Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Introduction

I am engaged in the art and science of learning.  I have spent most of my professional career working in organizations created to provide learning opportunities for others.  I have been involved in the design and delivery of curriculum to traditional and non-traditional students in educational institutions and settings (both classrooms and via distance learning technology).  I have also been involved in the development and delivery of curriculum for training professionals in the workplace.  I have also been involved in the development of programming and learning activities for special events (conferences and seminars) in topics hobbies and general interest.   

I am now in the position to add these many years of practical professional experience to my academic research and training and teach others how to design instruction that helps people learn.

The most effective methods for teaching are those based on sound theoretical foundations of how people learn and the related instructional and teaching methodologies that create learning opportunities.  This is not only a principle for instruction, it is the way that I would teach those who I have the opportunity to mentor and influence.  

 The best way to understand the field and to develop the ability to design effective instruction is to actually participate in research and design projects that are ongoing within the field.  I believe that effective teaching requires instruction according to Merrill’s (in Reiser, 2007) First Principles of Instruction:

L1.       

1. Learning is promoted when learners are engaged in solving real world problem.
2. Learning is promoted when existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new knowledge.
3. Learning is promoted when new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner. 
4. Learning is promoted when new knowledge is applied by the learner. 
5. Learning is promoted when new knowledge is integrated into the learner’s world.

These principles are the foundation for the way that I teach.  Students are asked to participate in real projects, under my mentorship, for real clients or through simulations of a real client situation that was part of my experience..

Research

It is impossible for a student to evaluate the effectiveness of their instruction without the underlying knowledge of how people learn and how instructional design is based on that learning theory.  My students are engaged in a search of learning theories, and learning theorists, as they embark on the study of designing instruction.  This research is designed to expose my students to the various, and sometimes competing, theories of what learning actually is and how people best learn.  The research moves through philosophers, educational, cognitive, and developmental psychology, and the interdisciplinary learning theories and theorists of today.  I ask students to engage in actual design projects providing instruction that will teach each other the principles and concepts within the different theories.  This exercise, early in their experience with the field, is used to let them see how the different theories will be represented in the way that their classmates choose to design the teaching of that particular theory.  This same exercise is repeated for research related to instructional design, and the effective use of technology in instruction.

Class and Mentoring Experiences

My instructional and learning philosophies are in agreement with the approach that Collins, Brown, and Holum describe as Cognitive Apprenticeship.  This approach is a situated learning setting where the effort is to capture the benefits of centuries of proven learning through traditional apprenticeships modified in such a way that the learner is benefitted by the apprentice making their cognitive processes visible to the apprentice, and then providing scaffolding as the apprentice initiates participation in the real-world activities of the apprenticeship.  The approach requires that the apprentice reveal their cognitive process to the master as they participate in the real activity and receive support that is gradually “faded” as the apprentice becomes more capable.  Successful movement from apprentice to master makes the apprentice a member of the community of practice and our field is perpetuated.

Under the Cognitive apprenticeship approach, I ask my students to participate in projects reflecting the realities of the instructional design and technology fields.  That will include client and project identification, project definition and agreements with sponsors, project performance, and then review and acceptance.  Through my contacts and the ever-existing need for curriculum development, enhancement, and improvement within the University and local public/professional educational needs, my objective in support of my students is to form partnerships across these communities where my students can actually have real-world development, evaluation, and assessment projects.

Assessment and Improvement

Some courses where basic knowledge is obtained will require summative assessments to determine the student’s ability to recall theories, design tools and approaches, and relationships between them.  The summative assessments are used to determine student knowledge upoin which they can build through participation on the project teams and also act as formative assessments for me in evaluating the effectiveness of the instruction we provide for these basic building blocks.

The most effective assessment of the student performance is the formative assessment that occurs through the scaffolding I provide as the students participate in apprenticeship experiences.  The students can use the formative assessment to alter their participation and understanding in the projects.  The summative assessment for these projects may be my evaluation at the conclusion of the project, but comes mostly as they realize that they are now performing successfully without the scaffolding, and from the feedback they receive from the project clients.

