Final Project Maria Laura Garcia by Maria Laura Garcia

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web Project Report Template Name: María Laura García

Country: Argentina. Buenos Aires

Overall project goal: Plan and implement a change related to technology use in your classroom. Rules to Follow: 1. You must use technology that is new to you—something you’ve not used before 2. You must identify ONE issue or problem that the use of technology may help solve 3. You may select no more than two technology tools to solve the one problem or issue that you’ve identified 4. As you use the technology in your classroom, keep notes or a journal of what occurs and how you might change the use of the technology in the future Respond to each of the following areas for your project report. I. Background – 5 points ● Who are the learners? ● What is the setting? Be sure to mention technology. ● What are the course goals? ● Why are the students studying English? What will they use English for in their lives? ● Describe anything else that is significant or relevant about the course that related to your project About the course The course is "Materials Design" and lasts 4 months (August November). It is a compulsory subject for students who want to teach English as a Foreign Language in Primary School and an optional subject for those trainees who want to work in high schools. We meet facetoface once a week for 4 hours at Instituto Superior Lenguas Vivas "Juan Ramón Fernández". I present students with a variety of teaching materials in different format (printed, multimedia and digital) to be integrated in their lessons. I help them select, analyze, discuss and adapt those teaching materials and design tasks following the communicative approach. Students also learn how to design their own teaching materials in different formats and using a wide variety of resources such as web 2.0 tools. The setting IES en Lenguas Vivas “Juan Ramón Fernández” is more than 100 years old and it is one of the most prestigious teacher training colleges in Argentina. It is located in Buenos Aires Capital City. Here's the link to the video presentation which although it is in Spanish, you can get an idea of how this place looks like. Students can start studying here after sitting for a competitive entrance exam in the language they want to teach in the future. It is a fouryear course. Students' language level is advanced. VIDEO: IES en Lenguas Vivas “Juan R. Fernández”

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

The learners Students are 2030 years old and come from different parts of Buenos Aires to study at this teacher training college. They are teacher trainees who decided to attend this subject. Their level of English is advanced and most of them are working in different private schools even if they don’t have their teaching degree. This term I have few students: Paula Leonard, Florencia Aubin, Melisa Amura, Cynthia Southwell, Maite Esposito and Alejandra Ale. Resources Each student has a netbook given by the Argentinean National Government which means that we follow a 1to1 laptop program. We have access to WiFi connection and an Ebeam Interactive Whiteboard. In 2010 the Argentinean Government developed ConectarIgualdad Programme aimed at bridging the technology divide and encouraging ubiquitous learning. Netbooks were given to students and teachers at run state high schools and teacher training colleges all over the country. For that reason all the students who are attending this subject have a laptop which is used in class. II. Issue or problem to be addressed that technology can help with. What’s wrong? – 5 points The issue or problem must be explicitly and clearly stated and well focused into a single or connected teaching issue. The problem is solvable with technology, and within the time frame of the course. Many studentteachers are good at using online resources but they tend to be passive in the sense that they just download handouts, songs and books instead of developing their own teaching materials. For that reason students who attend the subject “Materials Design” explore many tools and start producing their own materials. They use Edmodo in order to send their instructional materials but they find really hard to put their final productions together in one place as they include photos, multimedia, links, audios, explanations, etc. So the problem is to put all their productions together and share them with colleagues. Creating a CD ROM may be easy but hard to share with others online, using a blog is a good alternative but students are used to them so the question to this problem is: How can students publish and share their work online in one place which is easy to use, free, attractive and allows the possibility of inserting different resources? III. Specific technology solution – 5 points Describe what you think will happen. Make sure you explain how what you plan to try is different from what you have done before. ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

What technology tool(s) did you consider using? What technology tool did you use to address the problem (can be one or two tools only)? If you are using websites, include the URLs. What is your goal for this technology tool? What do you want your students or this technology to do? Was this technology new to you? How did you learn about it? What did you think might happen when you tried/used the technology with your students? How was this different from what you’ve done before?

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

Throughout this term I created a DIIGO closed group to share some links with the students. Those links were divided into different folders according to the topics we were dealing with. Students also signed up and created their DIIGO account. About DIIGO: it is a social bookmarking tool which allows the possibility of creating close and open groups, bookmark sites, highlight different information on a website and include tags among other characteristics.

