ETEC 510 Sustainable Education Final Project

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ETEC 510 Sustainable Education Final Project

Group members:

Brett Williams

Owen Summers

Michael Morris

Zain Yousaf Ali

Website: http://sustainablepractices.weebly.com/

Course Blog: http://sustainablecommunitiesproject.blogspot.ca.

Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2014

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Key Frameworks

As educators, we are in a position to initiate and facilitate change. Educators can

empower students by providing them with the necessary tools and experiences for recognizing

and solving environmental and resource management problems. By educating students on the

complicated issues that surround sustainability, educators can guide students through the process

of becoming active members of a community that is educated in sustainability. In order to meet

these aims, there are three fundamental goals that we feel are necessary to the design of our

online learning environment: 1) we wish to have students interact, share and build upon ideas as

they progress through the unit of study; 2) encourage students to move beyond interactions

within a digital environment to learn and interact with the physical environments that

characterize their communities; and 3) inspire students to initiate change in their own lives or

within the wider community. In order to guide us in the creation of an online learning

environment that achieves these goals, we will rely primarily on elements of place-based

learning within a social-constructivist framework.

At the core of constructivist pedagogy is the active involvement of the learner in

constructing his/her understanding of a concept, rather than being a passive recipient of

knowledge transmitted by an acknowledged expert on the topic (Prawat, 2008; Boisvert 1997;

Pritchard & Woollard, 2010). The work of John Dewey can be seen as largely influential in the

development of this concept of knowledge building. According to Neubert (2009), pragmatism,

or experientialism, is at the core of Deweys philosophy. Dewey articulated this belief by

defining two sets of experiences. Primary experiences, which are shaped by our direct

experiences, provide us with the tools in which to respond and act when we encounter elements

that are new or problematic, which Dewey refers to as secondary experiences. What occurs

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through reflection and interaction, therefore, is a kind of negotiation of knowledge as the

individual is challenged to hypothesize and test the reliability of this new knowledge with prior

funds of knowledge, a concept that Piaget would expand upon in his work on adaptation and

organization (Pass, 2004). In this way, learning can be seen as a kind of adaptation, as

individuals form new ideas through the act of problem-solving and inquiry.

Online learning communities, if designed effectively, can facilitate a method of social

interaction that allows students to clarify and build an understanding of important concepts

together through collaboration, discussion and collective knowledge building (Allen, 2005). As

with Dewey, learning through social interaction was of great importance to Vygotsky. Aspects of

Vygotskys (1978) theories of learning and sociocultural theory, therefore, provide an essential

framework for our design. Allen (2005) cites Vygotsky as an important influence in the

development of the Talk 2 Learn online platform, in particular how the platform encourages

knowledge building through social interaction, in addition to scaffolding structures that fall in

line with Vygotskys notion of the zone of proximal development. Allen (2005) explains that

while there have been several interpretations of what factors and influences are required for

learning to occur within this zone, it is generally agreed that learning does not occur in isolation,

but is facilitated through some form of mediation, whether that is through a teacher, peer mentor

or cultural and environmental factors.

A key feature of our design is the attempt to break down the barriers between digital and

physical environments and encourage students to become active agents in both realms. Place-

based learning, while a seemingly paradoxical framework in which to design an online learning

environment, nonetheless provides a useful method from which to meet some of our aims.

Scheurman et. al (2014), Johnson (2012) and McDonald (2003), stress that place-based learning

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exposes students to the importance of the relationship we have to our immediate environment. It

is also an effective method to encourage students to think critically about the connectivity of

their surrounding environment to others and vice versa. Additionally, Zandvliets (2012) study

stresses that place-based learning acknowledges that rich learning occurs in social contexts,

specifically when situated within environmental learning programs where students are given

opportunities to learn from one another, assume various roles at different points within the group,

and to be part of the problem solving process. As other place-based educational research, such as

that conducted by Warkentin (2011) suggests, what often springs from this approach is the value

placed upon the learning process, which students are capable of recognizing as they approach the

completion of a culminating task.

Intentions and Positions

Our intention is to design an online learning environment that introduces students to the

complex issues that surround sustainable living and development. We want students to build

upon their personal meaning of sustainability, to reflect upon how their choices in lifestyle and

those of their community affect the environment in which they live, and establish ways in which

they can work as individuals and as part of a larger community to improve the current condition

of their natural environment. Additionally, as sustainability requires a respect for all cultures and

recognition of the interdependence of people within a global community (BCME, 2008), we

intend for our design to promote knowledge-building and problem-solving by requiring students

to collaborate both with one-another and with various other members of their community.

Governments and scientists have recognized for some time the importance of educating

society toward sustainability. The global importance of education sustainable development

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(ESD) first emerged in 1992, when the Heads of State and Chiefs of Government met at the

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCD) in Rio de Janeiro. The

conference gave rise to Agenda 21, a global consensus document, which provided suggestions

for actions to take place at international, national, regional and local levels to help address issues

in sustainability (UN, 1992).

Many of the suggestions described in Agenda 21 were used as a framework to develop

ESD guidelines for the formal education system in Canadas various provinces and territories.

