University of Regina – Graduate Student
Hello EC&I 834 colleagues! Working with and learning from you during our time together this semester has been an absolute pleasure! Thank you for all the great work on your respective course prototypes. Well done!
Please enjoy my Summary of Learning for EC&I 834 – Designing for Online and Blended Learning. I used Canva to create this artifact. Here is my Summary of Learning for EC&I 834!
All the best to everyone!
Hello EC&I 834 colleagues! Our course prototype was co-designed with my colleague Meagan McLellan and is based on the Saskatchewan Grade 7 Drama Outcomes.
In our blended and synchronous course, grade 7 students will learn about the elements of radio plays, how to create soundscapes, and how to use Foley sounds to create sound effects. They will also record, edit, and produce their own radio plays in small groups. The focus is not on writing skills so that they will use pre-written stories; however, they will edit and adapt the stories to use soundscapes, effects, and voice acting wherever possible.
Drama can be a daunting and less desirable subject for students, especially those who are anxious or lack self-confidence. Meagan and I wanted to create an opportunity for students to meaningfully participate in the subject in a way that would ease these anxieties and fears and allow for freedom of expression and creativity in a FUN way.
When developing and mapping out our A.D.D.I.E. Course Profile, we considered our student audience at the foundation of our course. Our previous blog post details our A.D.D.I.E. Course Profile.
The course creation process begins with our learning objectives of this blended and synchronous course. By the end of this course, we hope students will be able to:
Empowered Learner (Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.)
Some important notes regarding our creation process are that many of our students are EAL learners. This course is meant to foster an environment that promotes language development while meeting Arts Education’s curricular outcomes. All but one of our students have access to technology at home, and Meagan and I are a part of the Connected Educator Program with Regina Catholic School Division (one-to-one device access per student), which allows for ample opportunities for this course to be successful.
We have used three platforms to execute our course prototype. The first was Microsoft Teams, which was used as the central hub to post assignments and hand-in areas, chat with students and teachers, monitor student progress, and provide feedback and assessment grades. This was considered as our Microsoft-based school division, which provides free access to teachers and students. Secondly, we used SeeSaw to foster and promote home-school connections. Students access some of the tasks on this platform, and it invites parents and guardians to view their children’s work to see their progress in the course. Thirdly, we used WeVideo, which is a licensed and cloud-based platform that allows students to work in teams to upload, record, mix, splice, edit, and layer sounds. This is used to create their final product. Last, we used Lumi to create introductory videos for Modules 1 and 2 and BBC Sound Effects to access thousands of audio files, which are safe and free to download.
Here are links to our other course prototype blogs that highlight our learning process and development:
Course Prototype – Community in Online Learning: Guidelines
Course Prototype – Reflection to Feedback: Accessibility
Finally, our finished product! We want to thank our EC&I 834 colleagues for their valuable feedback, which was used to reflect on and improve our course prototype for our students.
Please enjoy our course walkthrough.
This week we have dived into the complex world of Artificial Intelligence! AI tools are entering our classrooms at a rapid pace, and it is so important that as educators we learn how to use them productively ourselves and teach our students effectively as well.
There are many ways we as teachers can use AI to help with daily tasks. I have seen teachers use AI to help generate report card comments, write letters to families, respond to emails, and give feedback on student work. Even though the teacher must modify all the AI responses to make them more personal or reflect their writing style, the amount of time saved is worth noting. In the video, Dr. Couros references that AI allows people to use the time saved to spend with family and other things that are important to them. As an administrator, I see how busy teachers are so using AI is a great tool to ease their workload and spend their time in other areas.
Aside from using AI to assist in administrative tasks, I have seen it used in ways to enhance student learning. Personally, the two AI tools I use most in my teachings are Diffit and SchoolAI. Diffit allows me to take any text and modify it to any grade level to meet the diverse needs of my students. SchoolAI has a sidekick feature that allows teachers to assign a personal AI assistant to the students. I can set the parameters for the sidekick such as “help them brainstorm ideas on a Social Justice issue, but do not write the paragraph for them” Then using a code, students enter and can ask the AI questions relating to the assignment. On the teacher dashboard, teachers can see everything the student has asked, and the AI provides a summary of their learning as well. I have found this extremely beneficial in providing feedback on essays as I do not have time to get to 30-plus students during the writing process, so this allows them to get some controlled feedback using AI as I can assign specifically what I want to give them feedback on.