I also created a classroom in Edmodo to communicate, share other resources and for students to upload their tasks. As you can see, students post their messages, share news and upload their tasks. They also have access to the bibliography of the course. About Edmodo: it is a social learning platform for teachers, students and parents which is similar to facebook. What’s more it’s free, easy to use and teachers can create virtual learning environments for different classes.

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

For collaborative work, we used Google Docs and a closed group in Wikispaces. As you can see, this site is divided into different pages. I included links to sites, charts and a lists of tools students can use. They usually explore the web tools, share what they created and give feedback on the results. About Wikispaces: it is a social writing platform for education. It’s free and easy to use. Students can edit their work and create pages.

We have explored teachers' blogs who share their experiences, handouts and projects, attended some online conferences and used different websites and web tools to create teaching materials. Now students can start publishing the instructional materials they have been developing and reflect on their learning process. For that reason, they will use Weebly. That is the new tool they are going to be introduced to. For the first time in their lives they will create a website to put together their work and publish it online. About Weebly: it is a drag and drop website builder which is free and user friendly. Students can select a template, include widgets and as storage is unlimited they can upload all their final productions. Possible solution: “Eportfolios” I found a talk in classroom 2.0 on the use of Weebly by Valerie Burton and the potential of using eportfolios. I also read some articles by Helen Barrett so I thought that students could create an eportfolio in Weebly and share the teaching materials they have been developing during the term. Each term students publish their work and reflections in an electronic portfolio as part of their final task. I used Pathbrite in 2011 and Blendspace during the first semester but I think that Weebly is a user friendly tool which can be used to create a digital portfolio and in the future students can use it to create their class website. Weebly gives the possibility of inserting different resources by dragging and dropping artefacts and provides different templates, fonts and layouts. As a result, eportofolios will look more organized and professional. For that reason I created a canvas in Blendspace to start talking about electronic portfolios before 4 ©2013 ETeacher Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web American English Institute, University of Oregon

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

introducing Weebly as a new tool that I have never used before. I also included some tasks for students to complete. Then we watched an online conference on the use of Weebly for creating eportfolios and we discussed its multiple uses. We explored examples and students started to prepare their eportfolio. I also designed a rubric to assess their final production which they also used it. What’s more we discussed the contents of the portfolios and students decided to include the following aspects: ● About me ● About the course “Materials Design” ● My expectations and what I learnt ● Teaching materials they have created ● Reflections I finally decided to use Weebly because former students mentioned that Pathbrite and Blendspace were limited, they couldn’t organize the information as they wanted. For instance, in Pathbrite they couldn’t insert some of their productions which means that they found hard to share their final tasks. As for Blendspace, the layout wasn’t very attractive and they didn’t like its organization.

IV. Response and reflection – 10 points What happened? Feel free to attach a course syllabus where you have noted what you tried and when Attach a chart of daytoday notes of what happened and your reflections (see Section VIII, below).

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Where did you use the technology? When did you use the technology? How did you use the technology? What happened? How did it go? What were your students’ reactions/responses? How was this different from what you thought would happen?

As I mentioned before, students were first introduced to the concept of eportfolios. This is the link to the canvas I created which included online articles, tasks and samples of eportfolios created by former students in Pathbrite and Blendspace. Eportfolios

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

The lesson which was in square N°1 included a brief introduction to the topic and the tasks students had to complete. Step # 1: Introducing Eportfolios I guess that you know the meaning of portfolios but you have never created an eportfolio. This term you'll be creating a multimedia eportfolio to show your final productions and your reflections on the process. That will be your final task. For that reason I included some resources for you to start exploring: ●

A video on eportfolios

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Information about eportfolios

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The impact of eportfolios on learning

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Electronic Portfolios = Multimedia Development + Portfolio Development

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Examples of eportfolios

While you read these materials 1) Record your answer in voxopop group: ●

Why eportfolios are better than portfolios?

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The impact of eportfolios in your life (career development, lifelong learning, etc.)

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How would you organize your eportfolio? Which tags will you include?

