Transitions in middle schooling
Transitions in Middle Schooling is a course focused on the physical, emotional, social and cultural aspects of early adolescence, and the associated implications in the context of education. Emphasis is given to issues relating to puberty, gender, and health, with attention given to factors which influence adolescents' understanding of self. The pedagogical implications of these adolescent experiences are explored from physical, social and cultural perspectives. Students engage in learning experiences to assist their understanding of adolescent development from a range of cultural and social perspectives.
The subject is offered during the first session of the Bachelor of Education (K-12 Middle Schooling). The vast majority of students enrolled in this subject are new to university study. A blended learning approach is employed throughout this course to assist students with the transition to university life, develop a sense of community and scaffold their online study skills. The mode of learning utilized in this course offers balance and flexibility to course delivery, and to student’s professional requirements as well as their commitments to other University courses.
As a result of studying in this course students:
- Identify the social impact on adolescents’ development
- Critique the dominant cultural interpretation of adolescents and their behaviour
- Identify the impact of puberty and gender realisation in the life of adolescents
- Examine the nature and duration of schooling for different cultural groups including Indigenous and non-English Speaking Background youth
- Investigate the physical, emotional, social and cultural dimension of adolescents’ lives and the impact of these in the school setting
- Investigate concepts of culture, identity and cultural diversity and the impact of culture on the performance of students in schools
- Investigate multiculturalism as a social policy and its influence on policy and legislation in the areas of migration, citizenship, anti-discrimination and human rights
- Identify the nature of schooling young people including middle years education
For more information about the program see the attached B Education (K-12 Middle Schooling) flyer.pdf
Dr Sally Knipe
Course Coordinator/Lecturer
Murray School of Education
Charles Sturt University
Miriam Edwards
Educational Designer
Division of Learning and Teaching Services
Charles Sturt University
The Bachelor of Education (K-12 Middle Schooling) degree is unique in Australia, and since it commenced in 2004 student numbers have been steadily growing. Over the past two years this course has seen an increase in student diversity, particularly as more people are choosing teaching as a second career. These factors, along with the technological sophistication of recent high school graduates, served as a catalyst to review the student learning experience in this course. At the same time, CSU became part of the Sakai community.
During the early years of the program the main online communication tool was a CSU developed forum. As CSU implemented Sakai, as CSU Interact, more online tools were available for teaching. In re-conceptualizing this course, to address the learning needs of the changing student cohort, a multi-modal approach to subject delivery was considered a more effective way for information and learning experiences to be presented. This multi-modal plan was the platform for the blended teaching approach taken to support this cohort.
The starting point was to re-invent the two established assessment items, which were a traditional pen and paper exam and a face-to-face team debate. After extensive research and discussion, between the course coordinator and educational designer, the two assessment items were eventually transformed into an ‘open wiki’ exam and an online debate. As authentic assessment is a key to effective learning, the re-development of this course drew on two design theories; social cultural theory and constructive alignment.
This course challenges attitudes, perceptions and dispositions which is the framework for social cultural theory. We wanted the debating process to be an opportunity for students to reflect on their own beliefs and what that meant to them as teachers.
The second theory; constructive alignment, lends itself to conceptualizing learning outcomes which were measured through the traditional pen and paper exam. The intent with the‘open wiki’ exam was to get students involved in creating the content. The students would consider their learning each week and pose questions related to the topic.
In the past, one of the challenges has been encouraging some students to engage with the ‘technology’. This has been overcome by shifting the face-to-face debate to an online debate and introducing the open wiki exam. These strategies have allowed students to see the value of this mode of learning.
The decision to re-conceptualize the assessment items led to modifying the pedagogical teaching instruction, shifting from on-campus tutorials to the blended delivery. A range of strategies implemented included demonstration and practice, cooperative learning, discourse and inquiry, reflection and mastering of skills.
To read more about the redesign of this course see the article by Knipe & Edwards Teaching teachers to use blended learning published in elearn magazine, November 2009.
The course delivery allows students to experience the support and shared responsibility of a community of learners. Throughout this course, students engage in the skills required for team work, apply their knowledge, utilise issues raised in their readings, enhance note taking, critically consider information and form arguments as well as resolve problem based learning activities. Resources in this course draw on a range of print and digital media.
