Link+to+Collaborative+Space

Proposed Technologies:

Hi all, as discussed on our conference call / chat we could create a learning unit / module in a course management system which is designed to teach a specific science concept. We would have to ensure that this module adjusts to the specific needs of each student. Suggestion would be to create a module that has an introduction, learning goals, 3 content pages, 1 group activity, 1 assignment and 3 resources. We will want to consider using video or media for the activity. The key will be to create the module while considering students who are blind, students who are deaf and students who might have English as a second language. We can create a module that can adjust to student needs. The subject of the module can be a basic science concept like celular mitosis or a basic math concept like geometry. The goal will be to teach a single concept to a unified classroom using different approaches. We could for example create an audio file for all readings. We could create video that has both audio and text captions. The idea will also be to have students who have different abilities work together with their different skills to accomplish tasks. These different types of media could be put together in a sequence so that different members of the group could fill in pieces of the puzzle.

Pedagogies: We would be showing inquiry-based learning, constructivism and an inclusive classroom.

Proposed Audience: Hopefully we can use a classroom that is associated with someone in the group. My sister has a Grade 4 classroom which we might be able to use to test this theory. Ideas?

Just a small concern here, I'm not sure how this will work with blind students. There are limitations to what blind people can do on the computer. For example, screen readers can enable blind people to check e-mail, surf the Internet, use a word processor, give some description of what's on the screen. However, if there is any graphical interface, this makes it very difficult for blind people to interact. Further, because blind people often rely on keyboard short cuts (as using a mouse is essentially visual). Students who do not have a firm command of touch typing and keyboard shortcuts may have difficulty. Perhaps we should focus more on the visually impaired by enabling bigger fonts, zoomed pictures, etc.

As for what you want to teach, I can provide lots of high-school math material. The lesson plans will be borrowed, but I don't think that will be an issue as our main concern is to make the activity something that is accommodated for student needs. For example, we could modify a lesson that I created for ETEC530 that you can see here: http://sites.google.com/site/usingrealworldstatistics/. I'm not sure if any of the math teachers are currently teaching statistics at my school, but I will put out the word. Also, the only aspect that we'd be able to test is ESL where I teach. There are no visually impaired or deaf students. John.