Reflections

The following are my reflections of how to utilize what we learned and practiced into my own course planning and teaching. In Reflection 1, based on the fact that my students are mostly international students whose participation in the class discussions and activities need a lot of encouragement and control, I plan to use “Participation Card”, Flipgrid posts and “Fishbowl Discussion” to ensure every student’s involvement; the second reflection is the idea of “Flipped Classroom” which will be a better way to encourage before-class and after-class work and take good use of the class time for more collaborative work; the third reflection is to implement William Horton’s “Absorb-Do-Connect” approach to realize three stages of UDL Representation-Action & Expression – Engagement; and lastly, Reflection 4 is a real test-driving in a class I am going to teach with what I have learned from this class as my take-away from this class and give-back to this class, too.

Reflection 1:

1. What will be the context, who will be the learners, and what will be your learning goals?

      My learners are going to be international students who are usually not as active as domestic students in participation and discussion. My goal is to try to use some tools and activities to encourage all students to participate, instead of just having a few active contributors dominating the class.  

2. What strategy (and/or new online platform/tool) do you plan to implement in your course?

I am going to introduce the concept of “Participation Card” at live classroom environment into synchronous class and Flipgrid in asynchronous class. 

        During a Zoom meeting,  each student will be given equal chance to use participation card (e.g. number the students and each student will follow the number to talk for 2 minutes, no more and no less) to present their views/comments/feedback. Since every student knows their number, they all have expectation to their turn and be prepared for their 2-minutes talk. The teacher will be acting as facilitator, and timer. 

        At an asynchronous class, Flipgrid will be used for all students to upload a same length video to the topic they would choose to participate. 

3. What impact on your teaching are you expecting?

        It may discourage the active speakers from participating as much as they want and as a result, making the class less active at the beginning, but by forcing the less active students participate more eventually it will encourage all students to be the owner of the class, and every student is accountable for making the class more interesting and meaningful.

4. What impact on student learning and engagement are you expecting?

        I don’t anticipate much negative impact on student learning and engagement, but I do have concerns over the initial stage when students with different level of English speaking may feel differently in their efforts for engagement.

5. How will you implement this strategy in the future? [Note: The associated small group discussion will give you more content to add to this section of the reflection.]

        To ensure every single student’s participation, the initial preparation for this strategy is very critical. All students will be given chance to provide their input in designing and organizing the class, for example, the prompt questions, the topics, the resources provided, the tools to be used, the length of the activity, the roles of students, the assessment tools, etc.

Instructor’s Comments:

What a great strategy to use with your students.

I really like the way you’ve described how you will use the Participation Card strategy with students. I like the idea of using a discussion protocol like this one to encourage balanced voices. I wonder if there is a way to use the Participation Card strategy in a way that avoid students simply delivering a mini-speech one after the other instead of engaging in conversation. For example, maybe each subsequent speaker has to start their response with one of the following stems: — Yes and… — I would like to build on what was said in <summary of previous comment>… — I agree/disagree with <summary of previous comment> because… — I have a different idea about what was said in <summary of previous comment>… I’m not sure what that would look like or if it would be appropriate, but I have found that when each speaker authentically opens the door for conversation by building off of what others have shared, the resulting exchange can be more organic.

If you have a base camp/portfolio with a blog, I recommend considering sharing this reflection there. It is a great blog post and serves as inspiration to others. Thank you for submitting your first reflection, it sounds like you are planning a well designed and facilitated learning activity and your idea for involving students in providing input will make it even better.

Reflection 2:

What will be the context, who will be the learners, and what will be your learning goals?

Context: Online learning class

Learner: higher education

Learning goal: Self learning, self choice, guided and facilitated by teacher who works more like personal counselor 

What strategy (and/or new online platform/tool) do you plan to implement in your course?

Inspired by the concept of Kahn Academy, students will do by themselves what is traditionally offered in the classroom (mostly lecture part) and in the class time or individual meeting time,  teachers will offer guidance and support to the class work, activities and projects students have chosen to do based on their own interest and study goal while answering questions and providing support, and in the end, teacher and student will work together to assess their learning outcome in a way which student has chosen. 

