Navigate: Trend Impact 4.1.1

4.1.1 Trend Impact

Game based learning and gamification in classrooms, will be one of the fastest growing trends in the next 5 years as more and more schools adopt BYOD or provide devices for the students.  The learning in game based units happens as students are immersed in the environment.  As immersed learners, they are engaged and moving in the direction that I want them to go- towards content mastery.

For online K-12 classrooms, gamified learning units will prove to be some of the more engaging and stimulating of the units.  For universities, I predict the reemergence of immersive environments such as SecondLife.  The technology has finally caught up to the developers vision and  now a new virtual word is being developed- one that incorporates (no pun intended) the user's body (corpus)! Check this out:

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514776/second-life-founders-new-virtual-world-uses-body-tracking-hardware/

If you watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2mg_fW2rlMU  You may be reminded of the first computer animated talking head who had i=his own television show-  max headroom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MaxheadroomMpegMan.jpg  The facial and head movement tracking is using a very simplified avatar so as to be able to focus on the movements generated by the human eye and head shifts, rather than on developing a more complicated avatar.

This will be like having Wii on 'roids!   This would give online instruction a whole body of new methodologies.  I can't wait.

Navigate: Tools for Deciding on an LMS 3.2.1

3.2.1 Tools for deciding on an LMS

Canvas is a great open source LMS platform that it has even whittled the questions that one must ask of oneself and of ones collegial group members down to three "simple" questions:
Will it get used?
Is it reliable?
Will it adapt to your needs?

Needless to say, this is a widely used marketing strategy.  Canvas compares itself in these three major categories with D2L, Moodle and MoodleRooms, Sakai RS mart, and one "off the shelf" LMS, Blackboard. Of course Canvas receives amazing scores in all three areas.  These charts are quite detailed and compare accessibility features such as language.  It is worth taking a look at. The full comaprison chart can be found here: www.instructure.com/compare-higher-education

Moodle did their own version of comparison between Blackboard, D2L, Moodle, and Sakai.  Here is their findings in bar graph foramt: www.moodlenews.com/2013/a-comparison-of-lms-accessibility-d2l-blackboard-sakai/

For section 508 compliance, this is the most detailed and transparent comparison between LMS platforms that I could find: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3486333/csun2013/lms_compared_paper_2013.html

What has been the leading resource for educational tools in the past decade has now closed down.  EduTools, however, still maintains a web presence and their comprehensive guide and checklist for evaluating and LMS can still be used today.  Click on the BLUE UNDERLINED link in the last sentence at the bottom left of this page: (well worth your time)  http://wcet.wiche.edu/learn/edutools

It is easy to see that the evaluation of LMS providers is a complex task requiring a team of experts, a complete needs assessment, demonstrations, and proven track records of satisfied customers and technical support.

For me as an instructional designer, I like to keep it simple.  The three questions that are posed by Canvas are probably the best questions of all.

For the K-12 learner, if the provision of textbooks would occur through the LMS, then I would recommend Pearson OpenClass as the top commercial LMS provider, followed by Desire2Learn Learning suite, the system of choice for The University System of Georgia.  I rank D2L over Blackboard in the useability and ease of customizing the appearance of your class. Also, I am wary of Blackboard's ravenous acquisitions of MoodleRoom, Wimba, and Elluminate in the past few years.

For free LMS providers, I would rank Canvas above Moodle- not because of its features, but because of the ease of use of its features.  Moodle can do more- but it is more complicated to set up and less flexible for the instructor and learner.

For the University System of Georgia- D2L was the LMS of choice.  I wonder how effective it would be for all of the k-12 systems to move to D2L as an LMS as well.  The time it takes for a learner to learn how to navigate the new LMS when they switch schools can be quite distracting and it would make sense to have a single LMS that evolves with us as we grow from K to 12 - to PhD!

Navigate: LMS Reporting 3.1.4

3.1.4 LMS Reporting

The grading options available in Canvas offer students and teachers to ability to exercise different skill sets that can be measure in different ways.  Canvas has an auto grade function for tests that are multiple choice, true/false, or fill in.  These types of tests give students immediate feedback, which is useful in the learning process.  Short answer or essay questions are also available, although they need to be graded by the instructor.  Sample answers can be provided so that students can get an idea of how they might have scored on their own answers.

In one of my Practice Quizzes, I offer a Formative Assessment that gives students the opportunity to view their score immediately and to use the missed questions as markers for their achievement:

Another form of assessment is in the use of rubrics.  A unique feature is the ability of teachers to add learning outcomes to the rubrics.  This is a great method as it helps engage the learner to be more in charge of their learning.  There are alerts that can be set for mastery levels - I set them to alert me whenever a student scores less than 80%.  Also, for a free platform, Canvas sure has some premium features- like analytics that show page views, which are more helpful at indicating student participation than just the time counter- which is also available.

Instructors can also grade the discussion posts and ensuing discussions.  In my experience, when an instructor is present in the online class and involved in the discussions, (whether synchronous or asynchronous) students are more engaged in the learning process as well as more trusting of the instructor.  Alerts are important to me in order to know which students need additional support.

