Learner Collaboration
The successful online educator:
Employs learner-centered instructional strategies and current practices that foster collaboration and promote higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and/or evaluation
Creates, models, and enforces expectations for appropriate interaction among learners
Standards:
NSQOT: C1, C2, C4
OTS: 2.4
Reflection: Explain what you have done in your professional experience to address these indicators and include reasoning for why you chose this evidence.
C1
To monitor individual progress I use Analytics in Canvas. For zoom I use ‘reports’ to view student activity in the session. There is an attention tracking feature that I am trying to locate in zoom. It should be under ‘meeting (advanced)’. This would be an asset to monitor student activity in our sessions.
I have a spreadsheet of web tools gathered over the years though more recent ones I use with students are the often favorites Kahoot, Quizalize and Quizlet for peer and collaborative learning. Padlet, Google Docs, Voice Threads are also good for inquiry and discussion. I am looking into Flipgrid and would like to find more collaborative tools for young learners.
In Canvas I use discussion posts with one of my collaborative activities being, “How do you like your guacamole’. In this activity I gave students culture notes on the celebration of Cinco de mayo along with the basic ingredients for guacamole which includes salt, avocado, garlic and lime. I also give them a few random food vocabulary words in Spanish that could be added to a guacamole. In this activity students are asked to draw a picture of their dish and ingredients, make a recording of them holding their picture and telling the ingredients in Spanish they use then ask ‘How do you make your guacamole’. Students really seemed to like the activity and met their goal in saying some basic food words in Spanish
For younger students I am struggling with other ways to collaborate and looking for ideas. One activity that seems to work with all ages is using breakout rooms in zoom, asking students a question and or giving them a topic to discuss.
C2
Again I am struggling with some of my younger students that are just learning to read though for older students I use text, email, discussion boards, zoom and sometimes google meet. Recently I decided to enable to chat tool in Canvas though I am not sure about leaving enabled when I am not present. In our meetings I remind students of appropriate communication and netiquette, and also guidelines listed in my courses under Syllabus.
C4
For my elementary students last year I taught through Seesaw, the platform the school was already using. It was nice to have this in place though I felt options for using tools in Seesaw were limited. One thing, though, I liked the audio feature with students being able to draw pictures and make recordings of themselves with their artwork, describing with Spanish words. Students were able to see each other’s work and comment which made the lessons more interactive among students. For meetings my school was using Google Meets and would be available to students.
Where are you now in reaching mastery of these indicators? Explain your reasoning.
Approaching / Meeting / Exceeding
For Learner Collaboration I am meeting mastery. I am able to track student progress, while giving them the opportunity to collaborate with classmates. In meetings I also reinforce good netiquette and guide students toward higher thinking skills.
I am part of an eLC (Electronic Learning Community) that meets monthly to work on current trends and how to increase student involvement.
Netiquette Posted in the Course
Padlet for Student Collaboration