Ryan Alescio's Portfolio
Intent of Project
To develop a mini-course on the benefits and issues of implementing technology supported collaborative learning activities into a unit. The learner will then use this information to create a collaborative activity.
Needs Assessment
Instructional Problem: There needs to be information available to any teacher planning to infuse technology supported collaborative learning into their classrooms on how to properly plan, create, and analyze activities that will provide the highest possible learning outcomes that is intended through the activity.
The Nature of What is to be Learned: Teachers will learn how to plan, create, and analyze technology supported collaborative learning activities, understand the learning outcomes that come from that environment, and use the proper technology to support their activity.
About the Learners: Course participants are teachers who teach at any level that wish to implement technology supported collaborative learning activities to enhance learning. These teachers come from a variety of disciplines and grade levels. The learners also come into the course with different levels of background knowledge about collaborative learning. Some teachers have created minimal to no collaborative learning activities throughout their professional careers, while others have created a significant amount of activities. Another aspect about the learners in this course is that there is a wide range of technological knowledge amongst the learners. There will be learners that are very technologically savvy and others that are not. The participants are very excited and motivated to take the course to either build upon their basic knowledge of collaborative learning or to enhance what they already know.
Instructional Context
- Physical Factors: This course is being performed in a centralized online environment and will be accessed in multiple locations. Proper precautions have been taken to ensure that this is a safe site for the learners to use and easily accessible. The information will be presented using a variety of multi-technical features. Therefore, there needs to be care given to the information that is taken from other sources to ensure that there are no issues with the information or the site. The material presented in the course may change based on future research, however, the course can be edited to include any and all new information.
- Use Factors: There are many uses for this course. The instruction will mostly be individual instruction with some group work to gain experience on how working in a collaborating group works. Also, the learners will be able to go through the course on a flexible course. The information will always be available to them and can refer to it at any point during or after completing the course. The reason for using the information would be to enhance their curriculum and increase the potential learning outcomes.
Exploring the Instructional Problem and Solution: In Progress.
Generated Goals: In Progress.
Performance Objectives
This course is designed to accomplish the following objectives:
- Instructors will demonstrate an understanding of the benefits that technology supported collaborative learning activities can have on students.
- Instructors will be able to identify key components of collaborative learning.
- They will be aware of any potential issues that could occur in technology supported collaborative learning activities, and use that information when creating their own activity.
- Given a topic for an instructional lesson, Instructors will be able to create a high quality collaborative learning activity, supported by the necessary technological tool, that will result in the appropriate learning outcomes.
- They will be able to reflect on the outcomes of the activities they create and correctly modify them if necessary.
Task Analysis
Learning Outcomes
- At the end of this course the learners will:
- Understand the benefits of collaborative learning
- Understand the role technology can have on collaborative activities
- Gain information on the process of creating collaborative learning activities
- Know the roles of the teacher and student during the activities
- Create a technology supported collaborative learning activity
- Reflect on the activity and how to improve the outcome
Prerequisites
Essential:
- Understand the importance of using different teaching methods
- Know the importance of getting to know your students and how they learn
- Know how to create learning objectives and goals
- Understand the importance of self-reflecting on a lesson, unit, and course
- Know the importance of analyzing a lesson, unit, and course
Supportive:
- Have an open mind about learning and using collaborative learning strategies
- Be comfortable with the role of a facilitator
- Have an open mind about infusing technology into a lesson, unit, and/or course
- Be open to discussing ideas with others in the course
- Be open to self-reflection