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

2) Take one of the epotfolios examples and evaluate it. Write your answers in a doc file and upload it in Asignación 5. For this activity you can use "Evaluating the electronic portfolio" by Barrett (2000) and take into account the following aspects: ●

Degree of metacognition and reflection

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Ease of navigating

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User choice in navigating

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Seamless integration of standards, artifacts, reflections in an Electronic Portfolio

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Appropriate use of multimedia

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Evaluation Criteria for UAA's Secondary MAT Portfolios

Step # 2: Introducing Weebly We watched an online conference delivered by Valerie Burton and explored examples of class websites and students’ portfolios. We analyzed those examples and finally students started to create their own eportfolio. Weebly for student eportfolios by Valerie Burton

Step # 3: Presentation of drafts Students send the link to their eportfolio and had access to the rubric I created to assess their digital portfolio. They could use it to assess their eportfolio before handing it in. Retrieved and adapted from 7 ©2013 ETeacher Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web American English Institute, University of Oregon

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

Criteria Selection of Artifacts Weight for this criterion: 40% of total score

Reflection/Critiqu e Weight for this criterion: 30% of total score

Use of Multimedia Weight for this criterion: 10% of total score

Unsatisfactory – 0%

Limited – 80%

Proficient – 90%

Exemplary – 100%

The artifacts and work samples do not relate to the purpose of the eportfolio.

Some of the artifacts and work samples are related to the purpose of the eportfolio.

Most artifacts and work samples are related to the purpose of the eportfolio.

All artifacts and work samples are clearly and directly related to the purpose of the eportfolio. A wide variety of artifacts is included.

No artifacts are accompanied by a caption that clearly explains the importance of the item including title, author, and date.

Some of the artifacts are accompanied by a caption that clearly explains the importance of the item.

Most of the artifacts are accompanied by a caption that clearly explains the importance of the item.

All artifacts are accompanied by a caption that clearly explains the importance of the item.

The reflections do not describe growth or include goals for continued learning.

A few of the reflections describe growth and include goals for continued learning.

Most of the reflections describe growth and include goals for continued learning.

All reflections clearly describe growth, achievement, accomplishments, and include goals for continued learning (long and short term).

The reflections do not illustrate the ability to effectively critique work or provide suggestions for constructive practical alternatives.

A few reflections illustrate the ability to effectively critique work and provide suggestions for constructive practical alternatives.

Most of the reflections illustrate the ability to effectively critique work and provide suggestions for constructive practical alternatives.

All reflections illustrate the ability to effectively critique work and provide suggestions for constructive practical alternatives.

The graphic elements or multimedia do not contribute to understanding concepts, ideas and relationships. The inappropriate use of multimedia detracts from the content.

Some of the graphic elements and multimedia do not contribute to understanding concepts, ideas and relationships.

Most of the graphic elements and multimedia contribute to understanding concepts, ideas and relationships, enhance the written material and create interest.

The photographs, visuals, audio and video files and handouts effectively enhance understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships. They show what you learnt and when necessary,

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

you included descriptions and your reflections if things didn’t go as you expected.

Citations Weight for this criterion: 5% of total score

Navigation Weight for this criterion: 5% of total score

Layout and Readability

The graphics do not include alternate text in webbased portfolios.

Some of the graphics include alternate text in webbased portfolios.

Most of the graphics include alternate text in webbased portfolios.

Accessibility requirements using alternate text for graphics are included in webbased portfolios.

Audio and/or video artifacts are not edited or exhibit inconsistent clarity or sound (too loud/too soft/garbled).

A few of the audio and/or video artifacts are edited with inconsistent clarity or sound (too loud/too soft/garbled).

Most of the audio and/or video artifacts are edited with proper voice projection, appropriate language, and clear delivery.

All audio and/or video artifacts are edited with proper voice projection, appropriate language, and clear delivery.

No images, media or text created by others are cited with accurate, properly formatted citations.

Some of the images, media or text created by others are not cited with accurate, properly formatted citations.

Most images, media or text elements created by others are cited with accurate, properly formatted citations.

All images, media and text follow copyright guidelines with accurate citations. All content throughout the eportfolio displays the appropriate copyright permissions.

The navigation links are confusing, and it is difficult to locate artifacts and move to related pages or a different section. Many of the external links do not connect to the appropriate website or file.