Manitoba, for example, created the document Education for a Sustainable Future, which is an

ESD resource for the provinces curriculum developers, teachers, and administrators. The goal of

this resource was to serve as a guide for promoting sustainable living and environmental

responsibility in school communities (MET, 2000). Here in British Columbia, the Ministry of

Education (BCME) had established the Sustainability Education Framework (SEF). The aim of

the SEF was to promote leadership in adopting and advocating environmentally sustainable

practices and learning opportunities that support healthy, natural, social and economic

environments for current and future generations (BCME, 2008). The implementation of the SEF

into school culture aims to ensure that students, teachers, and administrators are being educated

in the basics of living sustainably, thereby helping them to understand that sustainable

development requires each individual to examine issues within the various contexts of their

culture, such as: economy, social justice, consumption and management of our environment

(BCME, 2008).

The goals of our project design are founded upon certain applicable objectives that were

proposed by the B.C. Ministry of Education in their Sustainability Education Framework (2008)

and are outlined as follows:

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1. Develop the foundation for an enduring sustainability education in

B.C. school communities[;]

2. Support comprehensive, cross-disciplinary classroom and external

learning opportunities related to climate change and sustainability

education[;]

3. Provide educational experiences for students to study climate

change[;]

4. Assist students to examine how human practices affect the

sustainability of populations and ecosystems[; and]

5. Use learning resources to empower students and school communities

to take action on climate change, and become sustainability

messengers.

Not only do our projects goals on sustainability align with those of our province, but they also

fit within the larger global context. For example, Agenda 21 from United Nations Conference on

Environment & Development recognizes the need, as a primary objective, to develop a better

understanding of the role of consumption and how to bring about more sustainable consumption

patterns(UN, 1992, p.19).

To achieve our projects goal of teaching sustainability by using an online framework, we

have decided to implement various types of technology including websites, weblogs, and digital

audio and video recording devices. We designed our learning space around a website and weblog

using Weebly and Blogger software respectively, which together would act as our LMS. Both

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software applications are free, easy for learners and instructors to access and use. In addition,

they allow students to display their ideas and findings to a larger community, thereby growing

public awareness to various sustainability issues. Websites designed by Weebly offer a number

of capabilities for designers to include discussion forums and multimedia affordances whereby

students and teachers can interact with one another in response to the material presented on the

various pages of the website. With the addition of the course blog, students also have the ability

to create links with the wider community by sharing their experiences, observations and

ultimately their action plans for promoting sustainable living. In accordance with Barab and

Duffys anthropological perspective of situated learning, these community-building tools could

be used to create a situated-learning, and socio-constructivist environment where the interaction

constitutes and is constituted by all of the components-individual, content, and context. There are

no clear boundaries between the development of knowledgeable skills and the development of

identities; both arise as individuals participate and both become central to the community of

practice (Barab & Duffy 2000. p.29).

According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (2008), ICTs, such

as blogs and discussion forums, play an important role in advancing ESD by improving the ways

in which learners can interact with others, and by expanding their access to resources about

sustainability. Allowing our learners to interact with others within the learning community is of

paramount importance because it reinforces our goal of using a socio-constructivist and problem-

based framework. Visser (1999) supports the use of ICTs as a way of collaboration within a

problem-based learning environment, as it gives people the ability to effectively deal with and

resolve real-world scenarios. One of our programs essential learning activities shall require

students to explore, document, and report the condition of a given area of their community, as it

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relates to sustainability, by uploading pictures, videos, and corresponding descriptions onto a

weblog. Schrum & Solomon (2007) describe ways in which blogs can be used in online and

face-to-face learning environments to engage students with the course material. Other research

by Bull et al. (2003) showed that constructing online journals by using blogs that include photos

deepen the ideas presented to its readers.

Key Concepts and Contexts

Our learning tool has been designed to provide B.C. teachers with a starting point for

those who wish to offer students sustainability-focused content. It is an online learning resource

that aims to introduce students to the larger concepts surrounding education for sustainable

development. Four important topics of sustainability that our design will focus on are directly

related to topics proposed by the B.C. Ministry of Education in its curriculum framework for

sustainability, which include: 1) sustainability and conservation; 2) importance of resources in

society; 3) environmental responsibility and stewardship; and 4) environmental challenges and

sustainable solutions (BCME, 2010). Through participating in the activities within our learning

environment, students will construct and extend their knowledge and understandings of concepts

that apply to the topics mentioned above. Furthermore, due to the exploratory and collaborative

nature of many of the activities in the design, students will develop the skills required for

problem-solving, scientific investigation, and for communicating their ideas and findings.

The use of our online learning tool is a unit that could be integrated within several B.C.

high school courses. Our learning resource is predominantly an online tool, but it also contains

activities that demand students to interact with their natural environment where they will utilize

technology to document and report back on their experiences and observations. As many of the

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activities require students to explore their local surroundings to document the conditions of

particular environments and branch out to various members of their community with whom they

may be unfamiliar with, we feel that our learning environment fits best within a high school

context. In order to conduct field research, students require independence and autonomy, which

may make some activities impractical for younger age individuals. There are many subjects that

could benefit from using our tool in a typical B.C. high school. Sustainability concepts and

learning outcomes are found in several curriculum documents pertaining to various B.C.

Ministry of Education high school courses including Science 10, Sustainable Resources 11 and

12, and Social Studies 10 and 11 (BCME, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2008). Teachers wanting to use a

blended-learning approach within their classroom may find our project an excellent resource to

begin a unit on sustainable development.

