Course Walkthrough

It was a struggle for me to develop an online course at the start of EC&I 834. I had to decide on a target student audience, a course style and toolkit, content and objectives, evaluation methods, and generally the overall layout of a course prototype. A portion of Grade 4’s shape and space curriculum is the subject of my course prototype. The final project will serve as a unifying element for all the courses and activities in the course that explore various forms of symmetrical and 2D shapes. Also, the curriculum will relate to the mathematical requirements for Grade 4 in Saskatchewan. All lectures and exercises, including tutorial videos that can also be found on a YouTube playlist, will be found in Google Classroom. It has been quite beneficial for me to take this online and blended learning course, and this is the first time I’ve made a lesson plan using the Saskatchewan curriculum. I’ve been pushing myself to the limit and stepping outside of my comfort zone. I’ve been motivated by EC&I 834 to work more, learn new skills, and apply them in the real world.

I wrote multiple blog entries that detail different facets of the creation process. You can view them here:

Course profile: Understanding geometrical shapes (Grade 4)

Teaching and learning tools

FEEDBACK: AN OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF YOUR WORK

Lesson plan 1

My first lesson plan was related to an overview of geometrical shapes Before the start of the first lecture, students are required to develop a Mentimeter response for each of the following questions:

1. what are shapes
2. how do you know what shape is which?
3. what is a shape called?
4. What shapes can you think of you either see, use, or come across daily?

I used a range of educational techniques, and interactive digital tools, and provide written and visual learning opportunities for students throughout our lessons. To complete a self-reflection activity, a google form test, or an assignment using a given rubric, students are required to use a formative or summative assessment technique for each module. Here is the video of Lesson plan 1

Lesson plan 2

In my course profile, I’ve talked about symmetrical shapes and lines of symmetry of 2-D shapes. I utilized Google Classroom and included worksheets, Kahoot activities, and videos from YouTube. I use a variety of teaching techniques, interactive digital tools, and opportunities for textual and visual learning in all of my classes. For example, I introduced a jam board and Kahoot exercises in my course which help them to assess the students. Here is the video of my second lesson plan.

Final walkthrough of my course prototype

I used Google classroom when I was teaching in a school in my home country. I feel very comfortable using a google classroom but sometimes I feel that I should have perhaps tried a different LMS and broadened my horizons more. But because I know I’ll be using Google Classroom for work for a long time, I decided to stick with what I know rather than switching my second course from one LMS to Google Classroom. This way, I can actually use it in my classroom. Moreover, in my blog post for week six, I looked at my classmates’ takeaways while keeping in mind the feedback template, and I looked at areas of my course where I may improve. This gave me some ideas as to how to structure my course simply and efficiently. After receiving feedback, I used that information to organize the instructions in my second lesson plan such that they were more logically organized concerning the outcomes, critical questions, and step-by-step instructions. Planning a course that I could use in my teaching and having guidance along the way made me feel wonderful. from finding out about new technologies for teaching and learning to getting feedback, to the lively discussions in this EC&I 834 course. Overall, this blended learning course development process has been one of continuous learning and in-depth reflection. To maintain my commitment to the initial objective of employing a blended learning environment to create a social and participatory course, I’ve made a concerted effort.