Previously, I wrote about many of the different Learning Management Systems. Today, I will be going over how to evaluate your course. This will be your first experience creating an online classroom and here are some standards that can help you mold your class.
As educators, we are constantly working to perfect our craft. This could mean reflecting on how a lesson went or looking back at the year with the results of the final exam. We are constantly working to improve and become better educators. The same holds true for online education. “Evaluations can be conducted during the initial planning stages, when storyboards or scripts are ready, and after participants have completed the course” (Malamed). During the planning period, you may check to make sure there aren’t any gaps or missing content. For example, you may be teaching a lesson on quadratic functions and realize you forgot to include how to factor. Through the evaluation process, you can go back and add this content. You may also consider letting some colleagues, specifically math teachers, look through the course to ask for their input. They might be able to catch something that you have missed. At the end of the course, you may ask for feedback from your students. Implementing an end of course survey would be helpful to see what worked well and what did not. Based on this feedback, you can go back and revise your course to make it better for the next group of students.
National Standards for Quality Online Courses (iNACOL), ISTE Standards, and Quality Matters Program (QM), have created rubrics to help teachers evaluate their online classes. Below I have taken the top 10 areas that I believe are important to evaluate in our online math class and why I believe they are important factors to consider.
ISTE 1b. Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources
It is hard to keep students’ interest in mathematics. If the students don’t understand why they need to know what they are learning, they won’t care about the material. However, if it is relevant to their life, the learning will be a lot more meaningful.
ISTE 5c. Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning
This is our first online course so it is important that we are constantly updating and making changes to make it more successful for our students.
I hope that these standards give you an idea of how we can evaluate our courses that we create. Many of these standards are probably ideals that you already hold yourself to in the traditional classroom. With online education, we aren't adding more to your plate. We are already doing most of these things in the classroom, we are just delivering it in a way that is better for our students. In my next posts, I am going to be exploring the benefits of delivering content to our students through online education.
As educators, we are constantly working to perfect our craft. This could mean reflecting on how a lesson went or looking back at the year with the results of the final exam. We are constantly working to improve and become better educators. The same holds true for online education. “Evaluations can be conducted during the initial planning stages, when storyboards or scripts are ready, and after participants have completed the course” (Malamed). During the planning period, you may check to make sure there aren’t any gaps or missing content. For example, you may be teaching a lesson on quadratic functions and realize you forgot to include how to factor. Through the evaluation process, you can go back and add this content. You may also consider letting some colleagues, specifically math teachers, look through the course to ask for their input. They might be able to catch something that you have missed. At the end of the course, you may ask for feedback from your students. Implementing an end of course survey would be helpful to see what worked well and what did not. Based on this feedback, you can go back and revise your course to make it better for the next group of students.
National Standards for Quality Online Courses (iNACOL), ISTE Standards, and Quality Matters Program (QM), have created rubrics to help teachers evaluate their online classes. Below I have taken the top 10 areas that I believe are important to evaluate in our online math class and why I believe they are important factors to consider.
Quality Matters
1.5 Prerequisite knowledge in the discipline and/or any required competencies are clearly
stated.
In math, prerequisite skills are key to successfully learning a new standard.
If our students don’t
have the proper foundation or skills, they will struggle to learn the next standard. For example,
you can’t teach a student to multiply and divide before they know how to add and subtract.
3.1 The types of assessments selected measure the stated learning objectives and are
consistent with course activities and resources.
Our course should be accurately assessing the learning objectives. The activities and resources
need to correlate with the assessment. If they do not, then the students aren’t learning what they
need to be learning.
3.5 Students have multiple opportunities to measure their own learning progress.
Students should be able to know exactly where they are at in their learning progression. With
continuous formative assessments throughout the course, students will always be aware of what
they do and do not know.
4.5 The instructional materials present a variety of perspectives on the course content. All of my students have different needs in the classroom.
By presenting the content in multiple
ways, we will be able to connect and reach more of our students.
National Standards for Quality Online Courses
C3. Ongoing, varied, and frequent assessments are conducted throughout the course to
inform instruction
With frequent assessments, students are getting constant feedback. Frequent assessments allow
for students to have a clear understanding of what they have learned and what they still need to
work on. These assessments are also helpful for the instructor. If many of our students are
making the same mistakes, we will know that the course isn’t doing a good job of covering that
material. We might choose to use a different activity or video to teach the content. Also, not all
students perform well on the same type of assessment. By giving varied assessments, students
have multiple opportunities to show what they have learned.
A2. The course content and assignments are aligned with the state’s content standards,
common core curriculum, or other accepted content standards, technology, computer
science, or other courses whose content is not included in the state standards.
The course needs to teach the same content as a standard mathematics classroom. State
assessments are based off of these standards and students need to be exposed to the same
material in order to be prepared for these tests.
A8. Information is provided to students, parents and mentors on how to communicate with
the online instructor and course provider.
For many of our students, this might be the first online class they are taking. We want to make sure
that our students and parents know how to contact us if they have any questions or
concerns to make them comfortable with this transition.
B10. The course provides opportunities for appropriate instructor-student and
student-student interaction to foster mastery and application of the material.
Research shows that students can learn a lot from classroom discussion. Listening to others’
ideas, opinions, and point of views are a way for students to critically think about the material
they are learning. I believe this is an important aspect of online teaching.
ISTE
ISTE 1b. Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources
It is hard to keep students’ interest in mathematics. If the students don’t understand why they need to know what they are learning, they won’t care about the material. However, if it is relevant to their life, the learning will be a lot more meaningful.
ISTE 5c. Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning
This is our first online course so it is important that we are constantly updating and making changes to make it more successful for our students.
I hope that these standards give you an idea of how we can evaluate our courses that we create. Many of these standards are probably ideals that you already hold yourself to in the traditional classroom. With online education, we aren't adding more to your plate. We are already doing most of these things in the classroom, we are just delivering it in a way that is better for our students. In my next posts, I am going to be exploring the benefits of delivering content to our students through online education.
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