Conclusion

My 22 years of experience participating in actual projects forms a basis for successful mentoring of my students as I assist them in their learning projects.  I thrill at the learning that occurs as I work side-by-side with students developing the next generation of effective instruction and advancing our knowledge about this most important human endeavor.  I have often felt at the successful conclusion of instructional design and research projects as though I am the captain of a vessel exploring the new world.  I am motivated by the seemingly endless capacity of the human soul to learn.  Creating a new generation of designers and learning theorists is an exciting prospect that gives my life deeper meaning.

Reflection Assignment #5 - Evaluation Reports

There are two main "takeaways" for me after reading the report.

The first is stated in the introductory section of this chapter.  It states "Designing, preparing, and presenting an evaluation report is the very essence of evaluation, but if the report does not prove useful or influential, then the 'essence' quickly evaporates into an empty exercise."

As I reflect on this thought it solidifies my preconception that the content and presentation of the evaluation results to the audience is critical to whether the evaluation has any value.  As the chapter points out, a careful and engaging report (both the printed version, and any oral presentations made) will bring about real affect of the evaluation in changes that may be required in the evaluation object.  It is also essential that these reports be useful and reliable for the profession to continue to justify the funds that are required to complete this work.

If evaluations are viewed as bureaucratic "hoops" rather than being useful to key stakeholders in improving their programs, then the value of effective evaluation will be lessened and opportunities for real improvement may be pushed aside.  Perhaps the greatest danger would be for evaluation to move from being an objective means of improving and strengthening programs to becoming an arrow in a quiver of those seeking to fight or support programs.  While this may create more opportunities for professional evaluators, it could taint the supposed value of evaluation, fair and independent assessment of the evaluation object.

Evaluation reports need to keep this issue in mind.  In addition to being engaging and comprehensible, it is important that they be fair and accurate.  As the chapter points out, the best evaluations will result in a fair description and assessment of both the strengths and weaknesses of the object being evaluated.  This means that here will be both positive and negative feelings about the evaluation from the different audiences to the report.  I have observed the point made in this chapter that mentioning of weaknesses will bring about defensiveness.  I have also observed that this is just a natural reaction and that part of the value of the evaluation team is to help the stakeholder work through this defensiveness to help them see the weakness and begin to make improvements.  This requires the right mix of people skills and strategic thinking on the part of the evaluator in order to "add value" to cement the effectiveness of the evaluation.

The second "takeaway" was not really covered in the chapter but was an inference I understood more clearly.   Once you express yourself in writing on paper, particularly in high-stakes evaluations, the words live forever in the context in which the ink exists on the paper.  It is impossible to prevent others from repeating their words and applying their own interpretations and context.  I was even more impressed by the need to be clear and concise in expression and to be economical in the choice of words.

While the chapter would remind us that it is important to be engaging in our prose and to use graphics and other methods of breaking up the monotony of the report, these can diffuse the clarity of the report and lead to vagueness that could be construed according to the desired objectives of the user or reporter of the information.  I also realized that this risk cannot be the overriding concern of the evaluator or the report will become too stale to have any benefit to the user.  There is a balance that must be accounted for so that the user engages, but that the evaluation report is clear in context and interpretation.

The last point that was helpful to me was the discussion of the influence, intention, and time frame postulated by Kirkhart.  The evaluation report will take on a life of its own once it is in the realm of publication.  The words will live forever and can be accessed at multiple points in the immediate, mid, and long terms.  The findings and influence of the report will live on not only in the implications for the immediate evaluation object, but also as it may be inferred to similar objects, and in the lives and experiences of the evaluators and the stakeholders involved with the particular evaluation.  The effects of change and influence from one evaluation will extend through the experiences and findings to other contexts, objects, and some elements of society through the learning that occurs and the influences on the stakeholders.  That is a valuable and astute observation.  In essence, each evaluation will change something, even if it is not the immediate object of the evaluation.

Reflections Paper #4 - Design and collection methods

These two chapters relate a common theme as they are both focused on the collection of data for the evaluation.  The greatest common theme is that the data collected, and the design of the method for collecting the data, need to be aligned with the evaluation question to be answered.  The selection of the method to design the data collection, and then the method used to collect the data, can lead to inefficient use of resources and leave the evaluation question unanswered.

Basic rules for the validity of the data compare closely with those with which I am familiar in designing research and statistical projects.  However, the evaluation use of the data allows more freedom in selection of data, the approach, and the method because we are more concerned with the evaluation question pertaining to the particular instance of the program than we are in inferring the result to all instances of the program.  This lends itself more readily to qualitative and mixed-method planning, design, and data collection than might be required under a more stringent standard associated with straight research.

