Recently, in our ILT module we have been given a task to create a mini-course relevant to our subject of teaching. The overview of the course is as follow:
Course Link: https://classroom.google.com/c/NTk4ODM0NTY5MjY4?cjc=wacgclo
Course Description:
I have created a short course on Google classroom by the
name “Scratch block coding- beginners”. It is a block-based coding program course
which aim to teach anyone who wants to acquire the coding skill with zero
coding background. Being primary ICT teacher, it would also help my KS2 student
to refer the course in their journey of block coding. The course is divided
into six broad sections which sequentially unfolds the tasks and activities. It
is very important to follow the chronological order of the lessons because if student
would skip one task the next task would be difficult to understand. There is
gradual progression in each task in term of difficulty level and proficiency in
the subject.
The first section of the course comprised of introductory
information about the programming platform, that is scratch. The tasks added in
the course are interactive and require student participation and engagement at
all levels in order to enjoy the learning experience. This section provides the
overview of the software used, the student’s perception of coding and basic
function which would be useful through out the sessions. Different activities have
been added in this section like interactive Edpuzzel video, Google Jamboard for
sharing ideas and some fun-based game learning quiz on Blooket.
Clear guidance, separate instruction and objectives has been
mentioned with each section, so students can easily understand and follow directions.
After introductory session students are needed to create different project
based on diverse themes. At the beginning of each section the tasks have been
well explained through written and video-based content. It has been ensured
that concept and logic behind each task is thoroughly illustrated so student
would have maximum understanding of coding concept. The course has been
designed in a way that, peers’ work can be viewed easily and have the essence of
regular classroom. Student can still work on their own pace, but a due date has
been given for each task with a week or two window so everyone can review others’
work within same time frame. Students input is the core of the course, be it the
task or their feedback to make the experience more fun and inclusive to
learning.
Course Rationale:
The reason behind creating this specific course is to get everyone
acquainted with the world of coding, which could be helpful to understand and
communicate with technology in this digital era. The word coding is usually intimidating
for most, as people think it requires a formal computer science degree to understand
coding languages, and people with the relevant field can only master the skill.
It’s true to the extent that formal education helps to get deeper understanding
of programming, but if you have urge to learn coding then training and practice
helps anyone to write code (Balla and Kiraly, 2016). The block coding or the
visual based code is a springboard for the programming world. It is based on
the logical thinking and reasoning, which can be achieved by the non-professional
of the field as well.
I believe that learning a skill at any age would broaden the
horizon of one’s personality and creates professional avenues. Hence, this
course would be helpful to anyone who would like to learn a technology-based
skill set and thrive in the technological age. The course is designed in the
line with advocacy of autonomous learning. Although, the student who would have
access to the course will have a clear guideline of the content and task, but
the element of independent learning is prevalent. Tasks are designed in a way that
motivate the student to explore the subject and use their creativity to
accomplish the desired objectives.
LMS:
The learning management system used for the course is “Google
Classroom”. The reason to use this particular learning management system is numerous
benefits it offers at free of cost. People are generally aware of this platform
at large. Almost everyone has gmail account to access it, which make the accessibility
much convenient. The participants of the course can easily enroll with their
account by using the link and commence the program (Philipose and Rajagopal, 2019).
Simple and straightforward interface of the platform makes
it easier for the user to understand the structure and navigational options (Philipose
and Rajagopal, 2019). I believe as the content of the course is already new and
have least familiarity, hence the management system should be clear and easy for
the students so they can understand the structural units of the course without
problem. Clear and simple layout of the platform give visual ease to the user interface,
hence make experience smooth without putting constrain on user usability (Moreno,
2022)
Some significant philosophies and theories of teaching and
learning were considered while designing the course, which are discussed as follow:
Graduate attribute and competency theory:
Research has shown that some traits and qualities are mandatory
to be embedded into the educational program to create a competent and capable individual
who can thrive in the professional scope. These competencies and qualities are helpful
in both professional and personal life for the growth of the students.
The course has been outlined in way that activities and
tasks are align with some graduate attributes and competencies. For instant in
couple of activities students need to review the video for final presentation and
follow the written explanation to create their own scratch program. In this
process, student will make some mistake while creating the code script. The process
of debugging and creating a project similar to final video presentation require
the quality of learning from the errors and recreate something better. This one
of the top attributes which are desired from the graduates. Learning from
experience is another graduate attribute which has been employed in the course
while creating a task where student need to develop each project based on the previous
learning experience and incorporate in way that synthesis something new out of
learned knowledge. One of the activities, which is known as “2-star 1 wish” is
designed by keeping in mind the attribute of “Understanding personal strength and
limitation”. For the activity students must share their view on the good things
and thing to be improved with their peers, which promote sense of reflection on
the skill and acceptance to the area of improvement. One of the most important competencies
integrated in the course structure is the ability of “lateral and creative
thinking”. The task where students have to create their own project on the
basis of given checklist but have give creative liberty to explore the platform
and synthesis something new, is the explicit example of this attribute which is
being aspired by the competent graduates (Carrington, 2013).
Motivation Theory:
Learning to the maximum potential can only be achieved if
learner is engaged in the process and is not only the receiver of knowledge but
the creator of new learning stream. This can only be possible if the motivation
level of the student is intrinsic and consistent. Motivation plays a vital role
in the success of the creating conducive environment for learning. The elements
which boost the intrinsic motivation for the students is work autonomy, interactivity,
diversification, and innovation in task design.