The navigation links are somewhat confusing, and it is often unclear how to locate an artifact or move to related pages or a different section. Some of the external links do not connect to the appropriate website or file.

The navigation links generally function well, but it is not always clear how to locate an artifact or move to related pages or different section. Most of the external links connect to the appropriate website or file.

The various parts of the portfolio are labeled, clearly organized and allow the reader to easily locate an artifact and move to related pages or a different section. There are not broken links and all external links connect to the appropriate website or file.

The eportfolio is difficult to read due to inappropriate

The eportfolio is often difficult to read due to

The eportfolio is generally easy to read.

The eportfolio is easy to read.

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

Weight for this criterion: 5% of total score

Quality of Writing and Proofreading Weight for this criterion: 5% of total score

use of fonts, type size for headings, subheadings and text and font styles (italic, bold, underline). Many formatting tools are under or overutilized and decrease the readers' accessibility to the content.

inappropriate use of fonts and type size for headings, subheadings and text or inconsistent use of font styles (italic, bold, underline). Some formatting tools are under or overutilized and decrease the readers' accessibility to the content.

Color of background, fonts, and links decreases the readability of the text, is distracting and used inconsistently throughout the eportfolio.

Color of background, fonts, and links decreases the readability of the text, is distracting and used inconsistently in some places throughout the eportfolio.

Color, background, font styles, and type size for headings, subheadings and text are generally used consistently throughout the eportfolio.

Color, background, font styles (italic, bold, underline) and type size for headings, subheadings and text are used consistently and enhance the readability throughout the eportfolio.

Horizontal and vertical white space alignment is used inappropriately, and the content appears disorganized and cluttered.

Horizontal and vertical white space alignment is sometimes used inappropriately to organize content.

Horizontal and vertical white space alignment is generally used appropriately to organize content.

Horizontal and vertical white space alignment is used appropriately to organize content.

There are numerous grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. The style of writing does not facilitate effective communication and requires major editing and revision.

The writing includes include some grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors that distract the reader and requires some editing and revision.

The writing is largely free of grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. The style of writing generally facilitates communication and minor editing is required.

The writing is free of grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. The style of writing facilitates communication and no editing is required.

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

Step # 4: Presentation of eportfolio Students presented their eportfolios and shared them with their classmates via Edmodo and in class. They also commented on Weebly as a tool for creating eportfolios in our course Paddlet site. Course Paddlet site

Links to students’ eportfolios Florencia Aubin’s eportfolio http://floraubinmaterials.weebly.com/ Melisa Amura’s eportfolio http://welcometomelisasportfolio.weebly.com/ Paula Leonard’s eportfolio http://pleonardmaterialsdesingwebfolio.weebly.com/ Maite Esposito’s eportfolio http://pleonardmaterialsdesingwebfolio.weebly.com/ V. Changes made or changes to make – 10 points If you had a chance to revise what you did and try it again, what changes did you make? What did you revise? If you did NOT have a chance to revise what you did and try it again, as a result of what happened and your reflection, what might you try next? What might happen? Although this term is over, I might introduce new changes next year. I realized that Weebly is a great free tool for teachers and all my students loved it. However, I found that they needed more time to create their eportfolios. We worked really hard and students completed many tasks which means that when they started selecting and organizing the different pages of their portfolio they had to track back all their assignments. They told me that it took them longer than expected and at this time of the year they had to hand in many final tasks. For this reason I think that I can introduce eportfolios at the beginning of the term and after finishing unit 1 and 2 students can start working on their eportfolio in Weebly so that by the end of the term the portfolio will be almost ready.

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

VI. Conclusion and suggestions – 5 points How has your teaching changed or how will you change it based on the results of this project? What are the overall suggestions you would give others as a result of your project? I’m proud of my students’ final productions. Their eportfolios are well organized and look professional. Before using Weebly, I tried Pathbrite and Blendspace but the results were not the same in the sense that the tools were limited and didn’t allow students to add too many details. Weebly offers more possibilities and students were also proud of their final production. What’s more the use of rubrics to assess the eportfolio was also a good idea. It provided a common ground and students had access to it before handing in their eportfolio. I recommend the use of multimedia eportfolio esp. if students use different resources. I believe that publishing and sharing one’s work is part of growing as professionals and all that can be one place: an eportfolio. I really think that learning was improved and students can continue using Weebly to create a class project website, a class website, an eportfolio, etc. VII. Resources – 5 points ● Articles that helped you come up with this project, or that support your ideas

