DESIGNING ACTIVITIES AND ASSESSMENTS TO MEET YOUR COURSE OBJECTIVES

DR. VANESSA DENNEN

PIE BOOTCAMP: 2-DAY WORKSHOP

DAY 1: DESIGNING ACTIVITIES (7/21)

DAY 2: DESIGNING ASSESSMENTS (7/23)

Follow/Contact Me:

vdennen@fsu.edu

@vdennen

http://vanessadennen.com

LinkedIn: vanessadennen

WORKSHOP STRUCTURE

• Hour 1

• Presentation on activity design

• Hour 2

• Work on your course

• I’ll stay here on zoom to chat and consult

PRESENTATION INTERACTION

• Please keep microphone on mute unless invited to speak.

• Feel free to interact in chat.

• Ask questions

• Comment

• Share resources

• Activities

DAY 1: DESIGNING LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Focus

• Remote/online learning activities

Objectives

• Apply the cognitive apprenticeship and community of practice models during the activity

design process

• Design a learning activity that is aligned with course objectives

• Design a learning activity that comprehensively accounts for all necessary elements

GUESS WHAT? YOU’RE ALREADY AN EXPERT (SORT OF)

WHAT KINDS OF ACTIVITIES DO YOU TYPICALLY DO IN YOUR FACE-TO-FACE CLASSES?

• Take 60 seconds to think about this

and share your answer in the chat.

• If you have not previously taught in

a face-to-face setting, draw upon

your experiences as a student.

I ask my

students to …

ADVANTAGES OF REMOTE/ONLINE CLASSES

• Wealth of information and resources at your fingertips

• Ability to reflect before participating (asynchronous)

• Ability to document contributions and collaborations

DESIGN OR CONVERTDETERMINES STARTING POINT

WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS FALL?

A. Designing activities for a campus course

B. Designing new activities for a remote or online course

C. Converting existing activities for a remote or online course

D. I’m not sure

COURSE CONVERSION ANALOGY

Attendance : Classroom :: _________ : Online Classroom

COURSE CONVERSION ANALOGY

Attendance : Classroom :: Participation : Online Classroom

Learners who do not participate are not visible attendees

Attendance points become participation points

ACTIVITY DESIGN PROCESS

Identify Course Learning

Objective(s)

Identify Enabling

Objective(s)

Determine Activity

Parameters

Design Activity

Elements

Develop Activity

Materials

ACTIVITY DESIGN PROCESS

Identify Course Learning

Objective(s)

Identify Enabling

Objective(s)

Determine Activity

Parameters

Design Activity

Elements

Develop Activity

Materials

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY & ACTIVITIES

YOU HAVE TO WALK

BEFORE YOU CAN RUN.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

LEVELS OF OBJECTIVES

Course level objectives

Enabling objectives

Pre-requisites

Taught in course

ALIGNMENT: OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Weekly

Discussion

Design

Concept

Mobile/

Environment

Installation

Interactive

Mobile

Content

Application

Design

Implementation

and Evaluation

Plan

Reflection

Paper

Discuss concepts related to

mobile learning

Design and prototype a

simple mLearning app or

mobile- based learning

experience

Create an implementationplan for mLearning

Create an evaluation plan

for mLearning

ACTIVITY DESIGN PROCESS

Identify Course Learning

Objective(s)

Identify Enabling

Objective(s)

Determine Activity

Parameters

Design Activity

Elements

Develop Activity

Materials

TRANSLATING OBJECTIVES INTO ACTIVITIES

What is the

verb?Objective

How can

students practice?

Activity

ACTIVITIES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO ASSESSMENT

INDIRECT

• Practice

• Exploration

DIRECT

• Drafts

• Critiques

• Debriefs

TYPES OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Individual SynchronousWhole class

Small group

AsynchronousWhole class

Small group

RATIONALE FOR ACTIVITIES: COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP MODEL

Modeling

• Expert demo

Coaching

• Expert guidance

Scaffolding

• Support

Articulation

• Explain knowledge

Reflection

• Analyze knowledge

Exploration

• Own and extend

Reception Learning

Metacognition

Transfer

ACTIVITY DESIGN PROCESS

Identify Course Learning

Objective(s)

Identify Enabling

Objective(s)

Determine Activity

Parameters

Design Activity

Elements

Develop Activity

Materials

ELEMENTS OF ACTIVITIES

• Directions

• Partners

• Time

• Facilitation

• Outcomes

• Feedback

DIRECTIONS

Clear, detailed description of what to do.

• Outlines all parts of task.

• Often incorporates information about partners and

time.

• May include example(s).

• Needs to be visible/accessible during activity.

PARTNERS

Information about who to work with and how to work

with them.

