Digital Learning Design and Problem Based Learning
Digital learning design is a process that engages students in purposeful real world learning through the construction of complex task, authentic essential questions and specifically designed scaffolding for deep learning opportunities.
Teacher as a Designer of Learning
When teachers are designers of learning they take into considerations multiple levels of knowledge obtainment. They capture the levels of student knowledge gained and scaffold skills sets that can be directly applied to real world applications or authentic task. These are the high level college and career readiness skills that provide deep learning opportunities for all students. The teacher as a designer of leaning matches a relationship between mastery of skill sets to the construction of performance based learning that uses rigor and relevance as a map for concept development. Teachers who are designers of learning coincide end of the unit rote assessments with authentic problem based task to measure a student's ability to perform skills sets that are directly associated with mastery of standards.
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To be a designer of learning is when the teacher thinks about the mastery of standards that supports direct instruction through formative assessments. They also think about how to bridge the gap between learning experience in class and the complexity of the real world. These are the big ideas and essential questions that will be a vital in the future as students are provided with experiences that relate to real world working environments.
Designing Purposeful Learning
The components introduced in digital learning design provides opportunities for teachers to design a curriculum framework that is multidisciplinary, student centered, and authentic to 21st Century skills. The digital learning design framework is based on research in both direct instruction and constructivist learning, and helps teachers pull together elements of college and career readiness standards, while providing high engaging deep learning opportunities for students. The model used in this section provides explanation to the development of an authentic culminating problem-based unit for facilitated instruction where teachers are harmonized to a relationship that uses rigor and relevance as a design map for purposeful learning . The key component of the model is to construct college and career standards into authentic tasks.
These authentic task are designed to stimulate student thinking through an inquiry process while using 21st Century skills. Skills included within the curriculum framework of the unit design template emphasizes the use of technology as a connected resource to establish digital tools to expand learning through digital literacy. Digital literacy skill sets are designed to enhance a student's ability to answer a question or solve a problem that reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom. Students who engage in these complex environments learn how to communicate, network resources, manage time, organize, self-assess, reflect, and participate in groups while taking leadership responsibilities.
Taking the student centered approach to digital learning design can provide teachers the opportunity to facilitate learning. Students on the other hand will have the opportunity to become a partner to instruction allowing them to reflect upon their own ideas and opinions, exercise voice and choice, and make decisions that affect project outcomes and the learning process in general.
These authentic task are designed to stimulate student thinking through an inquiry process while using 21st Century skills. Skills included within the curriculum framework of the unit design template emphasizes the use of technology as a connected resource to establish digital tools to expand learning through digital literacy. Digital literacy skill sets are designed to enhance a student's ability to answer a question or solve a problem that reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom. Students who engage in these complex environments learn how to communicate, network resources, manage time, organize, self-assess, reflect, and participate in groups while taking leadership responsibilities.
Taking the student centered approach to digital learning design can provide teachers the opportunity to facilitate learning. Students on the other hand will have the opportunity to become a partner to instruction allowing them to reflect upon their own ideas and opinions, exercise voice and choice, and make decisions that affect project outcomes and the learning process in general.
standards of learning
It is important to recognized that in digital learning design, skills sets for standards should have already been obtained through direct instruction. The culminating real world design features presented here are applications of previous learning. When a teacher begins to think about thinking they will then write performance questions that draw from multiple skill sets that have been previously mastered as they move student learning from application and practice to reflective learning. These are the independent intrinsic goals that are student centered and are expanded on as students are engaged in and apply newly obtained knowledge in real world applications.
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The big idea "creating a virtual game board"
A big idea is like a theme. It establishes a focal point on what students will apply to previously mastered standards that have been measured through formative assessments. Like a painting that is layered through multiple brush strokes to cover a canvas of expression. A big idea provides a narrative to the landscape of the picture as seen through a telephoto lenses, it gives a direction to the learning process. A big idea brings life to the learning as it provides the learners the mental schemas or templates that help make sense of the purpose for learning.
To design learning a teacher must begin to think outside of the box and formulate a big idea for a learning project. One feature in developing a unit of study is establishing the purpose of the unit through the development of a big idea or theme. The big idea helps students make sense of their learning by categorizing content into one big picture. It becomes the theses statement for a project as it sets the pathway to prove certain aspects of a students learning. The big idea is essentially the theme of the unit as portrays real work experiences.
To design learning a teacher must begin to think outside of the box and formulate a big idea for a learning project. One feature in developing a unit of study is establishing the purpose of the unit through the development of a big idea or theme. The big idea helps students make sense of their learning by categorizing content into one big picture. It becomes the theses statement for a project as it sets the pathway to prove certain aspects of a students learning. The big idea is essentially the theme of the unit as portrays real work experiences.
One unit designed around a big idea was to have students develop a virtual game board. The theme or big idea provided the students with a focus for their learning. The big idea specified the task in general terms as students were required to brainstorm a virtual game board company made up of three to four student teams. Like real world problem solving companies students need to buy-in to the learning task through the challenge of creating something new, and unique. The big idea was designed to captured a student's attention, to intrigue them in becoming involved with solving a complexity task. The big idea gives students an opportunity to begin thinking about the problems associated with how they are to demonstrate their end product. It helps students to focus on authentic solutions as they began to brainstorm the process of creating something from nothing that is based on their previous learning.