What impact on your teaching are you expecting?

it will bring a complete change in the role of teacher,  esp. the teaching styles, design of learning process, and the assessment, even the setting of the classroom (teacher is no longer standing in the front  as a power-holder, while students are accepting whatever is given to them). Learning is a co-operation among teachers and students. 

What impact on student learning and engagement are you expecting?

The students would have to take the ownership both in class and after class, and learning is no longer give-take process, but a search-share process. 

How will you implement this strategy in the future? 

It needs a lot of planning and preparation. And of course, this learning process is established on a trusting relationship among teachers and all students in the class. 

Instructor’s comments:

I think this general idea inspired by Khan Academy. This is a great student choice example. I’m not clear from the reflection, however, how you plan on providing structure of their independent work. What support worksheets, handouts, instructions will you provide? How with the students be assessed? Even if they are determining much of this on their own, what scaffolding and support will be provided so it is not so ambiguous for them? I agree — it will take a lot of planning and preparation, so I’m curious about how and when that will happen. Thank you for submitting your second reflection, it sounds like a great general plan of action for encouraging student choice and agency. I would love to see more when you develop this out; the developed out project(s) would be great to include in your basecamp/portfolio too.

Follow up: Take good use of LMS

Before Class:

Step 1: Lecture-part + activity/project options

• Make videos/audio podcast with transcripts
• Kahn Academy provides many lecture videos with transcription
• YouTube videos

Step 2: Provide opportunities for students to ask questions or request further explanation/clarification about lectures (either by instructor or TA), through office hours, or Q & A sessions, or FAQ pages

Step 3: Assign activity/project by giving multiple options (Instructions + Samples) and provide feedback to students’ proposals for activity/project and recommend more supporting open resources

In-Class:

Step 1: Summarize the key concepts or main points in lectures, and explain more on some common questions

Step 2: Work on activities/projects by providing individual support to each student/group

Step 3: Share and connect (presentation, in-class discussion, peer feedback/comments)

After-class:

Step 1: Self-reflections: assign students to summarize what they have learned through self-learning and in-class sharing

Step 2: Self-assessment: Quizzes, polls, rubrics,

Step 3: Group reflection: Summarize the learning outcome among groups and peer review to each other’s self-reflection and self-assessment

Reflection 3:

1. What will be the context, who will be the learners, and what will be your learning goals?

The context and the learners will be college students who have enrolled my COMM4230 “Nonverbal Communication” class in this winter term.

2. What strategy (and/or new online platform/tool) do you plan to implement in your course?

While I was working on my microteaching demo, I was designing it for my winter class setting. I would like to implement “Absorb-Do-Connect” strategies in my class-planning, and put more emphasis on “Do” and “Connect” activities.

When reviewing and evaluating other classmates’ microteaching demos, I realized that we, as students and teachers for many years, have been working on “Absorb” activities more than “Do”, and a lot more than “Connect”.

Therefore, I would plan for more students’ hands-on practice and activities which need their active participation and contribution. By increasing “Do” activities, esp. more group/team work, and requiring every member’s input and contribution, all students would take equal ownership in their learning process, and the active participation will make “Connect” become easier.

3. What impact on your teaching are you expecting?

I am anticipating a hard starting in the beginning, and we may need some training and practice before really working on the real project together. And I would gradually move lectures to their before-class preparation. This is going to be challenging, both to me as instructor to create all these lecture PPT and videos beforehand, and to students who are used to the traditional lecture style, esp. those who may not be used to have sufficient preparation for class. And based on the specific contents, or if some students request more in-class lecturing or explanation time for certain key points, I would make some adjustments accordingly.

4. What impact on student learning and engagement are you expecting?

I am hoping this learning process will improve students’ engagement, esp. those who tend to be quiet or shy in the class. And by doing more project-based learning, students would have better ability to analyze and apply what they learned in the class to the real life experience.

