While researching instructional sites, I didn't want to limit myself to just my own subject matter, because my focus is then on teaching. I wanted to look at the pages and focus on learning. Since I know my own content area, I can't state an unbiased opinion. All of the images that I see dealing with Spanish make sense to me. What this lesson is attempting to do is take a teacher- like me- and force me to look at the images or appearance from the perspective of the learner. Teachers tend to focus on teaching. While we know all student learn differently, we spend our time focusing on how to teach to different styles. It is a different point of view to take a look from the other side of the proverbial desk. Since I carry the title of STEM Academy Lead Teacher in my face to face job and do my best to help teachers in the STEM Academy find instructional materials to help students learn, I thought that would be a good perspective to take here. While completing the research, these are the sites that I considered and my assessment of the sites based on the questions outlined in this course, which are: Can the students tell what to focus on? What items are more important than others? How do students know where content ends and assessment begins? How do students stay engaged with the content? Keeping these questions at the forefront of my mind, I again reevaluated some of the online learning sites that I previously visited.
Best Practices with Appearance in MindAgain, the questions TOOL uses to gauge the appearance of online learning platforms: Can the students tell what to focus on? What items are more important than others? How do students know where content ends and assessment begins? How do students stay engaged with the content? Keeping these questions at the forefront of my mind, I again reevaluated some of the online learning sites that I previously visited. I wanted to choose two sites that I really liked, but also choose some sites that had some flaws. I want to look at the sites that I found with flaws. Now, this does not mean that the sites are all bad, and for that reason, I do not want to name them. I just want to point out what it is about them that I do not feel meets all of the attributes of a learning platform that uses best practices. What I like: It's important to specify there are positive aspects to this site. First of all, each topic has an explanation, and then it has a video to help illustrate the content. In some of the videos, you can change the variables to see how it works. What I don't like: I don't like how small the print is. I feel it is very difficult to read. If I had some type of visual impairment, I would not be able to read this. Also, there is nothing to check my learning. There is no way for me to self-assess or for the program to assess what I know. I don't like that the topics are offered by just that: topics. Full courses are not offered. What I like: The material presented is very comprehensible and is infused with videos and images. The font colors are easily legible. The course offers formative and summative assessments both. The course is very chronological and it takes you from one end of the content to the other. Even test study guides are provided. What I don't like: I don't like the size of the fonts. It is difficult to read the material. I don't like that the order is a suggestion; students do not have to work from one end to the other. I don't like that there is nothing to engage me throughout the course. There are videos where someone is talking at me, but there is no guarantee of engagement. There is also not much to grab my attention. Sound Design Ideals Two of the sites that exemplify sound design ideals are: GAVS, Open Learning Initiative, and BrainPOP. Let's take a look at why and how these sites demonstrate best practices. Open Learning Initiative Carnegie Mellon University STEM Foundations:
GAVS AP Chemistry I already have a job with GAVS... including this online learning platform is not based on an attempt to get hired. I have been working with GAVS for 5 years now. There are times when I, as an instructor, find areas where improvement is necessary, but after looking through other other learning platforms and reviewing the standards, GAVS does an exceptional job of employing best practices. Let's look at some examples:
The Georgia Virtual learning platform is most certainly the highest example of best practices as outlined in TOOL. The questions asked previously are answered in excess. Can the students tell what to focus on? Absolutely! Again and again the focus is highlighted in images, charts, formative assessments, and then in the summative assessments. What items are more important than others? I think this was already answered... should I say it again? The focus is highlighted in images, charts, formative assessments, and then in the summative assessments! How do students know where content ends and assessment begins? The first and last picture above illustrate how to know where the content is located as well as what the assessments are. How do students stay engaged with the content? GAVS includes reviews, interactive activities, videos, images, etc. Knowing GAVS from the inside out, I know that the assignments require engagement, as do the assessments. I am proud to be a part of the GAVS faculty... the GAVS family.
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