The capabilities of AI are endless as we seen in the presentation by Dr. Couros, and it makes it so tempting for students to have it do their work for them. Because of this, it is so important to teach kids how to use it accurately and effectively. Furthermore, time must be spent discussing and analyzing how one can use AI and when it is considered cheating will students define the lines. I hope that by exposing students to it in their middle years and teaching them how to use it to enhance their work, they will be less likely to use it inappropriately in the future. I strongly agree with Dr. Couros’ statement “Outsource your workload, not your thinking”. By using AI in the classroom early, we can show them the capabilities of AI and teach them the necessary skills needed to do exactly that- reduce your work but not your thinking! As a result, I feel students will be less inclined to cheat. Another profound takeaway was when Dr. Couros shared how biased AI can be. He provided examples of professors, who were portrayed as older white men. In contrast, when asking AI to show images of social services, images were quite the opposite. This can be used as a teachable moment in the classroom and requires educators to reflect on our own biases as well.
Our (Meagan and I) course prototype is not one where students would be able to use AI to complete it because they need to create a soundscape. However, they could use AI to brainstorm ideas to help them create the mood and tone they are going for. When creating lessons, it is important to try to add a personal component because that is what AI is lacking. AI responses are usually very formal, have a lot of transitions, and lack personal connections, so at times it can be easy to spot when students have used AI to complete the task. Now, this may become a lot harder to detect as students get older but speaking to my current population of 12-14-year-olds, I can usually spot AI use.
To be quite honest, given the sophisticated capabilities of AI, there are very few assignments that cannot be completed with AI in some way. Teachers need to always consider this and like I said earlier, try to add some personal connection to make the assignment more unique to the student. In addition, conversations about AI need to happen in the classroom creating safe and open conversations about cheating, and plagiarism. I can’t help but think back to when many educators thought using spell check was cheating and look where we are today! AI is only going to get more advanced as we have already seen how much it has improved in the last few years, and blocking the sites is not an option. Therefore, providing AI education is going to be crucial moving forward as it is going to have a huge impact on both teaching and learning in the years to come.
Meagan and I continue our course prototype work toward our Arts Education lesson for our Grade 7 class, which ultimately involves having our students create a radio play.
Our course prototype design combines in-class instruction with digital components constructed with Lumi to contribute to an engaging and interactive introductory digital lesson for our students.
We presented our course shell to our class colleagues through Microsoft Word. We included our ADDIE to provide our reviewers with a detailed class description, EAL considerations, and a complete unit outline. We followed the ADDIE with our introductory lesson to Radio Plays (PowerPoint) and detailed modules (Curricular Outcomes, Activity Links, and Schedule) created by both Meagan and me. Finally, we concluded our shell by sharing our grading scale for reference. Although our course shell was not presented in a traditional Learning Management System (LMS) yet, we felt the organization and format we provided our reviewers with were sufficient for this first module. As we are both employees of the Regina Catholic School Division, we are working toward a finalized LMS created on Microsoft Teams…stay tuned!
The feedback we received from our colleagues during our Week 7 class and through the feedback comments was overwhelmingly positive and appreciated. Some of the commonalities among the feedback were well-constructed, easy to follow and use, student-centered, and age appropriate.
Because we hosted our course shell through the Microsoft Word document, it was suggested that we should have provided a bit of rationale and our ‘why’ for choosing to do so. It was also noted that although we used Microsoft Word, the document was clear, accessible, and appeared professional and polished. Another suggestion provided was to further our course interactions within the prototype. We acknowledge that we must further detail the SeeSaw and Teams interactions and further distinguish and outline classroom versus online interactions.
Some of the feedback we received regarding our course content is that the modules provide opportunities for differentiation and options for students. However, one of our Lumi modules presented challenges when our reviewers attempted to engage with the interactions based on the timing. The open-ended interactions didn’t allow the reviewer to type into the answer box. Something we will look at getting fixed and improving!
