Month: June 2021

Youtube Video:

Q1. What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?

The video is inherently interactive, but it could be designed to be more interactive by teachers. The video is about professional communication skills, but it teaches people how to meditate, and how to control one’s breathes; it give students some time to pause the video and practice what the presenter (Adriana Girdler) says. 

The later half of the video teaches people how to write business emails, and this is the  part of the video that is not inherently interactive but could be designed to be more interactive.

Q2. In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?

They might respond to the video by taking notes and do some activities that the presenter recommend. The reason why I pick this video is because it is both instructive and interactive. There are lessons that students can learn from this video, methods of how to pay more attention to their body language and strategies of understanding others’ body language. In the video, the presenter said : “Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.”  When I first watch this video, I feel enlightened and encouraged, so my emotion is responding to the video. I assume that students would also feel the same, because many people get nervous to speak in a business context because they fear that something could be wrong or they are not well-prepared. Focus on what they can do in order to make the situation better is really a good strategy. I am also taking notes when I watch this video, responding to it emotionally. 

On the other hand, the video gives some instructions on how to be more confident such as focus on our breathing patterns and how to meditate before a stressful event. I also tried some of these methods and I find them very useful. Thus, in this part of the video, students can respond to the video physically. 

Q3. What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?

As mentioned, the latter part of the video could be designed to be more interactive. For example, educator can use this part of the video and ask students to engage in a quick write activity. Use what they learn immediately. Give them a context to respond and write an email to, but only give them ten minutes. Then in the following class, the teacher can use scholarly articles or printed books to teach them the format of business emails, and how to be more professional in terms of their tone in writing and their writing style. Then the teacher can leave a homework which requires the student to revise their “quick write”, in this way, students can see their own improvements in the revise email. This process help students to be critical about their own writing, and it tests their ability to respond to a task in a quick manner. 

Q4. How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?

Most students would know how they do after they compare their quick writes with their revised draft. In my opinion, self-assessment allows students to see their things: “Where”, “Why”, and “How”— 1. Where to change 2. Why I change 3. How to change. Educators can certainly tell students these things in the feedback, but that isn’t learner-focused, it’s teacher-focused— “I tell you where to change, I tell you why you needed to change, and I tell you how to change”. This kind of feedback is not going to help students in a long run, because students don’t have to agree with everything that their teachers say. They should have their own judgments, and what teachers can do is to help students go beyond what they find in the self-assessment: first, be a good listener and listen to how the students assess their own work, then provide professional feedback to their self-assessment by giving them more evidence either supporting their self-assessment or disapproving their assessment. Finally, the educator can ask students to write a final draft, incorporating their self-assessment and teacher’s assessment, then the educator can grade them based on how students improve from draft 1 to the final draft. 

This peer review is dedicated to Wenyi Hou, Yixi Chen and Yixing Chen.

Dear Wenyi, Yixi and Yixing,

Thank you for sharing your interactive learning resource draft. It was an enjoyable read! The following is some suggestions that I hope are helpful.

Topic:

This peer review is dedicated to Wenyi Hou, Yixi Chen and Yixing Chen. 

Dear Wenyi, Yixi and Yixing, 

Thank you for sharing your interactive learning resource draft. It was an enjoyable read! The following is some suggestions that I hope are helpful. 

First Impression:

The whole document is well-organized, very easy to follow, and the expressions is clear and has a formal tone. In general, this is a very good learning design. 

Topic: 

The topic is clear and well-addressed.  Here are some suggestions regarding to the topic:

Adding “who is going to benefit from your topic?”

Defining “Your purpose of choosing this topic”

Adding “How do you include inclusiveness”

Overview of Resource:

The overview is short and concise.Considering the following :

Add at least two sources to make this section more well-researched.

The content includes a definition of what “Whipping Cream” is and the uses of “Whipping Cream”, considering adding the introduction of your resources such as adding “why we included these resources but not others”, “how they will help students better”. 

Learning Theory and Design 

This section of the document clearly defines the theoretical background for this learning resource. Instead of briefly mention the “Cognitivism learning theory”, it would be better if you could elaborate it, adding a definition for Cognitivism learning theory, and then connects to your interactive activities. 

Context 

This section is well done! Perhaps it would be better to move this section before “Learning Theory Design” section, so that it connects to the topic, and give readers an idea of how that connects to the overview of resource. If I am a student or a teacher, I would want to know if I can teach/learn this topic, am I the suitable learner for this topic. Hence, moving this section in the beginning, would defiantly improve the overall structure of this document.

Concept Analysis &Leaning Outcome 

I am impressed by the break down of the units topics and how that coordinates with your concept analysis and learning outcome. Following this table of unit topics, it is very clear to me of how you want to develop the course, along with the learning resources & activities that will be used to achieve learning outcome in each unit. 

Examples of topic 

I really like your examples, it shows that you also breaks down your topic into four sub-topics, and you have provided an analysis of how you want to develop these sub-topics. I would say this part along with your unit plan are the strength of your Interactive learning resource, keep up with the good work!

Reference Page:

Thank you for the reference page, I see that you categorize your learning resources into different categories such as scholarly articles and websites.

Concluding Comments: 

Overall, very enjoyable read! Good work. The last suggestion I would have is that include your idea about “Inclusiveness” in this project too. It would be great if you discuss how people need further flexibility or assistance in your “Context” section. 

Best. 

Ye. 

Cooperative Learning

–An overview of the characteristics of the approach

One famous cooperative learning approach is called the Jigsaw method. The Jigsaw Method was developed by Elliot Aronson in 1971, students were divided into several groups at the beginning of the class, which also known as the home group (Dwi Nur Rachmah,2017). Then the teacher will assign one topic to each member of the home group, and students were required to learn about the given topic by themselves (Dwi Nur Rachmah,2017).The next step is to form an expert group, students who got the same topic come together and form an expert group. Within each expert group, students share what they have learned, take notes and help improve each member’s understanding of the topic. Then, students will return to their home group, and start their presentations (Dwi Nur Rachmah,2017).

From the Jigsaw Method, we can identify some of the characteristics of cooperative learning: 1.Students were divided into groups; 2. Students work as a group but each of them have their individual task to accomplish, in other words, they are individually accountable ; 3. Role-shifting within the group, the students were no longer passive learners, they take ownership of their own learning. 

Cooperative learning has advantages and disadvantages. Based on behaviorism theory, cooperative learning as in the Jigsaw classroom can motive students by activating the four sources of self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1988), the four sources of self-efficacy are 1. Performance accomplishment 2. Vicarious experience 3. Social persuasion 4. Physiological and emotional states (Bandura, 1988). When students are within a group, not only they have more role models (where vicarious experience comes from), they are also more likely to be more vivaciously (physiological and emotional states). They also have the chance to feel competent when they feel like they are leading the classroom. 

The disadvantage of cooperative learning might be social loafing, but if everyone are individually accountable, this disadvantage can be avoided. 

—a discussion of how that approach does or does not align with your chosen topic

This approach does align with our chosen topic because our topic is about leadership skills and communication. The way we construct our learning resources also matches how the cooperative approach works: 70% of our assessments are formative. Students will be presented with multiple case studies, and analyze which communication strategy best fit the given scenario, and then formulate a response. After this activity, students will have a peer critique session, this provides them an opportunity to work with others. 

Reference :

Bandura, A. (1988). Self-efficacy conception of anxiety. Anxiety Research, 1(2), 77-98.

Dwi Nur Rachmah. (2017). Effects of Jigsaw Learning Method on Students’ Self-Efficacy and Motivation to Learn. Journal of Educational, 6(3), 1-9.