In this course students participate in a combination of face-to-face and online activities. The face-to-face component of the course focuses on a range of collaborative learning activities. Strategies such as Socratic seminars, silent conversations and jigsaw reading activities are utilized. These approaches are taken because they model effective pedagogy which these students can draw on in terms of their own teaching practice. They are successful strategies for teaching and engaging young people in their learning. Face-to-face sessions and lectures occur 11 of the 14 weeks.
The online component of the course draws on asynchronous and synchronous tools including the wiki, blog, and chat room, as well as resources such as free-to-air tv programs and pre-recorded audio sessions. A further 3 – 4 hours of independent study is expected of each student weekly.
CSU Interact tools used within the course include:
Blog – online debates are conducted using the blog. Teams build their arguments by posting to the blog. Rebuttals are later created by commenting on postings.
Poll - students vote for 'winning' debate teams.
Wiki – an online version of a open-book exam is created using the wiki. Renamed ‘open-wiki exam’ this is a place for students to build questions later compiled by the lecturer for the final assessment. Students add questions to the wiki based on weekly topics, readings and lectures. The wiki site becomes a revision tool later in the course. Online sign-up sheets are also created using the wiki. Students self-nominate for group work in this way.
Announcement – The lecturer sends weekly announcements notifying students of deadlines and other general reminders
Calendar – weekly topics are posted on the calendar
Resources – documents, URLs, and audio created by the lecturer are shared via the resources section.
Chat room – students use the chat room for informal conversation as well as course related work. Two formal chat sessions are conducted during the course; one facilitated by the lecturer and one organized by students.
The attached study schedule illustrates the course delivery. see EED114 – Transitions in Middle Schooling study schedule.pdf
The blended learning approach to this subject stimulated high levels of student engagement and collaboration. The course required students to communication through asynchronous and synchronous tools. Weeks in which no face-to-face session occurred, students engaged in online learning experiences such as chat sessions. These sessions were lively and constructive. Each 30 minute chat session produced 30-40 pages of rich text regarding the topic, the equivalence of 4 pages of discussion per student. The online chat required all participates to contribute which is sometimes harder to achieve with face-to-face sessions within the same time period.
Most importantly, the students demonstrated good teamwork and communication skills. Both student-to-lecturer and student-to-student communications developed quickly as the session progressed. We believe this to be a result of the blended learning approach.
The debate postings are used extensively by students as they worked in small teams to form a winning argument. Students work collectively to succeed, while at the same time each have responsibilities and are accountable for his/her contributions.
The open wiki exam provides the lecturer with the opportunity to follow up with students after each week’s topic by commenting on their questions and providing feedback.
The 2009 student cohort recorded a very positive response when asked about communication and collaboration within this course:
| Q. The opportunities for communication afforded by CSU Interact helped my learning in this subject. | Q. The opportunities for collaboration afforded by CSU Interact helped my learning in this course. |
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source: CSU online evaluation survey, EED114 - July 2009
To hear Sally discuss EED114/2009 communication and collaboration experiences with a student listen to EED114 debrief.mp3
Engagement in this course was high because the material used and the general approach taken to learning experiences was conceptualized around problem based activities. Students are required to integrate their overall experiences, the knowledge gained from their reading and the digital media to the learning objectives and subject matter under investigation.
Students are provided with clear instructions regarding their responsibilities. This is done through face-to-face discussions, audio introduction and written communication. As with all CSU courses, students may access an HTML version of the course outline from the CSU Interact course homepage. With this course a CSU Interact strategy statement is also provided on the homepage. See attached CSU Interact strategies EED114.pdf This introduces the tools (eg. blog, wiki, chat) and explains how they will be used within the course. This along with the study schedule, provides a record of what activities will take place and by what means.
Resources are provided to students in a variety of ways. Students also generate their own learning materials throughout the course. One example of this is the transcripts created during chat sessions. At the end of a mandatory chat, Sally copies the text entries into Word and then publishes the document via the Resources section of CSU Interact. These documents are then used for view and revision. As mentioned earlier, the open-wiki exam is another example of student-generated learning material.
