You Be the Teacher: Developing K12 teacher technology skills through asynchronous learning projects.
Project Overview
During Fall 2019, EDU 219W Cognitive Learning Theories shifted from meeting MWF 10-10:50 in-person to meeting MW 10-10:50 and Friday class time occurring through student-led asynchronous activities. Students took turns leading the class by creating 5–10-minute video podcasts highlighting key chapter ideas and designing a weekly review quiz using online technology popular with K12 teachers. I referred to this project as “You Be the Teacher,” or YBT for short.
Planning Process
In the past few years since the pandemic started, it has been clear that K-12 teachers need the skills to lead their classrooms in both in-person and online settings. In order to strengthen Chatham’s Education students’ skills in delivering instruction online, I shifted selected learning tasks and my overall course delivery strategy for EDU 219W Cognitive Learning Theories to meet these added learner needs while still meeting all course objectives.
Course objectives for EDU 219W include the following:
– Increased understanding of the inter-relatedness of development and learning;
– Practice working in student groups; and
– Practice in organizing and presenting clear, logical oral presentations
Tenets of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) promote instructional practices that support equity in access to learning experiences. UDL also acknowledges that all students learn in different ways, and that instructors must be mindful to craft learning experiences that students can access from a variety of departure points. By meeting the above learning objectives in an asynchronous and project-based format, students were offered opportunities for learning that previously were not part of the course. The You Be the Teacher (YBT) asynchronous learning projects allowed students to share what they know in a pre-recorded format, so they can eliminate presentation errors and lower overall anxiety about presenting. It also prompted students to create learning resources that can be accessed at any time by other students in the course interested in reviewing course content.
The SAMR model was used in project design. SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition – the different levels in which technology is integrated into the course. These levels are as follows:
S: Tech acts as a direct substitution with no functional improvement;
A: Tech acts as a direct tool substitute with functional improvement;
M: Tech allows for significant task re-design; and
R: Tech allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.
As students were responsible for creating new online review resources for their peers, this project represents the “modification” level of technology integration. Students in past years completed in-person presentations instead of video casts and online quizzes. These in-person presentations were not accessible to peers to be used as study guides after the presentation ended.
Implementation
In order to implement this project, I had to do the following:
1. Re-work the entire syllabus to work with only asynchronous tasks on Fridays.
2. Develop the You Be the Teacher (YBT) project description and rubric, and have it ready for the beginning of the semester
3. Invite Lauren Panton to my class as a guest speaker to introduce the needed tech skills of creating a 5-minute video using Zoom and creating a 10-question Kahoot! quiz.
4. Graciously thank Lauren for her visit via Zoom, the recording of her visit she produced, and the handout she made outlining the skills she taught during her visit.
5. Reminded students a week in advance when it was their turn to lead asynchronous Friday activities
6. Required students to post their videocast and their quiz on the Wednesday before each asynch Friday so that I could review their work and help them problem solve any technical difficulties.
7. Stay alert for emails from students struggling with technology on Fridays. Occasionally, even when I believed everyone should be able to get into the student-created Kahoot quizzes, something happened blocking a student’s access. As all students received points for completing the quizzes, this was stressful for some. After a few frustrating experiences, I created a standing alternative assignment directing students to write a 500-word response highlighting key chapter ideas and drawing two quotations from text. I told them to complete this alternative assignment only if they were blocked from completing the YBT activities created by their classmate.
Assessment
I formally assessed my project after the course ended – giving me summative feedback. I created a Google Form survey and asked students the following questions:
1. How much did you like the shift from a traditional class meeting 3x a week to having asynch fridays?
2. How relevant and helpful do you think leading the asynch friday tasks (videocast, Kahoot) were for your future K12 classroom teacher job?
3. What were your key take aways from leading your asynchronous week (creating videocast + Kahoot!)?
4. Do you think other Education classes should use the asynchronous Fridays format?
5. Any additional feedback regarding the You Be the Teacher asynchronous Fridays experience?
I asked each question above using a Likert scale response, then asked the students to explain why they chose each answer with a short answer response.
In short, students found the You Be the Teacher project to be quite valuable. They appreciated the flexibility the format provided, and 10/12 students found the YBT tasks to be highly useful to their future position as a classroom teacher.
Reflections and Next Steps
What worked:
– Shifting the semester to asynchronous classes on Fridays to allow for this project
Giving students authentic tasks that K12 teachers must do when leading instruction in a virtual format.
– Collaborating with Lauren Panton to have my students learn tech skills that K12 teachers are currently using (making short videos via Zoom, creating Kahoot quizzes)
What didn’t work:
The timing of students posting their videos and Kahoots for my review two days before students viewed them got a bit messy. Sometimes students were late in posting their work, or I was a day late in reviewing it, leading to the class seeing the content sometimes before I did. I did not like that as I was not able to give feedback to the presenters in time for them to implement it.
Sometimes students ran into obstacles such as Kahoot saying only 10 participants can view their quiz, which was a problem as there were 30 students viewing the quiz. As I did not sit and work with the students on their Kahoot design, I was never sure how to solve that problem.
Next time:
Next time, I plan to have students complete their video and Kahoot a week ahead of time so that problems and technical glitches can be ironed out without a constant “last minute crunch.”
What did I learn:
I learned students respond really well to challenging assignments when it affords them authentic skills they can use in their future career. I also learned that post-pandemic students truly value hybrid courses as a means of engaging in coursework in a flexible yet very meaningful way.
