Pedagogical Innovation: How do you know if they’re working?

Hunter College ICIT Tech Thursday

November 17, 2011

Kenny Kwong, Ph.D, MSWSchool of Social Work

Background

For the past several years, our school has encouraged the steadily increasing use of the blackboard sites and technology in teaching and student learning.

Many of us have recognized the enormous potential inherent in these technologies for making online learning a more interactive, collaborative, and hopefully satisfying experiences, for both instructors and students.

My Question

However, I wonder when such new technologies are introduced, that instructors will be tempted to adopt these tools not because they serve a useful purpose in terms of their particular learning design and objectives, but rather, the very existence and availability of the technology becomes the rationale for its use.

Professional Concern

The challenge for social work educators becomes to consider the use of such web-based technologies on the basis of:

an assessment of the degree to which the inclusion of technologies reflects the broader concerns of social work education

whether it will contribute to the creation of meaningful learning experience through assisting students in meeting identified learning objectives.

My FITT Project

Incorporating Wiki and Blog Assignments to Enhance Student Engagement and Online Class Participation 

Project Goals and Strategies:

Retool Blackboard site for the Social Work Practice in Health Settings course by incorporating technologies to increase student engagement and online class participation. 

The retooled site will have a customized navigation menu, will incorporate rich media elements, and will include wiki assignments for group presentation projects and blog assignments to engage students in online dialogue about course materials.

What I really want to know!!!

Have a better idea about the perception and experience of a group of social work graduate students in using web-based technologies and determine whether such technologies help facilitate the transfer of knowledge, promote deep learning, and create meaningful learning experiences for them.

Wikis Assignment Provided guidelines and instructions to students to

complete wiki group projects and created a wiki site on health literacy as an example to demonstrate the use of various media tools to complete a group study project.

The intent of using wikis presentations rather than typical presentations using handouts and powerpoints is to create a collaborative learning environment in which students in smaller groups work together to retrieve, analyze, and disseminate useful information and knowledge; that they can share ideas and post comments and questions to each other in order to enrich their learning experiences through online dialogues and the active use of media tools.

Student Wiki Projects

Substance abuse and addiction Chronic illness/nutrition/lifestyle intervention Palliative and end-of-life care Addressing the needs of victims of domestic

violence and their children Barriers in access to health care Working with cancer patients and caregiver

support Sexual health education.

Student Wikis Projects Students presented their projects in the last two classes and they

provided their project rationales, summarized critical areas of knowledge and skills, and discussed social worker roles and functions in a particular topic area in a variety of health settings. They also made critiques of existing theoretical models and/or empirical data in relation to social work practice in this health topic.

All these sites reflected content materials that students compiled from various channels – books, articles, websites of organizations, youtube or other publicly available audio and video files, agency interview video clips.

Next step: I will complete content analysis of these wikis to determine the range of formats and technology tools used by students to present their projects.

Advantages of Using Wikis – Link to SW Practice

In comparison of individual practice papers, wiki projects help facilitate collaborative learning in a small group projects (in real practice, collaboration is critical to SW practice in health settings, build our own learning to each other); and that students can spend much of their time to access and digest information rather than writing up a paper

Information literacy and multiple ways of knowing: students use a variety of tools to learn about a particular topic: websites from various sources, interview scripts with colleagues and clients, images of practice settings, video-clips (youtubes), review and synthesis of academic literature, etc. It is relevant for their practice: collaborative practices, case sharing, community health initiatives, website developments, etc

 

Blog Journals Used blog journals to provide a private communication platform

and a comfort zone for students to share their learning and reflection on their practice in a variety of health settings.

These journals may be reflective or analytical in nature. Students were trained and socialized to become a reflective and analytical practitioner.

Students were asked to submit their journals (in 2-3 paragraphs) in every two to three weeks. A few guidelines were provided to students to prepare their journals. Students can write to reflect their understanding of the concepts, course contents, discussion, and activities covered in class, as well as their reflection regarding their field internship experience and their practice in health and/or human service settings.

Blog Entries

Altogether 90 journal entries were submitted from a total of 24 students (each student made 3-4 entries throughout the semester). The instructor also wrote 82 journal blogs as responses to individual student postings to facilitate student engagement in their own learning journey.

Next step: assess the nature of these entries, identify what major themes conveyed in these entries, and determine what these journals actually accomplish.

I will also review my own journals and assess how I responded to all the student postings to achieve my teaching objectives which serves as a means to improve scholarship of my teaching

Evaluation Survey

A brief evaluation survey was administered in the last class to gather student feedback and experiences regarding the course, as well as to assess students’ acceptance and satisfaction with using the wikis and blog journals and their access and use of media resources and related technology to complete the course assignments.

Evaluation Survey

In comparison to the interaction experienced with students and instructors in other courses, how would you describe the amount of interaction experienced with:

(a) Other students in this course (80% said increased or somewhat increased, 17% no difference)

(b) The instructor in this course (75% said increased or somewhat increased, 21% no difference)

In comparison to the interaction experienced with students and the instructors in other courses, how would you describe the quality of interaction experienced with(a) Other students in this course (71% said increased/somewhat increased, 29% no difference)(b) The instructor in this course (79% said increased/somewhat increased, 21% no difference)

Overall, I am satisfied with this course (96% indicated strongly agree or agree)

Compared to your other courses was the workload in this course too light, light, moderate, heavy, or too heavy? 92% said moderate and 8% said light.

Other Survey Questions

How does this course differ from other courses, if any?

What was the most effective aspect of this course (such as wikis, blogs, role-plays, etc)? Why?

What was the least effective aspect of this course (such as wikis, blogs, role-plays, etc)? Why?

Overall, what suggestions can you provide to help strengthen this course?

Final Thoughts

Self reflection of my own teaching philosophy - the importance of creating a collaborative learning environment in which students and the instructor work together to disseminate information and useful knowledge, share ideas, and post questions to each other in order to enrich student learning experiences through online dialogues and the active use of media tools. 

Active learning (e.g., class discussions, small and large group activities, role-plays, wiki presentations, and writing reflective journals) is essential for students as they learn about theory, research, and practice

Final Thoughts

Students, given their diverse backgrounds, learn and demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a variety of ways, and, therefore we need to use diverse methods of instruction (e.g. short lectures, showing short video clips, role plays, group discussions, and class activities), and assessment (e.g. exams, short essays, interview reports, reflective writing assignments, class presentations) which allow a range of formats for students with different strengths to express what they’ve learned (detail-oriented tasks and more analytical tasks).

The importance of ongoing assessment of students' experience with technology and obtaining their feedback.

Achieves of all blackboard site materials, wiki projects, and journals make these ongoing assessments possible!!!!

Reference

Garrison, D. R. & Vaughan, N. D. (2008).  Blended learning in higher education: Framework, principles, and guidelines (Appedixes provide a range of docuemnts, practical survey tools with students and faculty, and resources, assessment rubric, etc)

Bender, T. (2003).  Discussion-based online teaching to enhance student learning: Theory, practice, and assessment.