Overall, we are pleased to hear that our module was clear, considerate of the students we teach (as outlined in our ADDIE), and engaging for our learners. We will certainly take the feedback of fine-tuning some of our elements to improve our module.
When thinking about accessibility, we were cognizant of creating a course that met the needs of our diverse learners and created space for them to succeed. We have a lot of EAL students and designed a course that would both provide language learning opportunities and allow them to use their experience (for example, students do not write their own fairy tales but can use well-known ones or stories from their childhoods). While most of our students have access to technology at home, not everyone does; we created a plan to ensure those students do not miss out on opportunities (we utilized a program that can splice together recordings so students can record their own contributions to the project at school OR on their own time, and gives grace to absences or lack of tech at home; students do not need to be together to record, they need to collaborate when they can!).
Last week’s class had us reflecting on how our course could be adapted so students who are not permitted to use technology at school and/or at home could still meaningfully engage in our module. We are confident that we’ve created a course where the tech enhances the learning experience without being the sole learning provider. For instance, students can still create Foley sounds, show that they can identify spaces for Foley and soundscapes, and learn about radio plays without the technology component, and most importantly, they can still collaborate with their teammates while at school.
Meagan and I worked together to create introductory lessons for our blended course prototype. For our prototype, Meagan and I are having our students create a radio play. Our prototype design combines in-class instruction with digital components, and Lumi was used as a tool to contribute to an engaging and interactive introductory digital lesson for our students.
You can find my Lumi module here.
My colleague and partner Meagan (please find Meagan’s blog here) focused on introducing Foley Artists and the art of creating sound effects, and I focused on a complementary introductory lesson on the elements of soundscapes. Students will be working toward creating radio plays and will be responsible for creating their own Foley sounds and applying the elements of soundscapes within their work; therefore, it is important for students to understand the world of Foley and the three distinct elements of soundscapes. Lumi allowed Meagan and I the opportunity to create short, interactive launch lessons to introduce both concepts. In addition to using the Lumi platform, we used YouTube and Canva to assist in our final Lumi lessons.
The idea behind my lesson was to introduce the three elements of soundscapes (soundmarks, keynotes, and sound signals), provide the opportunity to identify soundscapes in the classroom, and explore examples of each element in a concise video. I utilized an open-ended question to begin the lesson to gauge what students knew about soundscapes before the lesson. Throughout, I used both multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions as an interactive formative assessment for understanding. For my summary task, I posed the following question to close my lesson: what makes an effective soundscape? This will then lead to further exploration and dialogue on the topic.
I will be honest; it took me a little bit of time to get the hang of using Lumi, and I had many frustrating, and at the same time, AHA! moments. I feel that I have just got started with Lumi and acknowledge that there is so much potential for further exploration and further opportunities for student engagement. I reflected on other interactive options that I could have or should have used, as there were so many options! However, I was satisfied with the product for my first go with Lumi!
One of the features I appreciated about using Lumi was creating our own grading scale, which was relatively reflective of the grading scale that Meagan and I indicated in our initial ADDIE profile. The immediate feedback to students is outstanding and provides an opportunity for formative assessment of this unit.
Another benefit of using Lumi was the accessibility features that are present on the platform. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed that there were options to translate and allow for spelling mistakes (fill-in-the-blank questions). As identified in our ADDIE model, we have a large percentage of EAL students; these features would be especially helpful for these students.
| Pros | Cons |
| – Allows for immediate student feedback. – Easy assessment for teachers and facilitators. – Database to access lots of resources made by other educators. – Shareable link for completed projects. – Accessibility features to meet the needs of a variety of learners. | – Time consuming to create interactive resources. – Limit on length of videos/size of files in the free version. – Would work better for older students; while there are features conducive to younger grades, it would be more difficult for early learners to use this tool. |
This pros/cons list is based on the limited and my first-time use of Lumi, and I am sure there are plenty more to add! Meagan and I look forward to hearing back from our colleagues on our respective modules, and we look forward to hearing about your experiences with Lumi as well!!