I was grateful to be reminded of the lack of transferability of certain research principles and designs to education and other social evaluation projects.  The example they use of the experimental designs familiar to us in science and medicine and the inability to transfer this same design to social policy situations is enlightening.  The essence of the design and data collection choices we make is that each situation and evaluation is unique.  We have to identify the evaluation question(s) as precisely as we can and then align the design and methods of collection so we can best answer the question(s).

One final highlight for me was that we did not need to choose methods and designs free of bias in order to have a meaningful evaluation.  Rather, understanding the biases present on the various methods is critical to correctly answering the evaluation question.  The thought that the best practice is to mix the design and the data collection methods with an eye towards the various biases so that the findings triangulate and measure the construct validity.

From these readings my biggest "take-away" related to our project is the importance of identifying the critical evaluation question(s) as precisely as we can.  The randomization of the students into the groups for the evaluation will strengthen the validity of the observation, but the groups are small enough that we wouldn't need to consider sampling for some of the analyses we may perform.  We have talked about the possibility of an experimental design using pre-post to assess the impact of the game on learning the 12 times tables.  My concern is that the groups we are using are already fairly experienced with their times tables and the game.  I still think that the pre-post design will be a good approach, but the measurements of impact may be skewed by prior knowledge and we will be starting from a substantially higher baseline than that to which the game is geared.  It is hard to show a difference when many of the subjects have already achieved mastery in a major portion of the skill being evaluated.

Reflections Paper #3

The two major areas of impact to me from the readings for today are that questions are very important to the planning and process of the evaluation; and that stakeholders and interested audiences must be consulted early in the process, and may need to be consulted often as the evaluation identifies pertinent areas for question in the evaluation project.

Page 200 of the text notes that "an evaluation is only adequate if it collects information from and reports information to all legitimate evaluation audiences."  The process of identifying audiences can be driven towards those audiences that are the primary audiences (sponsor, client) or those that are the "squeaky wheel."  Such narrowing of scope in audience may either create an inadequate evaluation, or lead to discounting the evaluation itself when one of these ignored audiences may be impacted by an evaluation in which their concerns or needs were not consulted.  To help identify all audiences that may need to be considered, there is a helpful matrix on page 202 of the text that may help an evaluation team identify pertinent audiences.

As audiences are identified, the complexity and scope of the evaluation could increase to a point where an economically viable evaluation (in terms of financial, human resources, or time) is not possible.  The object of the evaluation must be carefully aligned with the questions to be addressed in order to have a meaningful evaluation.  The questions on pp. 204-205 seemed extremely helpful to identifying the critical object of the evaluation.  The program theory defined by Chen helps phrase the evaluation question.  Program theory helps the evaluator identify the normative theory (how the program should be) and compare it to the causative theory which identifies the likely outcomes given the inputs of the characteristics of the client and their actions.  This moves the evaluation object from the "black box" of sterile objects and plans, to the reality of the impacts of people, circumstances, organization, etc. that may lead to an evaluation of the program's success within the context of the organizational setting.

After carefully defining the audiences and the scope of the evaluation, the evaluator then moves through a series of questions to guide the evaluation itself.  A two part process of identifying divergent questions will help capture pertinent concerns of the audiences and stakeholders.  By meeting with the different stakeholders and asking them to express all of their concerns through questions that help identify the questions, concerns, and values of the stakeholders the evaluation team can identify possible needs to address in the evaluation.

After casting a wide net in the divergent phase, the evaluation team will then move to the convergent phase which identifies the questions that are truly pertinent to the evaluation and that can be reasonably addressed with resources available.  Primary drivers include:

1. Who needs or wants the information?
2. Would the answer to the question under consideration provide information not now available?
3. Would the answer to the question yield important information?
4. Is the question a matter of passing interest or does it focus on critical dimensions of continuing interest?
5. Would the scope or comprehensiveness be seriously limited if this question were dropped?
6. are resources sufficient to make answering this question feasible?

The purpose of the audience consultation and the development of these questions is to limit the scope and give the evaluation the proper focus.  It also helps identify the criteria that determines if the program is successful or not.  It may be successful at some objectives, but that may not be the objectives that matter to primary stakeholders or audiences.