Another reason why we feel that our educational tool is well-suited for high school

learners is many are comfortable and efficient in using information and communication

technologies. Research has shown that students are more likely to be engaged in their learning

when ICTs are used within a blended learning environment (Underwood, 2009; U.S. Dept. of

Education, 2009). The activities in our design, therefore, are built around using ICTs to support,

investigate, document, and collaborate, in accordance with these findings. That said, both Russell

(2006) and Ng & Nicholas (2010) stress that clear instructions, scaffolding and consistent

guidance are required throughout an online or blended course in order to effectively support

adolescent students who may not possess the technical expertise, maturity and/or intrinsic

motivation to be successful or actively involved in their own learning.

It is important to acknowledge that students may feel a certain degree of anxiety and

uncertainty when placed in a learning environment where the structure of the learning taking

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place is unfamiliar to their prior experience. Russells (2006) case study, which was conducted

on students between the ages of 16 and 18 who engaged in social research projects, showed that

students faced significant challenges when faced with having to adapt to different pedagogical

approaches from what they were generally exposed to. Informed by Jonassens (1999) model for

designing constructivist learning environments, Russell acknowledged the importance of

providing opportunities for students to feel invested in the learning activities as a means of

motivating students to engage in meaningful, problem-based activities. This, Jonassen (1999)

stresses, should provide students with interesting, relevant, and engaging problems to solve,

wherein a community of inquiry can evolve (Stodel et al. 2006).

Since much of the learning is intended to occur by encouraging students to negotiate their

understanding of core concepts through discussion and interaction with one another and their

environments, we have embedded a number of features within the design of our learning

community in the hopes that they will maximize student participation and create necessary

support structures. We also recognize the importance of supporting students who might not be

entirely familiar with the interface of our website LMS, nor how to navigate and utilize blogging

software such as Blogger. As such, the following list consists of design features that we have

included within our learning environment so that students will feel supported and comfortable

with the online tools they will be expected to use:

1) The creation of an introductory module that will have students generate expectations

themselves about how they should interact online, how they can support each other, how

they can respond effectively to others posts in order to generate discussions, etc. This

discussion will form the initial basis for community building.

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2) An ice-breaker activity as part of the introductory module that encourages students to

introduce themselves in a more personalized way through the course blog. Instructions

and an online tutorial that show how to use the blog space is also included, in addition to

suggestions on how to generate dialogue between blog users.

3) A concise checklist at the beginning of each module to help guide students through the

different activities, as well as reminders of minimal guidelines for participation in forum

and blog discussions during each module.

4) A Questions and Answers tab on our website menu for students to use should they

run into difficulties in using the technology that they are required to participate in during

the course.

Interactivities

Adaptability, collaboration and knowledge-building are concepts that we feel are

important features to build into our online learning environment. It is important that students

become active collaborators in the sharing of ideas and development of what will become the

core content of the course. Therefore, we focused our attention on developing strategies built into

the design of the LMS and the unit itself to facilitate scaffolding by the instructor and active

involvement amongst students in the learning process.

The layout of the core Weebly site is simple and streamlined with a central home page

containing a brief overview of the course objectives and how to begin navigating the website. To

the left of the central page is a vertical menu with links to the different modules, discussion

forum, course blog and other topics of interest. The links to each module contain initial questions

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to be considered and discussed during each week of the five-week unit, along with descriptions

of that weeks activities.

Discussions for each module will take place in the discussion forum, which is clearly

labeled and organized by topic and module. The aim of these discussions is to encourage

students to consider and share either what they already know about a given topic, or any new

insights and knowledge they have gained through their interactions with the content located

within the different modules. Students will then use this knowledge as a foundation for exploring

its relevancy to their immediate environment. Students will then document this exploratory task

via the course blog, which is accessible by all participants in the course.

Students will be required to contribute to the course blog each week as part of an activity

for each module. The blog will serve as a kind of online journal where students will share their

thoughts, images, videos and links to other online content they feel relates to concepts discussed

in the course. As an extension of our class community, students will be asked to read and

respond to at least three other blog posts each week. The course blog will be hosted via Blogger,

therefore, students will need to first set up an account through Google in order to gain posting

privileges on the course blog.

Course Modules

Each Module begins with a question (or questions) pertaining to a core concept of the

unit. This will often require students to explore on their own before attempting to address the

question, as vocabulary or the concept itself might be new to them. The important thing for

students to do here is to work towards an understanding of the concept through discovery and

discussion. Therefore, students will be invited to share their opinions, examples, and resources

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with one another through the discussion forum for that module. The role of the instructor will be

to help nudge students towards open discussion with one another by posing additional questions

and helping students to make connections with one anothers ideas. This will be an important

step in scaffolding the collaborative process with students by demonstrating how this might be

done. It is hoped that such an active role on the part of the instructor might taper off throughout

the course of the unit as students become more confident about managing the discussion

themselves.

Module 1

Module 1 is an introductory module that provides students with an overview of the unit,

how to utilize the online tools required to complete the unit, and begin the process of community

building within the online context. Halavais (2005) has noted that it is imperative for students to

familiarize themselves with any technology prior to engaging in any learning activities.