The Essential Question
The next step in digital learning design is to construct an essential question. The key to the essential question is that it has to be constructed in a way that it becomes the driver of the big idea. The essential question or questions for any unit of study should provide focus on long-term learning and can be revisited throughout the learning experience. A good essential question is the principle component of digital learning design.
The essential question for the virtual gameboard unit asked students, "How will you create a virtual game board that can have only physical point to point movement?" Students who were introduced to the big idea of designing a virtual game board had to work as a team and brainstorm various ideas based on a set of rules.
The essential question for the virtual gameboard unit asked students, "How will you create a virtual game board that can have only physical point to point movement?" Students who were introduced to the big idea of designing a virtual game board had to work as a team and brainstorm various ideas based on a set of rules.
Scaffolding Rules for Design
The second part of establishing the essential question is to scaffold the learning by establishing rules. Scaffolding in terms of design rules provides students with clear direction and helps in clarifying purpose. Scaffolding rules for the project communicates to students what they must do to meet expectations. Scaffolding helps students understand why they are doing the work and why it is important. Clarifying purpose with a set of project rules will also reduce students’ confusion. To clearly state the rules especially in the early phases of the project the teacher must anticipate problems that students might encounter.
The next step in the process was to develop a set of rules for students to follow when designing their virtual game board. Students were provided clarity and support but they construct the final result through their own design. The rules would later turn into assessments rubrics that provided learning expectations .These rules also provided structure to what will be allowed when students develop their prototypes. The rules for designing a virtual game board included:
The next step in the process was to develop a set of rules for students to follow when designing their virtual game board. Students were provided clarity and support but they construct the final result through their own design. The rules would later turn into assessments rubrics that provided learning expectations .These rules also provided structure to what will be allowed when students develop their prototypes. The rules for designing a virtual game board included:
- Your game must include the name of a company.
- The game must include a name based on a theme.
- Your game board must use a mobile device for all components except for physical movement.
- Your game must be based on previously leaned virtual academic content.
- Virtual academic content must support multiple disciplines.
- Your game must have a set of virtual rules.
- Your game can be a virtual storyline with role play, action, or exploratory.
Digital Literacy Design
The next step in the process of digital learning design is to select digital literacy domains that are to be included in the project. These domains include using digital tools to access information, use of digital media tools to create digital content, and the skills needed to produce multimedia compilations into consumable content. Digital literacy in this context requires three levels of skill development. The first domain is knowing how, when, and where to locate useful information on the Internet. The second domain is the development of understanding the use of digital tools as these tools are applied in the creation of content. The third domain of digital literacy is in producing and sharing digital compilations into a medium for knowledge consumption. These mediums for knowledge consumption can take the form of a digital product. Digital products can be an iBook, iTunes U course or in this case a virtual game board.
designing assessment rubrics
facilitated instruction
providing feedback
In a student centered classroom where learning is facilitated it is important for teachers to use questions that are constructed around the essential question and to provide verbal support while students are engaged in authentic task. It is important that teachers construct both their verbal responses to elicit deep thinking while they lead student learning to open ended responses that make conceptual ties to the big idea or essential question.
Given the opportunity to provide feedback in real time is an essential factor associated with digital learning design, as it applies to practice. If providing feedback is directly associated in making a significant difference in student learning, then two elements of practice must be consistently factored. There must be linkage between teacher comment to student answer and time associated to the reinforcement of confirmed learning. If learning occurs in isolation, then reflections of learning is also on hold until engagement can occur. Facilitated instruction in the sense of the provision of feedback should take the form of a new protocol as it relates to the formative reflective assessment process. This process in practice can be articulated by the practitioner in the following way:
Given the opportunity to provide feedback in real time is an essential factor associated with digital learning design, as it applies to practice. If providing feedback is directly associated in making a significant difference in student learning, then two elements of practice must be consistently factored. There must be linkage between teacher comment to student answer and time associated to the reinforcement of confirmed learning. If learning occurs in isolation, then reflections of learning is also on hold until engagement can occur. Facilitated instruction in the sense of the provision of feedback should take the form of a new protocol as it relates to the formative reflective assessment process. This process in practice can be articulated by the practitioner in the following way:
- Students use a discussion protocol to analyze design solutions, share ideas, build vocabulary, and refine strategies by learning from each other.
- Ask students clarifying questions to evaluate the cognitive direction of their ideas and understanding of the unit project.
- Monitor students as they debate ideas, clarify thinking, and make adjustments to their work.
higher order thinking skills
Higher order thinking entails deep processing that leads to understanding. Deep processing requires engagement and motivation fostered by authentic questions about a subject that are drawn from the student’s own experience and curiosity. Deep processing also requires the development of intellectual skills that go beyond the locating and gathering of facts. According to Bloom (Bloom’s Taxonomy), the skills of comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation help stimulate inquiry that leads to deep knowledge and understanding, rather than shallow processing in response to simple or superficial questions with prescribed answers.