After gaining understanding of COVA and growth mindset in 5302 and creating my ePortfolio as a place to later share my learning experience with others in 5303, it was then time for me to get to the meat of the DLL program and decide on the technology innovation plan I would like to implement on my campus. After considering all of my options, I finally decided on flipped classrooms with project-based learning and gamification elements.
I am currently still in the planning/research stage of my innovation project. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March has created a challenge in implementing this type of plan fully as the classroom element of flipped learning has been eliminated for the time being. However, I have been testing out certain elements of the flipped learning environment with my students such as screen capturing lessons for students to view before our daily meetings and using EdPuzzle to create interactive videos with questions for students to use as they review concepts the day before taking quizzes/tests. I am also looking to incorporate the COVA model into my routine very soon by having my students begin a year-long project in which they decide, plan, and develop their suggestion for a school-wide student behavior incentive that they will present to the principals at the end of the year in hopes of having it implemented for the 2021-2022 school year. This would provide students with a way to practice their weekly curriculum skills as well as 21st century skills in an authentic way that is meaningful to them.
This experience teaching during the pandemic has also given me extensive practice using the growth mindset I have cultivated in the DLL program. Rather than using the challenge of the pandemic as an excuse to foil my innovation plan, I am viewing this as a learning experience as well as an opportunity to make adjustments to my current plan. For example, with EdPuzzle and screen capture videos that I have students view before coming to class, I am noticing that several students are still not completing these assignments prior to coming to class. Therefore, a change needs to be made to this aspect of my innovation plan to encourage more participation. I am currently thinking of incorporating my gamification element to this task by giving extra Class Dojo points to students who come to class with notes and/or questions about the video they watched. To take this even further, students will receive more points if greater depth of knowledge and questions are displayed from them when they come to class. I recently added this gamification element to my virtual class because I was experiencing an issue with students coming to class on time. I have noticed that, since implementing this change to earning Dojo points, student motivation to come to class on time has greatly increased. So, I am hoping it will have the same effect for watching the videos. I have also used this time to gain more experience using programs such as FlipGrid, Nearpod, Kahoot, Poll Everywhere, and Quizizz so that I can teach students how to use these as creation tools should they decide to incorporate these into their project-based learning experiences in the future.
Overall, I still have quite a bit of work to do to implement my plan. I definitely look forward to students returning to school so that I can fully integrate the flipped classroom model and gain even more understanding of what works and what doesn’t work. However, since the return of most students to campus is still uncertain, I am already thinking of ways to possibly create a completely virtual flipped environment with project-based learning and gamification. One possibility is to have students view videos, take notes, and write down questions about the video before class and then spend the first 15 minutes or so of our Google Meet time addressing the video and their questions. Then, I could have students go into breakout rooms to work collaboratively on their group projects for the rest of the class time. If anyone has other suggestions on how I may be able to create a completely virtual flipped learning environment or activities/programs that may be good additions, please feel free to leave me a comment. I am open to all suggestions.
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