Furthermore, he recommends that teachers should avoid assuming that all students will have the

same level of comfort, background and expertise when it comes to its use. This introductory

module, therefore, was conceived as a means to address student concerns, specifically in regards

to their level of comfort and familiarity with the technology that they would be using, in addition

to how we might encourage students to begin interacting online in a meaningful way early on in

the unit.

Module 1 begins with a discussion on the following topic: How can we, as an online

community, interact meaningfully and respectfully online? This discussion invites students to be

actively involved in creating guidelines and strategies for generating discussion, interacting, and

supporting one another while participating in the discussion threads for each module. As

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Huffman (1998) remarks, this process of involving students in the process of assessment greatly

impacts their sense of empowerment, and subsequently their motivation to participate in learning

tasks in more meaningful ways. As a mediator, the instructor will collate comments and work

with students to refine these expectations in a manner that is clear and easy to follow. In essence,

students are being asked to determine what is expected in terms of the level of participation and

involvement and how this will be assessed.

Blog Activity: During this module, students will also be setting up an account through Google in

order to gain access to the course blog. An overview of the weekly blog assignment is provided,

as well as instructions and a tutorial on how to set up an account and create a new blog post.

For the Module 1 blog activity, students will create a blog post introducing themselves, their

hobbies and interests, and their perceptions on environmental issues.

Module 2

Module 2 consists of three learning activities that demands students to define and realize

the concept of sustainability. Rooted within a socio-cultural framework, this module demands

students to develop their own knowledge by reflecting upon their personal experiences and then

sharing and discussing them with others within the learning community. For example, the first

activity begins by asking students to reflect upon, develop, and share their answers to the

following questions on the Discussion Forum: (1) What does sustainability mean to you? (2)

What activities do you do in your daily life that contributes to your idea of sustainability? By

asking students to develop and share their own definitions of the word sustainability and how it

is manifested in their daily routines, we not only provide students with an opportunity to explore

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and reaffirm their own conceptions of the term, but also create a context for the word so that they

find it more relevant to their own personal culture. This activity coincides with suggestions by

Anderson in regards to interactivity, as he feels it is important that students are given

opportunities to interact with the content individually and in isolation, as well as with others in a

social, collaborative environment (Anderson, 2008).

The second activity of the module provides students with a list of links to a selection of

text and video/audio resources that contain other definitions of sustainability. These resources,

and the definitions of sustainability found within, were developed by reputable organizations

around the world that have had a long and important history developing sustainable practices.

Although many of our project's activities, including the culminating project, will focus on local

sustainability issues, we feel that it is important that students verse themselves with different

perspectives of sustainability, not only to broaden their knowledge, but also to increase their

awareness that it is a global initiative. After students finish reviewing the material, they are asked

to ponder three important questions that will help them analyze and synthesize the information.

This activity corresponds with implications that Phillips (1995) suggests are important for

constructivist learning, as answering these questions challenge students to rethink and reorganize

their own personal concept of sustainability that they discussed in the previous activity.

Blog Activity: The final activity of the module is a blog assignment that asks students to focus

on needs; a word that frequently arises in many definitions of sustainability as things people

must continually have in order to live happily and healthily. Once again we attempted to design

the activity using a constructivist approach by having students reflect upon their own knowledge

of what would constitute a need. Once they identify what they consider to be a need based upon

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their own personal experience, students are asked to analyze it to identify the materials and

processes that are used to produce it. The following step in the activity then challenges them to

deepen their understanding of their definition of sustainability by asking them if the materials

and processes used to create their chosen need would be considered sustainable. Students are

recommended to use any resources available to them such as, the internet, books, magazines, and

videos, to help them find information that may help them answer the questions above more easily

and accurately. Instructors should guide students during their research by suggesting different

types of resources that may help them with their inquiry and how they may go about accessing

them.

The final step of the activity asks students to post a blog within their Blogger on their

findings for the need that they chose. They can construct their blog in a way they feel best

conveys their discoveries, but it is suggested that students use some sort of image or video to

help make their blogs more visually appealing to other students and the greater public. This

sharing of knowledge by use of blogs represents a social constructivist approach towards

learning, as students are interacting with people in places other than the classroom, people who

live in different circumstances and different cultures. (It) provides an opportunity for students to

engage in expansive social networks, and by doing so become more self-aware and self-reliant

(Halavais, 2005, p. 1223, para. 3).

Module 3

Module 3 will begin with a discussion on the following question: What is an environment?

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As part of this exchange, students will again be asked to seek out examples of online resources

and media to share with others and help develop and understanding of what constitutes an

environment.

Blog Activity: During a week-long investigation, students will be asked to once again explore

their neighbourhood and wider community with a different objective than before. Students will

post daily findings on their online journal that serve to document what they discover, both

through research and from direct experiences exploring their surroundings. Relevant findings

could be in the form of photos and videos, links to relevant websites and online resources, and

written thoughts and observations about what they discovered. Information included should

provide insight on the following:

1) The native geography of the area - i.e. rivers, lakes, forests

2) The native plants and animals in the area.

3) How native features of the environment been shaped or affected by human development.

At the end of the week, students will be asked to write a reflection or post a video response, this

time commenting on how their perceptions of their surrounding environment have changed (or

stayed the same) after researching and observing the area in greater depth.

Module 4

Module 4 will begin with a discussion on the following question: What impacts do human

activities have on the landscape and environment?

