Instructional Design of Online Learning
Right now, online learning is the route many people are choosing to take. With a global pandemic going on, many people would rather be educated online as to keep themselves safe. During the beginning of all of this, teachers struggled so much because we were rushed to create lessons and activities to keep our students engaged. However, now we have time to plan, to create courses and lessons that our students will get the most out of. In this Instructional Design of Online Learning course, we have been tasked with created a completely online course. I chose to create a 5 session science course for Pre-K students.I teach this age group and know that even though it will be tough to keep them engaged online, I wanted to give them fun videos and activities to keep them excited about learning! Through this course, my students will learn about the 5 Senses, Living and Nonliving Things, Changes in the Earth and Sky, Life Cycles, and Caring for out Environment!
In this course I will be utilizing BOOM Cards and Youtube Videos. BOOM Cards are essentially interactive flashcards. They help the student learn from their answer whether it is right or wrong. Since my students are so young and cannot yet read, using BOOM Cards and Youtube videos or other graphics is super helpful. It can give them a feeling of independence when participating in the activities. I also included activities such as scavenger hunts where the student and parent can participate.
I understand that my students will need the aid of their parents in initially accessing Schoology. For that reason, I created a Google Slides Presentation that I think will be helpful in accessing the course.
Redesigning Courses?
The question was asked if I had to choose two courses in my school to redesign to be online, which would I choose?
Since I work with such young learners and we teach all core subjects, I could choose anything to redesign into an online structure. If I had to choose 2 other courses to create into an online resource, I would probably choose Social Studies and Math.
Social Studies is a subject that can sometimes be pushed to the side with our littles. Much like science we often run out of time what with transitions and station rotations. I like the idea of having an online resource that students can access without issue or fear of time running out. For example, with the science course I created, regardless if we are face to face or completely online, I will be using a version of it this fall. If we are in person, the students will access it on their computers. This will give them responsibility, but also ensure that we don’t skip the subject.
As for Math, I think there are so many great online resources that can be utilized. With the age group I work with we already use many videos/graphics and online resources for math. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch from where we are now. If I were teaching an older group I am not sure how successful it would be since math can get pretty tricky, but with pre-k it is all fairly simple so it would be easier.
Reflection
The lack of science courses for young learners gave way to the idea for creating this class. I wanted there to be an opportunity for students in a pre-k classroom to still learn science, because so often it is pushed to the side to make more time for ELA and math. I know in my own personal classroom I try my best to teach this subject but we often run out of time! So, when creating this course, I wanted to make something I could actually utilize for the upcoming school year. Obviously, this year will be extremely different from any year prior and I wanted something that could be used in class and virtually. So regardless of if they are at home or in my classroom, they will be using this online course to access science curriculum.
Instructional Design Theories
For this course, I wanted to use discovery-based learning as well as individualized instruction. Discovery-based learning is something that is HUGE in pre-k. In my classroom and team, we tend to shy away from traditional worksheets and give the students the opportunity to figure it out through exploring. The course I created has scavenger hunts and various other knowledge checks to give students the ability to go out and find things on their own. This also leads into individualized instruction. Considering my students are 4-5, we don’t do a ton of group projects. Each student will access this course on their own and complete any and all assessments on their own.
UbD Plan Implementation
As stated earlier in this course, my UbD plan was not the same as this course. However, the audience is still the same. In creating this course, I utilized the pre-k science standards that my district has available to us. I wanted to make this as authentic as possible so that I could use it in the future! Even though my course was not the same as the UbD I have made previously, I still love the concept of the Ubd table. It has helped me narrow my focus and what I want the students to learn from what we do.
Importance of Online Learning
There is such an importance on online learning, especially now. I never would have thought that I would be able to teach pre-k online. Honestly, sometimes I am still shocked at how well distance learning went. Going through this pandemic and having to go completely online has taught me how important technological skill is to teaching. Obviously, we are moving to a more tech savvy world, so there is a need to understand and be able to utilize various technologies. I don’t think we should go completely online in the future, but I do think we need to know how. Take this COVID-19 business for example, I feel like the teachers had to learn as much as the students. Now starting a new school year with the pandemic still going on we are more prepared and better equipped to teach online.
Enduring Understanding
What I have taken away from this course that will be utilized in my own classroom would definitely have to be the online resources. I use technology and online resources in my classroom, but this course has made me really scan the internet to find the best resources to teach my students. Not only that, but I became more confident in my ability to teach online which before was extremely overwhelming. Overall, I think this course came at the perfect time. As much as I wish our world was different right now, it’s not and we need to be able to adapt. This course has significantly improved my ability to teach and lean into distance learning as opposed to cowering away from it.
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