Lesson 17: Assessment in a Constuctivist, Technology-Supported Learning

We need to observe and evaluate and to do it more objectively, with the aid of a scoring rubric. You and your students may develop a rubric. It can be a collaborative effort both of you – teacher and students – in line with the practice of self-assessment, which is highly favored and encouraged.

In fact with scoring rubric, standards are clearly set at the beginning for you and your students and with that rubric your students can assess their own performance or products.

Assessment in a technology-supported environment necessarily includes display of skillful and creative use of technologies, old and recent, because that is what is naturally expected of us in the real world, a technology-dominated world.

These presentations need performance-based assessment or product assessment. It is a direct assessment. It measure their computer skills directly in an authentic or real-life setting. A technology-supported classroom maximizes the use of old and new technology.

To assess their manipulative skill, we conduct direst assessment with the help of a scoring rubric. From the eyes of a constructivist, learning is an active, constructive, intentional, authentic and cooperative process, so should the ways in which we assess learners and criteria that we use to evaluate them. Assess learning as it is occurring. This is process or performance assessment.

The rubric for understanding and improving meaningful environment can give an idea. (Insert picture of assessing activity, assessing construction, assessing cooperative, assessing authenticity, assessing intentionally, rubric for understanding and improving meaningful learning environments)

The traditional paper-and-pencil tests are not adequate to assess learning in a constructivist technology-supported learning.The authentic forms of assessment such as performance and product assessment, are more reliable and adequate to measure students’ communication, analytical, integrative, evaluative and collaborative skills.

In a technology-supported learning environment, the students are not only users of technology product, they themselves are authors of technology product. Scoring rubrics are, therefore, a must in assessment.

Lesson 18: Roles and Functions of an Educational Media Center

What is educational media center?

Is a place where audio-visual materials and equipment for instructional support were housed.

It provides a venue for multimedia learning for a more effective instructional process in school.

The Educational Media Center is a unit indispensable to the teacher-training programs of the College. It provides the following services to the faculty, staff and students of the College: audio and/or video media materials recording services, production services, basic repair services, and consultant service on effective media utilization. 

To do its job, the Center has a collection of audio-visual facilities including cassette tape recorders, slide/tape recorders and projectors, film and film strip projectors, overhead and opaque projectors, video camera and other production hardware and equipment. For the most part, the Center serves as a laboratory for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Educational Technology courses. 

The mission of the Educational Media Center (EMC) is to provide quality support for teaching and learning through the integration and use of technology

Responsibility of Media Specialist in Education

• Plan instructional programs
• Share information about resources and search strategies
• Help with the operation of a peace of Help with the operation of a peace of equipment
• Suggest specific resources for a particular unit particular unit
• Provide conducive learning environment

Basic Services of Educational Media Center

• Accessibility of Resources
• Collection
• Reference
• Instruction
• Production
• Consultation

Lesson 16- Using the Project Based Learning Multi-media as a Teaching- Learning Strategy

Project based learning enables classrooms to emphasize this under valued part of the "Invisible curriculum" what author Daniel Goleman has called "Emotional Intelligence". 

Using project - based learning multimedia as a strategy in teaching is effective in increasing students motivation by engaging them in their own learning, in improving student problem-solving and higher order thinking skills. Teaching with the project-based method enables students to work cooperatively with peer and mentors in a student-centered environment where learners are encouraged to explore various topics of interest. It also provides opportunities for interdisciplinary learning by engaging students in applying the content of different subject areas. 

Goals and Objectives are always the starting points of planing. When we plan a multi-media learning project as a teaching strategy, we begin by clarifying our goals and objective. Another important thing is to determine the resources available- from library materials, community resources both material and human, internet, new media- since this project calls for Multi-Media. To trim down time devoted to a multi-media project, Simkins et al (2002) suggested the following:

1. Use technology students already know

2. Use time outside of class whenever possible

3. Assign skills practice as homework

4. Use special classes (like art or music) as extra time

5. Let students compose texts and select and prepare graphics and sounds as they plan

Before the project starts:

1. Create project description and milestones 

2. Work with real world connections

3. Prepare resources

4. Prepare software and peripherals such as microphones

5. Organize computer files

6. Prepare the classroom

Introducing the project ( one or two days )

1. Review project documents

2. Perform pre-assessment

3. Perform relevant activities

4. Group students- here are some grouping strategies:

• by topic interest
• by student talent and expertise
• by student choice randomly

Learning the technology (one to three days) - Give a chance for the students to work with whatever software and technology they will be using.

Preliminary research and planing (three days to three weeks, depending on project size) - At this stage, students should immerse themselves in the content of subject matter they need to understand to create their presentation. 