The impact on our project was demonstrated when we met with the teachers today.  The questions that we asked were an attempt to see what the audience of the teacher would desire from this program evaluation.  We will also consult with the client and ask questions that will focus the data collection and help identify key metrics that are important to the analysis.  These questions should continue as we collect data and prepare the analysis.

Reflection Paper #2 - pp. 129-151

The readings on Participant Oriented Evaluation were a little troubling to me internally.  As I stated in the last reflection paper, I have a background in auditing so I am very comfortable with the concept of evaluations by an independent evaluator using methodologies that identify objectives and assess performance based on the objectives, even if that objective is to inform third parties (consumers, managers, researchers, etc.).  The eliminations of biases through the approaches taken, and the independence of the evaluator seem critical to my training in providing evaluations that can be relied upon.

The ideas behind the various approaches and methodologies for participant oriented evaluations at first do not seem to be evaluation in the sense of my preconceived notions.  But the text identifies an area of evaluation that is an important window into the "effectiveness" of programs.  An evaluation that "experiences" the program in the role of participant may actually be more effective at determining the value of the program than any measurement of objectives.  The fact that some forms of this approach focus on the evaluator as the learner the subjects of the program being the informers or teachers of the evaluator.  This allows the evaluator to understand the real impact of the program and to accurately report these impacts to the stakeholders.

Perhaps the most interesting approach in the participant model is that biases and advocacy are an acceptable input for the evaluation.  In fact, the evaluator is free to pursue evaluations as an independent entity, not upon specific engagement.  This movement from evaluation as a source of information to stakeholders, to evaluation as a force of change upon stakeholders is troubling to me.  Advocacy evaluation seems to be a route to undercut the good-faith and trust of the public as it relates to evaluation.  Since many of the evaluations that are engaged are brought forward to inform the public of the effectiveness of the use of their funds through the programs that are offered, the loss of faith and trust, or the rejection of aggressive forms of advocacy through evaluation, may undermine the ability of providers of services to garner that trust.

We need to be mindful of the participant experiences in our project.  In fact, this may be the easiest thing to evaluate in the limited time we have available.  There may not be time to formulate testable objectives and collect the data in support of any meaningful conclusions.  But it seems that we could readily assess the student experience and report the affects of the game on their attitudes and levels of engagement.

Reading Assignment Week One - Chapters 4-7

This course is my first exposure to evaluation as it relates to the social sciences, particularly education.  My previous academic training and professional experiences have focused on evaluation as it relates to auditing and financial strategic decision-making.  While the subject matter related to evaluation in this text differs from the business training I have previously received, the fundamental principles and concerns are the same in this approach to evaluation as they are in the business approaches that have been my career experiences.

Auditing and business strategy analysis share many concerns in common with evaluation in the context of this text.  Among these similarities are the principle concerns regarding:

1. The independence of the evaluator/auditor
2. The role of internal vs external evaluators/auditors and their biases
3. The role of the audit/evaluation as a report to inform, or a tool to influence
4. The standards and rules governing the evaluation and the evaluation purpose
5. The interplay between quantitative and qualitative measurements and their appropriateness for the evaluation need
6. The objectivity or subjectivity of the observations

I feel very comfortable with the concepts I have read this week because it relates so closely to my previous academic and professional training.

So what did I learn this week?  Primarily I learned the classification of the different evaluation approaches.

1. Objectives-Oriented Evaluation - the purpose is to identify the extent to which specific program objectives were obtained.  This can be done by collecting data and analyzing the results to see if program goals are achieved.  The most interesting part of this approach for me was the idea of goal free evaluation.  I see many applications of this approach to identify what was actually accomplished without being anchored to the goals as they were outlined.  I have encountered unintended consequences and unanticipated variances so often in my career that I see real potential in this approach to evaluating the accomplishments of the program.
2. Management-Oriented Evaluation - this is the type of evaluation that I am most familiar with.  Its purpose is to treat the decision maker as the primary stake holder and help them refine and identify the decisions that need to be made and then scope the data collection and analysis to supply the data needed to inform that decision.  This approach reports the facts and its influence on the decision made is largely neutral.  There is danger in trying to anticipate the decision or influence the decision.  This bias may limit the factual credibility of the evaluation.
3. Consumer-Oriented Evaluation - This approach uses checklists or other criteria in hopes of providing useful information to inform consumers.  While a desire to remain objective is important, there are come who would argue that subjective concerns may benefit society as they lead consumers to more effective alternatives that will lead to change in society.  The major growth in this area cam largely from the expansion in federal funding since the 1960s.
4. Expertise-Oriented Evaluation - This approach uses an expert, a panel of experts, a formal, or an informal approach to evaluate programs.  A most common evaluation event using this approach is accreditation of educational, medical, and other institutions.  This is also the idea behind peer-reviewed refereed journals.  The experts render an opinion on the effectiveness or validity of the object or program, particularly related to objectives, standards, or societal expectations.

