Description of my course

Aims and objectives

In today’s ever evolving and tech-centric world a great value is given to online teaching and learning tools. It is inevitable that modern teachers need to have a digital literacy. Being a teacher in this new technologically driven world means being aware of and incorporating recent pedagogical developments and trends in teaching process. As a modern teacher, I recognize the necessity of being well-equipped to meet the diverse needs of my students in a rapidly changing educational environment. With this aim, while studying for my Master’s degree in the field of Learning and Teaching at Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), I decided to explored the module ‘Innovating Learning and Teaching: Experimental Pedagogies’. In this course we were engaged in learning and implementing digital technologies and various latest online tools in our teaching practice, particularly through the creation of an online course using one of the Learning Management Systems (LMS) of our choice. I found Google Classroom the most suitable and multifunctional for my purposes and designed a six-hour online course tailored specifically for my 3^rd grade primary school students.

The primary goal of this course is to make my lessons more interactive and dynamic as well as to enhance language skills, critical thinking and collaboration in an enjoyable and captivating manner. If any primary school teacher is in search of engaging and supportive material to captivate the attention of their A2 level learners, I am convinced that my course is an excellent tool for achieving that.

My aim is to go beyond the content covered in the Family and Friends books and broaden the knowledge of my 3^rd grade students. It is not just about following the content provided by books and teach vocabulary, grammar and phonics. I intend to develop their critical thinking skills, enhance communicative abilities and stimulate collaborative skills. We are learning together: as I adapt to new digital tools and technologies to tailor activities, they acquire knowledge through a variety of interactive lessons and vivid visuals. Together, we are building a foundation for twenty-first century skills focusing on digital literacy and digital fluency. Marín and Castañeda (2023) define that as the ability to achieve results with reliable usage of technology. They claim that digitally fluent person understands not only how to deal with it appropriately but also is aware of reasons to employ technological tools where it is relevant.

Regarding the learning outcomes of this course, they were created on the basis of the Padagogy Wheel. Designed by Allan Carrington, this framework enables teachers to use technologies aligned with their intended educational objectives (Carrington, 2016).

The course is designed with the following learning outcomes: By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1.    Remember and recall important information and vocabulary by actively participating in games, quizzes and online activities.

2.    Enhance their learning experience by applying digital tools such as multimedia projects, virtual simulations, interactive presentations, collaborative tasks, that augment traditional activities.

3.    Enhance their digital literacy skills by effectively navigating online platforms, collaborating in virtual environments, and utilizing digital tools for language learning and communication.

4.    Create and share digital content by publishing written tasks and producing a video, demonstrating the ability to communicate through diverse media.

 

Rationale

Being created on the basis of the book Family and Friends, the materials align with the syllabus of A2 level students. The content is age-appropriate for language proficiency standards of 3^rd grade students.

This course provides a holistic approach to teaching the given program through audiovisual aids and interactive activities, by integrating reading, listening, writing, speaking and vocabulary activities, catering to diverse learning styles. A variety of interaction patterns were used including pair work, stimulation of collaboration and teamwork through group activities and facilitating students to learn from and with each other in a supportive online environment. The study conducted by Zhang and Carr‐Chellman (2001) supports this idea and state that collaborative learning is essential in education and brings benefits in numerous ways by enhancing students’ achievement of learning outcomes. Moreover, I intended to develop the autonomy of my learners by providing online assignments with video instruction. By nurturing autonomy, I can equip my students with necessary skills to help them navigate challenges of the adult world (Gleave, 2008). As claimed by Little et al. (2003), independent learners take responsibility for their learning and realize that success in the educational process depends on their own effort rather than other people.

Learning theories and activities

While creating an online course for my 3rd grade primary school students I used a variety of activities and exercises. I will analyze the assignments that I developed in the light of learning theories and concepts they are based on.

Each student is unique, and the learning style of every person will be different. Our brains function in individual way and there exist a variety of factors contributing the way we learn. Nowadays, much is being done to develop pedagogy and teaching methods that can better align with the needs of contemporary learners in this new era. Modern teachers prioritize learner-centered philosophy and strive to make the learners active participants of their learning experience. While preparing for the lessons and making lesson plans every teacher employs their particular techniques. However, educators often ignore the underlying learning theories that should make a basis for their instructional strategies or even use these pedagogical theories unconsciously, thereby neglecting a deep exploration.

