Talk:Unit 1 - defining emergent writing

-- LinseyBland 21:05, 29 November 2012 (EST)

Learning Outcomes: The assignment of writing to Zoey's parents makes the content in the course applicable to a real-life situation. Activity 1 presents the learners with many possible ways to encourage students in their emergent writing, and Activity 2 asks learners to use what they have learned in a productive, meaningful way. I love this idea, and it sparked something in my brain that now has me considering the variety of creative ways that older students (students taking our courses) might be able to provide written work.

Content-goal consistency: Your learning goals are clearly stated before the activities, which is very helpful. The way that you structured your first unit is very concise, in that Activity 1 has a clear goal that it meets, and Activity 2 has a different clear goal that is met upon completion of the activity.

Instructional sequencing: The flow of the lesson is very nice. You separated the media links with brief, simple sentences. This helps the unit to flow smoothly and coherently. Also, you have included a fantastic introductory article about emergent writing. "The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction" is one of those articles that I refer to again and again in courses, and sometimes during my teaching. It's a very informative article that has a structure that is easy to follow. Including this was a good move. Also, the video you included is great because it shows photos of students engaging in emergent writing. Emergent writing includes writing letters in shaving cream and using inventive spelling to write a word. It is quite a large area of development, and the way you've introduced it is very appropriate!

Engagement and interaction: There is a lot of student engagement in this unit, which I really appreciate. There isn't much of a "lecture" feeling at all. The students read, listen, watch, think, write, and think again during this unit. The range of student interaction is diverse and differentiated.

Technical quality: The course is smooth-flowing, easy to navigate, and visually appealing. Your outside links work well! My only suggestion would be to consider adding a "Go onto Unit 2" or "Continue" button on the bottom of the page. I chose to do this on my course because I like the idea of being able to click to the next unit without having to go home. It's just a thought!

Extended resources: I can tell that you've done research, and I know that you mentioned that you still need to add some citations... so once you do that, you'll be all set for this section!

Re: -- Lisa Martin 16:48, 1 December 2012 (EST)

Thanks for the feedback Linsey, it was very helpful!

-- IanAugust 16:52, 1 December 2012 (EST)

Learning Outcomes

I dont see any learning outcomes listed in lesson one, but you do a good job of giving and overview of what is going on in the lesson

Content Goal Consistency

You do a great job on this! The content is great. I love that you used text and video to explain to the learner what emergent writing is. I for one do not know. In another mini course I reviewed the content was not explained like yours is, and I was lost.

Instructional Sequencing

Also a great job.

You explain what we will do, the learner learns the information, and this is asked to explain what they learned.

Engagement and Interaction

You have a perfect intro, where you really get my attention by introducing me to zoey and her writing, and enlisting me to help zoey’s mother. Its a great strategy that we learned from our case study work that I really wanted to incorporate into my mini course but I could not figure out how to yet.

You have great material, in two media formats, to really engage the learner, and mix it up from only readings.

You could add some interaction by asking the learners to work in groups to prepare a report.

Technical Quality

You found some great pictures to use to liven up your course

Extended Resources

Good job again, for using multiple forms of media