For our prototype, Meagan and I are having our students create a radio play. Drama can be a subject that takes many students out of their comfort zone; therefore, doing so in a blended learning environment can meet the needs of many students. Our design is a mix of in class instruction with digital components to create our summative piece of a radio play.
Our prototype incorporates Microsoft Teams, Seesaw,and WeVideo. Along with these digital pieces, we will also be incorporating in class learning to teach some important pieces and have students work face-to-face in small groups.
One of the six strategies mentioned in the article is Creating a plan for communication. Using Teams to create this assignment is a one-stop shop to keep everyone informed and on the same page. We can use the class notebook, which is embedded in teams, to put handouts and resources the students will need to complete the project. In addition, we can use the assignment feature for students to hand in formative assessments along the way and keep track of the due dates not only for these pieces but for the summative as well. Finally, Teams also allow students to communicate with others through the channels where they can chat and pose questions to the teachers or to their peers. By doing this, teams also meet the criteria of establishing a social presence, which is another strategy for building community in online courses.
We decided to use We Video as our editing platform because, in Regina Catholic, teachers in the connected education program can apply for free licenses for the students to use. This allows access to the full version, allowing students to use all the features as opposed to paying or only using the trial version. This version not only allows teachers to create projects but allows students to work collaboratively on the assignment. Again, meeting is another important strategy and “reduces the feelings of isolation.” Being able to use this digital platform as a group is great for students who may be more timid to express themselves in a face-to-face setting, especially in a subject such as drama. Therefore, being in the safety of their own home, in front of only a computer, may allow them to express themselves more effectively to their peers than in the constraints of the classroom. I think being able to work collaboratively live on the project is an essential part of the overall success.
We also decided to use Seesaw to teach various components of the project, such as how to use sound to create effects and other digital pieces. SeeSaw allows interactive and engaging lessons for students, which helps with engagement without a teacher’s presence. The other important feature of Seesaw is the ability to connect with parents so they can be informed and keep up with the progress of the student. There is also a journal where students can reflect, and parents can comment on their work, which is an effective motivator for many students.
The assessment pieces will all be formative pieces supported by teacher and peer reviews throughout. The Seesaw activities will be formative pieces building the knowledge they need to use soundscape within their radio plays. In class learning will focus on using We Video and how to write a script. Teacher and peer editing will be done periodically to revise their script until it is ready for the final performance. Students will also have a chance to peer and self-evaluate according to our criteria, which we will have established in the beginning.
In order for the project to be effective and meaningful, clear guidelines and expectations need to be set at the beginning during face-to-face instruction. Going forward, weekly check-ins, posting new articles on Microsoft Teams, and posing questions in the chat will help keep students focused on the project. Taking the time to connect with each group during face-to-face time and seeing their progress is also important to ensure the final deadline is met. Teacher interaction and engagement in the process are crucial to the overall success.
There are many things to think about in this project and some digital learning pieces for the students, which I know we will come across along the way. I think new lessons will develop as the project progresses, and we may have to stop and adjust to meet the students where they are. I know it will be a learning experience for everyone!
This course was co-designed with my colleague Mrs. Meagan McLellan! You can find her blog here!
Teaching middle school drama is tough. A quarter LOVE it, a quarter REALLY dislike it, and the rest are going through the motions and counting the days until we are back to painting or drawing. It is not unusual for performing and presenting to cause anxiety, so we decided to design our course around meeting the needs of our students in a subject that can be difficult to teach and hopefully help them have fun and fall in love with the content along the way.
WHAT
In our blended and synchronous course, our grade 7 students will learn about the elements of radio plays, how to create soundscapes, how to use Foley sounds to create sound effects, and record, edit, and produce their own radio plays in small groups. The focus is not on writing skills so they will use pre-written stories; however, they will edit and adapt the stories to use soundscapes, effects, and voice acting wherever possible.
Our course will touch on each outcome of the grade 7 drama unit:
WHO
Our course will be used in a grade 7 Connected Classroom which has a high percentage of EAL students. In our experience teaching middle years, we frequently see student anxiety around presenting and performing. We have seen an uptick in absences on presentation days, a willingness to ‘take a 0’ on a presentation mark, issues with collaboration, and requests for alternate presentation times, like at recess or after school. Our goal is to meet students where they are and help build presentation and communication skills without increasing anxiety.