Name of article + URL

How this article helps me or supports my ideas

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/eportfolio This article is part of a publication about s/ eportfolios. It summarizes main ideas and provides interesting information about them such as choosing, implementing and assessing eportfolios. It will help students to learn about the concept of eportfolios, their main characteristics and how to assess them. After reading it, they will answer in Voxopop: ● Why eportfolios are better than portfolios? ● How would you organize your eportfolio? Which tags will you include? http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/1469/1/becta_2007_eport This booklet is the report on the research “The folios_report.pdf impact of eportfolios on learning” developed by BECTA (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) in 2007. Students will read about the benefits of using eportfolios to support learning and record in Voxopop their views on the impact of eportfolios in their life (career development, lifelong learning, etc.)

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/EPDevThis paper was written by Helen Barrett in Process.html#ben 2000 and includes different types of e portfolios and how to assess multimedia portfolios. Although this article was not written recently, it is very clear as it provides the main characteristics of eportfolios and a rubric in order to assess them. Students will use that rubric to assess eportfolios created by former students. They will take into account these aspects: ● Degree of metacognition and reflection ● Ease of navigating ● User choice in navigating ● Seamless integration of standards, artifacts, reflections in an Electronic Portfolio ● Appropriate use of multimedia

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Resources that you used, such as websites, audio and video recordings, etc. (include URLS)

Name of article + URL

Why I have chosen this resource

Eportfolios canvas It’s platform where I created a canvas with https://www.blendspace.com/lessons/Jq_oYL1information on eportfolios such as articles, a ZAHVstw/eportfolios link to a video, links to eportfolios created by former students, the lesson and a link to our voice group. This means that in Blendspace teachers can collect, annotate and share digital resources with their students. Voxopop: Students’ opinions on Eportfolios I used this tool to create a talking group about http://www.voxopop.com/topic/d4ee3258c22 eportfolios. Students have to answer some f4655b88831c16f491d88 questions based on the articles they read. It’s a free and user friendly web tool which help students develop their speaking skills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhzbBgl5It is a short video created by JISC which talks 6k about the importance of using eportfolios. Students watched it and discussed this video which summarizes main ideas from the selected articles. http://live.classroom20.com/1/post/2013/03/weI selected this resource because it includes eblyforstudenteportfoliosvalerieburton.htmValerie Burton’s talk on Weekly for student l eportfolio, the link to the resources she showed, a recording of the talk and the 13 ©2013 ETeacher Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web American English Institute, University of Oregon

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw

Building Teaching Skills Report Template

slideshare presentation. While watching the conference, students could have access to the presentation and the links to different resources. https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubThis is the link to the rubric used to assess rics/eportfoliorubric.html eportfolios. Students had access to it before starting to create their eportfolios and I used it to assess their work. I slightly changed it. Paddlet: students’ feedback on Weebly http://padlet.com/wall/qijddb1wg7

I used this resource so that students could post the links to their eportfolios and share their views on Weebly.

VIII. Daytoday notes of what happened and reflections – 5 points Keep a journal and record the implementation of technology in your course and your thoughts about it.

Day

What Happened

My Thoughts

Step #1

I introduced the students to the idea of using electronic portfolios in the classroom. For that reason, I created a canvas in Bldenspace which includes links to articles, videos and examples of eportfolios done by former students.

Students were willing to learn about this new concept. They heard about portfolios and even created their own for different subjects but have never explored electronic portfolios.

Step # 2

I selected Valerie Burton’s online conference and we watched it together. Students had access to her online presentation and useful links to class websites and eportfolios in Weebly.

Students listened to Valerie Burton attentively and had the chance to explore examples done in Weebly.

Step #3

Students presented a draft of their eportfolio and had access to the rubrics.

I was impressed by the results because they chose different templates and the content was relevant and showed their learning process.

Step #4

Students presented their eportfolio and shared the link with their classmates.

I was glad to see they were proud of their work and to read the comments they wrote on the course

Project Report Template April 12, 2013 R. Elliott and D. Shaw