User:Vtaylor/Open TSL/openTSL Activities

The Activities for each topic is your To Do list for the workshop for each of the Seven Principles. There is a Principle notes page with a discussion of the Principle, learning objectives and the main text for the topic. In addition to the text, there are activities to provide hands-on experience with technologies that support the Principle. The reflection activities direct you to assess the applicability of the Principle and the related technologies to supporting your students' learning.

These activities are structured to give you the opportunity to experience the inclusion of technology elements in teaching and learning. These activities are designed to give you both the students' perspective and the faculty / instructional designer view of the development and implementation of student-faculty using technology.

When this is offered as a facilitated online workshop, there are threaded discussion forums provided for participants postings. The workshop is usually offered with Moodle discussions.

1. Student-Faculty Contact :: Overview Activities
The Activities page for each topic is your ToDo list for the TSLR workshop for the Principle. There is a Principle notes page with a discussion of the Principle, learning objectives and the main text for the topic. In addition to the text, there are activities to provide hands-on experience with technologies that support the Principle. The reflection activities direct you to assess the applicability of the Principle and the related technologies to supporting your students' learning.

The activities listed here are suggested work for the topic 1. Student-Faculty Contact. These activities are structured to give you the opportunity to Student-Faculty Contact in action. These activities are designed to give you both the students' perspective and the faculty / instructional designer view of the development and implementation of student-faculty using technology.

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1. Student-Faculty Contact :: Development Activities
These activities are for TSLR workshop participants who are working on developing DeAnza Catalyst courses on the Catalystdev server. This is the hands-on project component of the workshop associated with the CAOS 195Y "course".

Do NOT do these activities if you are ONLY enrolled in the CAOS 198Y Introduction course.

Catalystdev account

If you already have an account and course shell or sandbox on the Catalystdev server, you can start working on the activities below.

If you do not have not completed the Catalyst introduction and hands-on workshop requirement, please contact April Qian to request preparation and training for an account from Distance Learning.

Development activities - in your own Catalyst course on the Catalystdev server

1. Once you receive notification from Distance Learning, your Sandbox course is active and will be listed in the course list in the left navigation menu. Then complete the remaining activities to explore and modify your own Sandbox course.

2. Explore your own Catalyst course. Notice that there are little circles with question marks ("?") throughout. Click on a circle for context specific help. The help displays in a pop-up window. Close the pop-up window when you are done.

3. Create examples of student-faculty contact technologies to your Catalyst course - a forum, a resource, a News forum posting.

4. In your Catalyst course, create a Questions? forum with a request to students to ask course related questions in the forum, so others can see the answers. Be sure to set the forum set-up to allow students to post and reply in this forum.

5. Note your progress in the Discussions 1 - Development forum Course development (Apply) topic. Suggest ways that you could incorporate these tools into your teaching.

Note: for all the other topics within the TSLR course, the development activities are included in the main Activities page.

Estimated time to complete

* Course development - Updating your own course shell to include Student-Faculty Contact activities - 2-4 hours

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2. Cooperation Among Students :: Activities
Note: DEVELOPMENT PROJECT activities are listed on this page below the Overview activities.

1. In the Student cooperation (Learn) forum, discuss how you incorporate student cooperation in your on-campus class. What are some of the challenges with the current process? Would adding technology change the group dynamics? Do students do their group work entirely in class? If they work outside of class, how do you know what is going on?

2. Take the What Color is Your Brain quiz. http://www.truecolorscareer.com/quiz.asp The Brain Color quiz is included because it addresses how you interact with others. This will be useful information in the discussions and online collaborations.

3. Indicate your Brain Color in the Brain Color choice.

4. In the Brain Color Group discussion, describe your experience with group projects in your classes. Discuss role of group projects learning in higher education. Consider this as a group project. As a group, craft a statement explaining to students why group work is important. This statement should not be more than 2-3 sentences.

5. In the discussion forum display, review options and help for the forum display for viewing your "conversations." There is a pull down menu near the top center that controls the sequence and format of discussion postings - newest first, threaded...

6. In Group project experience (Explore) forum, discuss your experience (and frustrations) as you participated in activities as students that require cooperation. Assess the challenges and benefits of technology in student cooperation. Your comments can be based on previous courses - F2F or online, and your participation in the Brain Color group in this module.