In this course, every task is curated in a way that keep the
motivation level high. To begin with, variety of activities has been included which
are diverse from each other. This breaks the monotony of task and keep engaging
each student at every level. Different digital tools are used like Blooket,
Wordwall, Edpuzzle, Jamboard, Flipgrid, Mentimeter and Quizezz to offer variation
in the tasks. Moreover, the autonomy of work is kept in mind, where student have
to practically create their scratch projects and can view others work as well
to get inspiration from peer’s work. Every unit require active involvement of
the student, there is no passive learning. Diversification in the type of
activities keep student intrigued for following units. Students enjoy game-based
learning and one of the unit focuses on creating their own game, which would be
great learning for the students and keep their interest as well (Frey and Fisher,
2010).
SAMR Model:
The SAMR model is an effective way to analyze the usefulness
of online task created in the course. According to the model it should not only
have meaningful goal but also show enhancement of learning by using the
technological tool/platform. If I have to reflect on the mini-course I have
created, then all four stages of SAMR have glimpses in the activities crafted for
the course. The substitution is noticeable where written step by step explanation
has been given to the student to complete the project in the form of Google Doc.
The video explanation also serves the same purpose of substitutional stage. However,
if we look at one stage ahead of it, that is augmentation which focus on the technological
enhancement and provide learning beyond the regular medium, then Edpuzzle
activity and Flipgrid platform can be engaging task where interactivity pull
forward the learning process and increase the breadth of knowledge. As the
learning program “Scratch” is itself a digital platform, which help student to create
coding-based animation which is centered on logical thinking and reasoning. This
comes under the modification stage as the learning platform itself teaches
beyond the traditional teaching setting (Best, 2020).
Teaching And Learning Theories:
There are three prominent teaching and learning theories which
influence the content and structure of the course. The first one is
constructivism learning theory, where learning through experience and
understanding is the key. The course is founded on the same philosophy, where primarily
different function of the coding program is getting familiarized to the student,
and afterwards based on those newly learned function, projects would be created
(Gatt and Vella, 2003).
Another significant learning theory adopted in the course is
social constructivism. There are many activities adopted in the course which
promote sharing of thoughts, ideas and work to influence and get learned from
other. For instance, Jamboard is used to communicate ideas and perception about
coding with fellow participants. In this way student would learn others
perspective and absorb new knowledge by sharing. Secondly, it been advised to
student that each task not only be shared with the course instructor but shared
on a common platform, that is Flipgrid, so everyone could see each other work.
This would be a great experience on going learning from peers. Everyone has
different creative edge so same program can be design differently which would expand
the learning curve of each student as new views and perspective would be added
to the learning. Not only sharing of work but reflective analysis is required
by the students on each other project.
As this course is based on learning management system and
each task is backed by some technological tool so we cannot skip the theory of
connectivism. Connectivism has strong influence on creating this online course.
Creating a learning experience which can be achieved at one’s comfort zone and being
monitored through digital network is certainly based on the foundation of
connectivism. Learning and evolving through the technological tool is the example
of same philosophy. Autonomy of work is also promoting the same ideas based on
connectivism. Furthermore, sharing your scratch projects on your free account
is accessible to the global community, which give sense of achievement to the
students (Siemen, 2005).
Best, J. (2020), The SAMR Model explained (15 examples),
3P Learning, Available at The SAMR Model
Explained (With 15 Practical Examples) (3plearning.com), (Accessed on 10th
April 2023)
Carrington, A. (2013), Start with Graduate Attributes,
Designing Outcome, Available at https://designingoutcomes.com/the-padagogy-wheel-v3-0-learning-design-starts-with-graduate-attributes-capabilities-and-motivation/
(Accessed on 15th April, 2023).
Frey, N. and Fisher, (2010), Motivation requires a
meaningful task, National Council of Teachers of English, English Journal, 100(1):30-36
Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259854117_Motivation_Requires_a_Meaningful_Task
(Accessed on 15th April, 2023)
Gatt. S, and Vella. Y, (2003), Constructivism: An effective
Theory of Learning, Agenda Publisher, Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284722693_Constructivism_An_effective_Theory_of_Learning
(Accessed on 28th March 2023)
Kiraly, S. and Balla, T. (2018), Code School: Learn to code by
practicing, Conference: MaCS 2016 Mathematics and Computer Science, Eger,
Hungary, Available at: (PDF)
Code School: Learn to code by practicing (researchgate.net) (Accessed on 15th
April 2023)
Moreno, L. (2022), Fundamental of layout in user interface design
(UI), UX Collection, Available at : Fundamentals
of layout in user interface design (UI) | by Leonardo Moreno | UX Collective
(uxdesign.cc) (Accessed on 3rd March, 2023)
Philipose, C. and Rajagopal, S. (2019), Google Classroom
as a Learning Management System (LMS) for Teaching English, FORTELL Issue
No.38, Available at https://www.fortell.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/issue-38-fortell_jan_2019_final_bw-81-90.pdf
(Accessed 3rd April 2023).
Siemens. G, (2005), Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the
Digital Age, International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance
Learning (ITDL), Available at https://intranet.wiut.uz/Uploads/LearningMaterialFiles/15691/5867/Connectivism%20(7).pdf
(Accessed on 28th March 2023)
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