Link to Google Docs Interactive Learning Resource: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mLrOz5ijIJMSoLEl8viGqGFxKsfpkRAlmxxUgTjbzFs/edit?usp=sharing
Link to Google Slides Interactive Learning Resource: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vSAjuc5lCOyfb7yrVt5S_uksHL3tIZq32Cojfj1q2kY/edit?usp=sharing
Hi Sullo, Junfeng, and Zhenyu! I am not much of an artist myself, so reading through your resource was very informative for me. I have decided to structure my feedback in a “two stars and a wish” format. This ensures that I do not overwhelm you with feedback, but also cover the main points of my thoughts and concerns as I read through.
My first star is the overall organization of this resource. I love how the resource is made into different parts. The topic is introduced in the “course overview” and “unit 1” sections. This allows the learners to understand what the resource is about and practice time before they start to create drawings. The “unit 2” section allows the learners to practice, apply, and reflect on their learning throughout the resource. I also appreciate that the activities put into each section relate to what has just been learned. If I were to give one suggestion for this star, it would just be to put the video that is in “additional resources” at the start as that is where it is stated that it would be in the overview.
My second star is the various types of assessment used. Learners are provided with multiple opportunities to showcase their learning. The short answer questions allow learners to explain what they know on the technical side of drawing. This challenges the knowledge of the learners and provides them with the opportunity to explain their new knowledge. In the reflection, the learners are given the opportunity to explain what they think are their strongest and weakest drawings, their approach to drawing, and what they have learned. It is important to challenge learners on why they answered a question a certain way, which was done in this section. If I were to give one suggestion for this star, it would be to be careful with the overall assessment of this resource and choose the wording carefully. For example, simply saying “good drawings” could be left up to interpretation. Try saying “a drawing that includes a clear attempt at ______”. This will allow learners to understand exactly what is expected for that drawing.
My one wish is more types of media built-in throughout the resource. Some learners may be very visual, so it could help to have a short video clip of an artist doing an activity or certain skill throughout. Another alternative would be to have links to artists who do a certain type of artwork or skill well that the learners could refer to if they needed inspiration or ideas. Another suggestion would be to have written instructions on how to do a certain skill. This may help some learners who do not know where to start or the process in which a certain type of artwork is often done. With this being said, one thing that I did like in terms of the media built-in was the inclusion of examples throughout the slideshow.
Overall, I enjoyed your resource and thought that it is great for learners who are looking to build on pre-existing skills or who want to learn more about the specific topics covered in your resource.
Hi Josh! Your post on Brain Breaks for Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade // Mindfulness, social emotional learning, & more! was very well written. I want to start off by saying that video is an amazing resource! It was very useful and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and even learned some new things. I agree with you that this would be a good video to show learners, as it does cover a wide range of topics but also does not go too deep into any of them. It is a good video as an overview of the general concept of brain breaks but still allows you to take the learning deeper into a variety of sub-topics. I like your idea of having the learners take notes and then put them into their own words in a blog post. This allows for maximum engagement with peers but also allows the learners to recognize what they may not understand quite yet.
Hi Kirby! I loved your post on interaction. The point you make about how we are inherently making decisions when on applications made me think. I never really thought about how even the “pointless” act of scrolling through TikTok is engaging my brain to make decisions based on what I like or find interesting. On another note, I absolutely love the video that you included in your post! That brain break would even keep me entertained as an adult, let alone as a kid. The video is very user-friendly with the options to either see the questions and actions or hear them. This allows all different types of learners to engage in the brain break. This video could also be useful to show in an interactive learning resource as an example. I believe that it is a very good example of what an active brain break could look like.
Hi Kirby! Your post on inclusive design was very informative. First of all, I absolutely love the quote that you included! I think it is something that is very important to remember as future educators. The points you made about equality and equity are ones that I also struggle with as an educator. We want all students to have our equal attention, but sometimes we have to value equity over equality in those moments and support the students who need it more. But then how do we define who needs the support more? It is an ongoing internal battle that I am sure other educators face as well. I agree with you when you state that we must not design with only one type of learner in mind or what works best for us. Ultimately, we created this resource for all different kinds of people and must do our best to accommodate and adapt for anybody who may need it.
