WEEK 13 30th November, 2015

Reflection on Current Trends on educational research

In week 13 the lecturer engaged us into reading some research journals as follows:
 Predictive Model to Evaluate Students Cognitive Engagement in Online Learning’ (Nurbiha A Shukora*, Zaidatun Tasira, Henny Van der Meijdenb , Jamalludin Haruna ), ‘Pattern of reflection in learning Authoring System through blogging ( SK Mohamad) ‘and "Student types of online interaction through Facebook discussion’(Nurul Farhana Jumaata,Zaidatun Tasira). 
We  were also given the task to discuss a particular issues making reference to current research in educational trends and issues. Accordingly, I discussed a paper entitled investigating the lecturers’ experience of using social media in higher Education courses. And make the following summary and observation
One of current issues in educational research is the growing attention into investigating the lecturers’ experience of using social media in higher education courses. Through this interest, a research was recently conducted by Thapanee Seechaliao conducted a survey approach using a questionnaire to generate data about lecturers’ experience of using social media in higher education courses. Thirty-one lecturers from Mahasarakham University were used as sample. The findings of the research revealed that the lecturers had experience of using social media, namely, Facebook, mostly through internet use on devices such as notebooks and desktops. Majority of the lecturers had some experience using social media in higher education courses, mostly Facebook. However, they did not have teaching experience using social media in courses. The devices they used for facilitating social media use in courses were notebooks and desktops. Learners’ role in using social media in courses was searching. Lecturers’ roles were posting or creating, and commenting. Social media use in the courses was part of a blended approach that employed both regular and online instruction. The lecturers always searched for information and studied hard by themselves to cope with the problems of social media use in their courses and to enhance their skills in using social media in courses effectively. The conclusion of this research is that more attention need to be focused in the area of web 2.0 technology especially how they can be integrated into the teaching and learning in an innovative way. This can help instructional designers and lecturers gain ideas to make their courses more suitable for 21st century learning.

WEEK 12 23rd day of November, 2015

                           
This week there was no  class.  the lecturer gave us opportunity to meet in our various group and perfect our projects. So No class.

WEEK 11 16th day of November, 2015

The class handled by Dr. Noor Dayana witnessed activities and short presentations on three concepts that are related but yet different in terms of their usage and function in the field of education. These are   Evaluation, Assessment & Testing
From the group presentation that we made in the class after some discussions, the following points emerged in explaining these points as mentioned above
   First of all, I understood that  within an educational setting, assessment, evaluation, and testing are all used to measure how much of the assigned materials students are mastering, how well student are learning the materials, and how well student are meeting the stated goals and objectives. Although we may believe that assessments only provide instructors with information on which to base a score or grade, assessments also help you to assess your own learning.

Education professionals make distinctions between assessment, evaluation, and testing.
 However, all we need to understand  that these are three different terms for referring to
 the process of figuring out how much you know about a given topic and that each term
\has a different meaning.
           
                                  My reflection
From the presentation, the following points are what slightly distnguish the concepts as follows

1. TESTING is used to examine someone's knowledge of something to determine what he or she   knows or has learned. Testing measures the level of skill or knowledge that has been reached
2. .Evaluation is the process of making judgments based on criteria and evidence.
3. Assessment is the process of documenting knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs, usually in measurable terms. The goal of assessment is to make improvements, as opposed to simply being judged. In an educational context, assessment is the process of describing, collecting, recording, scoring, and interpreting information about learning 

Why are Assessment, evaluation and testing Important?

Assessment, evaluation and testing Important helps one to  build confidence
 in his ability to learn. In order to be successful, you will need to have confidence
 in your ability to learn and you will need to become a lifelong learner.
Assessment, evaluation and testing Important plays a key role in developing your confidence in your ability to learn, as well as in developing your lifelong learning skills.

WEEK 10 9th day of November, 2015

Presentations of  project Proposals

 This week the ILE project proposals  were presented. based on  

ü   Audience analysis

ü   Goals and content analysis

ü   Needs assessments

ü   Deployment, resources and timeline

                                             our on presentation 

The project is grounded on constructivism theory, and the teaching strategy 
selected is Scenerio-based learning.  Scenario-based e-learning (SBeL)—also
known as problem-based learning or a pedagogical approach where learning
is based in an authentic scenario, reflecting real-life situations and enshrining 
all thecomplex elements needed to approach a certain issue where specific 
skills and knowledge will be covered. 

Characteristics of SBL

It usually sound like a story or a narrative of common occurrence.

It can have a game-like appearance;

It is presented from the learner’s perspective;

It involves a “precipitating event” which places the learner(s) in a role;

It focuses on performance improvement rather than correct answers;

It filters out theoretical information;

It makes learner reflects engaging him in realistic situations;

It has high instructional interactivity if learners are required to
collaborate with their peers.

The following are some of common advantages of SBL:

Let learners become aware of gaps in learning;

Help learners to surmount difficulties in learning;

Help learners to change their behavior in specific situations;

Assist teachers and tutors in describing difficult concepts. 

How to buld SBL

Determine if Scenario Based Learning is the best choice for your
audience and type of subject.

Determine the best scenario for the skills you want to develop

Build your own learning environment/scenario. Give learners all
 necessary details

 (documents, data, and interviews). 

Define your media: Is  your SBL task on a face-to-face or
e-learning environment. 

