- Communicates effectively in oral and written formats.
- Effectively communicates content through the design and delivery of teaching/learning activities that integrate content and pedagogy.
- Demonstrates the ability to adapt instruction and assessment techniques to the needs of diverse learners.
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Artifacts: EDCI 569 High School Finance - Summer 2016
EDCI 568 Video Tutorial - Spring 2016
Narrative:
I have selected an artifact from a Summer 2016 course documenting my construction of an on-line High School Finance course and an artifact from Spring 2016 highlighting my multimedia training abilities.
I began the journey with a brief needs analysis of my high school students regarding their financial knowledge. Though we cover math functions, such as exponential functions that are found in many financial models, we often find little time to spend on extensions where we could delve deeply into the relevant financial applications.
In the spirit of differentiation (adapting instruction and assessment techniques to the needs of diverse learners) , I chose to build the lesson on two different platforms, PBSLearningMedia, and a full page scroll on my website. This addressed those students more engaged in a traditional page-to-page design (PBSLearningMedia) as well as those preferring the social media experience (Scrolling page such as Twitter/Facebook/GoogleClassroom). In addition, the "lesson is constructed with the flexibility to support use by an in-class instructor, an on-line course instructor, or by any student with the curiosity and initiative to pursue this information on their own." Checking for mastery also involves constructing and submitting artifacts which is especially beneficial for those students who historically perform poorly on typical assessments (tests).
I spent significant time effectively communicating content through the design and delivery of teaching/learning activities that integrated content and pedagogy through the use of various instructional designer strategies and learning theories that related effectively. I noted that "overlaying a strong Gagne base with equal parts Prensky (2010) and Horton (2006) with a dash of irreverence for the establishment from Tony Wagner (2015) is the ideal recipe..." for a solid on-line course desiring to be both engaging and rigorous.
As the project evolved I was regularly involved in effective oral and written communication with peers and members of the targeted demographic. "I received extensive feedback from peers and my family (including targeted 21-year-old and 18-year-old daughters) throughout the process that drove many enhancements. Though my role as a high school educator provided me with data on lesson templates that are effective, the element-level critiques were quite impactful ranging from font size to navigation support to step separation." In addition, my effective oral and written communication skills are highlighted in my video tutorial using a product (screencast-o-matic) to train users on how to use that product.
Gagne continued to direct my work with his Nine Events of Instruction (Facdev, NIU, n.d.) driving my inclusion of the need for a "driving question, attuned by the instructor to their particular audience..." at the opening of the lesson. Gagne's influence drove me next to the strategy of "creating learning objectives in the language, environmental perspective, and frame of reference of the learner."
"'Finance for High School Grads' learning objectives:
- Create Exponential Functions to represent any investment opportunity.
- Compare multiple investments containing varying rates, terms, and compounding methods, and evaluate the options relative to maximum growth.
- Research and construct a model of a real-life investment scenario and discern a reasonable solution.
- Create a viable, balanced projected personal budget based on a mix of given criteria, investment options, and projected life interests."
This particular course dictated that I pull together my first draft of what I envision to be my ongoing career. I created two versions of a very relevant lesson with many supports to address varied student needs. This activity was a practice for the on-line course creation career that appears to be evolving before me as my local school district has launched a vision to begin marketing an online version of our school very soon.
Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, Northern Illinois University (Facdev, NIU), (n. d.), retrieved from http://www.niu.edu/facdev/_pdf/guide/learning/gagnes_nine_events_instruction.pdf.
Horton, W. K. (2006). E-learning by design. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Prensky, M., & Heppell, S. (2010). Teaching digital natives: partnering for real learning. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press
Wagner, T., & Dintersmith, T. (2015). Most likely to succeed: Preparing our kids for the innovation era. New York, NY: Scribner.