Virtual Learning
5 examples of different lessons or assessment tools I created to help teach my classes remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interactive Lesson
Below is an interactive Nearpod lesson that was created as a pre-lab presentation before students began a PhET simulation over Blackbody radiation. Nearpod is a great resource because it allows students to participate directly in the presentation from their device and for me as the teacher to see the responses each individual student is providing, despite the answers being private to other students. This is especially helpful for students who do not feel comfortable sharing their answers publicly with the entire class. They can still share their answers privately and I can still see their level of understanding, without the pressure of being called on to answer out loud in front of the class.
Reflection:
While I have done several Nearpod and PearDeck interactive lessons in the past, we were short on time for this pre-lab presentation and needed to go through it quickly to make sure students had enough time to actually complete the lab during the assigned class time (for equity reasons we have tried to avoid “homework” during the remote learning period and have students get all work done during class time). The actual pre-lab I presented was very similar, only instead of the Nearpod interactive questions I simply asked the same question and called on a student using a random name generator to answer the question in the chat. While this did help shorten the time because we did not waste time logging in, making sure all students were connected, and waiting for every student to answer every question, if we had the time the Nearpod would have been more beneficial in order to receive feedback and data from each individual student, which could be used in the future to help differentiate learning.
While I have done several Nearpod and PearDeck interactive lessons in the past, we were short on time for this pre-lab presentation and needed to go through it quickly to make sure students had enough time to actually complete the lab during the assigned class time (for equity reasons we have tried to avoid “homework” during the remote learning period and have students get all work done during class time). The actual pre-lab I presented was very similar, only instead of the Nearpod interactive questions I simply asked the same question and called on a student using a random name generator to answer the question in the chat. While this did help shorten the time because we did not waste time logging in, making sure all students were connected, and waiting for every student to answer every question, if we had the time the Nearpod would have been more beneficial in order to receive feedback and data from each individual student, which could be used in the future to help differentiate learning.
Personalized Learning Plan
Below is an Astronomy Review menu choice sheet that I created as a review for my students at the end of the Astronomy unit. The purpose of the menu choice sheet is to allow for student choice and differentiation in reviewing the material. There are several different types of review activities, so students can choose which assignments best match their own personal learning style.
Reflection:
I was planning on using the Astronomy Menu Choice sheet as a review at the end of the unit, however due to time constraints I was unable to do so. However, I do believe the students would have enjoyed doing an activity where they could choose what they wanted to do, as well as decide what type of work they wanted to do and use their creative side if they wished.
I was planning on using the Astronomy Menu Choice sheet as a review at the end of the unit, however due to time constraints I was unable to do so. However, I do believe the students would have enjoyed doing an activity where they could choose what they wanted to do, as well as decide what type of work they wanted to do and use their creative side if they wished.
Instructional Video
This is a recording of one of the live lessons I taught to my classes over BLEND Conferences. Due to privacy reasons I had to blur the chat box in the recording, however when I asked questions during the lesson students were responding in the chat so I could see their answers and who was participating. I also showed a YouTube video in the middle of the lesson, which is not included in the recording but can be found here.
Reflection:
The live lesson that I taught to my students went very well. I was a little worried that I would not be able to hold student’s attention, in part because I was not able to see their faces during instruction, but also because the material was new and I was worried they would be confused. However, thanks to the chat feature I could tell that many students were engaged in the lesson, and could even tell which students were typing even if they ultimately decided not to answer the question, or if someone else answered it first. I also utilized the poll feature because it allowed every single student to provide an answer, and I could easily see who was and was not paying attention in that moment. Overall it went well and based on the feedback I received from students, they seemed to understand the majority of the material.
The live lesson that I taught to my students went very well. I was a little worried that I would not be able to hold student’s attention, in part because I was not able to see their faces during instruction, but also because the material was new and I was worried they would be confused. However, thanks to the chat feature I could tell that many students were engaged in the lesson, and could even tell which students were typing even if they ultimately decided not to answer the question, or if someone else answered it first. I also utilized the poll feature because it allowed every single student to provide an answer, and I could easily see who was and was not paying attention in that moment. Overall it went well and based on the feedback I received from students, they seemed to understand the majority of the material.
Online Discussion
Below is an online BLEND Discussion which allows students to respond to a prompt asynchronously, as well as reply to the answers provided by their peers.
Reflection:
We ended up deciding to not use this BLEND discussion prompt in favor of a PlayPosit video and discussion during our live class. Since the majority of our students have been logging on to our live class, this material was discussed briefly after students watched the PlayPosit with embedded questions. Students also explored the topic of the Life Cycle of Stars further by completing a group project researching the stages of the life cycle and which elements were formed at which stage of the cycle.
We ended up deciding to not use this BLEND discussion prompt in favor of a PlayPosit video and discussion during our live class. Since the majority of our students have been logging on to our live class, this material was discussed briefly after students watched the PlayPosit with embedded questions. Students also explored the topic of the Life Cycle of Stars further by completing a group project researching the stages of the life cycle and which elements were formed at which stage of the cycle.
Online Assessment
Below is a link to an online assessment used to measure student understanding, as well as take student data to differentiate learning in the future.
Reflection:
In class I have typically used BLEND quizzes in order to assess students, however I could not find an easy way to share a BLEND quiz I decided to copy the quiz into a GoFormative quiz. However, I do have data from the answers students provided to this quiz on BLEND, which was actually an ungraded self-check. The data showed that the average score was a 59%, however I did not look too deeply into that number simply because I told the students the quiz was not for a grade, and it was only 6 questions long, meaning missing one question would already give them an 83. What I found more useful was the individual scores given for each question, showing what percentage of students got each question correct. This was useful, since I could tell which questions students found confusing, and even one question where there were two correct answers, but I realized they actually did not learn about one of the answer choices, causing many students to get that question incorrect. Overall the quiz answers were helpful, and I went over them in our online class during the next session, which I think the students appreciated having the answers explained as well.
In class I have typically used BLEND quizzes in order to assess students, however I could not find an easy way to share a BLEND quiz I decided to copy the quiz into a GoFormative quiz. However, I do have data from the answers students provided to this quiz on BLEND, which was actually an ungraded self-check. The data showed that the average score was a 59%, however I did not look too deeply into that number simply because I told the students the quiz was not for a grade, and it was only 6 questions long, meaning missing one question would already give them an 83. What I found more useful was the individual scores given for each question, showing what percentage of students got each question correct. This was useful, since I could tell which questions students found confusing, and even one question where there were two correct answers, but I realized they actually did not learn about one of the answer choices, causing many students to get that question incorrect. Overall the quiz answers were helpful, and I went over them in our online class during the next session, which I think the students appreciated having the answers explained as well.