Artifacts - Bearstone

Bearstone

Artifact:
Web Site: http://portfolio.jensenweb.com/bearstone/index.html
Interaction Blueprint: http://portfolio.jensenweb.com/bearstone/blueprint.htm
Enter the Bear's Den and begin your online learning experience.

Report:
Strategies for Online Learning IT 5670
Spring 2003

I designed and created an online learning environment that would allow me to integrate technology into my teaching of Colorado History. This learning environment centers on the book Bearstone by Colorado Author Will Hobbs. This book and the online activities I created, allow students to learn about the Ute Indian culture, and various related topics.

After working their way through the online unit, students will be able to summarize and explain the book. They will also demonstrate their knowledge of the Ute Indian culture by participating in online discussions, completing a research paper, creating a timeline demonstrating the changes in the Ute culture over time, comparing and contrasting the Ute's lives from their first days in Colorado to today, and writing journal entries that capture a "day in the life" of an ancestral Ute. Students will also have an understanding of the Southwest region of Colorado, and related cultural issues.

After the posting of this Web site, I have had several teachers from various schools around the country contact me in regards to using the site with their class. Here is one email that I received:
“Wow, what a site! This has been my first endeavor since winning a grant of 4 classroom computers. I wasn't sure how to use them so I began looking for simple WebQuest activities to familiarize my students with the new additions to our classroom. Fortunately, I searched for Will Hobbs and Bearstone information and found your site! The students have really benefited from this. (We love the ability to answer the unit questions and email them to me.) I did want to let you know that in the Scavenger Hunt area of Puzzles and Games, the links for ‘Ute Indians’ and ‘Grizzlies’ are both cold.” Teri Barbetta.
Receiving this email was encouraging in the fact that other teachers were finding the Web site useful. Also, being told that there were dead links helped me update the URLs that I had posted.

I have used the Web site in my own classroom, and the majority of students enjoyed the change of pace. Having the chance to do “reading” related activities on the computer and Internet was motivating for many of them. My students that have a difficult time with transferring thoughts from their head, to their hand, and then to their paper, created reading responses that were much more in-depth, creative, and meaningful. The one skill that I hadn't expected to come from doing the unit, was attention to details. The students quickly learned that if they didn't type in my email address correctly, their answers to the online questions were gone. A handful of students lost their work the first few units we did, and quickly began to pay closer attention to their typing. I am anxious to see if this transfers to the details in their other classroom work. As I had hoped, the recorded vocabulary words proved useful for those struggling readers. The recordings were also helpful to the average student who just needed to hear and see the word simultaneously.

Upon completion of the unit, I surveyed the students, asking them what they enjoyed most about the online unit. Below are quotes from some of the students that I feel demonstrate the impact this online learning environment had on them.
"I liked doing this online reading unit because we got to practice typing and using the Internet."

"My favorite part of the unit was the online discussion. This was my favorite because I heard what other people thought about the book."

"My favorite part of the unit was online questions. This was because we got to do work on the computer and it was helping us with keyboarding skills."

"I liked the online reading unit because it gets boring doing everything on paper and with pencil. It's a cool change to do it on a computer."

"I liked the unit because we got to use the computers a lot. Also, if you fell behind, all the information was still there for all the units."

To be fair, I do have to address the comments made by the students who didn't share in the same positive feelings. I also asked students what part they found to be their least favorite. In the process of evaluating the usefulness of this technology, I believe it's important to address their concerns.
"I did not like the reading unit because if you typed the email address wrong, you would have to redo the whole thing."

"I didn't like this online reading unit because some people are slow typers. It would be better just to write the questions on paper."

"I did not like going on the computer."

I also asked students how the unit could be improved. Here were their thoughts:
"You could make the vocabulary computer-based just like the rest of the unit."

"It could be all online."

"You could have it so that you print out the questions instead of emailing them to you so they didn't get lost.

All in all, I feel the online unit was successful. I really value the honest feedback my students provided me. I will keep all of their comments in mind when I get ready to use this unit with my next class.

Through this project, I learned a great deal about front-end planning. The Interaction Blueprint that I developed took a great deal of time and energy to create. I believe that the long hours put into this blueprint were invaluable. The blueprint requirements really kept me focused on the site’s purpose, outcomes, and interaction strategies. I was also able to apply my newly acquired PHP and Java Script skills within this learning environment.

Responsibility #2: Designs instruction or human performance strategy to meet the needs of learners.
This educational Web site was designed for 4th grade students, particularly those living in Colorado. Different students learn at different paces, and through various modalities. Creating this online learning environment meets the needs of all students. Students read the book Bearstone. During the reading of Bearstone, students interact with the Web site and complete the various activities and tasks presented to them.

Responsibility #3: Uses a variety of media to deliver instruction to students and to engage students in learning.
While designing this online learning environment, not only did I look at learning styles and differentiation, but I also integrated web-based training principles. Prior to developing this web-based learning environment, I created a blue print that outlined not only the structure of the Web site, but what learning and online strategies would be met by various site components. The Interaction Strategies of: Learner-to-Learner, Learner-to-Content, Learner-to-Instructor, and Learner-to-Technology were used for each aspect of the learning environment. Along with the Strategies, I also incorporated various learning principles and values. This required me to define clear goals and activities for the students.

Responsibility #4: Understands how to capitalize on the capacities and abilities of each learner.
During the design of this Web Based learning environment, I implemented a number of interaction strategies to better meet the needs of learners. By doing this, the Bearstone unit contains a great deal of differentiation. Throughout the unit, there are certain activities that students must complete, and others that they may choose from. Based on the individual abilities of students, teachers can tailor the completion of activities to their students’ needs.

The reading questions contained within each unit are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and require students to formulate their own unique thoughts and answers. This format allows students to not only recall the facts of the story, but to also apply critical thinking. Individual needs of students were also kept in mind when audio clips of vocabulary words were included within each unit.

Responsibility #6: Uses incisive and relevant assessment and evaluation techniques.
As previously mentioned, differentiation was a large focus in this unit. This focus on differentiation allows for a variety of levels of assessment. One level of evaluation is where students are assessed on their basic comprehension of the text, along with additional reading skills such as inferring, visualizing, cause and effect, predicating, and others. All of these activities are required by all students, but can easily be modified by the teacher based on their students’ needs. Student work is assessed through individual emails each student submits to the teacher as they complete the particular unit. The second level of evaluation is done when students complete various projects of their choice. The teacher evaluates this work as it is handed in. The students are using the Internet as a resource, but they are not submitting any of the work online.