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Discussion Activity: Students will then be asked to search for videos/images of places in the

world that have been drastically affected by human activities. Each student will choose to share

one example, describe what that environment was like before human development, and how it

has been shaped over time. Students will not provide personal opinion or commentary on their

own findings, instead, they will be asked to provide commentary on what others had posted.

Blog Activity: Each student will identify a feature of their community in which to investigate the

impact that development has had on that particular area. Students will investigate the causes for

this change, the consequences this change has had on the surrounding ecosystem, as well as the

benefits this development has had for human beings. As a final reflection for the week, students

will be asked to consider the responsibility and sustainability of this development by weighing

the gains of development against the consequences. Students will then share their findings within

the forum and have other students respond to the opinions raised by the student.

Culminating Project

The culminating project was designed to build on the previous modules and support

students through the process of taking action to improve a specific environmental sustainability

issue within their local community. They are required to form groups of 4-5 students and

complete the steps of an Environmental Sustainability Action Plan (ESAP). The ESAP is a

downloadable word document with fillable fields that guides students through a series of tasks

and permits them to save and share the document within their group (suggestions on how to

effectively save the document are provided to them). A key characteristic of the ESAP is that it

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utilizes a guided discovery learning approach which not only empowers students to take action

but also provides them with an authentic learning experience.

According to Schunk (2012), guided discovery is more appropriate when the learning

process is important, such as with problem-solving activities that motivate students to learn and

acquire the requisite skill (pg.268). This is consistent with the aim of the culminating project

which is to teach students a process for taking environmental action that is not specific to one

type of issue and could be used beyond the classroom for future projects if desired. When using

guided discovery, educators must be sure to provide learners with the appropriate amount of

support. If too little support is provided then the students will not progress but if too much

support is provided then the lesson will become teacher dominated and lose its effectiveness.

The culminating project was created with this in mind, and steps were taken to ensure that

students are aware of the various sources of support available to them.

The initial source of support available to students is the ESAP word document. It is

divided into 5 steps each comprised of a series of easy-to-follow tasks which are to be completed

by the students. The ESAP document serves as a cognitive tool and acts as scaffolding for the

students. According to Jooligan (1999), cognitive tools provide hooks for introducing system

intelligence to support discovery learning without disrupting the nature of discovery (p.386).

The ESAP document accomplishes this by presenting a framework for taking action while also

giving students enough freedom to steer their learning in a direction that is relevant and

meaningful to them. Using the digital format rather than a paper-based guide enables the

students to conveniently edit and revise their action plan as well as share it with each other, and

the teacher, as needed. This is consistent with Jooligans (1999) definition of a cognitive tool: it

is an instrument that is part of the learning environment that supports or performs an

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identifiable cognitive process that is part of the complete learning experience by the learner

(p.389). The ESAP serves this purpose as it is an instrument for supporting the learner through

their action plan. In addition, it provides instruction for seeking support beyond what the ESAP

offers.

In addition to supporting the process of taking environmental action, the ESAP document

also contains instructions for how to effectively seek support when the students encounter

challenges. On page 3 of the ESAP, students are provided with a model that highlights 3 sources

of support available to them: peer support, community support, and, teacher support. These

sources of support reflect teaching methods that support guided discovery learning.

The first source that students are required to seek support from is through peer support.

Suggesting peer support takes advantage of peer assisted learning in which peers serve as active

agents in the learning process (Rohrbeck et al., 2003). According to Schunk (2012), Peer-

assisted learning has been shown to promote achievement and foster academic and social

motivation for learning (p.269). The students will seek help from members within their own and

other groups in order to find solutions. The purpose of this is to reduce teacher reliance and help

them recognize the resources that exist within their peers. Furthermore, increasing peer-to-peer

opportunities takes advantage of the motivational benefits of social interaction. The more that

the students successfully solve problems independently, the more likely they are to become

internally motivated to accomplish the goals of their ESAP.

If the students are unable to solve problems by consulting their peers, they are then

required to turn to the various communities they are part of or have access to (online discussion

boards, local business, residential communities, government agencies, First-Nations etc.).

According to Schunk (2012), effective guided discovery makes good use of social environments.

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This is why students are encouraged to become aware of the various communities that may offer

support. They are encouraged to become active members of these communities by doing things

such as helping others in discussion forums and making connections with local businesses. The

importance of contributing more than they take from these communities is emphasized. By

engaging with, and even helping, people in these communities prior to needing help, community

members will be more inclined to help. As active members of these communities they increase

the number of opportunities for cooperative learning and establish their own learning

community. Community learning can be very effective because it opens spaces for complexity

and diversity to be acknowledged and honored and for connections to be forged among the

people who make up a particular educational community (Mitchell & Sackney, 2011, p.6). By

gathering community support the students will recognize the value of creating a network of

contacts and become less dependent on their teacher.

When the students attempts to gather support from peers and communities are

unsuccessful, then the teacher will provide guidance. However, it is explained that the teacher

will first help them brainstorm other ways to seek peer or community support before striving to

answer specific answers. This is important because gathering peer and community support is

essential if the students plan to embark on future environmental projects outside of school.