Concept design and Storyboarding (three to five days)- A story board is a paper- and- pencil sketch of the entire presentation, screen by screen or in the case of videos, shot by shot, requiring a story board provides a natural check-in point for you and gives your students an opportunity to plan ahead.

Here are a few design tips to keep in mind throughout storyboarding and production:

• Use scanned , handmade artwork to make a project look personal and to manage scarce technology resources
• Keep navigation 
• Organize information similarly throughout so users can find what they are looking for
• Care for collaboration 
• Organize manageable steps
• Check and asses often 

Assessing, testing and finalizing presentations (one to three weeks)- There are two kinds of testing to think about

Functional Testing- Trying all the buttons, taking all possible paths thru the presentation, checking for errors, missing images and the like

User- Testing- Showing the presentation to members of the target audience and finding out if they can successfully navigate it and understand it.

Assessment means critical evaluation of your presentation

Concluding activities (one to three days)- Allow time for students to present and show off their hard work.Often there is an obvious, authentic concluding activity related to your real- world connection.Remember to take time to review the ups and downs of the project with students and anyone else who participated.

Lesson 15 - Project Based Multimedia Learning

Project based multimedia learning can build the students creativity. It is were the students independently done their research and organized what the teacher has given them to be accomplish.The students will be engage in hands-on activity that helps them engage more knowledge. Each students have their own task to do so they have to participate, and teachers will just observe and give comments to what their doing if is it right towards their goal. Project based multimedia learning is a teaching method where it can help the students acquire new knowledge and skills in the course of designing, planing, and producing multimedia project. 

1. What is project-based multimedia learning?

• Project-based multimedia learning is a teaching method in which students "acquire new knowledge and skills in the course of designing, planning, and producing multimedia product".

2.What are the elements of project-based multimedia learning

The elements of project-based multimedia learning are:

• core curriculum 
• real-world connection 
• extended time frame 
• student decision making 
• collaboration 
• assessment 
• multimedia

3. Why use project-based multimedia learning?

• Because it is "value added" to your teaching.It is powerful motivator as proven in the class. It actively engages students in the learning task. Students are likewise engaged in the production of multimedia presentation.

4. What are the disadvantages of the use of project-based learning and multimedia project?

• You need time to orient the students on what are expected of them, guidelines, goals and objectives of the project, and more , so for your students to gather and organize their data, work on their presentations and the like.
• If the basic computer courses did not teach them these skills demanded by this strategy, there will be a problem.
• The tendency to lose track of the goals and objectives of your lesson because the technology aspect has gotten the limelight.

Lesson 14: Maximizing the Use of the Overhead Projector and the Chalk Board

“Indeed, in no…country have I ever seen a good school without a black board or a successful teacher who did not use it frequently” –Horace Mann, noted American Educator.

Among all instructional equipment, the chalk board is the most available. The overhead projector is versatile equipment that is quite common today. By learning how to use them properly and in an inexpensive way we are able to realize our instructional objectives. There are techniques of using the chalk board and OHP proven to be effective by practitioners. Adopting them in our teaching spells visual and lasting learning for our students.

Chalkboard techniques:

a. Sharpen your chalk to get good line quality.

b. Stand with your elbow high, move along as you write.

c. Use dots as “Aiming points” this keeps writing level.

d. Make all writing or printing between 2 and 4 inches high for legibility.

e. When using colored chalk, use soft chalk so that it can be erased easily.

The Overhead Projector (OHP) Techniques

Among the outstanding attributes of overhead projection are the many techniques that can be used to present information and control the sequence of a presentation. Keep in mind these features of overhead projection.

• You can show pictures and diagrams using a pointer to direct attention to a detail.
• You can use felt pen or waxed based pencil to add details. It can easily be removed by a soft cloth.
• You can control the rate of presenting information by covering with an opaque material and exposing the data as you discuss. This is known as the progressive disclosure technique.
• You can super impose additional transparency cheats as over lace on a based transparency so as to separate processes and complex ideas into elements and present them in step by step order.
• You can show 3 dimensional objects from the stage of the projector.
• You can move over lace back and forth across the base in order to rearrange elements of diagrams or problems
• You can simulate motion on parts of a transparency by using the effects of polarized light.

Lesson 12 – The Power of Film, Video and TV in the Classroom

“ Next to the home and school, I believe television to have a more profound influence on the human race than any other medium of communication.” – Edgar Dale

The film, video and TV are powerful instructional tools. When they re used appropriately and moderately, they can make the teaching-learning process more concrete, lively, colorful and interactive. It contributes to a more lasting learning because of its visual, audio and motion effects. These effects make learning fun. However, misuse and abuse of their use in the classroom and even at home has far reaching damaging effects in the development of children’s imaginative and thinking powers and sensitivity to human life. The most significantly cited weakness of the tv is the effect of tv violence on peoples’ aggressive behavior.