7. Use the Message feature to send a message to the workshop facilitator. Watch for a reply.

8. Visit the De Anza Online Writing Assistance Center (OWAC) site. http://faculty.deanza.edu/alvesdelimadiana/stories/storyReader$331 Is this resource being used by your students? Would you recommend this service to your students?

9. In Group project set-up (Apply) forum, discuss the process of adding a group project to your course. How are your dividing up the class into groups? How do you divide up students in an on-campus class? What tasks are students to perform as a group? What is the final product?

10. Install or demo one of 25 key FREE tools that looks interesting, then post a comment to the 25 key FREE tools discussion. http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/Tools/index.html

11. In Peer reviews (Evaluate) forum, discuss peer review process and its applicability to student learning. Are there tools available online that will help students perform peer reviews?

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Activities

1. Review the Catalyst Faculty Reference Guide "course" in Catalyst Development. Specifically, review the section on Choice, Forums, Messaging, Chat.

2. Add a group project to your own course. This should include a choice for group selection, a description of the group projects "deliverable" and forums for small group discussions.

3. Note your progress in the Course development (Apply) topic. Suggest ways that you could incorporate these tools into your teaching.

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3. Active/Engaged Learning :: Activities
Note: DEVELOPMENT PROJECT activities are listed on this page below the Overview activities.

1. Remember - students who have grown up with technology in education and entertainment expect to engage with their learning. Active learning can take on many forms, and students are quick to adapt - often, more quickly than their instructors.

2. In Active and engaging (Learn) topic, discuss how this principle can be enhanced using technology. Are there classroom activities that could be adapted for online learning? What attributes contribute to student engagement?

3. Review the help links listed in the left navigation menu on the Catalyst login page. Review First Time? -> Navigation in Catalyst for instructions regarding graded assignments, quiz submission

4. Work through the quizzes and assignments provided in this module.

5. Install or demo one of 25 key FREE tools that looks interesting, then post a comment to the 25 key FREE tools discussion. http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/Tools/index.html

6. TED Talks: Every year, a thousand “thought-leaders, movers and shakers” get together at a four-day conference called TED (which is short for Technology, Entertainment and Design). In this collection, you’ll find various talks presented at the conference. They usually run about 20 minutes. Attend a virtual lecture. Why is this interesting? Post the link to the session you visit and 2-3 sentences describing the topic and your experience to the Virtual Lectures discussion. Can be used in class or for personal development.

7. Search the web for articles or sites providing information about educational games.

8. In the Educational games (Explore) topic, discuss games as educational resources and learning activities. Post a link to an educational games article you found. Do you use games in your instruction? Share stories of good (and not-so-good) experiences including games.

9. Review the Course Evaluation Checklist. Make a note of 3 points that you would like to address in your course.

10. In Graded assignments and quizzes (Apply) forum, discuss the options for assessing student learning provided. How are concerns about academic integrity, cheating, outside assistance addressed by the options and settings provided?

11. In Measuring student achievement (Evaluate) forum, discuss some of the ways that technology is affecting your methods for promoting active participation, engaging students and evaluating student learning.

12. What concerns do you have about Privacy and Personal Information as they apply to technology in instruction? Submit your reply in the I think... topic in the discussion forum.

13. Copy your I think... posting and submit it as your response to the I think... 3 assignment.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Activities

1. Review the Catalyst Faculty Reference Guide "course" in Catalyst Development. Specifically, review the section on Quizzes, Graded assignments.

2. Add a quiz with several different question types to your course. Investigate the quiz options and restrictions - time, access, display.

3. Add several assignments to your course that demonstrate the various submission and grading options.

4. Add some visual interest to your course. Find some images that are appropriate to your subject and add them to the course. Include images form Google image search http://images.google.com/imghp?tab=wi&hl=en

5. Note your progress in the Course development (Apply) topic. Suggest ways that you could incorporate these tools into your teaching.

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4. Prompt feedback :: Activities
Note: DEVELOPMENT PROJECT activities are listed on this page below the Overview activities.

1. Remember: Be careful what you wish for - you might get it. Technology enhancements can facilitate providing Prompt feedback. Being instantly available to head-off serious problems is good. However, giving students the opportunity to solve problems themselves, or asking classmates for assistance is essential.

2. In the Prompt Feedback (Learn) forum, discuss the forms that feedback can take that promotes learning. What can technology be incorporated to improve prompt response or facilitate extending feedback? What technologies are available to change the process of providing feedback?

3. In the Academic Honesty (Learn) forum, discuss issues of plagiarism, intellectual property, cheating, investigate tools for assessing student learning.