Generally, the primary focus is on establishing desired learning outcomes and all efforts are directed to achieving these objectives. However, if we shift our perspective and consider the entire lesson through the prism of learning theories and principles that underlie these activities, it can enhance understanding the things that we take for granted. The teaching process can be constructed completely differently, taking into account not only the objectives that we aim to achieve but by understanding how individuals learn and what strategies can be done to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and skills.

The learning theories can provide a pedagogical framework and serve as a guide for teachers in creating an effective and purposeful student-centered educational environment (Oyarzun and Conklin, 2021).

My course is designed for online teaching and learning purposes and can also be implemented as supplementary material for making the learning process more engaging and dynamic. The program includes the usage of various gadgets and digital tools thus it is linked to Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) theory. This pedagogical approach helps to go beyond the traditional teaching methods by utilizing online tools and resources that improves learning outcomes and equips learners for the demands of digital age (Keegan, 2009).

Initially, involving primary school students to online assignments seemed a real challenge, however, when I started to implement the tasks, I realized that my learners can easily cope with anything I prepare and it made me to do the tasks more complicated. Taking into account Krashen’s comprehensive theory of second language acquisition (SLA) and I+1 concept I designed the lessons slightly beyond my learners’ current proficiency level. In addition, the majority of tasks were organized for group and pair work where more knowledgeable students collaborated with less proficient ones (Dayan, 2015; Krashen, 1989). The effectiveness of this approach is advocated by Rodrigo, Krashen, and Gribbons (2004) who investigated that students who were engaged in comprehensible-input based instruction surpassed those who were in a traditionally taught classroom. However, Payne (2011) highlights impracticality of this theory by arguing that teachers face such challenges as time pressure and adherence to curriculum requirements when implementing Krashen’s concept in real classroom. In spite of impracticality highlighted by Payne (2011) in my classroom it worked well and students could deal with more difficult tasks without being overwhelmed. It means we should not be afraid of applying the principles we find appropriate for a particular context of each classroom. If certain principles or methods may be ineffective or unsuitable for a particular classroom, we can try to use alternative techniques.

The course includes collaborative problem-solving activities, discussions and group interactions. The Jeopardy-style quiz game ‘Zoological Quest’ requires team work where students are divided into 3 or 4 groups and answer questions together.

In this game the questions are given at varying levels of difficulty. The more challenging the question, the higher the score you can correspondingly get.

To win the game, the participants should discuss the question and share their knowledge and ideas. While implementing this activity in my classroom, I arranged for more knowledgeable students to work with those who were less proficient. The same strategy I implemented for writing task on Jamboard where students practice Present Continuous Tense by describing the actions on the picture. Encouraging collaboration and cooperation of students with a higher level of expertise and those who are less skilled aligns with the principles of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). ZPD emphasizes the range of abilities that children can achieve with adult guidance or peer collaboration but cannot accomplish independently (McLeod, 2023; Fani and Ghaemi, 2011). In other words, it represents the zone between what learners can do autonomously and what they can achieve with appropriate assistance. Utilizing this principle facilitates a supportive learning atmosphere where students can scaffold each other’s learning.

Moreover, from Vygotsky’s perspective pairing students with different levels of proficiency represents the collaborative nature of social constructivism. He states that individuals play an active role in constructing their own knowledge (Schreiber and Valle, 2013). Lev Vygotsky believed that knowledge is created as a result of social interaction, and suggested that cognitive development is a social and cultural process and people build knowledge through communication with others (Vygotsky, 1962). Fortunately, nowadays learners are no more accepted as passive recipients of their teacher’s speech (Wilson and Peterson, 2006). Instead, modern learners are actively constructing their experiences.

The course involves using the Padlet platform. One of the tasks requires students to publish a piece of writing about their daily routine actions, while another task involves uploading a recorded video where students talk about their collections and present them. The writing task aligns with the Augmentation in the context of SAMR framework by providing writing comments and liking them, the ability to easily integrate multimedia elements like photos or GIFs, or even fostering peer feedback. These features are not possible with traditional methods and the function of the activity becomes more effective (Hamilton, Rosenberg and Akcaoglu, 2016).

