Beyond that grey cloud......

Visual Design Critique

2008-02-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

Slide 1

Strengths

Appropriate picture (e.g. the frog) is being used since the lesson is teaching about frogs. Thus no distraction to the students as the picture is related to the text.
The main text’s font is large enough for the audience to see especially at those at the back of the room.
Non-complicated background design is being used and the text color is in good contrast to the background. These enable the students to read at ease.
The audio instructions given are in the correct pace and clear enough without usage of difficult vocabulary so that the students are able to understand it.
Different frog sounds help to add richness to the lesson. Students will be able to related more to the topic.

Areas of improvement

The title (e.g. Lesson Menu) can be written in a larger font than the text and capital letterings can be used here. This will help emphasize more on which is the title and which is the text.
Different color font should be use for the “click on the buttons to learn more” and “click the icons to hear some frog sound”. This will help to differentiate the non relation of the two.

Slide 2

Strengths

The size of the font use for the main text is large enough for the whole class to see and the line spacing is just right so that the text won't be clump together and cause difficulty in reading.
The title “facts about frogs” is in the correct font size for it is large enough for students to see and capital letterings are being used help to bring students' attention to it, allowing them to know what is this slide about.

Areas of improvement

The picture chosen can be make bigger and clearer as it is quite hard to identify the frog on the picture especially it camouflage so well with its surroundings.
The transitional effect of the text is inappropriate, for it causes distraction.

Slide 3

Strengths

The graphics chosen are appropriate for they are simple and easy to view.
Shortcuts to various stages of the frog are available at the cycle enable easy access to them.

Areas of improvement

The instruction given should not be done in capital letters for it is more than 6 words as it slows down reading speed
Maybe the word “stage” can be change to red to bring emphasizes to the idea what this slide is trying to being across
Static display of the cycle using transition can be used to better re-enforcing the stages. (e.g. where it starts, end and how each stage look like)

Slide 4

Strengths

The font size is big enough for the whole class to read it and the line spacing is just right.
The graphic (eggs) used is simple and is related to the text.
Shortcut to various stages of the frog is available at the bottom of the slide enable easy access to them.

Areas of improvement

The transitional effect of the text is inappropriate, for it causes distraction and can be quite irritating as the class have to wait for each word to appear one by one.
The bottom left animated graphic may be more a distraction than a support to the lesson.

Slide 5

Strengths

There is a informal balance in the layout of this slide
The suggested way of transition can be: the picture that match the stage will appear together and not displaying all the pictures first then the text of each stage appear.
The line spacing is just right for easy reading.
The transitional effect of the appearance of the text is good as it appear by chucks which match the different stages of a frog
The graphics are simple and thus might serve better visual aids compare to complicated pictures.

Areas of improvement

The font size is slightly too small and thus can’t be seen too clearly at the back of the room
The number of lines in this slide is too many (more than 8 lines)

Slide 6

Strengths

Appropriate graphic is being use, simple and easy to relate to the context.
The font size is appropriate as it’s big enough for the class to read especially those at the back of the room.
Shortcut to various stages of the frog is available at the bottom of the slide enable easy access to them.

Areas of improvement

The transitional effect of the text is inappropriate, for it cause distraction and it’s a bit irritating to have to wait for each word to appear.

How does COTF promote student-centered learning?

2008-02-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

In the cafe style learning environment, each student will have this UMPC (ultra-mobile personal computer). With that, simultaneous participation in discussion and sharing of views and ideas is enabled. Students are also able to look for information from the Internet with the wireless network in the cafe. Besides that, with a online communication program that it allows the translation of foreign languages to English, thus enable the students to communicate freely with people around the world

With the UMPC, student can also do their assignment at home or anywhere and teachers can send reminders to students to remind them of certain lessons the next day

In the Biology laboratory, data of laboratory specimen can be sent over the globe and even can enable students to enquire from Professors overseas. The students will be able to learn from other people and not restricted to only their teachers and peers.

At home, we can see how technology helps the disabled students to also learn. Voice control jukebox and lights and even who is present in the house, can be determine. Video conferencing allowed peer to peer learning to take place especially if the project requires participation from other people.

In the classroom, teacher take attendance by asking the students to place their UMPC on their lap and the information of who is present in class will be immediately shown on the teacher’s UMPC. The students are able to copy what their group had done into this “table PC” where more editing and simultaneous sharing can be done. The teacher will act as facilitator and guide the students in their discussion. The concave walls of the classroom enable the projection of the information to be projected onto all the walls and not restricted to only the front. Add richness and enable the students to fully “experience” and “immersed” into the whole lesson and learnt from it.

But I can see COTF is really relying very much on technology. What if there is a power failure or virus attack? A back-up plan is definitely needed to minimize these problems. The Classroom of the Future is student-centred to a certain extent but I am very confident to say it focus very much on ICT based learning. But I am not too sure how our students are prepared for this kind of learning. Can it accomodate all the students in Singapore? It sure need much more improvement.

Managing ICT-enhanced environments

2008-01-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

a. Do you think the classroom environment chosen is appropriate for the learning activities? Explain why.

