Project Scenario
You are an online teacher at Future eAcademy and have just completed your first semester teaching a newly developed course.
Now that the term has ended, you have decided to review your student learning data in order to revise and improve your course. You have identified two specific lessons where you believe students are underperforming due to gaps in the lesson design and pedagogical approach. Each lesson addresses at least two applicable standards and is delivered in approximately 90-minute class sessions. Based on your review of the performance data, you need to redevelop these lessons to address the identified issues and improve their quality.
Your school employs the learning management system Canvas to host your course content and manage your online classrooms.
The process for redeveloping course materials requires that you document all student-facing learning materials, activities, and assessments (as well as internal build notes) within a blueprint template. In this way, the lesson design is organized and clearly communicated for building in the LMS. Then, you will take the two blueprints and execute the designs in Canvas to create built versions of your revised lessons.
To successfully complete this project, be sure to complete each of the following tasks outlined below.
Part 1: Online Lesson Blueprints
1. To begin, you should articulate a conceptual framework for your lessons that illustrates the following:
The value of continuous improvement for student success and engagement. In other words, what is your statement of purpose for creating these revised lessons?
The underlying pedagogical premises that inform your lesson design.
2. Then, provide a summary of each lesson, including the grade level, subject area, standards, and lesson title.
3. For each lesson, define the various lesson elements in an appropriate sequence that demonstrates a scaffolded and pedagogically sound progression.
Specifically, your lesson must include a variety of ways to check for student understanding (e.g., using differentiated and equivalent assessment options).
For each lesson element:
1. Indicate the applicable feature that would be used to build the lesson element in the learning management system.
2. Note whether the element should be delivered via synchronous or asynchronous methods. Remember that interactivity is a cornerstone of effective engagement in online courses, so you should be sure to consider all viable options for supporting interactive learning experiences in the LMS.
4. Develop the student-facing content that makes up each lesson element. This should include the following:
Content to be displayed using the rich content editor of the LMS feature—This would include plain text (e.g., “The purpose of this activity is to . . .”) and hyperlinked text (e.g., web-hosted articles, videos, etc.) as well as images. This content should be entered into the blueprint table; you should hyperlink applicable text to conserve space, instead of copying entire URLs into the table.
5. Justify the inclusion of each lesson element in terms of:
Alignment: To which lesson objectives and/or standards does the lesson element align? How will the lesson element support students in achieving these goals?
Design Principles: To what extent does the lesson element integrate principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Understanding by Design (UbD)? Be sure to address the following aspects:
1. Engagement (i.e., purposeful and motivated learner; the “why?”)
2. Representation (i.e., resourceful and knowledgeable learner; the “what?”)
3. Action and expression (i.e., strategic and goal-directed learner; the “how?”)
6. Provide facilitation notes that explain how students will interact with the teacher, with each other, and with the learning content. Specifically, how do you plan to differentiate the instruction and/or assessment for each lesson element?
Part 2: Built Lessons in Canvas
After you have completed your online lesson blueprints, it is recommended that you submit these for feedback using the Project Part 1 Feedback Opportunity prior to moving to part 2 of this project. Once you are ready to build your blueprints in Canvas, be sure to include each of the following elements listed below.
1. Review the Canvas Settings and Submission Instructions for directions on setting up your account with Canvas, creating your online lessons, and submitting your final materials.
2. Execute your lesson designs in the learning management system by creating all of the lesson elements identified in your blueprints.
Organize your lesson elements in such a way that there are clear, logical pathways through the content in the LMS.
In other words, your built lessons should employ appropriate organizational structures that facilitate intuitive navigation and effective engagement with the intended learning experiences. Be sure to address the following aspects:
Are there clear directions about how students should begin and persist? In other words, is there a logical flow to the learner pathways from start to finish?
Have you leveraged the standard elements provided by Canvas (e.g., your course homepage and course navigation bar) effectively? Have you expanded and/or customized the structures to meet your specific needs?
Is the user experience optimized? For example, do you have an appropriate balance of flat and hierarchical organization of content?
Are supplementary tools and materials that are not native to the LMS clearly identified and supported?
Finally, you should assure the overall quality of your built materials by confirming that your final lessons built in the LMS:
Reflect the principles articulated in your conceptual framework. There should be consistency between your statement of purpose and the fully realized designs for your built lessons