These types of platforms facilitate students in expressing themselves using diverse modes and can significantly improve their writing skills.

Regarding the video task, it corresponds well to Substitution level that means students use it as an alternative for traditional speaking presentations without much change (Romrell, Kidder and Wood, 2014). In addition, I used Google forms as substitution of print-based answer the question and fill in the gap activities.

Padlet has many other useful features that can be used for Modification and Redefinition criteria too. In terms of Modification, it allows to substitute traditional tasks by collaborative activities where students create something together, edit and comment on each other’s posts immediately. Regarding Redefinition level, teachers can create the tasks that were unfeasible previously. It might involve global collaborative projects where interacting and learning takes place despite the physical and geographical barriers.

Developed by Dr. Puentedura, the SAMR model serves as a guide for implementing digital tools into the teaching process with the aim of enhancing the quality of teachers’ practices using technologies. The SAMR model leads to transformation of learning, motivating teachers to progress from lower to higher levels of teaching by leveraging the technology and emphasizing the importance of pedagogy (Franco, 2019)

In the design of my course I also included the games created on the educational platforms such as Kahoot!, Quizizz and Wordwall. This integration correlates with Connectivism principles. Proposed by George Siemens this learning theory is an essential framework in the era of digital technology (Siemens, 2005). Requiring group work and competition these games develop social interaction among students.

Connectivism emphasizes the importance of networks, encouraging students to engage with a range of ideas, information from different sources, and collaboration with people. By participating in these games, learners are not only exposed to new content but also actively engage in the learning process. This approach enables students freely express their thoughts and ideas, exchange opinions and construct knowledge together (Pappas, 2023).

In contrast to Cognitivism, which emphasizes peoples’ internal mental processes and how the brain perceives, stores and retrieves information when needed, according to Connectivism theory, knowledge is not delivered directly to learners by the teacher but is instead is created through collaboration with others (Haslam, 2023).

Including a wide range of activities my course has those that well align with Behaviorism theory. I employed flashcard games on the Quizlet platform for vocabulary teaching and drilling. Quizlet provides a variety of interactive activities such as true or false, multiple choice, matching, open-ended questions that contributes to effective vocabulary practice. This gamified approach can be implemented in both individual and group contexts. In addition, I found the online-service Wordwall to be highly powerful for creating interactive teaching and learning materials including games, crosswords, anagrams, flashcards and quizzes. It gives the opportunity to teachers to design personalized content for their students and share it with others.

These activities emphasize repetition, reinforcement and immediate feedback. Correct responses that they get associate with positive reinforcement which encourages the formation of desired behaviors. Behaviorism theory developed by J.B. Watson and B.F. Skinner is about how external stimuli influence on the subject’s observable behavior. Teachers use systems of reward and punishment to foster desired behaviors of students (Brau, Fox and Robinson, 2022).

In designing my course, I used Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to ensure accessibly to all students. The primary goal was to decrease barriers and create an inclusive and flexible learning environment. Taking into account the diverse backgrounds, preferences and interests of students, I included a variety of teaching materials and engagement methods.

To cater to diverse learning styles, I implemented alternatives such as reading activities accompanied by listening tasks, videos with transcriptions and subtitles as well as interactive multimedia tasks. This holistic approach has a purpose to give every student an opportunity to express themselves and learn in balanced and equal environment.

This approach is especially crucial while working with young learners, considering that some of them can be undiagnosed yet. Additionally, it can also be beneficial to English language learners (Morin, 2023).

My aim was to fosters motivation and engagement. By offering multiple formats such as text, audio and video I aimed to ensure that all types of learners including those with disabilities can equally benefit and demonstrate their understanding (Ralabate, 2011). I am convinced that for making the teaching and learning process effective, instead of expecting students to adjust themselves for the curriculum, its teachers, who should adapt curriculum, presentation of material and information to learners needs (Hall et al., 2004). I came to conclusion that the principles of UDL not only contribute to an inclusive learning environment but also maximize effectiveness.

Conclusion

This experience helped me to handle the complexities of online education combining theoretical knowledge with practical application which seemed unattainable before. However, now I am confident enough to integrate innovative teaching methodologies into my traditional teaching practice. I have not only broadened my digital literacy but also shaped my understanding of how to adjust to the ever-changing requirements of the teaching profession in the new digital era.

 

References

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