Therefore, by guiding them to discover other ways for gathering support before providing them

with solutions reduces teacher reliance and increases the authenticity of the lesson. According to

Lombardi (2007), Authentic learning typically focuses on real-world, complex problems and

their solutions and it intentionally brings into play multiple disciplines, multiple perspectives,

ways of working, habits of mind, and community (p.3). By encouraging them to look for help

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from multiple sources, it is hoped that students will gain experience that could be applied to

future projects.

The culminating project uses guided discovery to create an authentic learning experience

that offers the students an opportunity to actively solve environmental sustainability issues. It is

designed to deter them from seeking answers from a teacher and instead recognize the valuable

resources that surround them. It is hoped that through this experience, the students will build

confidence and recognize that they possess the capability to make meaningful change towards

improving the environment they live in.

Verifications

According to Dick and Carey (1990), assessment instruments are an integral part of the

design of an effective instructional environment. Designed appropriately, these assessment

instruments should provide opportunities for instructors and the designers to receive important

feedback from the students to determine if the learning environment is achieving its intended

purpose. In our design, we included three assessment instruments (discussion forums, blogs, and

a culminating project) that would help determine if our project was achieving its intended goal of

getting students to become active learners and participants in sustainable practices. Although the

culminating project will be a very important tool to assess the projects effectiveness at the end,

the discussion forum and blogs will help provide us with immediate and continuous feedback on

how students are engaging and learning through their interactions within our online learning

environment. Blogs in particular have shown to not only encourage and assist the exchange of

information and ideas (Williams and Jacobs, 2004), but allow the work of students who use them

to be evaluated and assessed by peers and their instructors (Ward, 2004). More specifically, the

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regularity and level of interaction between students within the discussion forum and their

weblogs will be a crucial factor in the achievement of the overall learning objectives throughout

the unit.

As blog administrators, we have access to valuable blog statistics that allow us to track

the number of views and submissions that have been made each week on Blogger. The number

of posts and responses in each discussion forum also provides us with a baseline indication of

how much participation is occurring. However, it is perhaps even more important to closely

examine the content of the posts, types of discussions that are occurring, and how well students

are supporting one another in order to evaluate the level or quality of learning that is transpiring.

Therefore, we will be utilizing a discussion rubric that will be largely generated by students

during the first week of the unit, which will serve to address the above points. This rubric will be

used both by the instructor for the purpose of evaluation, but also by students as the basis of a

self-reflection. A second rubric, created by the instructor and adapted from Franker (2010), will

assess the content of the individual blog posts created by students.

Beyond a more direct and formal evaluation of course discussion and participation, we

also plan to observe and evaluate discussion for depth of learning, knowledge construction, and

community building. According to Riley (2006), critical learning requires students to engage in

reflective and collaborative discourse that involves the co-construction of knowledge, and

challenges personal beliefs and experiences. In addition, evidence of critical learning includes

the ability to apply new knowledge and key skills to new situations or problems. Using Rileys

framework as a basis for evaluating the depth of critical learning emerging from student

discussion, we will consider the following criteria:

1) To what degree do students abide by the guidelines for interacting online in terms of

24

utilizing strategies to support and generate discussion?

2) To what extent do students direct questions at one another?

3) To what extent do students react and respond to new information or opinions generated

by other students in deepening their understanding of a concept, or recognizing the

validity of multiple perspectives?

4) To what extent do students make meaningful connections to ideas/events outside of the

immediate course content that illustrate their emerging understanding of the relevancy of

the concepts they are learning about in the course?

By evaluating discussions based on these criteria, it is our hope that we would be able to identify

specific areas that require further clarification for students, where greater scaffolding is needed,

or if a specific aspect of the course design needs to be addressed.

Reflections and Connections

Group Reflection

This assignment provided us with an opportunity to create an innovative and interactive

learning environment that builds awareness about environmental sustainability issues. We were

able to create useful tools that not only teach students key concepts related to environmental

sustainability, but also empower them to take action and make a positive change in their

communities. In order to achieve our goal of providing a collaborative learning experience that

is consistent with the Ministry of Educations Sustainability Education Framework (SEF), we

decided to embed a number of activities within four modules, all of which culminate in a final

project. The four modules contain a number of activities and cognitive tools aimed at helping

students acquire the relevant knowledge and skills needed to complete an environmental action

25

plan (the culminating project). These activities and cognitive tools are based on specific learning

theories that we selected because of their relevance in helping us complete our objectives.

Although we encountered some logistical challenges throughout the completion of this

assignment, we feel we successfully accomplished our objectives and learned some valuable

insights about online learning environments, from both a learners and educators perspective.

The SEF served as a valuable guide for selecting the applicable learning theories that

would direct our lessons, and then we investigated which format options would enable us to

create the type of learning environment we envisioned. We selected Weebly and Blogger to

serve as our learning management system because they were user-friendly, easy to access, open,

and provided tools to allow students, teachers, and people from the greater community to interact

and share ideas. Finally, we opted to use a word document with fillable fields for the culminating

project because this would enable students to easily edit and revise their action plan as well as

efficiently share it with each other or the teacher through email.

During the design process, we agreed that it was important to ensure that the instructions

for the learning activities were clearly laid out, not only for students to read and comprehend, but

also for teachers who may wish to use our platform. In order to do this effectively, we found it

necessary to contemplate the various challenges students, and teachers, might encounter while

working through the lessons. As we worked to resolve the potential obstacles that they might

encounter, we began encountering challenges of our own.

