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Introduction: |
Creating an Integrated Science Learning Environment, Dr. Rebekah Nix |
Course Activities
So what else is in that course menu?
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If you've made it this far, you've pretty much got the content procedure
down. Click on the Lessons button to see what's available. Remember that
this will change as noted in the syllabus. Each lesson has an organizer page
that lists the sections (pages) and objectives. There's a lot of content in
these notes and references, so use that to help focus (limit) your
investigations. Remember that this course simulates the seminar experience.
You'll learn a lot just by listening to the speakers; but, keep in mind that
I've edited out a lot that is in the references to maximize your time online. Your "final exam" is actually a 3-part project assignment. Take some time to review the Projects area. This is where you get to shine on-stage! You'll use other tools to develop your final project submissions, mainly Workgroups and GEMweb2. It will take some time - and thought - to complete this part of the course. Don't panic, but don't let this go... Explore the GEMweb2 site to get your bearings this week. Each seminar will investigate a different aspect of science and/or education to help you think of new approaches to various topics. Use the Project Tasks to upload your completed items by the date indicated in the course syllabus. Every odd seminar week (3, 5, and 7), you'll need to click on the Assignments button to submit your individual work for grading. This tool automatically checks for plagiarism, so just enter your honest review into a Microsoft Word document (saved as version 2003 or earlier). The assignments are short, but require a lot of thought. If you can report your work in few words, you are the expert! Trust me, composing a 300-500 word abstract is not an easy task when you've spent the better part of your life (or week) working on a topic... We'll use two different types of discussions in this course. Clicking on the Workgroups button will take you to your team's private discussion area, as you know. Clicking on the Discussions button in the course menu will take you right to our open class area. The good news is that the way you review, post, and reply to comments is the same for both! As we’ll use the discussion tool extensively, take some time to work through the tutorial now. Just click on the link provided on the Syllabus page to launch the tutorial. Every even seminar week (2, 4, and 6), you'll need to click on the Assessments button to complete an automatically-scored quiz. The specific items you'll want to review are listed in the lesson and test description. As noted in the test instructions, you need to finish the test within one hour of when you first launch it. So, don't open it to get the questions then try to go back to enter your responses! As you'll see from the feedback, these items are not intended to be tricky, but to give you credit for paying attention to the presentation and summary notes. You'll become intimately familiar with the GEMweb2 resource as you explore and discuss it with your Workgroup and help build it with your Projects! This course is set to open on the Announcements page by default. Check there (and in your Student Portal) for important updates and reminders. You can always click on the button in the course menu to take another look at the current and past announcements. The Gradebook is a great management tool for this course! The various items listed are coded to the weeks we'll be working together this semester. I will enter a zero (0) for items that are not submitted before the due date indicated in the syllabus. Notice that there is a legend to indicate the status of each item, if you don't see a numeric value:
I've also made a few other Tools available to you for use as you see fit - if you want to use them! |
After completing this first lesson, the following order of operations is recommended.
First week:
- Complete the lesson (i.e., watch video segments, review references, complete tasks), THEN take the associated content quiz under ASSESSMENTS.
- Starting with the assigned topic (man, geo, eco), log your individual sequence of 5 steps through GEMweb2 (e.g., g07 > m12 > e10 > m33 > e16), THEN post it to the appropriate discussion thread in your WORKGROUP.
- Compose a brief synopsis of the logic behind your GEMweb2 path selections to explain your thinking; include motivation as prompted by specific aspects of the lesson. (You'll post this later!)
Second week:
- Follow each of your other team members' pathways through GEMweb2, THEN comment on your reaction(s) as reply to their original post within your WORKGROUP.
- After all other team members have posted their reaction to YOUR path, add your logic synopsis to your original discussion thread posting in your WORKGROUP.
- Reflect on your personal enrichment and professional development as a result of this workgroup review, THEN upload your 'homework' as an individual ASSIGNMENT
Let all that settle in as you work your way through this introduction...