The implications for our class project indicate that our client hopes to show the benefit of their learning game.  This could mean an analysis of objectives to determine the success of learning improvement goals or even information for decisions about the development of the game in the future.  I am sure there will be other possible implications regarding the type, nature, and scope of the evaluation as I learn more.

Darin

Step 10 - Getting Assessment Results for Database

This was a frustrating project for me.  I used a web resource to develop the assessments at the end of each lesson.  This web template effectively executes quizzes and secures the answer key by separating the student access by calling an HTML file which then executes a function in a linked .js file to render the assessment.


This dual file format is helpful in securing the key, but it presented me difficulties in trying to grab the variables that were created in the rendering script.  Peter helped me with some PHP and JQuery code and we were able to write to the database using the variables named in the files.  I am still trying to use this code to actually collect the variables in the live files but have more work to do to be successful.

Critique Number 3

I met with Tyler Lewis and we reviewed each others projects.  I was greatly impressed by the instructional value of Tyler's site.  I was unfamiliar with the graphic design principles he was teaching prior to my experience with his site.  The examples and definitions he used were meaningful and understandable.  When I moved to the game to assess my understanding of these principles, I was able to correctly identify the elements of the design in question.

I was also impressed by the quality of the graphics and the animation.  The principles taught were apparent in the design of the site.  I felt engaged and confident.  I think Tyler has done a remarkable job with his site.

I was grateful for his review of my materials.  he has helped me identify some organizational changes that would improve the accessibility to materials.  I also appreciated his comments on my animations.

The pdf views of the two documents are below:

Tyler Lewis Critique of Darin's Project

Darin's Critique of Tyler Lewis Project

Step 9 - Adding Controls to the Circuit Animations

In this step I continued to develop the circuit animations by adding buttons to control the playback and to allow transitions from one circuit to another within the different animations.  I will now proceed to see if I can embed the animations in the HTML rather than having them jump to a new browser window.  But the controls were needed for this step.

In review, the animations display the activity in three different kinds of circuits:

1. A simple circuit
2. A series circuit
3. A parallel circuit

The series and parallel circuits illustrate the concept of path and load.  The series circuit has one path through the different load elements.  The parallel circuit uses a separate path for each load element.

The links are here:
Simple Circuit Animation
Series Circuit Animation
Parallel Circuit Animation

Step 8 - Flash Animations of Circuits

This step involved the creation of flash animations showing three types of circuits:

1. A simple circuit
2. A series circuit
3. A parallel circuit

The series and parallel circuits illustrate the concept of path and load.  The series circuit has one path through the different load elements.  The parallel circuit uses a separate path for each load element.

I have some additional work to improve the interactivity of the these animations.  I want to at least add buttons to control the stop and replay of each animation and to provide a link to start another animation from within each animation, particularly at the end of the movie.

The links are here:
Simple Circuit Animation
Series Circuit Animation
Parallel Circuit Animation

Instructor Critique - Javascript Primers and Learning Materials at HTML Goodies

I have chosen to critique the Javascript Primers and other learning materials at HTML Goodies.com.

I first became familiar with the site during the 1990s when I first began working with HTML tagging.  It offered a great deal of help with the key tags and codes used to create web pages with HTML.  Because of that familiarity, I explored the site in its current iteration to see if it could help me learn Javascript the way it had helped previously with HTML.  I was pleased to see that the site did offer the tutorials that could help with this attempt to better understand the scripting I needed for my web site.