4. Complete and submit the assignments in this module for grading. When notified by the instructor, review the instructor comments and grade for the assignments.

5. Take the quiz, paying particular attention to the information provided along with the item scores.

6. Search the web for articles or sites that describe the use of rubrics for evaluating student work.

7. In the Technology Enhanced Feedback (Explore) forum, discuss the use of self grading quizzes. How can quizzes be used for active learning? Should students be limited to one attempt at a quiz? How important are personalized notes in assignment grading?

8. In Adding Feedback (Apply) forum, discuss how you plan to incorporate the technology enhancements to provide prompt feedback in your own instruction. To what extent are you planning to have the feedback automated to accommodate student-directed learning?

9. In Response (Evaluate) forum, discuss appropriate level of control and feedback response for learning being assessed. Should quiz feedback be a teaching tools?

10. Install or demo one of 25 key FREE tools that looks interesting, then post a comment to the 25 key FREE tools discussion. http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/Tools/index.html

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Activities

1. Review the Catalyst Faculty Reference Guide "course" in Catalyst Development. Specifically, review the section Quizzes for information on feedback content and availability, and Graded Assignments - instructor comments.

2. In your own course, develop quiz questions and quizzes.

3. Add other activities with feedback to your course.

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5. Time on task :: Activities
Note: DEVELOPMENT PROJECT activities are listed on this page below the Overview activities.

1. Remember: Learning takes time. There is no substitute for student learning through Time on Task. However, making the time interesting and rewarding for students can be enahanced dramatically with technology.

2. In Ready-made instruction (Learn) forum, discuss the issues around using instructional content created by someone else. What do you think about open source resources, including whole courses? Have you included videos or images from the web in course? MIT, Harvard, Berkeley and Stanford as well as other institutions make lectures available - would you permit your lectures to be available like this? Would you include some of these other materials in your course?

3. There are a number of kinds of learning activities that are supported by functions within course management systems like Moodle / Catalyst. We have looked at the core functions - assignments, quizzes, discussion forums, as they apply to the Seven Principles. However, there are several others that are handy to know about. For this assignment, select one and review the Student information about the one you select.

From the Learning activities choice, select one of the activities. Review the Student information about the one you select. 4. Review some of the suggestions posted in the Teaching strategies discussion in the moodle.org Using Moodle Forums - you can enter the course as a "Guest" or register and be counted as a Moodle user. http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=41 Then post a brief description of something that works for you in the Moodle Teaching strategies discussion.

5. In Other activities (Explore) forum, describe the Catalyst / Moodle function that you selected to investigate, and discuss your findings. Did you understand how it works? Is this something you could use in your own instruction?

6. Install or demo one of 25 key FREE tools that looks interesting, then post a comment to the 25 key FREE tools discussion. http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/Tools/index.html

7. Search for some "media" or Open Educational Resource (OER) - free course content that apply to your course - lectures, instructional materials, audio, images.

8. In Enhancing content (Apply) forum, discuss your expectations for student time on task with the additional media or open educational resources. What does this material bring to your course? How do you think students will use the information? Are you requiring students to use the material? How will you determine the effectiveness of this addition? ...This is the "what" discussion.

9. In External content (Evaluate) forum, discuss how you might include content from external sources into your course. Is there video from other institutions that you would consider offering to your students? ... the "how" discussion.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT activities

1. Review the Catalyst Faculty Reference Guide "course" in Catalyst Development. Specifically, review the section Quizzes for information on the activity type you selected.

2. Add the media or content to your own course. You may want to start by adding the material as "optional" or a resource to encourage students to spend time exploring the subject. Note: California Community College course media must be compliant with all accessibility requirements. This includes captioning for audio and the audio portion of video and screen reader facilitated web pages.

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6. High Expectations :: Activities
Students are sophisticated consumers of tech-based presentation. If your course looks technically proficient and professional, then your students are more willing to accept your high expectations of them.


 * Setting expectations - In the 6. Learn forum, discuss the differences in students - transfer, career enhancement, lifelong learners. How do you set and communication your expectations to students? Are you considering offering your course as a "hybrid" or fully online? How will that affect your expectations for students learning?


 * Student expectations - In the 6. Learn forum, discuss student expectations. Are you the "sage on the stage" or the "guide on the side" for your course? To what extent is your presence expected/required? Should students expect to "see" a lot of the instructor? Are there situations where instructor presence can negatively impact student-student cooperation?