Several times throughout the design process, we experienced some logistical difficulties

that hindered our progress towards reaching our goals efficiently. Though our group consisted of

only four members, we found it surprisingly challenging to coordinate dates and times for group

26

meetings. As adult learners, each member had additional career and family responsibilities to

attend to, and trying to set a time that was convenient for everyone was a struggle. Asynchronous

interactions, such as email, helped us continue communication throughout the design process,

but we found this to be a somewhat inefficient alternative to real-time interactions, particularly

when it came to making decisions that required a consensus. When schedules permitted it, we

turned to synchronous tools such as Google Hangouts which we found to be quite useful.

Another aspect that we found challenging was meeting the heavy requirements of the proposal so

early on in the design process. To a certain extent, we felt that the time invested in certain

aspects of the proposal almost served as a deterrent from making substantial changes later on

during the creation process. In the end, however, we found that several aspects of the proposal

were helpful as a reference during the design process. Fortunately, while discussing the

challenges we faced as learners of this assignment, we realized that they provided us with some

valuable lessons as educators.

The difficulties we experienced offered insights into some of the problems our students

may face when required completing collaborative activities in an online environment. For

instructors wishing to use this resource for a course with no set timetable, we now recognize that

it might be beneficial for them to arrange set times for students to meet. Furthermore, if students

are unable to coordinate time specific group meetings for whatever reason, we will want to

ensure that they have access to asynchronous tools for communication and also be aware of what

challenges these bring. Many of the collaborative learning activities and assignments we decided

to include, such as discussion forums and blog postings, permit asynchronous communication to

help overcome any challenges with time specific meetings. In addition to addressing

communication challenges, we also thought about how our experience as learners could help

27

shape our expectations of students. To avoid having students get too attached to one

environmental issue early on, we decided to provide more general information in the early

modules and narrow the focus as they worked through the modules towards the culminating

activity. Our goal was for them to acquire the general skills and knowledge early on and then

eventually select one issue to address. We avoided requiring them to commit a substantial

amount of time to one issue early on so that they are not deterred from changing their focus as

they gain more experience with the module concepts and specifics of the project. In this way, we

were able to transfer what we were experiencing as learners directly to the design of our learning

platform.

We are pleased to have accomplished our goals of turning the guidelines of the SEF into

a tangible and useful learning platform. As educators we often feel further and further removed

from the experiences of our learners, so by encountering challenges as students of this project we

were able to gain unfamiliar perspectives that will, without a doubt, improve our abilities as

teachers. We found satisfaction with successfully incorporating learning theories throughout our

design, but we feel that this is more than just an effective teaching tool; it serves as our

contribution towards addressing the environmental concerns we all face by empowering students

with a practical, collaborative, learning environment that will empower them to take action

towards improving the world they live in and, some day, hopefully pass these skills on to future

generations.

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Individual Reflections

Brett

For me, one of the greatest challenges in designing an online learning environment was

the constraints of working within the limitations afforded by a centralized LMS. Taking into

consideration the social-constructivist approach that we had outlined in the proposal, I had

initially hoped to integrate online collaborative tools that allowed for a greater variety of

interaction than what is offered by the standard discussion forum. However, as I researched the

potential resources available for use online, several problems arose from a logistical point of

view - specifically in terms of managing logins, privacy considerations, and the limitations of

free-use applications in terms of number of participants, data storage, and variety of functions.

As the group began to finalize what kind of LMS would be used to deliver the curriculum

to students, it also became clear that the number of online tools to be used within the design

project should be limited so that students would not be required to learn and master skills on

multiple platforms in order to participate in the learning activities of the unit. The challenge then

arose of how to integrate the theoretical principles outlined in our proposal effectively despite the

potential restrictions for initiating ongoing dialogue and participation within an asynchronous

discussion forum and course blog.

To address these concerns, I felt that it was important for students to be given an

opportunity to think and discuss guidelines that would help to encourage and facilitate discussion

and participation in a way that was meaningful and supportive. As a result, I felt this would be an

important element to build into an introductory module, as it would provide students not only

with an opportunity to begin a process of community building, but also provides the instructor

29

with some insight into the students themselves. Considering the age group and maturity of our

students, I feel that this will be an important step in determining what kind of presence the

instructor will need to have online in order to scaffold students in the discussion process.

Mike

Creating the culminating project section of this assignment forced me to think long and

hard about how to facilitate a guided discovery lesson. I have used guided discovery in small

doses throughout my teaching experience, but I have yet to deliver a substantial project that

completely adheres to the characteristics of guided discovery. It quickly became clear that the

key to this was to ask the right questions. As educators, we are often consumed with content and

how to transfer information to our students. When using guided discovery, though, the teacher

must be able to resist feeding content to students by asking a wide variety of questions and

even reforming them several times to encourage students stretch their abilities while becoming

less teacher dependent.

I recognized that most students would likely be more familiar, and comfortable, with a

traditional teacher-dominated lesson and might struggle with the independence offered by a

guided discovery project. In order to help them transition to this style of learning, I decided to

include instructions explaining how to overcome challenges without first turning to the teacher

(which is a hard habit to break). The topic of our project made it an ideal opportunity to show

students that they can find assistance and valuable solutions by turning to their peers and/or the

communities they are part of. I included an explanation of where to turn for support prior to

asking the teacher for help and that often the support offered by the teacher will involve helping

them determine new ways of seeking support from their peers and communities. These

30

instructions have the added benefit of serving as a reminder to the teacher of how to preserve the

guided discovery aspects of this lesson because it can be just as difficult for the teacher to break

old habits as it can be for the students.