Application of Seven Principles of ILE

Learners discuss issues among themselves (Learner at the center)

Learning is through collaboration group (Social learning)

There are a lot of motivation for good performance (Emotions)

Learners will workout task according to their level (Recognizing individual differences)

 students are moderately engaged but not over-stretched( Stretching all students)

There are both formative and summative evaluation (Assessment of learning)

There is opportunity of transfer of knowledge in diverse situation
 (Building horizontal connection).

ation of the 7 principles The subject to be taught is Science, there are many themes, 
we  selected “Maintenance and continuity of life”.  while the topic that attract
 our collective attention under this broad theme is ‘Nutrition’, with sub-topic “Balanced Diet”. 

Goals & Contents Analysis

The major topics to be covered in this topic are:

 Definition of the term (Balanced Diet).

 Classes of food

 Importance of balanced diet 

 Problem or consequences of not having balance diet 

 Solutions to the problems Key concepts/skills of this chapter are:
 nutrition, balance diet, malnutrition and obesity. The desired 
performance level for learning these skills 

is that the students should be ableo Apply the knowledge they
 obtain to their
 daily life. They should also be able to evaluate

 certain issues regarding nutrition especially balance diet.

They should appreciate and develop healthy eating behavior

WEEK 9 2nd November, 2015 Mid-Semester Break

WEEK 8 26th October, 2015

       Discussion on project design

The class stated with Dr. Noor Dayana

It was the day when the members of the class were asked to discuss the design and other plans of project the class was full of interaction and discussion under the guidance of Dr. Noor Dayana Abdul Halim who went round the class to interact with the various groups in relation to their project proposal. While with our group, she listened to our brief expiations and eventually she made the suggestions: she particularly advised us to plan a project that will accommodate all the seven principles of ILE emphasized on the need for scenario-based learning.

My reflection

In the course of discussion, I further understood that the whole ILE project is about putting the seven principles of ILE into actual practical teaching and learning situation.  Therefore I began to pay close attention to the following points as our guiding principle in the process of developing our project as earlier highlighted in our lecture with prof Jamaluddin. The points are non other than the ILE principles as summarized below:

ü  Learners discuss issues among themselves (Learner at the center)

ü  Learning is through collaboration group (Social learning)

ü  There are a lot of motivation for good performance (Emotions)

ü  Learners will work out task according to their level (Recognizing individual differences)

ü   students are moderately engaged but not over-stretched( Stretching all students)

ü  There are both formative and summative evaluation (Assessment of learning)

ü  There is opportunity of transfer of knowledge in diversed situation (Building horizontal connection).

Our discussions that day centred on how we must ensure that every element above is considered in our project. Specifically we discussed All criteria, strategies, objectives, content, justifications for our chosen subject and topic, our target group of learners and most importantly pedagogical approach and instructional design that would guide  the development and implementation of our ILE project.

The pedagogical approach is Scenario-based e-learning also known as problem-based learning or a pedagogical approach where learning is based in an authentic scenario, reflecting real-life situations and enshrining all the complex elements needed to approach a certain issue where specific skills and knowledge will be covered.

The choice of scenario based learning for our project is based on its importance in engaging the learners and helps them to embrace positive attitude and  behavior in specific situations through their learning process.;

WEEK 7 19th October, 2015

This week Presentation of tools continued under the guidance of prof. Jamaludin  with class members introduced the new web 2.0. the tool presented were Edynco, Socrative and Schoology.

                                                                                                                                                         Eidynco   

Edynco is an online tool for both teachers and students for creating learning maps and engaging students with them to perform tasks and activities. Edynco is a richly designed collaborative mind mapping instruments where users can link their ideas and embed video, PDF images, slides, links and even html. For instructional use teacher can add tests and also record lectures videos instantly.

Socrative

Socrative is an application which empowers the teacher to engage and assess students in a the teaching and learning process.  Instantaneous questioning, result collection, and visualization can be used to have immediate understanding of students. It assist for collaboration and develop a community. Students can share their knowledge by responding to formative assessment questions in different formats: quizzes, matching, objective tests. Once students launch the Socrative Student App, they'll be urged to link the teacher's room thru the teacher's exceptional code.

Schoology

Schoology is an online course management system that lets teachers to produce and manage academic courses for their students.  It offers teachers with a process of handling lessons, engaging students, sharing content, and linking with other educators.

Logging in to Schoology I a simple task, there are three ways to log in:

•Teacher (Sign up for a free Schoology account)

•Student (Requires an access code that is provided by the teacher)

•Parent (Requires an access code that is provided by the teacher)

Students & Parents as indicated above require Access Code, when a teacher creates a Schoology account, they are delivered with an access code that permits students and parents right of entry to the instructor’s course in Schoology. Schoology is similar to e-learning, is a substitute of LMS. You need a server before you can use e-learning but schoology is a free tool. The major shortcoming of schoology is that the user has limited control.

Furthermore, after the lesson Prof. Jamal threw more light on the ILE Project.

Designing principles tips:

Design is very important in the creation and maintenance of innovative learning environment project,

·         Epistemology should be consistent with constructive learning theory.

·         Create flexible tasks and tools for knowledge sharing

·         Ensure different support for within and outside the community.

·         Establish flexible and responsible students’ roles and responsibilities

·         Provide communication and interaction tools for learners to construct learning.

·         Create tasks for self-direction, ownership and collaboration

·         Ensure flexible tutoring and mentoring roles

·         Create access to different resources.

·         Provide flexible learning goals.