5. How will you implement this strategy in the future?

I will have a discussion with the students in the first class about this strategy, and collect their feedback and concerns about it. And make some modification to the syllabus, esp. the class rules needed for implementing this strategy and assessment on learning outcome, according to the students’ input before finalizing it.

Instructor’s Comment

I think this general idea to implement William Horton’s Absorb-Do-Connect approach. I think you and your students will find it helpful in supporting active learning. I appreciate all of your planning for this, and I look forward to hearing more about the outcomes after you get the approach up and running in your course. Thank you for submitting your third reflection, it sounds like a great general plan of action — I am a big fan of William Horton’s Absorb-Do-Connect approach.

Reflection 4:

This time instead of answering those questions one by one, I would like to share my teaching plan for a course I am going to teach with what I have learned in this class from the professor and all the classmates.

I am going to teach COMM4230 Nonverbal Communication at ICB Winter 2020 term (Dec. 24—Jan. 16). This will be an in-person class for International students in a 15-day intensive course (Monday to Friday, 4 hours/day).

Quality Learning and Teaching objectives are the best guidance to design the teaching plan of action for the course. I am certainly expecting a lot of prep work and re-adjustment in the following preparation period and teaching process, but I do hope this brings some revolution to students’ mindset about learning, that is, learning by themselves, with themselves and by themselves.

