Happy and Healthy Teachers

How will your interactive learning resource specifically ensure that the needs of all learners can be met?

In my group’s learning resource, we have chosen two exceptionalities: colourblindness and hard of hearing. Throughout the lesson we will keep these exceptionalities in mind, as well as other ways to make our lesson inclusive in other ways.

In order to make this an inclusive resource for all of our students, we need to think of all of the barriers. Some barriers may be faced in the content we are providing and our assessments.

Kahoot:

Kahoot is a great tool to use in the classroom. Kahoot should not be used as a learning tool, but rather for review and as a fun way to internalize ideas learned throughout lessons. We realize that Kahoot is not always fair, and not all students like competition, so we will make the Kahoot anonymous so that we do not have a podium of students’ names at the end of each round. The kahoot will be presented on the projector, and we will also read out loud each question as they pop up. We will also read each answer out loud. Each answer will have a short sentence answer, as well as a picture.

Edpuzzle:

Edpuzzle is great at considering accessibility. When we create the Edpuzzle, we will record each question so that it plays out loud when the questions pop up on the screen. Additionally, we will create the option to have closed captions when playing the video. We will also give students the option of using speech-to-text when filling out their answers. Each student will be doing the Edpuzzle on their own so we will give each student a set of headphones.

Final assessment:

It is important to include multiple means of action or expression in the classroom, therefore we will include multiple ways to complete the final assessment (Universal Design, n.d). The goal of our summative assessment is to answer the question: What happens when there’s no rain? With this assignment, students will have to present a text to share with everyone in the community. This is a meaningful assignment because it will be constructed with the intention to share it with the larger community. There will be student choice when creating the assessment. Some students may choose to create a comic strip, some may choose to create a poster, some may create a written paragraph, some a video, and so on. We are open to options that the students provide. With whichever form of representation the students choose to complete, we will assess each student with the same learning goal in mind.

Throughout the unit:

Throughout the unit, we will plan our lessons to have teaching cues that allow tasks to be broken up into manageable chunks (Inclusive Learning Design, n.d). This will involve us giving step-to-step instructions for all lessons so that no student is left unsure of what to do. Additionally, we will ensure we are speaking and enunciating loudly so that all students can hear. In anything we present, we will zoom in on what we are teaching so that it is large. We will also print on the board large. We will also recognize when students need brain breaks and do so accordingly, our assessments can be done at a later time if that is the case (Universal Design, n.d).

EdTech Admin. (n.d.). Universal design. EDCI 335: Learning design for technology-mediated environments. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/universal-design/

EdTeach Admin. (n.d.). Inclusive Learning Design. EDCI 335: Learning design for technology-mediated environments. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/inclusive-learning-design/

The instructional approach that I inquired about is open pedagogies. According to KPU, open pedagogies is committed to helping students access open resources, and helps students use these open resources to create content (KPU, n.d.). After researching this instructional approach, I realized that open pedagogies are a lot more accessible to the Elementary classroom than I anticipated. Before reading, my knowledge of using open resources was mainly skewed toward academic articles, although there is a whole range of open resources such as Youtube, Google Drive, and more (IA State, n.d.).

My Pod group is entirely elementary education students, so when researching open pedagogies I had this focus in mind throughout. Open pedagogies can look like a lot of things such as co-creating policies with students, creating meaningful assignments, and using open resources (KPU, n.d.).

Co-Creation:
Our group is doing our interactive learning design on the water cycle. Due to the nature of this course, we cannot co-create policies, rubrics, and schedules with our students because we are not working with our target group for this assignment (KPU, n.d.). However, if we were to take this topic and use it in our future classes, we could definitely apply these ideas. It is often talked about in the education field to create rubrics with our students so that they have more autonomy and understanding of assignments.

Meaningful Assignments:
KPU mentions that in open pedagogies, students should be creating projects that have a larger impact than just in the classroom (KPU, n.d.). IA State also mentions that a great way to do this is by collaborating as a class to create a textbook (IA State, n.d.). Our target students are in grade 2, so creating a textbook might be a little challenging. However, we could have students collaborate to create a collage of ideas they have learned. To go even further, students could then share this collage by presenting it to another group, creating a video of a puppet show, or putting it out on a bulletin board for others to see. This way, students are able to share what they have learned. Another way that we could incorporate this into our learning design is by having students write a letter or draw a picture about water conservancy for the local council.

Using Open Resources
One of the main parts of using open pedagogies is having students use open education resources so that they learn how to be a part of an online community (IA State, n.d.). In connection to creating meaningful assignments, when students use and contribute to the public good, students learn how to be a part of the public in a relevant way (IA State, n.d.). If you search on Youtube ‘The Water Cycle,’ there are a ton of videos created by hundreds of people that can contribute to the learning of students. Additionally, there are open resources students can use to store their files such as google drive. For the interactive learning design, students could use spaces such as google drive to store and share their work with other peers, and even the public.

Essentially, using open pedagogy can be a series of practice, learning style, or state of mind (IA State, n.d.). Educators can decide how they want to incorporate this instructional approach into their teachings, and whether this is something they feel students should be assimilating into their learning path. As we dive more into the technology generation, it is important to consider the prospect of open pedagogies and how this type of instruction can change the way technology is used in society.

Here is an example of an open ed resource on the water cycle:

References

Open Pedagogy. (n.d.). Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Retrieved Oct 5, 2022, from https://www.kpu.ca/open/pedagogy

Open Pedagogy. (n.d.). Iowa State University. Retrieved Oct 5, 2022, from https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/oerstarterkit/chapter/open-pedagogy/

There are a lot of things that I would change about my past practicum. I learned a lot about the new curriculum, inquiry, and the best ways students can learn. Although knowing all this, I still thought back to when I was in school and how I learned. When I was in school, the curriculum was much more content-based. This meant that I learned about many topics, some useful and some not so useful, and was expected to learn these concepts through memorization and regurgitation. Even though I had just learned that these were not the best ways to learn, I still found myself wanting to teach this way during my practicum. This reminds me a lot about the ‘The Backwards Brain Bicycle’ video by Destin Sandlin. Due to my prior knowledge of how school is supposed to look, it was very difficult to change this image. I now realize that it will not take a few classes and one practicum to change how my brain views the school system, but over time as I develop professionally I will see myself making this change.

A strategy I learned, and a strategy we practice in the education department constantly, is partaking in practice lessons. In my classes, I am constantly teaching my classmates. This is great practice for how I should be teaching lessons to fit BC’s curriculum as opposed to the old curriculum. We are also actively debating the best ways to teach our students. By using this constructivist approach, we are taking part in tasks that are meaningful because we practice our lessons, and eventually will be able to use what we have learned in front of our real students (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). 

Based on this realization, and off on the readings, I would consider myself to aim toward constructivist instruction. As I practice lessons with my colleagues, I understand the importance of making meaning through experience (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). I also remind myself that memorization will not help students critically think and problem solve, and therefore students may lack the skills they need (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). My goal is to increase student engagement and participation in all my lessons so that they are actively learning, rather than sitting back and observing. By including my students in my lessons, they will receive the best education I can give them.

References

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. In R. E. West, Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology: The Past, Present, and Future of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism

SmarterEveryDay. (2015, April 24). The Backwards Brain Bicycle – Smarter Every Day 133 [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved September 24, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0&t=376s