The classroom environment was appropriate because instead of a classroom, the teacher used the computer laboratory. This enabled different learning style to take place. There were also sufficient computers for each pair of students which allowed all students to be engaged at the same time. Each of the students knew exactly their roles as they worked in pair and this encouraged discussion to take place thus learning in the process. The computer laboratory was well equipped with the necessary tools and technology for the teacher to utilize and to conduct a student-centered learning lesson.

b. The students seem to be focused and on task. What strategies do you think the teacher has used to achieve this outcome?

Unlike what was being observed in the first short video where the teacher used lightings to get the class attention and the "cup" system to help himself to identify students who required assistance, Daphne (the teacher in the video that I chosen) did not used any of these creative strategies. Instead, she ensured that at any one time, there are tasks for the students to complete like participation in the discussion forum, organising their mindmaps, etc. When there were some occasions where the students were disengaged or working too slowly, she would repeat her instruction, adding “please hurry up”.

c. What potential classroom management issues can possibly occur? What proposed solution(s) do you have?

Some issues that might occur are:

A breakdown in the computer system
Students might get overly excited and decide to take their discussion offline.
Students might be doing they own things using the computer such as playing games, surfing the internet instead of doing what is necessary.

Here are some solutions I proposed:

The teacher should have prepared a contengency plan in case of any breakdown of system. For example, she could postpone the presentation and maybe reenforced on certain learning points regarding the topic.
As seen in the video, even though there was one occasion when there was an outburst from one corner of the class and fiery exchange took place, the teacher still allowed that to happen. It all depends on how far this discussion is leading and how productive is this discussion in relation to the discussion topic given. In the video, the teacher heard and knew that this offline discussion did spur some thinking in some students thus allowed it to take place.
The teacher can instead of just sitting at her desk, she could randomly walk around or stand at the back of the class as most of the misbehave students like to sit there. If not she could co-teach the class with another teacher. This way, more help can be available if the students encounter difficulty in understanding or even using the technology.

How student-centred was the lesson?

2008-01-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Here are my thoughts after watching the video (Story 1):

Teacher roles (Score: 8)
The teacher crafted out a structure which allowed the students to undertake roles as “Secret Agents” before lesson to search for resources which were needed in the lesson. This enabled the students to take ownership in solving the problems given and providing possible solutions to them. The teacher acted as a “shepherd” and a facilitator. As a “shepherd”, she repeated her instruction and gave the students a “push” so that they will get on with what is needed to be done, when they were all doing different activities instead of posting questions on the online Discussion Forum. As a facilitator, she realised the students had trouble in asking relevant questions, thus she intervened and showed how things should be done. This enabled the students to be focused and know what were the things needed to be done at that particular time. Even though all in all the students had a good impression of the lesson, the teacher realised she might not have given the students enough time to cope with the numerous tasks that were needed to be completed. The students also might not know the proper way how to do note-taking and categorising the points. Therefore the quality of work was compromised as a result and the objectives of using the decision-making template and mindmaps were not met. It was good that the teacher realised and did amendments by modelling the various steps to doing a mindmap and gave sufficient time for the students to organise their decision-making templates. Lastly, the teacher set up an online poll to monitor the students’ understanding of the lesson.

Student roles (Score:9)
The students were responsible to come out with possible solutions to the given problems by the teacher. This enabled them to construct their own understanding and take up this ownership of learning. They were then asked to present their data and ideas to the rest of the class. This provided a platform for social interaction. More social interaction can be seen during the next lesson as the teacher allowed the students to act as both presenters and facilitators to engage the class in helping to clarify doubts.

Curriculum character (Score: 7)
The teacher set an environment for student-centred learning like letting the students tasked as Secret Agents to source for information, make decision, do mindmaps, allow social interaction such as online discussion forum, etc. All these not only engaged the students in a different and more interesting way and with the more improved way of facilitation by the teacher during the next lesson, had brought the students to a higher level in term of building their critical thinking, team cooperation and interpersonal skills.

Learning goals (Score: 8)
The ability to do up a presentation had shown the capability to work with others. The students were given the opportunity to voice out their doubts and ideas be it face-to-face or through the discussion forum provided the students with a general framework of thoughts. With the teacher’s guidance in some areas helped to enhance the learning experience and gear it towards the objective of the lesson on a whole.

Types of activities (Score: 8)
Students were allowed to work in a group and a pair for presentation and note-taking respectively which allowed peer teaching and cooperative learning. Skills such as looking for information on the internet, doing presentation using the Powerpoint, using mind mapping and other tools helped to build the students for the further working world. Online discussion and polls were set up to encourage self-learning, critical thinking and also enable the teacher to monitor the students’ understanding of the lesson.

Assessment strategies (Score: 7)
The group presentation, online discussion, online poll, mindmaps, face-to-face discussion at one occasion, and the decision-making templates all helped to monitor the students’ understanding. These can be more efficient as they provided opportunities for different learner to present their understandings of the lesson.

Use of ICT (Score: 9)
- Digital mind mapping tool known as Inspiration help them to construct and organise their thoughts into a mindmap format.
- The Internet was used to search for information of the topic
- Microsoft Powerpoint was used to consolidate all the data found and present them in a more systematic manner.
- Online discussion forum and poll were set up to provide a channel for communication and interaction to share information, clear doubts and for the teacher to monitor students’ understanding.

Overall, I felt that this lesson was student-centred to a large extent as we could see that the students were the “stars” in learning and understand with occasional facilitation from the teacher to help better grasp of certain ideas.

Reference:

Chapters 1-5 of "Connecting Student Learning & Technology"