In such a constructivist approach to learning materials, feedback from both the lecturer and peers is very important. Development must be guided. This is once again achieved online by comments entered either in the wiki or blog. The course coordinator facilitates this process. After the second week of the 2009 offering the subject coordinator posted the following comments on the wiki:
'Some very good questions have been designed. Thank you to all those people who have put thought into the structure of their questions. We have a range of skills required to address the questions including recalling knowledge and comprehension.
We have one person from the group who hasn't posted a question!'
At the end of week four Sally posted this comment:
'The final questions link nicely with the debate questions … great concept.'
By providing students with a mixed mode of learning materials different learning styles were catered for. Students had the opportunity to learn through reading, writing, listening, discussing and reflecting upon content. Students provided positive feedback regarding learning materials when surveyed at the end of the course.
| Q. The academic staff member used a variety of appropriate methods to involve me in learning the subject | Q. The academic staff member effectively integrated online components with other study materials. |
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source: CSU online evaluation survey, EED114 - July 2009
This course aligns with the 7 principles of good practice in undergraduate education.
(1) Interaction and communication involving student-to-student, student-to-lecturer and student-to-content is evident in both major assessment tasks. This was achieved by placing a greater emphasis on online assessment activities. It also resulted in more effective learning outcomes. (2) Encouraging students to generate content (as in the case of the open-wiki exam) means students take ownership and responsibility for their learning. It also provides vehicles for formative and summative assessment. Throughout the session the lecturer was able to monitor student development and progress toward final assessment using the wiki and blog. (3) Feedback about student performance is frequent and timely as it is embedded into the learning process. Peer feedback such as the online poll as well as feedback from the lecturer guides student development. (4) Additional feedback, prompting students to consider whether or not their views have changed as a result of study is provided through the online poll. Both assessment tasks (5) require students to become self-reflective learners and are given feedback on their reflections from both lecturer and fellow class mates. This is particularly true in the case of the debates which often challenge their own personal beliefs as they begin to form a teaching philosophy. The two assessment tasks which (6) help students gain critical thinking/judgment and problem-solving are integrated throughout the course. In the case of the open-wiki exam, students must consider their learning and compose challenging questions. Whilst the debate process requires students to construct arguments within a team. The open-wiki exam combined, with the online debate, mean students experience (7) multiple assessment strategies, including ones that attend to learning styles and needs. These are supported by media-rich content and face-to-face sessions.
The overall aim of the debate is to provide a structured way of exploring a range of views regarding a particular issue. As an assessment item, it promotes collaboration between students, develops effective research skills; assists in the development of arguments and develops understanding of a basic principle of democracy - that opposing arguments should be presented in order to develop understanding of an issue and to develop contextual understandings by exploring a variety of views.
The open wiki exam reduces test anxiety amongst the students and the depth of responses to questions in the exam had a significant impact on student performance and approach to assessment items. By allowing students to create the exam content, they were also encouraged to become critical thinkers and independent problem solvers. The student input in this process was a definite success as the student mean for the traditional pen and paper exam used in 2008 was 27 while the CSU Interact open wiki exam of 2009 yielded a high student mean of 31.
| Q. I was encouraged to think critically about the course. | Q. The academic staff member's approach encouraged me to take greater responsibility for my learning. |
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source: CSU online evaluation survey, EED114 - July 2009
CSU Interact has a strong corporate feel as it is branded with the CSU crest and logotype. The grey banner and left vertical menu frame content while not competing visually. Icons appear beside each tool providing consistency as well as guiding new users. These factors allow academics and educational designers a strong starting point when developing courses.
The homepage for this CSU Interact site has been designed in a format similar to a commercial webpage by taking advantage of the worksite information window. It contains an image relevant to the course, making the site instantly recognizable. It also displays a course abstract, photos of the course coordinator and her contact details, a link to a PDF file outlining teaching strategies and online tools being used within the course. Students may listen to an audio introduction to the course which has been placed there as well. These explicit instructions have been included as a way of introducing first year students to the requirements of University study.
By engaging students through a range of media (both audio and visual) we hope to make the learning material more accessible as well as interesting. One example of this is the inclusion of eBooks (Electronic Book Library held by CSU) within the recommended reading list. With EBL readings students see scaleable text in PDF format. EBL also provides a ‘read aloud' function.