With the coming of the VCR, viewing need or not to be passive anymore. We can have interactive viewing with VCR.

The film, the video and the TV are indeed very powerful. Dale ( 1969 ) says, they can:

Ø Transmit a wide range of audio – visual materials, including still pictures, film, objects, specimens and drama.

Ø Bring model of excellence to the viewer

Ø Bring the world of reality to the home and to the classroom through a “live” broadcast or as mediated through film or videotape.

Ø Make us see and hear for ourselves world events as they happen.

Ø Be the most believable news source

Ø Make some programs understandable and appealing to a wide variety of age educational levels.

Ø Become a great equalizer of educational opportunity because programs can be presented over national and regional networks.

Ø Provide us with sounds and sights not easily available even to the viewer of a real event through long shots, close ups, zoom shots, magnification and split screen made possible by the TV camera.

Ø Can give opportunity to teachers to view themselves while they teach for purposes of self – improvement.

Ø Can be both instructive and enjoyable.

While the film, video and tv can do so much, they have their own limitations too :

Ø Television and films are one – way communication device consequently, they encourage passivity.

Ø The small screen size puts television at a disadvantage when compared with the possible size of projected motion pictures.

Ø Excessive tv viewing works against the development of the child’s ability to visualize and to be creative and imaginative, skills that are needed in problem solving.

Ø There is much violence in tv. This is the irrefutable conclusion, “viewing violence increases violence”.

Basic Procedures in the use of TV as a Supplementary Enrichment.

* For enrichment of the lesson with the use of TV, we have to do the following:

Ø Prepare the classroom

o Darken the room but not completely so the students can take down notes.

o The students should not be seated too near nor too far from the TV.

* Pre-viewing Activities

o Set goals and expectations.

o Link the TV lesson with the past lesson and/or with your students’ experiences for integration and relevance.

o Set the rules while viewing.

o Put the film in context.

o Point the key points they need to focus on.

* Viewing

Ø Don’t interrupt viewing by inserting cautions and announcements you forgot to give during the pre-viewing stage. It disrupts and dampens interest.

Ø Just make sure sights and sounds are clear.

* Post-viewing

Ø To make them feel at ease begin by asking the following questions:

1. What do you like best in the film?

2. What part of the film makes you wonder? Doubt?

3. Does the film remind you of something or someone?

4. What questions are you asking about the film?

* Go to the questions you raised at the pre-viewing stage.

* Tackle questions raised by students at the initial stage of the post-viewing discussion.

* Ask what the students learned.. Find how they can apply what they learned.

* Summarize what has learned.

Lesson 11- Making the most of Community Resources and Field Trips

“Field Trips offer an excellent bridge between the work of the school and the work of the world outside.”

Field Trips are expensive. They require much time for preparation and planning. However, considering the intensity and the extent of concrete experiences that come through field trips, we are encouraged to use them Only, if there is no other less expensive but equally effective instructional tool. Preparation and planning for the field trip includes discussions and decisions on what to do before the field trip, during the field trip and after the field trip.

Community resources like historical and scenic spots, museums, zoos, botanical gardens, places, of exhibits can be destinations for field trips. Other community resources can be people themselves such as parents, senior citizens and other members of the community.

Planning a field trip includes these steps:

1. Preliminary planning by the teacher
2. Pre-planning with others going on the trip
3. taking the field trip itself
4. Post-field trip follow up activities

Pre-planning with others joining the trip

- Other people accompanying the group need to be oriented on the objectives, route, behavior standards required of everyone so they can help enforce these standards.

Taking the field Trip

Ø Distribute route map of places to be observed
Ø Upon arriving at the destination, teacher should check the group and introduce the guide.
Ø Special effort should be made to ensure that: 

o The trip keeps to the time schedule
o The students have the opportunity to obtain answers to questions
o The group participates courteously in the entire trip
o The guide sticks closely to the list of questions.

Educational Benefits derived from a field trip

- Field trips can be fun and educational when they are well executed. They offer us a number of educational benefits:

1. The acquisition of lasting concepts and change in attitudes are rooted on concrete and rich experiences which are fundamental to learning that lasts.

2. Field trips bring us to the world beyond the classroom. The real world connection is more work but the benefits of broadening teaching beyond textbooks far outweigh the little bit of time it takes from a teacher’s schedule.

3. Field trips have wide range of application. It is not meant only for children. It is for adults also.

a. It can bring about a lot of realizations which may lead to changes in attitudes and insights. The field trip “ can nurture curiosity; build a zest for new experience and a sense of wonder.” ( dale, 1969).

Disadvantages of Field Trips:

- These educational benefits can compensate for drawbacks of field trips, some of which are:

1. It is costly
2. It involves logistics
3. It is extravagant with time
4. It contains an element of uncertainty