Hi Sam! I loved your reflections throughout your post on inclusive design. You raise an excellent point about the design of our resource. Having it fully online allows working professionals, who do not have much extra time, the opportunity to complete the course at their own pace. You do, however, raise a good point about how this could possibly limit access to some people. If a person does not have easy access to technology then they may not be able to complete our resource. I would then suggest possibly going to a public library, but this still creates barriers as libraries are only open for certain hours and also in the case of a pandemic may be fully closed. Overall, I thought your post was very well written and included important reflections on our resource that would be good to consider in the future.
Our interactive learning resource was designed with a variety of people in mind. We decided to make our resource in a Google Slides format. This was to ensure that people did not necessarily have to be in-person to complete the module. It was designed for teachers who are looking to develop their learning on brain breaks. This was so that teachers can utilize the concept in their own classroom. Since teachers work all day, they are not able to attend sessions either in-person or online during the day. By the end of the day, most teachers are tired and do not want to do a whole seminar on something else related to their job. With this design, teachers can either do it self-paced in the evenings/weekends or during a professional development day. We designed our learning resource with a single parent who is working full-time and has 2 kids in elementary school in mind, as well as a person with a loss of hearing. Similar to teachers, our learning resource is easily accessible for a parent working full-time with 2 kids, as it is self-directed and they are able to work through it as they wish. For a person with a loss of hearing, our resource is all written out on slides and any videos shown in the slideshow have subtitles available.
We have designed this resource to be a self-directed learning experience where professional adults can work at their own pace. Working through the slides and completing the related content does not need to be completed during 9-5 work hours or in a certain amount of time. This flexibility would allow a single parent with young children to complete their learning during a time that would work well with their schedule.
Overall, we tried to make our learning resource as accessible as possible for people of all abilities.
Hi Josh! Your post on direct instruction was very informative. I completely agree with you on how direct instruction should only be utilized in times where it best serves the students. For example, if there are safety concerns or something else that needs to be addressed to everyone. My teaching style is very similar to yours in which I only like to use direct instruction within a lesson if I am teaching specific new information. Otherwise, I believe it benefits the students more to practice and apply this new knowledge than for me to continuously provide students with information over and over again. I agree with you that direct instruction only has a limited role within our learning resource. By utilizing videos, activities, and opportunities for reflection, we are enabling our learners to practice and apply knowledge and make it meaningful to themselves. Something to reflect on would be how have you seen direct instruction utilized in a positive way but also negatively and what made them positive or negative?
Hi Sam! I loved your post on cooperative learning. I totally agree with you on how cooperative learning and brain breaks could be intertwined. Whether students are working individually or cooperatively, the need for a break is still very relevant. Students need to be able to take a break during any kind of learning to allow their brains to recharge and get ready to continue the task at hand. I love your point about how cooperative learning benefits students in a variety of ways. Students are not only learning or applying new information, they are helping guide others and enhance each other’s learning. If our interactive learning resource was intended for group learning, I think that the principles that go along with cooperative learning would be great to consider. Something to reflect on would be how you have utilized or plan to utilize cooperative learning in your past or future classrooms?
Link to Google Docs Interactive Learning Resource Blueprint: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JBFUFz6jwZ6BJWjUSG_U1xfIrmENqmMUMrV9my91h60/edit?usp=sharing
Inquiry-based learning is not a new concept but is definitely one that is growing throughout the world. Inquiry is all about learning something new and is a “learning and teaching method that prioritizes student questions, ideas, and analyses” (Guido, 2017). Inquiry is about investigating an open question or problem and this can be done through case studies, group projects, research projects, fieldwork, or whatever other kind of activity you think would work.
