Collecting Tips

Yesterday we had a little trouble getting some of the videos from the http://www.ikeepsafe.org/educators/fauxpaw/ to load.  If you are not able to get a video on this page to load, try selecting the PDF link under the Book heading when it is available.

When you are ready to turn in your final list of ten tips, please use eBackpack.

Course Tour

Welcome to class!  Please watch the embedded video below. It will provide a tour of the course resources and give you important tips for being successful! If the below embedded files does not work, try this link!

Pedagogy:

One objective of the assignment calls for students to write and produce a public service announcement.  Public service announcements are brief multi-media presentations that aim to persuade the viewer to make healthy choices.  Students may have seen a PSA while watching television.  Although the school close circuit television system is not viewable beyond the school building, the audience it reaches is an important audience to students attending the school.  Students will be motivated by the chance to share their work with the school.  This assignment enables learners to show their knowledge on cyber safety topics “in the context of meaningful activity” (Driscoll, 2005, p. 390).

The topic of cyber safety is very timely and appropriate for the student audience.  In fact, it is likely students will know of someone that has been cyber bullied or may have used some of the Internet tools discussed in the assignment.  The assignment is “relevant” to the students.  Developing the knowledge of the students on the topic of cyber safety and requiring them to create a public service announcement for their school will enable them to “face relevant problems” and work toward a solution. Giving students’ assignments with a real world purpose and ensuring it is done in a relevant context is part of the constructivist design according to Brown, Collins, and Duguid (as cited in Driscoll, 2005, p. 390).

The course, “Keeping it Safe” was designed with multiple asynchronous discussion opportunities.  Frequent class discussions are facilitated using Edmodo.  During each module class participants are required to respond to discussion prompts. Students are also asked to respond to peers at times.  According to Dipietro, effective student and teacher communication is key.  Discussion boards serve as a motivational tool.  They also encourage students to “interactive with the content” of the course through textual discussion (2010, p. 335).  The use of frequent discussions using Edmodo also helps to facilitate a positive learning environment. Providing students a discussion participation guide and participation rubic prior to use of Edmodo attempts to set the expectation for positive focused interaction.

Constructivism calls for presenting information in multiple modes of learning.  Student will encounter a brief list of tips for staying safe on the Internet while visiting the Federal Bureaus of Investigation’s link. Interactive games are available on the I Keep Safe link.  Students can play interactive games which address topics such as illegal downloading, excessive video game use, how to avoid abuse, and Internet safety. The link, On Guard Online, presents several videos.  The video topics range from sharing information online to standing up to cyber bulling. The “On Guard On Line” brochure expands on tips to keep students safe online. According to Driscoll, “viewing the same content through different sensory modes…enables different aspects to be seen” (Driscoll, 2005, p. 399).

Group collaboration is an important aspect of constructivism (Driscoll, 2005). Requiring student partners to explore the different Internet links, take notes, select main points, plan a PSA, and produce a PSA will require social negotiation.   Students will have to select one to two tips to share during their PSA.  Cunningham points out collaboration enable students to discuss their opinions and come to an agreement.  During the process of discussing which tip(s) should be shared, students will have the opportunity to “understand (a) point of view other than their own” and “defend individual perspectives while recognizing those of others” (as cited in Driscoll, 2005, p. 397).

The nature of the course allows students to take ownership of their learning.  Digging Deeper links are placed throughout the steps of the quest.  Students may decide they need guidance on how to take notes for this assignment. In that case, the Digging Deeper link to a note-taking template maybe required.  When given the directions to write a public service announcement, students may decide they need more information about the characteristics of a PSA.  At that point, a student can click on the Digging Deeper link and watch examples of PSAs and read about the steps to writing a PSA.  When faced with producing the final PSA, students have the choice to select from three different media tools. Each tool is accompanied with a Digging Deeper link, offering a video tutorial of how use the tool.  Constructivism according to Hannafin requires that “students are not passive recipients of instruction… instead, they are actively involved in determining what their own learning needs are and how those needs can be best satisfied” (as cited in Driscoll, 2005, p. 399). 

The content used to expose students to the course information must be diverse.  The needs of the learners will require multiple forms of content, according to Dipietro (2010).  The course, “Keeping it Safe” utilizes animated video clips, an interactive quiz, and text to display best practices for using the Internet safely.  Students are exposed to course information in multiple formats and occurrences.  According to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning’s Curriculum Checklist, it is important that a course include “ a wide variety of media and learning technologies such as video clips, animation, and live web conference with the teacher” (2010, p. 16).  The selected video clips also frame the content in social settings with which students can identify.  Young adults are seen making positive discussion about the content being uploaded from their mobile devices.  Dipietro suggests the course content must be deemed as valuable to the lives of the students (2010).  Selecting multi-media clips with students in relevant social situations will make the connection process easier for students.

Students will be assessed using a rubric.  The rubric is aligned with the lesson objectives and activities required during the web quest.  For example, students are required to write a persuasive public service announcement script, which includes supporting evidence to illustrate one to two of their noted tips.  This objective is aligned to the Common Core GPS standards listed in the web quest.  Directions for the quest lead students through the process of exploring, taking notes, planning, and producing the PSA. The rubric is aligned to assess this objective, because students are scored on the topics of content and persuasive power.

In a quality online course the instructor serves as a “knowledge guide” leading students to construct knowledge and providing “fluid practice” and individual feed back as they monitor understanding (Dipietro, 2010, p.337).  Students participating the course, “Keeping it Safe,” are tasked with creating a public service announcement from three of the ten tips they have noted.  During the process of synthesizing information, students participate in a discussion forum, create a storyboard, and provide peer feed back prior to creating the PSA.  According to Rubrics for Online Instruction, it is important for students to have opportunities in the course for self and peer assessment throughout the course (2009).  The use of paired peer review using rubrics allows students to edit their products (storyboard and public service announcement) prior to the final assessment.

Requiring students to construct a collaborative multi-media outcome with the purpose of solving a real world problem that impacts their lives, such as cyber safety, is constructivist in nature.  There is an authentic purpose, collaboration will take place, and students will construct meaning.  

Sources:

Barbour, M., & Plough, C. (2009). Social networking in cyberschooling: Helping to make online learning less isolating. TechTrends, 53(4), 56-60.

Dipietro, M. (2010). Virtual school pedagogy: The instructional practices of k-12 virtual school teachers. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 42(3), 327-354.

Driscoll, M.P. (2005). Biological bases of learning and memory. In A. Burvikos (Ed.), Psychology of learning for instruction (3^rd ed., pp. 265-306). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Rubric for online instruction. (2009). Retrieved December 1, 2012, from http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/

Watson, J., Gemin, B., & Coffey, M. (2010). Promising practices in online learning: A parents's guide to choosing the right online progam. Vienna: International Association for K-12 Online