At the student level, the reports inform the instructor of the student progress.  Whether it be quiz or test scores, pre-assessments, or page visit counts, any data on student activity is helpful to the teacher.
At the teacher level, I often check the average and standard deviation of the tests my students take.  This helps to inform my next instructional step- be it reinforcement, remediation, or a relentless push forward into new material.

For course level reporting, I use grades on the assessments and page visits for my online games to gauge which seem to be most useful and/or effective.  Even visits to the calendar can be used to inform instructions. In recent years, the number of visits to a vocabulary practice page has dropped significantly.  I think that the drop was due to the rise of quizlet.com and other practice technologies.  My next step was to create more games that are not as easily replicated on other websites.

Course level data can be used by teachers and administration to determine the effectiveness of the teacher as well as the readiness of the students.  Trends towards the increase in the number of failing students should indicate a need for closer review of the course or the implementation.

Navigate: Tools Within the LMS 3.1.3

3.1.3 Tools within the LMS 

Canvas is an excellent LMS for no cost (at the moment).  It has all the basic functions except for an easy way to transfer lessons without having to build a page.  Below is a bullet-point listing of the features that I found in my exploration of CANVAS.  The features have been organized into the 5 sub categories of “basic LMS tools” that I developed in an earlier quest.  While the tools are all very important, I have underlined the most critical tools in each of the categories.

Tools within the CANVAS LMS:

Communication tools  

·        Email – there is a “People” page with links to email and connect

·        Discussion posts – Discussions can be “pinned” to set as priority and are searchable, subscribable, and has other viewing options

·        Collaboration tools (Points to google docs or Etherpad)

·        Announcements

·        Syllabus (and course expectations)

Student and course management tools

·        Grade book – shows students and grades for activities within the module

o   Submission area  (I could not find feedback options for submissions)

·        Calendar

·        Files for distribution

·        Learning outcomes- can be set to help track each student’s mastery fo the course

           

Lesson tools

·        Lesson storage

·        Grading rubrics integrated with learning outcomes

Assessment tools

·        Online testing automatically graded for some question types

·        Online quizzes

·        Rubrics (with the ability to add the trackable learning outcomes)  See image:

Finally, the last category:  (and probably the least useful in the immediate sense)

Archival or upload/download Tools (None)

Navigate: Creation and Investigation in to Courses 3.1.2

3.1.2 Creation and Investigation into Courses

Canvas by Instructure is a premier LMS that is,  for the time being, free.  It was fairly simple to sign up and start a class.  The complexity of developing the course increased quickly, however.  Navigational tools that can help the learner smoothly transition between activities were a "must" to implement.  It was a painstaking process, but well worth while.  Here are some screen shots of course pages:

Home Page

Course Syllabus

Calendar Page

Available Collaboration (outside of LMS)

Navigate: LMS Tool Categories 3.1.1

3.1.1 LMS Tool Categories

The LMS is the framework for providing online educational opportunities and it is within this framework that all participants must weave their experiences.  To ensure the best possible learning outcomes, the LMS must have fully functioning features in all five of the following categories:  (Uses are listed below the bolded categories.)

Communication tools:

·        Email

·        Discussion posts

·        Collaboration tools (for synchronous online creation)

·        Video conferencing (Commercial and PAID)

o   Synchronous

o   Asynchronous

Student and course management tools:

·        Gradebook

·        Submission area

o   Feedback options for submissions

·        Calendar with “soft” and “hard” due dates

·        Progress tracking (begun vs completed)

·        Chat ability

·        Screen sharing ability (relates to video conferencing)

Lesson tools:

·        Lesson development tools

·        Interactive games

·        Lesson storage

·        Video and photo editing software for student and teacher use

Assessment tools:

·        Online testing automatically graded for some question types

·        Online quizzes

·        Practice tests and quizzes

·        Student assessment of instructor ( 3 times per course)

Archival or upload/download Tools:

·        Store useful student work samples

·        Store additional assessments

Navigate: Lecture Capture 2.1.4

2.1.4 Lecture Capture

I use screen casting software to record lectures as part of my flipped classroom.  My students love it because I will play the lecture in class (once) and they can review them at home to fill in the blank areas in their notes.

As an online student, I really appreciate when the professor will put a lecture online.  I feel more of a connection with a real person and I can start and stop the video when I need to to take notes or look something up that I don't understand.

Here's a link to one of my screen cast lectures: https://www.sophia.org/tutorials/weathering-erosion-and-deposition-2#recommend_rating_block

If I were an online instructor, I would most definitely use my screen casts- and make new ones- for my online students.  Although there is much disagreement about the need to differentiate due to learning styles, I would have to say that a recorded video lecture/screen cast would be the way to go- especially in efforts to make the class accessible and more compliant with regards to section 508.

The lectures would all be less than 15 minutes long and I would post them on youtube or on my sophia.org account.  When posting on youtube, I would make a separate posting using educanon.com to embed questions and thoughts for my students.  I would use multiple choice questions, as I would be able to post feedback for each answer choice that point the viewer to the correct oen.  (This is an amazing resource.)  If you want to see one, check it out here:  Earthquakes

The lecture capture would modify teaching methods by making the instructor more present in the online classroom... which is a good thing, so far in my experience as a learner.