Pablo Vazquez
EDU697: Capstone: A Project Approach
Professor Keith Pressey
December 8, 2013
This activity will
cover Program Learning Outcome 1 “Demonstrate knowledge and skills related to
learning using technology” and Program Learning Outcome 2 “Demonstrate
knowledge and skills in current and emerging instructional technologies”
With
instructional designs one is able to “create instructional experiences which
are able to make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient,
effective, and appealing (Merrill, Drake, Lacy, Pratt & ID2; 1996)"
The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the
learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some
"intervention" to assist in the transition.
One
of the previous activities that I worked on was the development of a PowerPoint
presentation activity that would serve as a History lesson for students. While
part of the activity did include use of technology, I do realize that there
were more opportunities to engage learners further by allowing them to use the
technologies themselves.
The
original activity consisted of presenting them with a glimpse of life during
the American Civil War. For this activity we are trying to get the students to
connect with the war time youth during this period at an emotional level. We
want them to see and read about their experiences going into the conflict,
during the war, and most importantly how their lives had changed drastically
after the ordeal. We were also trying to determine how the events of the Civil
War impacted our nation at a social level as it was mostly inexperienced
individuals the ones who were thrown into this conflict. We are also trying to
determine what kind of psychological effects the war had on those who were part
of it from various perspectives.
The
students would be participating on a reading of several historical documents
such as correspondence written by the soldiers who lived through Civil War to
their families and loved ones. They will also hear audio narrations and
portrayals of Civil War soldiers and their experiences during the many
conflicts of the War. This will allow the students to acquire a more intimate
knowledge of these people and their lives during this dark period of American
history as well as common knowledge of the wars chronological progression from
beginning to end. The teacher would provide the proper instruction in helping
them understand the events of the Civil War and how American society was
affected by it. The students will be assessed by measuring their understanding
of the period and the events that ensued by allowing them to connect at a
deeper level of understanding towards the people that lived through this point
in history. By writing imaginary detailed and emotional correspondence to their
families and vice versa during the Civil War the students would better
understand the many themes of the period and how they shaped the future of a
nation.
The
new and revised activity will take further the Constructivism perspective even
further by allowing the students to further interact and become immersed in the
learning experience of acquiring knowledge about this historical period. The
changes that I would make to this activity would require an increase in the use
of technological tools that will assist the students to get even more involved
in the content they are learning. Instead of simply writing their
correspondence as previously required in a Word document, the students can now
broaden the scope of their work by creating a well-balanced PowerPoint
presentation in which they will allow them to write and narrate with audio
their letter of correspondence as well as include images of the period and
events that they will be referencing in their letters. In order for the other
students and the instructor to have easy access to these short presentations
the students will use screen capture technology like Jing or tools like
Present.Me to post their work online so that they all can later presented in
class via smart board. Also, the new revised activity project has been revised
to include removing extraneous content that may distract the students as well
as add content that may help students visualize their objectives.
References
Merrill,
M. D., Drake, L., Lacy, M. J., Pratt, J., & ID2_Research_Group. (1996).
Reclaiming instructional design. Educational Technology, 36(5), 5-7. http://mdavidmerrill.com/Papers/Reclaiming.PDF
Audio Retrieved from “A
Civil War Letter”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3F5RT0_K5M
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