There are 4 types of inquiry:
5 characteristics of Inquiry-Based learning/teaching include (UTA Online, 2017):
Some notes for teachers about inquiry-based learning (Isik-Ercan, 2020, p. 345):
This is a video that summarizes what inquiry-based learning is:
Another great resource that I encourage you to check out is Inquiry Mindset by Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt (2018). In this book, they talk about how we can ensure all of our students experience a meaningful school experience. You will learn how to “empower your learners, increase engagement, and accelerate achievement. Harness the wonderings and curiosities of your students and leverage them into powerful learning opportunities. Adopt an inquiry approach that results in the most authentic and inspiring learning you’ve ever experienced” (MacKenzie & Bathurst-Hunt, 2018). They include a plethora of diagrams to help you visualize what he is explaining, which you can also use to show your students throughout the process. Trevor MacKenzie has also written Dive Into Inquiry (2016) and Inquiry Mindset: Assessment Edition (2021), which are both worth reading as well.
How Inquiry-Based Learning does not align with our chosen topic of brain breaks
Inquiry-based learning is about what is done during the learning process. Brain breaks are what is done to take a break from the learning process, in order to allow our brains to reset and get ready to focus on the task at hand again. Even though inquiry-based learning is supposed to be more engaging and easier for the students to find motivation in, that does not mean they will not need a break throughout the project. Brain breaks can be incorporated throughout the project, but are not necessarily aligned with inquiry-based learning specifically.
How Inquiry-Based Learning does or does not have a place within our learning resource
Does:
Inquiry-based learning is all about researching what you would like to learn more about. Within our learning resource, we are going to give the learners time to do their own research, as well as use the resources we have given them. They may have time to research a certain part of the topic and create their own conclusions in doing so.
Does not:
Within this project, the learners will only have approximately one to two hours to go through the resource. This does not allow enough time to complete a full inquiry, as they can take days or even months. Our learners will be encouraged to continue their learning and to continue asking questions and finding answers, but we will only be able to cover so much within our two-hour timeframe.
Overall, inquiry-based learning is a great tool for educators to use and should be used more. Unfortunately, we are not able to fully implement it into our learning resource, but we hope that our learners will still engage in some form of inquiry-based learning on their own.
References:
Guido, M. (2017, January 19). What is inquiry-based learning: 7 benefits & strategies you need to know. Prodigy Education. Retrieved from https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/inquiry-based-learning-definition-benefits-strategies/
Isik-Ercan, Z. (2020). ‘you have 25 kids playing around!’: Learning to implement inquiry-based science learning in an urban second-grade classroom. International Journal of Science Education, 42(3), 329-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2019.1710874
MacKenzie, T., & Bathurst-Hunt, R. (2018). Inquiry mindset: Nurturing the dreams, wonders, and curiosities of our youngest learners. Elevate Books Edu.
Spencer, John (2017, December 5). What is inquiry-based learning? . YouTube. https://youtu.be/QlwkerwaV2E
UTA Online. (2017, September 8). How inquiry-based learning can work in a math classroom. UTA Online. Retrieved from https://academicpartnerships.uta.edu/articles/education/inquiry-based-learning-math-classroom.aspx
Hi Kirby! I loved your post on learning, theory, and motivation. I think you raised some excellent questions on why we use learning theories. I agree with you when you discuss how organizing people into categories “so bluntly” does not make sense. If each person is so individual and unique then how can we simply put them into one category or the other? Furthermore, how can we be expected to effectively teach students who are put into such categories with strict definitions of who is in each one? Teaching should be about individualizing the curriculum so that it fits who they are as a person. This does not mean teaching them a certain way or teaching them certain subjects just because they fall within a category. In my opinion, this means teaching them material that engages them, as well as teaching them in a way that allows for them to learn and be successful. Overall, I think you raised some excellent points and I cannot wait to see what you write about later in the course.
Hi Josh! I loved your post on behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism. I agree with you on your point about how each learning theory should be valued. If we put students into one category of any of the learning theories then we cannot effectively teach them. Each learning theory must be considered depending on what your learning objectives are and who your students are. Learning is definitely not solely based on behaviour. You raise an excellent point when you talk about how learning is a range of different skills and not just how it changes behaviour. As you mention, it is important to remember the age group that you are teaching. You mention K-12 education, but it could also be taken even further into adult education. It is also important to take into consideration what subject is being taught and what their prior knowledge is. Overall, I loved reading your post and I am excited to read more as we move throughout this course!
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