Online Course for Math 10WA
Over the past 2 weeks I have been chasing my tail trying to decide what course I will design for this assignment. I currently have three ADDIE templates open on my google documents and I am determined to design online courses for my Wellness 10 and Math 9 classes (in the near future). Remind you – I am on maternity leave and have some extra time! Due to deadlines in this class (EC&I 834), I need more time to design these courses and figure out HOW learning will occur and WHAT assessments will be used to support student learning in the most appropriate way.
Right now I had to think about what is needed in my school, and how this course will support students in mathematics.
I chose to create an online course for students to recover a grade 10 credit in the workplace and apprenticeship math stream. Every year when I teach this class, I have students fail the course because they are unable to keep up with classroom content, or have been removed from class as a result of violating the school’s attendance policy, or students have quit coming to class due to personal reasons. I believe students who have failed this course should be given another opportunity to try again; whether that is enrolling in another face-to-face Math 10WA class with a teacher, or completing the required modules online (on their own).
To view my full course profile and planning template, click here.
Hi Sarah, I appreciate in the target audience section that you broke down your learner personas into fictional students. In retrospect this seems so obvious that I was a little upset that I hadn’t done it myself. As I was reading through this section I was imagining real students who I have worked with in the past who fit these descriptions. Of course not everyone fits a particular archetype (I see a lot of student A/C in my workplace math classes), but it is a very useful way of approaching this step of planning. One thing I do wonder (as I have a similar course set up) is how we’re going to deal with motivation. Asynchronous lends itself well to online courses, but I am not sure if my workplace students will actually be successful when left to their own devices.
Motivation is a struggle for these “fictional” students in face-to-face learning environments as well. My Students A, B, and C actually do exist and these were some of the struggles I was faced with last year. I am determined to find a way to help these students attain their credit, but I feel like we (as educators) can only do so much to help with motivation. After reading the articles/blogs from this week, I think adding a personal touch (FlipGrid videos) or sending messages to my students via Discord regularly will help keep them accountable and motivated. I teach in a school with about 600 students (grades 9-12) and for the most part, I get to know these students fairly well through our student support teachers. They do a great job keeping me up to date with personal situations at home, and how things are going day-to-day at school. I am going to have to work as a team with the SSTs in our school to help motivate these students to complete their work as well.
Hi Sarah, I found your project to be well thought out and very organized! I could easily see the outcomes that needed to be taught and found your assessment tools to align perfectly with your course content. I immediately saw the value in this, having two children in high school who find math to be their most challenging subject. A program like this, which allows them to work at their own pace and complete formative assessments that provide immediate feedback, seems very beneficial to those students who, as you mentioned, seem to drop out of math.
The only challenge I see with this would be with student C not giving up when they struggle to understand the concept and do not have someone who could provide immediate help and would be able to understand the written information. Is there an opportunity for connecting via Teams meeting to have a face-to-face meeting during the class hours you are available?
I agree with the others, this is very well thought out – and a great idea to have an online credit recovery class. I guess I’m fortunate in that I’m teaching mature adults who are usually very motivated (would they be in grad school otherwise)? Maybe the recent readings/videos about engagement will help keep the students on track, even though it’s an online class. The students might feel like the class is a bit of a punishment in some cases (I’m guessing, since they failed or withdrew previously), so having that engagement might help with their overall well-being and motivation. Good luck!