From a technology standpoint, this project enabled me to learn how to use some valuable

tools within Microsoft Word. When creating the ESAP document, it was determined that it was

much more valuable to create an interactive digital document that could be edited and shared

with group members rather than one they had to print and edit by hand. In order to achieve this,

I had to learn how to use the fillable fields function, something that I had no previous experience

with. I watched several tutorial videos on how to use this function. These were very helpful and

also led me to other tutorials on how use functions such as the page-break and show hide

function. I am very pleased to have been able to learn this tools as I will no doubt be able to use

them in the future.

I am pleased with the experience I gained by completing this assignment. I was able to

think deeply about how to present an authentic guided discovery lesson and I learned how to use

some valuable tools that assist in this process. I now feel better prepared for overcoming the

potential challenges related to creating a student-centered learning environment.

Owen

Working on a project, whose theme, sustainability, is of such critical importance to our

society, has been a very rewarding experience. Additionally, this was, by far, the most complex

online group project I have worked on. As a result of researching, designing, and creating our

learning environment, I realized the project was more challenging than originally anticipated.

31

Specifically, the elements of the project that I found to be most demanding, and that I

subsequently learned the most from, were: (1) designing a project within a constructivist

framework, (2) selecting the appropriate technological tools to meet the needs of the project, the

learners, and the instructors, and (3) developing learning activities in which students find the

instructions and information clear, concise, and understandable, so that they need minimal

external support.

One of the main goals of our project was to create a social constructivist learning

environment, within which students could build their knowledge of sustainability by reflecting

upon and sharing personal experiences as part of a collaborative, online learning community. As

someone with very little experience designing instructional units within this type of pedagogical

framework, it took quite a bit of planning and creative thinking to come up with appropriate

learning activities, not to mention their logical sequences. It was hard to resist reverting back to

my old habit of creating activities that do not truly afford students the opportunity for adequate

self-reflection. Instead I had to consciously design the lessons in a way that would guide students

towards taking a more active role in their learning. I learned that in order to create a true social

constructivist learning environment, I had to ensure that I did not overwhelm students with

information I wanted them to learn, but rather, I needed to provide them with opportunities to

participate in activities that would allow them to build upon their own knowledge.

Another trying aspect of the project was the selection of appropriate technologies that

would meet the goals of our project, as well as the needs of our future students and instructors.

As a student who is in the MET program, I was anxious to try and incorporate a multitude of

new and interesting technologies into our learning environment. However, I found that the act of

simply plugging various software tools into an online learning space likely does not, in itself,

32

result in a successful learning environment. When I started the project, I believe I was much too

presumptuous on the general abilities of students and teacher in regard to their capacity to use

various forms of technology. With help from my group members, instructor, and course

readings, this process has taught me to analyze the affordances and impact of using a particular

type of technology in a learning environment. I realized that if students and teachers are not

comfortable or knowledgeable with the technology that they are required to use, they will likely

feel frustrated and have a negative learning experience.

Another area that I found challenging, that relates to students feeling comfortable and

confident when learning in an online environment, was the manner in which I needed to structure

the information within the activities and website itself. Often online learning environments lack

the real-time support of a classroom-based environment. Therefore, I found it to be imperative,

when designing online activities, to structure the modules in such a way that each activity builds

upon the next. I found it equally important to ensure that the language used to describe the

learning activities was sufficiently detailed, yet not overly encompassing, so that students could

be, for the most part, self-sufficient when following my instructions.

As an educator who is interested in developing innovative online learning environments

to keep pace with the current trends in education, I found this project to be highly informative

and educational. I found the challenges I faced throughout the assignment pushed my personal

boundaries as an instructional designer, academic writer, and professional colleague.

Zain

Our project is based on the principles of constructivism where the students construct their

own understanding and knowledge of the environment, how it impacts us and what are the

33

human activities impacting the environment through observations. To do this, we built our

project by asking questions, exploring and assessing what they know, and sharing the knowledge

with their fellow students.

In a classroom its relatively easy to create such an environment, but our challenge was to

have this in an online structure where students are given minimum instructions, and encouraged

to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving).

Providing a platform where our students would learn, explore and post their reflective

journals was a challenge. In the beginning, I was leaning towards MOODLE, a free LMS

because of my experience in using Moodle, but then because of the limitations we chose

WEEBLY.COM.

It was a learning curve for me as I have never worked with children before, but learning

from my group members I realized we can apply the same principles of adult learning and

constructivism to this as well. Students control their own learning process, and they lead the way

by reflecting on their experiences. This process makes them experts of their own learning.

It all begins with

emphasizing big concepts, beginning with the whole and expanding to the parts

prompting students to formulate their own questions (letting them explore themselves)

allowing multiple interpretations and expressions of learning

working in groups (posting their findings on forums and blogs and sharing their

experience with others)

learning from others - collaborative learning

assessing their works, observations, and points of view

34

This project has taught me a new dimension where online learning can be an effective

tool and I would be applying this in many of my projects at the hospital.

35

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