3.3 Online & Blended Learning
Candidates develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks to support and extend student learning and expand opportunities and choices for professional learning for teachers and administrators. (PSC 3.3/ISTE 3c)
Artifacts: Discovery Education Boards
For my Capstone project I worked to integrate technology into our K-2 IB PYP planners. While working with my K-2 teachers I reintroduced them to a resource called Discovery Education. This interactive resource allows our teachers to create multimedia posters that can be used to provide our students with a variety of access points on topics. It offers digital textbooks, professional development opportunities, STEM activities, video streaming, and Quiz Builder. This was a readily received resource and it could be easily accessed through our learning management system. For this standard, I shared one of the social studies boards that I created for the second grade IB planner entitled, Who We Are.
This unit is an inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human. I developed an interactive board to extend our student’s learning about the contributions of several historical figures and the traits that they exhibit. The board includes an introduction to the planner, videos for the students to watch, research links, and their group task. The students will work in cooperative groups of three, comprised of a biographer, historian, and a photographer. For their task, the students are going to compare several historical figures and determine how each of these people changed the United States and why they are heroes. With this interactive resource teachers can facilitate differentiated assignments, videos, quizzes, and readings for their students to support their learning.
My school system purchased this resource many years ago, but unfortunately many of us did not realize how invaluable it was. When I spoke with many of the teachers they initially just used Discovery Education for just the videos. Little did we know that it was such an amazing tool that could really have an impact on our students learning. Looking back on this board, I realize that I needed to include a rubric for my students. The task for my students was easily spelled out, but I did not explain how it would be graded.
Another great thing about Discovery Education is that you can easily share resources not only with your students, but you can share them with your school and your school system. I shared this board with both my school and my school system. I was also able to assign it to my advanced content reading students to complete. The impact that this resource has can be assessed by examining the quality of the student’s projects and through feedback from the second grade teachers that assigned this board to their students.
This unit is an inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human. I developed an interactive board to extend our student’s learning about the contributions of several historical figures and the traits that they exhibit. The board includes an introduction to the planner, videos for the students to watch, research links, and their group task. The students will work in cooperative groups of three, comprised of a biographer, historian, and a photographer. For their task, the students are going to compare several historical figures and determine how each of these people changed the United States and why they are heroes. With this interactive resource teachers can facilitate differentiated assignments, videos, quizzes, and readings for their students to support their learning.
My school system purchased this resource many years ago, but unfortunately many of us did not realize how invaluable it was. When I spoke with many of the teachers they initially just used Discovery Education for just the videos. Little did we know that it was such an amazing tool that could really have an impact on our students learning. Looking back on this board, I realize that I needed to include a rubric for my students. The task for my students was easily spelled out, but I did not explain how it would be graded.
Another great thing about Discovery Education is that you can easily share resources not only with your students, but you can share them with your school and your school system. I shared this board with both my school and my school system. I was also able to assign it to my advanced content reading students to complete. The impact that this resource has can be assessed by examining the quality of the student’s projects and through feedback from the second grade teachers that assigned this board to their students.