• Selection assistance or criteria

• Cooperation or collaboration

• Level(s) of intersubjectivity

INTERSUBJECTIVITY

• A form of mutual dependence based on common understanding and shared execution

of a task

• Working together to achieve a goal rather than alone or in parallel

LEARNERS AS COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

Community of Practice

Mutual engagement

Joint enterprise Shared repertoire

TIME

• Calendar time

• When the activity should be started

• When the activity should be completed

• Effort

• Total time it should take to complete

• Rhythm

• How many work sessions are needed

FACILITATION

INSTRUCTOR PEER NO ONE

OUTCOMES

Process

Product

Reflection

Extension

FEEDBACK

• None

• Individual

• Group

• Completion

• Rubric

• Comments

• Grade

EXAMPLE

Course-Level Objectives:

• Communicate using a variety of Web 2.0 tools.

• We try a lot of tools

• Design educational experiences using Web 2.0 technologies.

• We explore a lot of activity frameworks

• We consider cultural differences across implementation contexts

Purpose:

• Practice

• Exploration

Elements:

• Asynchronous (1 week)

• Individual

• Instructor facilitation

• Informal feedback

AND BECAUSE NO ONE LIKES A BLANK PAGE

DISCUSSION ACTIVITIES

WHO’S AFRAID OF ONLINE DISCUSSION?

Take 60 seconds to share your greatest fear(s) in the chat.

DISCUSSION IS NOT A SINGLE ACTIVITY

DiscussionBrainstorm

Share

Explore Debate

Critique

Debrief

DISCUSSION DOES NOT OCCUR THROUGH A SINGLE MEDIUM

DiscussionIn person

Live video

Text chat/SMS

Recorded video

Discussion board

ACTIVITY DESIGN PROCESS

Identify Course Learning

Objective(s)

Identify Enabling

Objective(s)

Determine Activity

Parameters

Design Activity

Elements

Develop Activity

Materials

ANATOMY OF A GOOD DISCUSSION ACTIVITY

• Infinite possible responses

• Discussion, not message posting

• Orients learners toward each other

• Offers opportunity to practice

terms and concepts related to

course content

FRAMING DISCUSSION: STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

Course

Why am I here?

Why are these other

people here?

Discussion

What is required?

What is the outcome?

ExchangeTo whom am I

speaking?What am I saying?

FRAMING DISCUSSION: COP PERSPECTIVE

Joint Enterprise

What is our common purpose?

Shared Repertoire

What history, knowledge

and resources do

we share?

Mutual Engagement

What are our patterns of interaction?

IMAGINE THIS DISCUSSION PROMPT

Discuss Chapter 2.

•What’s wrong with it?

•How do we make it better?

IMAGINE THIS DISCUSSION PROMPT

What were the three main points of Chapter 2?

•What’s wrong with it?

•How do we make it better?

IMAGINE THIS DISCUSSION PROMPTS

Chapter 2 discusses XYZ theory.

Find an example related to the theory from everyday life and

share it here without further comment.

Then look at the example someone else shared. Work with each

other to discuss how the example fits the theory. Are there

ways in which it doesn’t fit the theory? If so, comment on those

as well.

HOW DOES THE LAST EXAMPLE SUPPORT COP?

Joint Enterprise

Practice the Chapter 2 content

(articulate, reflect)

Shared Repertoire

The theory we are

learning / other course

concepts

Mutual Engagement

Share an example, dissect examples together

REUSING ACTIVITY FRAMES

• Activity frames = templates for learning activities

• Familiar structures and directions reduce cognitive load throughout a term

• Activity frames will vary based on content, level of objectives, interdependence of

learners and dimension of cognitive apprenticeship

Activity Frame Examples

Explore-Explain-Debrief

Find-Describe-Critique

Share-Synthesize-Evaluate

REVIEW: RATIONALE FOR ACTIVITIES: COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP MODEL

Modeling

• Expert demo

Coaching

• Expert guidance

Scaffolding

• Support

Articulation

• Explain knowledge

Reflection

• Analyze knowledge

Exploration

• Own and extend

Reception Learning

Metacognition

Transfer

REVIEW: ACTIVITY DESIGN PROCESS

Identify Course Learning

Objective(s)

Identify Enabling

Objective(s)

Determine Activity

Parameters

Design Activity

Elements

Develop Activity

Materials

Develop Assessment

Thursday’s Session

IF YOU PLAN TO RETURN ON THURSDAY, WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT DESIGNING ASSESSMENTS?

PEOPLE FIRST.

CONTENT SECOND.

TECHNOLOGY THIRD. Follow/Contact Me:

• vdennen@fsu.edu

• @vdennen

• http://vanessadennen.com/blog

• LinkedIn: vanessadennen

A HELPFUL TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

AS WE WRAP UP HOUR 1, DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS?

PRACTICE ACTIVITY

Directions:

• Choose a learning objective for the class you plan to teach.

• Sketch out a discussion activity to address that learning objective.

• Choose: synchronous or asynchronous

• Consider the elements we’ve discussed today (directions, partners, time, facilitation, outcomes,

feedback)

• Use the Activity Planning Sheet to guide your process: https://bit.ly/activity_planning_sheet

• Work together in a breakout group if you like.

• Return here to share if you want feedback or have questions

I’ll hang out here for the next hour to answer questions and provide feedback.