The site actually offers three different layers of instruction.  The oldest are the primers written by Joe Burns.  They originated in the 1990s and integrate some HTML commands that have been deprecated within the scripts.  Dr. Burns writes in a concise style and anticipates many of the questions one might have.  The primers really are written for those just beginning their quest to learn and understand JavaScript.  I like the examples used and the way the different primers are organized.  Each primer is organized as:

1. The Concept - which explains the specific purpose of the primer and what it will teach
2. The Script - Displays the javascript text that will be entered by the learner as an example
3. The Script's Effect - Demonstrates what the script will do when it executes
4. Deconstructing the Script - Explains the organization of the script, what the various words and actions within the script mean, how the script may be used, and why it is constructed in the way it is.
5. What You've Learned - Reviews the basic learning objectives for the primer and how we demonstrated those objectives.
6. Your Assignment - An assignment designed by Dr. Burns where the learner demonstrates understaing of the learning objectives

The structure creates an effective learning environment and the instructions and explanations are helpful.  I also found some of the comment sections at the end of the primers to be helpful.  These primers were effective in helping me learn some javascript basics.

The site also includes a series of javascript basics (written by Mark Kahn) and a series of javascript diaries (written by Lee Underwood).  Both of these tutorials are more recent than the primers and incorporate changes in HTML.  They offer opportunities to practice and reviews of learning objectives, but are not as well organized as the primers.

There are some things about these tutorials that I found lacking or wish they were changed in some way.  The w3schools tutorial includes a function that allows you to play with the code and see the results while in the tutorial.  a function like that would be helpful in the different lessons, particularly where the assignments are given.


Another major weakness is being able to identify where specific functions and processes are covered within the various units.  If there was an index or search function that would allow you to re-visit lessons based on the need to review a certain function or element of javascript that would assist in reviewing when you encounter a need but cannot remember the specifics.

Overall I think the tutorials helped me understand the javascript and helped as I used javascript for my electricity website assessments.

Step 7 - Create Assessments for each lesson.

This step was to complete an online assessment for each lesson in the unit.  While I have become familiar with most of the JavaScript coding that would be required for the creation of these interactive assessments, I decided to use some code available on the web to save the time in writing the assessments for the electricity web site.  I thank the author James Crooke who made the code available at http://www.cj-design.com.  The code works very well and is easy to modify.

Each test uses two files:

1. An HTML document named with the pattern "Test_less1.html" (See the code in pdf form here)
2. A JavaScript document which is referenced in the HTML document named with the pattern "less1_functions.js" (See the .js code in pdf form here.)

The HTML files calls the "renderQuiz()" function in the .js file which then uses style and javascript to render the exam and provide feedback.

The assessments completed in these steps are for lessons one through six.  The final review practice test is scheduled for step 10.  If time permits, the format for the responses and feedback provided will differ from this format.  If not, the comprehensive practice test will be similar in format but have many more questions to assist with the review.

The links below are to each of the unit quizzes:

Lesson 1 Test

Lesson 2 Test

Lesson 3 Test

Lesson 4 Test

Lesson 5 Test

Lesson 6 Test

The tests can be taken over again as needed for review.

Step 6 - jQuery exercise

For this step I used the jQuery exercise we completed in class.  It is helping to understand the structure and application of this exercise related to the work I will be doing next week in adding quizzes to the electricity web site.  The link to the jQuery exercise is here.

Once the page is loaded.  Enter a first and last name in the form and it should be returned when the form is submitted.

Critique Due 3/1/2010

I completed two critiques of Instructional Designs and Peter was kin enough to let me count one of those for this critique as well.  Thanks to Dave and Alyssa for helping me kill two birds with one (well actually two) stones.  I am providing the links again below.

My review of David's design is here.

My review of Alyssa's design is here.

Step 5 - First Java Script

This step was to attempt to do some things with Javascript which I have never used before.  I was able to understand the concept of loading Javascript in the head or the body and why you need to be careful about where you place the script file based on when you will be calling the script.  If you want a function availabe when the page loads, you need to use the onload command.

I thank W3Schools for the tutorial and Peter for recommending that I use the tutorial for this step.

I have created an HTML page that you will hot first.  When you click on the link on that page, you will be taken to the page where I execute the javascript.  The script and HTML is available through the view source.

The link for this step is here.  The url is http://oviattfamily.net/JavaScript.