An effort has been made to address accessibility in terms of materials as well as asynchronous and synchronous communications. Information required by students is no more than 2 mouse clicks away from the homepage. This is achieved by using a maximum of two folder levels within the Resources section and by trafficking student use of blogs, chat rooms and the wiki. For example, chat sessions in which students are required to attend have been limited to no more than 15 participants. This ensures chat rooms are not ‘over-crowded' and communications flow more smoothly. Mandatory chat sessions are limited to 45 minutes.
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| EED114, homepage with web content 'The Digital Age' selected. | 2010 online debates ready to begin using the blog tool |
This course contains detailed information about the CSU Interact environment as well as introducing the on-campus resources to students. As this course occurs during the first session of the program, these items are a priority. Students spend face-to-face class time becoming familiar with the online tools and the physical on-campus teaching areas. This has been illustrated by the study schedule, introductory audio and CSU Interact strategy statement (already noted in this profile).
Throughout the session, a variety of materials is provided to students via the Resources section of CSU Interact. This includes links to eBooks, eJournals held by the CSU library, and audios (MP3s of lectures/interviews). During the 2009 offering we found that several free-to-air TV shows related to course topics. As a result a URL would be added within Resources directing students either to a podcast version or transcript.
It is worth noting that our students, themselves play a major role in terms of support. It has been very rewarding to see how CSU Interact helps them build their own support network. We have found that students can be very helpful and encouraging. They are usually quick to share information and occassionally use CSU Interact to initiate meetings. These postings appeared at the bottom of a debate team sign-up list during the second week of 2010 classes:
student 1 (hey!! none of us know who u are. come meet us the library Monday at 2:30 to get acquainted. cheers)
student 2 Hey, Yeah will be there just saw a spare spot in this group.
| Q. The supporting resources (eg. handouts, study materials, ... online offerings) in this course facilitated my learning. | Q. Overall, my learning has been helped through the use of the CSU Interact online learning environment |
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source: CSU online evaluation survey, EED114 - July 2009
Re-conceptualizing this course into a blended learning mode has transformed the educational experience for students. Using various types of reasoning (inductive, deductive), supported through a range of communication techniques, provides powerful learning experiences. The variety of blended activities, incorporating group input and feedback into the learning activities enables students to work creatively with others and with the lecturer. Students are also given the opportunity to reflect critically on their learning experiences and processes.
A range of communication structures are incorporated throughout the course for a variety of purposes such as to inform and to instruct. The open wiki exam is an example of innovative communication and assessment as it allows students to articulate their thoughts and ideas. This strategy also prepares students to communicate effectively in diverse environments (online as well as pen and paper exam). The open wiki exam requires students to elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate their own ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts.
The online debate demonstrates student's ability to work effectively (face-to-face and online) and respectfully with diverse teams, to exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal. To assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member as well as effectively analyzing and evaluating evidence, forge arguments, make claims and beliefs through the online environment. This activity solves different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and non-conventional ways.
Making students responsible for the creation of not only learning materials but also assessment items is innovative and would not have been achievable without CSU Interact. The learning experiences and approaches undertaken in this course have been summed up by the following student evaluation of 2009;
The wide variety of learning skills was effective in keeping my interest in the subject and also made it easier to remember what happened in each lesson. The learning activities were also a sneaky way to teach us learning strategies without us knowing. Sally involved the whole class in lessons which was helpful in keeping our interest in the subject. Sally is a great teacher for this subject. She's open to all opinions, and has great control within the classroom. Interact was constantly updated which assisted in my understanding of the learning content.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| B Education (K-12 Middle Schooling) flyer.pdf | 219.16 KB |
| EED114 debrief.mp3 | 7.98 MB |
| EED114-Transitions in Middle Schooling study schedule.pdf | 97.15 KB |
| communication-student feedback.png | 69.26 KB |
| communication2.png | 54.68 KB |
| take responsibility.png | 54.47 KB |
| think critically.png | 54.81 KB |
| variety of methods.png | 61.8 KB |
| learning materials.png | 57.31 KB |
| CSU Interact Strategies EED114.pdf | 43.81 KB |
| Integration.png | 55.67 KB |
| blog start.png | 244.51 KB |
| EED114 homepage.png | 426.97 KB |
| csu-logo.jpg | 4.34 KB |
| overall my learning.png | 54.64 KB |
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