Quality Learning and Teaching Guidelines	Teaching Plan of Action
QLT Section 1: Course Overview and Introduction Action Statement When planning a course, the overview and introduction will provide a clear framework reflecting all aspects of the course environment relevant to the needs of the student population. This will include a course overview statement, behavioral expectations, procedures and contact information. For these components to be effective, it will be essential that they are written in clear and concise language appropriate for the audience with visual supports and that all materials are available for parents/learning coaches.	I plan to provide a general Syllabus as an overview and introduction with clear framework and expectations, esp. the learning goals. Then this syllabus will be worked together in the class until each student works out their own syllabus with their learning goals, learning contents and approaches and assessment. A set of rules and regulations will be also provided and discussed in the class to make sure that every student follows the same path to reach the general expectations of the class.   Resource: UDL Syllabus Syllabus Rubric
QLT Section 2: Assessment of Student Learning Action Statement For assessment of student learning to be effective, it will be necessary to begin with specific, well-defined learning outcomes. Presentation, practice and assessment of these outcomes will provide measurable data and include a variety of factual, inferential and critical thinking questions. Assessment instruments will be appropriate to student ability levels and be offered in a variety of formats. Grading policies will be clearly defined and reflect opportunities for student achievement.	Based on the Assessment instruments and Grading Policy offered in the general syllabus, each student will also choose the ways they would like to be assessed out of their own choices. Summative Assessment: Google Forms and Quizzes will be used at the end of each class and during the lecture video students are arranged to watch before class for self-checking Formative Assessment: Poll Everywhere and Kahoot! will be used at the beginning of the class to check how much students have learned in their before-class preparation (reading materials and watching lecture videos) Evaluation to Paired Work and Group Project: Google Forms Tools: Google Forms, Quizzes, Poll Everywhere, Kahoot!/gimkit, Flipgrid, Mindmeister Purpose: Some assessment is to check whether students have done the before-class work and find out what need to be elaborated more in the class and work as exit ticket, not for specific grades Some assessment (mid-term report, final exam, feedback to projects, peer evaluation, reflections) will count toward the specific grades.
QLT Section 3: Instruction Materials and Resources Action Statement A list of required instructional materials and resources that support learning outcomes will be identified at the beginning of a course allowing students adequate time for procurement. Based on student demographics, these materials will be provided by the school or available as Open Educational Resources. These materials will target multiple modalities and learning styles and be appropriately cited throughout the course. All technology will be made available by the school, and all instructional materials and resources will be accessible using that technology.	Provide Instruction materials and resources in multiple modalities Textbook, and PDF file Reading materials (PDF) Learning Management System: CANVAS Open Educational Resources (video, audio, text)   Testing at the first class to make sure all students have the proper access YouTube TedEd lesson Google Docs, Slides, forms Padlet, Kahoot!/gimkit, Poll Everywhere, Book Creator, Mindmeister, genially,
QLT Section 4: Student Interaction and Community Action Statement To promote student interaction and community, students will begin the course with a series of warm-up and introductory activities designed to help them get to know one another better. These introductory activities will include ice breakers, online expectations, peer-to-peer engagement opportunities, fundamental concepts and will outline course navigation. This navigation will be logical, consistent, efficient and support the acquisition of learner outcomes.	Create community for:   Introductory activity: Create and share Self Profiles on Canvas; Peer-to-Peer questions and comments on each other’s profile   Re-introduce one of the classmates who is most impressive with their profiles in the class and others guess who he is describing (name)   Hold Zoom discussions, share journals on Padlet, WeChat Group, and exchange Mindmap   Designate community/student moderator
QLT Section 5: Facilitation and Instruction Action Statement It will be the role of the instructor in this course to present materials and concepts in a manner that is approachable, understandable and engaging providing students with multiple opportunities for success. The instructor will clearly outline overarching educational standards, unit objectives and daily learning targets supporting this framework with consistent and meaningful experiences. The instructor will then make adjustments as needed based on data collection and frequent checks for understanding.	Since it is an in-person class with 4 hours meeting each day, so I am planning to use the format “Flipped Class” to expect students to read the materials and watch lecture videos before class so that more class time can be devoted to work on collaborative activities.   And student will post the reflection (video, audio, essay, class notes, mindmap) onto Canvas discussion to share and discuss   All these will be demonstrated and practiced in the first few classes to ensure good understanding on students’ part to do them individually or with groups by themselves.   Data will be collected through Google Forms, Quizzes, Kahoot!/gimkit to follow up students work and check/find out what need more collaborative work in the class
QLT Section 6: Technology for Teaching and Learning Action Statement Within the current Learning Management System, the instructor will use technological tools and resources available to support learning outcomes and promote engagement. The role of the instructor includes ensuring these materials are accessible using school offered devices and that the formats used provide for ease of assignment completion and submission.	Instructional tools: Canvas YouTube TedEd lesson Google Slides/lecture videos genially, mindmeister   Engagement and assessment tools: Canvas (Engagement) Kahoot!/gimkit (Engagement) Quizzes (Formative assessment) Google Forms (Summative assessment) Book Creator (Engagement)   Interactive tools: Padlet WeChat Canvas
QLT Section 7: Learner Support and Resources Action Statement The course overview/syllabus will include a clear explanation of technical support (help desk) services available for students with technology issues. The overview will also include resources and supports available (non-academic, non-technical) that may be required to promote student achievement. As a part of the special services program, this will include a listing of assistive technology tools and applications.	Technical support: Hotline of Canvas Teacher’s presence (office hours, email, Zoom) Student Moderator (take turn)
QLT Section 8: Accessibility and Universal Design Action Statement To promote accessibility throughout the course, the instructor will support a range of learning styles and abilities making sure to address modifications of content and learning environment accommodations as written in the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP). The instructor will clearly identify his/her role as the facilitator in this process and additionally make it a priority to follow the principles of Universal Design when developing the course and its materials.	Student choice based learning and teaching Students choose groups, project, modality, assessment instruments, etc.   Instructor as facilitator
QLT Section 9: Course Summary and Wrap-Up Action Statement To monitor success and offer autonomy in the learning process, the course will include many opportunities for questions, discussion, instructor and peer feedback and reflection throughout. Students will be encouraged to identify individual learning goals/expectations and chart their progress during the learning period. The course will conclude with a summative evaluation of the learning experience and celebration of accomplishments.	Q & A time Discussion on questions given in lecture videos (participation card) and collected from Kahoot!/gimkit, Poll Everywhere, Quizzes, Google Forms Students’ peer evaluation and feedback Google forms on evaluating teacher and teaching Quizzes and Final exam Mid-term reflection and Final reflection