 |
|
| Objectives |
Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Select a topic for your lesson.
- Create a list of sub-topics for selected topic.
- Conduct performance analysis.
- Determine performance gap.
- Appreciate the need to identify performance gaps, to help drive the outcomes of the lesson and to encourage skill development as well as knowledge development.
- Appreciate obstacles in learning due to motivation or lack of resources.
- Identify any pre-requisite skills/knowledge.
|
| Selecting the Topic |
Selecting the topic is easy! Identifying what you want to cover about the topic can be more challenging.
In this Unit you will select the topic you will use as the foundation for your online lesson. It should be a topic of interest to you, and your expertise. In addition, it should cover a subject which can be taught at the undergraduate or graduate level.
Although you can select a topic you have previously taught in a face to face setting, we strongly discourage selecting a topic which you have taught online. Remember, this course will focus on both the instructional design of an effective online course as well as the tasks required to convert an existing face to face course into an online delivery format. Don’t cheat yourself out of an experience!
The objective can be to increase knowledge, hone a skill or change an attitude.
So, go ahead and select a topic!
|
Outline your Topic |
Once the topic has been selected it is time to create an outline. But, before you can do that, you should review the following parameters for your lesson:
- It must be completed by the student within 1-4 hours*
- It must be delivered online
- It can be a stand-alone topic, or a topic embedded in a course.
- You should have expertise in this topic.
- The topic should relate to your field of teaching.
- Students should be able to perform at the expected level after completing your lesson. (i.e. they will not need another lesson on this topic, although they may need more time to practice a skill.)
- Get out of the mindset of ‘teacher’ and into the mindset of ‘facilitator’. The outline should take into consideration active learning activities, so avoid overwhelming the lesson with content!
- The outline should be broad with only headers and sub-headers of areas of content you would like to address.
- If possible, the headers and/or sub-headers should build on one another in sequential order.
*This would be equivalent to ‘classroom’ time. E.g. a 3 credit course which
meets once a week would have a 3 hour lesson.
|
| How to Complete this Task |
Think about this task as developing an outline for a written paper. Keep it broad at this time with major topics and sub-topics listed. Or, take a current Powerpoint Presentation which covers your topic and use the ‘title’ slides as your headers and identify the broader concepts as sub-headers. As you move through this course you will be able to make modifications to this outline at any time! So avoid being too detailed at this time!
Type your outline as a Word document and number the headers and sub-headers in an outline form. An example is available on the Blackboard website.
|
| Identify Performance Gaps |
In previous unit, you have identified the learning environment and characteristics of your students. It is time to clarify what you want them to know. Believe it or not, the focus of your lesson will soon move from ‘what do I want them to know’ to ‘what do I want them to be able to do with this knowledge’. The ability to spit back information is lost after the semester is over. What we want to encourage is life long retention of your topic!
So, in this next step you will describe what you want them to be able to do after completing your lesson. This step is known as performance analysis, and will ultimately drive the focus of your lesson. Now in the right column of the table. After the analysis of your students, the learning environment and what they are expected to know after the lesson, you will analyze and predict** why they are not currently able to do this now. The reasons why students are not able to do now usually fall into the following categories:
Table 1.3.1 Categories of Performance Gaps
Motivation |
Participants have the knowledge and/or skills and resources, but have no incentive or motivation to perform. |
Knowledge |
Participants have never been exposed to the content or do not have adequate depth of information to perform. |
Skills |
Participants have the knowledge, but not the specific skills required to perform as expected. e.g. chemistry lab skills, library research skills, Web Design Skills, 2x2 table development skills |
Resources |
They have the knowledge and skills, but not the resources. Resources may be in the form of physical resources, human resources, worksheets, digital resources. E.g. no access to an online library |
Organization |
They have the knowledge, skills, and resources, but the organization has not focused on the need to perform. This typically occurs more in the corporate arena than in Academia. But an example in Academia would be the need to write a research paper rather than take a multiple choice test. |
Try to have an open mind! Avoid thinking the only reason they can’t perform as desired is because they don’t have the knowledge. Yes, you will impart new knowledge to them in your lesson, but try to think bigger! Not what do I want them to KNOW, but what do I want them to be able to DO!
**Yes predict! Unless you survey the students or have taught this lesson enough times to know why they need your lesson to be able to do what you want them or need them to do, you are only predicting the reason. In the next unit you will get the opportunity to find out more about the students, so hold on!
How to Complete this Task:
Create a table with three columns. In the left column, list characteristics of your students and learning environment from your previous report. In the right column, list what you want students to able to do after completing the lesson. In the middle column, use Table 1.3.1 to describe performance gaps of your students.
Then using the ‘Topic Analysis Form’ write your topic, describe what you want the students to be able to do at the end of the lesson and select the checkboxes next to the reason(s) you think they are not currently able to perform as desired.
|
Identify Pre-Requisites |
There is nothing worse than expecting a student to know something or be able to do something prior to taking a lesson/course, and realizing, while you are in the middle of teaching (because you are getting blank stares) they don’t know what you are talking about because they don’t have those pre-requisite skills or knowledge required to assimilate the new information.
So, to save yourself, and your students a lot of frustration, take a moment to identify any pre-requisite knowledge or skills which the learner must have before taking your lesson. Again, you can think of the pre-requisites using the same categories as you used when you identified performance gaps.
Knowledge
-- E.g. Able to complete a 2x2 Disease/Outcome table
Skills
-- E.g. Able to format a document in MS Word
Motivation
-- E.g. Interest in learning how to use a new online tool
Resources
-- E.g. Access to the USF online library
Note: This does not mean that you will not address these pre-requisites in your course. It is simply a method to help you and your students know whether or not they are ready to take your lesson.
How to Complete this Task:
Watch this animated tutorial on how to identify pre-requisites, identify the pre-requisites of your course. In the table that you created to identify performance gaps, insert a column on the left, describe those pre-requisites in that column and match them with their expected performance and performance gaps.
End of Unit 1.3  |