Step 4 - My Electricity Web Site

The purpose of this step was to complete the population of all of the web pages, videos, and supporting documents for the electricity unit web site.  Once this exercise was completed, all I have left to do are the steps to create:

1. An interactive simulation for assembling circuits
2. An interactive assessment module that would allow students to take the pre-test on-line in a multiple choice format with feedback based on their response.

I feel like we are at that point with just a few minor edits still to make in these materials.  The format of the module is that it allows the teacher to guide the students through the various documents and exercises for each lesson.  The lessons contain a library of the documents and other resources that can be used by the students or the teachers at any time from any location.

To see the web site use this link or enter the url http://oviattfamily.net/electricity/

I feel good about where the project is at this point.

Darin

Step 3 - Create CSS style for Electricity Unit - Embed a video

I completed the CSS for my Electricity unit.  I populated the cover pages for each of the seven different lessons in the unit and started the process of building and linking the library of documents and media.  That will be the project to complete step 3.

The link to the project is here.

The url is http://oviattfamily.net/cssproject/

Design Blueprint Critiques

I was fortunate enough to work with both David Dean and Alyssa Walker in our shared critiques.  The exercis3e was extremely useful for me as both shared excellent counsel and ideas regarding the scope of my project and the design.  I am grateful for their kindness and honesty.  I only hope my comments on their designs were as helpful to them.  Thanks to you both.

You can see David's critique of my blueprint here David Dean critique of Darin's Design Blueprint.

You can see Alyssa's critique of my blueprint here Alyssa Walker critique of Darin's design blueprint.

My review of David's blueprint is here Darin's review of David Dean's design blueprint.

And finally, my review of Alyssa's blueprint is here Darin's review of Alyssa Walker's design blueprint

Step 2 - CSS page

This link Step 2 CSS page is for the files for Step 2.  These files are the first attempt to use CSS and come from the class assignment on February 1st including HTML elements, an ID and a class.

Design Blueprint for Electricity Unit

I have completed a pdf document that outlines the schematic for the electricity unit I am developing for my IP&T 560 class.  The link is http://oviattfamily.net/InstructionSchematic.pdf.  It will take a lot of work to pull this all together by the end of the semester but it will really help my wife with her class.

HTML Tool Report

This link HTML Tool Report will take you to my tool report which is on HTML.  This link will take you to the timeline accompanying the report HTML Timeline.

This report will be given in class January 25, 2010.

I tried a Powerpoint link here Presentation

HTML Step 1

I created a family web site coding HTML in notepad on my PC.  It was a good refresher and convinced me that I would like to use Dreamweaver or another application to code in the future.

See the link http://oviattfamily.net.

This uses the required tags, links, attributes, and elements as requested.

Update on Projects to Date

I am still debating the tools I will use for my project.  I have enjoyed the work in the seminars learning some skills with Flash.  But I feel much more confident in my abilities working with HTML and I am excited about the possibilities of expanding my abilities through the use of CSS, jQuery, and client side processing.  I am still debating where to go with my "steps" as far as my learning contract goes.  I will make a decision by the end of this week.

As far as the topic and learning objectives I will be pursuing, I will be teaching an audience of fifth graders the basics of electricity that they are required to learn according to the Utah State Core Curriculum guidelines.  The kids are tested on these basics in the year-end assessment given by the State.  The science curriculum includes basics about the types of circuits, devices, and some basic principles about electricity.  To see the first very basic splash page, click here.

You can see that this took you to my first flash "step" project and that it is located on a web site that I created as part if this class.  It is a family web site where I can not only use my skills learned in this class, but also maintain going forward for my family.  I can use it for school, I can update my family, and my wife can even reference to the site for this particular lesson material if i can develop something useful to her.

I will use a combination of this blog, and the family web site, to create my personal learning environment.

My Learning Space

This is the first entry of what will be many on this site.  I have created this blog to track the work I do in my IP&T 560 class during the winter semester of 2010 at BYU.  We are required to create a personal learning environment where we post our work, receive critiques, and demonstrate our effort this semester.

My first "Step" completed was a very basic flash "splash screen" that I developed as a cover to a learning activity that my wife uses to teach electricity to the 5th graders at her elementary school.  This might evolve into the project I will complete this semester . . . or it might not.  I have not made up my mind yet.

Anyway . . . if this blog will allow me to post a file you will be able to see it here.  If not, I am going to have to figure out a different method for my PLE.