Our students are also very ‘techy’ – the vast majority have access to tech at home, and the novelty of tech at school has yet to wear off! We are hoping this meaningful integration of technology can help build excitement and the new platforms can keep things fresh and exciting.
HOW
Our LMS is primarily Microsoft Teams and Seesaw. Both these platforms allow for student/teacher communication, allow for feedback and assessment, can host resources and links, and parents can be involved in progress through Seesaw, which is a big plus! Both Teams and Seesaw are licensed by our division for all teaching staff. Other tools we will use are:
WeVideo – while there is the ability to edit and mix for free, as Connected Educators we are able to access licenses so we can use each feature of this platform. Here, students can share their projects with their group, edit on their own devices (much like a shared document in Google Docs or Word!), record,upload recordings, and share with the teacher. Licenses are usually granted for 30 days, but these can be extended based on need. Another benefit of using WeVideo for collaborative projects is that students do not need to be present to record. If a student is absent for an extended period of time, they can record their parts before leaving OR when they return, and their contributions can be spliced, layered, and reorganized in to fit the script!
BBC Sound Effects – a great little website filled with free-to-use soundscapes and sound effects! Students are able to layer sounds and create their own mixes for free. They can download their mixes straight from the website and upload them into WeVideo.
SEQUENCE
First, students will learn about soundscapes, and spend some time identifying different sounds in different environments. They will practice making their own soundscapes using BBC Sound Effects.
Then, students will spend some time learning about Foley sounds. For those unfamiliar, check out this video to see Foley engineers in action! They’ll make their own sound effects with Foley in mind.
Lastly, students will put these elements together with the introduction of radio plays. They’ll learn about radio plays, listen to examples, identify elements, and then plan and produce their own radio plays in small groups.
CONSIDERATIONS AND ADAPTATIONS
We are heavily influenced by ITSE Student Standards, particularly the empowered learner focus (Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences). We will try to dismantle as many road blocks as possible so students can still be challenged, but ultimately find success. Because of our high EAL percentage and performance anxiety in our class, there will be no story writing or ‘live’ performances. Students can take stories and make them their own, practice their parts, rerecord if they need, and share their final products in safe settings.
Attendance and hard deadlines are an inevitable aspect of our course. However, a benefit of our chosen platforms is that students can record all their parts individually (whether that be voice acting or creating sound effects) and these files can be edited in the order and sequence required. They do not have to record their play in its entirety at once, hoping for no errors! Students can also share audio files through Teams and access the platforms at home, if they have access to technology.
Here is our our ADDIE template – we look forward to hearing your feedback and learning more about the courses you designed!
Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog post for EC&I 834. Enjoy!
My name is Arkin Kauf, and I am a Vice Principal with the Regina Catholic School Division. I have taught grades seven and eight and have had experience teaching in inclusive education settings. EC&I 834 is my tenth course toward the Master’s in Educational Leadership program.
During my time teaching grades seven and eight, I was fortunate to have been accepted in the second round of ‘Connected Educator’ applications within my school division. This program equipped my class with a cart of 1:1 Windows laptops to enhance student learning through the integration of technology. This was an exciting opportunity as the access to technology welcomed authentic and unique assessments and tasks to meet student needs. Further, it allowed for collaboration beyond the classroom walls.
My experience with teaching and learning through the modality of blended learning was introduced during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Valerie Irvine’s (2020) article speaks of the ‘simpler days’ of technology, and through enhancement and development, synchronous and asynchronous modalities became a reality – and with that, “the first layer of semantic confusion” when defining blended learning. For me, blended learning is a combination of face-to-face and virtual learning opportunities. As I ventured to learn a bit more about Brian Beatty’s HyFlex learning, I stumbled upon this video that provides a concise understanding:
Due to safety measures, education relied heavily on technology to deliver and maintain education standards to students while at home. I quickly became familiar with Microsoft Teams and its ‘one-stop’ fit to meet my vision for blended learning. Along with the distribution of paper homework packages, our class used Microsoft Teams to meet each morning to review expectations of the day. This was followed with a live Mathematics lesson using the whiteboard and video-call features. As students became more comfortable with Teams, we expanded to using platforms like SeeSaw, OneNote, Microsoft Forms, and Flipgrid to share our learning and stay connected as a class.
