Talk:Unit 1: What is Problem-Based Learning and Why is it Important?

Evaluation of Unit One -- Lisa Martin 19:10, 24 November 2012 (EST)

Hi Julia! Great work! I only looked at your introduction page and Unit 1 so I will give you feedback on what I've seen so far.

Learning Outcomes: Your learning outcomes on your introduction page were clearly identified. The learner is well aware of what they will be learning and how they will be applying their knowledge and showing what they learned. In Unit 1, the objectives were again clearly stated.

Content-goal consistency: The activities and lessons within Unit 1 are obviously connected to the objectives of the Unit and will allow the learner to achieve the set goals.

Instructional sequencing: Your Introduction was scaffolded in a way that made sense and helped the learner understand what they would be learning and doing in this course. The general introduction provided the learner why a reason as to WHY this course is important and relevant to them. The Objectives of the course let the learner know WHAT they would be learning and HOW they would be learning it. The Unit objectives laid out WHEN the learner would be doing everything.

Unit 1 was scaffolded in a way that made sense and helped the learner construct meaning and knowledge. Starting off with why math is important makes the learner realize again the relevance of this Unit and in return makes them more invested in learning. Presenting them next with actual problems to solve in the experiment section got them to be active in their learning. Showing the problems of classrooms today followed by problem based learning was helpful because you presented a problem and then immediately provided a solution.

Engagement and Interaction: Your Introduction was particularly engaging in its discussion of 21st Century Skills making the learner realize that they need the information in this course to help students prepare for their future. The experiment in Unit 1 provided an active activity that promoted deep thinking and reflection.

Technical quality: The navigation on both the introduction page and unit 1 was easy to follow and made sense. Unit 1 was a little overwhelming at first with all of the text. It would have been nice to see it somehow broken up more or spaced out differently. I felt that all the information was necessary and I benefited from it, but it was overwhelming to look at it all on one page.

Extended resources: You provided a variety of resources in Unit 1 and cited each of them in a resource section. Thanks for reminding me to create my own resource section in my Unit!

Overall: I really learned a lot from just your first unit! You taught me how problem based learning could be applied to math to help prepare students for the 21st Century Skills they will need to succeed in the future.

Re: Evaluation of Unit One -- Julia Manetta 21:08, 25 November 2012 (EST)

Hi Lisa,

Thank you for the wonderful comments. Not only am I glad you learned a lot from my first unit, I am glad I helped your remember to site your sources! Thank you for making me realize how overwhelming my first unit looked. I did not realize it. I knew it was wordy, and am at a loss as to how to fix that without cutting information I think is important. I played with the idea of incorporating another article, but I did not want another lengthy article, I thought that was too much, so I pulled important points from various places. I tried to fix the spacing so it did not look as squished/overwhelming. What do you think? Now, you get about one heading (a little more) within the screen, but there is more space in between, so it doesn't look as bad, in my opinion?

Thank you again.

Julia

Re: Re: Evaluation of Unit One -- Lisa Martin 16:53, 1 December 2012 (EST)

Julia, Glad I could help! It does look better with the spacing now. I just noticed looking at it again that your link to Unit 2 says "Unit 1". It brings you to the correct place, but the link says the wrong thing.

Evaluation of Unit One Linsey Bland 11:46, 1 December 2012 (EST)

Learning Outcomes: The learning outcomes in this unit are various reflections. I assume that you would like students to reflect through writing, so for students that learn well by writing, this learning outcome is appropriate!

Content-goal consistency: The five learning objectives are met through the reflections that students complete during the unit. I think you took a risk by having so many objectives for one unit, but you did ensure that all were met!

Instructional sequencing: The flow of the unit is sequential and makes sense to someone who might be new to the topic. You do not assume that the learner necessarily knows anything about PBL before taking your course. I do however think that the flow could be more visually appealing if you added some images or structured the text in such a way that the page doesn't seem like it is only text. It helps me as a learner to read text that is structured in a very organized way, perhaps with images to help that structure. It's just a thought... if you're new to wikis (like I was before this!), you can copy code from wiki pages if you want to use the same sort of formatting that someone else has. This has been a really good strategy for me.

Engagement and interaction: You have many checkpoints during the unit where students have to reflect on questions. This is great for keeping students on target. I'm just curious, where would you like students to submit this work, if at all?

Technical quality: You use links, bullets, headings, and different types of text in this unit. It seems as if you're navigating the wiki software well!

Extended resources: You have a great resource list! I like how simply you've included them at the bottom of the unit. Seeing yours is a reminder that I need to work on mine!

-- IanAugust 17:15, 1 December 2012 (EST)

Learning Outcomes

Great job with your learning outcomes, very clear and there are a lot of them.

Content-Goal Consistency

Your experiment is different, and the learner might feel a little overwelmed, you might want to add more instruction or more “this is why I am having you do this” kind of an explanation. But otherwise you do a great job of supplying great content that matches your learning outcomes

Instructional Sequencing

When you began with experiment, followed by more information on problem based learning I felt like I was thrown in the deep end a little. I might consider talking more about problem based learning before you bring in the experiment, so the learner has more of an idea of the reasons for the experiment

Engagement and Interaction

You do a great job of keeping me engaged with the subject and material. You supply a lot of material, from video, to web pages, and lesson plans. Maybe too much for one lesson, maybe not.

Technical Quality

great job using multiple forms of media, but adding some pictures to your lesson page might go a long way

Extended Resources

Great job on this!! You supplied the most resources of the 4 mini courses I reviewed.