The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers (see URL below) has been designed to enhance and enrich the learning experience of students through an integration of standard teaching best practices augmented by state of the art digital enhancement.
Reflecting upon the standards within NETS and with a desire to implement a new educational modality, I have developed a G-A-M-E plan that I hope to implement this September. It utilizes WEB based tutorials on all key points covered in my physics class. Because these tutorials are directly related to my classes, students find them more relevant the easier to digest. The idea is that class time can be extended painlessly via the WEB and key points can be emphasized as the individual student requires.
Proposition
As a nation, we must improve the quality of education if we are to compete globally.
There are few who would disagree with the stated proposition. How we improve the quality of education requires a satchel of tools that can be called upon as the nature and characteristics of the individual student are determined. One area that could be improved upon is “class time”. If we could extend class time and offer more one-on-one support, the student would certainly benefit. My WEB-Based Tutorials are intended to supplement class-time offering individual help at the student’s own learning pace.
Goal – I have identified one goal within my G-A-M-E plan that I intend to address first. That goal is the flexing of lessons to meet the needs of the individual student. Through self paced, internet based home tutorials, I intend to extend my classroom creating a virtual WEB based classroom that mirror what my physics students have done in class.
Action – By creating self paced tutorials that target the student and the parents, I intend to improve student support through greater parent/guardian involvement in their child’s education. Furthermore, because the tutorials are self paced, the student can revisit the lectures and demos as often as necessary to assure a grasp of the physics theory the lesson targets.
Proposition 2
Traditional homework and the standard physics question and answer sessions may not yield the desired results.
The debate continues regarding the benefit of homework. Traditional homework may not be the answer. If, however, students can extend class time as required to grasp key concepts, notes and understanding should improve. Furthermore, by making the tutorials available to parents, parents can more readily assist their student.
Monitor – I am pleased to report that a test run of the WEB based Home Tutorial program has resulted in overwhelming student and parent feedback. In order to ensure continued student understanding and growth, I will monitor student progress through formative and summative assessments and continue to poll both parents and students via telephone surveys and On-Line Digital Surveys.
Evaluate – As note traditional assessments of student progress will be tracked. I remain excited and encouraged with the progress of my students during the initial trials last semester. I continue to publish my plan with the hopes that other teachers will try my approach and provide feedback.
The NETS Indicators that have been addressed in this exercise were: 1. Models Digital Age Work and Learning and 2. Design and Developes Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.
Please find my Tutorial Matrix attached. It is a work in progress, but indications are that it is working. As I improve the generation and recording techniques, I will revisit my initial efforts and republish.
The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForAdministrators/2009Standards/NETS-A_2009.pdf
My WEB page intro to parents. http://www.schoolrack.com/JohnChaco/physics-tutorials/
Tutorial Matrix http://mrcsphysicswiki.wikispaces.com/Tutorial+Matrix
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He y John,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have a great game plan set up. It is great to see that your tutorials are working positively for you. I think that having a self paced system set up so that students can work individually on certain aspects of physics is a great idea and obviously helpful for your students. I went to your tutorial matrix and it looked very interesting! How do your parents feel about phone interviews? I am just curious. It seems that sometimes parents cannot be bothered with a teacher calling them at home. I hope this is not the case with you – it did not seem to be from your post.
Response to rebelheck
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly, parents seem to love the tutorials. Many have viewed the segments and feel that they have been empowered to help. Now the age old excuse "..I just don't get it!" is less effective for the student because the first question the parent asks is "What did you not understand?" and since the parent can view the tutorial, they can assist or atleast question the validity of the excuse.
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteI think your GAME plan is one that will help your students tremendously and will serve you well as you increase the number of tutorials in your library. VoiceThread works well as an online tutorial tool as it joins audio, text, and visual elements in the form of pictures and handwritten notes. I had thought of doing the same earlier last year and you have inspired me to “just do it!” for this up coming school year. Do you plan on having students comment on your threads? It might be interesting to allow this as you can get a feel for what section(s) of the tutorial they find confusing or need extra help in understanding. However, it may also become confusing and frustrating as the tutorial might be bogged down with extra comments that may not serve all students or parents. A better solution might be putting up a google group (http://groups.google.com/?pli=1) that acts as a discussion board so that students could pose questions while you and other students can answer specific questions. I found this extremely helpful for students to begin talking through concepts and explaining concepts to each other. Maybe attaching some assignment points or extra credit points to the discussion group would motivate its use. This system of using a discussion board gets close to meeting indicator 2a in ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Students in interacting, collaborating, and publishing with peers (ISTE NETS S, 2007). The discussion board, in addition to student contribution to the wiki, will be two great digital tools to allow collaboration on physics concepts. Best of luck with this project, John and thanks for the motivation to use VoiceThread in this way for my biology classes.
References
ISTE | NETS S. (2007). International Society for Technology in Education | Home. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/content/navigationmenu/nets/for_students/nets_s.htm