blended teaching focuses on classroom activities and projects allow application of learned information that evaluates the level of understanding of content acquisition completed prior as homework. I have also enjoyed learning about and hope to develop skills using Camtasia Studio to create content presentations with questions throughout content to check for understanding. I look forward to using Blooms Taxonomy as model for structure in building our course on our chosen LMS and in the classroom where we will create more group activities and projects for the growth in thinking that we are trying to achieve.

Annually our students ask for fewer lectures and more interaction with games, scenarios, and real life application in the classroom, so it is exciting to see how both online and blended models will help us achieve this. I also appreciated how the Kahn Academy addresses that some students will only do one of two content acquisitions included in each lesson, either lecture/reading or activities/application and that the latter is most valuable if they are only going to acquire one. This reiterates exactly what the students have told us in Business and Finance for five years.

The skills and strategies I would improve upon include clear communication, both verbal and written as well as time management so that my students know that I am approachable and when they can expect responses from me while feeling they are getting the individual attention they need or deserve which is what the online learning approach is expected to deliver. Often the face-to-face environment no only allows students to see the line of students needing help which discourages them from asking further questions, or concern of student comment they may have. Most do not come in later during break, lunch after or before school, so the online environment for communication will open up doors for those students offering a better experience for them.

1.2 Reflection: Personal Learning Goal

I am ready and excited to take my blended learning environment to the next level. We have currently used Moodle for weekly instruction for students who are both in the classroom, absent, and on long-term ISO. As our district schools continue to dwindle in size reductions are being made to the courses offered at our sites or to the staff that teaches them creating an immediate need for a superior online product that is greater than what we have used now for over five years. I have researched several LMS options with the following goals in mind for our course product.

•  Easily created
•  Easy to grade assignments and turn back to students via computer
• Easy and entertaining to follow for students

My primary goal is to create a flow of content that students look forward to sitting down to with the expectations of consistency, relevance, and immediate application that is entertaining enough to promote recall of cognitive skills and tools they will have learned on a daily basis.

We have worked video clips into our curriculum to make things more “entertaining”, in hopes to get away from “lecturing” but they are not cleanly presented making our current online course more of a resource for teachers and students. You cannot lecture in an online course and have success… you will put your audience to sleep quicker than we do in person!

Moodle is not the LMS that will take us to the next level as our district no longer can manage this open source program; however, they realize the need to continue with online learning and are willing pay for the products that can bring the best results to our students. I am creating both a Haiku and Schoology course to compare the two programs and know that all LMS options will require some mastering on the part of the teacher to create courses with ease and entertainment in mind. Based on my online learning success results equaling 212 out of 225 I believe I can master this challenge.

I really liked this assessment and will use it with all of my students in the future. One of my biggest concerns in this learning environment is student integrity. Students who cheat in the classroom will cheat online and maybe even more. How do I know that their parent is not doing the work for them? In addition to security/integrity I would like to learn how to set up personal journals, grade and return assignments to students along with all the technology options for completing assignments that are available.