Collaboration became seamless with other grade seven and eight teachers using Microsoft OneNote. A group of us created shared documents for each subject. This ‘pivot’ also encouraged students to collaborate…but blended learning was met with challenges.
I felt it was difficult to teach or that I was teaching to the wall with no instant response from students. Many students did not turn on their cameras or have access to technology to attend our virtual learning space. I see the potential of blended learning and opportunities that emerge from successful implementation, but it certainly takes a shift in mindset and a lot of educating and modeling! I am looking forward to learning more about blended learning, the benefits, and education around integrating blended learning successfully.
Dear colleagues, it has been an absolute pleasure working with you during our time together in EC&I 830! Thank you for all of your work during our respective debate topics. Well done!
Please enjoy my Summary of Learning for EC&I 830. I used WeVideo to create this artifact. Believe it or not, but this was the first time working through WeVideo, and I was pretty happy with the results! All the best to everyone!
Well, here we are! My final blog post for EC&I 830. The final topic I will be covering is whether online education is detrimental to the social and academic development of children. I had the opportunity to defend the disagree side of the argument. I found this as a great opportunity to explore online education from a different lens. For me, and I’m sure many, associate online education with COVID-19 and the time spent working with our students. Being in the business and field of education, I prioritize and value relationships and rapport with my students. This is essential for student success. Furthermore, engaging families and other stakeholders in what we do is equally important. Emergency learning was frustrating! Not only did I teach from an empty classroom, but it was also as if I were teaching to a wall that would not respond. Even though I know that online education is not my jam, I know that there are educators who are passionate and serve students well through this mode of learning! Take COVID-19 out of the equation, and view online education as an alternate opportunity, and new possibilities arise.
Our colleagues Britney, Kayla, and Colton did a wonderful job of defending their claim that agreed with this contemporary issue. In my opinion, one of the bigger issues that the team brought up was student well-being. According to the Ozge Misirli and Funda Ergulec (2021) study, “shifting from the concept of online learning to emergency remote teaching has brought new challenges and opportunities at a social and technological level, which influenced the physical and mental health of children.” Were students being served properly during remote learning? In my heart, I know that we did the best we could with the situation we were in. We tried to stick to routine and predictability. We even visited homes to ensure students were fine. Another challenge the group brought up was the added responsibility given to families who worked, especially those with young children. Yes, this was definitely and undoubtedly a challenge! Think about our EAL families. It was tricky troubleshooting to ensure the family was connected and prepared for online learning. It appeared nothing was appealing regarding online education, especially during a pandemic when there was no choice.
As my group countered, there were definite opportunities for success through online education. As stated, take away the mandatory remote learning due to a global pandemic and enter into a program available to students to meet their needs. Our team mentioned that online education is flexible, accessible, develops essential skills, allows for a customizable experience, and can be affordable. The key point that we wanted to make clear is that it is a choice and an additional option for students. Personally, I saw a young student thrive on the digital side of things. A young lady who never talked in school found her voice. Now, I understand that this isn’t the case for everyone, but this mode of learning worked for her! So happy for you kid!! I had also mentioned that I’m a huge relationship person. I believe they are the foundation of student success. Not only with the student, but their families. Transparency is key! The article found on Clanbeat explains, “having a strong parent/teacher team around will massively improve children’s social development and academic achievement. As a fun supportive team, parents and teachers can help reduce the stress of learning online.” Furthermore, we discussed that online education was found to decrease bullying, escape pressures, and provide a safe and productive workspace.
No, online learning isn’t for everyone, and yet again, we see a digital divide and inequities in services. As a collective, we experienced the not-so-great side of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are benefits to online learning. I appreciated being able to see things from the other side since I painted a negative picture of online education based on my own experiences. I see online education as an opportunity for students to learn and grow based on individual needs.
Thank you to all of our teams and their great debate presentations! I’ve taken something from all of them. All the best in the rest of your studies!!
Arkin's EC&I Blog 