 * Review the rubric provided Assessing Teacher Technology Projects http://ldt.stanford.edu/~tacyt/projectrubric.html and compare your course and your progress with the rubric. In the Technology rubric forum, discuss this rubric and how you see your own work in this light. How are you doing? Do you see some areas where you might rework the technology enhancements in your own course?


 * Review the information provided about the Moodle course management system documentation
 * Moodle Teacher's Manual http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=92
 * Moodle Teacher documentation http://docs.moodle.org/en/Teacher_documentation.


 * Moodle can... In the 6. Explore forum, describe some of the teaching and learning strategies and how Moodle features are used to support them. Did you get any new ideas for using technology in your course?


 * Review the Course Evaluation Checklist again. Make a note of 3 more points that you would like to address in your course. This is the same checklist referenced in a previous activity but it is a handy reference.


 * Install or demo one of 25 key FREE tools that looks interesting, then post a comment to the 25 key FREE tools discussion. http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/Tools/index.html


 * Tracking participation - In the 6. Evaluate forum, discuss how tracking activity and rating student discussion posts support setting high expectations. Do these features help you assess if your expectations for student participation are being met?


 * In the I think... forum, discuss students expectations of higher education? What role does technology enhanced instruction play in meeting their expectations?

Special project (optional)

The new Portfolio Lab in ATC will be opening shortly. To assist Bus/CS faculty in making good use of the facility, TSLR participants are invited to help compile guidelines and suggest activities for lab sessions.

In the Portfolio Lab activities forum, outline your suggestions - interesting ideas, complete lesson plans, learning objectives, instructions for completing the assignment, submission guidelines, grading rubrics... All contributions will be appreciated.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Activities

1. Review the Catalyst Faculty Reference Guide "course" in Catalyst Development. Specifically, review the section on tracking student progress and participation - student profiles, activity reports, posting summary.

2. In your own class, access student profiles and review the information available about student participation and activity within the course.

3. Look at the options for the feature that allows rating of discussion forum postings. Review the online documentation by clicking in the questions mark "?" in the circle.

4. In Development - Features and options (Apply) forum, discuss the breadth of options provided for each function. When you set up an activity, how do you determine what options to select? How do the options support your learning objectives for the activities?

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7. Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning :: Activities
Note: DEVELOPMENT PROJECT activities are listed on this page below the Overview activities.

1. In Diversity of learners (Learn) forum, discuss some of learning styles, learning modality, cultural differences exhibited in your classes. How to accommodate these differences? Do you offer a choice of assignments? Do you see a connection between the use of technology and learning styles in your students?

2. Try the disabilities simulations. AbilityHub http://www.abilityhub.com Abledata http://www.abledata.com/ Indiana University http://www.indiana.edu/~iuadapts/sitemap.html

3. In Accessibility issues (Explore) forum, discuss accommodations for students with disabilities. What kinds of disabilities do your students have? What accommodations have you had to make?

4. In Cultural influences (Apply) forum, discuss how culture and diversity influence the course presentation and conduct. Does the asynchronous nature of some technology enhancements, such as discussions, change the culture of the class? Does technology promote freedoms or provide restrictions relating to any or all forms of diversity?

5. For this Online collaborative writing experience (Apply), everyone contributes to the wiki. Throughout this workshop, we have talked a lot about technology and learning. Are there specific examples either from your own practice or ideas based on the workshop materials where student retention is improved through application of technology? Add your thoughts and suggestions to the Wiki - Retention.

6. Install or demo one of 25 key FREE tools that looks interesting, then post a comment to the 25 key FREE tools discussion. http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/Tools/index.html

7. In Whose learning style? (Evaluate) forum, discuss implications for student / instructor learning style differences. How does the learning style of the instructor affect how the course is conducted? Does the subject dictate the primary presentation style?

8. Review your course against the entire Course Evaluation Checklist. How are you doing? Are there specific areas that will help your students engage in your course content? Are there specific actions that you can take that will contribute to supporting learning and retention?

9. Look back at your introduction posting. In the I think... forum, discuss your learning experience. What were your expectations when you started this course? Have your expectations been met? What one thing could you have done differently that you would have benefited from?

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT activities

1. Review the Catalyst Faculty Reference Guide "course" in Catalyst Development. Specifically, review the section Quizzes for information on accessibility, learning styles, multimedia.

2. For your own course, plan and add activities to address learning modality differences.

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